Chapter 23: Internships I

Chapter Text

"What kind of hero do you want to be?" the hero asked as Kaminari walked besides him, still carrying his suitcase and duffle. Conduit was dressed in a blue and yellow leather jacket with brown cargo pants, two soft pouches strapped to his legs. Slung across his shoulder was a bag, the strap holding a communication device on it. He was fair skinned and had a shaved head, his voice gravelly as it came out. Instead of stopping off at an agency or a building to drop off his stuff like Kaminari was expecting, once he got to the meeting place Conduit gave him ahead of time, he stated they're going on patrol.

"Getting into the serious questions already?" Kaminari joked, swapping the items in his hands, "I want to be a popular but really down-to-earth kind of hero. Super dependable and relatable. Like I want people to see me and know that I'm the same as them."

"Decent enough, kid," Conduit shook his head as he chuckled, "but I meant what type of hero. Since you want to be seen and heard, I'm guessing you want limelight."

Kaminari would've knocked himself on the head if his hands weren't full, "Oh duh. I've been spending too much time with smart people, too many open-ended questions." Kaminari froze as he realized what he said, quickly shaking his head back and forth as he tried to apologize, "Not that I don't think you're smart! I mean, I'm sure you're plenty smart being a hero and all, but like-"

Conduit rolled his eyes, "Cool it, kid. Little words like that don't mean anything to me. So, limelight?"

"I think I know what you mean, but how about you explain to me the differences just to make sure we're thinking the same thing," Kaminari answered slowly.

"This is going to be a long week," Conduit grumbled to himself. "You should've learned about the different types of heroics in school as well as the different subclasses, but here's a quick run-down. Heroes are generally split into two categories: Combat and rescue. Should be self-explanatory." He looked down to Kaminari who was nodding along.

"Combat and rescue have their own subsets that I'm not going to get into, but you can break it down again into the types of heroes. These are most referred to as limelight, underground, and the lesser-known twilight heroes. There's also a fourth type, but they're strictly combat oriented, and I'm legally not allowed to tell you about under threat of suspension until your second year. You following?"

"Oh yeah, I remember this. Limelight heroes are like, pretty much everyone that you see on the streets or on the billboard, right?"

"I would've said any hero that has a public presence and following, but sure. What about the other two?"

"Underground heroes are the exact opposite of limelight, like Aizawa-sensei. He's an underground hero and he hates the media, being in public, and people."

Conduit laughed at the last comment, "Got that right. Underground heroes are generally unknown to the public and only kind of looked down upon by the hero community."

"Why?" Kaminari asked, his eyebrow raised in confusion.

Conduit didn't reply immediately. He walked in silence before he ducked into an alleyway, motioning Kaminari to follow, "Underground heroes get their hands dirty. They work in the cover of the night with usually no backup, so their methods can be more hardcore than their sunshine counterparts. Anything is on the table so long as it falls within their moral standards first, and law, second."

Conduit let the comment hang, studying Kaminari as he waited for the implications to hit. It was slow, but he could see the exact moment when understanding flowed through. All Kaminari could do was open his mouth and utter quietly, "Oh".

"That's not to say they're bad heroes or people at all, some would argue that that would make them the greatest of all time," Conduit only slightly amended. "Because undergrounders don't have to worry about media backlash, public opinion, or reputation, they're allowed a lot more leeway. I'm sure if you ask your teacher, he could give you a better snapshot.

"And then there are those like me, who are called twilight heroes. We toe the line between limelight and underground. We allow ourselves a public presence for the sake of support and a form of immunity – I'll explain that later if you want. We also generally operate at night, follow the standards of limelight heroes, but aren't afraid to get dirty."

Kaminari hummed and nodded along, "I still don't get it."

"Jeez kid. We're gonna have to work on that, too." Conduit rubbed his head, "Alright. Imagine this. If you take Endeavor and make him work at night, that's a twilight hero."

Kaminari gaped at the revelation, "Oh! So someone who's popular, a good hero, but doesn't have to be nice and is okay with getting aggressive. Gotcha!"

Conduit gave him a flat look, "Sure. Let's go with that. So now that you know the main differences between the different types of heroes, what's calling your name?"

"Definitely limelight. I think I'd be fine as a twilight, but I don't like being mean to people."

"You don't have to be-," Conduit resisted groaning, "I only used Endeavor cause he's an easy comparison. You know what? Forget it. Guess you'll be doing a little bit of everything until you find what clicks."

Conduit walked out of the alley and made his way to a normal looking brick building. Kaminari readjusted his backpack and fell into step behind him.

