Sitting seiza, Momo could feel a bead of sweat running down her neck as she faced down her mentor. The #8 Hero Yoroi Musha was a legend; known as the oldest Pro Hero in at least the top 1,000, his career spanned decades, which in itself testified to the man's ability and skill. A permanent member of the top 20 ever since he'd broken into it 27 years ago, he'd slowly but steadily climbed the rankings, and in recent years, had an on-again-off-again relationship with the top 10, making it one year before falling off the list, only to soon climb back onto it once again.

Now he sat across the table from her, wearing his infamous Hero costume of traditional Japanese armor, his nodachi, Heiwajoku, laid beside him ready to be used at a moment's notice. Since she'd entered the room, he hadn't said a word to her other than a simple command to, "Sit," while gesturing at the pillow across the table from him. The Yaoyorozu heiress knew he was analyzing her, but his unmoving posture and long white beard made it difficult for her to grasp his thoughts.

"Do you know why I sent you an internship offer?" The man questioned suddenly, breaking the ravenette from her musings.

"No."

"My epithet is the Equipped Hero." Raising his hand, Momo watched as Yoroi reached out in front of himself, the air appearing to ripple at his touch before his hand disappeared into a seemingly thin air. "My Quirk, Armory, allows me to store any nonliving thing I consider equipment in a pocket dimension that I can access at will. Of course there are limits, size and weight primarily, but also technological restrictions. Anything with a power source will find it drained and equipment that requires power will cease to work even when plugged in." Pulling his hand back, Momo's eyes widened at the naginata the man seemingly drew from the air itself. He held it aloft for her to momentarily examine but soon stowed it once again.

"Over the years, I have collected a vast array of weapons, all of which I've trained to wield, if not expertly then with above average skill. I cannot proclaim that I am prepared for all situations, as that would be hubristic of me, but I can say that I am equipped for most. Now, what weapon do you think I'm most proficient in wielding?"

"Your nodachi." Momo answered immediately, "It's your main support equipment and is your primary weapon in combat. Of the four times in your career when it has broken, you never went longer than a week before you replaced it."

Yoroi snorted, "Observant one, aren't ya? No, as cliche as it'll sound, my best and most utilized weapon is my mind. I carry a surplus of weapons and equipment with me at all times. However, the challenge is choosing which one best fits the situation. Do I use a bow? If I do, will I be able to make the necessary shot? If I miss, what will the consequences be? Should I instead use my nodachi? A lance? Does this problem sound familiar?"

"Yes," Momo admitted, "I used to struggle to decide what to create. I'd often overthink things, start to doubt the solutions I was coming up with and freeze. Thankfully, someone I trained with was able to recognize the habit and break me out of it."

"Good," Yoroi nodded in approval, "I expected as much. Watching you at the festival, you immediately caught my attention because of how similar your Quirk was to my own. Mine lets me carry around enough equipment to handle any situation while yours allows you to produce whatever's needed. It's a Quirk well suited for Hero work, or for any career path really. If you decided to work in the private sector, you'd never be short of job offers, that's for sure. Are you sure that's not the path you want to take? A few years with licensed Quirk use and you'd be able to retire to a life of luxury while your classmates are still floundering to establish themselves."

"I'm sure." Momo replied, no doubt in her voice. She was Izuku's servant, an extension of his will, her path was whatever he desired, and he wanted her to be a Hero.

"You responded immediately, that's good. If you had hesitated and begun to question your commitment, I would have referred you to my sidekicks and left you to them for the rest of the week. Heroics is not for the faint hearted. In my decades of experience, I have seen much, both the good and bad. I have seen men and women, good ones, die in the prime of their youth. Watched on as old friends lost themselves to the horrors they've been through. I will admit there have been points where I have even begun to doubt myself. I have more than enough money to retire and live comfortably for the rest of my days, yet everyday, I continue to don my costume and go to work. Why? Because the people of Japan believe in their heroes, place their faith in us, and it is our duty to pay it back in turn. At least that's my belief."

