Chapter 55: Unexpected Opportunities
Summary: Even as things elsewhere start coming to a head, the students training ramps up in preparation for an early opportunity...
Chapter 55: Unexpected Opportunities
Despite being made aware of the planned operations against All for One, Izumi and Momo still had classes to attend. They were not heroes yet, after all, and thus could not be involved in the raids that were going to take place. It was thus that they found themselves once more in Theoretical Heroics, Midnight having just sauntered into the room with her usual energy. That, in and of itself, was noteworthy. Recent events had put something of a strain on Midnight's persona, more of the veteran Heroine she was underneath having leaked through the public persona on a regular basis. So seeing her back in full strut, as it were, was a hopeful sign. One that bore fruit after she'd cracked her crop on her desk to gather all attention to her.
"Good morning, my adorable students~! I have good news for all of you, and for me too! The next set of Provisional License Exams has been set to happen on September 12th…and UA has secured all of you spots!"
The entire class gaped, taking long seconds to process that. Then Kaminari, their usual unintentional sacrifice, blurted out what they were all thinking.
"But First Years never take the License Exams!"
Midnight, far from being upset by his outburst this time, grinned like the cat who'd gotten both the canary and the cream.
"Not quite true! There have been individual instances where stand-out students, often those who are from legacy hero families with prior training, have been allowed to take the exams early. You are correct, however, that never before has an entire class of UA First Years been allowed to do so."
Midnight's persona weakened for a moment, a tiny bit of seriousness burning through as she continued.
"It wasn't that hard to sell the Powers that Be in the government on the need in this case, given that both UA in general and your class specifically have been targeted recently. You and Group B have both proven yourself far more capable than typical First Years in the last few months, as well. You've all risen to your adversities, which made it an easy sell, by the large. This way, you'll be able to defend yourself with a bit more legal weight behind your actions."
That explanation brought the mood in the room, which had been turning positive as the reality of the early chance set in, back down again. Midnight, however, wasn't content to let it remain that way. Her persona returned in full force as she cracked her crop against her palm and grinned wickedly.
"Of course, that also means that I and your other professors have been let loose to give you hell! We want every one of you to pass the exam, which means you're going to be put through the mental and physical wringer again for the next week."
Midnight, in an action that caused a few nosebleeds, ripped the material of her costume just slightly, right between her breasts…and pulled the projector remote out of her cleavage. The special material of her suit healed over right after, of course, but the sheer sensually she'd put into the little act had more than one of the boys in the room shifting awkwardly. Midnight smirked at that, knowing full well what she'd done to the situation in those students' uniform pants. She womanfully refrained from teasing any of them farther and activated the projector. And if she fondled the slightly-phallic remote a bit in the process? Well, that was just who she was. The public persona didn't come from nowhere, after all. As she finished her little show, a simple diagram appeared on the projector screen, listing the various parts of the upcoming exams.
"The Provisional Exams are, not at all accidently, somewhat similar to the UA entrance exams. Split over two days, the 12th and the 13th in this case, the first day will involve a written examination covering basic hero law. Most of it is stuff we've already covered, but there are some sections that normally don't get touched on until later in the year. This week, we'll be cramming the information for those bits into your adorable little heads during every Theoretical time slot. Normally, that sort of thing is left to your Heroic Law and Ethics classes, but we are doubling down to give you the best chance possible."
Midnight ignored the groans from the less academically inclined members of the class, cheerfully moving on to the events of the second day.
"The second day will involve a practical exam. That exam changes every year, so we can't actually give you the full details. Your Heroics Practical classes will, however, be spent reinforcing various fundamentals that virtually always come up. Additionally, we'll also be drilling you on quick reaction times to various common scenarios. Heroics Practicals for the 10th will, instead, be converted into a second theory class to go over tactics and give you a chance to properly recover physically."
As the class absorbed both the chance being given and the challenge it represented, the air in the classroom began to feel heavy with determination. By the time Midnight finished outlining how the exam would work and started on their first new batch of Heroics Regulations, everyone present was laser focused. This wasn't going to be easy, but it was the first time they were offered a chance to really push back against their situation and take a bit more control of their fates. All of them knew it…and none of them was going to let it pass them by.
... ...
Tetsutetsu yelped, despite himself, as Setsuna's parts flew at him. Only this time, they were spinning rapidly, turning the new metal teeth placed in strategic places around her costume into buzzsaws. Sparks flew as those titanium carbide teeth, curtesy of a costume redesign from Izumi and Momo, bit into even his steel flesh. As he fled from the deep scrapes she was putting in his ass, he regretted ignoring all recommendations that he add some actual armor to his costume. Some of those flying buzzsaws were coming uncomfortably close to his MANLY bits. He skipped around a corner, hoping to get out of Setsuna's control range, and the buzzsaws fell away.
