Are you kidding me? I can't believe she just left us like that to pick up this mess! Ugh, damn it Hatsume!

I let out a disgruntled sign and looked back to the girls, "You two okay?"

"I'm fine," Jiro looked to the other, "How about you?"

"I'm good, thanks," Hagakure replied, "You think she'll be alright?"

"Of course," I say, looking out the broken wall where Hastume and...whatever that thing was broke through, "If anyone can handle that creature it's her."

"Who or what was that?" Jiro asks as she is dusting herself off.

"No idea; I didn't get a good look at it," I say as I walk back to the broken door and place my earpiece to call in, "This is Pinky; Iron Maiden is in pursuit of some powerful individual and has abandoned us here. The suspect has also taken the metal container. Should we chase them?"

"Negative, Pinky," Rock Lock answers, "Stay where you are and hold the fort. His Purple Highness, Death Arms, and I are on our way with a police task force."

"Hey, Pinky."

I look over to Hagakure, "Yeah?"

"We...have a situation," Hagakure points to the floor just outside the opening.

I make my way to the opening and look down to see what appears to be numerous villains just outside the compound, "Oh you gotta be….Rock Lock, His Purple Highness, Death Arms, please hurry. A crowd of villains just appeared and are ready to take back the base."

"Shit!" Death Arms curses over the mic, "Don't get caught, girls! There's no telling what those creeps will do if they get their filthy hands on ya!"

"Stay at the top and barricade yourselves in a different room," High Purple Highness chimes in, "Don't worry about the captives; we'll find them with the trackers. If we lose you three…."

"Just don't get caught, girls. We're on our way. Make haste people! Our pupils are in trouble!" Rock Lock finishes for His Purple Highness before commanding the police force and signing off.

I take my hand away from my ear with a cold sweat starting to secrete from my forehead. Out of all the times, our muscle disappears, why now? We need her more than ever. I try to call Hatsume through my earpiece but receive no answers from her. Either she is ignoring us or is too busy fighting that beast. Whatever it may be, she isn't going to help us.

I hear Hagakure taking deep breaths to try and calm down. I grab her hand gently and snap her out of her thoughts.

"Don't lose yourself right now we need you," I say, "Everything will be okay. We just need to find cover and hold out until the heroes arrive."

I look between the two girls with a confident expression to mask my worries. This is not how I planned this internship to go. I thought it would be a bunch of training basics to hero life not trying to stop human trafficking. I feel a hint of anger directed at Hatsume for leaving us like this but quickly let it go since none of us could have guessed this place had reinforcements nearby. I silently pray that there's a happy ending to this day's mission.

"Let's hurry," I say as the three of us run past the door and into a different room.

To think I would be in the presence of one of my all-time favorite female heroes, let alone regular heroes, leaves me awestruck. I wish I could live in this moment forever, but I have to quickly remember the situation at hand.

"Hey, Metal Kid!" Mirko shouts to me, "Get clear! I can take care of this monster myself!" Mirko cracks her knuckles whilst eyeing down the beast, "As strong as All Might or not, I'll still get the victory!"

She is so cool!

Before I can reply, Da Vinci lets his presence be known, "Don't get cocky, Mirko. If it really is as strong as All Might then we'll need to work together."

Mirko scoffs and waves Da Vinci off, "I don't work with others; teams are for weaklings old man. They rely too much on each other's strength rather than their own, and I am anything but pathetic! Through my power and endless grind, I went from a rabbit girl to the. Best. Bout. Machine!"

At first, Da Vinci just stared at Mirko with an unmoving look before it slowly began to change into blazing fury, "My team died to save me when I was 8 years into my hero life, Mirko. Did that make them weak? Does that make every hero team weak like the Wild Wild Pussycats, who, mind you, rank 32 on the leaderboards?"

Mirko gave Da Vinci her fullest attention, "An individual doesn't realize their fullest potential until they work solo. That's what I believe in. Don't mince my words and make it into another narrative."

Thinking this conversation is only going to get worse, I decide to get in between them, "If you are both done bickering amongst each other," I point to the beast, "We have a situation on our hands!"

"I didn't forget, kindling," Mirko aims her body to the Nomu, "But you should not get in my way. For your own sake."

Normally I would be pissed off being told that, but with my extensive knowledge of Mirko, I know she can rip my head off while I am in the suit. Literally. I'm not about to lash out at a person who has the capabilities to turn me into scrap metal.

