In Your Shadow [Chapter 24]

[Chapter 23]




Katsuki was already exhausted when he tapped his watch to the reader at the main doors, letting himself into the brightly-lit lobby that seemed to perpetually exist on a bright, sunny afternoon, no matter what the weather outside looked like. He’d hoped to jump on a night patrol when he arrived, but he could barely keep his eyes open as it was, after so many late nights on patrols and trains and homework. He knew what Deku would say, if he got caught yawning on the job, so reluctantly as it was, he decided to be responsible for once – gag. He headed up to his apartment with the little bag of groceries he’d purchased on the way in, cooked himself a super-quick omelette for dinner, and tucked himself into bed.

The bed in the apartment was ridiculously comfortable, he found himself noticing. He’d been too distracted by disappointment to notice the difference, the first time he’d gone back to the dorms, but now that he was swapping beds regularly throughout the week, he was realising exactly how damn good that bed felt. It probably came from some local artisan mattress maker who used only the finest homegrown foam, or whatever. He’d be damned if he wasn’t tempted to find out who, though.

Noise outside jolted him out of his dozy comfort, and he listened carefully, waiting for any sign that he should be leaping out of bed, and maybe a window, again. His window was cracked open to let fresh air in, and creeping in were voices he wasn’t sure if he recognised or not – he certainly couldn’t put a name to them, if he knew them, but it was possible he was just too far away to hear anything clearly.

Nerves getting the best of him, he slid out of bed, tiptoeing over to the window to listen. He peeked between the curtains in hopes of getting a look at the speakers, relieved when he saw a familiar head of messy grey hair down below, beside a broader, greener figure.

“Yeah, Mason can hold it down for sure,” Igneo was saying, leaning against the building to rest – his patrol was just ending, if Katsuki remembered correctly. “Honestly, there are people less experienced who I’d still trust, if you want Mason with us.”

“Tempting,” Deku answered, folding his arms across his chest. “I’d love to pull our entire team, but I can’t risk things falling to shit around here because I got overzealous.”

“Then yeah, Mason would hold the shit out of it. You said Virtus too, right? I’d put them on the same level for sure.”

“I’m thinking Mason, Virtus, Borealis, Thermo, and Stagger could probably handle it. I’ve heard good things, and I tried to get out on patrols with each of them this week, to see how they handled things. Obviously we didn’t have any big emergencies to deal with, but they all seem rock solid on general duties. Don’t say it, I’ll punch you.”

“You’re no fun. What about Orus?”

“I haven’t worked with him recently, to be honest. You think I should?”

“Maybe. Would be good to have someone to take ‘ords in that kind of field, too.”

“That’s true. Ephia reckons Illia and Kaiatsu as well, that would be eight.”

“Framerate could be handy.”

“Yeah, xe’s just so inexperienced though.”

“True. Maybe Glimpse?”

“You saw what happened with Nighteye.”

“Glimpse isn’t so obsessive though, being short-term. I feel like he’s got it under control, mentally.”

“I’ll jump on a patrol with him, then. I haven’t worked with Tobu or Rose in a while, either, so maybe I’ll try that.”

“Tobu is a good call, she’s really levelled out lately.”

“Yeah, Nightbolt said the same. Alright, thanks for your thoughts, I appreciate it. I’m gonna go get some rest, let you get to your paperwork and back-up duties.”

“Any time,” Igneo assured him. “Means a lot that you ask.”

“Of course. You and Trax are probably the best equipped to help, right now, so I’d be stupid not to ask you both for your opinions.”

“What did Trax say?”

“Borealis, Virtus, and Thermo.”

“Ah. Checks out.”

“Yeah. Have a good night, Arata. I’ll cross my fingers that nothing goes wrong for you.”

“I appreciate it.”

Deku headed back inside, and right when Katsuki was about to retreat, he saw Igneo’s head turn, an amused little smile barely illuminated on his face.

“Spying on us, up there?” he called. “Deku would have your head.”

“I wanted to make sure everything was okay,” Katsuki explained, pouting. “I heard voices and got worried, after last time.”

“We’re all good tonight, I promise. Ephia and I have got it covered.”

“Well, you know where I am if that changes,” Katsuki said awkwardly. “I’m gonna get some sleep. Uh, do you think we could spar again some time? Sorry to ask from a window, I never see you.”

“I’d love to,” Igneo said with a laugh. “Tomorrow around noon? I do long blocks on patrol and back-up until then.”

“Sounds good. Oh, uh, could I come on the patrol, too? Deku said you have ‘ords away so you might have space for me?”

“Course you can. Go get some sleep for now, meet me in the lobby by nine. We’ll spar after.”

“Perfect,” Katsuki grinned, oddly gleeful about the prospect. “Have a good night.”

“You too. And welcome back, Dynamight.”

“It’s good to be back.”


