Chapter 16: Tactical Non-Stealth Spying
Bakugou and Midoriya held awkward eye contact, Izuku wondering if letting Bakugou know how he had obtained Thor's powers was a mistake.
For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then, Bakugou let loose a series of awkward, sputtering half-words as his mind attempted to process the answer, before finally settling on a loud cry of, "HOW?!"
"Well..." Midoriya trailed off, before recounting the events of the day he became acquainted with the God of Thunder. Some time later, he finished, "...and then Thor trained me to be a Hero."
"Are you..." Bakugou rubbed the bridge of his nose, "DO YOU THINK I WAS BORN YESTERDAY?!"
"Well, obviously not," Midoriya shrugged. "You were born in April. You're an Aries, and it's still Taurus season."
"What?! Stop talking about zoology! Shut up, you nerd!" Bakugou grunted, punching the tree behind him again. "You're sitting here trying to tell me that Thor's powers aren't a Quirk, but some magic godhood BULLSHIT, and that somehow this Avenger from hundreds of years ago is still alive?"
Deku raised his eyebrows. "Wait, but you just showed me the picture of Thor from the Sports Festival and the historical picture, didn't you think they were the same picture?"
"OF COURSE NOT!" Bakugou began pulling his hair in frustration. "IT'S IMPOSSIBLE FOR A MORTAL TO LIVE THAT LONG! Unless your Quirk is Tortoise, like the world's oldest hero Tortoise Guy. Clearly whoever you met is some sort of relative or successor."
"But Thor was a god," Midoriya argued. "Is a god. And Tortoise Guy is only like, 97."
"Bullshit, all the leading research just points to him being really powerful and really insane," Bakugou snorted.
Now it was Izuku's turn to rub the bridge of his nose. "Look, Kacchan... I'm telling you the truth. Thor is real. Asgard is real. How else would you explain Mjolnir?"
This time, Bakugou didn't have an answer, but looked from Midoriya to the hammer. "...I don't."
"I'm telling you the truth, Kacchan." Midoriya repeated, shifting his weight from one leg to another. "I got to get home, okay? I'll uh... see you tomorrow."
He half expected some sort of objection as he began to walk away from his childhood friend, but it never came.
There wasn't time to dwell on it though; he was Stormbreaker now, and he had to worry about internships.
And he knew who he was going with...
--
The week came and went, and as Monday morning rolled around, Midoriya left his house in his Hero uniform. His heart was in his throat the entire morning as he walked to the train station. And to think, when I'm licensed, I can just fly anywhere!
While he grew up in a fairly urban area, he couldn't help but be nervous about going to Shibuya for work. Not helping were the looks he was getting from passersby as he squeezed his way onto the train. Even for a Hero Costume, the old-school styled Asgardian helmet must have stood out to people.
As they drew near to the city, the compartment got more and more crowded - he guessed what he had heard about the inner city trains was true, it was getting hard to breathe in that train car. But after what seemed like an eternity, he forced his way off at his platform and emerged onto the lively streets filled with salarymen and people his age in their school uniforms.
"Hey Ren, isn't that the kid from the Sports Festival?"
"It's got to be, look at that hammer!"
"FOR REAL?!"
"Shut up, Ryuji."
"Oooohhh, I wonder if he's single!"
"I dunno, he's kinda plain looking."
His face burned a bright red as he looked at his phone for directions, but then another voice called to him, making the point moot. "Midoriya!"
He looked up and a wave of relief came over him. A familiar face in a strange location was always a welcome sight. Todoroki ran up to him with a small grin. "Glad you made it on him. My father is kind of an ass about people being late."
"And everything else, it sounds like," Midoriya quipped, and then immediately slapped his free hand over his mouth; maybe that was stepping too far?
To his further relief, Todoroki just laughed. "You aren't wrong. Come on, it's this way."
It became quite clear Todoroki was familiar with the streets, effortlessly weaving past beef bowl shops, arcades, and karaoke booths to Endeavor's agency. "They must keep really busy in this area of town," Midoriya mused.
"Definitely," Todoroki nodded. "If there isn't a villain to stop, we can assist the police force with investigations and searches. Doing all this and keeping on top of the paperwork is what has kept my father's win record higher than All Might's. Which he reminds us of, constantly."
Midoriya stifled a snicker, but his heart was in his throat again as they walked through the doors of the agency itself.
Maybe I'm worrying too much, he tried to assure himself, internships usually don't do anything more serious than patrols...
