My Hero Academia - Under Pressure - Season 2 - Episode 17 - Praised, Not Pitied

On the morning of the internships starting, Azujima and Iha met up in their homeroom so that once they got their costumes they could go together to their agency. They were just one of two pairs in their class to go the same agency. The difference though, was that they were the only two in their whole class to not get recommendations, or at least, not until the last minute.

While they were both happy with the request from the hero Brazen, something did feel off about it, even if the two weren't sure what it was exactly that made them feel this way.

Once they got their stuff they took a train to a somewhat close area to the school and then did a little bit of walking until they finally reached their agency.

As Azujima looked at it, he was a bit surprised, "It's smaller than I thought it would be."

"Yeah," added Iha with a look.

The agency did have a big sign that read, "Brazen Defense Agency", but it was on a building that was rather small in comparison. It was one-story, and was a bit sandwiched between two buildings of a bigger size. It wasn't unappealing though, it was clearly maintained on the outside and had a welcoming color scheme, but it just didn't match what they were thinking the agency would look like.

"Shall we go in?"

"Sure."

Azujima took a deep breath and then walked to the door and knocked on it. Even with his sensory dampeners on he could hear movement on the inside and eventually a woman in a hero garb opened the door.

"Oh hello!" she said with a smile. "We've been expecting you two, please, come on in, Brazen is right inside."

The two bowed to the woman and then followed her inside. As they did, both Azujima and Iha looked around and again were amazed by the surprising look of the place. Mainly in that it had a very homey feeling to it. There were very comfortable chairs in a living room-like area, complete with a table that had reading materials and a television to watch things on. There was even a fireplace that had a large portrait of Brazen just above it.

This very much caught their attention as it stuck out like a sore thumb.

That thought process clearly rang out because no sooner were they about to say something about it than the man himself entered the room.

"Hello interns!" said Brazen with a booming voice.

"Greetings, Mr. Brazen," Azujima and Iha said at the same time.

"Ha! I appreciate the manners, but they're not required here. You can just call me Brazen, and I believe you've already met my partner and sidekick, Wire?"

The woman from before stepped back into view, "We're very happy to have you here."

"We're happy to have been requested to join you," said Azujima with another bow.

"Ditto," joined in Iha.

Brazen couldn't help but laugh at the two, "Tonen said you two were very interesting, I'm glad my nephew didn't lie about that."

"Tonen's your nephew?" asked Azujima now confused.

"Yes, and I'm his mother," added Wire with a confused look of her own. "You didn't know that?"

"Nope," Iha replied, her expression hardening.

"Oh dear, I guess Tonen didn't want that known, probably didn't tell anyone at the school about us."

"Anyone who didn't already know, you mean," corrected Brazen with a smile. "But I'm not surprised, Tonen is absolutely someone who would rather earn things on his own merits than brag about who his family is."

Braze gave another laugh as he thought about his family member, but as he looked at his young interns, he saw that their expressions weren't as chipper as before.

"Now that's interesting...why the long faces...?"

"Did Tonen...ask for you to request us?" wondered Azujima with serious conflict on his face.

"Indeed, he asked for me to recruit both of you to my agency, and I happily did so. Why? Does that matter to you?"

"We're here out of pity..." spat out Iha, suddenly shaking with anger. "We didn't earn this, we were given it out of sympathy!"

"That's not true!" called out Wire, her own face now serious. "Tonen told me about this after he called Brazen, and while he did feel bad for you two not getting requests, I assure you my son felt that you two were absolutely worthy of working with us."

Azujima looked up at her, "He did?"

"Yes! Azujima, he said your senses, and the way you've dealt with them all your life was inspiring! He knew that you could be a great help to us, or any hero, out in the field, and he wanted us to help prove that to you. And Iha, your power raising and dampening saved my son's life! Did it not?"

"It did..." she answered, but with a tone of not being happy still.

