Nighteye stood in front of his Agency's door, early in the morning. Centipeder and Bubble Girl, his sidekicks, had already arrived and were busy organizing their current cases. The Rapture was no excuse to let their hard work go to waste, after all. Normally, he would be in his office doing the same, but he had two special arrivals to his Agency that he wished to meet in person. A cheerful whistle began to echo in the morning air, and he realized that the first arrival was nearby.
The sound turned the corner, revealing the impressive figure of Mirio Togata. The U.A. Hero student strode toward Nighteye's Agency with his trademark smile. Their eyes met, and Nighteye couldn't help but feel his lips twitch up at seeing Miro's cheerfulness.
"Good morning, Sir!" Togata said, with the energy as if he had chugged a dozen expresso. Only those close to the highschooler personally knew that he was naturally a ball of such sunshine.
"Likewise, Togata." Nighteye said. It may have sounded like a cold greeting, but Mirio seemed to be able to detect the warmth in it.
"It's good to be back, Sir!" Mirio replied. "I'm just surprised that I got out of the ice so soon!"
Nighteye rolled his eyes at the teenager's cheekiness. "Nezu seems to be pulling all kind of strings to have anyone related to U.A. returned as soon as possible. He did help resolve the whole issue, so I suppose he gets a bit of say in terms of priority."
"Well, I'm not complaining! I'm glad I won't be missing a year of school or missing out on finishing our internship!" Mirio admitted. "Though I'm surprised you came out to greet me personally. Worried I'd forgotten my way around already?"
"Of course not." Nighteye said with a huff. "We'll be having another Hero working with us for the rest of the week. They're a greenhorn, so I expect you to help in showing them the ropes."
"Me? But didn't you say they were a Hero? Like a full Hero, and not another Hero student? Wouldn't they have already learned about that stuff?" Mirio asked, understandably.
"They normally would, but I'm afraid this is a special case." Nighteye said. Before he could explain further, the one in question ran around the corner in a rush.
"Sorry! I hope I'm not late!" Midoriya cried, running up to the two and bowing.
"Don't worry. Your timing is perfect, in fact." Nighteye looked over to Togata. "Togata, this is Midoriya Izuku. Hero name: Deku."
"Deku? Wait, isn't that the name of that Hero that saved everyone from the Rapture?!" Togata stared at the scarred boy with great surprise. "But he's barely even in High School!"
"Precisely. That is why I will be expecting you to assist in his time here to learn the ropes." Nighteye said, turning now to Midoriya. "This is Mirio Togata, a Hero-in-Training, also known as Lemillion in the field. Be sure to listen to what he has to say."
"Y-Yes Sir!" Midoriya said.
"Good. Now, I'll show you around the Agency quickly before we begin our patrol." Nighteye explained, walking towards the office.
"Is there really that many people that we need to do a full patrol?" Mirio asked as the two followed him.
"The government seems to be in a rush to get as many people back as fast as possible. Unfortunately, that has let many Villains slip back into society under less scrutiny. Throw in the fact that many will see the lack of people around as approval to commit criminal acts, and its important that we go out and show the people that the Heroes are still out there." Nighteye said.
He quickly introduced Midoriya to his two sidekicks, before leaving Mirio with them and ushering the young Hero into his office. Once they were alone, he walked behind his desk and pulled out a couple pieces of paper.
"Now, there are a couple things to address before we begin." Nighteye looked up at Izuku, who stood at attention. "Firstly, you are still keeping the nature of your Quirk a secret, yes? Do you have a sufficient cover story in place?"
"Um, yeah. We've decided to call it 'Heroic Spirit', a Quirk that lets me copy the abilities of certain Heroes, with unknown criteria." Midoriya explained. "We figured this was a decent enough idea, since all the Quirks are technically from Hero's."
"Even the one's you got from that Villain?" Nighteye raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. They're all from current Heroes, sans Cell Activation and Scanning. But they all have their Quirks still, so he somehow got copies of them." Midoriya let out a sigh. "We're not really sure the explanation for that, but we're sure it's not a good one."
"No doubt." Nighteye can see how worrying it is that someone had apparently been able to copy many Heroes Quirks and had been implanting them in Villains. He could only hope that whoever they were got caught in the Rapture and will be discovered before their release. "On the topic of the Quirks, I have yet to be informed of all of them. Could you tell me all of them? I'd like to know what your capable of before you take the field."
