Chapter Forty-Two

After lunch, faced with spending another couple hours trying to slam our heads against the lists of prospective heroes in our classroom, I'd had enough. "Okay, I'm out," I announced, getting looks from my classmates.

"Out?" Kirishima echoed, confused.

"Why, the heck, are we doing this here?" I asked waving around. "We've been dismissed. We could just go home. Or go to a café. Or a karaoke place. Or something else that isn't our desks. The chairs here, good and sturdy, sure, but not exactly comfortable. And for this kinda thing? It's best to have space to spread your notes out, so you can visualize the information you're sorting through."

Several of my classmates exchanged looks. "Um, why are we here, ribbit?" Asui inquired.

"'Cause this is where we do school stuff?" Ochaco offered, obviously aware of how bad a reason that was.

Momo clapped her hands together. "Perhaps it would be better to retire to more suitable accommodations, then? I will have to check with my parents, but I'm sure we could have an informal study session, of a sort, at my residence?"

"Sounds like a plan," I nodded, looking over to Mina who smiled and nodded.

"Can I come?" Jiro asked, a little awkwardly, already sitting at her desk.

For a moment, Yaoyorozu hesitated, before she smiled broadly. "Of course! We are classmates, and my invitation is meant for all who wish to attend. I can have mother prepare the great hall!"

As the others echoed "The great hall?" the rocker glanced over to the other side of the room. "In that case, Bakugo, want to tag along?"

"I don't need your help, earlobes. I can figure this shit out myself!" the teen growled, causing the girl to frown in return.

Ochaco spoke up, before Jiro could respond. "In that case, I'd like to come too. Izuku?" she asked, turning towards the small, green-haired boy.

"Oh, um, I don't want to impose," Deku said, trying to be polite.

"Wait, dude, can you come?" I asked him, turning towards the teen, mentally facepalming at missing the resource right beside me. "Because I have no idea who half these people are, and from what I've heard you practically live and breathe heroes."

Midoriya blushed, "I, I guess I know a little bit about-"

Bakugo growled and stood. "Stop being dumb, Deku. Get outta my way raccoon eyes, I'm going where I don't have ta listen to stupid."

The boy stalked out, and I turned to Izuku with a smile, "Well, with that ringing endorsement, you've gotta come!"

Momo received permission in only a few minutes, and soon enough we were at UA's gates as a limousine rolled up, our little study group agog at the luxury vehicle. Thankfully, there was enough room for the eight of us, as Toru and Asui had decided to tag along as well. Yaoyorozu looked a bit confused as the others got giddy, clambering in and looking around, so I sat down next to her, leaned over, shoulder to shoulder, and whispered, "They've never been in a limo before."

"Really?" the sheltered girl asked, still confused. "Oh, I just thought it was convenient."

"It is," I agreed, "Especially for a group like this. They'll get used to it."

The girl turned to regard me, as the limo started to move. "And you already are?"

Whups, I thought, Denki having never been in one in his life. Instead, I shrugged, going with the first thing that came to mind, "I'm more enjoying the company than the luxury."

Momo froze, blushing slightly. " Tea!" she suddenly announced. I raised a questioning eyebrow. "Is there any kind of tea you would prefer?"

"Actually, if you've got any Lapsang Souchong I'd not say no," I smiled, expression broadening at her incredulous look.

"You actually drink that?" she demanded, before her etiquette training almost visibly kicked in. "No offense, Denki, only that is just a very... pungent brew."

I laughed, nodding in agreement, "It tastes like someone turned hardwood flooring into a drink. But with a bit of sugar it's not that bad. That said, maybe just Sencha for the others?"

She smiled, nodding, and I caught Mina glancing over at us with a grin, before my girlfriend went back to gushing over how the limo was so cool with Uraraka, who was... pinching herself? "Harrods' or Wedgwood?" was Yaoyorozu's next question.

Shrugging, I replied, "Honestly, either is fine. It's your home, and I'm sure you have good taste."

"That makes one of us," Momo jibed good naturedly, before continuing on, intrigued, "I didn't expect you to be so knowledgeable about teas."

"I like trying new things," I offered. "Though I could never get into the entire 'tea ceremony' thing. Like, I get it intellectually, but not my thing. Once was enough."

