The trio accidently went viral, and it's quite the pain. But still, internships are important, so they are working hard to keep learning from their mentor! Although alleyways can be a bit dangerous...The results of the first year sports festival are announced! And nothing else bad could happen, right?
Patrolling after accidentally becoming viral internet sensations was…an experience, Himiko mused. It didn't help that they were apparently very recognizable, considering…the cat features. Which had led to some very weird questions about them being triplets. The internet was abuzz with a lot of theories apparently. Triplets was the most common one, although a genetic experiment was another one she'd stumbled upon. Also at least a few people believed they were cat-folk aliens coming to enslave the human race or something…yeah, she wasn't gonna touch that one at all.
But getting stopped in the street for questions was a bit…off-putting. None of them had had PR training and Izuku had a tendency to freeze when confronted with strangers, so it was quickly becoming hell on her nerves, especially since it was hell on all their nerves which meant they were sharing it again. This whole emotion sharing thing really had a lot of downsides.
But there was something rather wholesome about the kids. Kids stopping them on the street, looking at the three of them with wide eyes, guileless smiles, and adorable giggles. She didn't even really mind when they wanted to pet her ears, even though they sometimes weren't as gentle as she hoped. But still, seeing the smiles and wonderment on their faces, it made something well up in her chest that made her want to cry tears of joy. Izuku wasn't doing as good about it as she was, the green-haired teenager having to keep excusing themselves to wipe their eyes, but that was just something else rather sweet about the day to her.
They had started a late afternoon patrol with Ingenium, the hero deciding it was best to keep the trio with him for the foreseeable future considering how much people would want to speak to them. It helped that he himself was an incredibly popular hero, which also pulled some of the pressure off the trio onto himself, and his genial attitude and cheerful disposition helped them feel more comfortable. Especially as he knew where the line was, when to gently urge them onward, with cheery comments about how they had to keep their patrol going to keep everyone safe and such.
So as the night began to fall and the streets got darker, the nightlife of the city of Hosu began to awaken, Himiko…felt something. A familiar twinge, one that she had started to associate with Danger Sense. It didn't feel like a direct danger to them right now, but more like…something dangerous was near. She could see the same stiffening of the spine in Izuku and Ochako, all three of them unerringly turning to look down a nearby alleyway.
Ingenium turned his head to look at them. "...what is it?"
"Something's…off, down there," Himiko replied, pointing down the alleyway. "Something dangerous."
"How can you tell?"
Izuku scratched the back of their head. "It's hard to explain, but um, one of the shared things we have is a sense for danger? It's weird, it's not like…we're not in danger, but there is something dangerous that way. If that makes sense?"
Ingenium looked pensive for a moment, his expression hidden behind his helmet but still obvious. "Hmm. Well, it's on our route. Alright. I'm calling in my sidekicks to come for backup, for now, we'll check it out together. Stay behind me and we'll take a look." The trio nodded, following behind Ingenium as he carefully picked his way down the alley, the gloom of the night seeping further in as the streetlights got further and further away.
Himiko shuddered, her skin feeling prickly and chilled for some reason. Danger Sense was still whining, steadily growing louder in the back of her mind, the fur on her tail puffed out as it entwined about her ankles. Her ears were swiveling back and forth, seeking a noise that didn't belong. She scrunched up her nose a moment later, a scent she recognized but not quite able to place…tangy, metallic…blood.
The realization hit her at the same moment it did the other two, all three of their spines snapping upright in unison as Danger Sense roared in their head, their ears picking up the tiniest sound of whistling, of something…falling.
Izuku reacted quicker than either Himiko or Ochako, the pain from Danger Sense not as debilitating to them with their high pain tolerance. They thrust one hand up, focusing on their Telekinesis, and with a sudden, short jerk, the ragged figure covered in black and red was stopped, frozen in midair, sword held in a downward grip as if to stab into whoever was below it.
All five individuals froze…the trio staring up at the dangling figure, Ingenium shoving them behind him and taking a defensive stance, and the now floating figure just dangling there in silent consternation. Ingenium narrowed his eyes, scanning over the person before him. "...who…who are you?"
The figure hissed, a deep, grating voice audible. "I am Stain, cleanser of the corruption of this society and the downfall of false heroes! You are to be the next to fall to my blade, Ingenium! It's obvious you are a fake hero who uses his position to advance his own career at the cost of others!"
"...but…how? He's just a good hero?" Izuku asked, confused.
"What would children like you know of good heroes? You are nothing but showboating students trying to show off! I saw that little rescue of yours! Pitiful attempts to market your brand before you even have begun to tarnish the name of heroism even further!" Stain snarled.
"Wait…are you sayin' we shoulda let those people die?" Ochako replied, jaw dropped. "The hells wrong with ye?!"