"I figured you might ask, so I brought this along!" Midoriya reached into his bag and pulled out a notebook. "I copied down a brief version of my notes on my own Quirks in there. Feel free to keep it or add to it!"
Nighteye took the notebook, opening the first page curiously. He raised his eyebrows as he began to scan it. While the writing was certainly rushed, it was still eligible to him, and within them was a wealth of knowledge and speculation. Thirteen Quirks, and he had managed to grasp the importance of how to use each, along with how to use them together. There was obviously room for growth, and he had yet to test it practically much outside of a crisis, but it was impressive for someone who didn't even have a Quirk less than a couple months ago.
"These notes are well done." Nighteye admitted honestly after scanning the final page. "I'll be sure to add any notes for improvements at the end of the week."
"T-Thanks, Sir." Midoriya said bashfully. "It was always kinda a habit of mine to make notes like this. I do it for most Quirks I see but doing it for myself feels odd."
"There's nothing strange about thinking about how better to use your Quirk. All Heroes must do so to improve themselves. Be sure to keep up such habits." Nighteye said. He eventually set the notebook aside, pushing forward the papers he had taken out moments ago. "But we've delayed for long enough. It is time that we make our partnership this week official. Could you please sign the paper here?"
"Sure?" Midoriya said, picking up the pen pushed over to him and looking down at the paper. "But… what exactly do I need to sign for? Not that I'm doubting you! I'm just…"
"That's a perfectly reasonable question." Nighteye pointed to the header at the top. "This is a Hero Team-Up form. It's to officially specify to the HPSC that two different Agencies will be working jointly for a certain amount of time."
"Is that needed? Can't two Heroes just patrol together?" Midoriya asked reasonably.
"Technically, yes. Heroes may run into each other during work, and sometimes do follow the same routes sometimes. But there are cases where specifying a proper partnership is recommended." Nighteye began to go over an example. "Say two Agencies are across the street from each other, and they have the same patrol every day. They take down Villains together at times, but when they do one side gets paid more for their work by the Commission."
"What? Why?" Midoriya cries out.
"Who knows. Maybe one had a less flashy Quirk and wasn't seen as contributing as much. Maybe they had a more supportive Quirk and were responsible for keeping damage and injury down." Nighteye shrugged. "While they could eventually request the Commission adjust their evaluation, by having formed an official Team-Up, they would be seen as contributing equally to the resolution, no matter the personal contributions during the fight."
"That… makes sense. I'm surprised I've never heard of this." Midoriya said in surprise.
"Well, there aren't many reasons to use them." Nighteye admitted. "Heroics are a rather spontaneous workforce. You can't usually predict who will be at a random Villain attack and ask them to wait while you submit the paperwork to get equal credit for beating them. And if you're going to be permanently working with another Hero, it's either an official Group Agency like the Pussycats or as a Sidekick." He tapped the dotted line. "But for a weeklong joint patrol, it is the perfect use. Now, please sign the dotted line to confirm the Team-Up between Nighteye Agency and Might Agency."
Midoriya took the pen and reached down to sign. "That makes sense-, wait a minute! What do you mean Might Agency?! I'm not a member of All Might's Agency!"
Nighteye looked at the boy like he was stupid, before his eyes widened and he muttered to himself in disbelief.
"God damn it Yagi…" He quickly focused back on the new Hero before him. "Midoriya, all Heroes are part of an Agency. Even by technicality, solo Heroes like Mirko are an Agency, due to the simple matter of paperwork. You must have signed some papers when you got your Hero License, which registered the Agency you were under. You're technically too young to be in charge of an Agency though, so All Might made you a member of his."
"But All Might's retired! How can he be in charge?" Midoriya asked in confusion.
"While he may be retired doing Hero work, that doesn't mean he isn't still a Hero." Nighteye explained. "Hero Licenses, unless revoked by the government, effectively never expire. While he may not be actively on the field, he still has the authority to manage an Agency as a Hero. That said, authority can be deferred to the on-field Hero if approved, as All Might did. This makes you effectively the Head Hero of Might Agency."
Midoriya stared at Nighteye silently, mouth agape and eyes wide open.
