Hello crazy, beautiful world! Today is a very special day! Can you guess what it is?
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...
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...Have you guessed yet? No? Okay, I'll wait.
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...NO I WONT!
Yanks a cord and a tide of balloons and streamers fall from the ceiling!
It's the one year anniversary of the story, or at least tomorrow is! I would post this chapter tomorrow, but making you all wait another day in celebration didn't make sense. So yeah, as of tomorrow, I will have been writing this story, my first one, for about a year! Damn, has it really been that long? The time just flew by! When I started all the way back in July amidst the uncertainty of the pandemic at it's height(hopefully) I had no idea how far I would get, nor if anyone would find my work any good. But holy hell, as of posting this chapter, I've gotten 21,930 views, 145 favs, 187 follows and 38 reviews?! I don't have a frame of reference on what counts as high numbers, but they feel high to me and I couldn't be happier!
So now all I have to do is wait for my official one year anniversary cake!
Looks off camera. What?
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You sure?
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No cake huh.
...
Then what's the point in celebrating?!
Turns back, visibly irritated.
Welp, no cake. Time to look at reviews then.
Reviews: Z.L.C. genesmith, expect more antics between the two unstable pryotechnics going forward! It is WAY too much fun to just drop.
whkestila: Wow, you're almost as excited as me for a certain fellow to show up. Almost ;). Also, angry Pomeranian, LMAO. As for Angel's internship, I'll let you find out.
Engineer4Ever: Does this make me the captain of the SS Badaboom?
Now, without further ado, let the story commence!
Borderlands is owned by Gearbox and 2KGames and My Hero Academia is owned by Kohei Horikoshi and Funimation. Please support the official release.
Please rate and review!
"This means someone is talking."
'This means someone is thinking to themselves.'
This means it's a flashback.
*This means it's a sound effect!*
{This means I'm speaking in a different language!}
Angel in a Gilded Cage
It was the first storm of the coming summer. Heavy, fat drops of rain poured down, their impact on windows of Yūei's main building created a nonsensical rhythm. Angel's finger tapped on the surface of her desk, unconsciously matching the beat as her eyes rested on the clock.
'Eight fifteen.' She noted with worry. 'Where the heck are you Iida?'
It had been two days since the Sports Festival. Angel's euphoria at winning third place and finding an unexpected companionship in Todoroki had been forgotten as soon as she had read the news that Iida's brother, Tensei, had been brutalized by the Hero Killer while out on patrol.
She had fretted all night for her friend's beloved sibling until Iida finally answered her, Midoriya and Uraraka's texts the next morning. The news was bittersweet. Tensei will recover, but he will no longer be fit for hero work, his flourishing career getting cut tragically short.
Now there was a tangle of fear in Angel's throat. How was this going to affect Iida? His brother was his role model of heroism. She never had any siblings(that she knew of), but if she did and they were crippled, she assumed that she would be feeling mournful at best, outraged at worst. Will he ever be the same again?
The fact that he wasn't at least forty five minutes early this morning as usual worsened her feelings of dread.
She sighed as she gazed at her friend's empty desk.
"You alright?" She glanced to her right to see Todoroki look at her with a slight narrowing of his brow, his way of showing concern. She hadn't seen him since their talk in the forest, but much to her relief, she didn't appear to be suffering from any more visions of him. Now she felt relaxed around the bicoloured boy like the rest of her friends, which was still bizarre if she was being honest.
"Yeah." She answered. "Don't worry, it's nothing like that. Just worried for Iida."
Her response visibly placated him, that she was not currently distressed due to her past.
"I see. I'm sure he'll be fine." He offered, a little out of his depth.
She nodded and gave him a soft smile. She then turned her attention to the rest of the room, listening in on the conversations amongst her classmates, thinking that it would help keep her mind off her troubles.
"Guess what?! A buncha people noticed me on the way to school today!" Ashido exclaimed to her desk neighbours.
