Chapter Text
When I decided to be a hero, the only thing I didn’t expect was just how bored I’d end up. I opened my agency this year, and I’m in higher demand for missions than ever, but nothing excites me the way it did when I was just starting out. I always thought I’d feel satisfied to get to a point where nothing is beyond my reach anymore, but now that I’m exactly where I always planned to be, I can’t help thinking that despite the fact I’d never choose to do anything besides keeping Japan safe, I wish I still got a rush from it the way I used to, or, at the very least, wasn’t so sunken into my routine I might as well be the robot hero.
“Good morning, Wisp.”
I get coffee from the same cafe every morning. The same thing from the same sweet barista at the same time, because that’s what I do, but sometimes, at least lately, I wish I had an extra five minutes to walk to the next coffee shop down the street.
“Good morning, Misa.” I smile, and so does she, has my cup at the counter already, same as every other day, and I hand her my card and tuck a tip into the jar, like I always do.
“Hey, you’re Wisp-The smoke hero. My little brother’s a big fan! Do you… Think I could get an autograph?” And, of course, there are the civilians, who, for the most part, are my favorite part of the job.
“Of course-What’s his name?” I take the napkin and pen he pushes at me, seems nervous, like most people are, but I don’t mind chatting, especially if I can make a kid happy with nothing but a signature.
“Asahi.”
I write, just a short message, glad I’m not in too much of a rush today so that I can put some thought into it. “Right. And what’s yours?” I look up, and he’s red, bashful about the attention, or about my newest costume, which is functional, but also “pleasing to the eye”, as my agent said when he was convincing me to try it out, by which he definitely meant skin tight to improve male ratings.
“It’s uh.. Akira.”
I offer him his autograph, and a hopefully soothing smile, not exactly sure what I did to get him so worked up, but I am sure I feel sort of bad for it. “Well, it was good meeting you, Akira, but I do have a patrol to get to.” I turn for my coffee, and give Misa a smile for a goodbye when she hands over my card, and then I turn back to say bye to my new acquaintance, only I get cut off by my radio crackling to life.
“We have a 10-15 on block 17-All available heroes report to the site for direction.”
That’s my cue, and a much earlier start to the calls than usual. “Time to get to work.” I go, walk out the door then huff enough smoke to get to the rooftops, and then I run, not too far, only about a minute before I can see the crowd gathering. There’s no wreckage, which is usually a good sign, but with everyone set up around a warehouse without any fighting going on, I’m assuming we have hostages to worry about.
I jump from the closest roof, brace my arm with max cohesive so I don’t snap it in half hitting the ground and rolling, and by the time I pop up to standing I have a few of the older heroes looking at me like I’m an idiot, when really I was just trying to get here as quick as possible.
“Wisp-There you are. Now we can begin.”
Definitely hostages. It’s always hostages when I’m needed, with my quirk and skillset I’m one of the few heroes that barely poses any risk going after a villain holding someone, and honestly I’m sort of surprised they’d even bother trying while I’m patrolling close by.
“This is bullshit. Just let us in already.” Dynamight is a couple of years older than me, and I’ve never talked to him, mostly because he doesn’t seem to want anyone to talk to him, but he is a great hero, even if he is rough around the edges.
“Katsuki Bakugou, Mind your manners-”
“Shut it you geezer-!”
“Most of you will be assigned to our offensive squad. Your objective is to take out as many villains as possible within the complex as well as to divert the attention of their leader away from the extraction team.”
“Ooh! Can I be on the extraction team!? Please!?” Pinky is extremely well-loved, but less than professional, which I don’t mind, actually I think she’s one of the more authentic heroes, but Dynamight, he looks ready to rip her head off just watching her bounce up and down beside him.
“The extraction team will consist of Wisp as our front, and her backup of Dynamight.”
Yeah, that’s not happening.
“Hell no! I’m not getting sent in as backup for some extra-!”
“Your pinpoint accuracy will minimize damage to the building, and with your smoke immobilizing the remaining villains should be quick work between the two of you.” He’s not wrong. It’s a good plan, aside from the fact fighting without completely getting the hostages out of there first could be a problem.