The elderly hero locked eyes with his student, "You too no doubt have your own reason for becoming a Hero. There's no need to tell me what it is, but know that right now you are only a student, dipping her toe into the ocean from the safety of the beach. Once you get your license and start to put your training to use in the field, you may find your reason for swimming in the waters inadequate. At that point, you will have two choices: swim back to shore, retire, and find another lot in life, or press onwards and find another reason to continue to struggle." He sighed, "But that's just the advice of an old man, and the scenario I'm talking about is a distant one that may never come to pass for any number of reasons."

Grabbing his cup of tea, Yoroi Musha took a long drink, letting out a sigh of contentment as he set it back down. "For now, I have a week to impart upon you that which I deem most necessary. You have already overcome your problem of freezing as you overthink the issue before you. Excellent, but now you must learn to not think at all."

Momo blinked, "Huh?"

"I know what I said," the samurai was clearly smiling. "Do you think I need to think about what equipment I'm going to use to resolve a situation? No, I act instinctively. The time I would waste thinking is all the time necessary for the situation to worsen; for villains to plot their next moves, for fires to spread, and injuries to turn deadly. I don't have time to waste thinking in those situations, and neither will you."

"But-"

"No buts." Yoroi interrupted, "Right now, you're thinking of all the reasons why you can't not think. You're doubting yourself and your capabilities. It's true that my instincts are built on decades of experience, experience you're currently lacking. However, I am the Equipped Hero: Yoroi Musha, #8 on the Hero Billboard. Do you really think I would waste my time offering you an internship if I did not think I was capable of teaching you what you needed to know?"

Momo had opened her mouth to protest once more, but closed it at the hero's words. It was true, why would he waste his time on her unless he truly believed in what he was saying? Besides, if he could help her grow stronger, make her more useful to Izuku, then that was all the reason she needed to accept his offer. What reason did she have to refute him? None. Onyx orbs flickering with passion, Momo uttered two simple words as she accepted her mentor's offer, "Teach me."

"You know, initially I was going to send in my internship offer so I could have a manservant for a week."

"Huh?" Itsuka's excited grin fell, her expression becoming one of disappointment at her new mentor's words.

"I know what I said,'' the blonde heroine waved dismissively as she snacked from a bag of chips before continuing her rant. "I figured any one of the boys in the hero course would be more than willing to accept my offer, especially if it meant they got to intern under a rising heroine such as myself." A lowered hand gestured to her purple and tan skin tight suit. "They get a week with me, I get the good press of 'training' a top hero from U.A., and someone to pass my chores onto."

She looked at the downcast expression on her intern and sighed, "That was my original plan, and you just had to go and ruin it, didn't you?"

"Huh?"

"You heard me," the Mineyama Hero: Mt. Lady exclaimed, standing up. "There I was watching the sports festival, trying to decide who to send my offer to, when low and behold you show up. If your Quirk was just limited to your hands, I would've dismissed you but noooo, you just had to be able to expand other parts of your body too, didn't you?"

"I'm sorry?" Itsuka replied questioningly, her confusion clear.

"Don't apologize. You did what you had to do to get recognition. I can respect that." She huffed, "I'll only say this once: I'm sorry if I get a bit crass. I was planning on having an easy week where I could kick back and relax, but now I have to actually put in some effort. Gigantification is my whole spiel, and as my intern, your abilities reflect on me. If you can't use your Quirk effectively, then what does that say about me? Unfortunately, from what I saw of you in the Sports Festival, our Quirks seem to differ from one another.

Mine's like an on/off switch: I'm either normal size or giant size. I know some fans speculate that I could potentially 'juggle' my Quirk to find an in-between state, but those guys are idiots. I've had my Quirk for years, do they really think I've never experimented with it? And even if I could control my growth, why would I always go straight to Kaiju size to stop something as simple as a mugging? No! Controlling my growth would require huge amounts of continuous concentration which would make it impractical for heroics, not to mention my size would be fluctuating the entire time, making anything I attempt that much harder! Shrink a bit, suddenly I can't lift that rubble I was holding fine a moment ago and risk getting crushed. Lapse in concentration, now I'm transforming into a giant while inside a building.