"Yeah, me too!" Kirishima smiled, proudly leaning back in his chair.
"Everyone was looking at me, even more than usual! I hope nobody noticed me blushing!" Toru shimmeyed bashfully.
"You guys lucked out. A pack of little kids yelled "Don't mind" at me and pointed!" Sero complained.
"Don't mind, kero." Asui mischievously croaked, making him groan.
"Hey Baku-bro!" Kirishima turned to the scowling blonde. "Congrats on the girlfriend man! Baha is crazy but she's kinda cute!" He said, giving the now seething boy a pat on the back.
"I'm so jealous! Maybe if I had beaten Shiozaki she really would have gone on that date with me!" Kaminari whined.
"Tch! SHUT UP! THAT ANNOYING CHICK IS NOT MY FUCKING GIRLFRIEND!" Bakugo protested to no avail as the other boys kept teasing him. All the while, Mineta glowered.
"How the hell does a guy like that get a girl?! Are they into guys who yell at them?!" He muttered in anguish.
Just as Angel felt the desire to inform the boy that no, that couldn't be further from the truth, the door opened and in stepped Iida with Midoriya soon behind him! She almost leapt from her chair but only managed to nearly stumble when her legs hit the underside of her desk.
To her surprise however, he appeared completely calm and collected. When he noticed her standing up from across the room, he gave her a small smile and a wave.
"Good morning Hodunk-san!" He greeted and immediately made his way over to his desk.
Angel stood there, confused. Inexplicably, Iida appeared to be fine but that didn't make her feel any better. If anything, such a normal response after his online silence only aroused her suspicions.
She was used to people lying to her face. She should keep an eye on him.
She glanced at Midoriya near the front who seemed to read her mind. He gave her a troubled look and a shrug before reaching his seat.
Before she could put more thought into her conundrum, the door opened again and their teacher entered the room. The instant he appeared, the entire class shot to their desks at attention, completely silent.
"Morning. About time you all started taking things seriously." Aizawa greeted with his usual tired yawn.
"It's good to see you all better Sensei." Asui pointed out the disappearance of the copious layers of bandages and the sling he had been wrapped in for the past two weeks.
"Recovery Girl went overboard with her treatments." He idly scratched at the faint slivers of scar tissue around his eyes. "But enough of that, time to get today started with Hero Logistics. We've got a little surprise for you all."
The entire class tensed up. Coming from the teacher who had threatened them with expulsion the first day, dreadful implications as to what this "surprise" could be filled their imaginations. What was it going to be?! A major assignment?! A pop quiz?! A flame and spike filled gauntlet, what?!
"Today we're going to come up with your code names."
"THAT IS SO AWESOME!" The students cheered, jumping from their seats, just to quietly sit back down when their annoyed teacher glared at them, red eyes aglow and hair aflutter. Angel herself hadn't left her chair, instead just sitting there in awe.
'Hero names!' She thought, unable to stop the shiver of childish delight that shot up her spine.
Once everything was silent, Aizawa released his quirk and continued.
"This is part of the hero agency internship requests I briefly mentioned last week. They will only really be important closer to graduation as you improve, so think of this year's batch being more of a sign of interest in your future. Don't get too excited though, as it's common for that interest to wane over time."
"Why do they gotta play us dirty like that?!" Mineta spat from ahead of Angel, who found herself agreeing with him for the first time. It did make her feel insignificant at the thought of being forgotten that quickly.
"So we should be thinking of our number of requests as a kind of indicator of our success?" Toru asked, getting a nod from the teacher.
"Pretty much. Here's this year's list. Normally the results are more spread out, but it ended up being quite skewed this time." He clicked on a remote and a hologram of a bar graph appeared on the black board.
Angel's jaw dropped.
The graph went highest to lowest, bars stretching next to their owner's names. The majority of the class listed had numbers ranging from tens all the way up to about three hundred. But at the top were three numbers in the thousands.