"Pity," she smiled, and I resisted the urge to give it another shot. It really wasn't my thing, the sheer arbitrary-ness of the rules that governed them just not my style.

I sat back, along with Yaoyorozu, as the others started to get over the novelty of the situation and went back to discussing their internship offers. "But I thought you wanted to be a support hero, like Thirteen? More into rescuing than fighting," Midoriya asked, getting my attention.

"Ultimately, that's the plan," the anti-gravity girl replied, nodding. "But after the USJ, and especially after our fight, Mina, I realized that the stronger I am, the more possibilities I'll have. And it'll give me a different perspective, or that's what I'm thinking. But even looking at the fighting heroes, the ones that are hand to hand, I got offers from five different ones, and I'm not sure who to pick!"

Izuku frowned, nodding as he absently noted, "Your quick thinking on how to counter Ashido's gauntlets must've impressed them, along with your tenacity. It definitely impressed me."

Reddening, Ochaco, pulled back a little, waving a hand in the boy's direction. "I, I was just trying something and hoping it worked. Nothing much."

"Pfshaw," my girlfriend disagreed. "If I hadn't been working with Sparky to figure out how to control my acid, you woulda totes gotten me! It was, just, like super bad luck that you makin' me weightless made it easier to control!"

"It was really cool," Jiro noted. "I'm not sure I coulda kept getting back up like you did."

Uraraka reddened further, but a smile spread across her face. "Thanks, guys."

The discussion lulled until we seemed to leave the city entirely, entering an area of woods, though one bracketed by fencing on either side, eventually turning into a gate, the house hidden by the trees. "Wait, is this where you live?" Hagakure asked, incredulous.

"It's our main property, yes," Momo answered, frowning. "Is there something wrong?"

"I, uh, no, it's just," the invisible girl stammered, trying to figure out how to say what she was thinking without being rude.

"Different life experiences," I shrugged. "Nothing wrong, only new."

"Oh, alright then," Yaoyorozu sighed in relief. "We should be in sight of the manor in a few minutes."

"A few minutes," the others echoed in unison, and I just smiled at the rich girl's look of confusion, which comforted her, helping her realize she'd said something amusing and not offensive.

Soon enough, we emerged from the forest onto a large, well-cared for estate, an enormous mansion at the center of it all. Momo practically bounced out of the car when it stopped, an older man in a butler's uniform opening the door.

"The great hall has been prepared, young miss," he announced.

"Thank you, Wadsworth," the heiress smiled graciously.

Ochaco blinked, "Wait, you're name's really Wadsworth?"

The older Asian man inclined his head graciously, a smirk tugging at his otherwise polite expression. "It is not, but when I was first hired the young miss informed me that all butlers were named Wadsworth, and I didn't have the heart to correct her."

Yaoyorozu reddened as Mina laughed. "Do you have to tell that story to all of classmates?"

"Only the ones that ask," the butler dubbed Wadsworth replied, "Now if the young miss's party could follow me?"

Soon enough we were situated, papers spread out, sorting through the, quite frankly, insane amount of offers. Asui had pretty much made her choice, her second and third go-to's also being heroes that dealt with coastal areas, only four of which existed on her list of forty. I started to wonder why she was even here, until I noticed she was more helping Midoriya, and to a lesser extent Uraraka, than anything else.

Jiro and Hagakure were dealing with the 'what do I do with my life' problem all teenagers were faced with, given the wildly divergent options they had, though to a bit of a lesser extent than normal. They both knew they wanted to be heroes, but what kind of heroes was something they hadn't paid much mind to.

Midoriya himself, however, was a freaking godsend, able to help me, along with the others, make heads or tails of everything else. He started unsure, uncomfortable with our attention focused solely on him, but build up confidence as he continued, though he would occasionally wander off into introspective tangents.

"Heroes come in two main types, Combat and Support," he explained "though most people just refer to Combat Heroes as Heroes, only adding the modifier to Support Heroes, which really isn't fair as it suggests that they aren't as much Heroes as the others when that's not mutter mutter mutter."

"Deku," I called, getting his attention. " Focus. Types of heroes?"