———

As they walked the streets, Katsuki found himself hovering right by Igneo’s side, watching the way his eyes darted from one spot to the next regularly, like it was second nature, without his body language ever changing. He was still as relaxed and comfortable as ever, even when his eyes lingered on something – or someone – for a moment longer than they would otherwise. He seemed to take everything in with just a few short glances, more self-assured than Katsuki thought he’d ever felt. It was no wonder Deku trusted Igneo with so much, when he seemed so perfectly in-control at all times, without having to second guess himself about anything.

“How do you manage, doing such long hours?” Katsuki asked, when they stopped at a corner to watch for a minute. “You take all these long shifts, at potentially the worst times, without even having a real break in between.”

“I love it,” Igneo answered, and Katsuki knew just from his immediacy and tone of voice that he was being entirely genuine. “I work for less than three days a week, I get higher pay because it’s the weekend, then I get the rest of the week off to do whatever I want. I can work part-time hours and earn almost the same amount as what I’d earn doing a nine-to-five job during the week.”

“Is that what every agency does? The bonus pay?”

“Not all of them, but all the good ones. Most agencies will pay you more for night shifts, since they’re more work and worse for your health, so people generally prefer not to do them, otherwise. I think most agencies pay the same for weekends as they do weekdays, but statistically more goes wrong on weekend patrols than weekday ones, so Deku says he’d rather incentivise those of us willing to do them.”

“That makes sense,” Katsuki said, nodding slowly. “What do you do with the rest of the week?”

“I’m a student, so it gives me heaps of time to study.”

“You are?” Katsuki asked, staring at him with wide eyes. “You don’t want to be a hero?”

“I am a hero.”

“Well— Yeah, duh, but— you know what I mean, right?”

“I know,” Igneo said with a grin. “I love being a hero, but for the vast majority of people, it’s a job that can’t last forever. You get injured, you have a family you don’t want to risk losing or endangering, or you just get old and creaky and can’t keep up with the young villains anymore. You’d be surprised how few heroes over forty are still in action. And sure, some of them do well enough to save up and retire early, but I don’t want to bank my entire life on getting into the top ten one day.”

“What are you studying?”

“Physical therapy! If other people are going to spend their lives trying to beat those aches and pains to keep working, I’m gonna do my best to help them. Have you met Yutaka yet, in your time here?”

“Yeah.”

“You might already know, then. He got injured and went into counselling to help other people who went through traumatic experiences and stuff, heroes especially. That inspired me, I guess. I knew I wanted to do something for my future, and when I heard that, I started thinking about what I could do to help myself, and others like me, and like him. I landed on PT, to help people get through injuries and hopefully ease their pain a little.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Katsuki admitted. “Looking ahead like that and thinking about your options, that’s really smart.”

“What about you? Do you have retirement plans?”

Katsuki hesitated, and Igneo laughed, clearly understanding immediately, just from his hesitation.

“It’s okay,” Igneo assured him. “Deku is the same. He wants to be like All Might, just keep going and keep saving people for as long as he can, even if it’s at his own expense, then maybe go into teaching once he’s finally physically incapable of fighting anymore.”

“I grew up watching All Might too,” Katsuki said. “I guess I just can’t imagine anything beyond it, all I’ve ever wanted is to be the best hero in the world. Maybe once I get there, I can think about something else.”

“Come see me when you get there,” Igneo said with a smile. “Tell me how it went.”

“You don’t plan on getting there yourself?”

“No.”

Katsuki blinked at him, and Igneo folded his arms across his chest, his expression turning a little wistful.

“I think there’s a certain type of person who becomes number one,” he explained. “The vast majority of us just aren’t built for it, and honestly? I don’t think most of us want it. You might be the first person I’ve ever met who has genuinely told me they want to be number one. Besides little kids, of course. Deku wanted it, and he put everything into getting there; most of us just aren’t built like that.”

“Do you think you’ll keep being an active hero once you graduate? Or is this just a job until you finish school?”

“I’d like to keep going for a while longer, for as long as I keep enjoying it. Do both for a while, or something. I don’t really have any concrete plans.”

Katsuki rolled his eyes, and Igneo laughed, shaking his head.

“Sorry, I can never resist the chance for a bad pun. But really, I’ll just keep doing what feels right and hope it carries me through life successfully.”

Igneo’s radio beeped, and he lifted it from his belt, waiting for the voice to come through.

“Bank robbery in progress,” the voice announced. “Please divert course three kilometres east. Hostage situation.”

“Copy that. Dispatch back-up if possible.”

“Understood.”

Igneo looked up, to where their two sidekicks of the day were dropping back down to ground level, ready and waiting for orders.

“I know this is the first hostage event for you both,” Igneo began. “Hopefully you’ve all been paying attention in trainings, but as a reminder, we approach this with as much delicacy as humanly possible. If we cause any kind of fuss, it risks agitating the villains and making the situation worse. So when we approach, Dynamight will stay with me, and the two of you will run support from somewhere hidden. Your job for now is to approach the area and find a spot suitable to use your quirk from a safe distance. Understood?”

