Edgeshot kept his eyes trained on the flaming hero, a sharp look in his eyes as he tilted his head, "Endeavor, do you have any problems with my intern?"
"None of that. I'm simply curious why you took her. One conversation is all it took for me to gauge how she's going to be in the future." He then shot you a chilling glare as he continued, "I'm sure you could have gotten that Bakugo kid, or perhaps the other recommended girl..."
God, you hated this...
You had so many insults for this bastard of a man, but you were constantly reminded of the difference in social status as soon as you saw him.
If he wanted, he could not just ruin your career, but also ruin your family too.
"Oi, old man. That's enough..." You heard Shoto growl from behind his father, but the man didn't even spare him a second glance, "I appreciate your input, Endeavor. But I'd rather suggest you stop 'gauging people' from your conversations with them and start focusing on the task at hand, which would be the joint-patrol."
You were half-expecting Shoto to step in, but Edgeshot too?
When you looked up to see your mentor, you were surprised to see a cold look in his eyes. As soon as your gaze drifted off to the side, you were even more shocked to see Dyson and Flashgate also glaring at Endeavor with the same coldness as Edgeshot.
The flaming hero huffed but said no more as he proceeded to walk towards one of the meeting rooms. Judging by how he knew the layout of the agency, it was safe to say that they often worked together.
Which was why, it was even more shocking when Edgeshot stood up for you.
"[Last Name]. Are you okay?" You were pulled out of your thoughts when you saw Shoto walking up to you, a frown on his thin lips. You gave him a tired smile as you nodded, "I'm fine, Todoroki. Let's get going."
You really didn't want to talk right now after just getting publicly humiliated by the number two hero.
It almost seemed like everytime you were starting to feel good about yourself, somehow you were met with a harsh slap from reality, constantly reminding you of your inferiority to everyone else.
It was starting to wear you out.
"I'm sorry about what he said. All he knows is how to insult people, don't listen to him." You mindlessly nodded, slowly walking towards the meeting room where Endeavor and Edgeshot were. Shoto was following you too, a worried look in his eyes as he was reminded of something.
"I don't know, did your... father ask you to mess with me or something?"
Ah, suddenly your words from before made a lot more sense to the dual haired boy. His father probably met you after the Sports Festival and tried to degrade you just like right now. Just the thought of his father being an asshole to you made Shoto's blood boil.
He could put up with any abuse his father threw at him, having gotten pretty used to it, but for him to drag you into it too?! That was when he drew the line.
Anger began to seeth in the young male as he watched you walk ahead of him. He really did feel guilty for what his father had said to you and seeing that defeated look in your eyes really made him feel uneasy. It was the same feeling he had felt back in middle school when your friend questioned if you were seeing someone.
The feeling that his heart was being squeezed and his throat was closing in.
He realised right then and there, that a smile looked much better on your face.
"Let's go, Todoroki. I'm really fine, so don't worry." You told him as he hesitantly nodded and ultimately joined your side to enter the meeting room.
The moment you both did, you were met with Endeavor and Edgeshot just done with their personal talk and they finally moved to the purpose of the joint-patrol; trying to catch the Hero Killer.
They began talking all about the possible areas where the Hero Killer could be, by comparing his previous pattern of movement and witness testimonies.
Since both the heroes were working with the police, they had access to a lot of classified information that was new to both you and Shoto.
The meeting lasted for about a whole hour until you were finally dismissed. And you decided to take this time to visit Silver Bullet.
Shoto was just about to talk to you when you rushed out and towards Dyson so you could ask where Silver Bullet's work station was.
"Hmm, Silver Bullet? Oh, his work station's right there!" Pointing to its direction, Dyson gave you a carefree smile, "Well, take care! Don't get a limb blown off, although even I know he's at least responsible enough to not kill someone..."
While you were very concerned by what he had said in the end, you decided to just take a deep breath and walked over in the direction where he had pointed. You were met with an automated metal door with a digital lock pad at its side. Fishing out the piece of paper he had handed you yesterday, you punched in the numbers before watching how the door opened for you.
As you walked in, almost immediately, you were met with a high tech lab. It looked like something a mad scientist would have, but then your eyes landed on the person running this lab and figured that it wasn't that far off from a mad scientist.
"O-Oh! Iris, you're here..." He muttered to himself as he put down his test tube, a shaky smile greeted you instead.
"I-Is Endeavor here already?" Upon seeing you nod, the male shivered slightly. He wasn't the most fond of the flaming hero, that guy scared him too much, "A-Ah... seeing how you're here, I'm guessing... they're done with the meeting?"
