Chapter 24: Hero Internship

It took at least a couple of hours long train ride till I got to Hosu Station.

When I got there, I was greeted by Ingenium's own head-secretary and was ushered into a car before we drove off into the main streets.

"Ingenium wanted to personally come get you, but he is pretty busy recently, so I was asked to fetch you instead." The cat-eared woman in a black business suit tells me, "I'm Nekorin Chita, by the way."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Tatsuya Genko."

"A polite one, huh?"

Soon enough, we made it to Team Idaten's headquarters.

The HQ is quite far from the major districts, built at the edge of the city with roads sprouting out from it that leads right into said districts. The main building itself consists of a large wide building about ten stories tall with its first four stories extended outwards from its sides, with the agency's logo on a billiard at the top floor. On its right is a carpark that has several trucks parked next to one another, all having the same logo printed on its side. All of it is surrounded by a metal and concrete fence with a lone metal gate to let people in and out.

With how many sidekicks they employed, I'm surprise the building isn't any bigger, or an entire compound of their own.

"Welcome, to Team Idaten's headquarters."

As I'm escorted into the main building, I am greeted by the sight of several costumed Heroes wandering about the foyer, with many civilians by the receptionist counter, hauling trays of paperwork or just holding them, with some even on the phone as they ran.

"This building houses all of our sidekicks and civilian staffs." She explains to me, "Ingenium's office in the top floor, and the living quarters is at the back. If you follow me, I'll-"

"Everyone! Clear the entranceway!"

Everyone in the foyer quickly move aside as couple of them ran to open up the double door. Within moments, something fast dashing right through the opened doors before Ingenium skids to a stop right in the middle of the foyer with as much style as a skidding motorist.

"I'm back, guys!" He greeted.

"Welcome back!" Many of his sidekicks greeted back, some with a casual wave.

"Welcome back, Ingenium, sir." Nekorin bows to him as he walks up to us before gesturing to me, "Your intern for the week has just arrived."

"Tatsuya Genko! Glad to have you here!" He cheerily states as he reaches out his hand for a handshake, which I gladly give him, "Man, I didn't think you'll really choose here for your internship. I was sure that you'll pick a more famous Hero Agency."

"I was going to, but I feel I'll improve more if I interned under you." I responded. Of course, that's only part of the reason, besides my plans of possibly stopping Stain. "Plus, you did extend a personal offer."

"True, true. Guess that makes me going all the way Yuuei worth it in the end, huh?" He chuckles, "Come on, let's go to my office, and let me tell you more about Team Idaten along the way."

Together with Nekorin, he brought me into the elevator where it slowly rises up with floors one at a time.

"As you might be well-aware, Team Idaten is founded on the principal of teamwork. We are willing to hire all sorts of sidekicks and then deploy them to where their quirks would suit the situation." He explains to me, "Front line, support staff, navigators, patrollers, etc.; if there's a way your quirk and skills could help, we would deploy you accordingly."

"So, what about me?" I asked.

"With your quirk, it would be best put on the front lines with me." He added, "You'll be shadowing me into every case I get into. So, I want you to be prepared, because this isn't going to be like in school."

Soon enough, the bell chimed the top floor and the elevator doors opened to reveal his office.

It is a large room with at least three different tables with two of them currently occupied by two costumed heroes who greets him as we walk by. At the end of it, right in front of a large window that looks out over Hosu City, is a large table filled with papers and files along with a computer setup with a monitor that has the agency's logo on its back.

"Give me a second here…" He tells me as he searches his drawers for a bit, before handing me a keycard, "Okay, so this is your access keycard for the place. Try not to lose it. The people down in HR are kind of pissed from all the missing keycards lately…" I chuckle at that and pocketed it immediately. "Chita, mind showing her to her room later?"

"With pleasure, sir."

"Thank you, Chita. After you unpacked, meet me back here, okay? I'll explain your internship then."

"Oh, sure."


Nekorin escorted me back down the elevator to a different floor, where we walk pass a connecting bridge into what I can safely assume is the living quarters. The hallways are empty, as expected of a late morning at a Hero Agency, with several doors lined up in a row, each with a number and letter on them.

