Chapter 59: Patrols, Lessons, and Partnerships

Everyone has arrived at their internships and while some are having a good time, others are being confronted with facts and opinions they would rather have avoided, but it's not as if crime will rest, not when 2 villains meet and start to plot...

“Text” – Normal speech

‘Text’ – Thought

“Text” – Quirk Spirit speaking in the human world

“Text” - Attack

“Text” – Radio/Communication lines

“Text” – None Japanese speech

(text) – Subtext/meaning behind a spoken word

Line Break

Earlier in the day, Iida arrived at his destination for his internship. The perhaps unsurprising choice he made was to work under his brother, the current holder of the hero name: Ingenium.

Iida had heard from his friends that he had known his brother his entire life and had no doubt been trained by him before he even got into U.A., a valid point, as he had been training with his brother since he was 10. So they wondered if perhaps he should broaden his horizons a little and choose someone else. After all, he could always ask his brother for tips outside their internships.

Iida disagreed. It was true he had been studying under his older brother, Tensei, since he was a child, but it was always just physical training, and even then, not nearly to the same level as they would expect at U.A. As for tips, while his brother wouldn't mind talking about work, he wouldn't give him such information outside an official training session or until Tenya himself earned his provisional hero license.

So, with that in mind, it was the best choice for him to pick his brother, who knew their family's quirks better than anyone. He knew him best, and he could tailor their week together to maximise his training.

This led to him here, in Hosu city, where Ingenium was leading Iida down the street. The two used their quirks to jog at speeds most could only achieve if they sprinted as if their lives depended on it.

“So, how did your friends take hearing your hero name? I haven’t had the chance to ask before now?” Ingenium asked his little brother, both men in full hero gear, including helmets.

"They were quite enthusiastic about it, though they were confused and assumed I wished to be named for a wizard," Merlin replied, as that needed some clearing up.

"Yeah, I expected that, but I'm confident you'll make that name your own." Ingenium chuckled, as Iida had responded similarly when he had first suggested it. "Now, Merlin, you already know that our agency gets requests from law enforcement and first responders on incidents that they need help with, but we can also be called in by other pros on site, or those who know they can't make it and you're closer."

"It's part of why heroes conduct patrols like this, as it helps spread them out evenly to cover as much ground as possible and react to any crimes and incidents promptly," Merlin responded, as they had already handled a few minor crimes. Nothing big, one being a purse snatcher, another being a speeding violation.

“That’s part of it,” Ingenium started as they turned a corner onto a more crowded street. "We try to be proactive, but it's also about being visible. Our presence keeps crime down as most criminals are opportunistic; they only move when they think they have an opening, but if pros are visible on the streets, they don't see that chance."

"I see, an effective means of preventing crime." Merlin hadn’t thought about that, but it made sense now that he heard it.

"It is, but what I like about it is that it helps the common citizens. Sure, they see us n TVs and on commercials, but it helps them feel safe when they see pros just patrolling before something happens, helps makes us more approachable.” Ingenium slowed slightly to wave at some schoolboys who seemed happy to see them. Merlin looked around and saw similar happy looks from other people.

“It also means you can be there for someone like a lost child who wishes to find their parents.”

Under his helmet, Tensei smiled at his brother’s response, proud that he would remember something like that. "Or to act as a guide to people who are lost and nervous. It's the small stuff that makes the difference, you know?"

Sadly, his smile couldn’t last as they continued with their patrol. “But Hosu has been having something of an issue lately, the hero killer.” Ingenium was a popular hero; he was not blind to it or too humble to accept it. But while that was certainly a reason for the warm reception from the locals, he suspected another factor was the knowledge that he and others were on this Stain case.

“You’re on the hunt for him?” Merlin asked, as he had heard about the villain in question, though with how much has happened since the Sports Festival, the news hardly covered him. As morbid and horrible as it was, a mass villain attack with so many casualties made better 'news' than reports of another hero or 2 victimised by Stain.

Ingenium shook his head, though he kept his pace. "I'm out aiding in it. I'm not about to let you get anywhere close to such a villain who's already killed and wounded fully trained and experienced pros. If I do happen to stumble on him, you're to keep the people safe or rush back for some backup."

Merlin might have taken offense if he were a more hot-blooded person or someone who just liked to fight in general. But he could see the facts. Even with two speedsters, he was nowhere near his brother's level and would be more of a hindrance than an aide should they confront the murderous villain.