"Yes." He nodded to himself before finally motioning you over to his work table.
"You said you wanted to learn how to make bullets, right? Well... what kind?"
"Huh? What do you mean, what kind?"
He looked at you for a good minute before the silverette smirked slightly, picking up an already-made bullet. He took it and gave it you, "There's a whole variety to the kind of bullets I use. This is the one I use when I need to sedate the villains." He walked over to you and showed you a close up sketch of the bullet.
"You could consider them like tranquilizer darts, but unlike darts, these things are faster. They pierce through the skin with ease and as soon as they hit the target, they enter the blood of the villain. This is perfect for sedation so no one finds out, until the blood is sampled. Of course, the villain can easily notice the bullet and counter it."
You realised while he was talking that, despite him being a complete ball of anxiety while talking to others, he was very passionate and confident when it came to his bullets. That was very admirable of him.
"But how does it carry the sedative and the gun powder at the same time?" He almost seemed giddy upon hearing your question, quickly pulling out a bullet he was in the process of making.
"The gun powder is in here. And the casing... while made of metal, has a tip that is filled with the sedative! This way, the sedative enters the body first and then mixes with the blood, acting faster." You nodded along his words and pointed to the other sketches, "What about the one Flashgate said caused way too much damage?"
Almost like the flick of a switch, he shrunk away in shame, "Ah... That was... because that villain had a lot of clones... I figured since killing the clones wasn't killing the person, I'd use alkali metal bullets.... Just like the sedative bullet, they also have the tip fitted with the substance. But unlike the former, they have an alkali metal, that upon reacting with the blood of the clone, caused a huge explosion... If I used it on a human, it would have killed them..."
"Woah... That's terrifyingly amazing!!" His eyes widened in surprise. You were amazed?! People would think of him as a murderer when he'd tell them about it.
"I-Is it?" He asked you for confirmation and you nodded confidently, "It's really amazing, Silver Bullet! Your skills and your passion–I want to become just like you! Please, teach me your ways!"
The poor silverette was blushing up a storm. He never had anyone look up to him like that, only people that he ever saved...
"Y-You really wanna learn, from me?" You fervently nodded with a determined smile, "I can't think of anyone else who would be better at it than you!"
Ah, you really are flattering him!! He felt like he might explode from all this praise.
"Y-You have a joint-patrol tonight, right? I'll... I'll lend you the tranquilizer ones... You should get a feel of them, and then I'll teach you tommorow... They're really easy to make, so you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly..." You gave him a grateful smile that he was too shy to look at, so he just kept staring at the ground the entire time.
"Thank you so much! I won't let you down!"
"Ah, just stop! Don't put me on such a high pedestal! I'll seriously die!"
You could only chuckle at his words. At least something good happened after Endeavor humiliated you.
————
It was finally time.
You were all dressed up in your costume, with you was Edgeshot and Endeavor was accompanied by Shoto, who really didn't like standing next to the flaming hero.
You don't blame him.
You rechecked all your supplies one more time. Rifle? Check. Rubber bullets? Check. Actual bullets? Check. The bullets Silver Bullet gave you? Check. Goggles? Check. First aid kit? Check.
Alright, you're good to go.
Edgeshot turned to you and gave you a firm nod, satisfied by your timely arrival and finally turned to Endeavor, "Let's get going." The flaming hero gave you a side glance (you avoided all eye contact with him) before walking along with Edgeshot, making you and Shoto trail behind the two heroes.
You were okay with walking in silence with Shoto, because it was mostly silent between you two, even during middle school. But it seemed like he didn't think the same because he kept giving you some not-so-subtle glances every other second.
"How's the internship been going?" You finally decided to speak up, deciding to spare the dual haired male some mercy. From the corner of your eye, you saw him heave a small sigh of relief as he nodded to himself.
"It's been... okay. How about you?"
"It's good." And you guys stopped talking.
Okay, it was way less awkward before than it is now. Even Shoto can feel the awkwardness and he's got no idea of social cues whatsoever.
You wondered if you should start talking but nothing came to your mind. Even though Silver Bullet lending you some bullets and promising to teach you, did make you happy, but the misery thanks to what Endeavor had said to you, was still weighing on your mind and your dual haired friend could easily tell that.
Maybe that's why you weren't talking.
"[Last Name], I really am sorry for what my father said." Shoto finally began and you gave him a smile smile to reassure him, "I told you, it's fine. Don't worry..."