"The living quarters are divided into four blocks lettered A to D." She explains as we walk down the hallway, "Your room is in the D block, and room number would be D-12." She shows me the door, where there's an electronic card reader under the doorknob. I slide the keycard through it, its light turns from red to green with a click to indicate the door unlocking.

I push the door and walks into the room.

It is a pretty decent sized bedroom with white plain curtains over the window as well as white sheets over the single-sized bed with white pillows. There's even a cupboard next to it that has a full-length mirror.

After a word from Chita to head to Ingenium's office as soon as possible, I proceed to change out of my uniform and into my Hero costume, which includes a couple of add-ons by my brother; A pair of black gloves with white carbon fiber plates sewed on the back of the gloves, its palms are white and layered with some kind of scale-like pattern.

According to him, the scales are made from nylon and are layered in a way that they rub against each other every time I move any part of my hands in any way possible, generating static electricity for me to absorb.

And already, I felt the effect working as just twitching my finger a tiny bit has me absorbing some level of charge from the get go. Not enough for me to increase my speed, but it meant that it is working as intended.

I've got to hand it to Tetsu-nii, he definitely knows how to innovate and design Hero gear; even if it made the job harder for Power Loader.

After a few more adjustments in front of the mirror to be sure I'm wearing it right, I exited the room and retrace my steps back to the office where Ingenium is waiting for me.

"So that's your hero costume?" He commented when I returned to the office, "I wasn't expecting the jacket. Won't that create drag when you run?"

"That's why it is a bolero." I stated with a grin, "Small flaps, less drag."

"Huh, guess that would make sense…" He chuckles before getting up from his seat, "Come on, let me give a tour of the place as we discuss our schedule for the week. Ah, what is your Hero name, by the way?"

"Tempest."

"Sounds… breezy."

"Was that a wind pun?"

"Maybe~?"

Well, guess he is way more of a friendly guy that I have thought…


The facility of Team Idaten isn't that out of ordinary. It's almost what I would expect from a civil defense HQ would be like, only with costumed Heroes instead of uniformed officers walking about.

For the rest of the morning till noon, Ingenium has showed me pretty much every place I would need to know about the compound, from where the office cafeteria is, the communications room, to even where the emergency exit is in case a Villain attacks the place. Not sure why they would need one, considering that there are very little chance for a Villain to try to assault the place before getting swarmed by the amount of Heroes within minutes.

Then again, some Villains has shown been pretty destructive and might level the place if given the chance to.

"And this is the training grounds."

He brought me to a separate building at the back of the compound, a large at least two stories high building connected to the main building by a concrete path with a blue arc-like roof. When we enter it, it reveals to be something similar to a sports hall complex with its own race track where people are running laps around.

Heck, there's even some gym equipment and gymnastics course available on ground. Some were being made into good use by some of Ingenium's other sidekicks' quirks; one is even using its large gelatinous body to lift and work with six different dumbbells all at once, three on each 'hand'.

"This is where you should go if you want to train up your skills, or just want to get some exercise." He explains, "Weight lifting, Gymnastics, Track, Cardio, and so on. We try to give everyone something to use to work on. I personally use this place every morning."

"Whoa, amazing…" I noted in awe. I wasn't expecting an actual training place on the compound itself! Man, Team Idaten must be loaded to able to allow this to be created.

"Actually, why don't we have a little training session right now?"

"Right now?"

He nodded before walking towards the tracks as he took out a pair of racing shades from within his costume, "Let's have a little race to test out how well your quirk work. I'll even make this interesting; First one to finish six laps wins, and the loser has to pay for lunch later."

"Oh, it's on! I have to warn you, I'm a rather big eater!"

"I like your confidence! But be prepared to eat your words!"

With that being said, the two of us proceeds down onto the tracks, where the other runners quickly stop running and left the field to stand on the sidelines. Soon enough, almost everyone stopped what they are doing and is watching us.

"Hey, who is that kid?"

"Ah, she must be the new intern from Yuuei. The first-years are doing their week-long internships, right?"