There she was, Hodunk, rated under Todoroki and above Bakugo at about three and a half thousand! She was the second most requested!
Most of the class groaned at the vast divide between the rest of them and the top three or when they didn't see their names on the board.
"Aw man, they're just reinforcing what we already know."
"What do I have to do to get noticed around here?!"
"It's kinda funny how the top three are all mixed up right? Bakugo is only third highest even though he won."
"He probably scared some of them off, getting trussed up on the podium like that."
"BUNCHA PANSY ASSES! WHY'RE THEY LIKE THAT?!"
'If you're asking that question like that, you're never going to figure it out.' Angel rolled her eyes before glancing over at Todoroki.
"Looks like you beat me again, huh?" She joked.
"Most of that is probably just from my dad's name." He said dismissively.
"Regardless of whether you got any requests, you will be picking out agencies for an internship so you can get some on the job experience. You may have fought real villains already, but it doesn't mean you can skip learning how the day to day routine will be." Aizawa elaborated.
"So with this being our first real exposure to the public, we need to choose the names we want our image to be, is that it?!" A broad shouldered, brunette haired boy with big lips(Sato, Angel recalled) put the pieces together.
"This may sound like a fun little activity for you all…" Aizawa interjected. "But I'd advise you to choose your names carefully."
"Because if you don't, you may live to regret it!" A loud feminine voice jumped in and the door slammed open! Sauntering in came their art's teacher Midnight, running her nails through her long, shimmering mane.
"The names you pick today may very well solidify into your heroic identity, sticking with you even after leaving this school!" She declared as she made her way to the front of the room in her usual dramatic fashion.
"Midnight here will be assisting you with your names, letting you know the weight of your decision. I'm no good at this sort of stuff." Aizawa said as he pulled out his sleeping bag, but not before fixing the class with a serious glare. "Just remember that these names will shape your identity, so try and go for a specific image that you want to portray. Like "All-Might", for the symbol of peace." He warned and zipped himself up.
"Alright! Everybody take a board and marker and try to come up with something! You have fifteen minutes to think about it, then we'll share them all with the whole class!" Midnight announced.
Said boards and writing tools were passed around. By the time Yaoyorozu had handed Angel her's, her head was already abuzz with the teacher's words. It was another one of those surreal moments, where she had imagined herself in this very position when she was young, briefly entertaining the idea of becoming a hero before dismissing the thought as only wishful thinking.
But now she was here, mind drawing a blank while the white of the board starred up at her, as if mocking her.
'My hero name… I can't pick just anything, it has to have some kind of meaning.' She told herself. 'I don't really have that many examples to draw from. Like, I'm pretty sure Moxxi chose "Mad Moxxi" just because the alliteration sounded good… but then again, that does kinda tie into her persona.'
The squeaks of her classmate's markers filled the air, all the while she was absently twirling her own between her fingers.
She thought back to what Aizawa said.
An image. What kind of hero did she want to be? She didn't want to be just the "flying hero" or the "technology hero", she wanted to be known more for what she could provide to society. Something that when said aloud, it would bring a glimmer of hope into their hearts heavy with despair. That they'd hear it and know that she was watching over them.
Her eyes widened.
'Watching over people, haven't I already been doing that?'
Dressed in all black and brandishing a silenced pistol in his hand with a rifle slung over his shoulder, Roland silently stepped alongside the warehouse exterior wall. He kept to the shadows, avoiding the circles of illumination cast down by spotlights on the roofs.
"Birdman in position, the windows are empty, you're clear Soldier." Mordecai relayed on his earpiece.
"Copy that." Roland whispered as he approached the door at the end of the building. He reached for the knob.
"Oh crap! Watch out! There's one coming through the door Soldier!" Another voice yelped over the radio channel!
