(Author's Note: Hello there, everyone! And welcome to the Steam Powered Hero, chapter 66...
I definitely did not rush these last few chapters just so I could make this joke. No, no, no... far from it. I'm rushing the chapters because I'm sure you guys are eager to see what's going to unfold from now on, yes, that's it, I understand, y'all. Now, without further ado, let's get to it! Good reading! Kisses!)
~~~
Endeavor noticed the interns ready to follow his lead, angered he insisted.
"I told you to stand back and watch!"
Kaito, who's faster than any of them, took the lead, catching up to Endeavor. Listen, this guy trained with Hawks, ok? THE Hawks, y'know? Number 2 hero? Yeah, that one.
"With all due respect, sir. We didn't earn our provisional licenses to spectate."
Endeavor groaned, but continued forward, respecting the steam guy's commitment. Kaito looked back, the others still followed, but were still in his dust.
"How's that for dead weight, Explosion Boy?" Kaito chuckled, then increased his speed, leaving them behind.
Kaito followed Endeavor a few blocks down, they arrived at the scene of what appears to be a lunatic. A old man spewing nonsense about a prophecy, he had a long beard and a tunic, he was also floating on spheres made of the glass from nearby buildings. By the time they got there, the old man created a giant glass sphere and was ready to attack the citizens down below.
Endeavor bursted through the sphere, destroying it from inside out.
"So you can control glass? That's a fine skill old man. What I'm not getting is why you thought you could get away with this in my territory!"
Steampunk arrived at the scene, shielding the office workers from the nearby buildings.
"You guys ok?" He asked, they looked scared, but not injured or anything.
"Y-yeah..."
"Hey, you're that Steampunk kid!"
"One and only. You guys evacuate now, it's about to go down."
"Right!"
The flying old man noticed he was outnumbered by the Number One Hero and Endeavor... ;). So he retreated, trying to lose the two in a corner.
Endeavor went after the villain, so did Kaito.
"He's here!" The old man yelled.
"Yes master!" Out of nowhere, a bunch of random dudes armed with random weapons such as bats or pipes, used the blind spot of the corner to ambush the two heroes.
Just as the randos were about to jump Kaito and Endeavor, Midoriya, Bakugo and Todoroki appeared, BUT just as the three were about to take down the randos, HAWKS appeared taking them down first. What a mess!
"Hawks!"
"Oops! Sorry, Atsuhito! Looks like I was faster this time!"
"This time?" Bakugo wondered.
Endeavor finally caught the old geezer, Hawks too took down his followers, the situation is now under control.
"Seemed like you were in trouble, Endeavor..."
"Me? Not a chance!"
"With Atsuhito helping you out I'm sure you weren't." Hawks walked up to his sidekick. "You're flying this fast with less than half your gear? You're getting insane Atsuhito!"
"Thanks! Learned from the best!"
"You were supposed to contact me when you were in town, Hawks..." Said Endeavor.
"I'm not. I'm just passing by..."
Other heroes came to the location along with the police to take custody of the villain and his followers. Even when being taken away the old geezer continued to spew nonsense.
"Unbind me! Or else your fates are sealed!"
"What's this lunatic talking about?" Kaito scratched his head, trying to make sense of what the geezer was saying.
"Who knows?" Midoriya shrugged.
"That one is the root cause!" the geezer pointed at Endeavor. "His shining light beckons the dark! It precipitates our demise!"
"Huh..."
Suddenly, Midoriya's nerd side showed up as he was around the number 2 hero.
"Hello! My name is Izuku Izuku Midoriya!"
"You're the kid that breaks his fingers, right? Tokoyami and Atsuhito here filled me in. Man, I wish I could work with you guys again, I had a lot of fun!"
"Yeah..." Kaito agreed. "We've learned a lot from this guy."
"Wait, isn't Tokoyami back at your agency?" Midoriya wondered.
"Yeah, he's with my sidekicks, working on his Black Fallen Angel. That's why I sent Atsuhito here, he could learn a lot more from Endeavor, since he already picked up all my flying tricks."
"What can I say? I'm a fast learner..."
"Still, I feel kinda bad..." Hawks glanced over at Bakugo. "..about it."
"Back there, I was faster!" Declared the explosion boy.
"You think so?" Hawks was amused.
"In your dreams, slowpoke." Kaito smirked.
"Well Hawks, what do you want?" Endeavor questioned.
"Want? Oh, nothing, really." Hawks held up a book. "But have you read this book, Endeavor?"
"Meta Liberation War?" Midoriya was puzzled.
"Isn't that the book that one villain wrote some time ago?"
"I mean, you must have heard of it." Hawks continued. "This things flying off the shelves lately. And after that incident in Daika City, where people fought for their lives, this book's been getting more attention lately. It was written way back, but it feels relevant today." Hawks explained with a serious expression, something Kaito hasn't seen a lot during his Work Study with Hawks.
