"I stand corrected. It did take a while to tell us." Shoji decided once I was done, nodding hid head while I rummaged through the cabinets looking for snacks. Great. U.A. replaced my stuff but didn't have anything to eat? Did they forget we were growing boys and girls?
"Told ya, dude. Some real crazy shit happened." I beamed at him, giving the biggest smile I had in me.
"Bullshit! There's no way you fought Superman, evil or not!" Bakugou barked out while I pulled out my phone and ordered groceries.
"Fought and went toe-to-toe with him too." I sang with a laugh, floating around the common area with glee before I landed on the floor and bowed, proud of myself with getting the hang of float without a past user guiding me.
"Plus, I had super pills and the lantern ring. It's a miracle even with all that, that I'm even alive. But if you don't believe me, then that's a you problem." I continued with my self-indulgent movements, dancing around the room and flipping around with a grin, trying to hide the other part of the conversation.
"So if you've fought with Batman, All Might, and now the entire league, why are you here?" Tsu questioned, very straight-forwardly. I liked that she never cared what others thought of her or if she was being rude.
"Because of Beatrix" at the sound of her name, my piglet ran into the kitchen from her resting spot on the couch, nudging my foot with a loud grunt. What a sweet baby.
"And Momo, too, I guess. You guys aren't too bad, either." I laughed, bending down to scratch her belly. How she survived at U.A. alone for over a week was beyond me, but she always was smarter than most people were, so I wasn't surprised.
"For real, though, man. Why come back to U.A.?" Kirishima questioned, his sharp teeth making me think about the bear from my entrance exam.
"You did manage to beat the big three quickly without doing any lasting damage." Tokoyami reminded the class, dark shadow nodding in agreement.
"And you went out of your way to help rebuild Kamino." Hagakure spoke up from behind, scaring the shit out of me. When had she snuck up on me?
Everything they said made me get serious, something becoming much less rare these days. I wondered if my inner child and smile were broken.
"I've thought about it. How could I not? But leaving, when the League of Villains is still active, while my father's influence still corrupts this world... I can't do it."
My explanation wasn't entirely true, I wanted to run away from all of this, but as long as people needed me, I was right where I needed to be.
"Alright, enough sad stuff, who's getting clapped at FighterZ, huh?" I inquired, grinning as I changed the subject.
"If I remember correctly, you need to pack for your work-study." Iida reminded me, pulling a groan from me.
"Crap. How'd you know I'd forget to do it until the last minute?" I joked as I floated over to the stairs, turning back to the others with a real smile, taking in their faces. They were my friends, people who cared. I was so lucky to have them.
"GET GOING!!" Bakugou screamed, small explosions coming from his hands as he got his point across.
"Cool your jets, I'm going."
"WELL, HURRY UP!!"
Rolling my eyes, I headed up the stairs, on foot, to try and get some exercise in, grinning like a madman.
One packed bag, a ton of ice cream sandwiches shaped like fish, a car ride, and having to stop and throw up said sandwiches later, I was outside the Kniggteye agency building.
It was kinda nice, although kind of plain looking. Guess it made sense, considering a special looking building would make it more noticeable and cost more to repair.
From my left, a friendly voice called my name. "Hey, Midoriya! Knighteye said we were getting another work-study student, but i didn't think I'd be you!"
"Mirio? Man, small country, huh? Any tips for how to wow Knighteye? All I know about him is that he used to work with All Might."
Mirio looked serious, even with a smile on his face. "If you don't wanna get turned away at the door, then before you're done talking with Sir today, you've gotta make him smile."
Smile? My entire motif was being the ultimate heroic amalgamation of Batman and Joker. This was gonna be a cakewalk.
"Easy-peasy. I'm super funny." I told him, pausing as I looked at the entrance. This seemed like a good time to clear the air.
"I'd like to apologize for my behavior in the past. I'm trying to be better, and I see now how cocky and self-centered I was." I told him, offering my hand with a smile.
Mirio looked at my hand, then clasped it, smiling back.
"No hard feelings here."
With that taken care of, I actually had to impress the guy who volunteered to let me work with him. Originally, I needed help to get control of One-For-All. Now, I just needed to further that control and push my limits.
Taking a breath and grinning, I opened the door, seeing a blue woman tied up to a machine labeled "tickle hell" and laughing while a man in a suit watched her.
"For goodness sake, must you be so loud?" He asked, neither of them noticing Mirio or I.
"Mirio, what in the Tek-Knight party is going on here?" I asked, getting a laugh from the older boy.
"If I had to guess, his sidekick, Bubble Girl, wasn't being funny enough."
"I wonder if that Fatgum guy Kirishima went to work with is still hiring."
Knighteye turned to us, and without a word, he tried to touch my face, his hand going through me as I stared at him.
"Don't touch me. You're a hero, not a priest." I told him, genuinely wondering if I could get another hero to do my work studies with.
"How very unpleasant. Please leave at once." Knighteye asked, turning away with a scowl. It seemed he didn't like me too much.
"Fine by me. I'm only here because All Might recommended you. Guess he was thinking too highly of you." I huffed, Knighteye turning back around and grabbing my face, making me look him in the face.
"One minute." He told me, and as much as I hated it, he had my curiosity.
"What are you on about?" I questioned, prepared for a fight if it came to it.
"One minute. That is all the time I'll give you to steal a stamp from me and approve the papers in your bag."