On the other hand, your ability to grow seems to be more of a dial, right?" Itsuka's hesitant nod of affirmation was all the encouragement Mt. Lady needed to continue. "I don't know your limits, but it's clear you can choose when to stop growing. We could spend the week working to increase your speed, work to make you grow faster, but you have another, more pressing, weakness to work on."

"What?" Itsuka couldn't help but ask.

"Your inexperience." Mt. Lady said seriously. "I saw the shock on your face when your feet grew, and then again when you grew your arms. You're clearly inexperienced when it comes to growing anything other than your hands, so this week, that's what we're going to focus on. Learning your limits and then training you to grow whatever body parts you want on a moment's notice. Sound good?"

"Yeah," Itsuka grinned. She might have had her initial reservations, but maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as it first seemed.

"I am here and ready for patrol!"

Tensei sweatdropped beneath his helmet as he exited the elevator and entered his agency's lobby where his little brother stood saluting. The two secretaries managing the front desk shot him sympathetic grins, but Tensei had no doubt the moment the Iida brothers were out the door, they would be in the agency group chat telling the others everything. Tensei knew that Tenya was uptight, but he'd hoped that U.A. would help him relax a little. Though, he supposed, a few months was barely any time at all when he had three years of schooling left. Still, it would be fun to patrol with his little brother, Tensei still remembered his first patrol with their father, the Pro Hero: Nitrogen. Seeing his work first hand had not only been educational but formative as well, helping Tensei realize just what kind of hero he wanted to be.

The trust and closeness between Nitrogen and his sidekicks had inspired Tensei to create Team Idaten, a decision he was truly glad to have made. Working with his sidekicks and supporters, he'd been able to accomplish so much more as a hero than he ever would have been able to alone. Tensei knew Tenya looked up to him just like Tensei looked up to his father. If taking Tenya as an intern for a week helped him grow even a little, then Tensei knew he'd made the right decision.

"Great. If you're ready, let's go," Tensei said, donning his helmet and stepping outside, with Tenya, or rather Intelligine, following behind him. For half an hour, the two patrolled the relatively quiet streets of Hosu. Although his agency headquarters was located in the city, Ingenium spent relatively little time actually in Hosu, preferring instead to travel Japan with Team Idaten, going wherever they were needed. Some heroes prepared to set up shop in a city and stay there while others, like Team Idaten, Hawks, and Mirko, preferred to roam, which led to their moniker as 'Roaming Heroes.' Of course, the HPSC could dispatch Heroes as desired and Heroes were free to answer requests for assistance, but other than that, they were granted a large degree of freedom to do their jobs as they pleased.

Tensei was shaken from his thoughts as a blur sped past him. Instantly alert, Tensei prepared to rush in and assist as he watched Intelligine charge forward… and begin scolding a teenager trying to cut across the street. Letting out a sigh, Tensei relaxed and walked forward as his brother delivered his signature arm chops towards the scowling, clearly annoyed teen. "-crossing the street at unapproved locations puts you at risk of injury or death. Please utilize crosswalks in the future when you-"

"Intelligine, go easy on him." Ingenium called out as he reached them.

"But bro-Ingenium, this man was jaywalking. He-"

"Clearly learned a lesson, so how about you let him go on with his business?"

"Bu-"

"I'm sorry for inconveniencing you sir, please be more careful in the future when crossing the road."

"Okay, whatever." Rolling his eyes, the teen turned and walked away. Intelligine went to follow him, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Intelligine, let's take a break for a while."

Sitting on a park bench, Tensei took a sip from his bottle of grapefruit juice as he considered what to say. Intelligine, Tenya, sat next to him and though his helmeted head was directed at his bottle of orange juice, Tensei could tell he wasn't looking at it.