“Yes, Igneo,” they both agreed. “Understood.”

“Good. Dynamight, don’t leave my side unless I tell you otherwise.”

“Yes, Igneo.”

Together they moved off, weaving between people and occasionally taking to the roof to find a clear path. Katsuki didn’t dare to use his quirk for speed, but keeping up with older, more experienced heroes turned out to be harder than he’d expected, his breaths coming hard and fast by the time they approached the cordoned off area near the bank. Igneo flashed his ID card at the police manning the barriers, and Katsuki saw it disappear on some kind of retracting cable when he let it go, making a mental note to ask about it later. Oxi and Umbra disappeared the moment they entered the restricted area, off to find their own perches, and Katsuki just looked up at Igneo, waiting for his next instructions.

“Have you done hostage negotiation at school?” he asked.

“A little.”

“Then you understand exactly how careful we need to be.”

“Do you want me to stay here?”

“No, I want you to learn.”

Katsuki just nodded, steeling himself to take it all in without interfering, without risking screwing up the whole situation. Igneo spoke to the police quietly for a minute, then flicked a switch on his radio, setting it to transmit to all the paired devices without having to hold the button down.

“Hi there,” Igneo spoke into a phone, when a police officer handed it over. “My name’s Igneo, who am I speaking to?”

“I told them no heroes,” a gruff voice answered. “Don’t make me hurt these people.”

“None of us want anyone to get hurt,” Igneo assured him. “But I’m sure you understand they had to call someone, right? So let’s talk this out. What can we do here to get those civilians out safely?”

“Don’t interfere.”

“Of course,” Igneo said with a chuckle. “But I want to bring them out right away, you know? So let’s chat. Did you have a name I can call you by?”

“Zetsubi.”

“Perfect. It’s nice to meet you, Zetsubi. And look, I know times are tough right now, I totally get why you’d feel the need to break into a bank to get by. And we can deal with that problem later, for now I just want to get these people out safely. I know you didn’t go in there aiming to hurt a kid, so let me get her out, get her medical attention.”

Katsuki bristled. He hadn’t heard that part, had clearly missed it in the mumbled conversation with the police officers.

“Can you send her out to us, first?” Igneo continued. “Let her dad bring her out and get her fixed up, that’s all I want from you right now. Do you think we could arrange that?”

“I’m not stupid. I know as soon as I take down that barricade, you assholes are gonna bust in here and shoot me.”

“We won’t come anywhere near you,” Igneo promised. “We’ll stay right back here. I mean it, all I care about right now is getting her some help.”

“I ain’t opening that barricade.”

“How about a window, then?” Igneo suggested. “Second floor, so none of us can get in. You’ll just have to let someone come closer to catch her. Or you give us a plan, if you prefer. What would make you feel safe to let her go?”

“Leave. Give me five minutes to get out, then you can come get her.”

“You know I can’t do that, man. There are too many people in there who could get hurt worse if we all clear out.”

The phone went silent for a minute, and Igneo glanced at his watch.

“I know it’s a shitty situation,” Igneo said softly. “But it’s gonna be a lot easier to work with you if you can do this one thing for me, okay? I know you didn’t want to hurt her. A kid, of all people. Just let me have the kid, yeah? Let me get her some help, show everyone here that you aren’t a bad guy, you’re just a guy in a shitty situation.”

“The roof,” Zetsubi said finally. “I’ll send her to the roof.”

“That sounds great. Will you let me come over and retrieve her? You can go back inside first, no harm done.”

“Not you, no heroes.”

“Hey man, I get it, but our police aren’t exactly equipped to scale a building to retrieve a kid from the roof, you know? I need to get her down safely.”

“No heroes.”

Katsuki looked up at him, and Igneo closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply.

“Alright, a compromise,” Igneo said slowly. “No heroes. But I’ve got a kid here with me, he’s a student. He’ll be a hero, one day, if he keeps training as one, but he’s not one yet. He’s just watching, trying to learn for the future. Not equipped to deal with this situation on his own.”

“What’s his quirk?”

“Explosions. He can’t use it without risking hurting civilians, but he can use it to go up and down the building. It’ll be noisy, but no damage, I swear.”

“Fine,” Zetsubi grunted. “Only the kid.”

“Thank you.”

Igneo turned to Katsuki, giving him an apologetic look, but Katsuki just shook his head.

“Happy to help,” he said. “No funny business, I know.”

“Thank you.”

Taking a deep breath, Katsuki stood up straight and squared his shoulders, leaving his gauntlets behind to approach the building. He caught a glimpse of movement through a window, but forced himself not to look too closely, just launching himself up to the roof with the smallest explosions he could feasibly manage.

When he arrived, Zetsubi was standing on the roof with a gun in his hand, pointed at Katsuki’s head. A little girl stood in front of him, her clothes all bloodied, face stained with tears. He shoved her forward, and Katsuki caught her when she stumbled, quickly looking her over as he picked her up off the ground.