"Yeah, alright, Mirko," I take a big jump backward with my boosters giving me an extra oomph so I can be several yards away. Da Vinci and Baymax, on the other hand, stay where they are. Da Vinci looks over to me and gives me an eye roll whilst mouthing off something inaudible, but thanks to my lip-reading, I can understand what he is saying.

"Oh look at me, I have the power of a rabbit on Juggernaut steroids. I can handle anything!"

I can help but laugh behind the mask at Da Vinci's childish antics. I can feel Tony getting irritated as Mirko suddenly takes off towards Nomu.

"Time to send you back to hell you bastardization of flesh!" Mirko jumps into the air and aims for Nomu's head with an overhead kick.

The Nomu quickly moves to avoid taking the hit a second time. Mirko lands on the floor and hops over a tackle from the Nomu.

"That won't work!" Mirko lands behind the Nomu and ducks a punch to the head. Mirko grins with fighting spirit as the Nomu continues to throw punches at her but keeps missing.

"Wow!" I say in astonishment and amazement, "Mirko is outpacing the Nomu!"

"I thought it was supposed to be as quick as All Might?" Tony questions.

"Maybe this one is different and is slower than the original?" I reply with an assumption.

"Hmmm…Maybe. Though I am curious how these things came to be or who created them."

"Beats me," I take a closer look at the Nomu and try to find a weakness. Maybe there is one but I don't see any. I blame my inexperience. I zoom out and watch the fighting continue.

Mirko jumps backward and lands on top of a light pole with incredible balance, "Oh come on! I heard you things were supposed to be as powerful as All Might! That was an exaggeration." Mirko's grin disappears with an annoyed expression taking its place, "I was excited about nothing."

The Nomu screeches in response. The Nomu grabs the light pole and rips it off the ground with Mirko jumping off. The Nomu swings the light pole at Mirko as Mirko lands.

"Watch out!" I yell at Mirko.

A moment before she's hit, Mirko easily kicks the light pole away and out of the grasp of the Nomu. "Yup," Mirko rolls her eyes, "Clearly exaggerated."

"Oh," My eyes are wide open. From my point of view, Mirko stopped trying.

Mirko signs with frustration, "Alright pushover I'm done playing games." With incredible speed, Mirko is in front of the Nomu and kicks the Nomu away. As the Nomu is skidding across the ground, Mirko takes into the sky with a mighty jump. The Nomu stops itself and recovers just in time to be nailed in the head by Mirko's heel.

"Luna Fall!" Mirko shouts with little enthusiasm behind it.

Part of the Nomu's skull is flattened by Mirko's powerful finisher. It wasn't even close.

Mirko dusts her hands off and looks over to me, "I should have left that weakling to you and the old man if I knew it was going to be this easy."

"It was still fun watching you dominate it!" I shout back excitedly.

Mirko smirks lightly and shrugs her shoulders, "What can I say, Hatsume, even against inferior foes I still know how to put on a show."

How did she know my- Right. Sports Festival. Nearly slipped my mind for a moment.

"Did you have to kill it?" Da Vinci walks over to the Nomu and lightly kicks it with his foot, "I would have liked to see it captured and test it."

"Aren't you a robotics guy?" I ask Da Vinci.

"Never said I was going to perform the experiments," Da Vinci looks up to the sky, "I know a man. Or two. Okay, maybe three. ...Four? Whatever I know many people who would have gotten us answers."

"You should have said something then," Mirko stretches her arm out, "Not like I would have listened anyway." Mirko turns on her heels and begins to walk away, "Clearly I was never needed so I best be on my way."

"Wait!" I shout and blast off to Mirko. I land in front of her as Mirko places a hand on her hips.

"I don't see a pen and paper so…" Mirko quips.

"As much I would like for an autograph, this is something else entirely," I tap my fingers into my wrist pad and bring up a holographic photo of Giran.

Mirko lets out a long whistle, "You sure did make something incredible, kindling."

"Not." Tony snickers.

"Would you leave it alone for five minutes, Tony?" I think to myself before talking aloud, "Have you seen this man?"

"Giran?" Mirko shook her head, "No. If no one has ever told you, kindling, Giran is as slippery as they come. Why do you ask?"

"Before I answer that, why do you call me kindling?" Now it's my turn to place my hand on my hip.

Mirko rolls her shoulders, "Don't know. I know what it means but calling you 'kitten' sounds creepy."