Roland leapt to the other side of the door and pressed himself against the wall, just as it swung open! A man dressed in a kevlar vest armed with a submachine gun stepped out into the brisk night air, closing the door behind him as he fumbled with a lighter, trying to light the cigarette held between his teeth.
Roland held his breath from where he stood as the man swore under his breath until he finally managed to kindle his cancerstick and started walking down the side of the building, none the wiser to his presence.
"You're clear to enter!" The voice urged, prompting him to quietly step over, slowly twist the knob and ease the door open. As soon as he entered, he spun around and softly closed it behind him.
Only then did he breathe out.
"Hoo~, thanks for the save Angel." He said, his words planting a relieved smile on the girl watching from several thousand miles away. She wore a headset with a face shield lowered over her eyes, cutting off visual stimuli while her mind was connected to the shipyard's surveillance system. With a silent command, one of the dozens of cameras she was looking through swiveled to follow the leader of the Crimson Raiders down the corridor.
"No problem Roland. That was a close one." She answered.
"I could get used to this whole AI schtick. Makes sneaking around and getting into places so much easier." Lilith chuckled from where she was hiding in the secure cargo depot, waiting for her teammate to get Angel access to the shipping manifest. Then she would let her know which container to open.
Little did the woman know about the sting in the "AI"s heart at that comment. She desperately wanted to inform her that she was a real person, but she bit her cheek instead. She couldn't break her cover. No matter how much she wanted to. He would get upset.
"Easy for you to say." Brick muttered, breaking her out of her depressive thoughts. "Sitting around in the dingy isn't my idea of a fun time. You sure I can't come in and punch someone? I'm feeling punchy right now!"
"Slab King, we went over this." Mordecai answered. "You're supposed to wait in the boat so we can make our getaway. If we're going to get the prototype and get out of the country in one piece, we need to play this one carefully."
"Carefully is another word for boring, aint it?" Brick shot back, making Angel snort. "But ya know, sitting out here in the middle of the ocean's got me thinking."
"Don't hurt yourself, heh heh."
"Very funny. Anyway, with this whole thing with Angel watching out for us with cameras, opening doors and shit… she's kinda like one of those Angel things, ya know what I mean?" He pointed out, to which one of Angel's brows quirked.
"Not... really?" She questioned.
"What're you on about Slab King?" Lilith asked.
"Ya know, one of those Angels that's always following you around."
"You mean your conscience? With the little cherub and devil on your shoulders?" Mordecai suggested.
"Nah, not that. The ones like from that weird baseball movie! The ones that protect you from danger and guide you and stuff? What were they called?"
"Ohhhhh… I think you mean-"
Angel jolted. That name. She had almost forgotten about it. Something her friends, the Raiders, would use for her code name when she assisted them on their heists. She had grown to enjoy her moniker, feeling that it made her fit in with the people she had grown to care about. At least before it became a reminder of her shameful past.
Now though…
She pressed the tip of her marker to the board and began to write, consciously putting effort into keeping her hand steady with how it was shaking.
From excitement or anxiousness, she didn't know.
"Okay everyone! Markers down!" Midnight called out. "Now it's time to present your ideas to the class!"
The nervousness in the air was palpable, the majority of the class hopeful that their peers and the teacher will approve of their names. Angel held her whiteboard in her hands, rereading what she had made, simultaneously afraid and eager for what everyone's reaction would be.
"Naturally, I shall set the bar." Aoyama volunteered and stood up. He walked up behind the teacher's podium with a glint in his eyes(as usual).
"Behold… the sparkling hero…" He raised his whiteboard. "I cannot stop twinkling!"
"THAT'S A WHOLE SENTENCE!" The whole class yelled out, Angel included out of bewilderment.
Much to their continued surprise, Midnight only hummed a little. "You can use it, but I would shorten it down to "Can't stop twinkling" for brevity." She advised, rewriting his board.
"Ah, how wise! Thank you Mademoiselle." Aoyama thanked the teacher.