"You wouldn't understand, you're indoctrinated into this fake hero world! All fakes will die by my hand, and Ingenium is no different!"
Himiko arched an eyebrow, putting her hand on her hip as she looked up at him. "Um…I think you're gonna have a difficult time with that, considering…" she gestured to his current position of being frozen midair.
Ingenium interrupted any further conversation by turning to Izuku. "Trinity, how long can you hold this?"
"Um…not much longer?" Izuku replied, sweat beading on their forehead. "But it's okay, 'Chako can take over if I get him on the ground."
Ingenium turned to Ochako, tilting his head to the side as she nodded. "Yeah, I can just do my increased gravity thing, I can hold that for over an hour now!"
"...very well, do so." With a nod, Izuku focused, carefully lowering the man to the ground, forcing him to splay out spread eagle as he did. Ochako moved closer, but not so close as to be within the range of his weapon, and reached down to her waist where she kept a spool of wire. She focused, pink lightning flickering around the wire as she whipped it forward, the end tapping onto Stain's side and instantly slamming him into the concrete, the ground cracking slightly.
Ochako winced. "Oh. Oops. That was a bit more than I wanted to use…but he'll be okay!" Stain just growled angrily at her, glaring up at her as he tried in vain to move. She pulled the wire back, whistling to herself as she coiled it up and attached it to her belt once more.
Ingenium stared for a brief moment, before turning to the trio once more. "He can't move, right?"
"Nope! Not unless he's stronger than my gravity, and not even Izu can get out of it!" Ochako replied cheerfully.
"Very well. Stay back as I search him then." Ingenium carefully knelt besides Stain, patting him down and removing a truly absurd number of knives and blades from him. It was during this process that two of Ingenium's sidekicks arrived, both appearing in the alleyway at a great speed, before skidding to a halt and staring in confusion. Ingenium sighed. "It's…a long story."
RipleysNemesis: so, midori, chako, himi, got an explanation for the class?
CatsAreBetterThanPeople: ashido, i dont think it can be much more clear than the news said
GottaGoFast: They defeated the Hero Killer at my brother's side! Truly, they are examples of what we should all strive for!
RipleysNemesis: okay but, seriously, stop and think about what you just said ida. Like…wtf.
ClassGoddess: I admit to being rather curious about how the situation even occurred in the first place…
Nyanbinary: Look, it was mostly an accident!
SpaceCadet:...izu, i dont think that helps much
CountessKarnstein: okay, the tldr is our weird danger thingy turned on, we pointed it out, bossman said lets check it out, and then the jerk tried to ambush ingenium but uh, danger thingy meant izu caught him midair with his telekinesis thing and well, yeah. turns out he cant do much without getting in your face or throwing knives at you
Nyanbinary: And then 'Chako pushed him to the ground with her gravity and held him there till he could be disarmed and captured!
SpaceCadet: youre the one who caught him though!
CountessKarnstein: ugh, see what ive been dealing with? theyre both too busy hyping the other up to admit what they did
OnePunchWoman: I mean, it could be worse I suppose?
Nyanbinary: Okay, not to change the subject, but like…am I ever gonna escape this name?
ClassGoddess: No. It amuses me.
PunkNeverDies: momo on her dictator arc
ClassGoddess: I don't know what you are talking about.
OnePunchWoman: Don't listen to her, she knows exactly what she's doing.
CountessKarnstein: aaannnyyways, what about the festival? didn't it finish? who won?
CatsAreBetterThanPeople: yaoyorozu. probably why she's on her dictator arc
ClassGoddess: I am not a dictator!
VanishingAct: you shoulda seen it! it was super cool! momo and shoto duked it out in the finals, it got messy and was super close!
Shoto: I am still not used to using my fire properly, so I had to be judicious in its usage. Not to decry Yaoyorozu's skills, of course. She had me on the defensive early with the flamethrower and flashbangs.
ClassGoddess: Well, I had to be careful!
WebCrawler: whole tournament was pretty crazy. had a support girl get into the 1v1 rounds and turn ida into an advertisement
GottaGoFast: Speak not of that devil!
DoctorSweets: sorry ida, but it was pretty funny
RipleysNemesis: oh, and that bakugo jerk? didn't even make it past the first 1v1 round, he couldn't shut up vs Shinso!
Nyanbinary:...oh. Well…I…suppose that makes sense. He wouldn't know how the Quirk worked, after all.
CatsAreBetterThanPeople: yeah, but I got Yaoyorozu next round and she kicked my ass lol
ClassGoddess: Do not discount your efforts! You have put a lot of work into your hand to hand and it showed!
CatsAreBetterThanPeople: Yaoyorozu, take the compliment. you did great through the whole tournament
PunkNeverDies: seeing Momo turn into a cherry is funny af
CountessKarnstein: oh, is it as funny as when 'Chako turns into a balloon?