"Right,' he nodded, embarrassed. "So you have Combat Heroes and Support Heroes. You can have others that specify in other things, but it always comes back to those two categories. From our Quirks alone, Kaminari, that would be you, Ashido, Hagakure, Asui-"

"Call me Tsu," the frog girl interrupted.

"Right, sorry, Tsu, and I would all be considered Combat Heroes," he corrected, continuing his explanation.

From the way Toru's sleeve moved, she was holding up a hand, "Wait, me? But my Quirk's not combat-y at all!"

"Yes it is," Deku frowned, just as confused as she sounded. "Stealth is an amazing advantage in a fight, if used right. You're more likely to better function with proper gear, but that's fairly common. In a support role, it's less useful, though there is some discussion on whether information gathering would classify one as a Support Hero or not, but in combat scenarios, especially ones without clear lines of fire like the tournament had, you'd be a real asset on any team!"

"I... really?" the invisible girl asked, as visibly taken aback as she could be. "But, to use my Quirk I need to, ya know, strip."

The Quirk nerd frowned, as I'd started to notice he did whenever he started pulling apart a problem, before tilting his head back in forth in a 'maybe' gesture. "I... everyone thought I was Quirkless for a while, so I wasn't allowed in the classes that dealt with them, but what is your Quirk, Hagakure?"

"It's Invisibility, can't you see?" she joked, arms going down as she waved to herself.

Deku shook his head. "Yes, but how? Is it a special effect? Are you absorbing light and emitting it simultaneously? Are you warping it? Kacchan's Quirk is Explosion, but if we hadn't figured out that it's the sweat from his palms that does it, he never could've come up with the mechanism in his costume that lets him store it up. If we could figure out the method, it could be worked with, to allow you greater options in combat."

"Wait, wait really?" the transparent teen asked, shocked. "Everyone just said..." she trailed off.

Momo nodded in sympathy, "I understand what you mean. I was working under a misapprehension of my own Quirk's capabilities until I had an enlightening conversation with Denki. It had turned out my parents understood its true mechanism, but had not informed me, thinking I already knew." She shot a glance my way, "And it was by working with him and Mina that I discovered new capabilities."

"Quirk Class in school was just practicing with your Quirk, ribbit," Asui offered. "They weren't having us try new things; they just had us do what our Quirk classifications said we could do. But, how can they teach us if they didn't know?"

Something about that galled the teacher in me. "Because the outcome is unique, but the process of finding them is pretty standard," I shot back, scowling despite myself. Tsuyu blinked her large eyes, pulling back a little. "Sorry, I dealt with the same thing until I realized I was being an idiot a few months ago." The anger wasn't really for myself, but for the process I'd seen in Denki's memories, something I'd overlooked until now. It treated the definitions of Quirks as proscriptive instead of prescriptive. The determinations made by a doctor spending half an hour, tops, when the users were in elementary school were then treated as the end all be all of their powers, not as a starting point to truly understand what each person could do.

Holding up a hand, I sparked a little, the locus in my palm as I swirled the electricity, calling solely upon Denki's real Quirk. The tiny bolts formed a rough vortex of lightning that ran out of energy before they could arc out and hit anything, leaving the faintest scent of ozone in the air. "I was told I had no control over this, that it was indiscriminately discharged from every part of me, so I should just be careful and never use it around others, and I believed them. Honestly, it wasn't until I got into UA that I started figuring out what I could do. I can't control it after I let go, that part they seem to be right about, but where I let it go I can choose, and I can give it a kind of rough directionality." I turned my entire hand to lightning, continuing, "And let's not even get started on this." Mostly because it wasn't because the Quirk assessors were wrong, and more because I'm a cheating cheater that cheats, but my point still stands.

"Hmm," Toru said, lifting her own hand. For a moment nothing happened, and then, very slightly, the air where her palm was seemed to warp for a second, the design on the window-curtain behind her distorting slightly. "Wait, did you see that!" she gasped, the warping spiking for a second, casting odd shadows, before it silently popped, going back to normal.

"So it is a Warping," Midoriya nodded, pulling out a scorched notebook from his backpack and scribbling a few notes down.

On my end, I sat back, considering it, and what I'd been learning from Mei. True invisibility was hard, and very hard to manage, projection methods requiring a lot of computing power to do so without noticeable lag, and warping methods being both power intensive and usually more fragile than was required to work well in combat. "I'll run it by my friend, she might have some ideas, but after the work study," I offered. I didn't particularly like Hagakure that much, but I didn't dislike her either. She just tended to fade to the background, socially, which was ironic as all hell.

