The next day, the real internship began. The morning sun was still climbing as Mirko and Souta moved across the city's skyline. Mirko, a brown-and-white streak of pure kinetic energy, used her incredible leg strength to make prodigious leaps from rooftop to rooftop, her movements powerful and efficient.
Souta, a touch more flamboyant but equally swift, flew alongside her, enveloped in his signature "Nova Body" – a controlled aura of brilliant blue flames that granted him flight and left shimmering azure trails in their wake. His flight was more elegant, a smooth glide compared to Mirko's explosive bounds, but he kept pace easily. Mirko, he knew, had access to the hero network through her comms, her ears constantly swiveling, alert for any trouble.
They'd already handled a few minor incidents that morning: a runaway delivery drone causing chaos – Souta neatly snagged it with a targeted ice tether – a small purse-snatching – Mirko was on the culprit before he'd cleared the block – and a traffic light malfunction threatening a pile-up – Souta used precise blue flame bursts to signal and direct traffic until maintenance arrived. Nothing truly dangerous, but good warm-ups.
A few hours into their patrol, around lunchtime, Mirko's stomach let out an audible growl. "Alright, kid, food break." She scanned the streets below. "That place there," she pointed to a bustling ramen and grill restaurant. "Looks decent."
Their arrival, clad in their hero costumes, caused an immediate stir. Mirko, as the Number Five Pro Hero, was instantly recognizable, her fierce aura and rabbit ears unmistakable. Souta, too, drew stares; his victory at the U.A. Sports Festival – an event with viewership rivaling the pre-Quirk era Olympics, perhaps even surpassing it in national interest – had made his face, and his distinctive blue flames, well-known.
They were ushered to a table immediately, their order taken and given priority over others without a single complaint from other patrons. While they waited, a few braver citizens and even some of the restaurant staff asked for photos. Souta, surprisingly, obliged a few, offering a small, polite smile for the selfies. Mirko mostly just grunted and looked impatient, though she didn't outright refuse – and eventually agreed - when a particularly star-struck child asked.
Their food arrived quickly. They decided against eating in the crowded restaurant and found a nearby quiet rooftop, settling down on a low ledge overlooking the city. They ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes, the sounds of the metropolis a distant hum.
Halfway through his katsudon, Souta saw Mirko pause, her ear twitching. A metallic click came from her comm unit. She listened intently for a moment, then clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Damn it." She tossed her remaining half-eaten pork skewer to Souta. "Got a situation, intern. Glut it down fast or burn it on the way. We move, now!"
Souta didn't need to be told twice. He vaporized the skewer with a quick flare of blue flame and was airborne a second after her.
"What is it?" he asked as they leaped and flew.
"Bank robbery, downtown financial district," Mirko grunted, already accelerating. "Hostages involved. Silent alarm tripped, so the scumbags are trapped inside, but they know they're made. Police and some local low-tiers have it surrounded."
Upon arrival, the scene was tense. Police cars formed a perimeter, officers crouched behind vehicles, and a few nervous-looking lower-ranked Pro Heroes maintained a loose cordon around a modern bank building. Mirko immediately approached the police captain in charge.
"What's the layout, number of targets, hostages?" Mirko demanded, all business.
The captain filled her in: three robbers, estimated five to seven hostages – employees and a few customers – currently held in the main lobby. The robbers had already made demands for safe passage and money.
Mirko listened, then grumbled under her breath, just loud enough for Souta, with his keen hearing, to catch, "Great. Hostages all mixed in. Not my ideal playground." Her style was direct, overwhelming force – difficult to apply with precision when civilians were in the line of fire.
Souta scanned the building with calm, analytical eyes, taking in the visible entry points, window placements, and the positioning of the surrounding forces. He asked the captain a few clarifying questions: "Are there schematics available for the interior? Any blind spots in their current known positions? What are their Quirks, if known?"
The captain provided what little information they had – basic blueprints, no confirmed Quirk visuals yet. As the police negotiator tried to re-establish contact with the increasingly agitated robbers, Souta turned to Mirko. "I have a plan."
One of the nearby Pro Heroes, a man with a rhino horn, scoffed. "A plan? From a student without any experience? We're waiting for the specialized assault team."
Mirko ignored him, focusing on Souta. She'd seen his strategic takedown of Bakugo, his control. "Alright, Axiom Peak. Lay it on me. What's your estimated success rate?"
Souta met her gaze, his own calm and confident. "Assuming standard human-level durability for the robbers and no extreme wide-area-of-effect Quirks... 90% success with no injuries to hostages or personnel. 100% success with no casualties."
The rhino hero looked incredulous, but Mirko's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. That was a bold claim. "Ninety percent, huh? Better than waiting for an assault team while those hostages sweat." She grinned sharply. "Alright, kid. I'm listening. Make it good."
Souta nodded. "We create a hard diversion on the west side – it has the fewest windows and thickest walls. Your power could make it convincing. While their attention is there, I'll make an entry from the roof access or a north-facing maintenance window. My first priority will be to assess hostage locations and villain positions more clearly. I can use ice to create immediate, silent barriers between hostages and villains, or to make footing treacherous for the robbers. My Blue flames can be used for precise, non-lethal area denial or to create visual cover. Once the hostages are shielded or the villains are momentarily disoriented and separated, that's your cue to go in hard and fast for takedowns. I'll support with targeted ice to immobilize or further control the environment." He paused. "If there's an opportunity for truly silent hostage extraction from a secured area, I have... a contingency for that, but it's a last resort to maintain operational secrecy."