PunkNeverDies: pretty close, might be funnier
ClassGoddess: I do not believe we need to compare.
SpaceCadet: what Yaoyorozu said!
Nyanbinary: I don't know, it could be important information…
SpaceCadet: i will remind you you are within strangling distance! you and Himi!
CountessKarnstein: don't threaten us with a good time
VanishingAct: okay. I'm just gonna say it, that is 100% flirting, isn't it?
RipleysNemesis: totally flirting
CallMeTsu: yep, ribbit
SpaceCadet: IT IS NOT!
CountessKarnstein: what, no it isn't!
Nyanbinary: I think that's really stretching it, we just like to tease each other, like friends do!
PunkNeverDies: 'friends'...right
WebCrawler: uh-huh
DoctorSweets: yeah im with them on this
IDoNotLikePoe: Tis a darkness from whence one cannot escape
BoulderBro: okay, what does that even mean Tokobro?
IDoNotLikePoe: If you have to ask, you shall never know
SpaceCadet:...we've gotta go, Ingenium is calling!
RipleysNemesis: uh-huh, sure. have fun kit-kats!
Ochako shut her phone, her face pink tinged as she refused to look at her friends. It wasn't the first time Mina or Toru had made a comment like that, and the rest of the class joined in, and every time it was so awkward. And it was made worse by all three of them feeling various levels of awkwardness from it. Himiko took it the best…she was okay with the teasing and such, but Izuku would get really flustered by it, and Ochako…well, it always made her blush too.
Yes, she and her best friends had an extremely close relationship. Hard not to, with the linked emotions and Quirk thing, plus their shared childhood together. And yes, the way she felt about Himiko and Izuku was…different, than how she felt about her other friends. Sure, they were (beautiful) attractive, maybe not necessarily in the conventional sense but she could appreciate how they looked. Aesthetically, of course, entirely from a neutral, aesthetic standpoint.
She could also admit she truly, deeply, genuinely admired the two of them in a powerful way. Izuku was…sweet. Kind. Smart. And whenever they got into 'hero mode' as she and Himiko liked to call it…sometimes it took her breath away, the sheer focus and determination that would flood through them.
Himiko was so bright sometimes, it was hard to look at her. She struggled so hard with her self-loathing and doubts and fears that her parents shoved into her for years, but sometimes, when she was in a good mood, she outshone the sun and Ochako didn't know how to deal with the warmth in Himiko's smile.
So yeah, okay. Ochako got why people sometimes misunderstood her relationship with Izuku and Himiko. From an outsider's perspective it looked weird, sure, but so what? So what if they were weird? The world was weird, and Quirks were bullshit, and, and, and so what if she had two super hot, funny, cute, sweet friends who made her feel like she could fight the world a dozen times over and win every time. But it wasn't like that! It never could be like that, even if she wanted it to be, which she didn't, but even if she did, it wouldn't be. Not with her. Not with all her issues and weakness and-
"'Chako?" Himiko's voice interrupted her thoughts, making her jolt as she turned to look at the blonde. Himiko's eyes were seeking, visibly worrying at her lip as she tilted her head to the side to look Ochako over. Behind her, Ochako could see Izuku, a similarly concerned expression on their face. "You okay? You're feeling all…whoosh," Himiko made a vague gesture with her hands.
Ochako cleared her throat, shoving her feelings down once more. Now was not the time to get lost in thought. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just thinkin', that's all."
"Thinking about what?" Izuku asked softly, holding out Ochako's gloves for her hero costume, reminding Ochako she was in the process of affixing her costume once more for the next thing Ingenium was going to have them do. She quickly grabbed them and pulled them on, smiling absently as she did so.
"Nothin' important," she reassured. She had a feeling neither of them believed her, but it seemed like they were willing to drop it for now. "Anyways, let's get goin'!...Hopefully without anymore weird incidents!"
Himiko groaned. "You just jinxed us."
"I'm sure it'll be fine," Izuku tried to reassure the blonde, Himiko turned and glaring at Izuku without heat.
"And you just double jinxed us."
"We can't have three issues back to back, Himi. I refuse to believe it," Ochako replied.
Himiko stared her down, turning her flat gaze to stare at Izuku as well. "...when I'm right, I expect both of you to admit it."
"Alright, alright. C'mon, let's not keep Ingenium waiting," Izuku said with an indulgent smile. "One more patrol before we focus on paperwork!" Himiko just grumbled, leaving the room with Izuku following behind, Ochako shrugging and falling in line. They'd already stopped a building collapse and caught the Hero Killer, what more could they have to deal with?
"I want to hear you fucking say it!" Himiko shouted, blinking out of existence and reappearing atop one of those monstrous Nomu creatures, her daggers slamming into its shoulders as she tried to forcibly steer it away from the running civilians.