"All Might didn't tell you any of that, did he?" Nighteye asked, and when Midoriya shook his head, he let out a very suffering sigh before muttering under his breath. "I'm going to strangle that man…"
"Umm…" Midoriya stood in front of him, confused and pen in hand.
"Look, we can worry about All Might's failings as a teacher later." Nighteye said with a dismissive wave. "Please just sign this paper so we can go on patrol and worry about the details later. I'll be giving Yagi a call later though to see what else he might have failed to tell you."
"Right." Midoriya said eventually, signing his name rather messily on the form.
Nighteye flipped it back around, signing his own name next to the boys. "There. For the next four days, we are officially partnered."
"T-Thank you for having me!" Midoriya said with a bow.
"This is a Team-Up, not an Internship. You have equal authority to me now." Nighteye said at the kid's politeness. "That said, it might be best to follow my lead for a bit until you get the hang of daily patrols. Now, get suited up and outside in five. Time for your first patrol."
A few moments later, Nighteye was walking down the streets with his intern and new Team-Up partner. Midoriya, or Deku, as he was on the field, was wearing a rather odd outfit. It seemed a mix of a tracksuit and armored padding, with armored gauntlets. According to the boy, it was an 'intern' suit until Melissa and David Shield could finish building the proper one.
The most important part to Nighteye though was the helmet/mask Deku wore. The bottom half was some form of rebreather that looked like one of All Might's smiles. The upper half was a smooth black material that was impossible to see though, allowing for complete anonymity. At the sides were two thick antenna-like bits that pointed back at an angle, as if they were bunny ears.
"That's a fun looking helmet!" Lemillion remarked.
"Err, thanks?" Deku replied, slightly confused by the earnestness.
"No really! Despite not showing your face, it makes you come across as approachable instead of threatening!" Lemillion explained.
"Does it?" Deku seemed surprised for a moment, before thinking to himself. "Well, it was designed to look like All Might's face at first..."
Lemillion looked at him in surprise. "It was?"
"Uh! I mean…" Deku seemed to be embarrassed by accidentally admitting such a thing, but before he could refute anything, there was a crash nearby the radio crackled to life. Before anything could be said though, Deku was flying off. "I'll come in from above!"
"Armed robbery at Rylith Convenience Store in progress. Four villains reported on site. Requesting nearby Heroes for assistance." An HPSC dispatcher declared across the local channel.
"That's just around the corner." Nighteye said as he turned to head in the direction of the store, bringing the radio up to respond. "Nighteye, Lemillion, and Deku, nearby and enroute! Come on Lemillion!" Nighteye said seriously, and the two ran down the road to the scene of the crime. What he saw however, gave him some pause. "What the hell?"
The front glass of the convenience store on the other end of the block was shattered, and in a way that indicated that something had burst out of it. It wasn't hard to find what that something was, as a rather heavy-set Villain was placing a cash register (along with the rest of the damn counter) in the back of a pickup truck just outside. Three more villains stood near him, and they all turned to Nighteye as they noticed him at the other end of the road.
"Nice try Heroes, but your too slow!" One of the Villains began to taunt. "Now, be sure to remember the name of yours truly. Team Reservoir Dogs-Shit!"
The Villain found his teams introduction cut off as four blue serpents flew down from on high and pinned them into the pavement. They attempted to struggle out of the mouths of the four heads but found no success. Both Heroes and Villains looked up to the source of the restraint's, finding Deku floating there with four Hydra's coming out of his back.
"Let's see here..." Two golden lights emerged from Deku's mask, and they moved around in the void of his facemask as they scanned the four restrained Villains. The glowing eyes vanished, and Deku began to descend back to the ground as he kept them restrained. "Don't worry guy's, none of them have Quirks that can get them out of Hydra. So, should I just keep them like this until the cops arrive?"
Nighteye stared at Deku for a moment before remembering that the young Hero was referring to him. "Err, yes. Just keep them like that for now. The cops should be here soon." He brought up the radio again. "Nighteye reporting. Villains at Rylith Convenience Store have been restrained. Awaiting police for arrest."
"Roger that. Excellent work, Nighteye." The HSPC dispatcher responded happily.
"I didn't do anything." Nighteye said blankly, though not into the radio receiver.
"Wow Midoriya, four Villains on your first patrol? That's real impressive! I only got a single purse snatcher." Lemillion said cheerfully.