"I didn't think we're even accepting any."

"Wait, isn't she that girl that got third in the Sports Festival?"

"Whoa, I think you're right!"

Murmurs like those starts echoing among the walls, which is kind of expected seeing as their boss is basically challenging the rookie to a race.

"Hey, Enigma. Mind starting us off, will you?"

"Sure, why not?"

The large gelatinous blob of a Sidekick slithers… or is it slugging…? Anyway, they move towards our starting area before raising a single blobby tentacle.

"Ready…"

I clench both my fists; the action seemingly generated enough static electricity for me charge up to accelerate myself. A few more finger twitches and I'm fully charged up.

"GO!"

The moment the tentacle is swung down, I felt the charge flows into my nerves as I dashes down the track as fast as I am able. Ingenium seems to have the same idea from the similar sounding engine rumbling next to me.

"Haha! Not bad!" He stated as we complete the first lap still neck to neck, "It has been a while since I have someone match my speed!"

"Just you wait! I'll overtake you yet!"

The next few laps are still the same, we both are still match to match in speed with neither of us managing to pull ahead of the other. Thanks to Tetsu-nii's gloves, I'm able to maintain that speed just be twitching my fingers every once in a while, though the action has me slow down at certain moments which nearly cost me the draw a few times.

"Come on, Ingenium-san! Show that newbie who's boss!"

"Don't give up, new kid!"

"Don't let some student show you up!"

"500yen that Ingenium would leave her in the dust!"

"Oh, you're on!"

The audience that has surrounded us has started cheering us on, bets are being distributed around to my chagrin. This is a Hero Agency, isn't it? Is that even allowed?

And when the last lap came…

"Sorry, Tatsuya Genko! But as the head Hero of this agency, I can't afford to lose to a student! RECIPRO BURST!"

At the last stretch of the track before the finishing line, he activates the same technique Iida used in the Sports Festival, speeding past me as his elbow's exhaust port extrudes blue flames. Oh right, they have the same quirk, don't they? It would make sense that they would have the same acceleration method!

Well, I'm not going let him take the lead!

"YAARGGGHH!"

With a loud shout, I channel all of my charge into accelerating forward. My surrounding immediately blurs and the wind blow against my fast as I speeds up after him in the same manner as when I chase after Midoriya back in the USJ.

Within moments, I speed right up to him just as we race past the Enigma; the blob-like sidekick immediately raises his tentacles up to signal the end of the race. We both quickly slam on our metaphorical brakes, our soles skidding against the concrete floor as we slow ourselves down.

"O-Oh shit!"

"T-Tempest!?"

I then realized that I has gone way too fast and isn't slowing down fast enough, skidding past Ingenium who has slowed to a stop. I force my feet down onto the ground as hard as I can to try to add more friction, but it wasn't enough with the concrete wall slowly coming closer with each passing moment.

"A-AAAHH!" This is going to hurt!

"F-Fuusenko!"

"On it!"

One of the watching sidekicks suddenly appears in front of me and inflates up like a balloon, allowing me to crash into his soft body like a large air bag. I let out an audible sigh of relief as he deflates like whoopie cushion as we both sink onto the ground.

"Are you alright!?" Ingenium calls out as he ran up to me, "Anything broken!?"

"Nothing, thank god for that…" I tells him before turning to the sidekick who saved me, "Thanks for save, um…"

"Just call me Fuusenko."

"Fuusen-Oh, because of your-"

"I know, I know, not the most inventive name; but you can't deny that it fits."

"Oh, most definitely."

"That's a huge relief…" Ingenium sighs before chuckling as he helps me back onto my feet, "At least we know we have to work your braking skills."

"Yeah, can't deny that." I giggled, "Didn't think I'll faceplant into a wall after middle school…"

"It happens to the best of us at times."

"So… who won?"

"Huh, that's a good question." He turns to Enigma, "Hey, who won the race?"

"Sorry, sir. Can't really tell…" The glob sheepishly chuckles.

"Now that's a bummer…" I sighed. Not going to lie, I wanted to see if I could outmatch one of japan's fastest Heroes, aside from Hermes that is. It would be a good measuring point for me to use as reference.