"There you go! If anyone knows the extent of your abilities, it's Tonen, he talked about you two a lot when he came home from the festival. You two are some of his best friends. He thinks the world of you"

"Still shouldn't have pitied us..."

"That's enough, young lady," interjected Brazen, displeasure ripe on his face. "My nephew is many things, but one thing I can say with absolute certainty is that when he does something good for his friends, it's because he cares about them deeply and knows this will help them going forward. And in case you forgot, I'm a hero in the Top 100, people know my name and I'm very good at what I do, as is Wire. Do you really believe it's a 'sympathy vote' to get a chance to work with us?"

Iha looked right back at him, blank expression back intact, "Then why didn't you recruit us before Tonen asked you to?"

"Because I didn't watch the Sports Festival!"

This took both Azujima and Iha aback, they weren't expecting that at all, especially Azujima, "But Tonen was in it, you didn't want to watch him?"

"Of course I did! But when the festival is on there's a bunch of heroes who watch it live or in person, almost like a 'hero holiday' if you will. So some of us have to go and do hero work around the area so that nothing can interfere. I volunteered to do it so that Wire here could watch her son in action. What's more, I'm a horrible spectator when there's someone I know in the fray."

He let out a laugh and Wire covered part of her face in embarrassment, "It's true, he is...it's really bad. And I couldn't make recommendations because of him running the show. Plus, to be honest, I was so focused on Tonen...I didn't really watch many of the other students even when the camera was focused on them."

"By the time everything was back to normal, we were busy almost non-stop either at home or catching up on hero duties. There was no disrespect given to you at all."

Azujima looked relieved at their words, as well as refreshed by Tonen's kind gesture, Iha wasn't convinced though. Seeing this, Brazen got down on one knee to look at her straight in the eye.

"Listen to me, Iha Jun. I know many heroes out there who have powers that aren't overtly viewable, or powerful beyond all measure, and they are Pro-Heroes just the same. The reason is simple, they were given a chance to prove themselves, and they took that opportunity and ran with it. You two are to be praised, not pitied. Your abilities will save countless lives and help salvage many situations that would be untenable otherwise. I'm sorry that no one else saw your value, but my nephew most certain did, and I have no doubt that at the end of this week, you'll have me and Wire singing your praises to anyone who will listen. And if not? I'll yell and make them listen!"

His booming laugh returned and this time Iha couldn't help but crack a smile, "Bet you're great at parties."

"He's not," giggled Wire.

"Come now!" Brazen said with a pose, "I live for parties! And I rock on Karaoke."

"...yeah, you do a good job on that, you know, if you don't go overboard. Like that one time where you..."

"Not in front of the interns!"

Azujima and Iha laughed as Wire kept trying to tell them what happened but Brazen repeatedly stopped her with various motions and sounds.

Now feeling much better, Azuijma was ready to go, "Thank you for your kind words. We'll be sure to thank Tonen when we see him for this chance you all have given us."

"Definitely," said Iha with a nod.

"Wonderful," beamed Wire, happy the two were back in good spirits. "On that note, shall we go out on patrol together?"

She turned to Brazen who looked at the nearby clock, "Yes! A great idea. It's almost lunch period and our area of town gets quite busy around then, making it easy for evil doers to try and do their evil! So, first and foremost, interns. What do we call you in the field?"

"Super Sense," answered Azujima with pride.

"Duality," replied Iha in a similar fashion.

Wire smiled most happily at this, "Wonderful names. Now, go ahead and get changed into your gear and we'll head out! Changing rooms are marked over there."

The two young heroes rush out of the room and get ready to go. Once alone, Wire turned to her partner in crime fighting and looked at him with admiration, "That was a great speech, Higaza."

He gave a much lower laugh at this praise, "Thank you, Soyuki. Funnily enough, they reminded me of Tonen when I took him out for ice cream on his birthday. He was feeling down about whether he would be accepted, and I told how him I didn't go to UA, nor could I learn my full power until someone put their faith in me. It's now time for me to return that favor to his young friends."