“Sir, could I request a third to deliver the hostages away from the action-?”
“Oh! I’ll do it-!”
“No way! They’ll hear your big ass mouth before we even get close-!”
“Says you-!”
“It’s settled, then. Move in, and remember, the main objective is the extraction of the hostages.”
He gets a collective “Yes, sir!”, and then everyone’s off, aside from our team of three, and I’d say I’m pretty good at handling working as a team, but with an already seething Dynamight in the picture, I’m not sure how good I can say I’ll be this time.
“Let’s get this shit over with.” He goes strutting, and Pinky happily follows along, talking about how cool this is, which is probably in bad taste considering there are hostages, but I guess I’m glad she’s in a good mood.
I follow, at least until he passes right by a good vantage point, then I decide it’s time to speak up and face his wrath. “The window there isn’t covered. I’m going to go and take a look.” I don’t wait on anyone to say anything, just breathe enough smoke to make some rungs and climb, and I don’t get screamed at, so I’m assuming Dynamight isn’t going to kill me for not following his lead.
I make it up to the window, or at least close enough to flatten out my bottom rung into a platform and lean, tucked in close to the wall and going with the glare so no one will see if they’re in there, and it turns out they are, scattered around looking worried, must know their screwed with all the screaming going on on the lower levels.
I can see a couple of other windows, which is good, one to the back and one to the side opposite the one I’m at, the only issue is the hostages are being guarded in the center, which means getting to them without anything happening to them is going to be tough.
“Oi. Taking your damn time up-”
I jump, not high enough to have to roll, just enough to cover my legs in max cohesive to brace, land right in front of my teammates, ready to offer a plan they hopefully don’t scoff at. “There are three entry points to the room. One guard on the hostages, about twenty others scattered around. I think our best bet is to have Pinky send some acid to stun the guard, then-”
“We storm the place and murder them. We know how to do our jobs-”
“Well, actually I was thinking we go dark. I can’t capture them all unless I can see them, but showing myself with the hostages still inside wouldn’t work out very well-”
“Oh yeah! You do that smoke screen thing! Bakugou and I watched you in our third year sports festival-”
“Shut up. Let’s get this shit straight. You wanna smoke out the whole place with the hostages still inside?” He thinks I’m stupid, apparently, crosses his arms and looks at me like I’m a bug or something, but I guess at least he didn’t outright say no.
“Whoever I have eyes on when the screen drops I’ll be able to immobilize with a portion of the screen. I’ll take the ones closest and give Pinky the chance to get the hostages out of her entry while you defend her route out, and once they’re clear we can let loose.” I look between them, and I think it’s satisfactory, for Dynamight at least, Pinky seems glad to go along with just about anything.
“Fine. You take this one, Raccoon eyes. I’ll take up the back, and you get the far side.”
I don’t argue, just head up the wall and start filling my pressurizer when he turns to walk around back, that and send ladders to either window since they’re quirks won’t help them up, and by the time I make it to my side and into position, Pinky makes her move.
It’s just a speck. I wouldn’t have caught it if I wasn’t watching, but it still hurts, has the guy screaming and grabbing at his arm the second it touches him, and gathers the attention of the rest of them, giving me the perfect opportunity to toss what’s basically a smoke bomb right at their feet with a smokey blanket padding to keep it silent.
After that it’s go time. Smoke starts pouring and they start calling out that I’m around, which is annoying, but it doesn’t change much, I still drop the screen, and about six of them along with it, and then I’m in and following footsteps toward anyone I can find, not that it’s very easy to listen with Dynamight blasting all over the place.
“Clear!”
I lift the screen, and the villains seem to think that means they actually have a chance, all gathered between Dynamight and I in a sort of huddle, but the truth is either of us could take them, so for the both of us, this is pretty much child’s play.
We head in at the same time, each drawing our own group, and he blasts his while I work on mine, not even bothering to use my quirk on them, and soon enough we’re both on our way out with villains over our shoulder and a whole lot of soot between us.