"The girl who you teamed up with?" Jiro asked, and I nodded. "Think she might have something for me?"

I shrugged, "Maybe? I'd have to get a better idea of what you can do, maybe Midoriya could help?"

"What? Me?" the boy in question asked. "I, I'm not that special."

"Yeah you are!" Toru objected. "You won the sports festival! And helped me figure out something about my Quirk! I'd never even thought about it being me moving light around, it was, just, well, I was invisible!"

"I'm sure you'd figure it out eventually," the green haired boy still deferred, and he wasn't wrong either. "But, um, you're welcome? What was I talking about? Oh, right heroes, and the types. Um, right, Combat Heroes and Support Heroes. However, most of the high-ranking Heroes are both, except for those Endeavor, Mirko, and Razor, who could probably help with Support activities, they just don't. Combat Heroes are, well, good at combat, their Quirks suited to fighting more than anything else, like Kacchan's. Support heroes are-"

"Good at support?" Jiro asked, an eyebrow raised.

Midoriya chuckled, "Well, yeah. But they're normally focused on battlefield control, or have a wide variety of abilities they can use to find people and get them to safety. Ochaco, you'd be great at that, able lift and move things out of the way without having to worry about hurting people, and so could Todoroki, by using his ice. The rule of thumb is if you're better at fighting villains than saving people, you're Combat, but if it's the other way, you're Support."

I looked at the giant stacks of names in front of me. "Okay, but, how does that help us here?"

"Well, if you want to be a Support Hero, it might be better to do your work study with a Support Hero, and the same for Combat Heroes. Not that what you're doing is wrong, Uraraka, but if everyone else is going the more normal way it could be useful. Like..." he reached over, grabbing my stack. "Like Phantom-Hand. He can make glowing hands he can use to grab and move things, and yeah, he can use them to catch people, and fight a little, but he mostly helps in crises situations, since he's a perfectly coordinated rescue team on his own. You've already crossed him off, which is what I'd suggest, since, well, you seem more like a Combat Hero, no offense."

"None taken," I replied easily, though that wasn't the reason I'd done so. I'd crossed him off, as, while mage-hand on command without the dumb restrictions would be hella useful, it would also be very obvious I'd gotten it from him. Essentially, it's usability was on the same level as Mina's power: If I used it it'd become instantly apparent I was a power copier. "Honestly, I'm looking less for hero types as I am with what kind of Quirk they have." Mina looked up at me at that, eyes narrowing just a little, likely guessing what I really wanted. "I've got super strength, even if it's way less than yours, Deku, so Power Types would work. Really, I'm looking for someone who's skilled with powers that are kind of like mine, so I can pick up some tips." And fold them into mine without anyone noticing.

"Oh, that makes sense," the boy nodded, as his eyes started to dance down the list, grabbing his pen and almost putting it to paper before he froze, glancing up. "Um, you don't mind if I..."

"Go for it, dude," I smiled. "But, don't you have, like, three times as many to look through as I do?"

He shook his head, "I can do that later. I didn't think of looking at them by comparable Quirks, but was thinking about specialties for what I wanted to eventually go into."

I let him work, moving over to help Momo, who had started writing down names into three different columns, one labelled 'Quirk', one 'Combat', and the last 'Prestige'. "Prestige?" I asked her.

She looked up at me, "Anyone in the top one-hundred. When I start my own agency, a pedigree of working under successful heroes will be an asset as well."

I found myself frowning, "Just because they're popular doesn't mean they'll be able to help you be a better hero."

Yaoyorozu laughed, "Yes, Denki. That's why I'm making three lists."

Blushing in embarrassment, I nodded, "Fair enough. Mina do you need any help?" I asked, turning towards her, and, when she shook her head, I turned back to Momo. "Want me to take half the list and search out for 'prestigious' heroes?"

"If you don't mind," the heiress smiled, creating a blade and slicing the bindings open, taking out the back half, before pinching the cut fasteners and, pulling her fingers away, revealing them to be reattached. "Fast acting glue," she explained, making a few threads with which to bind the second half, and handing it to me.