For a moment, he thought he'd escaped with the scrapping hell stopped. But then he rounded the corner fully and let out a distressed sound as he found himself face-to-face with a Super-Sized grenade of capture foam curtesy of Kodai's Quirk. It went off a second latter and Tetsutetsu was rendered helpless as half the street was buried in the quick-hardening foam…
... ...
"DIE, MOTHERFUCKERS, DIE!"
The entire watching audience sweat dropped as a cackling Pony flew through the air, supported by two of her horns…while two others danced around her, attached to mini-guns firing rubber bullets. Honenuki, one of the four opponents, popped up right below her as she was cackling…only to be met a second later by a fifth horn that detached from Pony's costume. It flew at him, covered in a corona of glowing electrical arcs. The recommended student yelped and dived back into the earth, only barely in time to avoid the electrified horn. As the entirety of the audience turned to Momo and Hatsume with looks of fear and accusation, Momo hummed thoughtfully.
"Ah, so this is how Izumi felt when everyone blamed her for giving Uraraka that giant Kanabō. I believe my defense is the same as hers, however. These new weapons are perfect for Pony, doubly so as she gains control over ever increasing numbers of horns. Like the fifth she recently managed to get under simultaneous control."
The horrified, judgmental gazes only intensified as Pony continued to slaughter her opponents. Mei, helpfully oblivious to their judgement, distracted them from Momo with her next sentence."
"Just wait until you see her try out the emergency Rocket Launchers!"
Momo was relieved that the horrified attention shifted to her Mad Science buddy. She'd just…not mention that it was Melissa's new compression technology that was allowing Pony to carry so many weapons. Tech they'd only had access to because of her connection to Melissa. The only weapon of the half dozen that were now part of Pony's gear that couldn't be compressed properly was the shock gear, since it had to many electronic parts. The rest of them were almost purely mechanical. The only parts of the guns and rocket launchers that couldn't be compressed were a set of tiny circuit boards that contained an aiming data link for Pony's HUD, allowing her to sight down where the various weapons were aimed. Otherwise, each weapon shrunk down to the size of a baton, letting her carry quite the arsenal for deployment…
... ...
"Right! And that's why the modern mutation exclusions were adopted into the Public Quirk Allowance Laws. Now, who can tell me why the Hero Industry was never folded into the police? Other than Momo or Izumi, please."
It was, surprisingly, Kirishima whose hand went up first. Midnight quirked an eyebrow, but leveled her crop at him in a gesture they all knew meant he should speak up.
"The are multiple reasons for that, sensei. Originally, part of it was simply momentum. Heroes started out mostly as vigilantes or vigilante groups and weren't keen on being co-opted by the government. In that sense, the Hero System was something of a compromise. More importantly than that, however, was the incredibly poor examples of how that could and would fall apart. It…almost never ends well. Though I don't completely understand why?"
Midnight looked surprised to get even that much.
"Good, but obviously incomplete. Does anyone know why it doesn't end well?"
There was muttering and shuffling…but a couple of hands tentatively raised. Midnight pointed at one of them, Mina in this case.
"Um…I actually tried to look into this subject once, but what I found was super divisive. The general consensus was that it was a bad idea, but the reasons varied a lot. As did the effects. Some places it sort of worked, others it was a disaster, and the reasons don't always seem to be…at all the same?"
Midnight nodded at that, actually giving Mina a rare genuine smile of approval.
"Well said. Yes. The truth is that the problems are as varied as the people. But, ultimately, it does mostly come back to two major factors. First…size! The larger the policing group, the more likely you are to end up with bad actors. A single bad actor slipping through the cracks can be a disaster for the public, when it's among authority figures. Get a large enough group of people with blanket authority and it's virtually certain you'll end up with a few bad actors. This, alone, probably wouldn't be enough. But then there's the societal issue."
Midnight pinned Momo with her crop. The ravenette was startled for a moment, but was quickly able to provide the rest of the explanation.
"Ah…put simply, police are supposed to be trusted, not feared. They are supposed to be who you can go to safely with any number of problems. Not just violent ones, but things like missing children or other emergencies. This is why a lot of countries, before Quirks, didn't arm their regular patrol officers with firearms. Doing so, particularly in areas prone to bad actors and nepotism, tended to cause people to have an instinctive fear reaction instead of a feeling of safety. Even citizens in trouble would often actively avoid seeking police help as a result. Attempts to integrate Quirk Combat Units resulted in a similar issue for most countries. People became too afraid of the police to allow them to help."