"Has he... talked to you before?" You recalled the time at the Sports Festival and your mood dampened even more. But you didn't bother answering his question.
Fucking bastard called Endeavor... He ruined this entire internship for you! It was supposed to give you a confidence boost that the number 5 hero had selected you for an internship offer but it only ended up making you feel worse thanks to this joint-patrol.
"Iris, Shoto, tell me this. What will you do if you can eacross the Hero Killer?" You both were snapped out of your thoughts when Edgeshot suddenly addressed you two, making both of you alert yourselves.
"If the Hero Killer...?" You pondered over what would be the best course of actions, "Fight him and try to apprehend him." Your companion didn't even hesitate for a second, yet it seemed like the wrong answer as Edgeshot sighed.
"No, Shoto... How about you, Iris?" Now that the attention was on you, you wondered if saying your thoughts would get you any mockery. If not from Edgeshot, then definitely from Endeavor.
"Evacuate the entire area? And try to call for back-up?" You didn't realise it, but Edgeshot smiled under his mask, "That's right. The best course of action for you students if you come across him is to call for backup and save the civilians. Not only are you not allowed to use your quirks, but you children are also not strong enough to take him all by yourselves."
"Even if it means letting him go? So he can kill more people?" Shoto seemed rather confused by Edgeshot's logic, and you couldn't blame him. In a way, his reasoning was right too. If the Hero Killer tries to attack you, should you fight him with your quirk? Even if it's illegal use?
"Would you rather get arrested?" Edgeshot quipped at the younger male, making him furrow his eyebrows and sneer. Endeavor immediately held onto Shoto's arm, and gave him a warning look, "Behave."
But the dual haired boy just snatched his arm back with a scoff, rubbing the part where the flaming hero had held him. You and your mentor silently watched the interaction before the latter addressed quietly you, "It seems like you had been properly listening to my explanation yesterday. Good work." Was all he said, but knowing Edgeshot, this was the best praise you could get.
"Thank you, sir."
You guys had been walking for about half an hour now, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. You were expecting it to be another fruitless patrol until...
A familiar, giant creature flew past you all, making you guys stop dead in your tracks.
A Nomu.
It was flew straight past you guys and smashed into the train rails of the station near you. Almost immediately, the four of you sprung into action. Endeavor rushed to follow the creature, and you heard your mentor curse under his breath of how much the former loved to jump into fighting right away.
"Iris, go to the train station and check for any injured civilians! Evacuate the entire station! Shoto, evacuate the rest of the area! Hurry, both of you!"
You both immediately followed the ninja hero's orders and rushed in the said directions. Shoto ran in a direction opposite to yours while you made your way to the train station.
When you arrived there, you were met with smoke and rubble everywhere. There were a handful of people who had small injuries, and a few of them that had an actual bleeding wound. You wrapped them up as neatly as you could and tried to carefully maneuver everyone out of the now-destroyed station.
"[Last Name]-san?!" You heard a familiar voice; Midoriya!
"Midoriya-san?!" The greentree entered your vision, along with a frail looking old man with a yellow cape, "What are you doing here?!" Your friend asked and you shook your head, "I was on patrol with Edgeshot. But that doesn't matter right now! We need to evacuate these people!"
But before you all could even move, a Nomu came crashing in and you all were shocked when the frail old man shot up and kicked the Nomu away into a small building. Thankfully, that managed to allow you guys to evacuate everyone in the train station.
"Isn't Iida-kun also in Hosu?! Why isn't he here?!" Midoriya turned to ask you, making you look at him in surprise, "What? He's here?"
"Yeah! He's interning with Manual!" The greenette looked around while you were busy patching up the rest of the people that got injured. Endeavor had also stepped in the fight and used his fire to blast the Nomu into flames.
But you still couldn't comprehend that Iida was here, yet still wasn't here for backup, especially when the hero he was interning with was a water-based hero. He should have been the first to rush over.
"Wait a minute..." You heard Midoriya mutter as he immediately dashed off in a different direction, "Mido-I mean... Deku! Where are you going?!" Unfortunately, he was already out of your vicinity, leaving you shocked at his new speed.
"What the hell?" You muttered to yourself before returning your attention to the civilians.
Where was he even going?!
It was then, that something clicked in you.
Midoriya had told you that Iida's brother... was attacked by the Hero Killer. And the fact that he chose Manual, of all heroes... that wasn't even that famous of a hero and had nothing to do with his quirk...
Your eyes widened in horror as you finally realised.
Iida was trying to hunt down the Hero Killer.