"Does everyone give each other nicknames?" I ask no one, "Questions for later." I shake my head and look to Mirko, "I ask because-"

"Because we had information that he was around the area," Da Vinci cuts me off, "Our sources were off but we did find a warehouse full of people. Underage quirkless people."

"I see." Mirko's brow furrows, "Alright. Busted a human trafficking location, eh? Where is it?"

Da Vinci seems surprised by Mirko's reaction, "I thought you would have passed on this and taken off to fight more villains."

"I know I am a jerk, but human trafficking is human trafficking," Mirko shoots a look that says 'really.' "You bring that up and expect me to ignore that?"

"If that's the case," Da Vinci crosses his arms, "Then why haven't you busted any operations?"

"Because I don't own an agency, therefore, I don't get information like this," Mirko replies, "Look, are you going to show me or not; I'm getting impatient here." Mirko states with her left foot repeatedly tapping on the ground.

"Hatsume, take her to the warehouse," Da Vinci climbs on top of Baymax, "Baymax and I will take the package somewhere safe."

"Aren't you supposed to stay by sides at all times?" I ask Da Vinci.

Da Vinci stares at me, "Do I have to tell you that you have, Mirko, the number 5 pro hero in Japan, is accompanying you?"

"I ask because isn't it stated that you are supposed to stay by me in the contract for this internship you halfwit!" I reply, irritated.

"I don't read contracts," Da Vinci simply states as Baymax flies over to the metal container, picks it up, and the two fly away.

Mirko and I watch Da Vinci and Baymax fly away until they escape our eyesight. "He's pretty bad at this mentor role, and I never had an intern before." Mirko nudges me, "Show me the way, kindling."

I activate my flight mode so I am to guide Mirko quickly to the warehouse. I fly at 50% of my speed so Mirko isn't left behind as she runs next to me.

"I wonder how the girls are doing?" I ask myself and make a call to Mina, "Hey, Mina, how goes the-"

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

"Wait what?"

"Jiro duck! Hagakure, to your left! Hey, use that stick as a weapon!"

"There are more thugs?!" I shout into the microphone.

"Reinforcements! They already knew we were here and appeared right as you chased after that thing!"

"Damn it! Just hold on, I'm coming!" I look next to me and am reminded of the fricken number 5 hero next to me, "And I'm coming with reinforcements of my own!"

"Hurry up!"

Oh, now she responds?! Better late than never!

I jump back and throw acid at an incoming thug. The thug yells in pain as the acid leaves him with severe burns on his arms. I'm not one to burn people, but when a horde of creeps is rushing you, you tend to do whatever is necessary to stay alive.

I sense someone behind me and quickly send my elbows back. I spin around and kick the foe away to the floor. Amid my two-hit combo, I see Jiro stunning two villains with her quirk and using her arms to block an incoming punch.

"Why aren't they using quirks? Are they afraid to use them, are they not suited for battles, or are they quirkless as well?" I think to myself and notice Jiro struggling with another individual. I jump onto the person's back, place my over his chest, and burn him greatly but with not enough acid to kill him. I jump off as the man clutches his chest and falls to the floor.

"Get off me!"

Jiro and I swiftly turn to see Hagakure being manhandled by three others. I use my acid to slide over to her and tackle the smallest of them to the ground. Jiro, meanwhile, takes out one of the thugs with a mean right hook. Hagakure, now freed, rams her free hand into the chest of the last person and kicks his knee. The person falls to the floor with a glance at his leg. It isn't broken, but it provides Hagakure enough time to take a few steps back and run towards the person and delivers what I assume to be a low dropkick to the face.

The room is clear but we can hear more people coming our way.

"Another wave," I say, panting, "We aren't going to last in here. We need to get out."

"Yeah," Hagakure gets up with a groan, "I'm kinda surprised they didn't bother to use quirks yet. Then again, I'm glad because had they used them, we probably would've lost this bout."

"I have an idea," Jiro cuts in, "I haven't tried the move yet, but it should work when the next wave comes in. It should take them all out."

"That's great!" I shout in relief and ignorance, "What do you do?"

"I'm going to collapse the floor," Jiro replies with her jacks shooting into the floor.

Before I could even protest the idea, the next horde of villains appears this time, with visible quirks and mutations. Hagakure and I get next to Jiro.

"Do it!" I scream.

"Not yet," Jiro replies in distress.

"We don't have time!" Hagakure shouts backs.

"Just hold on!"

"Jiro!" I shout again as more pile in.