"Now is not the time, Changeling!" Izuku shouted back, eyes alight with green flame as Blackwhip swirled and snapped at a pair of Nomu, trying to force them back as Izuku tried to reach a young couple trapped in a car.
"Less talkin', more savin'!" Ochako interjected, slamming her hands onto a knocked over lamp post. With its gravity removed, she snatched it up and spun about, using it as a makeshift club to slam into another Nomu, sending it careening down the street with a loud screech.
"I fucking told you not to jinx it, and what do you two do? 'Oh, it'll be fine, oh, nothing bad'll happen', well fuck that! I am never letting either of you live this down!" Himiko screamed, flipping up and over the Nomu she was on, slamming the back of her foot into its face with a snarl as she ramped Sanguine Cloak up to her max of 30%.
"I swear Hi-err, Changeling, we can talk about it later!" Ochako snarled back. She turned about and launched her lamp post turned club like a javelin at another Nomu, the metal object slamming into it and sending it flying backwards once more.
The trio had, unfortunately, found a street filled with a ton of civilians who were trying to escape, but the half dozen Nomu creatures had closed in from both sides of the road and were not making it easy to help them escape. They'd gotten separated from their mentor early on, intending on trying to help people evacuate, but once Danger Sense had triggered, well…they had to do something, right?
"Oh sure, later, just say you don't wanna admit it!" Himiko scoffed.
"Now is not the time!" Izuku screamed, clenching their fists with a loud roar. The black tendrils of Blackwhip finally got a grip around the two Nomu and with a jerk, Izuku slammed them into the pavement, cracking it beneath their bodies with a sickening crunch. They let out a sigh, turning their glowing eyes towards the half-crushed car. They strode over to it, the Nomu writhing within the whips as Izuku reached out with one hand, gripping onto the broken metal of the door. With a grunt, the lightning around them roaring to life, they ripped the door out of the frame, revealing two wide-eyed young women staring at Izuku. Izuku immediately twisted their expression into a reassuring grin. "Are you two uninjured?" they asked, modulating their tone to a softer one.
"Um…yeah?" the taller woman offered, seeming unsure.
"Alright, well, if you could make your way that way to a safe zone, it would be much appreciated! We'll keep you safe, don't you worry!" Izuku said, keeping their smile plastered on their face.
"Y-yeah, okay. Thank you so much!" the shorter woman said, shimmying out of the vehicle behind her friend. They quickly began to run down the street, through the path Izuku had cleared by taking control over the two Nomu. Others were rushing down it now as well, being directed by Ochako with one hand as her other hand casually tossed a chunk of wall into the face of a sallow-skinned Nomu, sending it careening into another broken wall with a wail.
Himiko blinked next to Izuku, sweat beading on her forehead as she quickly looked around. "Do we have any clue what's going on?"
Izuku shook their head. "I can't really make heads or tails of the comms, it's just a jumbled mess."
Himiko sighed. "Shit, I was afraid of that."
Ochako jogged over. "Last Nomu is stuck under some rubble. I don't think they are as strong as the one at the USJ."
"Yeah…doesn't seem so," Izuku mused, glancing around. They shook their head. "Not much we can do about it right now. I think…I think we should like, tie them up or something and just work on more evacuations for now?"
"Yeah but where?" Himiko asked, looking around. The area around them was now deserted, all the civilians having fled once the path was clear.
Ochako pursed her lips, looking up with a calculating glance. "...gimme one of your blackwhip thingies, Izu. I got an idea." Izuku blinked, but did as she asked, extending a tendril towards her. She wrapped it around her belt, Izuku following along as they understood Ochako's intent, and then tapped herself to remove her gravity. With a Galactic Shroud assisted push, she launched herself up into the air, Izuku extending Blackwhip as far as they could as she went. She got above the buildings nearby, spinning about in place to peer as best she could. She started after a moment, looking down at the two below her and tugging on the whip, which Izuku took as a sign to reel her in.
She tapped her fingers together as she got close enough to the ground, landing with a gentle thud as her gravity returned. "A couple blocks to the east, one of the buildings is on fire and I saw some people running. We can probably help over there!"
"Sounds like a plan. Let's get these things tied up and move."
Himiko crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. "I'm still waiting for my 'you were right' moment."
Izuku rolled their eyes, reaching up and scratching Himiko's ears, making her loosen her stance as a smile unwillingly crept onto her face, her eyes narrowing to slits. "Yes, yes, we'll get there once this city attack is over."
Himiko shook her head after a moment, batting Izuku's hand away as she glared at them. "Fine…but I'm not gonna forget!"
Ochako snorted, already moving to tie up the stuck Nomu nearby. "Never change, Himi. Never change."
Himiko is NEVER letting Ochako or Izuku live this down.