Ben gets off the bus with Bakugou, Todoroki and Midoriya
the moment they exit they're met by Endeavour
"Welcome to working for endeavour!" he greets before he shifts to a darker face and tone.
"That's not what I feel like, though..."
he scowls at Midoriya, Ben and Bakugou
"Because shoto asked, I gave my permission reluctantly and I did offer an internship to ben during the first term... But I wish Shoto came on his own...." he pouts.
"If you gave permission, then don't complain." Todoroki snaps back.
"Sh-Shoto..." Endeavour whimpers, nowhere near the fiery boastful nature of the hero Ben remembers from the sports festival
"I've thought so since the supplementary lessons," Bakugou begins. "but you're kind of cringey."
"Shoto, are you really friends with this boy?!" the offended Endeavour inquires.
"But if I can see how the top hero works," Bakugou continues. "I don't really care about anything else.."
"I Thought I told you to choose your friends wisely!" Endeavour scolds.
"Thank you for allowing us to do our work study with you." Midoriya speaks up.
"I'm happy you allowed me to come even though your invitation was for last term!" Ben adds.
Endeavour is nowhere near as aggressive as he was just a few months ago
but in the light of All Mights retirement and his subsequent promotion to the Number 1 hero along with his fight with that Nomu he's seemed to have evolved into a far kinder, compassionate version of himself.
as the 5 are patrolling Endeavour senses something and suddenly jumps over the railing and runs off
"Sorry, but I don't plan on looking after anyone but shoto!" he exclaims as he ignites himself forming his mask and flames under his boots to hover.
"If you want to learn, then watch from the back!"
Endeavour turns to see the 4 right behind him.
(Oh no! how tragic that Ben is JUST out of frame...)
"Please give us your instructions!" Midoriya calls out putting on his air-force gloves.
"Watch! From the back!" Endeavour orders.
Ben activates the Omnitrix dialing and slamming down transforming into NRG
"I wanted XLR8 not NRG!" NRG exclaims as he trips and face plants into the concrete.
"Keep up quick-change bastard!" Bakugou roars.
sure, NRG is fast outside of his containment suit, but he also emits radioactive waves and Ben's pretty sure a hero shouldn't give people radiation sickness so he reverts and tries again.
across the city the glass from nearby cars and buildings all flow toward a figure in the sky.
"I received a divine message from the universe!" he croaks. "Run. Run away, citizens!"
"The corners of Pluto's mouth depict loneliness! The time of your demise... IS NEAR!!"
back with the students while Bakugou, Todoroki and Midoriya are keeping up with Endeavor Ben is lagging behind.
"Bullfrag is pretty agile!" Ben remarks dialing him up. "Let's try him!"
Ben slams down the Omnitrix again as he turns a corner and turns into Humungousaur
Humungousaur fails the swift turn and smashes into a building leaving an indent in the concrete.
"Sorry!" Humungousaur apologizes to the bystanders as he tails Endeavour on all fours finally managing to catch up.
"seriously?!" Humugousaur growls looking at the Omnitrix as he catches up with his classmates.
"He told us to watch from the back." Todoroki comments.
"We can't watch if we don't follow him." Midoriya responds.
back to the villain, the windows of buildings are absorbed into the mass of glass balls he rides.
"I received a divine message from the universe!" he repeats. "The evil stars are colluding! We must stop them!"
"Isn't that starservant from the psyche ward?" a woman questions.
"It's too early for this guy to be so loud..." a man groans
he continues to hover over the civilians.
"This land... is about to be covered in darkness."
he holds his arms up forming a colossal glass ball above his head.
"Run away, Citizens!" he exclaims. "I am the one who will destroy the source of the darkness."
the glass ball fully forms as he prepares to throw it.
"Now, I will expose you! Messenger of Pluto, come out!"
he hurls the ball toward the ground.
but before it can hit anyone Endeavor leaps in melting the orb in a second with a flashfire fist.
Molten glass drips from the sky as Endeavour confronts the villain.
"You control glass, old man?" he questions. "You show great skill, but I don't understand you. This isn't something a sane person would do on my watch."
he ignites his flames farther unleashing a heatwave causing Star servant to struggle with his breath and flee into an alleyway.
another pro hero arrives as Endeavour orders him to take care of evacuation before pursuing the villain.
meanwhile back with the kids Humugousaur is finding it increasingly hard to maneuver through the city without creating property damage.
"Stop breaking shit!" Bakugou barks. "You're too fat!"
Humugousaur agrees with that first part, the second part hurt.
"This stupid thing just isn't working today!" he grumbles.
Humngousaur stops running and reverts and cycles through aliens.
"Fine..." Ben sighs. "Let's try stinkfly, is stinkfly good?"
"of course Stinkfly works..." he mutters as he flies off catching up with his friends. "Why wouldn't he...."
Endeavor continues his pursuit of the villain as he desperately tries to escape.
as the two approach the end of the alley Starservant gives a signal for his associates to spring a trap as one unleashes two metal bars to stop Endeavour while the other two draw a lead pipe and a knife in an attempt to kill the number 1 hero.
the bar is eradicated as Midoriya, Bakugou, Todoroki and Stinkfly arrive to attack the villains only to be stopped as Hawks swoops in and does it for them.
"Huh?" Hawks wonders. "Oh, Work study students?"
"Hawks?!" Stinkfly questions.
"Sorry, I was just a little faster." he chuckles as he lands. "I thought Endeavour was in trouble."
