Atori was hunched over her desk, her long bleached hair was tied up in a messy bun, a giant magnifying-glass hovered over the two metal pieces she was screwing together. Her phone began ringing next to her; she glanced at the screen before looking back at her project, deciding that the call wasn't worth pausing for. The ringtone died out, giving her peace and quiet as she continued to work on piecing together her new wrist brace; small enough to look like a normal thick banded bracelet but once the wearer pressed down on the ruby colored button it would shoot out binding tape to catch a criminal.
Her phone went off again, with a groan she set down her new toy and swiped on the green icon, bringing the phone to her ear.
"Yes, love?" annoyance seeped through her voice as she picked up her best friends call.
"Centipeder is requesting your help; seems like there's a coding villain breaking into the ATMs around the city and he is asking if you to figure out who is doing it; it seems like the criminal has cut the circuit to the ATM camera."
"And he didn't ask me himself, why, Kyoko?" Atori asked even though she knew the answer.
"He knew you'd say yes if I asked for your help. Could you just do me this solid, so he stops asking me to ask. This is like, the fifth time he has mentioned it today and it sounds like three ATMs have been broken into."
The corner's of Atori's mouth curled up, "Only if you test out my new bracelet!"
She knew her best friend would have no option but to say yes. A gurgling groan came from the phone as Kyoko made peace with her demise.
"Yeah, fine, but I swear Ato, if this thing attacks me it's the last time I'm your guinea pig for your inventions. I mean it!"
Atori hopped off from her seat, waving her hand as if Kyoko could see her gesture, "It won't attack you, it'll attack the villain! I'll be there soon bye!"
She hung up on Kyoko before she could attest to being the trial dummy.
More days than not Atori was annoyed that she got her hero license. With her quirk; Knowledge Replication. It was easy to gain information by touching inanimate objects- though some information she couldn't retain well, mostly in the form of physical books, which Atori was grateful for since she was a bookworm.
The Hero Public Safety Commission deemed that her quirk could be used in the wrong ways, therefore, getting a hero license was the only way to keep them off her back. Making a deal with the commission board that she would be a part time pro hero in addition to inventing support items and hero outfits like she intended when she attended U.A.
By the time Atori reached the Nighteye Agency, Kyoko was outside the building waiting for her. Her childhood best friend was leaning against the building wall, her long pink hair laying over her shoulders almost covering her hero outfit; made by none other than Atori herself. The long-sleeved galaxy themed leotard suit shaped out the hourglass figure Kyoko had. Atori gave the young woman no other option for her hero outfit, deeming that if Kyoko wore it, she'd become popular in the polls in no time. After a two-day fight between the two, Kyoko begrudgingly sported the outfit, later saying it worked well with her nature manipulation quirk.
Kyoko looked over to Atori, sighing as she pushed off the wall and waved slightly. Atori gauged Kyoko's expression, knowing bad news was going to come out of her mouth.
"So, they have you collaborating with another agency." She fiddled with her leotard, pulling it down to cover more of her hip.
Atori stomped her foot on the pavement, "You've got to be kidding me! I would have refused this mission if I had known I wasn't working with you!"
"I know, but I have a different job to attend too. I think you'll be excited about the collab; it's with Eraserhead's new agency…So, you may get a glimpse of your favorite Pro Hero!"
Atori's eyes grew huge, she paused for a second before accepting, "Alright, fine, I'll help. Where are you going though?"
Kyoko's face sullened for a moment before meekly speaking, "Dynamight's agency…"
"You have to go work with that hot head? Why is Centipeder even sending you on a collaboration mission anyways? He knows you work better alone or with me!"
"There's a small team getting set out to Mount Utsugi to do a rescue mission of missing hikers from Ino, and because it's in nature it was requested that I join." She began running her fingers through her hair.
"A rescue mission! No fair, that sounds way more entertaining than some money thief."
"You really want to be roaming through the forest?" She spoke as if reminding her why she never travels too far out of the city.
Atori froze on the spot, the thought of bugs crawling around or landing on her trickled in, "No…no I do not. Have fun, don't bring me back a souvenir from there."
Atori watched Kyoko still combing through her hair, she grabbed her hands and stared into Kyoko's lapis blue eyes, "I know you're nervous having to deal, not only with other people, but Bakugo of all people but maybe there will be nicer people on the rescue team. Just stop fiddling with your God damn hair, you're going to make it oily."