"Hey, Conduit-san," Kaminari called out. "How come we didn't stop off at your agency or somewhere before going off on patrol? Wouldn't it make sense if I were in costume too?"

"I needed to get a feel for you first before committing to anything," Conduit replied. "I'll be showing you how I operate while dipping into the different styles. Since I now know you're basically a clean slate, we can get started. But first, we're headed there."

Kaminari followed his gaze. Conduit was looking at and fast approaching a tall, grey, and mortar building. He could make out some fences lining parts of the perimeter and some structures at the top, but other than that, the building was entirely unassuming.

"Uh, what is this place?"

"This is The Office: Fukuoka branch. A sort of hub for independent heroes that float around, not tied down to any one agency. Since I'm operating in Fukuoka for the time being, this is where I stay and work out of."

Kaminari's eyes were wide with wonder, "Wow. And you said Fukuoka branch? That means there are other buildings just like this everywhere?"

"Not everywhere, but in the places that matter," Conduit nodded. "They're all run by the Hero Public Safety Commission, so anyone that's a hero has full access to it whenever they want. They're all outfitted with bedrooms, training rooms, a full kitchen staff, and even a small staff of support engineers to fix or make any gear you might need. We'll be using this place as a base for your internship."

Conduit walked up the stairs leading to the entrance and paused, "Once we get you settled, we're going up to the roof to see what you can do and your test upper limits on absorption and output."

He briefly let arcs of purple electricity snake around his arms to give Kaminari an idea of what to expect. Kaminari gulped, "I'm going to be in a lot of pain, aren't I?"

Conduit chuckled and walked in.

Iida walked stiffly and tensely a few steps behind Manual as they walked the streets of Hosu. Manual wore a skin-tight, blue and white shirt that was tucked into light orange gloves and dark pants. He wore white boots and a matching light blue helmet with a dark visor and a fin adorning the top. His whole ensemble was reminiscent of a shark, despite not having the quirk.

Iida's head was on a swivel, but he wasn't looking for petty theft and crime. His sights were set on something more sinister, looking down any alley that looked darker than the rest, hoping to get a glimpse of his target. While walking, Manual used his silence to get his introductory spiel out of the way. Iida heard none of it.

"Sorry to bring you out on patrol on the first day, Tenya," Manual apologized, bringing Iida out his reverie, "I'm usually on-call, but since the city has… seen better times and days, everyone that's able has been asked to fill in some of the gaps."

"It's no problem, Manual. I'm glad to get a first-hand experience of being a hero so soon," Iida thanked.

Manual joked, "That makes one of us. I had a whole speech and presentation all set up back at the agency I was hoping to have you sit through. Your loss, though."

"Nonsense! I'm sure after we've finished patrolling, we will still have enough time afterwards for you to go through your presentation. I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say."

"It wasn't that important," Manual dismissed, laughing at Iida's earnestness. "I was going to use it as a slight hazing of the newbie, so you lucked out. But man, am I happy you're here. Having Ingenium's little brother here is sure to bring the city out of its stupor."

Iida froze at the casual mention of his brother. For a brief second, he saw nothing but red. How can a hero talk so brazenly about another's misfortune, let alone right in front of the subject's brother?

The more rational part of Iida's brain knew that Manual meant no harm with his comment, only trying to keep a light atmosphere, but the part that was being blinded with rage writhed at it. Iida wanted to give in to the rage and yell at Manual, telling him to keep his brother's name out of his mouth and spoken with only due respect, but he stamped it down. There was no point in being angry with him. Manual was his mentor for the week, and a hero. He wasn't a villain.

Iida bottled up his anger and screwed the lid tight. The anger would be used when he saw a villain. The true villain. He would save it for when he found Stain.

As soon as he mentioned Ingenium, Manual wanted to bite his tongue. Tenya had been silent for most of their patrol, but the silence now coming from behind him was different. Instead of it being subdued and respectful, this was laser focused and oppressing. He turned his head to look at him and even though his face was covered by a helmet, Manual knew that Tenya was lost in himself. He was walking robotically, more so than he was before. His head wasn't turning as obviously as before, but when it did, Manual caught that it always lingered on an alley that was just a little too shadowed for the time of day.

Manual sighed heavily. Good going, Masaki. Now Eraserhead has a reason to kill you. He shook his head, looking to a clock, seeing it was almost lunch time, "Say, Tenya. How about we grab an early lunch? I know this shop that has the best rice bowls."

Iida physically shook himself out of the funk he fell in after hearing his name, pausing as his mind was catching up to the situation, "Would that be alright? What if there is a villain attack while we are eating?"