“Thank you,” Katsuki said, backing toward the edge of the roof. “I’m sorry you ended up here, like this.”

Zetsubi just jerked his gun, motioning toward the edge, and Katsuki nodded, hitching the girl up and wrapping her arms around his neck to hold on.

“I’ll use my quirk to slow our descent,” he said, sliding his heels off the edge of the roof to prepare. “But it’ll just be the noise again, nothing else.”

Zetsubi nodded, and Katsuki stepped back, wincing when the girl squealed in his ear. A little explosion gave them safe landing, and Katsuki hurried toward the ambulance at the edge of the barrier, handing her over to get the attention she needed. When he returned to Igneo’s side, the two of them were talking again, and Igneo gave him a grateful nod.

“She’s with the paramedics now,” Igneo said. “Thank you for that, we appreciate it. Would you mind telling us if anyone else is hurt?”

“They’re fine, for now.”

Zetsubi’s voice seemed a little lower, his cadence much slower, and Katsuki wondered if it was a sign the man might be letting his guard down a little – he sure hoped it was.

“I’m glad,” Igneo said, with no sign at all that he’d noticed the change.

“I told you all already, I’m not a bad guy. I just want to take the money and get out, that’s all I care about.”

“And I get that, I really do. Honestly, I kind of wish I could do the same thing. It’d be a lot easier to earn money that way than being a hero, that’s for sure.”

Zetsubi chuckled, and Katsuki glanced up at Igneo’s face again, finding a hardened look on it. Despite his joking and how casual he seemed about it all, it was clear that he was struggling.

A flicker of light in the window made Katsuki start, but Igneo shook his head quickly, and Katsuki clamped his mouth shut.

“It’s funny,” Igneo said, with that same amused tone that must have been so hard to force. “I’m sure you didn’t know, but you really picked the best time to do this, in terms of heroes. I have this awesome sidekick back at the agency who can slow down time, can you imagine how easy it would have been for someone like that to sneak a hostage out? And one of our newbies can break literally any lock in existence. But of course they both work weekdays. My luck, right? So instead you get me, all I can do is try to convince you to let them go.”

“You didn’t tell me your quirk.”

“You didn’t tell me yours,” Igneo laughed. “Wanna trade?”

“You first.”

“Sure. I control stone, and you’re in a wooden building.”

“I can move fast.”

“That explains how you got in so easily!” Igneo said cheerfully, giving a quick nod to the officers beside him. “You could be an awesome hero, with that, if you had the right training.”

“Not interested.”

“Yeah, most people aren’t. I can’t even remember the last time my knees didn’t ache.”

Another flicker of light, and the man’s voice seemed to be even slower when he spoke again.

“I just want out. Let me out. Don’t trap me in here.”

“Absolutely, man. We can do that. As long as we get the rest of them out first. You tell us how you want to do it.”

“I want… I want…”

Igneo gestured for Katsuki to follow, and together they walked a little closer to the building. Igneo moved a hand, and a stack of bricks flew to him, stacking themselves neatly at his side.

“How about you stay right where you are,” Igneo suggested into the phone. “Let those people go upstairs, to the roof, then you’ll be free to go while we’re dealing with them in another room.”

“The people… They can… They should…”

“Just open that barrier on the front door, then you’ll be able to leave, we won’t trap you in.”

“Yeah. The door. The barrier.”

Shuffling noises came from the speaker, and Katsuki watched as a window cleared in the front of the building, the hastily-moved blockage being cleared aside.

“That’s the one, man. Good work, just a little more to go.”

“I… Wait. Why am I…”

Igneo’s radio beeped at his side, and Igneo hung up the phone.

“Dynamight, now!”

Katsuki didn’t stop to think. He raised his hand, blasting a hole through the front doors with every bit of sweat his nerves had built up. The moment the explosion sounded, two guns raised – one pointing at Igneo, the other at a woman in the bank’s uniform, cowering in a corner. Igneo’s bricks launched past Katsuki right as he dove, tackling the second villain to the ground. Two shots sounded, and concrete shattered as they both hit bricks, safely raining pebbles onto the wooden floors. Shadows swarmed around them, but Katsuki didn’t move, not until he saw them pinning the villain to the ground, and heard the familiar voice calling out to him.

“You’re good,” Umbra said, emerging from a dark hallway. “I’ve got him.”

Sure enough, a stream of darkness had wrapped itself around the villain’s limbs, keeping him trapped despite his thrashing. Oxi appeared from the floor above, both hands moving in a tensed-up twisting motion, and both the villains fell still.

“Good work,” Igneo said, as the police flooded in to cuff the villains and march them away. “All of you, that was great.”

Katsuki was finally beginning to understand, but a few key pieces still seemed to be missing from his brain.

“How does your quirk work?” he asked Oxi, when he joined them in the middle of the room.

“I remove oxygen from the air, in an enclosed space.”