"Eh, why don't we just call it a draw for now?" Ingenium tells me, "But I have to say, you are way faster than I gave you credit for."

"As fast as dad was?"

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves now."

We both shared a chuckle before the other sidekicks came to talk, some even congratulate me on being the only other costumed Hero to match Ingenium in speed of recent. Even with the threat of Stain possibly looming around, I'm definitely looking forward to my time here.


Taikou wasn't sure why this Hero even extended an internship to him of all people.

If anything, he was sure that he would be the last person that should be on this guy's radar, but here he is, standing in her office after being asked to changed into his Hero costume.

"I'm glad you accepted my offer." The Hero stated as she sat on the desk looking through some papers, "Got to say, you are definitely more well-build than when you are on TV."

"Thanks, I guess…?"

"Come on, what's with that polite attitude? Where's that fiery attitude in the semi-finals?" She asks as she walks up to him, "And your costume? Simplistic and practical all in one. It could use more color, though."

He wasn't sure what to make of that sentence.

Genko has mentioned about adding some colors into his costume when they brainstormed about their costumes, but he felt that his flames are bright enough without his costume being too blinding.

In that sense, his Hero costume consists of the most simplistic design he can come up without it getting too flashy or too emo looking.

A white sleeveless jacket that has a blue fire emblem sewed into the back of it under a black skintight turtleneck shirt, with a pair of matching white pants with a couple of blue stripes along the side of the legs that cut off under his knees and held tight around his legs by a pair of white knee protectors.

Along with a pair of red shoes with white soles, there's also a pouch that is tied to a belt on his back as well as a pair of white gloves that covers up half his forearm with black knuckle guards, with a pair of blue tinted aviator shades to finish the look off.

"But what am I to say about aesthetic choices?" She added walked back to the desk, retrieving a sheet of paper from its surface, "Do you know why I offer you an internship with me?"

"Not really, no."

"Well, it's because I saw something back in the Sport Festival. A spark, a burning passion that I can relate to." She turns back to him, "In your fight in the semi-finals, I saw an undying drive to kick that guy's ass to kingdom come that you push yourself to the limit to do, to go plus ultra on the blond bastard. But then you forfeited in the end and… well, let's just say I'm more than a little disappointed at that."

"Wait. Are you disappointed at me, or praising me?"

"A little of both, to be honest." She stated as she pokes her finger on his chest, "Which is why I offer my internship to you. You got potential and the drive, which I'm going to force it out of you in our one-week internship together. I hope you are prepared, because I'm not going to make it easy on you."

Taikou felt a shudder goes down his spine at her words. Never in his life would he felt this much fear towards someone that is shorter than him that isn't Genko in a bad mood.

"Now then! I hope you love parkour, because that's what we're going to do right now! Let's head to the roof!"

For being called the Rabbit Hero, Mirko sure isn't like his childhood friend's favorite animal in the slightest.

To Be Continued…


Omake

[Sorry, can't think of any this time either…]


Yeah, sorry for taking so long. Writer's block and all that. I'm just glad I've managed to finish this chapter at all.

At any rate, newest manga chapter spoilers alert, it is now revealed to everyone that the Villain Kurogiri is actually a Nomu formed from the dead body of one Shirokumo, Aizawa's late closest friend and the reason he even managed to become a Hero in the first place. Not going to lie, that came out a left field and has everyone either liking the surprise, or hating it.

Me? I'm leaning to shock than anything else.

And another thing, a time skip will be happening in the latest chapter with an ominous feeling of dread for the hero society in the whole. Can't wait to find out what that is.

Now, to the fic, you all must be wondering why I put Taikou with Mirko of all people. Well, not much is known about Mirko other than she is a no-nonsense Hero who isn't afraid to speak her mind about everything.

And thanks to that, I get to write my own version of her, with is basically a more subdued version of Bakugou minus the inferiority complex. Add the fact that she focused more on kicks, and she is the perfect mentor for Taikou.

That, I really want to write her into the story.

With that, I thank you for reading this!