We worked in silence, well, not talking to each other, as Midoriya had started to mutter again, but we all tuned him out. That was broken, however, as the green-haired boy yelped, "Hawks!"

"Wait, really?" Jiro asked, surprised, casting a speculative glance my way, Momo, by my side, smiling as if this was an accomplishment.

"Who?" I had to ask, my memory a blank and Denki's only telling me he was a guy with red wings he'd seen once on tv.

Midoriya looked at me as if he couldn't believe I wouldn't know, before shaking his head. "He's the number three hero in the country!"

I waited for more, but it wasn't coming. "Um, okay. What's his power, exactly? Because I'm not sure I'll have that much to learn from a guy whose power is 'has wings'."

Now it was Deku's turn to be confused, mouthing the words 'has wings', before he understood. "Oh, no, that's not his Quirk! He doesn't actually have wings exactly , instead each feather he has is arranged so it looks like he has wings. They're not connected to each other, or to anything else, he controls them independently. Each one is capable of carrying a person, and he can transform them to use them as weapons, and he doesn't even grow them like a bird does, his Quirk creates them, so if he loses them he can start getting them back in a few hours. That's also why he seems to shed them in his appearances, he's just moving them around!"

"That's..." I trailed off, trying to think of what that kind of power could do. My first thought was broken, my second was that I wanted that power, but my third... "That's cool, but, how would he be able help me?" Thinking about it more, I vaguely remembered him being the one that taught Tokoyami how to fly, which meant, if he didn't also offer an internship to Emo Birdman, I'd need to make sure I taught the recluse to do it myself.

"Well, you did fly during the Sports Festival," Mina offered. "And flying's, like, his thing. Maybe that's how he could help?"

Tokoyami hadn't been able to fly originally, his internship with Hawks showing him how, but... did I really need to know why the Pro'd made the offer? That power, though. If the feathers weren't grown organically, but created, then it was possibly my power would be able to copy it. And if it did, I wouldn't need to have full wing's worth, just a feather or three, under my armor. Having them there to push against a harness would give me movement options I didn't currently have, the gloves I'd made power hogs that guzzled my one main resource, and movement was just as important as strength, once you had a minimum threshold of both.

If my Psychic Talent worked as it had before, I'd get a bit of this guy's power, though at a much, much lower level, but even at that lower level it'd be useful. More than that, most of the Power types that I'd been looking up earlier had been... limited. They'd either been oddly specific, like how Death Arms' Quirk only empowered his arms, or had limitations built into the powers, like Boulder's Quirk which made him strong, but slow, his power something along the lines of condensing momentum, according to the internet. It'd be useful, don't get me wrong, but I'd rather not have something that diminished my capabilities in a respect like that.

"Sparky, I think you should go for it," Mina said, breaking me out of my thoughts. I looked up at her, questioning, as she almost certainly knew my real reason for selecting pros, and she nodded.

"Indeed," Momo agreed, tapping a pen on the third column of the list we'd been making.

Midoriya put in his two cents as well, " Definitely! Getting scouted by anyone on the top ten is amazing, but to have one of the top three do so? Even if he doesn't have the same Quirk as you, he's almost certainly fought people with similar powers!"

"... fine," I agreed. "Though if you don't mind, could you glance through the others? I'm looking for people either with electric Quirks, which I know are rare, or Power Quirks that are full-body without drawbacks that limit their use, like yours, or All-Might's, or mine," I asked, and the inheritor of One-for-All hesitated, until I included myself in the list of 'power-types'.

"Sure," he agreed, after giving me an odd glance, going back to flipping through page after page with ease, and I turned back to helping Momo with her own list.

Time rolled on, 'Wadsworth' bringing in a cart laden down with gourmet pizza for dinner as we worked our way through the lists, Midoriya easily chewing through the several thousand entries I had, looking for my requirements, leaving me only with a couple dozen left, before going back to his own tome. My number two choice ended up being a female hero who made whips of lightning that she controlled psychically, and my number three was a man with touch-telekinesis, Superman style, though much weaker, and he couldn't use it on himself, but it would still be very useful in a number of scenarios.