"Then we'll take them to go," Manual replied, smiling cheekily.

Iida took a second to think before eventually nodding. Manual smiled and led the way. He knew that Iida was only indulging him because he was the superior of the two, but he would gladly take this over risking Iida doing anything foolish like Eraserhead seems convinced he will do.

"Shigaraki! You owe me my… favor…" The bell jingled as Dabi entered the bar, his proclamation dying as he was met with an empty room. The stool that Kagero usually occupies was empty, even Kurogiri wasn't behind the counter drying and polishing a glass to crystal clarity. Moments passed and nothing changed. There wasn't the slight shift of air that signified Kurogiri's arrival, nor did the door that led further into the building open.

Dabi shrugged and made his way behind the counter, eyeing the multiple bottles on the shelves, "Let's see… What to celebrate with. A bourbon? No, too standard. Scotch? Possibly. Maybe…"

As Dabi reached for a bottle at random from the highest shelf, a voice called out, "Might I suggest a cognac? Kurogiri has one that he reserves only for the most special of occasions."

Dabi froze, his hand stopping just as he was about to grab a bottle. Dread creeped up his spine as the voice that called out was too sweet and cordial to be anything but genuine. He slowly turned around, confirming that there was no one else in the room. The seats were empty, the air conditioning unit hummed quietly, and the TV that sat in the corner was showing static. Everything looked normal minus the absence of the two main bodies.

He scanned the room again, searching for the owner of the voice, but coming up empty. Something shifted in the corner of his eye. Snapping his head, the TV was now a blank screen instead of static.

"What the f-" Dabi leaned towards the TV, trying to inspect it before the floor disappeared beneath him. He yelped as he went through one of Kurogiri's portals, landing with a solid thud on padded ground.

"Oh, Dabi," he heard Kagero call out to him, "nice of you to drop in. I sure hope you weren't planning on stealing anything from Kurogiri. He hates it when people try that."

Dabi sat up, taking in the sight before him. Toga and the brat were sparring with a knife, some dude with a bag over his head was making a mess of things with mud, and Kagero was staring at him, his face showing slight irritation like he had interrupted something. He bent down and held his hand out to help Dabi up.

"Fuck you. That was a shitty joke and you know it," Dabi bat Kagero's hand out of the way and stood on his own, "You owe me now."

The irritation on Kagero's face was replaced with confusion, "What do you mean?"

"You said that whoever was able to set a meeting up with Stain gets a favor from you. Stain said he'll meet you in three days. I want my favor."

"Ah," Kagero nodded, "I did say that. Except Toga said that she was the one to set up the meeting before you."

Dabi looked over to where Toga and the brat were still knife fighting, "Oi! Crazy girl! Shigaraki's favor belongs to me!"

His declaration surprised Toga enough for the brat to get a decent slash on her. At his success, the brat whooped loudly before Toga grabbed one of his arms and flipped him over. He groaned and called out something about it being a tie.

Toga skipped over, her arms swinging widely. She stopped next to Kagero, hugging his arm. Dabi raised an eyebrow when Kagero made no move to shake her off but decided to bring that up later.

"Shi-kun, what does he mean?" she asked Kagero, looking up at him.

"He says he was able to get Stain to agree to a meeting three days from now. Didn't you say that Stain was willing to meet after you found him?" Toga nodded twice in response. He looked to Dabi, "The way I see it, Toga was first and opened the line. All you did was get him to decide on a time."

Dabi gawked, "You can't be serious. There's a huge difference between saying yes and getting a solid confirmation. What did Stain say to you, then?"

Kagero looked at Toga expectantly. She screwed her face in though as she remembered when she found Stain, "He didn't say no." Dabi looked unimpressed at the response, "He said he would meet with Shi-kun on his own time."

Dabi looked at Kagero incredulously and gestured at Toga, "There you have it. He probably only said that to get her off his back." He brought his hands up and air quoted, "'on his own time' could mean right then or literal years from now. The ball was entirely in his court, he would be calling the shots. But me, I got a date."

Kagero looked at the ceiling and tilted his head side to side like he was physically weighing the pros and cons. His mouth was moving but no words were said, silently talking through the points brought up. Eventually he finished his musings, "But you can't be sure that he agreed to an actual date because Toga got to him first." Dabi was about to rebuke before Kagero stopped him with a glare, "I also don't trust Stain enough to not pull a move like that, so good on you for making sure we get a confirmation."

