50

Izuku muttered to himself as he worked, not bothering to stop it, since the only people around to hear him weren't going to be annoyed, "So then, if we use that marker and adjust the sensitivity…"

He jumped when Dr. Shield laughed, "You know, Nedzu said you two were impressive, but I just have to say, I wasn't expecting you to tackle revolutionary technology in your first week."

Izuku blushed, "Uh...I mean, it's not that revolutionary, is it? Gravity tracking already exists and all the components…"

"Are being used in new and interesting ways." Dr. Shield finished. "That's what progress is, Midoriya. It's taking something that already exists and changing it to fill a need, just like you're doing for your friend."

Izuku winced, "I guess you probably think it's insane to work so hard just for one person, huh? I mean, aren't support companies supposed to develop and sell to as many people as possible?"

To his surprise, Dr. Shield shrugged, "That actually comes later, most of the time. What usually happens is that you invent something first and then find more uses for it later, because most needs aren't unique. Just look at what Hatsume is working on. Melissa came up with the concept to help panic attacks, and now she's using it to predict a difficult quirk. Imagine how revolutionary those earrings will be in a few years when she figures out how to modify them to other quirks as well and starts marketing them to children who haven't quite figured things out yet. There's a possibility that she could make childhood quirk accidents almost non-existent with the basic tech that she's working on now. Inventions are made to build off of one another and grow, it's how we move forward."

Izuku bit his lip thoughtfully, "Mei says something like that a lot. Basically, she says that failure is a good thing because every failure helps fuel the next success."

Dr. Shield smiled, "She's pretty smart."

Izuku nodded dramatically in agreement, "Definitely. She's amazing. And she knows it, which is even more impressive."

Dr. Shield laughed. "Just remember that you're allowed to steal some of that confidence for yourself too! Your work has just as much potential as hers does, you know. For example, let's consider that program you're writing. What do you want to do?"

Izuku frowned and looked at his almost finished code, "It's supposed to track Uraraka's quirk so that we know where she is without having to rely on a GPS tracker, which could be dangerous once she's a pro-hero."

"That's a good base. It will be very useful to both her and her support team when she's a hero." Dr. Shield praised. "Now let's start taking away those original boundaries. Who else can your program help? What else can it do?"

What else could it do? He'd designed it with Uraraka in mind, so could it even be used for anyone else? It was primarily a tracking program, but that was really only useful for people who were going to be teleporting, and there weren't many others. That Izuku knew of, it was only Uraraka, a couple civilians, and Kurogiri…

"Oh…" Izuku's eyes widened. "Oh…"

"Come up with something good?" Dr. Shield grinned. "Those ideas are the lifeblood of innovation. Keep on working. I'm excited to see what you come up with."

Shigaraki wasn't going to be happy. Sure, the league had made front page in the newspaper and the media wouldn't stop talking about the attack, but it seemed like every single news outlet had decided to balance the tragedy and fear from the Nomu attack with a feelgood story about Todoroki and that stupid cat. There were even memes about him!

But, of course, Shigaraki was a worse attention hog than Mt. Lady, so Mineta assumed he wouldn't be content with just that, especially since his most recent tantrum probably meant that Stain had rejected the offer to join. No Stain meant that pretty much the only thing they'd actually accomplished was the USJ attack, which obviously didn't make them seem competent. Recruiting Stain would have added to their credibility and elevated their status in the underworld, hopefully leading to new recruits in the future, but now that was gone and all that was left was Shigaraki throwing temper tantrums. 

Real good publicity, right there.

"Are you really just gonna stare at Mt. Lady's ass the entire patrol?" Jiro snapped. "Seriously, if I'd known our mentors were going to work together, I would have gone with someone else."

"Mt. Lady and Death Arms work together all the time." Mineta said sweetly, stalling as he recovered from spacing out. "Unlike you, I did my research!"

"Ugh." Jiro sneered down at him with disgust. "Stupid little grape. You planned this!"

He hadn't, but he wasn't opposed to letting her think he put all his energy into peeping, rather than spying, "Guilty as charged! Aww, don't be like that! I just like you girls so much…"

She jammed her earphone jack at him and he only just managed to close his eyes in time, "Yeah, yeah, shut up."

"Ooh…" Mineta smirked. "I like a girl who takes charge."

Jiro gagged, "Gross. I'm going to go get lunch. Don't you dare follow me."

Normally, he would have ignored her and followed her anyway, but he'd gotten a text from Kurogiri earlier to call as soon as possible, which normally meant a mission. There was a chance it was just another side quest from Shigaraki, but it was always possible that the assignment came from All for One, in which case, it was best not to ignore it. 

After checking to make sure Mt. Lady wouldn't miss him, he found a quiet alleyway to duck into and pulled out his phone. It rang twice before Kurogiri picked up, "Hello. I hope your information gathering is going well."