“Does that…” Katsuki trailed off, frowning. “Disorient people?”

“Yeah, they get confused when they can’t breathe right.”

“Oh.”

“The medics have oxygen tanks on standby if you two need them,” Igneo said, glancing over at Umbra and Oxi. “They’ve already got the civilians hooked up, just in case.”

“I’m good,” Oxi assured him. “Umbra, did I get you?”

“No, I was out back,” she assured him. “Your control has gotten really good, I swear you did that in an instant.”

“Thanks, I’ve been working on it.”

Katsuki couldn’t help but notice the way Igneo turned away from the police van, pointedly averting his eyes when the villains were dragged past him. He waited until the area was clear before he looked up again, smiling in a way that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Plasmatic has taken over the end of the patrol route,” he informed them all. “We can head back and do our debrief a little early today.”

“Woo! Early finish!” Umbra grinned, clapping Oxi on the back as they turned toward the agency. “I might get breakfast before they clear up!”

“You didn’t eat before we came?”

“Gosh no, get up earlier than needed? Nuh-uh.”

“Valid,” Igneo said with a chuckle. “I promised Katsuki a sparring match after debrief, if either of you want to join.”

“Aw man, I’ve got physio,” Umbra lamented. “I’ll drop by after and see if you’re still going.”

“I’ve got that escort to shadow.”

“Oh yeah! I hope it goes well,” Igneo said. “Go make a good impression on Deku, show him what a good mentor I am.”

“Will do,” Oxi said, cracking a smile. “I’m sure he knows, or else you wouldn’t have fifteen of us all at once.”

“True! Alright, you two take care, let me know how things go. Dynamight, you want to join me for reports? Trax said you always want to see hers.”

“Yes please.”

“Sweet, always love the extra hands.”

The group split up in the agency lobby, and Igneo held open the door to a meeting room, waving Katsuki in first. Katsuki grabbed the right forms from the drawers, and Igneo smiled as he sat down, spinning a pen around his fingers while Katsuki laid out the papers for him.

“For the record, you can relax with me,” Igneo told him. “I know Deku gets all bent out of shape about formality from the newbies, but I’d rather you were comfortable asking questions and stuff. I’ve only just started being a Lead, so it feels weird as hell for people to act like I’m so important and above it all.”

“Were you a sidekick here first?”

“Yeah, of course. I don’t think Deku ever picks Leads who haven’t been at the agency for at least a year already. I was at school with Deku, a year behind but obviously we crossed paths a bunch. When he started his own agency I thought he was way too young, it seemed like a ridiculous idea to me, but soon he had this awesome little team built, and I said screw it, decided to reach out. I was a Spark ‘ord for a year, then a sidekick for a year, and a couple of months ago Deku asked if I wanted to be a Patrol Leader, when one of the others left. I could hardly say no.”

“The same time as Trax?”

“Yeah, but she was straight out of school. She was a Bee ‘ord while I was with Spark, we worked together a ton last year as sidekicks, and he approached her at the same time.”

“It’s cool that you both did it so quickly. Some of the sidekicks and stuff said they’d been here three or four years already.”

“There’s a lot more that goes into being chosen, I think everyone understands that. Like, we get a ton of elemental quirks, they’re pretty common, so it benefits Deku to have me available as a mentor. Spark doesn’t have to take all of them anymore, we can split them up or take turns. He had a bunch last year, so right now he’s taking a break while I take them. And Trax is pretty damn unique, as you know well.”

“Yeah,” Katsuki said with a chuckle. “She is.”

“But my point is, her and I are the same in the formality sense – we both hate it, to put it bluntly. So you don’t need to be all ‘yes Sir, what can I do for you Sir’ and that shit, alright?”

“Thank you. I’m fucking terrible at it, so that’s good news.”

Igneo laughed brightly, and Katsuki couldn’t help but grin too.

“You did a good job today. I know it wasn’t much, but being able to adjust on the fly to help out, being ready at a moment’s notice, staying calm the whole time, that was good to see. I know hostage negotiation training doesn’t happen very often, I haven’t had a whole lot of practice myself. But when you dove in to tackle that guy the moment you saw him move, the way you used your quirk like a booster rocket to get there in time and with enough force, super quick thinking. And how you took him down in one shot, made sure he was pinned from the get-go so you didn’t need to wrestle with him or risk bouncing off or anything like that, there was no struggle for control. That made it way easier for me to catch his bullet, to predict where it was gonna go, so thank you for that, too.”

Katsuki just blinked at him, but Igneo didn’t seem to notice his surprise.

“I really appreciate the way you don’t just jump straight to blowing someone up, it would be so easy with your quirk just to go ‘boom you’re dead’ at every opportunity, but instead you have all these creative uses for it: speed boosts, launching yourself, staying in the air, softening your landing, that flash bomb thing you did when we sparred. That’s an awesome trait for a hero to have, that creativity and diversity.”