Kyoko glared slightly and she was about to say something when the door to the agency opened behind them. Lemillion walked out noticed the two girls and waved to them.
"Stardusk, Orphic! Are you two discussing the mission Centipeder wanted her to go on?" He asked as he strolled by, winking at Kyoko.
Kyoko's face flushed, "Oh…yeah, she's heading over to the agency right now."
"You'll be with Kyoko on her mission, right, Mirio?" Atori refused to use their hero names but smirked up at the buff man.
"I have a different matter to attend to, but I'm sure Stardusk can handle anything thrown at her! She's grown a lot since her last collaboration! I'll see you two later." He shot finger-guns at the two before heading off to start his patrol.
Once he was out of ear shot, Atori started in on Kyoko, "Why don't you try for Mirio? He's cute! Seriously Kyo you haven't tried dating since Shindo. Mirio flirts with you all the time too."
Kyoko's body tensed, "We are not discussing the Shindo fiasco, and for the record Lemillion has a thing for Suneater anyways."
Atori looked behind her, watching Mirio's cape disappear around the corner, "Damn, I mean I'd choose Tamaki too. I'm definitely going on the forms tonight to find fanfiction about those two. Man, all my hard work I put into your costume too- did you see that article comparing you to Midnight? Scandalous!"
"I still absolutely hate you for this design. I better get something that'll keep my legs warm in the winter!"
Atori turned on her heels, "Yeah, yeah, I'll see you later and tell you all about Aizawa!"
...
Aizawa's agency wasn't flashy; the small building blended in with the other stores and there was no indication it was even an agency. It was huge news to the pro hero world that he was even opening a small agency since he retired to be just a teacher; but after digging around Atori found out he opened it for one of the students he mentored; Shinso Hitoshi; the brainwashing pro hero. Atori remembered watching his battle against Izuku Midoriya; how he almost won against him his first year, and by his second year at U.A. got all the way to fourth place. A scary good quirk and Atori knew the HPSC was probably keeping a close eye on Shinso as well.
Atori pulled open the door and walked in. The set up inside was fairly simple as well, a few desks with sidekicks sitting at the computers and another sidekick at the file cabinets with a bunch of documents in their hands. Down the hall a door opened up and a dark purple haired man stepped out.
Atori had to stifle a laugh; to her Shinso looked like a younger, hotter, version of Aizawa, not including the deep purple eye and hair color Shinso sported. The man that stood in front of her looked like Aizawa using his quirk- his hair flowing upward and a tired nonchalant expression etched on his face.
He was rubbing the back of his neck as he looked up and spotted Atori. His eyes widened a bit, not expecting her to have gotten there as quickly as she did. He had just gotten off the phone with Centipeder and he made it sound like it would take convincing to get Atori on board with helping.
"Orphic, right?" He asked as he approached her, noting her annoyed expression.
"Just call me Atori; you must be Shinso, it's nice to meet you!"
He nodded to her, stretching out his hand to shake hers, "Likewise. Oh, did you still need to change into your hero outfit? I was actually hoping we could head out to one of the ATMs to get a look at it."
Atori looked down, she was in loose grey sweatpants and a 'Put Your Hands Up Radio' shirt. She shrugged and shook her head 'no'.
"No, I was rudely torn away from my project at work, and I can fight in this outfit just the same. Let's go!" She did finger guns as she spun to the door, hearing a small sigh come from Shinso.
Shinso didn't have a flashy outfit; it was dark much like Aizawa's and even sported the wraps that the old hero used to restrain villains. Atori couldn't help but smile as she walked down the sidewalk with Shinso next to her. She wondered how much this man had looked up to the Pro Hero. Aizawa was easily in Atori's top three favorite heroes; his 'I don't really want to do this' attitude matched hers; she was mesmerized during her U.A. days that the teacher would go around in a yellow sleeping bag so that he could nap anywhere. Even though as a pro hero, he didn't have a lot of publicity, but his personality had won Atori's heart.
"So, you enjoy the Put Your Hands Up Radio Present Mic does?"
She looked up at Shinso, noticing how much taller he was compared to her 5'1' height. He only glanced down at her before looking back down the sidewalk.