"I'm sorry."

"Hmm?"

"I acted without your approval." Tenya's voice was downcast, "I was so excited to go on patrol with you and I acted without thinking."

"Don't worry about it." Tensei shrugged, taking another drink.

"Huh?"

"You're a student, you're learning. The whole purpose of these internships is for us to teach you what we think you need to know. I'm sure some of your classmates are getting some Quirk training, but I think there's something more important you need to learn."

"What?"

"You take things too seriously. You need to know when to step in and when to let things go. Just now that jaywalker, was he breaking the law? Yes, but do you know how many people jaywalk not just in Hosu, but around Japan? More than you could scold in a lifetime."

"But he was breaking the law?"

"To cross a deserted street. No harm done. You aren't going to scold every person you see that uses their Quirk without a license, are you?" Tenya's silence was enough to earn a sigh from Tensei once again, but before he could talk, his bespectacled brother spoke up.

"No, I wouldn't." Taking off his helmet, Tenya uncapped his orange juice and took a drink. "I recognize that I lack social skills, a classmate of mine made that clear to me and pointed out that I can be controlling and follow rules too closely. She is helping me to overcome my weaknesses, and I must admit it is nice to have a friend like her even though we are very different from one another."

"Oh, so little Tenya has a girlfriend now, does he?" Tensei teased, wiggling his eyebrows.

"No, just a friend who's a girl. Our future relationship will be up to our future selves to decide."

"You know it's no fun to tease you when you take my teasing so seriously." Tensei complained.

Tenya cocked an eyebrow, "Who's to say that I am not purposefully using my nature to ruin your teasing?"

Tensei blinked, his expression owlish, "Why you little brat!" The two devolved into laughter and a brotherly scuffle. A few passing by fans took pictures of the costumed heroes and Ingenium got a brief popularity boost for taking in his little brother as an intern and continuing the Iida family tradition of heroics. Unfortunately, in the following days that news would soon be overshadowed by another event, one that would shake the Iida family to its core.

Wednesday; Six Days After the Sports Festival Incident

"So, you want me to join you."

"Yeah, I mean you have so much more experience at being a villain, sen~pai." Stain's eyes narrowed as he looked at the young man sitting casually before him, his face covered by a disembodied hand that he wore as a mask. The misty man, the one who'd approached him seeking a meeting, stood behind the counter of the bar, polishing a glass, seemingly content to let the boy speak.

"What are your goals?"

"Well, we want to kill All Might eventually. But, I also want to destroy everything I don't like. Like right now," the young man held up a photo of a green haired boy in black clothing, "I want to kill this brat." Stain could feel the hatred and bloodlust aimed at the greenette.

"Who is he?"

"Nobody important, just a speck of dirt that's annoyed me."

Stain sighed, eyes narrowing impeccably, "It was foolish of me take enough of an interest to meet you. Murder, villainy, heroics, what purpose is there if there is no conviction backing your actions? You… Tomura Shigaraki, are the type of person I hate most." The sound of steel on leather filled the bar as Stain slowly slid two blades from their sheathes.

"Sensei, is it okay to let this continue?" The misty man spoke up, his hand slowly rising with the tension.

A television set against the wall flickered on, though it only displayed the words 'Sound Only'. "It's fine, Tomura asked for this meeting. He chose to attempt to recruit the Hero Killer to his side. Be it success or failure, he'll be the one that needs to handle the consequences. Don't worry, I will step in if needed."

The first to act was Stain; his blades now drawn, he charged forward. Just as quickly Tomura stood, grabbing his barstool with four fingers, he threw it at the Hero Killer. Dodging to the right, Stain leapt up onto the counter, one of his swords slashing Kurogiri's arm before he leapt towards Tomura, his tongue licking the bloody blade midair. Raising his right hand, Tomura was ill prepared for Stain's sword to stab him in the shoulder. He instinctively recoiled, but that was when the man's weight slammed into him. Falling backwards, Stain's sword penetrated through Tomura's shoulder and into the wooden floor while his foot pinned the young man's left arm to the ground, rendering his Quirk useless. Resting atop Tomura's chest, the brat trapped beneath him, the ashen haired man was left completely at his mercy.