"THAT'S OKAY?!" Everyone nearly facefaulted in disbelief.
"My turn!" Ashido bounced in her seat and went up to the front, showing her idea. "Acid hero! Alien Queen!"
"ACK! You mean the super creepy movie monster that bursts out of people's chests?! Nononono! Please try again!" Midnight violently shuddered.
'Can't really blame her.' Angel thought, remembering the one time she had accidentally started watching the film in question. She shook in revulsion. 'Never again!'
"Rats…" The pink girl grumbled as she made her way back to her desk.
'Thanks to the first two, now it feels like a comedy sketch! It's so awkward!' The class thought collectively.
Asui raised a hand. "Can I try next?"
When no one objected, she stepped up. "I've had this name in mind since I was a kid. The rainy season hero, Froppy!"
The rest of the class, now thankful that mood had turned normal again, cheered for the frog girl.
"FROPPY! FROPPY!"
"Guess it's my turn!" Kirishima announced in boisterous fashion. "The sturdy hero, Red Riot!"
"Ah! Are you naming yourself in tribute of the manly hero, Crimson Riot?" Midnight asked.
"Yeah!" Kirishima chuckled. "He's my personal hero, a prime example of the man I want to be!"
"I see. Just be aware that there will be a lot of expectations to uphold the good will that his name possesses. You up to the challenge?"
"Totally!"
So Kirishima was seeking to honor his hero? Made sense. Angel felt admiration for the boy who helped her train. In another world, she'd probably try the same with Lilith's name, if she wasn't one of the world's most wanted.
The rest of the presentations went by like a blur as the pace was regained, everyone showing off their names one at a time while Midnight cheerfully gave feedback.
"Hearing hero, Earphone Jack!"
"Good choice!"
"Tape hero, Cellophane!"
"Short and concise! I like it!"
"Martial arts hero, Tail Man!"
"Focusing on your main physical feature, perfect!"
"Sweet hero, Sugar Man!"
"Sugary sweet!"
"Pinky!"
"Much better than the alien thing! Good show!"
"Stun gun hero, Chargebolt!"
"I'm all a tingle!"
"Stealth hero, Invisible Girl!"
"Awesome!"
"I will bring honor to this name, the everything hero, Creati!"
"Creative! Badump tss!"
"Shoto."
"Just your first name? Are you sure about that?"
"I'm certain." Todoroki affirmed, with only Angel and possibly Midoriya knowing likely why.
"Jet black hero, Tsukuyomi!"
"A lord of the night! Ominous and cool!"
"Freshly picked hero, Grape Juice!"
"How trendy!"
When it was Koda's turn, he just stood there nervously, holding his board that read: "Petting Hero, Anima".
"I see! Good job!" Midnight congratulated him.
Angel gave him a comforting smile and a thumbs up, which made him blush, but he seemed to feel less scared. She definitely liked it more than the next one.
"King Explosion Murder!" Bakugo growled.
"Yeaaaah, that's not a good idea. Try again."
"WHY THE HELL NOT?!"
"Maybe you should call yourself Unicorn Boy, your girlfriend would like it!" Kirishima teased.
"SHUT IT SHITTY HAIR!"
"I guess it's my turn." Uraraka said uneasily as she stepped past the cursing blonde.
"The anti-grav hero, Uravity!"
"A play on words with your name and your power, I love it!"
Angel agreed. It was a really cute name in her opinion and she showed it with an encouraging nod to the brunette while she returned to her seat.
So wrapped up in the fun atmosphere that she almost missed Iida at the stand, whose name gave her pause.
"Tenya? Really? You're using your first name as well?" Midnight questioned, asking what immediately came to Angel's mind.
'Is he not taking the name Ingenium like the rest of his family? Does he think it's too soon?'
Whatever the case may be, Iida left the stand without another word.
"Midoriya, do you want to present next?"
"Ah! Sure!" Angel's attention shifted as her last friend went next. When he was behind the podium, he gave what he wrote one last look and gave a resolute nod before turning it to the class.