“Dynamight! Wisp! Is it true you were the duo who took down the villains holding the contractors hostage?”
I’m surprised the press are even allowed on the premises, or maybe they’re not and this lady just snuck in, that’s definitely possible.
“Acid hero Pinky was on the extraction squad, too, but we couldn’t have succeeded without the action squad’s help.” I’m used to interviews, and attention, even if I would rather just do my job and talk to civilians, but every bit of press I’ve seen featuring Dynamight, he’s been a terror, so I think it’s probably better for everyone I’m half stood in front of him to keep him from talking, and this woman from asking him questions.
“Do we know what message these villains were trying to spread?” She has the microphone too close to my face, pushy, but I don’t exactly mind, just think I’d rather get back to work helping everyone clear the building.
“We’ll be leaving the interrogation to the police today. Us heroes are just here to do the grunt work.” I give her a smile, hoping it’s over, but it’s not, and, against my wishes and his, she sets her sights on Dynamight.
“Dynamight, do you have anything to say about the situation?” She shoves the microphone at him, and he pulls his famous scowl, and I’m almost positive she’s about to get an earful, but surprisingly enough, he does have something to say.
“If you’re a shitty, low-grade villain who can’t even put up a fight, then don’t waste our time.”
I almost laugh, but I hold it down, because even though it is funny I try not to be full of myself, even if the opposite works exceptionally well for him. “And if you’re a civilian, make sure to stay vigilant and stay prepared.”
“I couldn’t have said it better-!”
“Yeah, now buzz off. We have shit to do.” He shoves me, almost knocks me over pushing me off toward the others, and I walk, but I do give him an unhappy look he doesn’t seem very punished by, busy strutting along like the way he talks to the wrong people isn’t the reason his public opinion is so mixed. “Stop being annoying-I did you a favor getting you away from that shitty lady.”
He’s not wrong, not technically, so I drop the look, opt for one a little more neutral, even if he probably doesn’t care enough about my mood to mind much either way.
“Thanks.” I set my guy near the rest, glad to have the dead weight off my shoulder, and it seems like he is too, considering as soon as he dumps him he’s rolling it out, probably pretty tight always bracing for his quirk.
“Tch. Just shut up and pull your weight.” He goes walking, and I don’t follow, just watch him go for a minute, and really he’s not as bad as I thought, at least not what I’ve seen of him.
I’m back to my patrol soon enough, wandering around the ground level of my route and greeting civilians and pretty much praying for something interesting, but I don’t get much besides a petty thief that can’t even run fast, until I get home, at least.
My phone buzzes while I’m making dinner, the same thing I eat every Thursday on my commission recommended diet, and I always check immediately just in case it’s a mission summons, and usually it would be, but tonight it’s my agent, and an email instead of a text, one to me, some other person I’ve never heard of, and, out of all people, Dynamight.
I open it up faster than I’d like to admit, but I’m curious, and the message doesn’t offer any answers at all, just a vague “We’d like to see you in meeting room eight before your patrols tomorrow. Be there at six, and bring an open mind.”
It was definitely Kobayashi who wrote it, but I’m assuming the third person is Dynamight’s manager, and that they’re in cahoots, hopefully not for a collaborative piece, because I’ve never seen Dynamight’s brand mixed up with anyone else’s, and I’m pretty sure that’s how he likes it.
I don’t bother writing back, mostly because even though he is good at his job he’s horrible at answering his phone, but also because I don’t really have a choice but to show up, considering agents are licensed through the commission, meaning if I want to keep my hero status, I pretty much have to do what Kobayashi tells me to. I am glad he’s a pretty good guy, though, besides the fact he likes to send me vaguely unsettling messages with no explanation for his own amusement, that part I’m a little less glad about.
___
I’m there at six the next morning, well actually five fifty, since I got antsy walking and took off running, which turned out to be a bad idea, since now I’m the only one here and I have nothing to do but run on my smoke-built treadmill contraption until Kobayashi shows up to explain what’s going on.
“What the hell’s going on?”
He scares me, quiet enough coming in that when he talks I accidentally let go of my hold on the smoke, and almost fall on my face when my feet fall straight through to the floor.