Those thoughts were dashed as they reported to Endeavor's office and flame spear was immediately chucked towards Deku's head. With a yelp, he raised Mjolnir and spun it in from itself, deflecting it into a nearby wall.
"FATHER, WHAT THE HELL?!" Todoroki yelled.
"It's fine," Endeavor huffed, standing from his desk. "Everything in the office is fireproof."
"Midoriya isn't!"
Izuku himself exhaled and placed his hand over his chest, trying to calm his pounding heart.
"Well, I just wanted to check the reflexes of the winner of your school's Sports Festival," Endeavor sneered. He was using a tone Midoirya had heard a lot growing up; adults always used it when he had told them it was Quirkless. It was the sort of faux-politeness he would be given that was a poor attempt to hide disdain and condescension.
"Well, come on then, both of you," Endeavor scoffed, pushing past them to the door. "Everyone knows how well you two fight. Now let's see if you're cut out for the Hero paperwork."
Todoroki rolled his eyes. As the two trailed behind the Number Two Hero, he whispered to his classmate. "Whenever I disobey father, I'm usually punished with paperwork."
Deku sighed internally. I guess it is part of the job...
--
While the two teens worked tirelessly in one of the taller buildings in the city, another man stood on a roof, a few buildings away, glaring angrily at the location. Probably more off putting than the angry glare, however, was the amount of knives and swords on the man. And those were only the ones visible, at that.
Stain had built up something of a reputation of a, "Hero Killer," but the moniker didn't make sense to him, personally. He was cleansing the Hero scene of Japan; any of his victims were no more Heroes than that foul Shigaraki character he had met with recently.
At the thought, Stain could hear the familiar sound of a portal opening behind him. Speak of the devil, Stain scowled.
"I figured you'd be here," Shigaraki said, in a tone that was trying just a little too hard to be smooth.
"Yeah, well, I told you as much," Stain replied.
"Are you sure you don't want to reconsider our proposition?"
"You've got some balls coming here to ask that without your portal guy to protect you from getting cut this time," Stain said, turning and spitting on the roof to show his disdain for the leader of the League of Villains.
"We're just looking to take down a shitty Hero society," Shigaraki mused, "not so different from you."
A knife slid down from Stain's sleeve, glinting in his left hand. "Come a little closer with that garbage. You want to take out All Might. And if I had my way, Hero's would be reformed in his image. I'm going to fix this society, and when I'm done, you're going to be next."
Stain didn't wait for a response before jumping to another roof. Once he was gone, Shigaraki just laughed.
"Whatever you say, Hero Killer," he said, turning into a portal that formed behind him. "You're just playing into our hands anyway."
--
A few cities away, Thor stood across the street from another building with All Might, reading a sign on the door.
"So who is Sir Nighteye?" Thor asked. "I understand that you want me to scout one of his employees, but why exactly aren't you coming too?"
"He was a former sidekick of mine, and well... things ended kind of awkwardly," All Might replied, shifting uncomfortably. "And if he sees me, in either form, he'll know and it will be trouble. You scout young Mirio, I want to scout someone else as a potential successor."
Before Thor could object, All Might turned and took off. He sighed inwardly; he was the King of Asgard, surely he had better things to do than stalk a teenager for someone he could barely call an acquaintance.
This is what you get for mentoring All Might's biggest fanboy, Thor thought, retreating to a back alley and waiting for Mirio Togata to emerge for patrol.
He didn't have to wait long; the blonde haired boy was pretty easy to spot, and at first glance Thor almost mistook him for a young All Might as he dashed down the street. "I'm too old for this," he grumbled as he left the alley and walked after the teen.
--
After a boring day of paperwork, Midoriya hopped on the train home. The ray of hope for the rest of his week was that he and Todoroki would be going on patrol tomorrow, but it still wasn't great.
The screens in the train car played news for the occupants, and a BREAKING NEWS bulletin caught Deku's attention - showing a man on the screen who looked like a deformed Ninja Turtle. He blanched; that man was easily recognizable as Stain. He watched carefully, reading the subtitles on the screen as the newscaster recalled his recent crimes against the hero Ingenium, and rumors that he was seen in the Shibuya area.
"Man that's... really close," he muttered to himself. "Guess I have a knack for being where the action is."
It wasn't until he left the train that it hit him; Iida was close to, training with Manual. He whipped out his phone and texted Iida to see if he had heard, and to be careful, before walking back to his apartment. It would be awhile before he realized Iida had left him on read.
--
Elsewhere, Thor felt particularly proud of himself. "I should have thought of this earlier," he chuckled to himself, pulling a ski mask over his face. "What better way to test the mettle of this young man but in glorious combat?"