Katsuki hadn’t realised how much he’d been missing that sort of praise, but fuck if it didn’t feel great. He felt like he was on top of the world, even as they just filled out boring paperwork. And when Igneo stacked the papers together, standing up and stretching, Katsuki looked up expectantly.

“Time to spar?” Igneo asked.

“Hell yes.”

———


Katsuki yawned as he stepped out of the gym showers, sweaty costume slung over his arm. He had some kind of appointment with wardrobe to get to, according to the email he’d gotten that morning, so it had seemed like a sensible choice to drop his costume off for washing, while he was at it.

“He was awesome,” Igneo was saying, just beyond the bathroom doors. “You need to give the kid a little praise, you’re wearing him down.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“I’m serious, he’s gonna burn out if you’re not careful. He just needs to hear ‘well done’ every once in a while, you’d be amazed how much it’ll mean to him.”

Katsuki pushed open the bathroom door, and the conversation ceased immediately, making Katsuki’s face burn when he realised he’d been the subject in question.

“I came to take you up to wardrobe,” Deku said. “You got the message, right?”

“I did, I was just about to head up.”

“Good, we can walk together.”

“Sure. Um, thank you Igneo. I had a really good morning, I appreciate your time and everything.”

“Any time, Dynamight. Just be in the lobby by start time and you can jump on in, whenever you want. I’ll find space for you.”

“Thank you, I can’t wait to do it again.”

He hurried after Deku, joining him in the elevator, and after a moment of silence, Deku glanced down at him.

“I hear you had an eventful patrol.”

“We did,” Katsuki agreed. “It was intense, but Igneo was so calm and collected the whole time, it was really impressive.”

“He’s well trained,” Deku agreed. “That kind of event is a stressful one at the best of times, and Igneo has never had to run it solo before. I can’t imagine how that felt.”

“He hasn’t? He seemed like an expert.”

Igneo’s face flashed through Katsuki’s mind, eyes downcast, refusing to look at Zetsubi or the other villain. Had they even been villains, in the end? Criminals, for sure, but villain seemed like a strong word for what had seemed to be a desperate attempt at a crime that never intended to physically harm anyone. If they’d just gone for a supermarket instead of a bank, people probably would have turned a blind eye, but a bank? Maybe he wasn’t a villain, maybe he was just an idiot.

“Igneo is a good leader,” Deku said, smiling to himself. “He knows his job and he does it well.”

Katsuki had a feeling he wasn’t talking about the negotiation.

When they stepped out of the elevator at the wardrobe department, one of the cleaners immediately took his costume for him, hurrying it away to be cleaned before he could even ask. Deku waved Katsuki the other direction, though; away from where he’d stood to be poked and prodded and dressed up in a suit, instead taking him to a much more organised room, that almost looked like a workshop instead of a clothing store.

“This is where we do costume fittings and upgrades,” he explained. “We got your basic info from the school’s designers, but with these fabrics and things, we’ll need to make adjustments to get them just right. And I know it sounds ridiculous, but you can’t hand this costume to anyone outside of this building, understand? If you take it back to school with you, it needs to be locked away or kept on your person, don’t just hand it off to some random support student or something.”

“Understood,” Katsuki agreed, frowning slightly. “Is this some kind of weird technology the public doesn’t know about?”

“Technically, no, but the implementation of it, yes.”

Katsuki perked up a little at the thought of it. He hadn’t even graduated yet and he was about to be handed some kind of exclusive technology developed in the number one hero’s engineering department, not to be used anywhere else? That was fucking cool.

“We call these the Stealth Suits, colloquially,” Deku continued, showing Katsuki a piece of dark fabric that didn’t look special in the slightest. “But I wear mine all the time, now. It’s a little less comfortable until you get used to it, but I love the extra security when a fight happens.”

“What’s so special about it?”

An older man emerged from a back room, carting a tiny, wheeled rack, hung with pieces of black and orange that looked incredibly similar to what he’d just handed to a cleaner.

“Partly that they blend into shadows significantly better than standard fabrics, they don’t have that shine to them that a lot of costumes have, which risks getting you caught out if you move,” the man said. “And partly the wire mesh woven through them which helps with protection against weapons, makes it harder to cut or stab through.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” Katsuki admitted. “Is it really hard to put on?”

“That’s where the secrecy comes in,” Deku said with a laugh. “Dave has built us this system over the past few years, and I think it’s the best piece of technology I’ve ever seen.”

“The fabric is stretchy,” the man – Dave? – explained. “So if the mesh tightens up, the fabric goes with it. We build the fabric in a way such that you can put it on stretched, then tighten it for protection once it’s in place. Come try this on for me.”

He ushered Katsuki behind a curtain with the rack, and Katsuki stripped off obediently, worming his way into the new costume. Most of it was very familiar, though the colours were a little different – his belt and thigh straps were black, instead of green like his gauntlets, and his hand grenades were no longer stylised like the old-fashioned kind, instead replaced with sleek orange tubes that matched everything else. His mask was still there, though much plainer, but his shirt also had a hood attached with the same spiky orange tips his original mask had had. He pulled it up to look in the mirror, turning side to side as he tried to decide whether or not he liked it better with the hood.