"Did I look like I was in trouble?" Endeavour growls cuffing starservant.
"It did, didn't it, Shoto?" Hawks asks as Todoroki nods.
"I thought I told you to let me know when you were coming...." a hostile Endeavour sighs.
"Well, I just happened to be in the area." Hawks responds.
later as the police arrest Starservant and his cohorts the villain begins to spew warnings
"L-Let go!" he pleas. "If you don't let go, it'll be too late!"
the pro hero from before tells Endeavour he'll take care of the rest as Starservant continues to speak.
"That guy's the source of darkness!" he screams referring to Endeavour. "The light he gives off brings only darkness! and demise!"
as the villain is dragged off the police thank Endeavour for dealing with the situation with zero casualties.
although he does inform the number 1 hero of the minor property damage inflicted by Humungousaur.
as Endeavour scolds Ben Hawks returns.
"N-NICE TO MEET YOU!!!" Midoriya stutters. "I'M IN U.A HIGH'S HERO COURSE, CLASS 1-A!! MY NAME IS IZUKU MIDORIYA!"
"I know." Hawks responds. "You're the kid who destroyed his fingers. I heard about you from Tsukuyomi and Ben, It would have been nice to work with them again... but..."
he looks at Ben as Endeavor continues to lecture him about the hard working tax payers and how much it'll cost to fix the damage he caused.
"I feel Ben will flourish better here than with me."
"Where's Tokoyami?" Midoriya questions. "Isn't he continuing his work at the hawks agency?"
"He's working back home with my sidekicks." Hawks sighs. "I'm too busy so I feel bad."
"Earlier, I was faster than you." Bakugou growls.
"I wonder about that." Hawks retorts.
Endeavour finishes his scolding of Ben as he turns his attention to Hawks.
"What do you want, Hawks?" he demands.
Hawks then pulls out a book titled "Meta Liberation War " and begins recommending it to the pro hero.
a few weeks ago Ben remembers seeing a copy of the book.
it had "War " in it's title so Ben gave it a quick read.
But it was a very Karl Marx-like book about the state of society and the inevitable backlash of only allowing pro heroes the ability to use their quirks freely without consequences.
so Ben barely read past page 2....
but now Hawks is recommending it....
yet.... the way he's pitching it... he's drawing attention to the parts he's highlighted for Endeavour to read
and from the week Ben spent with Hawks this kind of ideology goes against everything Ben learned about the Number 2 hero's personality during his internship....
something isn't right here...
meanwhile Midoriya is mumbling to himself
"The book the number two hero is pushing! I should read it too... perhaps the secret to his speed is hidden in it!"
Hawks notices this and turns around
"So prepared!' Midoriya exclaims. "Where did they come from?"
"That's right!" Hawks responds. "It's the age of number two!"
he quickly hands a copy of the book to the 4 kids.
"If you've got speed, I think the power to predict what's coming ahead goes with it!"
"He's even super fast at passing them out!" Midoriya remarks.
"You... really love this book?" Ben inquires with a hint of confusion. "You have so many copies."
"I think it's so he can spread the word about it." Midoriya responds.
"That's right!" Hawks exclaims. "I've been recommending it to all my friends and all the heroes across the country. I think there will at least be the groundwork for liberation ideology."
Hawks' eyes narrow as he glares into the souls of the 4 students and the number one hero.
"You should look over at least the parts that were highlighted... I recommend the second part."
Hawks begins to fly away as he wishes the 5 good luck with the work study.
"Even though he's still young, what he looks at is completely different from us." Midoriya comments. "He's only 22."
"Only six years older than us, huh?" Todoroki mutters.
"He's annoying...." Bakugou grumbles.
yet Ben can't shake the feeling something's off with Hawks...
later the group finally make it to the endeavour agency where Endeavour's sidekicks give them a warm(Pun intended) welcome
"We're the flaming sidekicks!" they exclaim in unison
"Oh, it's the famous sidekick, Burnin!" Midoriya comments.
"It's Bakugou and shoto's first work study, right?" Burnin remarks. "We'll have you boys working for us starting today, but as you can see, this is a big agency! there are more than 30 sidekicks!"
she gets right in Bakugou's face
"In other words, there won't be much chance for you to shine!"
"Interesting!" Bakugou remarks uncharacteristically internalizing the wrath and rage that is his natural state of being. "So we need to beat the pros at their own game?"
"That's right!" Burnin answers.
"And Shoto," the other sidekicks add. "Don't think you'll get special treatment just 'cause you're endeavour's son!"
"At least try to keep up!" another continues.
the students are left in awe at the bustling agency as sidekicks run back and forth responding to calls
"There's so much going on..." Ben comments.
"It is the number one agency, after all." one of the sidekicks responds. "We're usually either on patrol or standing by. from emergency dispatches to escort jobs and event offers, we handle over a hundred requests a day."
"Then let's hurry up and start working." Bakugou snarls. "I'm fuming after that spoonbill cut in!"
"Are you talking about hawks?" Midoriya questions.
"I acknowledge your spirit." the sidekick sighs. "Wait for Endeavour's instructions, okay?"
"There are over a hundred requests, right?!" Bakugou roars. "What're you doing?!"
"K-Kacchan, Stop it." Midoriya whimpers.
(Quick fun fact: my original idea for this was gonna end with Ben using Greymatter or brainstorm to decipher Hawks' message but I replaced Ben getting brainstorm with Swampfire blooming.)