For all his talk of being scouted by the top ten being impressive, Midoriya was scouted by four of them. Mirko, a literal bunny girl, was the first, the others being Gang Orca, Justice Lantern, and Endeavor. The fact that the number two wanted Midoriya confused everyone, until Mina pointed out, "Wait, he wants Todoroki to use his fire, right? And his dad has been wanting him to do that, instead of just his ice?" I nodded and looked to Midoriya, who nodded as well. "Then he probs wants you to figure out how you did it, so he can make it happen," my girlfriend explained. "I... I don't think you should go with him, Midoriya."

"Yeah," Asui, agreed. "It seems like as soon as you're not useful, he'll drop you, ribbit."

Midoriya frowned, obviously considering the possible ways he could help others by taking it anyways, and I agreed with the frog. "You did your best to help Shoto, Deku," I told him. "Going with Endeavor, assuming Todoroki even ends up there, won't help him. And Endeavor's an adult. He doesn't need your help. Choose someone that'll help you."

Midoriya frowned, nodding, crossing off the number 2's name from his shortlist, but still considered the others. There were oddities to those that'd scouted the powerhouse, like the rabbit-girl not working with anyone, yet she'd offered him an invite, something that a quick search had shown hadn't happened before, or at least if it had it wasn't publicly known. From the way the green-haired boy was fretting, it was clear he wouldn't come to a decision anytime soon.

Mina settled on her own picks, three I'd never even heard of, but her first choice was a woman who could control clay, using it as sword, shield, and vehicle all in one, just like Mina did with her own acid. Momo, however, also got an invite from someone in the top ten. An veteran hero, and the current number eight. The Equipped Hero: Armor Warrior seemed to be someone who's power was exactly the kind of Quirk my friend could emulate, with his use of ancillary equipment to fight, which she could create on demand.

That hero was one that Momo had heard of as a child, and looked up to, so my friend was quite happy with the offer. The man was a strong believer in the older types of heroism, as opposed to the 'celebrity that sometimes fights' that was becoming common in this society, the very corruption of the base concept that'd spawned Stain.

At that thought I winced, knowing what Ida would try to do, but, without Midoriya interning with Gran Torino, would he be there in time? Did I tell somebody? Ojiro hadn't died, but he was out of the program, and this time things would be cut much closer.

Pushing the thought out of my head, I excused myself to use the bathroom, finding the butler waiting for me as I exited. Before I could say anything, the older man spoke, "The Master of the house wishes to speak with you."

Not waiting for my response, he turned and started to walk away, in the opposite direction of the hall where my friends sat. Hesitating, I followed Wadsworth, down several hallways, up two sets of stairs, and was finally shown to a large door. Knocking politely, the butler heard something I couldn't, and opened it, motioning me for me to enter. I did, looking around the study, a large desk at the other end of the room, windows behind it.

Seated at the desk was a middle aged man who looked very much like an older male Yaoyorozu, greying a little at the temples, and the image of a stern patriarch. A single chair was set opposite the desk, very obviously meant for me, and I approached it, feeling something pass over my Defenses, and I didn't break stride as I looked around the room, paying more careful attention.

There, I thought, standing right next to one of the windows, in a dark suit that seemed to blend into the background, was a thin man, maybe in in his thirties, staring at me intently. I nodded to him, only for his eyes to widen in surprise. Really hoping I hadn't just messed up, I nodded to the older man behind the desk as well.

Taking the seat, a silence stretched, before, more out of wanting to find out what this was about than any kind of nerves, I asked, "Mr. Yaoyorozu, I presume."

"You presume much, but in this you are correct," the man replied, piercing gray eyes studying me, the setting sun behind his expression making him a little hard to see. "Denki Kaminari, middling student, but ranked first in your class, and who nearly won the UA Sports festival," he addressed in turn.

I shook my head. "My grades are getting better, now that I have a goal to work towards, but I was never going to win that tournament," I replied, wondering where this was going.

"Goals can motivate any man," the Yaoyorozu patriarch agreed, studying me. "Which is why I have one question for you, and do not attempt to lie," he stated, stopping there.

I waited, and waited, and waited, getting a little annoyed, but I had nowhere I needed to be.

Finally Momo's father gave a short snort and presented his question.

"Denki Kaminari, what are your intentions towards my daughter?"

AN: The Next Three Chapter are Up On !