"He is easily one of my favorite pro heroes!" Atori began excitedly, "I absolutely love how eccentric he is in contrast to Eraserhead, and their friendship is literally everything; plus, he hates bugs just as much as I do!"
"Then, are you also a fan of Eraserhead?" He wondered out loud as they turned the street corner.
"Am I a—Yes! I've been following his hero career back to when he used to be at the Purple Revolution Agency!" she threw her hands up in the air ecstatically, laughing as a few civilians looked over at her outburst.
"Oh, you've been following him that long?" He stopped at the first ATM placed in the side of a back building. "He is a really good mentor."
Atori peered at the screen of the ATM; an error code D0102 was appearing on the screen followed by another line with the code 20004 and 20002. Atori pulled back her upper lip and huffed. Other than the coded screen, it was easy to notice the card slot was cracked.
"Do you know what those codes mean?" Shinso asked as he looked at the screen.
Atori grumbled as she placed her hand on the ATM screen, "No, but I will."
Though Shinso couldn't see her face, Atori enabled her quirk causing her cyber yellow eyes to go blank as the information that previously happened in the ATM began filing through her mind. She was now able to make sense of the coding work; she released her hand from the screen and looked at Shinso.
"So," She pointed through the error codes as she spoke, "that first one is a type of spyware virus to bypass needing a card to access the ATM, then the perpetrator used the next code to open the vault door and the last one is stating that the machine is low in cash. This person was able to use the virus to shut down the camera and alarms from reaching the police."
The man nodded his head as he began to go deep in through about how to figure out how to find the criminal. As he stared at the screen Atori looked around; the bank hadn't taken any extra measures of putting a camera outside to watch the ATM, which probably allowed the thief to be able to easily target the money machine in the first place. No doubt they were probably wearing a hood or hat to hide their identity anyways. She looked across the street at the 7 eleven that sat on the corner.
"Hey, come with me to get a snack; I want string cheese." She tugged on his black shirt as she pointed to the security camera outside the store.
"What?" Shinso looked up, following to where she pointed at, "Yeah, okay."
...
Kyoko was waiting in the conference room of the Dynamight Agency, the small room had a medium square table; across from her sat the tiny man that was once known as All Might.
"So, Nighteye Agency is doing well then?" He spoke up after he sipped some of his tea.
Kyoko was sitting up straighter than she ever had in her life; she never had much interaction in school with the teacher and was in shock with his presence at the agency.
"Centipeder has really gotten the agency back up and running well these past few years; mostly thanks to Lemillion and the tireless hours he has put in."
"I distinctly remember reading the article about the forest fire you put out alone while the other heroes evacuated the cabins a few miles away. You have truly become quite the young hero Hitomi. I'm sorry I hadn't praised you as much I should have back in school."
Kyoko could feel her face get hot, "It's fine, really."
The door to the conference room flew open, a brooding expression sat upon Katsuki Bakugo's face while a rather chipper Izuku Midoriya looked over his shoulder.
"Why is this damn nerd on the mission as well, All Might? I can handle all of this myself." Bakugo growled pointing behind him before he he pulled out a chair and sat down.
Midoriya sat across from him, smiling at All Might before making eye contact with Kyoko.
"Woah! Stardusk! That's who Centipeder sent over? Though I can understand, your quirk was built for the outdoors! I saw that massive fire you were able to put out a month—"
"Stop rambling Deku! Let's get this debriefing over with!" Bakugo growled from the other side of the table.
Midoriya's face turned red as he slunk into his chair. Kyoko's stomached dropped as she looked over to Bakugo, noticing one of his eyebrows twitching. She wanted this meeting to be over with just as badly as Bakugo.
"Okay, as you guys have heard there's been several hikers from Ino that have gone missing. Izuku, I'm sending you to Ino to investigate and ask around about the hikers. As for you two," All Might looked between Bakugo and Kyoko, "I want the two of you to go straight to Mount Utsugi and begin searching for them. You two are to stick together, we are treating this mission as a hostage/rescue situation since we are not sure what is going on."
Bakugo scoffed, "I'm not some weakling, I don't want to babysit some loser in the woods!"