Mirko absorbed it all, her grin widening. A diversion, precision elemental control, and then she gets to smash things. "Contingency…?" She seemed a bit sceptic. "Alright, Axiom Peak. Let's show these local yokels how we'll handle a party."
She turned to the stunned police captain and rhino hero. "We're going with the kid's plan. Get ready to secure prisoners."
Mirko didn't need a detailed breakdown for her part. "Diversion on the west wall, got it. Loud and messy." She grinned, then shot off like a rocket towards the designated side of the bank, leaving Souta to his own devices.
A few seconds later, a tremendous CRASH echoed as Mirko apparently kicked in a significant portion of the reinforced concrete wall, sending debris flying and alarms – the loud kind this time – blaring. Shouts of surprise and panic erupted from inside.
While all attention was drawn to the chaos on the west side, Souta, cloaked in a low percentage of One For All Full Cowling for silent speed, had already scaled the building's north face. He found the maintenance access window the blueprints had indicated, pried it open with a quick, super-strong tug, and slipped inside, landing silently in a dark utility corridor.
He moved like a ghost, orange sparks barely visible around him. Reaching a ventilation grate that overlooked the main lobby, he peered down. Three robbers, masked and armed, were indeed using a cluster of terrified employees and customers as human shields, agitated by Mirko's violent entrance on the other side of the bank.
Okay, positions confirmed, Souta thought. Time to control the board.
Silently, he channeled his ice Quirk. Thin sheets of slick ice instantly coated the floor around the robbers' feet, too subtle to see from their panicked vantage point but treacherous. Next, with pinpoint precision, he sent a controlled burst of intense blue heat towards the ceiling sprinklers directly above one of the robbers who seemed to be the leader, causing them to burst and release a torrent of water, further dousing that area and adding to the confusion. He didn't want a fire, just chaos and obstructed vision.
"What the hell now?!" one of the robbers yelled as the sprinklers went off. Another slipped on the unseen ice, crashing into his accomplice.
That was Mirko's cue. She burst through the hole she'd made, a veritable cannonball of fur and fury, right into the disoriented group. Two robbers went down almost instantly, knocked unconscious by her powerful kicks before they even registered her presence amidst the noise, water, and their suddenly unreliable footing.
But the third robber, the apparent leader, was quicker or luckier. As Mirko pivoted to engage him, he shoved a hostage – a young woman – directly into Mirko's path, while simultaneously raising a rather nasty-looking energy pistol. Mirko, forced to check her momentum to avoid harming the hostage, found herself momentarily off-balance and in a terrible position, the villain's weapon leveling at her and the hostage beside her.
There was no time for Souta to create a large ice wall or use a fire blast without risking hitting someone. In that split second, as the villain's finger tightened on the trigger, Souta made a choice. He focused, and for an almost imperceptible instant, black mist manifested next to the robber's arm, a finger pushing the enemy's arm through it.
The villain fired. The energy blast, instead of hitting Mirko or the hostage, went wide by a mere foot, searing a hole in the far wall. The villain stared at his pistol in confused shock, as if it had betrayed him. That weird, inexplicable shift in his aim, that sudden and unexplainable push no one could have consciously registered, was all Mirko needed.
The surprise on her face at the near-miss vanished, replaced by her battle grin. She exploded into motion, a powerful kick disarming the villain, followed by a swift chop that sent him slumping to the floor, unconscious.
It was over in seconds. Souta dropped down from the ventilation shaft as police rushed in. The hostages were quickly ushered out, shaken but unharmed.
---
Later that afternoon, after statements were given and the bank was secured, Souta and Mirko resumed their patrol, soaring and leaping over the city as the sun began to dip lower.
"Back then… something happened to the robber," Mirko said casually, landing neatly on a rooftop beside him. "Something that made that last scumbag miss me by a whisker. Was that your 'contingency'?"
Souta looked out over the cityscape, his expression unreadable. He remained silent, offering no confirmation or denial.
Mirko watched him for a moment, then let out a short laugh. "Mysterious type, huh? Fine, keep your secrets, kid." She stretched, her powerful muscles flexing. "But whatever it was, good timing. You reacted fast when it mattered. Thanks."
She then clapped him on the back, nearly sending him stumbling. "So! Since you saved my fluffy tail and helped wrap that up so quick, we actually have some downtime." She winked, her usual playful, almost teasing manner returning full force. "What d'ya say, Axiom Peak? Maybe I owe you a 'certain reward' for your excellent performance today, hmm?"
Souta, caught off guard by the sudden shift in tone and the implication, felt an uncharacteristic warmth rise to his cheeks. His usually smooth aerial glide, maintained by his Nova Body, stuttered for a fraction of a second, a tiny wobble in the air that Mirko, with her keen eyes, definitely noticed, her grin widening further. He quickly regained his composure, but the slight blush at the tips of his ears was undeniable – though remaining hidden from sight by the blue flames.
Unknown to him, even the Rabbit woman next to him – for some reason – reacted to these words. Her own words caused something inside her.