"I-It's not a competition!" Deku responded quickly.
"It is rather anomalous though." Nighteye admitted. "Most patrols don't involve arrests, and simply serve as deterrence. To encounter such a robbery not even thirty minutes into your first patrol is… unique."
"Seriously?! This brat is a rookie?!" One of the Villains let out a pained moan. "How is he so strong?! Man, this just isn't fair…"
Nighteye couldn't help but agree.
It turned out the 'anomaly' of the robbery wasn't very anomalous.
Nighteye quickly realized that having a Quirk that could not only detect negative emotions directed at yourself, but others, made Deku able to detect an incident before they were even called in. What was supposed to be a simple patrol around town quickly turned into Nighteye and Lemillion chasing after Delu as he zigzagged across the district solving problems faster than they could be announced.
Nighteye was on the radio so much reporting incidents solved by Deku to the HSPC dispatcher that it felt like he was the one doing her job.
Eventually though, after a grueling ten hours, the three Heroes managed to make their way back to Nighteye's Agency. Him and Lemillion practically stumbled through the door, while Midoriya didn't look even slightly ashamed of himself as his helmet retracted.
"Man… I feel great!" Midoriya said cheerfully, and the other two looked at him in horror. "I was able to help so many people! And I get to go do it again tomorrow?! Hero work is the best!"
"It sure is!" Mirio agreed, though his pep from the morning was notably muted.
"The happiness of helping others is the true reward of being a Hero." Nighteye agreed, quoting All Might as he attempted to collect himself. "Lemillion, can you go prepare that? I want to have a chat with Midoriya."
"That?" Mirio raised an eyebrow, before poorly stifling a snicker as he walked away to the Agency's office. "Ah yes, that! I'll go print them out now."
"Should I be worried?" Midoriya asked as he watched Mirio walk through the door into the office instead of opening it like a normal person.
"Not yet." Nighteye said with a scary grin. "But in all seriousness, I'd like to talk about the patrol we just did."
"Did I… do too much?" Midoriya asked. "I know you guys probably had a bit of trouble keeping up. Not to say you're slow or anything! I just-"
"It's fine. No, you didn't do too much. Today, at least." Nighteye said, quickly calming the boy from his rambling. He noticed it was a common occurrence outside of serious situations. The boy needed to get a backbone soon if he was to be respected in the field. "But I wanted to talk to you about one of the things that worried me when I worked for All Might."
"And that is?" Midoriya asked, suddenly enraptured to hear about his time under All Might.
"That he worked too hard." Nighteye answered simply. At Midoriya's befuddled expression, he explained in detail. "During the peak of his time as the Symbol of Peace, All Might ran himself ragged. People said it seemed like he was always out there stopping Villains, but that's because he literally was. He would constantly go out on patrol for two or even three days without any rest, sleeping for barely six hours before going out again. While I'll admit that his work then was needed to shape up Japan, he still pushed himself too far."
"I always figured that his Quirk just helped give him energy to always be working. I feel fine myself, if a bit hungry." Midoriya admitted.
"One for All, and presumably All as One, will give you the physical energy to keep going as long as you keep fueling it with calories." Nighteye explained, pulling an unlabeled nutrient bar out of his jacket and tossing it to him. "The real issue comes from sleep. The Quirk only barely offsets the brain's need for rest."
"So if I push myself, even if I'll be just as strong as before, I'll get sloppy and lose focus." Midoriya put together as he opened the bar and took a bite of it. He chewed it for a moment, then looked down at it with interest. "Is this a Might Bar? It tastes a bit like it, but different somehow."
"I'm impressed you can tell." Nighteye said with an admittedly large amount of self-satisfaction. "These are true Might Bar's. I developed them back when I was a Sidekick to resolve the issue of keeping All Might energized. He would keep having to take breaks in the middle of patrols to clean out fast-food joints just to keep up the calories needed to use One for All. With a team of experts, I helped devise the perfect ultra-dense, super-calory, nutrient bar to provide all that he needed while in the field."
Midoriya decided to take a glance at the nutrient info listed on the side of the bar in his hand after Nighteye's statement and yelped slightly at what he saw.
"Obviously, we had to tone down the real deal for commercial production." Nighteye revealed. "That said, I do offer orders to certain Heroes who have similar needs. I'll send you the contact info of the supplier so you can order your own in the future, though Might Tower likely has a lot in stock still. All Might stopped being able to eat them after his… injury."
