Thunder Hero: Baraquiel 7
Being a professional hero, wasn't all about busting the bad-guy, retrieving kittens from trees or even sitting on cold unforgiving rooftops, watching persons of interest through the lens of a camera. Sometimes, it came down to being a nice person and giving genuine hard advice.
Harry sat, slouched really behind his desk; the building he'd acquired had been cheap. As he looked at the blue-prints and the building surveyors report, he realised why. The building and the five buildings surrounding it were metaphorically and literally stone's throw away from being condemned, knocked down and something else constructed.
Harry had spent a good amount of money on repairing the property. The buildings still possessed that generic 'office building' feel to them but the sheer space that the six buildings had together, meant Harry would very quickly be able to employ a large number of sidekicks, legal-advisors and anything else he could think of.
He had found that Endeavour, spent more time filling in administrative rolls and requests as the head of such of a large agency. The bills he had to pay, must be extraordinary. Harry smirked, thankfully his would have a much lower electrical bill; he loved buying stocks and shares. Any hero, who hadn't decided to re-invest in the rest of the market were fools in his opinion, Heroes were meant to be either Freelance or Civil Servants. Harry, knew that he was going to be a hero more along the lines of a Civil Servant much like the current ongoing socially acceptable trend.
It rankled him; he'd rather be freelance but the sheer lack of money in starting out as a Freelance Hero was astonishing. Endeavour had started as a Civil Servant Hero and then left. For all of his father's faults, the man shared Harry's same thoughts and feelings about the stranglehold the HPSC had over Heroic Agencies, especially the Top Twenty.
That was when his door opened a kid entered. "Anyone here?" The boy asked curiously, there were nerves evident.
Harry grinned; this was going to be fun! He swiftly changed and using the mains in the building, he found where the teen was. He was firmly in the hallway; he'd just passed the initial reception. Lightning pulsed and Harry rushed through the electricity to re-form his body inside the reception room. Electrotransmutation, was a technique he had found when he was fifteen. It helped him scout around Grimmauld Place, when the house was asleep, unfortunately it came with the side-effect of immense dehydration and any electrical appliances he interacted with whited out. He'd fried more credit and debit cards than anything, rubber insulation would help but that ran the risk of him getting stuck in the electricity and having to force his way out of a power-grid. He didn't want that bill, no sir.
"Depends on who is asking?"
The responsive yelp and shriek caused Harry to laugh "Easy, kid…welcome…"
Izuku after getting his spirit back, turned to look at the stranger. He didn't seem much older than him "You're a pro hero, right?"
"I am. Name's Baraquiel, kid. Now who are you?"
"Midoriya Izuku."
"Young Midoriya, well met. Now, why are you here? I mean I've not taken the sign down to say I'm even open. Now, most would call this breaking and entering and trespass."
"I…I was dared to. Oh, please don't call the police. It'll go on my record, then I won't be able to achieve my dream." Babbled Izuku, tears welling in his eyes.
Harry stopped "You were dared to? Fair enough, I can't fault you for performing dares. I was your age and I definitely wish I'd done more silly things like dares. But I can fault you for not trying to persuade your friends from putting you up to this particular one. Your dream? What is it?"
"I…want to be a hero. I want to help people."
"He's just like you…Wanting to help people." A voice in Harrys' mind whispered.
"Is he? I became a hero for a lot less nobler reasons."
"Potayto, potahto, Hadrian…you said you wanted to be a hero to be 'free'. Free of what?"
"People telling me who I can and cannot save."
"What's your quirk?"
"Quirkless. I'm quirkless." Midoriya mumbled.
"Wait, hold up…pardon." Harry replied, feeling like he'd been thunderstruck.
"I'm quirkless."
Harry paused, the silence had quickly turned uncomfortable "Young Izuku, as a licensed hero I must stress that a quirkless hero is horribly impractical and is a horrible idea. I appreciate your candour but as I said as a Pro Hero, there are certain shit-shovelled facts forced down my throat forced upon me by the HPSC."
Midoriya nodded "Thank you."
"Wait a moment. I just said that's the pro hero jargon I have to speak…Midoriya, I think…you could become a hero. It will be dangerous, it will be tough but I think you could become a Hero. However, I'm going to need to speak to your mother."
Izuku ended up looking at his shoes "Can I ask why? The moment I bring up being Quirkless, they drop me like shit."
"Want to know a secret?"
Izuku looked at the Thunder Hero with wide eyes and nodded. What he heard next rocked his world "I have a family; wife, two kids…Honestly them being Quirkless or not does not mean I'm going to love them any more or less. I'm pretty sure your mother is the same."