"Jiro!" Hagakure takes a step back as the room is nearly filled once more.

"JIRO!" Hagakure and I plead.

"Hang on!" Jiro sends a shockwave through the floor and immediately the ground collapses on us. Everyone falls to the floor under us as I cover my head the best I can to avoid a serious injury from falling debris.

A few seconds pass as I groan in pain. My body begins to ache badly and I feel immensely drained. The adrenaline I felt earlier has passed on and is leaving me weary. I get onto my feet and look around me. Jiro's plan did the trick. All of the thugs are laying on the ground motionless. To my left, I feel Hagakure clutch my arm. I help her up as Jiro rises from the floor to my right.

"It worked," I say in pain.

"Yeah," Jiro loosely plants one of her jacks into the floor and lets out a tired sign.

I can already feel the irritation flooding into my veins, "More?"

"Yup." Jiro tries to take a step forward and nearly falls under her weight. Hagakure and I grab her before she plants face-first into the floor. I look around and see a large hole in the ground nearby.

I point to the hold weakly, "Over there." Hagakure and I drag ourselves and Jiro to the hole. I look down and see no cushion below. "Oh, this is going to hurt." Hagakure and I lay Jiro onto the floor as the two of us do so as well. We backward into the hole and grab the edge. Our bodies float in the air momentarily before we relinquish our hold. Instead of landing on our feet, we all land on our backs with a grunt being the loudest sound. At this point, my body is screaming at me to stop.

Oh, why did Da Vinci have to convince our mentors to let out stealth this mission? If we get captured this is all on him.

I look over to my left to see Hagakure and Jiro have yet to move. I let out a sigh of defeat as I see the villains beginning to pile into the room. I reach out to the girls in a desperate attempt to feel any last sort of comfort as my mind thinks of the worst. My arm falls to the floor in failure with my vision starting to fade away. Just before I fully blackout, I see the villains being pushed back by what seems to be extended hair. I laugh weakly at the sight before fully succumbing to sleep.

Mirko and I weren't able to make it to the warehouse in time. By the time we arrived, Rock Lock, His Purple Highness, and Death Arms had taken care of the criminals with the help of a miniature police force.

"Mirko!" Death Arms shouted in shock. Everyone swiftly turned their gazes to the number five hero equally stunned to see her.

"I see the place has already been cleared out," Mirko walks towards whom I assume is the sergeant of the police force, "Who's the ringleader here?"

"Over there, Mirko," The sergeant points to a man with a full of clothing and a mask covering his face. Mirko walks over to the man and stops right in front of him. The man notably recoils at the sight of Mirko.

"Alright you punk," Mirko grabs the man by the collar of his shirt, "Where are the other hideouts? I know there are more around here."

"S-s-since when did y-you care about cases like these?!" The man's lips were trembling in fear.

"Right now," Mirko grins slightly, "If I have to ask again, I guarantee I won't hurt ya either."

"But I'm in cust-"

"5!"

"Okay! Okay!" The man whimpers.

"Good choice," Mirko lets the man go, and without hesitation, rips his mask off. A loud gasp leaves my mouth as I recognize the man behind the mask. Some police members turn to me and so do the heroes except Mirko.

"Do you know him?" Death Arms asks.

"Hardly, but I've seen him before," I say with disgust in my voice. "How could you do this?!" I shout to the man. Mirko and the criminal look at me as I take a few steps forward.

"Who are you?" The man asks with confusion.

"My identity doesn't matter, but I've seen you several days ago! You were with your husband and your children!" The man's eyes bulged wide open. "I saw you through my window the other day with them! You were all laughing and eating ice cream as you walked into your house!" The man looks down in shame.

The man looks at me as if I ripped his heart out. His eyes are filling up with tears as he hangs his head in despair. Looking at this monster makes me realize two things.

I need to tell my dad how much I love him. And that these bastards are everywhere. The people I pass by on the streets, staff at old schools, government workers, there is no exception. These people are everywhere and hide in plain sight, disguising themselves as regular people.

I take another step forward, "How could you do this?!"

"I didn't have a choice!" The man shouts back to me.

"There's always a choice!" Rock Lock, shockingly, yells back with noticeable rage, "You chose this over your kids! How could you call yourself a father when you are perfectly okay with doing this to another man or woman's child?!"

The man says nothing in response as I quickly leave the room. I don't have time to waste with this poor soul. The most I can do is pray that his most likely ex-husband and kids can move on and live good lives without him involved.