"Time for US to do that, you mean."

"Wouldn't be the same without you."

They smiled at one another and waited for their young protégés to come out. Once they were in full gear, and Brazen took his time praising their outfits until Wire pulled him back to reality, they were off to patrol the city.

Unlike what Tonen and others were dealing with in their internships, the city area that Azujima and Iha were in had a much more suburban feel. Almost like a small town within the city itself.

Azujima used his helmet to start scanning for potential threats, even using special parameters in terms of sights and sounds so that he would be aware of what was going on around them.

"I'm sure my husband would love to look at that helmet, Super Sense," Wire noted as they walked. "His Quirk is fixing things, and it helps him appreciate all sorts of mechanical engineering."

"This helmet is great, I was told that it was made by our own mechanical genius in our school," Azujima explained. "I'm surprised he got it to work so well. But then again, he is the one who gave me my dampeners so I can function more easily.'

"So long as I don't supercharge you," teased Iha.

"Yeah, that definitely puts me on another power level."

"I'm very curious about that, Duality," stated Brazen as he strummed his beard. "If you were to guess, how much more powerful would you say you make a person with your ability?

"Don't know."

"Come now, take a guess."

She made a sound of impatience but thought about it, "At first, factor of two. But I think I can push people beyond that, like with Azujima."

"Yeah, before I could only hear, see, smell and so on for a mile or so if I pushed myself hard," Azujima admitted, "but with her boost I could sense the entire city around UA without issue. That's how we found Tonen when he was kidnapped."

Wire patted them both on the shoulder, "To which I am grateful."

"As am I!" added Brazen, "I ask this Duality because if possible, I'd like to try and test how much your power can supercharge people, it'll potentially alter what tasks I assign to us should we come across trouble later on."

Iha shrugged, "Sure."

"Love the enthusiasm."

Azujima tried to restrain a laugh, "You get used to it. She...wait..."

They all stopped and looked at him, within his helmet he started to see serious movement and reactions from people.

"There's a robbery going on a few blocks away I think."

"Come then, let us be off!" Brazen shouted before racing off.

"Stay close for now, come on!" Wire said to them before following her partner.

With gusto, they raced off towards where Azujima saw the robbery going down. He shouted at Brazen to take certain turns when the time came.

Sure enough, as they approached an electronics store, a handful of robbers were coming out. Three looked plain, but one was in a costume.

They started to confer with one another about what to do next when Brazen showed up, "Stop, thieves! I am Brazen, and this is your one chance to put down what you stole and end things peacefully. Else, I'm not afraid to get angry and put you down to be arrested."

His face morphed into anger and a bright red aura grew around his body. Three of the four thieves were shaken by this, the fourth though was calm and pointed down the street, "You three go, I'll catch up."

Not wasting a second, the three bolted down the street. Even angrier than before, Brazen chased after them, "Do you really think I'd just let you go without a chase!?"

"Brazen, wait!" called out Wire, but it was too late, he was gone. She sighed heavily at his action, "He always does that when there's multiple people to catch."

"That's a problem for you," said the costumed man, slowly approaching the three of them.

"Stay behind me, you two, I'll tie him up quick."

"I doubt that very much."

As he continued to step three, his body started to grow, until he was standing over them about 20 feet tall and getting ready to squad them with a boot.

Iha though merely stepped into his line of sight, "My turn."

Her eyes glowed and just as the man tried to stomp on them, he shrunk back down to normal size. The man looked at his body as he didn't understand what happened.

Wire though didn't waste any time, and instead immediately went and wrapped him up in her wires from her body and made sure they were tight enough so that he couldn't move very well.

"And that's how you wrap things up," joked Wire with a smile. "Good job on finding the robbery, Super Sense, and wonderful job taking him down, Duality."

"Thanks," said Iha with a small smile.

"Just glad I noticed," Azujima said humbly.

"I have a feeling you two will be just fine with us," Wire noted before looking around. "Now we just need to find Brazen..."