"T-Thanks." Midoriya said, now staring at the bar in his hand and realizing it was the equivalent of an entire fast food buffet. "Umm, but about the whole rest thing…?"
"Ah, yes. We got a bit off topic." Nighteye said with a cough. "All I was trying to say is that in the future you learn to moderate yourself better when it comes to work. You shouldn't work so long that you can't function properly."
"Oh, that shouldn't be a problem." Midoriya said dismissively.
Nighteye blinked a couple times. "Pardon?"
"Well, you know how it said in my notes that I can't use any of the Quirks that All Might has now, likely due to the former Vestige of All for One in it?" Midoriya said, and Nighteye nodded. "There's actually a way to wipe the Vestiges. It's currently a bit restricted to use due to its origin, but Kagome and Abrahams are confident they'll be able to replicate a more 'public' version in a couple years. Once that's done, I'll be able to take the Energy Saver Quirk from All Might!"
"And what does that Quirk do, exactly?" Nighteye slowly asked.
"The name is rather self explanatory. It allows the body to function on much less energy than normal." Midoriya began to explain excitedly. "We don't know the exact limit, but All Might was able to stay up for a week straight once with almost no food or water without issue. We tried to see how long the 1-A facility could spar against him in turns without any breaks from him, and we ended up stopping somewhere around the 48 hour mark simply because we got bored. There's a good chance if I get that Quirk and it receives All as One's boost, I could patrol for a month straight as long as I keep my calories up."
Nighteye stared at Midoriya blankly for a long while after hearing this fact, and Midoriya stared back worriedly. "Um, Sir?"
'You've raised an absolute monster, Yagi.' Nighteye thought, before quickly collecting himself. "Well, in the meantime, it's best you remember not to drain yourself."
At that moment Miro walked back through the door with his Quirk, the cheery grin on his face having a slightly scary part to it. "Alright Sir, that is all ready!"
"Perfect." Nighteye said, smirking ominously as well. He walked towards the closed door, beckoning Midoriya to follow him. "Midoriya, I am happy at your work today, but now you must reap what you sow."
Wrapping a hand around the doorknob, Nighteye swung the office door open. Midoriya walked in as he held open the door and then entered behind him. On the nearest table there was a massive stack of paper, along with a single pen. Both Bubble Girl and Centipeder were watching in trepidation nearby, and Midoriya glanced back at Nighteye on edge.
"What is this?" Midoriya asked as he sat at the desk.
Nighteye stepped forward and took the top paper, holding it up for Midoriya. "Hero Form 12-C. Also known as the Hero Patrol Incident Resolution Form. In order for the HPSC to properly compensate you for your work, a proper record of your work must be maintained. Including each and every incident resolved."
"B-but I was working for ten hours! I must have solved dozens of incidents!" Midoriya cried out in dawning horror.
"That's right. By my calculations, you solved an incident roughly once every six minutes. That's ten incidents an hour, then multiplied by the ten hours of patrol, and that looks to be an exact one hundred." Nighteye said with a smirk as he handed over a tablet to the boy. "Here is a written record of all the calls recorded by me to the HPSC dispatcher, for clarification on what you resolved today."
"Ahh…" Midoriya let out a gasping noise as he stared at the stack of forms before him.
"Normally this task would be delegated to a sidekick or admin of the Agency. However, as the sole representative of Might Agency, the task falls to you." Nighteye continued, voice uncaring.
That said, he did feel a little bad about this. Technically, since they signed the Team-Up agreement, him or his sidekicks could have helped him with this task. And Might Tower almost certainly had admin's whose job was to do just this. He'll assist Midoriya with it tomorrow. But for now, he felt it was an important lesson for him to learn all aspects of being a Hero.
"You reap what you sow, young Midoriya." He said as he put a hand on his shoulders. "Consider it a… reminder, of all the good you do as a Hero."
Midoriya's face fell onto the desk with a thud. "Maybe I should go Vigilante. At least they don't have to do paperwork…"
Next Chapter: Day 2 – Into the Fire
A/N: And so Deku's first patrol ends! Things are only getting crazier from here, so be sure to check Nighteye's Foresight from Chapter 1 to see if you can get a clue about it!