Kyoko clenched her fists, a fire burned in her stomach and she glared over at Bakugo. She didn't even know the man beyond what tabloids have written, and he had no place to be judging her capability. Her anger spoke before she could swallow back her word vomit.
"Would you get your egotistical head out of your ass for five seconds? Human lives are missing and you're sitting here bitching because you think you have to babysit another pro hero? Suck it up Buttercup!" She sneered at the man.
"She…she has a point Kaachan. Why don't we just focus on the mission." Midoriya interjected, his eyes wide as he looked between the two fuming heroes.
Bakugo's face was slightly pinker than when he had come in, his eye brows furrowed together. Midoriya fumbled to get his phone out of his pocket.
"We should get your contact information; I'll make a group chat between us so we can stay updated during the mission."
Kyoko took Midoriya's phone as he handed it over to her and she pulled out her phone, exchanging the information before handing the phone back to the green haired man. She looked to Bakugo, who seemed to be angrily stewing in his seat. He made eye contact with her and his eyes narrowed right away.
"What?" He snarled at her.
Kyoko rolled her eyes, "Contact information, what else?"
"Tch." He tossed his phone at her, letting her exchange the information
Instead of handing back his phone, she set it down on the table and promptly stood up, pocketing her own phone, and bowing to All Might and then Midoriya.
"It was good to see you again, All Might. It was nice meeting you Deku." She refused to look at Bakugo as she left the room.
She could hear the loud yelling from Bakugo as he began complaining, no doubt about her. She knew this mission was going to be a headache, dealing with Bakugou's anger. She groaned, wishing that they had requested help from a different agency than hers.
The rest of her shift was out patrolling the streets, pointing the way out for lost civilians, taking pictures with fans and thanking them for their support, and the few stops of small petty criminal activity.
By the time she made it back to her shared apartment, her phone had gone off with a text notification. She unlocked the door to her home as she took out her phone from her thigh high boot to see who had messaged.
Midoriya: Hitomi, we are leaving tomorrow morning at 7 A.M. from the agency! See you then!
She sighed as she responded back to the group chat Midoriya had made with herself and Bakugo in it.
Kyoko: Sounds fabulous, see you then.
She knew Midoriya wouldn't notice the dry sarcasm she was dealing out. After her little outburst at the agency and spending the rest of her shift thinking about how dumb she was for going off on a major pro hero, she was beginning to regret opening her mouth at all.
Her stomach tied in a knot as she made her way through the apartment to her room to start packing. Grabbing her pink and light blue knapsack, she headed to her dresser and began filing through her folded clothes.
"You come home and don't even say 'Hi' to your best friend and roommate?" Atori scolded as she leaned against the door frame.
Kyoko looked up and over to her blonde bestie. Her hair was now puffed out due to the humidity outside and it wasn't even being able to be maintained in the messy bun it was in.
"Sorry, it's been a day and now I have to get packed for that mission and I'm stuck with Bakugo while Midoriya gets to stay in Ino, and I…" she trailed, "may have already made a bad impression."
Atori hurried over to Kyoko's bed, excited to hear what she had to say, "What did you do?"
Kyoko scrunched her face as she thought back to the debriefing, "He complained that he would have to babysit me in the forest…"
Atori's laughter cut her off, "No way! Does he not realize what your quirk is?"
"Who knows! Probably not! But, then I just word vomited on him to get his head out of his ass and that lives were possibly at stake."
Atori was curled up in a ball on Kyoko's bed as she laughed, causing Kyoko to smirk a little. Atori wiped away nonexistent tears and let out an exasperated sigh as she straightened back up.
"So, now you are worried that you have to go through hell during this mission being stuck with Bakugo because you called him out for being, kind of a dick?"
Kyoko nodded her head as she dropped her bag to the ground and began pacing around her room for items she might need. Atori scrolled through her phone as Kyoko paced, hoping that would help her best friend get out her anxious energy.
"Kyo, you moved up in the polls! I told you this outfit would work, listen; Pro Hero Stardusk has once again jumped up in the popularity poll in the Hero Billboard Chart JP. Since this hero has made her debut; she has steadily grown popular due to her quirk and aesthetic." Atori stood up and walked towards Kyoko as she spoke, "Her hero outfit, made by Pro Hero, Orphic, of Sakusei Sapoto, gives her an allure much like the late Pro Hero Midnight, but her innocent demeanor towards fans is what has boosted her up in the polls from 113 to… holy shit, Kyo, you bumped up into spot 58!"