“Almost done?” Deku called pointedly.

“On my way,” Katsuki assured him, flicking the hood back down and stepping into the new, darker pair of boots.

“Looking good so far,” Dave said, walking around behind him to take a look from all sides. “There’s a tiny button in your collar, I believe it’s on the left side, which will tighten it up to test it out.”

Katsuki reached to his collar, running his fingertips over it until he found the little hard spot, pressing down firmly and feeling his costume constrict around him.

“It can feel like a lot at first,” Dave said knowingly. “It takes time to get used to. Some people like to keep it in stretch mode until they get in a fight, then activate it when they’re more likely to get hurt. Other people will keep it activated, but turn it off occasionally to take a breather or to cool down – they can get quite hot, but I imagine with your quirk that’s not a down-side.”

The fabric seemed to draw up and in along the orange cross that always spanned the front of his shirts, and a matching path along the back. It felt extra tight around his chest, but he supposed that made sense, in terms of protecting more vulnerable areas like his heart and lungs.

“Any bunching?” Dave asked, eyes scanning over the fabric regardless. “Deku?”

“It looks good to me,” he said, eyes locked on Katsuki’s chest. “How’s the fit looking?”

“Surprisingly good,” Dave said, clearly pleased with himself. “I wasn’t sure how well it would go, trying to weave it along the design, but it turned out great. Much easier than yours, when we were trying to keep it all even.”

“It feels weird,” Katsuki admitted, when Deku looked at him pointedly. “Like everything is being pulled into place, or something. I can’t slouch.”

“Good,” Deku smiled wryly. “Aren’t you lucky you’ve been practicing?”

Katsuki blushed, looking away, and Deku thankfully let it go.

“Try the hood,” Dave instructed.

Katsuki pulled it up, surprised to find it fit much more snugly, just like the rest of the shirt. It stayed in place easier against his head, and while he suspected it looked a lot more parrot-y, it did feel more comfortable that way.

“The pants next,” Dave requested. “It’ll be on the side seam, where the pockets would be.”

Katsuki found it much quicker than the shirt one, pressing it against his leg and feeling the fabric shift again, tightening up. He was relieved to find they didn’t go as skin-tight as the shirt did, leaving him a little room to move and breathe still, though they were certainly tighter than his usual pants were.

“Will they still work with the bunching?” Deku asked. “I’m used to my own.”

“They will,” Dave assured him. “They’ll move more, but they’ll still provide protection. Did you want me to tighten them up?”

Katsuki tensed up, and Deku chuckled, clearly noticing.

“No, I think he’d just stop wearing them,” Deku acknowledged. “Better some protection than no protection, right? Less effective is still better than his school gear.”

“Great. I haven’t quite finished the new gauntlet prototype, so we’ll have to review those next week, but this set should be good to go, if you don’t want any alterations done.”

“It looks good to me, you’ve outdone yourself. Katsuki, anything not working? Cutting off circulation or sagging weirdly, that kind of thing?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Great. We’ll give this set a test run, then, and make changes later if needed.”

Katsuki glanced at the huge mirror on the wall, and he couldn’t help but be a little pleased. It was tighter than he was used to, sure, but it didn’t feel much different in terms of comfort, and he felt like it looked more professional than his own, outdated designs that he’d been wearing through school – honestly, who was it that had decided to let fifteen-year-olds draw their own costumes? Katsuki had long suspected that all the heroes did a complete redesign the moment they graduated, to debut with something that looked like an adult had made it. Apparently Katsuki was now ahead of the curve.

“I like it,” he admitted, when Deku looked over at him curiously. “Um, do… do you?”

“I approved the designs before he built them,” Deku said with a grin. “I’m glad you like it, though. It’s very sleek, much more functional looking instead of just flashy fashion.”

“Is my old one that bad?”

“No, just impractical in a few noticeable ways. I’ve seen worse.”

An old costume half-covered in fake ice flashed through Katsuki’s mind, and he had to bite back a snort. Yeah, some of his classmates had certainly made some ridiculous choices.

“You can take it with you,” Dave offered. “For your next patrol, try it out and see how it does in the field. All the Patrol Leaders and the vast majority of the Sidekicks have the same tech, so they can help you out if anything goes wrong, somehow.”

“Okay. Thank you, I will. This uh, was cool of you. Both of you. Thank you for the upgrades.”

“Don’t thank me just yet!” Dave grinned. “Just wait until you see the gauntlets I’ve been working on. I’m told you’re very protective of the old ones, but I think you’ll like these – I’ll show you everything about how they work so you can maintain them, don’t worry.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

It was true, he’d always been precious about his gauntlets – he did all his own maintenance and cleaning, never let the support students touch them, never even let wardrobe take them when they took the rest of his gear. Those gauntlets were his most prized possession, but they were a little large and unwieldy to wear on long patrols, and they were annoying as hell to cart back and forth on the train, so maybe he’d keep his old set at school for trainings, and leave the new ones at the agency for patrols. It was always good to have a back-up, after all, right?