Baraquiel eyed the bag curiously "May I?"
Izuku nodded, he gulped as Baraquiel opened the bag, but also stared in amazement as the bag opened without him touching it. "Hero Analysis for the Future 13?"
Izuku nodded, he watched as Baraquiel tenderly, almost as one held a new born or something fragile tenderly flicked through it. Izuku watched his eyes, the eyes were a glittering emerald green only for his skin to pale. "I think, young Izuku…We need to have a VERY important chat with your mother, the Grouch and the Rat."
The ride to Midoriya's apartment nerve-wracking for the green-haired boy. He wasn't expecting this, thankfully he'd taken a deviation of his way home. One that he and Kacchan used to take with their parents before everything, he stared glumly out the window "Midoriya, listen, this is just simple procedure. Nothing too bad, although there will be some rather intense questioning; specifically, around your notebooks."
"My notebooks?"
"Life 101, lesson 1. Knowledge is power, thus guard it well. Currently Midoriya, your knowledge is inscribed plainly in these books and in no protected cypher. They are open in the air like a Fortress with gates unbarred and unguarded."
"That sounds like something from an old pre-quirk game or sitcom, sensei."
"Because it is. But, Izuku can you look me in the eye and tell me I'm wrong?"
"No…"
"You are young and much to learn. In fact, everyone still learns something every day."
"That a life thing? What have you learnt recently?" Izuku asked absentmindedly.
"Aye, that is a life thing. Through life?" There was a nod. Baraquiel thought. "Women, all women, are to be treated with respect and worship; for the amount of crap, they have to manage. My wife, especially." Baraquiel, pulled into the small complex of the housing block. There was another car already present, a battered old Nissan, looking like it was held together by tape, spit and prayer.
If that was the state of the car, it resembled the driver immediately. Izuku's eyes widened as the driver got out "That's the Erasure Hero: Eraserhead…"
"And one of your potential Homeroom Teachers. A hard and stern man, accepts nothing but your best. You'll have a Bachelor degree in bullshit, a Diploma in Psychology and Mindfuckery and several other Hero traits; no home skills…That's why you'll have me."
Izuku nearly tripped over his feet "You teach at UA?"
"Yup. In some capacity. Although if the Rat gets his way I'll be about full-time."
"Baraquiel." Eraserhead grunted.
"Sensei. Must say not how I'd intended today to go."
There was a wry snort from the Underground Pro "That's Heroics. What's so special about this applicant?"
"His mind…No quirk, but his mind and the knowledge he's gathered unnerved me. He's not got much on me…the stuff he has I trust will not put in a record."
Izuku nodded, he was so tempted to write down everything he'd learnt from Baraquiel but had decided not to. Baraquiel's talk with him and the ride in the very comfy people carrier allowed him to detach himself from reality, it allowed him to think on what he'd do if he wasn't a hero fan. "Baraquiel, I get where you're coming from. If villains got hold of my notes…it'd be disastrous."
"Notes? You've brought us here because of notes." Eraserhead questioned, tired and sunken eyes staring at Baraquiel.
"Show him, Midoriya."
Aizawa's face went grey as he flicked through the notebook, deep within the comfort of the Capture Cloth Scarf, Nezu peered as well. A maniacal grin crossing its face "Oh the mind on this one, Mrs. Midoriya, by hook or by crook your son will attend UA." Nezu thought, his quirk working as he began to formulate a plot to get the Young Midoriya into his school.
"Uh, shall we?" Izuku asked timidly as he looked at his shoes, there were two grunts of acknowledgement and with that they trooped to the lift and headed upwards.
Midoriya Inko, was certainly surprised when she opened the door to find her son in the company of two adults. "Izuku, what happened?" She asked slowly; she'd thought she had raised her son well. Tears began to well.
"Ma'am, your son is not in any real trouble." Baraquiel stated. The tears that were threatening to fall stopped, her eyes were now extremely glassy.
"Please come in." Soon enough the trio were brought inside. That was when Izuku and Inko Midoriya were caught off guard.
"My apologies for not introducing myself earlier, I was composing an argument to win you over Mrs Midoriya. I am the potential bear, rat or even chimera. I am, Principle Nezu of UA!" Nezu declared, getting two yelps from the Midoriya's.
It took a while for the hysteria to subside, but soon enough the Principle and the Two Heroes were positioned in the living room. "So, my Izuku found his way into your unopened office on dare?"
"Correct." Baraquiel rumbled, no judgement in his tone whatsoever.