Atori's eye scanned the updated poll as Kyoko zipped up her bag, "58? That's a crazy jump, just last year I was in the low 200's."
Atori looked up from her phone grinning, "Bakugo is going to know you now…He is right below you on the polls, and you know how he proclaimed that he will surpass the type of hero All Might was."
Kyoko crouched down on the ground, running her fingers up into her hair as she let out a nasally groan.
Atori walked over to her and patted her head as she chuckled, "Can you sign a bunch of things so I can sell it? I could do a side hustle and never have to do Pro Hero work again."
"Hell no, stop it. It's not like I'm in the top twenty." She swatted Atori's hand away as she stood back up.
"You'll be there by next year I bet! Oh, don't give me that look, I know you don't want to be that high up in the polls, but look at the reality- you have a bomb-ass quirk and it still seems to evolve as you get older. Remember," Atori placed a hand on Kyoko's shoulder to look her in the eyes, "when we were kids, you just thought you were able to make plants grow, so you begged your mom to buy a bunch of seeds and you bloomed a whole garden in a week? Now, we know you can manipulate nature, like, that's pretty fucking cool. Even Kamui Woods was excited to take you on as an intern in school."
Kyoko gave her best friend a soft smile, knowing she was trying to build up her confidence before the mission. Reminding her on where she started and how far she had come honing her quirk. It was Atori who talked her into attending U.A. and Kyoko only agreed with the condition that Atori would join her as well.
"Yeah, I know, it's just… working with THE Dynamight and Deku is a little intimidating. They were all over the news back in the day during the Liberation War."
"I don't know why you are intimidated; Midoriya is a huge fanboy of Heroes and probably already knows all about you. Bakugo… well, if he is mean to you just trip him into a pile of poison ivy."
"Hell, I am Mother Nature." Kyoko laughed as she quoted Poison Ivy from the American movie Batman and Robin.
Atori laughed at her reference and wished her good luck and goodnight before leaving the room to get ready for bed.
...
The sun was already starting to peak over the horizon by the time Dynamight's Agency was in view. She noticed wild dark green hair poking out over the top of the open trunk and she coughed slightly to notify the hero that she had arrived. Midoriya peaked up and smiled at Kyoko.
"Good Morning Hitomi! I can put your bag in the trunk for you." He offered out his hand, gesturing for her to hand over the bag that was slung over her shoulder.
"Oh, thank you."
As Midoriya placed her bag down, the door to the building flew open. An ignited Dynamight was walking through, his mood seems worse than yesterday as he stomped his way over. Kyoko didn't notice her solemn expression until Midoriya placed a hand on her shoulder after shutting the trunk.
"His moods are never personally against anyone; it's just how Kaachan is."
Kyoko pulled her lips into a straight line as she raised her eyebrows. She didn't know how Midoriya was able to keep such a positive attitude with Bakugo around raging all the time.
Bakugo looked at Midoriya and Kyoko as he stalked to the driver's seat, "Hurry up."
Midoriya opened the passenger door and gestured Kyoko to sit up front, Bakugo rolled his eyes as he opened his door to sit at the steering wheel. Kyoko reluctantly nodded to the young hero as she climbed into the car. He shut the door for her before getting into the back seat as well.
"Kaachan is going to drive the car to the entrance of the mountain and then I'm taking it back down into Ino with me." Midoriya informed Kyoko as she listened to the click of her seat belt.
Bakugo twisted the key in the ignition and pulled the car out of park and started down the road. Kyoko yawned and leaned her head against the window watching the buildings move past. The only noise in the car was from the music that was playing softly.
"We could let Hitomi pick the mu—"
"I'm not listening to any of the crap, Bubblegum Head listens to." Bakugo barked not wanting to give up the aux cord that was connected to his phone.
"Then you're going to have to stop listening to Maximum the Hormone because I listen to them too." Kyoko grumbled, still staring out of the window.
She heard a 'tch' come from the driver seat and then the volume increase a little.
...
"So that's the video the gas station finally handed over?" Atori asked as she sipped on her mint mocha.