“I’m gonna try to do some more sparring this afternoon; maybe I can test it out there, too?”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Dave agreed. “If anything feels drastically wrong, you’ll find out before you even leave the building. Feel free to come back and see me if you have any questions.”

“Thank you, I will.”

“You’re dismissed,” Deku said knowingly, when Katsuki glanced his way. “Make good use of it.”

“I will, I promise.”

———


Katsuki was barely keeping his eyes open by the time he made it to his debrief for the weekend. Apparently he’d underestimated exactly how much it would take out of him to jump on back-to-back patrols for half the day. He'd thought Saturday was bad, then he'd gone and subjected himself to worse—oops.

At least talking to Yutaka had been pretty chill, just catching up on how he was feeling about the agency, whether he was starting to fit in yet and shit. He still hadn’t come up with any decent goals for the man, but Yutaka didn’t seem to mind, thankfully.

“So, I’ve been thinking about what I want you to work on,” Deku began, as soon as they’d finished their stupid polite pleasantries for the day. “And I have a new project for you, to work on in your downtime. Schoolwork still comes first, of course – there’s no due date on this – but since you’ve done a lot of good written work, I thought you could start writing up some employee profiles.”

“Like, talk to the staff and write about them?”

“Exactly. Find a time they aren’t busy, do a short interview, and write up some kind of blurb or profile about each one. It’ll give you a chance to learn more about the heroes who work here, plus it’ll allow me to update all our staff in the national database, for when people are searching for the team right for their events and such. We haven’t updated any of them since they started here, so some of them are three or four years out of date at this point.”

“Sure,” Katsuki agreed easily. “I can do that.”

“Great. I’ll email you a couple of the existing ones so you can take a look at the format and come up with something similar to work with. But you’ll be responsible for scheduling time with people and all of that side of it, please don’t just follow them around asking questions while they’re busy.”

“I won’t,” Katsuki assured him. “You said there’s no due date, so it should be easy enough to schedule something in.”

“Great. I look forward to seeing what you produce, then.”

“Is there anything else I can work on for you? I heard some stuff about how busy you all are, so if there’s anything I can do to help, I’m happy to.”

Deku didn’t answer right away, this time, and Katsuki took that as a good sign – he wasn’t denying how busy they were, wasn’t demanding to know how Katsuki knew about it, and most importantly, he hadn’t immediately shut Katsuki down, telling him there was nothing he could do to help.

“We’ve got some big projects going on,” Deku said, after a minute. “The Patrol Leaders are going to be extra busy as well, so they likely won’t have time to take you out or spar with you.”

“I understand.”

“Some of the longer-serving sidekicks will be running the patrols. You can ask to shadow if you want to, but the added stress of teaching you and looking out for you might be too much, so please be cautious about asking, and consider any hesitation a no.”

“I will. I’ll read the room.”

“The best thing you can do to help, is to not make their lives harder.”

Katsuki winced, but nodded. He knew what Deku was getting at, even if he hated to think about it.

“Do you want me to skip coming?”

“You don’t need to do that,” Deku assured him. “But if you feel like you’d benefit more from being in class, I would understand.”

“Can I ask what’s going on to make everyone so nervous?”

Deku paused again, and once again, Katsuki was relieved. He hadn’t been shut down, told to mind his own business, he just had to wait for Deku to choose his words carefully. He could cope with that.

“There are signs of movement from some bigger villain groups,” Deku explained. “I’ve been working with some other agencies on how best to handle it. We need numbers, and of course those numbers need to be heroes we can trust, so I’m utilising all the Patrol Leaders to help us out.”

“That makes sense.”

“Everyone is working overtime, not just from this agency, so right now it’s just the struggle of balancing work and health, really. We’ve got heroes who are taking time off university to help, heroes who are getting babysitters so they can work more hours instead of being with their families, it’s just a lot.”

“I won’t bother anyone,” Katsuki promised. “I hope you’re all taking care of yourselves.”

“We’re trying our best.”

“We should skip the debriefs, right?” Katsuki offered. “I know they’re useful, but there’s no point in you trying to get here when there are more important things to do.”

“How about you write me a weekly report again?” Deku suggested. “I’ll read it whenever I get some downtime, or worst case scenario, when I get back. Then I can make notes for things to talk about, or send you an email or something.”

“I can do that,” Katsuki agreed. “I’ll do my best to make them good.”

“I know you will, Katsuki. Now, you’d better go jump on a train, you have school in the morning. Be polite, work hard, and make me proud, okay?”

Katsuki nodded, rising from his chair and giving Deku one last attempt at a smile.

“Yeah. Always.”

[Chapter 25]