Dabi looked almost hopeful while Toga was trying to give Kagero her best attempt at puppy dog eyes, but in her case, it looked more like a kitten's curious stare.

Kagero nodded, coming to a decision, "Both of you get one small favor from me, but enough of that. Jin, Mustard, get over here!"

Dabi wanted to ask what the difference was between a small favor and a normal one, but Kagero's focus was already on to the next thing. The man with a bag over his head looked up from what he was doing and walked over. Mustard ambled over while draining his water bottle.

"Since everyone's here," Kagero addressed the group, "I think some introductions are in order. Everyone, introduce yourselves again."

Bag-head, Jin, walked forward and bowed slightly, "I love meeting new people. Call me Jin. I'm already taken, move along bub."

Mustard screwed the cap back on his water bottle and waved using it, "I'm Mustard."

From Kagero's arm, Toga gave an enthusiastic wave, "I'm Himiko Toga! I love blood and Shi-kun."

Dabi could feel the sarcastic comment coming, but a glance at Kagero had him hold his tongue, "Yeah, sure. Nice to meet you too, I guess. What's with the bag?"

"Jin has a special condition that requires him to cover his head," Kagero explained for him, finally shaking Toga off his arm as he moved to place an arm around Jin's shoulders. "Outside of saying he'll split apart, he hasn't explained much."

Jin nodded in agreement, "Don't want to risk anything, so I cover myself up. My face is too pretty for the likes of you."

"Exactly. Jin is the newest member of the League, so play nice and get to know each other." Kagero pat Jin on the chest, "Jin and I still have some things we need to try out. Everyone else, you're on your own for the rest of the time."

Dabi immediately turned and left the training room, stuffing his pockets in his hands. He felt Toga fall into step behind him, with Mustard bringing up the rear. He could sense Toga's excitement bubbling just beneath the surface.

If he ignored her, maybe she'll get a clue.

"Dabi. Dabi," she tapped on his shoulder immediately. He dipped his head, resigned to his fate, "What are you gonna ask Shi-kun for? Are you gonna save it? Me? I'm gonna take him out on a date!"

That got a reaction out of him. He stopped and turned around, seeing Toga with a wide smile. Mustard was catching up, but made eye contact with Dabi. He glanced down at Toga, then back to Mustard and nodded his head away. Mustard understood what he was getting at and gave them as wide a berth as he could in the hallway and continued walking.

"Why are you so hung up on him anyway?" he couldn't help but ask. "I don't even think he would know what to do even if you asked him."

"That's just part of the fun! I love seeing how he reacts when I flirt with him!"

Dabi looked mildly amused. He could try tell her that she was far off the mark, but he knew she wouldn't listen. He also enjoyed watching her fail time and time again to get any sort of reaction out of him too much to put a stop to it now.

"Well I wish you two the best." Dabi moved to pat her on the head as condescendingly as he could, but she snaked out of the way.

"Only Shi-kun can pat my head."

He rolled his eyes and turned back around.

He was pleased with how things were turning out, but thought back to the conversation he had with Stain. He replayed it in his head, reliving the moment, remembering how desperate he felt to come out of it alive, how things started to clear up once certain things were spoken.

"Why do you think Shigaraki wants to meet with Stain so badly?" he asked Toga.

"I don't know, but I don't really care either." She hummed, her reply more serious than he would've thought her capable, "Mr. Stainy and Shi-kun were the only people who accepted me without a second thought, and Shi-kun even gave me a warm bed, food, and all the blood I would want. If Shi-kun wants to meet with Mr. Stainy, then what reason would I have to deny him that?"

Dabi grunted in response, but that wasn't enough for him. He thought back to the voice he heard upstairs when he first arrived, "Aren't you the least bit curious about any of this? I know what I signed up for, but I don't like knowing the whole picture."

"So long as you get to do what you want, why do you care?" Toga's tone was changing. Her normal singsong voice replaced with iron, "Why are you asking questions? What's your gain?" She pulled a knife out, loud enough for Dabi to hear it be removed from its sheath.

She wasn't serious. Yet.

"Relax. I don't plan on getting in between you and Shigaraki, nor between Shigaraki and whatever he's planning," he tried to defuse the situation. "Like I said, I don't like not knowing all the angles. Sue me for trying to make sure my ass is covered."

Toga concealed her knife again, then trailed a hand across Dabi's back as she walked past him, "If you want to know the full picture so badly, why not just ask him yourself?"

She skipped forward, done with the conversation. Toga's tone set Dabi on edge. There was a reason she said it like that.

"Ask me what?"

Dabi sighed as he heard Kagero call out from behind him. Of course.