"Surely you can handle him alone," Merlin asked, but his brother wasn’t so sure.

"Maybe, but I'm sure many of the other pros he's fought thought the same. Stain's a textbook ambush predator, Merlin. He sticks to his hunting grounds, which seem to be dark alleys, and strikes fast. He avoids prolonged fights." Ingenium explained what they knew about Stain’s habits, sighing at the end.

"It's not helped that we don't know his quirk, as from the survivors' testimony, he has no clear tells, nor is he the type to brag about it. We assume it's not a traditionally combative quirk, considering he uses blades. Still, it could easily be him avoiding using it in ways that would make it easier to compare it to the quirk registry."

Yes, that did make things tricky, as they couldn't plan for things they didn't know, not fully anyway. Maybe it was something that worked closely, but who could say? Stain could just happen to be proficient with a blade despite being born with a mid- to long-range quirk, a means to lure one into a false sense of security. "Then shouldn't we search alleyways for him?"

"Too risky, he's far too at home in them and moves fast. All it would take is a blink, and you could end up his next mark. We'll patrol close to alleyways and keep a close eye out for him." Ingenium replied, but he looked to the side and stopped, his brother following suit.

Merlin looked in the direction and saw an elderly couple leaving a store, a clerk helping them with their shopping. But they were there; they could afford to lend a helping hand as well, couldn't they? "For now, I think you need a course on how to handle the public, namely, the elderly. A piece of advice: They can take quite a while to get to the point, and they love a good story."

Line Break

In one of Hosu’s many alleys, the villain Ingenium and his agency was tracking down had been caught, but not be a hero.

Stain had been moving through the shadows, tailing his latest target from afar, learning their habits and strengths and building a profile so that when he struck down the imposter, it would be a quirk, a clean kill. Despite what the idol-worshipping media claimed, he did not take joy in his prey's suffering.

But because he kept out of sight and made little to no sounds, it had come as a surprise when someone spoke up, and his reaction was to kill them before they could react. A burst of blue flames had been the counter, one that came far faster than any hero he had hunted.

Before the fight could continue and possibly alert anyone who might hear it, this interloper raised their hands in surrender. But Stain hadn't gotten this far by being so trusting; he still held his blade to their necks.

Light was not readily available in such a dark spot between 2 tall buildings. Still, Stain was used to such and could make out some features about the interloper. The first was that they seemed to be a woman of average height with rich red hair tied into a complicated braid that went as far as the small of her back. Her flesh showed signs of serious burns, burns so bad that her skin had gone from red to purple, particularly around her fingers.

Her eyes, however, were what gave him pause. It wasn't the fact that they were a sickly shade of orange fading into intense blue, but it was the fact that he couldn't see a shred of humanity in her gaze. No kindness, no compassion, no remorse. Just an intense hatred and desire to kill something that is not even present.

"Speak before I lose my patience." Stain ordered.

"Hey man, there's no need to be so hostile. I'm not your enemy, " the woman replied, a calm smirk on her face despite the steel held to her neck.

Steel, which moved closer, grazing her burnt skin, but not cutting it. “I don’t have many friends either.”

"You don't sugarcoat things, do you? Well, I'll just get to the point." She shrugged, lowering her arms as he didn't believe her. “I would like to work with you for a little…job.”

Stain narrowed his gaze, wondering if she was bold or just an idiot. “You’re a fool if you think I’m some lowly Yakuza you can hire out for your dirty work.”

She laughed at the statement. "Oh, I'm well aware you're far more than that, but I'm not offering you money, status, women, or men if you're into that. I'm offering you the one thing I know you'll be interested in."

“And what,” Stain emphasised the what. “Is that?”

Her smile grew lustful, not for the pleasures of the flesh, but something much more destructive. "Heroes. You seem to love killing them. I don't really know, and I don't give a damn. But I can create a situation where you can take out double what you currently handle."

Stain paused, thinking it over, and then, after about a minute, he pulled his blade back, sheathing it and speaking more openly. “What are you after?”

She held up her hand and let a small flame form on her ring finger's tip, the flames being a bright shade of blue, though their cores were a pure white. “The purest thing in the world…justice. There are people who been allowed to get away with their crimes, their egos and failures for far too long, and the world is blind to it. I want them to see it, I want them all to feel the weight of their sins before the guilty are punished.”