Midnight nodded seriously.
"Precisely. Which is where the Hero System slotted in. Because we only have very limited arrest powers, and even more limited legal authority outside Rescue Operations and Anti-Villian work, people don't avoid us out of fear of a parking ticket or illegal immigration checks. Conversely, since Police have very harsh Quirk Usage limits, people that might be afraid of approaching a powerhouse like Endeavor for help with an abuse case, don't have the same qualms about our police. Mostly, at least…"
The lecture continued, spiraling on as several different Hero Systems from around the world, and the level they interacted with their police, were examined. None of the systems were perfect, particularly as many were still patchwork systems with a lot of holdovers from the Era of Chaos. But the world was doing the best it could with what it had managed to figure out so far…
... ...
Izumi winced as another panicked 'civilian' bot threw something at 2B's scanner pod. Muttering about needing to design something more 'friendly' looking, she nevertheless acted on the scanner's information, speaking into her HSN commlink.
"Two more trapped civilians on floor 7, no immediate danger, though one looks like it has a broken leg. The other is panicked and might attack if you aren't careful. Froppy, you and Red Riot are closest. Since you're less threatening looking than Riot in full gear, I suggest you go in first."
She got acknowledgement from Rescue Team 1, even as she moved to intercept another villian bot that was trying to suicide charge the fourth floor. As the two most mobile members of the six-man squad, she and Kaminari were picking off as many of the 'villain swarm' as they could from outside the building. Meanwhile Asui, Kirishima, Ashido and Shijo were inside working to extract civilians survivors of the initial 'bombing' that was the scenario starting point. It was a far more complex simulation than the ones they'd run up to this point, combing the need to combat ongoing hostiles with the need to triage and extract civilian bots. Apparently, a common combination for the Provisional License Exams to test students with.
"Resolution! We've got incoming from the northeast. Double the numbers of the last wave. You might need to get 2B out here for better fire support, I'm running dry on ammo."
Quickly acknowledging Kaminari's info, Izumi reshuffled priorities yet again. A gatling pod would help suppress the villain pods, and she could shift Kaminari inside to apply his own sensor equipment. Maybe bring out Asui as the next most mobile if she needed more than 2B and herself out here for the villain bots…
... ...
"So, form 27-99L would be the right one here. Remember it this way, the L variation can be thought of as 99-Lost. As in, the suspect was not detained because you lost them. That said, it's still only appropriate to use form 99s for successful interruptions of a Crime in Progress. If you arrived only after the crime started, then failed to catch the suspect, you need instead to file a form 38-12B. That form is an incident report that can be added to the file on the suspect. Though, be aware, that 38-12B forms will require you to justify your failure. This, thankfully, had gotten easier since the advent of the HSN, since it allows you to attached video evidence of what went wrong…"
As the droning voice of Ectoplasm-sensei spiraled on, the entire class was fighting sleep. Even Izumi and Momo were not immune. The former was zoned out mentally playing an online shooter with 2B, fully willing to rely on her internal databases for how to track and properly fill out all these forms. The latter was struggling to pay attention, Momo attempting to at least create a set of notes that could be shared with the rest of the class who were hopelessly lost in the bureaucratic morass. She was visibly drooping however, her eyes only half focused and a recorder running at her elbow just in case…
Then, of course, there was Iida.
"Ah! But Ectoplasm-sensei, isn't it true that the HPSC is still rejecting HSN provided evidence?"
Their sensi nodded, seemingly pleased someone was engaged with the class.
"They are. But if you strip the HSN metadata and simply submit the video file as bodycam footage, they have no choice but to accept it. The HSN has responded to the HPSC's ridiculous resistance by building a function right into their software that will do that for you, simplifying the process greatly."
Iida looked conflicted between strict adherence to the rules…and the fact that it really was silly that the HPSC was resisting still, at this point. Essentially the entire Japanese Hero industry used the HSN instead of the older systems the HPSC still clung to. The HSN offered far more functionality, along with greatly increasing security. Not using it was career suicide, unless you happened to be one of the handful of HPSC poster heroes.
The lecture wound onward, even as half the class despaired utterly of being able to pass this particular section of the theoretical exams. Thankfully, it wasn't marked all that highly in importance for Provisional Heroes, since they would be operating under a fully licensed hero agency that knew which forms to file where, for what, and when…
... ... ...
(A/N): Not much to say on this one. I wanted to show training ramping up to the Provisional License Exams, and take some time to show the effects of Izumi, Momo, and Mei on a few of the Group B kids...