The end of the first week of September brought with it a sign of the approaching gloom to come in the colder months. The headlights of the black sedan were warped and scattered by the heavy rainfall which could be heard pattering on the aluminum steel roof of the car, drowning out the sound of the engine and the overworked wipers. In the backseat sat (F/N) (L/N). His body was slumped against the door and his heavy breathing fogged the window, covering it in a thin layer of condensation as the moisture from his breath gathered there. The briefcase holding his hero costume slipped from his sleeping grip and tumbled onto the floor as the car sped through the rain, sending large splashes up onto the sidewalk.

(F/N) had stayed up late last night, sitting on the floor of his bedroom talking with Momo. He'd admitted to her his reservations about accepting the work study invitation, and that he felt he had not yet earned her forgiveness. But of course, she had nothing for him other than patience and understanding. She reminded him of all the people he'd saved during his internship and encouraged him to keep an open mind. Afterwards, when she could no longer keep her eyes open, she'd placed a kiss on his forehead and bid him goodnight.

The car came to a rather abrupt stop, scattering more water like crashing waves. The inertia sent (L/N) careening forward, waking him with a frightful start so he just barely caught himself with his hands before faceplanting into the front seat. Normally the driver would have exited the vehicle and opened the door for him, but in this weather he could hardly be blamed for opting to simply sit and wait for (L/N) to leave. Grabbing the silver case from the floor, (F/N) activated his quirk to keep himself dry before stepping outside into the downpour.

As he entered the tall building, he couldn't help but remember his last trip to Kanagawa during his internship. The entire week had been a series of disappointments, from the most uncomfortable train ride of his life, followed shortly thereafter by a meeting with the most self-righteous and patronizing speck of a man. The whole experience had been forgettable, save the last day.

Looking back on it, he still didn't know what had caused him to act. All he could remember was the sound of someone crying, and then before he knew what he was doing, his body had started moving on its own. People still stopped him in the streets, recognizing him from the captured cell phone footage that had gone viral on the internet and across the media. Just that morning he had been stopped by an elderly shopkeeper who claimed he had saved his granddaughter's life, then proceeded to bow three times in rapid succession and pressed a steaming hot Yaki Imo in his hands.

Biting into the sweet potato as he sat on the train, (L/N) came to realize just how much had transpired in the past few months. For years his life had been a haze. Time simply passed him by with no real distinction. Then suddenly he had been approached by a mouse in suit who whisked him off and away to some high-end academy where he spent his days training to become the very thing he found so repulsive. It was there he met Yaoyorozu. Momo. And she saw something in him. And even if he couldn't see it himself, he could feel there was something different. He was no longer the same person he was back then. Even in the last two months he had changed. Still, he never expected to find himself back at this place.

The elevator doors slid apart accompanied by a soft bell chime and opened on a sizeable lobby. Slightly to the left of the elevator was the reception desk, where a familiar face was already waiting for him.

"(L/N), over here!" The young woman waved cheerfully. "It's good to see you! I was super excited to hear you'd be working with us again!" Matsui smiled.

(L/N) hummed noncommittally in response as he approached the desk. Setting the silver case on the counter, he opened the latches and withdrew a small stack of papers that had been sent to UA from on top his hero costume and handed them to the receptionist.

"Glad to see you're on top of things." Cloudburst said as the receptionist nodded as way of saying everything was in order. "Come on, then. Let's get to work."

(L/N) muttered his thanks as she held the door for him and waited for her to lead the way. Matsui smiled and greeted the other employees as they walked down the center aisle that divided the internal and external affairs divisions. They came to a stop at the collection of curved desks that made up the emergency response division where the agency's other three sidekicks were gathered.

"Hey everyone, look who's back."

Djinn waved her fingers at him from where she sat on one of the desks and Lionheart came up beside him and gave him a hard smack on the back, baring her teeth in a large grin.

"Come on, Cortex. Say hello." Cloudburst said sarcastically.

"Busy." The navy haired man said, his focus solely on the monitor in front of him which scrolled and reflected off the dark tint of his shades. "Someone has to keep this place running while the boss is gone."

"The Watcher isn't here?" (L/N) asked, somewhat confused. He had been under the impression that, since his work study was with The Watcher Agency, he would be operating under The Watcher's supervision.

"Not at the moment, no. The Nighteye Agency reached out to us a few days ago asking for The Watcher's help on something." Cloudburst explained. "It was a pretty unique situation. Sir Nighteye himself actually came all the way out here to meet privately with The Watcher. Since then, the boss hasn't been in much. I think this is actually the most I've ever seen of him out in the field."

"That was supposed to be classified information." Cortex said lowly over the sound of his rapid keystrokes. "No one outside of the agency is privy to that knowledge."

"Relax, Cortex. (L/N)'s one of us." Cloudburst put a hand on his shoulder. "Boss and I actually had a conversation about hiring you on once you've graduated. You really impressed him during your internship."

"Not just him." Lionheart added. "You really save our asses last time you were here, kid. Matsui and I probably wouldn't be standing here if not for you. I'd happily go into battle with you at my side any day of the week."