Everyone's eyes widened. Only to a handful of people did it make sense.
"Hey… uh… Midoriya-san...are you sure about this?"
"Yeah! You might get called this for the rest of your life, you know?"
The verdet nodded. "Yes, I'm positive. For most of my life I really didn't like this name. It wasn't until recently that made it mean something to me. Something different. Something great. Everything changed and now I kinda like it." He gave the class a shaky, yet upbeat smile. "This will be my hero name!"
And there he brandished the board proudly. On it was a single word.
Deku.
It felt like a burst of fire had ignited in her chest and Angel smiled back. Thanks to Uraraka, Midoriya was taking the word that had been used to demean him his entire life and changing its meaning, not in spelling, but in meaning. He was making the name his own and she couldn't be happier for him.
She could only hope she could do the same.
"Hodunk, it looks like you're the last one besides Bakugo who needs to figure his out. Are you ready to present to the class?"
No, not really truth be told. But she needed to do this, she needed to be brave.
Angel nodded and stood up from her desk. Step by step she approached the front. It felt like she was walking up to give the opening pledge at the festival again and she wasn't sure which was more terrifying at the moment.
She hugged the board to her chest, taking care not to smudge the ink on her school jacket. After what felt like an eternity, she was standing before the "audience", their eyes open wide and blinking expectantly.
Closing her eyes, she took a breath to calm herself then opened them back up.
"S-So… this name carries a lot of weight in a way." She started. "It was given to me by some old friends that mean a lot to me, n-not to say that I value any of you less!" She frantically assured them, thankfully no one seemed offended.
"A-Anyway… even though they gave it to me, I almost didn't pick it. It brings up… painful memories…"
She felt the guilt coil in her stomach like a restless snake, but she didn't let it stop her.
"But… I've been making it my goal to push past those times and keep moving towards tomorrow, where things will be better. And well… what better way than to give the name a new purpose?" She swallowed her fear and faced forward.
"So yeah! This is my name!" And she flipped it over.
On the board for the whole world to see, decorated with a pair of cartoony wings and a halo hanging off the top was a single phrase.
The Watchful Hero: Guardian Angel!
Before she even had a chance to worry her class conversed approvingly between themselves.
"Wow! That's so cool!"
"It's definitely a heroic name, that's for sure!"
"Guardian Angel, that's so manly!"
"Incorporating your first name, a proper heroic image and reflecting your quirk's physical appearance! What a trifecta!" Midnight applauded. "I couldn't think of anything better for you! Good thinking!"
Euphoria flooded Angel's body in response, fear giving way to relief and delight as the room let their praise be known. Placing her board on the pile, she almost skipped back to her seat, she was so happy!
'Yes. This is my name! From now on, I am the Guardian Angel!' She accepted with glee! If she didn't know any better, she'd think she had accidentally activated her wings, because she felt lighter than air.
1 Minute Later…
"LORD EXPLOSION MURDER!"
"I think you're missing the point here." Midnight sighed.
"Finally…" Aizawa grunted as he stood up out of his sleeping bag. "Now that that's over with, you can get to work on choosing where you're going to spend your internship for all of next week." He pulled out a pile of papers. "Those who received requests will get a list of the highest rated options. For those without, you will get a list of agencies who are participating in our program. Remember that each one has a specific area of expertise, so do your research and decide on what type of experience you want to earn. Fill out the sheet with up to your top three choices and submit them before the end of the week." He instructed and began to hand the forms to the class.
The students eagerly chatted amongst themselves, weighing their options.
"I wanna try something with fighting bad guys in the city!"
"Hmm… perhaps rescue is my best bet?"
"Are there any aquatic based agencies? Maybe the coast guard?"
Being at the rear, Angel was one of the last ones to receive her list, the thick stack getting dropped onto her desk with a weighty thump. She boggled at the collection, pulling the sheet off the top, a long list of agency names with contact information and addresses spanning it's whole length.