"Like this quote..." Hawks continued. "'When freedom is only granted to a selected few, the burden necessarily shifts over to everyone else.' If you don't got time for heavy reading I've highlighted the must-read parts for you. It outlines Destro's ultimate ideal, a society held together by personal responsibility. It's perfect for this day and age."
Kaito noticed something was off about Hawks, his expression, his tone, it's completely different from what he knows.
"What are you talking about?" Endeavor questioned.
"Imagine, Endeavor. A world where we've got time to kill..."
"Ooh, you said something like that, right, Atsuhito? So that's where you got that from!" Midoriya was happy to understand the reference.
"Yeah..." Kaito smiled, but was still worried.
Hawks handed the book to Endeavor with a serious expression.
"Please read..."
"That's reading recommendation from the number 2 hero? Perhaps it holds the secret to his trademark speed!" Midoriya theorized.
"Hehe! I've got one for everyone!" Hawks pulled out a handful of books. "Here! When it comes to speed, it's all about reading where the wind is blowing! Ask Atsuhito for some tips!"
"He must really love this book, to carry around so many..." Shoto observed.
"It's almost like hes spreading the word!"
"Bingo, Midoriya! I'm recommending for all of my friends. Because if nothing else, that liberation ideology will be pretty damn fundamental going forward!"
"Something's wrong, I can feel it..."
"At least give the highlighted sections a glance! That's my second recommendation in so many words!"
Hawks took to the air, getting ready to move on. "All of you, good luck with your Work Study! See you soon, Atsuhito, and remember..."
"Speed over power! Got it!"
Then Hawks flew away to his next destination.
"He's just 22, but comes off as much wiser..." said Midoriya.
"Just six years older than us..." Shoto observed.
"You could teach us the secret to his speed, Atsuhito!"
"And give away my only advantage over you all? I don't think so..."
~~~
Later that day, the interns found themselves at Endeavor's Agency, where they were welcomed by his sidekicks, a lot of sidekicks, and Burnin, Burnin was there too!
"Welcome to Endeavor's Agency!" Burnin welcomed them with enthusiasm.
"We're the flaming sidekicks!" The other sidekicks introduced themselves.
"This is the first Work Study for Bakugo and Shoto, right? You three will get right down to business doing what we do around here!" Burnin pointed at Bakugo, Todoroki and Midoriya. "As you can see, we're over 30 sidekicks, we ain't exactly short staffed!"
Confused, Kaito raised a question.
"What about me?"
"Steampunk! You're already one of us!" Burnin said with her enthusiasm. "You already got a chance to shine on Endeavor's Number 1 hero debut!"
"One of us! One of us! One of us!" The flaming sidekicks chanted.
"I'm going to stand there with them..."
"Now, you!" Burnin turned to the others. "Won't get a chance to shine!"
"Great. So we gotta beat the pros in their own game?"
"Bingo!"
Kaito was now posing with the Flaming Sidekicks, he even shared Burnin's grin.
"That goes for you too, Shoto! Don't go thinking you'll get off easy just because you're the boss's kid! You all gotta sink your teeth in this job!"
"This place looks busy..." Midoriya observed the movement around the Agency.
"Most of the time we're either on patrol, or on standby. But we also handle over 100 requests every day, from emergencies to special events!" Other sidekick explained.
"Great! Let's get to freaking work, then!" Bakugo was hyped. "I've been pretty pissed ever since that dumb bird stole my kill!"
"Dumb bird? You mean Hawks?"
"You've got moxie, kid! But we gotta wait for Endeavor's orders."
"He's sitting on his butt?! What happened to those 100 requests?!"
"Calm down, Kacchan!"
"Ha ha ha! You better cool down, kid!"
"Good luck with that..."
Endeavor headed to his office, and took a few minutes to return. You can imagine Bakugo started to get inpatient.
"The boss only requested Shoto, so you'll probably be working with us!" Said Burnin.
I personally don't see a problem with working with Burnin, but that's just me.
"As if! They told me I'd get to watch the number one in action!"
"We will, calm down Kacchan!"
"That's not what I expected too..." Shoto admitted. "I'll talk with him."
Suddenly, the door to Endeavor's office opened, and the number one returned.
"Shoto, Deku, Bakugo, Steampunk... you four, come with me..."
They suited up, and met the flame hero at the Agency's training grounds.
"I'll be supervising you four myself." Said the flame hero. "Before we start, you three gotta tell me about yourselves. I don't know much about you. What are you working on right now? Tell me what you want to achieve." He walked up to Midoriya first. "You got super strength that wrecks your body, right?"