"He's over there."

Azujima pointed to an alleyway, and no sooner had they turned to look, than Brazen came back, holding all three bad guys in one arm, and the electronics they stole in the other.

He noticed what they had done and laughed, "Oh good! You're done!"

"Yeah, thanks for leaving us behind with the Quirk-user," chastised Wire.

"I knew you could handle it, and I was right! Now, let's wait for the authorities to take them away and we'll go and fight some more crime! What do you say my young interns?"

Azujima and Iha looked at each other before turning back and gave a nod to Brazen, "Ok."

"Unity, how wonderful!"

He laughed heartily, which made him glow another color. Only stopping when Wire playfully hit him on the back of the head. Soon enough the police arrived, they gave a full report and then started back on their patrol.

With Azujima guiding them to various events both big and small, they were able to prevent many bad things from happening all over their part of the city. Both Brazen and Wire were impressed by how Azujima and Iha handled themselves even when their Quirks weren't exactly able to help with the situation at hand.

In those cases, they would help with crowd control, or go ensure the proper authorities got to where they needed to be in a good amount of time.

Things changed though after they helped stopped a minor fight. Brazen had just got done separating a group of bickering people when Azujima looked away and focused on another part of the city via his helmet.

"What is that noise...?" he asked himself as he started to hone in on what he heard.

Through his helmet, he was able to scan through buildings and eventually saw what he was looking for, a runaway semi truck. One he could tell had lost serious control as the driver was panicking inside the driver's cabin.

"Oh no. Wire! Brazen!"

Wire heard his call first and came over, "What's wrong?"

"There's a semi-truck a few blocks away that's out of control. It's got some heavy cargo and the driver is doing everything he can to avoid hitting people and objects, but I don't know how long he can keep it up!"

"We'll have to hurry then. Brazen! We got a runaway vehicle, we got to go!"

"What?" asked Brazen as he joined them with Duality in tow. "Where is it?"

"Uh..." started Azujima as he tried to get an exact location, "that way, he just barely made a sharp turn. I think he's trying to take it somewhere safe to crash it..."

"He won't make it based on your tone. Very well, we'll have to jump towards him. Interns, on my back, now."

He got down on one knee. Iha looked at Azujima puzzled, but they both shrugged and got on his back and wrapped their arms around his neck. Wire stepped in close and Brazen wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Don't let go until I say so. And..."

Focus formed on his face and a blue aura glowed around him.

"...we're off!"

With great strength, he blasted off into the air with everyone clinging to him as he did. While Azujima and Iha were just trying not to fall off, Wire and Brazen had their eyes on the ground, and eventually they spotted the semi-truck.

"There!" said Wire with a point of the finger. "He just made another turn...on no, he's heading into a traffic area!"

"That's not good, hang on interns!"

"Like we have a choice...?" shouted Iha from his back.

Brazen angled his body so that he could get to a nearby building, and then he bounced off of it and jumped to a degree that he was able to jump in front of the truck with some room to spare.

"Do you have a plan?" asked Wire as she saw the semi-truck get closer.

"If you pop the tires it could wipe out and cause a big problem," answered Brazen as he eyed the truck intensely. "If I take it head on I could cause an explosion or cause it to move in a way beyond my control. I'm going to jump on it, slide down its back and try and stop it from behind. If I slow it down enough, you can catch it in your wires."

"That's...actually a smart plan."

"I have my moments. Keep the interns safe."

With them all off of him, he bounded into the air just enough to land on top of the semi's trailer and then run to the back. He used the rear door's handles to slide down and then with another glow of his aura, exuded his strength to slam his feet into the ground while holding onto the truck to slow it down.

At first, it seemed to work. But the metal handles he grabbed onto bent, and then eventually broke, sending Brazen backward onto the road as the semi-truck continued onward at dangerous speeds.

"He's not slowing it down anymore!" called out Azujima as he noticed what happened with his helmet.