Stain could buy it; she didn't lie about that. But he could also tell she wasn't being completely truthful either. She was hiding something from him, but what?

If she noticed that his guard had raised a little, she didn’t mention it and continued, her smile turning wide and genuine, twisted and vile, beautiful and dangerous. “And part of that….is seeing their heroes fail to save them, to live up to the lofty ideals they pretend to embody when all they care about is themselves.”

Hearing that, Stain only needed a moment to put the pieces together. “You’re part of the group who attacked Musutafu.”

She relaxed against the wall, her gaze locked onto Stain. "Guilty as charged. I wasn't able to get everything done. I was hoping to lure in more pros, but I managed to slaughter a few of them." She didn’t deny it, and Stain was liable to believe her. Yes, nothing was known about the villains responsible, but those eyes…that smile, he couldn’t dismiss it either.

“You also killed dozens of innocents.” Stain pointed out, testing her.

He expected a deflection, perhaps feigned confusion or remorse, or perhaps some sick sense of joy, but she just nodded. It was a single gesture, an acknowledgement without fanfare, ego, or shame. "I never claimed to be innocent or righteous myself. Like you, I know where I'm going when I finally kick the bucket, and it's gonna be real hot."

“And yet you’ll still kill? You’ll dare to show your face to me and request we work together?” Stain didn’t let up, watching her, his hands never far from a blade.

The blue of her eyes seemed to glow, and her smirk grew just a little, like a flame eyeing up a pile of dried wood.

Getting off the wall, she walked away from him, in the direction of the street and the light, but she stopped. "I once heard a saying that sums up my response to that pretty well: Fiat justitia, ruat caelum.”

“Meaning?” Stain was pretty sure that was Latin, but he did not speak it.

She turned back towards her, her gaze a roaring an inferno and yet her smile seemed like the most dangerous part. “Let justice be done though the heavens fall,” She didn’t so much speak as she preached, an air of reference, respect, and something else in her voice, that something seemed to be a deep insanity. "I don't care if the world suffers, if it's consumed in hellfire, and this putrid hero-infested society collapses. Justice will come, the guilty will be punished, and their sins will be brought to light."

“You’re a butcher, a madwoman who craves destruction, but you seem to horn that desire onto the deserving," Stain eventually replied.

The woman shook, a laugher barely piercing her lips. "You want to make me blush?"

“I have conditions for this partnership.” He didn’t give her any idea that she could say otherwise, but she didn’t fight him as he laid them out. "You'll keep civilian casualties as low as possible; if you don't, your head rolls." He wasn't so blind to his actions, but he was a precise man. He didn't involve people who didn't need to be, and he didn't want her to assume as much.

“And I just got this head too,” she said, confusing him. But she moved on before he could question how many screws she had loose. "Sure, why the hell not? Just make my workload all the harder."

"Second, you leave the heroes to me. I'll handle their judgment and punishments." Stain was firm on that. He didn't just want heroes dead; he needed to be the one who dealt the final blow. He might accept help, but that was as far as he would go.

“Deal, not like the guilty one I want would even show up, but it ain’t gonna be here in Hosu. Not the sort of pros I’m looking for.” The woman threw her hands up, blasé about the entire thing.

"I still need to hunt down 2 more false heroes before I move on; that is non-negotiable." Stain finished, as he wasn’t just sticking out Hosu for the scenery.

"If I help speed it up, will you come with me?" the woman asked, and when he nodded, she pulled a paper out of her pocket and held it up. It showed a blonde woman dressed in a white and green spandex suit, with a bandana tied around her neck. “Good, then let’s get to work. I already have a name I think you’ll like.”

“If we’re going to work together, what should I call you?” Stain asked her, as he hadn't heard her name, and despite her massive crimes, the media didn't even know her appearance.

The woman licked her lips, revealing that even her tongue seemed burnt, its flesh pink with some charred black potions. “Dabi.”

Line Break

Morioka was one of Japan's oldest settlements, a historic castle town surrounded by mountains and rivers. However, in the years since quirks became a factor, the city has undergone massive changes. It retained its traditional beauty; city officials and many wealthy residents had pushed to redesign it to fuse modern elements with those of its ancient past, a means for the people to remember that there had been a world before the extraordinary became the ordinary.