"Speaking of which," Djinn said in her soft voice, "I heard you got your provisional license last week."

"Oh, wow! Congratulations!" Cloudburst nudged him in the shoulder with her elbow. "It's really rare for first year students to pass."

"So, you got your license, huh?" Lionheart grinned and punched her own hand. Cracking her knuckles eagerly, she bared her teeth as her body became surrounded in a fiery aura. "That means we don't have to waste our time on kids' stuff. This time around we can have some real fun."

[My Hero Academia]

The wail of police sirens and flashing lights passed in a blur down the expressway as two squad cars chased after a black jeep traveling well past the speed limit, weaving in and out of the few other cars on the road.

"Suspects are traveling south on 468 at 46." The officer in the passenger seat of the rear car said into the built in radio. One of the officers in the squad car in front of them leaned out the window and took a few shots at the fleeing vehicle's tires, but they missed by a few inches/centimeters and the bullets ricocheted off the metal frame.

Suddenly, the roof of the SUV broke away from the rest of the frame as one of the fleeing criminals hurled it at the pursuing cops. The two squad cars cut hard to the left and right to avoid the hunk of metal which landed in a shower of sparks on the pavement. The second officer in the rear cruiser quickly looked back to see a red sedan screech to a stop before colliding into the obstruction. Fortunately, it didn't appear to be too bad a crash.

Leaning out the window, she fired her gun at the exposed suspect, but a second figure had appeared beside him and, opening her hands, deflected the bullets off some sort of invisible barrier. The villain then closed her fists and ripped her hands apart. As she did, the tires on the nearest police car became surrounded in a purple glow and were then torn from the axles and flung through the air. The officer in the second car quickly retreated back into her vehicle as the driver let go of the wheel with one hand and threw an uppercut. As he did, the street just before the broken down cruiser broke away from the ground and made a ramp.

"All units be advised," the woman said into the radio, still recovering from the hard landing, "we're dealing with at least one operative type quirk, and what we suspect to be some form of photokinetic."

"Hey, what's that." The officer in the driver's seat asked.

Straining their eyes to see through the downpour, they could just make out two pinprick sized figures standing in the middle of the road about a mile/1.5 kilometers ahead of the jeep. One was standing cross armed while the other had his hands lazily at his sides.

"All right, kid. Let's see what you got." Lionheart smirked.

(L/N) lazily took several steps forward and folded his hands over his lap. Focusing on the rapidly approaching jeep, his brow furrowed slightly as he lowered his chin just a hair. It was like a gust of wind sped out from his body, traveling forward at a swift speed until it overtook the oncoming vehicle.

"Hey, watch out!" The criminal driving the jeep shouted at his accomplices.

Looking forward, they saw the strange shimmering wall quickly approach. Pulling back his arm, the villain with the strength enhancement quirk timed his punch to shatter whatever the heroes had sent their way. Instead of breaking through what he thought was a barrier however, it felt more like he was punching water. The vehicle lurched as it too hit the strange phenomena and began to quickly loose speed. It was like they were driving through molasses.

"Good work. Big guy's all mine." Lionheart said as the SUV was forcefully slowed.

Without a second's hesitation, The Courageous Hero leapt forward and tackled the villain from the vehicle. Meanwhile, (L/N) waited for the jeep to come to a stop just before it touched him. Walking around to the driver's side, he noticed the driver was already out cold. Based on the lump on his head, (L/N) guessed he'd faceplanted the wheel when they first came into contact with the sea of altered photons.

Just then a blast of energy came flying at (L/N) from behind. Purple in color, the beam dissipated as it came into contact with the golden barrier surrounding (L/N). Looking over his shoulder, (F/N) saw a young woman standing several yards/meters away with fists full of purple light. She threw several more quick bursts of energy his way, but they simply faded from existence when met with his shield.

"So, you can control photons too, huh?" She sneered. "Well then, let's see you try and stop this!"

She braced the underside of her right wrist with her left hand. As she did, the light from the SUV's headlights and those from the nearest streetlamps seemed to be pulled from the bulbs and gathered in her hand in a swirl of lilac particles. The lilac became a dark violet as more light gathered in her hand until finally a powerful, continuous beam the size of a car shot forth. She smiled maliciously as the blast swallowed the hero, disintegrating him so instantaneously he didn't even have time to scream.

But after several seconds, when her attack finally faded, she saw him still standing. The expression on his face was one of disinterest and it enraged her. The back half of the jeep and a chunk of road had all but disappeared, reduced to dust, but he was just standing there. His body wasn't even protected by that golden glow that stopped her earlier attacks. Instead, she saw a feint purple hue surrounding him before it slowly seemed to fall into his body. Had he absorbed it?

With the smallest modicum of effort, the hero lazily raised his hand, like his was pointing towards the sky. The last thing she saw was the flick of his wrist before a small pebble sized beam of light sprung forth from his finger and smacked her square in the forehead, knocking her unconscious.