"Dang it," grimaced Wire, "at that speed my wires won't be able to stop it."

"How about a helping hand?" suggested Iha as she held out her hand.

"Uh...sure, why not? My wires need an anchor point for something like this though."

"...light post?"

Iha pointed to a nearby light post that was firmly rooted in the ground. Impressed again, Wire nodded and motioned for the two to follow her. The semi-truck just seconds away, Wire got into position, Iha put her hand on Wire's back and proceeded to power her up.

"Woah," commented Wire as a powerful chill went through her body.

Not wasting another moment, she yelled and wires of incredible size shot out of her costume, bigger than any wires she's shot before. She aimed them at a nearby brick wall building, and the wires very easily rooted themselves in it. Once the other ends were released from her body, Wire grabbed onto them and then wrapped them around the light post and held on for dear life. Azujima and Iha helped her as much as they could.

No sooner had they all grabbed on than the truck slammed into the wires. Due to their elasticity, it didn't stop the truck cold, but it did absorb its momentum, and though it nearly broke the wires, and pulled the three off their rooted position, eventually the truck stopped. Ending the situation with minimal damage.

Brazen bounded in to check on them but Wire waved him off and told him to check on the truck driver, and he did just that.

Wire took a second to catch her breath now that the situation was done before gazing happily at Azujima and Iha, "Well done you two, you just saved lives, and prevented a lot of property damage."

"Is every day like this?" wondered Iha as she tried to catch her own breath.

"Ha, ha, ha, sometimes. It's definitely been busier with you two here."

"Sorry about that," Azujima said while hanging his head a bit.

"Don't apologize! Being busy means we're doing our jobs. Which, is not over yet. Come on, let's go help with the cleanup duty."

Wire righted herself and extended a hand to her two interns. They both grabbed on and once they were all up they went right back to work.

After a day of hard work, the four eventually returned to their agency. While Brazen and Wire weren't too worse for wear, both Azujima and Iha were very tired, and basically collapsed on the couch.

Wire couldn't help but laugh at this, "Tired, kids?"

"Yep," answered Iha, barely moving.

"We do lots of physical training at UA," added Azujima, "but this is constant movement and work. Not short bursts like we're used to.

Brazen brought his own laugh to the festivities, "And that right there is why these internships are so important. For this is a lesson that you two would not have learned if you had only studied about Pro-Hero work in class."

"So it IS like this every day...great..." lamented Iha, as she rose up, and then collapsed again on the couch.

"No, not EVERY day is like this. We had a lax day just two days ago, only had one incident all day. But other days are like today, multiple incidents that need attending to."

"And as I noted," chimed in Wire, "part of the reason we were so busy was because of you, Azujima. You helped point us in the right direction and helped us immensely in our reaction time."

"It was nothing," said Azujima, slightly embarrassed by the praised.

"Don't say that, it was everything. When it comes to Pro-Heroes, our jobs can be defined by a few words. Position, timing, action, and reaction."

"If a hero is in the right position or place, they can help out quickly. If they have good timing, they can prevent things from getting more dangerous, or save people in need. Their actions define how successful they are. And their reactions to the situation, in this case reacting quickly and knowing what to do in an instant, can be the difference between life and death," explained Brazen.

"Brazen and I have been doing this for years, and we're good at acting and reacting, but we can't be everywhere at once, and at times, we won't know something is going on until we're alerted about it, or happen to stumble upon it. So your ability Azujima to detect danger right as it's happening is a godsend for heroes like us. You caught that robbery right as it was happening, and without you, we wouldn't have been able to stop that truck before it caused serious damage. Or worse, hurt some people."

Iha gave a playful shove to Azujima, "Showoff."

"Don't sell yourself short, young Iha," said Brazen with a wag of a finger. "You showed your mettle multiple times today too. It was you who depowered that mountain of a man before he could squash you. You didn't even hesitate to power him down. And as my partner told me, you were the one who helped her wires be big and powerful enough to hold that truck. You both did very well today, we couldn't be more proud."