"Yes...I discovered a method to manage it without hurting myself." Midoriya explained. "I want to control my power, to have freedom of movement even at max perfomance. Recently I reached a point where... how do I put this? I've got a secondary power that manifests in a different form."
"Show me."
Midoriya got ready, concentrating on his new power, then BOOM! Black Whip, well, at least a little bit of it.
"By focusing a lot I can just manage this, but that's all I can handle right now."
"You mentioned 'max perfomanc'. What does that mean for this ability?" Endeavor wanted to know.
"Well, the true form of this one is like a whip." Midoriya clarified. "I want to turn from a liability into a weapon, if I let too much out I lose control. I think I can apply some concepts from my other power, Air Force, oh, I should explain..." Midoriya proceeded to mumble nonstop, explaining his power. If Saitama were there he would yell and demand that Midoriya explain it in 20 words or less.
"Uh... my head is spinning." Said Kaito. "He's at it again!"
"Too long! I'm lost!" Added Burnin. "He's over analyzing himself!"
"So, you're hoping to make that tricky balancing act feel like second nature to you?" Endeavor understood.
"He understood?!" Burnin was surprised. "He ain't number one for nothing!"
"I see... you must've suffered a lot due to your quirk..." said Endeavor. "You're like us..."
"Us?"
"Next up is you!" Endeavor called Bakugo forth.
"Unlike him, I'm here to figure out what I can't do..." he said.
"Ooh! Big talk, little man!" Burnin mocked.
"Shut up! Why are you even here?!"
"I'm on standby..."
"I like this girl..." Kaito chuckled.
Bakugo continued...
"My explosion can pull of anything I need it to. I've only got this quirk, but it's totally the strongest! But then I learned that a strong quirk alone isn't enough to make me the strongest, to surpass the number one. I came here to find what I'm missing."
"Sure... what about you, Steampunk?"
Kaito looked at his hands... thoughtful.
"My quirk isn't exactly strong. I worked very hard to get on these guys's level..." he glanced at his classmates. "Frankly, my tricks are getting old, and although I have the speed, I'm lacking firepower. I came to see if I can improve on that, learn from someone with a quirk that has the same principles as mine, to reach a new level of strength."
"Hawks did mention our quirks similarities..." said Endeavor. He remembered something Hawks said in the day of the Nomu attack. 'With speed like mine, and power like yours, this kid has potential to become a symbol of peace!'. "I understand that if you overuse your quirk you overheat, is that right?"
"Yes sir."
"So you're one of us..."
*confusion*
"I wonder if he can learn Flashfire..." Endeavor thought. "Very well, let's get to work!"
"Ahem... what about me?" Shoto wondered.
"You're here to master Flashfire Fist, Shoto!"
"All that quirk training you beat into me as a kid, I've put into practice with my right side." Shoto continued. "Thinking back, it's no wonder, since I couldn't escape my own hatred for you..."
"Hmm, there's some bad blood between these two?"
"Competing alongside these three and everyone else opened my eyes. Endeavor, after everything..." Shoto had determination in his eyes. "I'm gonna do exactly what you always wanted. But understand, the man I admire it the one mom and I watched on the TV back then. As a hero in training, in order to become a man worthy of the title I came here on my free will! I'm here to use you for my own reasons. Sorry if this isn't going how you want, number one. So let's stop that father-son crap in front of my friends."
Kaito looked at Burnin, Burnin looked back at Kaito. I can only describe their reaction with that Obi Wan confused meme.
"Right..."
Endeavor walked out of the training area, heading back to the streets to finally start the Work Study...
"I'll be watching the four of you as a hero. Rescue, evacuation, battle... all of that counts. Atsuhito has the upper hand here, since I've seen at first hand what hes capable of, he has done the three flawlessly during the Nomu attack in Kyushu..."
Kaito looked back at Bakugo with a smug grin.
"Always one step ahead of you..."
Endeavor continued...
"People come to heroes for those three basic things. Normally when a pro sets up an agency, he decides wether to emphasize rescue or battle, one or the other. My agency isn't picky, we tackle all three! You gotta know your home turf like the back of your hand, so that you pick up on the smallest disturbance!"
"So that explains how he ran at the old geezer even before we noticed something was happening!"
"You gotta get to the scene faster than anyone, keep damage to a minimum and keep the civilians safe! That's your starting point. Keep all that in mind while acting at top speed, and make those processes your M.O! Think about what you're building as you go!"
All this epic lecture gives some vibes from the early days at U.A...
"At U.A, it's efforts. And here, it's experience! You need a mountain's worth. So your job here is to conquer that experience barrier! This winter, show me that you can, just once, beat a villain faster than me!"
"After all thatexperience with Hawks I feel like I was born ready forthis!" Kaito lowered his goggles. "To quote the number 1 hero..."Endeavor paid attention. They all got ready to go. "Just watch us!"