Page one of thirty-seven.
She puffed her cheeks, letting out an astonished breath.
'I'm going to need a minute.' She decided, getting out of her chair. Why not talk with her friends and see what their plans were?
As she made her way towards the front where Midoriya sat, she started to hear low, incensed rambling.
"-be I should start off by looking up each agency in terms of their specialization and ranking? If I order them in a concise list, I can weigh the benefits and opportunities lost against each other. Should I consider the public image of their employees/heroes? It's a bit superficial but societal reputation is a factor to a hero's success and-"
'Ah, he's doing it again.' Angel noted as the boy continued to mutter to himself. 'Time to snap him out of it.'
She reached over and lightly tapped him on the shoulder.
"BWAH!" He nearly jumped out of his skin, accidentally tossing his pen into the air which she snatched right before it bounced off his head!
"Eheh… sorry…" She said, giving him an amused look and holding out his pen.
"O-Oh, heh, no worries. Got a little carried away again, didn't I?" He chuckled meekly, graciously taking his writing instrument back.
"So, got any ideas of where you want to go?" She asked.
"Not yet, I was in the middle of coming up with my decision making process before… well… you know."
"Hey guys!" They turned to see Uraraka bound over to them. "Great work on your names! Have either of you decided where you're going to work?"
"Not quite." Midoriya answered.
"Yeah… I'm over here putting off going through all... that." Angel added, jabbing her thumb as the mountain of paper on her desk.
"Wow, now I'm not so jealous that you got so many requests, hee~!" Her friend giggled. "As for me, I'm going with Gunhead!" She said, throwing a fake punch.
Both of them blinked in surprise. "Wait, as in the battle hero Gunhead?" Midoriya asked.
"Yeah…" Angel tilted her head. "I figured you would choose a rescue agency so you could be like Number Thirteen."
"Well sure, that's where I want to be one day, but my fight with "Lord Explosion Murder" at the festival got me thinking… wouldn't I be limiting myself if I just stuck with what I'm confident in? If I get better at combat, there will be more possibilities for me later!" She explained, striking a fighting pose.
"Huh…" Angel blinked again. "That actually makes a lot of sense."
"By the way Deku-kun…"Uraraka looked down at the boy. "I couldn't help but notice that your body's shaking. Are you okay?"
Angel followed her gaze and realized she was right, their friend's form was vibrating. Even stranger, his waist and legs were hovering over his seat.
"Oh, um… I'm doing an upper body exercise."
Uraraka and Angel gaped.
"You've been doing an "air chair" exercise all class?!"
"That's a thing?!"
He nodded. "Mmhmm. I've always got to be taking steps towards improving myself. I'm getting better, but I still have a long way to go from where I want to be." He complained and continued holding himself off the floor with his arms, leaving Angel in awe.
Everyone was so serious about getting stronger. Between Midoriya's constantly seeking to enhance his physique and Uraraka stepping out of her comfort zone into different areas of hero work, it really nailed in the coffin that she couldn't just be standing around. She needed to start the next leg of her journey or she was going to get left behind.
After talking with the pair for a while longer, Angel returned to her desk and reluctantly started going through the names on her list. As expected of someone who won third place in the festival, the majority of her choices were high ranking agencies. One by one, she processed the agencies, recalling their particular fields and their strengths and weaknesses. Then she made a note beside each of them.
Backdraft Fire and Rescue Agency. Not really what she was looking for. She crossed it out.
Ryukyu, the dragon hero. She was ranked number eleven on the hero leaderboard. She might have something to offer when it came to fighting crime. She put a question mark next to the name.
Uwabami Modelling Agency. She shuddered. She crossed it out three times.
'Nope.'
She moved onto the next one, only to pause. She had never heard of this agency before.
'Double Tap Major Crime Investigations?'
To be continued…