But it wasn’t just in style that the city changed, but population and calamity befall it. Over the years, the population had exploded, reaching well over 3 million people, while villain attacks and their quirks didn't just leave the buildings damaged, but also altered the landscape. In the days before All Might, villains tore the land itself apart, leading to new rivers, hills forming where lands had been flat, flat lands where hills had been levelled.

It was the type of period of strife, unease, suffering, and death that would have seen cities abandoned in the past, left in ruins for nature to reclaim and archaeologists to rediscover centuries, if not millennia, later.

But Morioka wasn't like other cities. It's people held on, and when All Might rose and peace returned, those residents, all 3 million plus of them, banded together to rebuild their city, leaning more into past aesthetics; they took full advantage of the situation. New plains made room for entirely new districts, and when those become scarce, they build into the hills. Rivers offered bountiful locations for local fishing and reservoirs for water. New geological formations made for an increase in hot springs and spars, which created a colder microclimate, keeping them busy all year round.

Todoroki had chosen to intern under a local heroine, Frostbyte. Frostbyte was a pro who mainly operated in Oruto Purutonia, a ward located on the outskirts of Morioka and one of its coldest. It wasn't unusual for summer temperatures in this ward to match a warm Tokyo winter.

“You’re an oddity, Shoto.” The woman walking ahead of him mused.

Todoroki looked away from the businesses lining the street back to her.

"Is that right? I don't see it." He kept it short, though he wasn't lying, as he wouldn't call himself odd. He knew he wasn't the most socially aware and extroverted, but he wasn't the only person out there like it, not even in his class.

"No, I imagine you wouldn't," Frostbyte, his pro teacher, sighed, her breath coming out chilled as she turned to him.

Again, Todoroki took in her appearance, from her light blue skin, white facial markings on both cheeks, purple eyes, and pale pink hair into 2 elaborate buns shaped like snowflakes, kept in place by golden adornments. Her costume was a high-collared, asymmetrical white capelet with ornate golden embroidery, dark navy trousers, gloves, and layered boots featuring white and lavender panels.

Frostbyte was surprised when she got an acceptance from one of U.A.'s famous first years. Not only had they started with a group of big names such as Iida, Yaoyorozu, and Todoroki, but they'd handled two separate mass villain attacks without issue, and they hadn't even completed a single semester.

Yes, she sent in offers for many of them, but like many pros in her ranking zone, she doubted that they'll accept, but one did and to her shock, it was one of the biggest names in the registry. But that shock had long faded, and in its place, a feeling of annoyance settled, annoyance and disrespect. “Tell me, were you aware that when I received the confirmation that you would be interning under me, I also received your file?”

"I would assume as such," Todoroki replied.

She knew this would be a challenge, but dammit, she hoped he wasn't as stubborn as she feared. “Your choice to study with me is what caught my attention. While I can certainly help you with hero work overall and how to better use your ice, I can't do a thing for your fire." She explained what should have been obvious, but she didn't do it to hear her voice.

“That won’t be an issue.” She didn't see his response, as Todoroki wasn't an emotive person. But he wasn't without emotions, and right now, she could feel the irritation and anger coming off him.

Well, tough shit. She's not going to baby him; he's an adult, and she'll treat him as such, which means putting his feet to the coals. "Yes, it will. I have no reason to suspect you use your fire at all. And your files don't contradict that theory, so I'm asking now, do you use your flames with your ice?"

Todoroki glared, but said nothing.

Her gaze narrowed. “Silence does nothing but condemn you, child. And from that look, I can say you only chose my agency because you believed you wouldn’t need your flames.”

"If you suspected all that, why'd you make the offer?" Todoroki challenged, but she was ready for his attempts to deflect.

“Partly because I was interested in taking a U.A. student as an intern, but for you in particular,” She pointed at him, her fingers coated in a layer of ice. “I wanted to address your fatal flaw.”

“Flaw?” Todoroki's tone grew dangerous, which didn't help him as it only meant he had forgotten his place. If he thought she would kowtow, he would have better chances building a snowman on the beaches of Okinawa.

"Can you call it anything else? You choose to hold yourself back, to use just half your power. That is a level of arrogance and selfishness that has no place in her-work, or any job which works for the benefit of the people." She told him, turning to continue with her patrol with the unsaid order, then he was to follow.