"And you're okay with this?" Inko replied taken completely off-guard.
"I have a pre-quirk, stereotypical drama protagonist backstory; with even a short but dark vigilante stroke anti-hero arc culminating in a socially accepted good vs evil, heroes vs villains war." Baraquiel retorted with a grin "So, your son being an idiot and stupid, is perfectly fine. In fact that's the childhood I'd rather my Godson has. Yeah, I'd be annoyed if I found out that he's in jail for being a teen but as long as he's not doing anything I did; or one-upping my antics then I'd be extremely displeased. That's nothing to what his Grandmother, my cousin would do to me."
Aizawa and the Principle looked at their colleague with curiosity "She's a very good lawyer and solicitor. She's quirkless and five times more dangerous then I ever could be."
"Do you think…" Aizawa began.
"She takes designer chocolatiers and Junmai Saki as suitable down payments. She helped Endeavour out of a lawsuit of property damage due to the fact that Endeavour's agency was in the area…She's very good at what she does, and uber selective."
"And you have no way to change her mind?" Nezu replied.
"She's got 60%ish of my agency. She does investment banking as a side hobby. She makes both my inheritance and the inheritance my Godson has grow."
"Who owns the remaining 40%." Aizawa said curiously.
Inko sheepishly raised her hand "We've got 5% with Baraquiel' Agency, very cheap stocks due to our electrical bill is with that company."
Baraquiel snorted "Semantics. Anyway, the remaining 35% is shifting hands all of the time. HPSC has a few, like the minimum to meet requirements. Anyway, Mrs Midoriya, backstory and meaningless digression aside your son wants to become a hero. I know this idea is hard for you to believe, despite your sons disability…it's his greatest strength."
"Him, having no quirk is a strength?" A knife slowly levitated towards Inko.
"That's…terrifying. Mrs Midoriya your son could be an inspiration to the remaining 20% of the people in the world. Proving to everyone that the quirkless population can be heroes to, some of the best heroes in fiction and real-life are quirkless. I would be willing to teach him, but there is one thing we do need to talk about and that is his mind and skill of quirk analysis. I've read his most recent volume, yes, I said volumes…If anything…"
Nezu looked at Midoriya "Midoriya-kun, could you please bring all of these…analysis volumes here? Because, I am curious, curious about what can unsettle two of my more 'unflappable' members of staff."
Izuku returned moments later with twelve more volumes. Nezu's eyebrows rose at the amount of books "You've raised an extremely smart young man." With that he opened the first book, Nezu flicked through it…his own mind racing. "Yes, Midoriya, UA is your Hero Academia…Quirkless, so what. Your mind is invaluable tool."
"Midoriya, what is your plan for leaving your Middle School?"
"Applying for the Hero Course at UA or at least applying for UA. However, I'm quirkless."
Nezu nodded "Why do you want to be a hero?"
"I just want to help people. I don't care about rankings, I just want to save and help people. When, I was talking to Baraquiel earlier he said that I could be a Hero. A hero for the remaining 20%, those who don't have quirks. I want to prove that being hero isn't about having a quirk, it's about a sense of worth…something I am seriously lacking."
With that Izuku divulged everything. For Inko, it was heart-breaking to confirm what she had worked out. Her little boy; bullied, tormented by both peers and teachers, ridiculed because of his dreams. Then there was her, shutting herself down and trying not to see the hope in her sons eyes and the fact that he wanted to be a hero.
Baraquiel and Eraserhead along with the Principle were perfectly still "Nezu, either you drown the school in lawsuits and charges or I will…I'm more than willing to follow along the lines of the 'Remembered Villain: Guy Fawkes'. Insignificant to Japan, but for Britain he's the cause of an annual event."
"Remember, remember, the fifth of November. Gunpowder, plot and treason…I know of Guy Fawkes, Baraquiel." Nezu said calmly causing the feeling of ozone to lessen.
"Due to these…revelations, Mrs Midoriya; with your permission I, intend to withdraw your son from his Middle School and I intend to complete his schooling within a month and allow Baraquiel to train your son."
Inko looked at them, jaw open "You want to train my boy to be a hero."
"Yes, quite frankly, his brain, knowledge and skill for analysis can and will earn him very good money. Any Alumina of UA would pay handsomely for such an in-depth analysis. Yes, Mrs Midoriya, your son has been wronged by society and it is up to UA to rectify it. In fact, if your son does as well as I think he will, I'll petition with the School Board to turn UA into a three-school system. We're not hurting for money; we have the space but not all of the staff. Mrs Midoriya, we want to offer your son the chance to fulfil his dreams."