Thor emerged from a back alley in his disguise hoodie and the ski mask and walked into the corner store. He knew Mirio was nearby on patrol, so he conjured some lightning in his fingers, before shouting as loudly as he could to the cashier. "THIS IS A ROBBERY! GIVE ME ALL OF YOUR CASH AND OTHER VALUABLES, OR EVERYONE GETS ZAPPED!"
The cashier screamed and grabbed a shotgun from under the counter, but Thor shot a very small electric pulse that knocked the gun out of his hands. "YOU FOOL! YOU SHALL PAY FOR THAT! PAY FOR THAT IN CONSUMABLE GOODS!" Thor grabbed a snack cake off the shelf next to him and took a bite out of it. "TAKE THAT!"
To even Thor's shock, a face popped out of the floor. He turned down to look at the face, a few crumbs falling out of his mouth. It was Mirio.
"Hey there!" Mirio, called cheerfully, "That's not yours."
Mirio dropped into the ground as Thor shot another small electric pulse towards the floor.
Thor turned around just in time to see Mirio burst from the floor and uppercut his jaw, knocking the snack cake out of his mouth. Thor's reactions were quick enough that he turned his head with the punch; he didn't want to break the boy's hand.
Wreathing his arm in lightning, he punched at Mirio, and was surprised the boy went intangible quickly enough for his arm to go through the young man. With the opening, Mirio raised his right arm and elbowed Thor in the temple.
Thor pretended to stumble to the side after the blow. His instincts are excellent. I'll try a bit harder.
Thor shot lightning at Mirio, who sank into the ground. Thor turned around as Mirio popped out and shot even more electricity, and Mirio was able to switch gears and sink into the ground again. Wrapping his arm in electricity again, Thor looked around, waiting for Mirio to pop out from the ground again.
He never did though, instead, bursting out through a shelf, he punched Thor across the jaw before the god could react. Good speed and good power. Thor mused, a fine fighter indeed. A lesser crook would be done by now. Now I just need to get out of here.
Thor waited, already having known Mirio needed to materialize to strike. Once Mirio's fist had connected with him again, Thor opened his mouth and used a gust of wind to send the teenager crashing backwards through the store. He was impressed as Mirio had the wherewithal to go intangible again to cause minimal property damage. The King of Asgard promptly walked out the door and summoned a bolt of lightning to return to Asgard.
He wasn't back on his throne five minutes before his phone rang. Looking at the screen, he grimaced. I never should have made cell communications with Midgard possible. "Hello All Might, what can I do for you?"
"YOU FOUGHT HIM?!"
--
Tuesday mornings were, by and far, the worst time of the week as far as Midoriya Izuku was concerned. Waking up Monday morning for class was one thing, but he always felt so much more tired the second day in a row. Today was certainly no different, but at the very least he had patrol to look forward to.
Despite his distaste for Endeavor, and the looming news he had heard about Stain being in his area, he couldn't help but be excited. Patrol would be his first taste of actual Hero Work! He muttered the entire way out the door that morning, forgetting to say goodbye to his mother, and kept muttering all the way until he got on the train.
Midoriya Izuku was not the only person excited for today either. Already in Shibuya, Shigaraki Tomura was practically vibrating with excitement in one of his hideouts. In fact, he kept knocking his hands loose, leaving the floor littered with them. It was pretty gross, if you asked Kurogiri.
"So, you're sure Stain will be striking tonight?" Kurogiri asked, opening up a portal so that he could place the spare hands on the far end of the counter.
"I made sure Native would be in place - and I made sure Stain got tipped off about it," Shigaraki chuckled. "For as secretive as he is, Stain has his own ways of sniffing out leads...I just had to taint the information pool a little. Are the Nomus ready?"
Kurogiri nodded, picking up the last hand as discreetly as possible. "The varieties are all prepared. Between them and Stain, our name will be the talk of the town by the end of the night."
--
"Keep in formation," Endeavor instructed, curtly, to his son and Midoriya as they began strolling the rooftops around the sector of Shibuya designated to them. "Stay out of sight, and keep an eye out for any flashes of steel. That Stain fellow has been in the news lately..."
"It will probably be pretty boring," Todoroki whispered to Midoriya, "not many people have the guts to start something this close to my father's location."
Almost as if on cue, explosions and screams began to ring out from a few blocks to the west.
"Or not." Todoroki shrugged as Midoriya gave him an incredulous look.
"Perfect," Endeavor sneered, turning to Midoriya. "Now. Watch what the true greatest Hero can do!"