She didn't let up, though. "I have no idea why, as for all his faults, Endeavour is perhaps one of the hardest-working pros out there, so I would have never believed his child would be so determined to give a literal half-ass performance, but I'm going to correct that."

“I didn’t come here for a lecture on-” Todoroki took a step, at least tried to, but found he couldn’t move. Looking at his feet, he found that without his notice, Frostbyte had willed snow to wrap around his feet to his shins.

Looking at her, he saw her face as blunt and merciless as a blizzard. "You did. That's part of why you and your classmates are interning under heroes like me." She spoke, but it came out so softly, almost like a whisper in the wind, and yet it pierced into him, striking at his heart like frozen needles.

She willed him forward, people who saw them being confused, but not stopping them as she took them to the side of the hilly road, one which gave an exceptional view of the town, one which, despite the time of year, had pockets of snow lingering, such as the one she had lured him into walking into earlier.

With his gaze unable to shift, she gestured out to the city. "See this ward? See the people that live in it, work in it, vacation in it? They count on heroes like us to protect them, guide them, and do our part to uplift the community.”

“I already knew that.” Todoroki glared at her.

She glanced at him, a smile on her face that seemed more dangerous than her glare. "And did you know sometimes we fail? That sometimes we get there too late, or we're not strong enough, or some other factor is at fault? The end result is the same: Valued personal treasures lost, people hurt, people dead, their blood running through the cold, uncaring streets."

Despite his wishes, Todoroki thought back to the USJ, to that damned monster and how much they had to beat, tear, and break it before Aoyama blasted a hole through its chest, leaving its chimera carcass for the police to recover.

He thought of the Musutafu. The fires that still burned, the smoke that lingered, the people, gravely wounded, crying in pain and begging for help. But it was the silence that got him, the silence when they'll find someone, someone who had a life, dreams, families and friends, lying silent on the street, in the rubble, their bodies at times nearly unrecognisable from what killed them, or the mutations they had been forced to go through.

Frostbyte could see his face grow pale and his eyes go wide, as if lost in a memory that seemed so close and yet so far. She knew he could see what she was speaking of, but that was different. He and the rest had arrived as that attack was waning and mainly did search and rescue; he hadn't been involved from the start.

She returned her gaze to her city, to her people. She had been born here, spent most of her life here, and hoped that she could retire to its streets. And she feared for it every day, especially now that she knew there was more to look out for than villains.

"It never gets easier, and all heroes, even All Might, must contend that we're still mortal for all our power, training, and reach. But as painful as that can be, we can hold onto the belief that we gave it our all, that we pushed with 110% to save who we could, to protect what we could."

"When you fail to save someone? Can you say you'll be able to say the same? Would just your ice comfort you when you're forced to watch as friends and family cry over bodies and coffins?" She asked him, and Todoroki had no answer.

“I…”

“You’ll learn to abandon this selfishness of yours, or you’ll have no place at my agency or my city.” She suspected more was happening with him, but she wasn't his therapist. So she released him and turned to walk up the hillside road. “Come on, we need to reach Shiwa Square before lunch ends, or we won't be able to finish my daily patrol."

Line Break

My computer needed some work done over the weekend, as it was randomly shutting down or refusing to start, but they managed to do it. Because it was a presumably easy task, I wasn't charged for it, which made me day, as if it was a battery issue that would have cost me an arm and a leg.

Now, with this chapter, I have some ideas which I went back and forth on, as I wasn’t sure how I wanted things to play out, but what I decided on felt like a good bet to make. The Todoroki parts were the ones I liked the most.

Line Break

Did I need to do that? No, I did not. Was it cool that a part of Japan seems to be stuck in a fall/wintery feeling all year around? Yes. Did I design it based on how some games, like Pokémon, have regions like this? Also, yes.

Now, as for the Todoroki part, I am going hard on him, but there is a reason. Unlike canon, he's 18 and thus would be treated more harshly for this self-imposed limitation. Yes, it hasn't impacted him too much, but how long can that last? And like Frostbye said, he needs to shape up—otherwise, when he fails, it will hit him like a Detroit Smash to the face.

All while, we have Stain in the background, joining up with…fem Dabi? Hold on, isn't Dabi a guy here, like canon? What's up there? Keep reading to find out.