This time both Iha and Azujima blushed a bit at the praise they were getting from the Pro-Heroes before them.

Azujima bowed his head to them, "Thank you, both of you."

"It's been fun," put in Iha with a bow of her own.

"Do you feel better now?" asked Wire with a knowing, and very motherly, smile. "About how your Quirks can make you true Pro-Heroes?"

The two nodded, and Brazen sat on the arm of the couch so he could look them both in the eye, "My nephew and I have very similar views about certain points in our hero society. But one of the biggest by far is that of how certain Quirks are treated as "lesser" when all they need to be called is 'specific' or 'niche'. Every Quirk can have a use that can help people if they push themselves hard enough. I was once mocked because of my Quirk not being 'useable enough'. But I worked at it, and now I am hero. I won't lie and say that you two will the No.1 hero, or be heroes that will stop all crime with your gifts, no one can say that, not even top Pro-Heroes like Mythical. However, much like many out there, if you don't give up, and you keep training, you'll be very competent heroes that can do a lot of good."

Wire nodded at his statements, "And that's what we need in the world, that's what we tried to instill in Tonen, and we think we've done well with him."

"You have," said Iha without hesitation.

"We wouldn't be where we are without him," admitted Azujima.

"That's good to know!" praised Wire with another smile. "I'm another who didn't have a 'typical' Quirk. But I found what I was good at, trained myself at UA and eventually partnered up with Brazen as his sidekick."

"I prefer to call you my partner," corrected Brazen with a look.

"Either way, we work well together, and that makes doing this every day fun. Even if a certain someone tends to go a little over the top at times..."

"Enthusiasm is an emotion that is easy to tap into at any time."

"Oh, we know, we all know."

The two got into a light argument about things as friends often do. Azujima and Iha watched them for a while before eventually succumbing to their exhaustion and fell asleep on the couch for a bit.

They were woken up later for dinner and the four had a very lovely conservation about things. Including Wire sharing some fun stories about Tonen growing up and how he learned to control his Quirk.

Eventually, the two young students were shown their rooms for their stay. As Wire was cleaning up the place her phone went off. She smiled as she saw who it was, "Checking in on your friends, my darling boy?"

At Sparky's agency, Tonen was in his own guest room relaxing, a few scratches were on his body from the work of the day, but he had a calm demeanor about him as his mother asked him that question.

"Something like that," he replied. "Just want to know how their first day went."

"They did well, very well, you'd be proud, and I'm glad you sent them to us."

"It just didn't feel right that no one picked them despite what they could do. I knew you and Uncle Brazen would give them the chance they deserve."

"Always looking out for others, it's one of the qualities I love the most about you."

Tonen made a fake sound of disgust, "Stop it mom, you're embarrassing me."

"I'm your mother, I'm allowed to dote!" she answered with mock anger. "I'm also allowed to worry. How was your first day?"

"Oh...you know. Helping people, stopping bad guys, trying not to get burned alive..."

"What was that?"

"There was a fire and we helped people get out, that's all."

"Uh-huh. As long as you're not injured."

"Nothing beyond the usual wear and tear a hero can get in the field."

"Good. I'm glad things are going well. Be sure to call your father, ok? I'm sure he wants to hear about your first day too."

"I will, thanks for everything mom. Talk to you tomorrow."

"Good night."

The two ended the call, Wire sighed in relief as she thought about her boy, and then a small smirk came on her face, "He's fine."

"I had no doubt," said Brazen as he walked up to her.

"Well I did, I remember what happened on my first internship. It's the real world out there, things can go wrong."

"That's why they're put with veteran heroes, so that they can be looked after. We must trust his Pro-Hero mentor to take care of him, just as he trusts us to look after his friends for the rest of the week. Let's make him proud of us, just like we are proud of him."

With a nod to her friend, Wire and Brazen left the room and waited for whatever may come, to come.

*credits*