"To accomplish anything in this world, one needs conviction to drive them. Those who lack it, the weak, they'll be weeded out. You lack purpose so it's only natural that you would fall to me."

"Owww," Tomura hissed through clenched teeth, "So strong. Kurogiri, send him away."

"I can't move my body," Kurogiri called out from where he stood hunched over the bar, struggling to move, "It has to be his Quirk."

"In this corrupt society, filled with fakers and shams, the word 'hero' has lost its meaning. Criminals, heroes, it grows harder to tell you apart by the day. You should all be purged."

Moving his sword towards Tomura's neck, nearly nicking the hand covering his face, Stain's eyes widened when the young man moved. His hand, the one with the blade stabbed through his shoulder rose to clench the sword by his neck. His grip so tight, the blade bit into his palm, sending blood sliding down the steel.

"Hey, if you cut my hand, I'll kill you." Stain's eyes widened as cracks began to spread along the blade from where Tomura gripped it, though the boy's eyes remained fixed on the killer's own. "You sure talk a lot. Conviction? I don't have anything grand like that." Closing his hand, the blade decayed to rusted dust. "But if you want to know what drives me, I'd have to say it's my hatred. All Might, who's worshiped by society. Izuku Midoriya, who dares to try and take what's rightfully mine. I just want to destroy it all. That's my conviction."

Tomura swiped at Stain with his free hand, forcing the Hero Killer back out of reach. The man stood warily as Tomura climbed to his feet. "You know we don't have any healers in our party, and now I'm injured." Beneath his mask Tomura's eyes gleamed, "Why don't you take responsibility, huh?"

"So you have some conviction after all."

"What?"

Stain sheathed his blade, "On the verge of death, people reveal who they truly are. It might differ from my own, but inside of you, there's the seed of some warped conviction, a will that drives you to accomplish your goals. I wonder what that seed will grow into."

"Go die." Tomura responded bluntly, "Didn't you say that I'm the type of person you hate the most or whatever?"

"I was merely testing you. Our goals might differ, but it seems we both have the same desire, to destroy the status quo. I'll let you go for now, but we will meet again. Depending on what that seed of yours has become, then you'll either have my blade… or meet your end upon it."

"You're crazy," Tomura muttered in annoyance, his hand scratching idly at his neck. "I'm fine with having nutjobs in my party but you might be too crazy even for me."

"Tomura, having the Hero Killer on our side would give us not only more firepower, but validation. The fact he's approved of you, even tentatively and offered to possibly join you in the future means our negotiations were successful." Kurogiri explained excitedly.

"Whatever," Tomura muttered as he walked out of the room, "I'm going to bandage my wound, but I want him gone by the time I get back."

"We're done here," Stain said, casting a look towards the misty bartender as he licked his lips. "Now send me back to Hosu. I still have some business there I need to take care of."

"So how did negotiations go?"

"Better than expected," All For One answered Garaki, his eyes focused on the now empty bar. "While Stain did not join Tomura, he did tentatively offer to join later depending on how Tomura's efforts pan out. More importantly though, he taught Tomura about conviction."

"I see," Garaki hummed thoughtfully, "it seems I will not be able to work on him anytime soon. Truly unfortunate, he would have made such a good Nomu. With his willingness to battle and vaunted 'conviction', he could very well have been a High-End."

"There are others that can take his place," All For One said dismissively. "Even if he refused to join Tomura, he is too valuable a piece to remove from the board at this point. His actions are bringing attention to heroes, raising the public's awareness of their actions. Even if unintentional, he is assisting us."

"As you will," Garaki said submissively. "But you would not have called me merely to inform me that I would not be getting a new subject to work on."