Man, this guy must have hit his head before I came in because he really thought I was gonna play a game just to get into his agency.
"This means something to All Might, so... fine. I'll do it." I told him as I powered up, electricity cackling off of me while I spoke to the other users. We had a plan.
"Go ahead and get ready for Mighty Number Nine!" I yelled, squatting and swinging my arms quickly, before I laughed and rushed at him, blackwhip shooting out as I missed, hitting the wall and bouncing off, using fa jin to launch directly into him, the pro too slow to dodge, the wood in the walls and floorboards springing to life and growing, wrapping him up in their growing branches, until only his limbs were caught.
"Your quirk, what is it? You obviously need to touch me to activate it, but it isn't offensive, and you weren't exactly the most defensive. So it's probably some kind of Intel gathering quirk, right?" I asked him, searching him for the seal and finding nothing on his person. Moving to his desk, a timer I didn't see went off.
"One minute, and you didn't manage to approve your paperwork. I'm afraid you aren't a fit for the Knighteye Agency." He told me, all of it falling into place.
"You wanted me to capture you because I wasn't paying enough attention. If I had, I'd have gone for your desk as soon as I captured you."
"An excellent observation. But, you still would have failed. My seal is in my fist as we speak."
Man, this guy was smart. And it made me think about how much I lacked.
Rolling my eyes, the branches retreated, and he was free. I couldn't even be mad. He had planned for my abilities.
"So, you have some sort of future reading power, am I right? Pretty cool. Well, I'm not going to waste anymore time here. I'm sure Fatgum is still hiring." I told him, wiping off my shirt and heading for the door.
"My future, I don't want to know anything unless It can save someone else." I told him, leaving the strange man and his sidekicks.
As I stood in front of the building, thinking about just going back to campus to nap, Mirio opened the door with that big heroic grin of his.
"You're in. Sir asked who Tek-Knight was, and once I explained the joke, he chuckled. It might have been because you misunderstood what was going on, but still, he wants you to join us."
Thinking about the offer, I didn't have anything to lose if I joined up. Besides, Mirio worked here, I'd have someone to clown around with.
"So I failed, but win on a technicality? Is there a better way to win?" I asked as I followed him back inside, just to finish the paperwork and discuss my hours.
The next day, I started my first day on the job.
"Today, we'll be patrolling and monitoring. I'll take Bubble Girl while Mirio and Midoriya will operate as a unit." Knighteye told us, the four of us literally standing in the street.
"Cool, cool. What exactly are we monitoring, though?" I asked him, leaning up against nothing, using float to keep from falling.
He put a finger to his lips and shushed me. "The Knighteye organization is working on a secret investigation. A small, organized crime group called the Shie Hassaikai. Their young head, a man named Chisaki, has been making strange moves lately."
"Yakuza? That's a real thing? I thought it was something movies did for the plot." I interrupted again, staring at the picture of a young man in a weird mask.
Bubble girl continued the briefing. "The plague mask is his trademark. And while it's true that the Yakuza were dispersed when quirks became common, this Chisaki guy is gathering forces for some reason. He made contact with the League of Villains recently, although we aren't sure of the details."
Now, it was time to be serious. Find Chisaki, and then I had a solid lead on the League.
"However, we've acquired no evidence of wrongdoing, so we can't treat these Hassaikai people like full-fledged villains.
Sir Knighteye nodded and turned away from Mirio and I. "What the Knighteye Agency is looking for is evidence of criminal activity, while being careful not to attract the attention their attention, of course."
It was a plan and a solid one to boot. I just had one question.
"Why didn't we discuss this at the agency? Isn't it less like that something could leak if we didn't have a meeting in public?"
Knighteye had no answer, and I laughed before he and Bubble Girl walked off, Mirio and I headed off in the other direction.
"I'm kinda excited. I love doing this kinda stuff." I told Mirio, my hood and goggles up on my head. I really needed a cowl with the same abilities as my goggles, but for now, I used what I had.
"You got practice fighting villains during your time back home, right?" Mirio asked me, my shoulders lifting as I shrugged.
"I mean, I'm not used to this part, I'm always fighting or raiding, so I'm not used to the whole patrolling thing." I admitted, kind of embarrassed. This was a normal hero thing i just hadn't done.
"You're fine. Sirs the one monitoring our targets stronghold today! We're just patrolling the surrounding area! I'll show you the ropes!" He told me, turning and fidgeting a little before turning back to me.
"I just remembered!! We never told each other our hero names!"
Yeah, I guess I couldn't call him Mirio in front of a villain.
"I'm the Emerald Knight." I told him, and he smiled approvingly.
"Because you're green and from the same Batman is?" He asked, getting a thumbs up from me.
"Yup."
"Cool! I go by Lemillion! I'm not ready to use the entire "all" yet, and the million is because that's how many people I want to save someday! Cool, right? It kinda sounds like the rock band Remioromen! Remioromen." He seemed happy, and his head turned to look at the city.
"When we don these costumes and step into the city, we become heroes! So stay sharp, Emerald Knight!"
"Roger that Lemillion!"
We hadn't been walking for more than a few minutes than we passed an alley, a young girl running out and into me, getting caught soft grass I grew for her.
"Are you okay?" I asked while kneeling, Mirio turning to see who I was talking to.
"Shame on you, causing trouble for this nice hero." I heard, looking up at the face of the man we were hunting, a look that said he despised both myself and the girl.
"Let's go home, Eri."