She was looking over the shoulder of a sitting Shinso, who had a flash drive in his hand.
"They were pretty cooperative when I came back with the police."
Atori crossed her arms, an angry pout etched on her face, "I still say it would have been faster if you would have used your quirk on them."
A deep sigh fell out of Shinso as he plugged the flash drive into the USB port, "And you know that goes completely against the safety commission, Atori."
"Who cares about those jerks anyways…" Atori mumbled as she watched the exhausted looking man click into the document holding the video they had tried to get the day prior.
Shinso glanced up at Atori, causing the woman to look down at him before asking, "What?"
"When Centipeder said it would take convincing you to take this job, what did he mean?"
She straightened up a bit, her eyebrows raised up as her eyes widened. She wasn't used to anyone asking her anything on a personal level; most just asked her questions on her quirk or her business. Once she started scolding her colleagues on the common-sense information they should have known about the job they were on, they would inch away mumbling she was a 'know-it-all' to which she'd always respond with 'no shit sherlock; great deduction.'
"I would rather spend my days inventing or upgrading equipment but the top dog at the public safety commission sees my quirk as a 'great asset to the Pro-Hero community' I have to at least take on Pro Hero work part time, and if anything of a huge threat pops up, I have to be there." She rolled her eyes.
"So, you don't enjoy Pro Hero work?"
"Hm? I do with Kyo; I know she'll handle the heavy work for me and make sure no one asks me dumb questions."
"She's the one that just got assigned with Izuku and Bakugo, right?"
Atori paused and stared at Shinso for a brief second before asking, "Yeah, how did you know?"
"I met up with them for drinks last night. Bakugo seemed to be in a, more, sour mood than normal and when I asked Izuku about it he stated that StarDusk called out Bakugo during the briefing. That riled up Bakugo and he started yelling about how she thinks she's such a big shot because she has some nature power and pulled off saving a bunch of people; then he stated she was the egotistical one and not him." He recalled the memory from the night prior as he turned his head back to the computer screen.
Atori threw her head back as she started laughing, "She didn't tell me the egotistical part! I totally knew that he knew of Kyo!"
Shinso clicked on the file, pressing the fast forward button to speed up the process of finding the time the perp would show on screen. They watched in silence, waiting for anything suspicious to pop up. The timing on the screen showed 2:39 A.M. when a hooded figure with a duffle bag strolled up to the unattended ATM machine. Shinso dropped the speed back to its normal setting and they watched the culprit hold out their arm and their fingers began to elongate into the money slot. They could see the screen flash before sparks flew and within a few seconds the door to the ATM pooped open and the person began stuffing the money into the bag. They pushed the door shut and walked away quickly, not realizing the door didn't latch and moved slightly open again.
"Well, it would have been nicer to have something of a face to go off of…" Atori sighed looking over Shinso's shoulder, "but at least we know it's a woman."
"How'd you figure that?" Shinso asked pausing it on the hoodie perp, squinting in hopes to figure out how Atori deduced the information.
"Well, how she was walking was one. The clothes are hiding her figure well, but guys sway differently from females. That duffle bag gives it away too because it keeps bouncing off her hips. Another give away is that her nails are done." Atori pulled the video back to the spot where the woman was about to put her hand in the money slot. "You can see her nails are at a point and the light over the ATM shows of the shimmer of the glitter nails, but watch this…"
She plays the video again, both of them watching intently as the woman takes her hand out of the slot, one finger missing a pointy tip.
"She lost a nail."
"Bingo!" Atori paused the video again, "I think we need to go back to that ATM and see if we can find that nail."
Shinso took over the computer again, clicking out of the files on the desktop and pulled out the flash drive, "I don't think I would have caught that."
I'm going to preface with that I've been sitting with this story, still unfinished, for two or three years now. I am hoping by posting this that I will: 1. Finally edit the rest that I have sitting in the document. 2. Actually finish writing a story (so many unfinished drafts of fanfiction). 3. Hopefully bring entertainment to others. 4. Keep honing my writing skills.
I truly hope anyone who has taken the time to read this enjoys it. I used to have an old account on here years ago under KyokoHitomi, but alas no way of accessing the email that I used for it.
Anyways, on to more editing and revising more of this story. If I see people enjoying, I will post again 3