“Good morning, Dynamight-”
“I said, do you know why the bastards called us here?” He sits, more agitated than he was yesterday. Must’ve came to the same conclusion I have about this little meeting.
“No clue.” I wander over to the seat I left my cup in front of, the one across from his, and I don’t really feel like sitting, but I do, because even if he’s only two years older than me, he’s still higher ranking, and plus I just don’t feel like doing anything to get on his bad side when he seems pretty neutral about me, or at least as neutral as he can get.
“Great.” He huffs, slumped on his elbows, and it’s sort of strange seeing him without all his gear, just his warm weather compression top, that and too many scars to count littered all over his arms and hands. “Stop staring at me.”
I do, start peeling at the sleeve on my cup instead, not sure what he thought the staring was about, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t think I was admiring his muscles or anything, which is good, because I wasn’t, even if his build is pretty impressive, and more versatile than the hulking look most male heroes tend to go for.
Neither of us say anything after that, and I don’t really like the quiet, but he seems to, looks relaxed when I chance a glance, just looking around with the same unimpressed look I’ve seen on him countless times, in interviews or during team up missions, not that I ever got very close to him before yesterday, considering he’s pretty adamant about being on whichever squad gets to see more action.
“Good morning lovely heroes!” Kobayashi’s in a good mood, apparently, and has what I assume is Dynamight’s agent held under his arm, and the guy doesn’t seem all that glad to be there, or maybe he’s just not as bubbly, I guess I shouldn’t judge how much Kobayashi’s annoying him just yet.
“Good morning, Mr. Kobayashi-”
“Spit it out. I have an hour to get to Chiba, so you bastards better make this quick.”
Kobayashi laughs, throws his head back and all, and I guess it’s better than him being put off, but Dynamight doesn’t look very impressed with him, and neither does his manager, who doesn’t look even the slightest bit amused staring at him for a few seconds before he goes to take a seat. He’s all business, apparently, and I guess that does suit Dynamight, he prioritizes getting things done fast over pretty much anything from what I can tell.
“Well, this morning we bring you here to unveil a strategy we’ve partnered in coming up with-”
“Obviously-Just tell me-”
“Have either of you happened to have seen this?” I have no clue where Kobayashi pulled the tablet out of, but I do know I don’t like what he shows us, a shot of the interview we did yesterday, one of me smiling at Dynamight while he stares deadpan at the camera, which is fine, to me at least, the noise Dynamight makes seems pretty disgusted. “Or… The caption.”
The caption is definitely worse, “An unlikely pair of heroes getting acquainted during a hostage situation”. The news is always looking for attention, though, and no one really listens to them anyways.
“So… You want me to not smile at Dynamight?” Our brands don’t really mix, I don’t think, but to be honest I don’t really know much about anything to do with marketing, I just like beating up villains and making sure the civilians feel safe.
And apparently I’m wrong right now, because Kobayashi goes evil like he always does when he’s going to make me do something I don’t like. “Actually, you’re going to be doing a lot of smiling at Dynamight.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about, and I look to see if Dynamight’s as lost as I am, and I’m pretty sure he is, only his confused looks more like he’s about to blow someone up. “If you don’t tell us exactly what the fuck is going on-”
“Patience, Katsuki.”
He growls at him, and scowls so hard his eye starts twitching, but he listens, apparently more obedient toward commission staff than he is toward the rest of the world, if only by a little bit.
“Listen first-”
“Shut up you bastard-”
“You both have a fault in your public standing. Wisp, you’re extremely well-liked, but you haven’t had the opportunity to get much exposure aside from your working face. Katsuki, obviously you’re lacking in likability-”
“You could be less fucking smug.” He glares at him, not that he seems to mind, just blinks at him, definitely smug, even though he pretty much just looks unbothered. “Fine-What’s your stupid plan?”
His manager looks to Kobayashi, apparently letting him take the reins for the reveal, and All Might knows he’s more than happy to oblige as dramatically as possible. “You, my lovely young heroes, are going to fall in love!”
“...What?”