I exit the building and see Mina, Jiro, and Hagakure being loaded into ambulances. I feel a wave of guilt rush over me and can't help but feel responsible for this.

"It's not your fault, kid," Tony tells me.

"Then why do I feel like it is?" I ask him and sit against a nearby wall. I watch as the ambulances blare their sirens and leave. I want to get up and tail them so I can be there for them when they wake up, but I feel afraid too after hearing Mina yell at me over the commlinks.

"No one could have predicted this would happen, Hatsume. Not even me." A separate screen opens over my hud as Tony's face appears with a look of understanding and care, "I can't tell you the number of times I felt like something was my fault when it wasn't. You did what you thought was right at that moment, and you were right to do that. Had you not chased after that Nomu who knows where that metal container would be right now."

I look down to the floor. I am glad that I was able to help rescue whoever was in that metal container but that doesn't nurture my feelings about Mina and the others. "I left them just when they needed me the most…"

"This is part of being a hero kid," Tony closes his eyes, "Part of being a hero is having to make choices in the heat of the moment. Sometimes, no matter the choice you make, you'll end up feeling guilty about something. There's always a risk to everything, Hatsume. And hero life is full of risks. It's why I gave you this suit. To protect you. I can't risk leaving you vulnerable knowing I am fully capable of giving you protection."

I take a deep breath and stay silent to think things over. I wasn't granted that much time as Mirko walks out the door and looks down at me.

"What's up, kindling?" Mirko asks, "That man got you feeling down or something?"

"No," I say, looking up to Mirko, "My friends. They're hospitalized. I wasn't there for them when they needed me the most."

Mirko doesn't respond immediately as she ponders over what she's going to say to me. "Well...if they were my friends, I would keep fighting for them."

"Keep fighting?" I ask.

"Yeah," Mirko looks out towards the streets, "The punk spilled the beans. Turns out, this city is a hive. There are locations of captives everywhere. It also helps that the police mysteriously got photo evidence just now of the locations and reported them to us about thirty seconds ago."

Photos? But I don't remember sending them to the police yet. Unless….

Tony.

I smile under the mask as I see Tony giving me a knowing smirk, "I took the liberty of sending them the information."

"I decided to help out since this city is full of them," Mirko grins down to me, "And since I don't see your mentor showing up anytime soon, I was curious if you wanted to take notes on how to properly kick ass by watching me doing what I do best."

"Are you serious?" I ask in shock.

"I'm am, kindling," Mirko places her hands on the back of her head, "You fascinate me. You built this because you found yourself being screwed over by the system. You wanted to prove something to the so-called 'best hero school' and you did that by beating their best 1st years at the Sports Festival. Hell, you made the second place winner rage quit because he no-showed the medal reception." Mirko looks back down to me, "More importantly, you built the suit because you want to prove to everyone someone with a weaker quirk or a quirkless person, in general, is fully capable of being a hero. Kindling, I can respect that kind of commitment and drive. Makes me kinda wish you took my internship offer."

"O-oh…" I look down in embarrassment as Mirko chuckles.

"I take no offense to it. I can see why you chose the old man. He may be an old hero, but he has the tech to help him out."

I stand up and give Mirko my fullest attention. Just as I am about to tell that I agree to her conditions, Da Vinci and Baymax finally return.

"The package is secured, and you won't believe this, Iron Maiden," Da Vinci says.

"What?" I am 100% positive it has to do with the identity of the person inside the container.

"Baymax pried open the container and inside was this man," Da Vinci opens up his palm as a holographic picture of a months-old newspaper appears. The newspaper is by the famous US News Company, 'The Daily Bugle.' The front picture shows an old man around his 70's on the front cover. The man has noticeable wrinkles on his white skin. He has soft hazel eyes, his hair and beard colored white mostly likely from age, and he had glasses. I take my eyes off the man and look up to read the headline.

"WORLD FAMOUS PHOTOJOURNALIST PETER PARKER MISSING!"

Before this chapter ends, let me answer the question. Why am I providing Mina's POV in a story about me? Simple. If it weren't for Mina, I wouldn't be the hero I am today. I could say the same about my husband, Tony, and even Mirko. I believe these parts where you get to see the POV of these four are vital to the story. They won't happen often, but when they do, I believe it is because it is necessary to know what was happening to them during these crucial events; there are times where I am not able to explain certain situations, and I don't want to leave you, my lovely readers, without important details.