"Ah, my old friend, you know me well." All For One smiled, "From listening in on Cherry Blossom Manor, I learned that Izuku seeks to find a way to destroy or suppress Chisaki's vestige."

"Oh?" Garaki asked, his interest clear. With how much the doctor worked with Quirks, All For One has little doubt the doctor would be interested in Izuku's investigation, especially considering how its results could impact Operation Eidolon. "How does he intend to go about doing that?"

"He intends to seek out a group that has worked extensively with Quirks: the Villain Factory."

"Ah, the front we used to gather information in preparation for creating the Nomu. What does he hope to gather from a no longer existing organization?"

"Information. The Villain Factory was never officially declared dissolved, and though most of the main infrastructure was lost, their destruction was never officially confirmed. He likely believes that some parts remain, enough to help him anyway."

"Then he'll be sorely disappointed. With Number 6 dead and the loss of our support, there might be a few distributors left, but they likely now work for other groups."

"True, but if I remember correctly, you preserved a member of Queen Bee's hive for study, correct?"

"Yes," Garaki replied, thoughtfully, "and after the former Queen was extracted from her former host and killed my subject became the new Queen. Though she lacks a host her hive is large enough to be usable."

"Then we'll have to ensure that she finds a suitable body." All For One smiled predatorily, "After all, it would be unfortunate if her highness met Izuku in anything less than her best."

Author's Note:

Round of applause for TOPCAT-59 everybody who successfully predicted that Queen Bee would be making an appearance. Now I know she wasn't on the list of potential harem members way back in my harem discussion chapter/AN but, in my defense, I hadn't read Vigilantes at that point and didn't intend to include it in the story. So consider her a little bonus add on though I will say she will be buffed in some ways, nerfed in others. I wonder if any DbD fans get that reference?

Anywho new chapter, whoo. Hope you all enjoyed the peak at our various Hero internees. Don't worry most of them won't be touched on again until the next arc, this is just my way of saying who's receiving what kind of training so you won't be surprised when, for example, Itsuka's suddenly more skilled at growing anything other than her hands. Tomura and Stain's confrontation went mostly as cannon though I'll say now that there's going to be a break between when they talked and when Tomura unleashes his Nomu because timeline reasons. I'll probably include a timeline in an AN at the end of this arc covering everything that happened in it so you all can have a proper order of events because I'm not interested in breaking my carefully arranged continuity.

Finally the MHA manga is officially over. Wow, 10 years huh. It seems so long but then you have Goda still pumping out chapters of One Piece and you realize that time is relative. I started reading MHA back in high school, now I'm a junior in college and I'll probably graduate before One Piece even finishes the Elbaf arc. Still MHA's not dead just because the manga's ended, we got the anime, a movie coming later this fall, and of course my fanfic which you dear reader are enjoying though if you've read this far into this AN I'm not sure whether to congratulate or pity you for listening to an author's ramblings.

Leave a comment to keep me writing, and because I enjoy reading them. Follow, favorite, if you haven't already and as always check out my P-atreon for early access to new chapters. All three next chapters are up so you won't have to wait for me to post something, and my iced coffee budget could use a boost now that I'm back at college getting ready to help students move in because RA. Well until next time this is the demon wondering if mouth-sewn-shut-in-manga-boy-who-redeemed-old-granny-and-is-totally-not-another-Tomura-in-the-making-because-seriously-what-was-that-backstory-Horikoshi-damn will ever get a proper name and Quirk signing off to play some Pokemon Reborn,

- D'yavol Lucifer 3:)

PS - No I'm not going to include him in this story, just like I'm totally not going to include characters from either the new movie or any of the other ones. ;)

*IMPORTANT NOTICE*

All the cover art for my stories are ones I found online. I am really interested in using fanart provided by you the readers to replace them. If you're interested draw something up and pm me so I can send you the details on where to send it or pm me and I'll give you some details so you can draw one. As I say in my bio if I use it I may add you as an oc in one of my stories! Isn't that exciting!

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