"Of course it is." Mineta grinned. "I'm not an amature."

"I should hope not." Kurogiri drawled. "Otherwise this next mission would be far outside of your expertise."

"Oh?" Mineta started to get excited. "And what is the next mission?"

"Stain." Kurogiri said simply. "Sensei wants you to capture him."

Mineta choked, "Capture Stain?! The hero killer?!"

"Will that be a problem?" Kurogiri challenged. "I thought that with your quirk, capturing a man who relies on hit and run techniques would be child's play, but if not, I can always let Sensei know that…"

"I'll do it." Mineta assured quickly. "Just ask Sensei when he wants it done."

"You have two weeks." Kurogiri responded. "Don't disappoint us."

Ochako felt like she was finally getting the hang of this teleportation thing. She couldn't quite use it in a fight yet, but in tonight's game of hide and seek, she'd been able to consistently get to approximately the same hallway as her target, even if she'd never managed to find the correct room. She was getting used to the sensations of both teleportation and One for All and she was even starting to figure out how different anchor points felt. It wasn't much, but it was still progress!

The system Midoirya had suggested for preventing her warps worked decently well, and with teh extra warning, Shinso was able to stop her about half the time. They never had more than a few seconds, though, which meant that Shinso had had to tell her how his quirk worked. He'd pulled her aside just before breakfast and she'd been terrified at first because he'd just looked so nervous.

"I need to be able to brainwash you quickly, Uraraka." He'd refused to look her in the eye as he spoke. "Which means that I can't afford the time it takes to confuse you."

"So confusion is what activates your quirk!" Ochako had yelled. 

"No…" Shinso had somehow gotten even more nervous. "It's verbal response."

She'd had to spend the rest of the morning coaxing him to talk to her, which was mildly frustrating, but she understood why. People had probably avoided answering his questions in the past, but he hadn't taken control of her when they'd talked before, so why would he now? Plus, it made it significantly easier for her to stay put, because as soon as Shinso's phone gave them the notification, he just said her name like it was a question and all she had to do was say yes so he could order her not to teleport. It felt so cool that she was in the know that it almost made up for her not being able to stop on her own. Almost. 

As soon as Gunhead released them for the evening, one of the other interns, a second year named Shindou from Ketsubutsu, immediately called out for everyone's attention, "Alright, guys, dinnertime! Who wants to go out to eat?"

She looked over at Shinso who shrugged, "I could eat."

"Let's walk together!" one of the guys turned to her, "And no cheating. You can't teleport to get there faster."

Ochako rolled her eyes, "You know that's not how my quirk works. I'd need an anchor point already at the restaurant."

"Still, don't worry about her falling behind." Shinso smirked. "You remember how strong she is from when she made you eat the mat earlier."

The guy groaned as everyone else laughed and Ochako fell into step with the group, Shinso right beside her. He was good at making sure the other boys didn't make fun of her, but she was also proving that she deserved to be there in her own right as well. Sure, she still lost more spars than she won, but she did win. It was a good feeling. 

"So…" Shindo slowed down so he was walking beside them. "What are you guys gonna do when you get back to UA?"

Shinso shrugged, "Probably make sure my kidnappers don't destroy more than about 30% of the school."

"Um…" Shindou gave him a vaguely concerned look. "That's...good? What about you, Uraraka?"

"Oh, you know." She gestured vaguely. "Don't do drugs, stay in school...well, that one probably won't work very well, actually."

Shinso tried and failed to hold back a snort, "Yeah, she'll probably just be here and there. She gets around, you know?"

Shindou sighed and shook his head, "I don't know what I expected. Do you guys have other friends? Are they just as bad as you two are?"

"Oh, my kidnappers definitely are." Shinso nodded. "And we're working on corrupting the rest."

"Are you kidding? Half of them are already corrupted." Ochako laughed, not really registering when Shinso got a text. "I mean, last month, Mina pulled this prank where…"

A wave of nausea hit her, followed by a wave of frustration when she realized she didn't have a clue where she was, "Dang it."

Mina was having a blast. Yoroi Musha was way more dignified than she was used to, but it made him fun to play off of! Plus, she was learning a lot about being a hero, although she wasn't afraid to admit that she was just a little bit jealous of Todoroki. He got to meet a cute cat and go viral? Seriously?! How was that fair?

They were half an hour into their evening patrol when her phone rang. Loudly.  

She flinched and looked up at Yoroi sheepishly, "I, uh, guess I forgot to put it on silent?"

"Hmm…" He had a small smile on his face and she almost deflated in relief when she realized he wasn't angry, just amused. "It's a slow night, so you can go ahead and answer it. Perhaps it's important. A hero should always be reachable."

Mina nodded and hurried to answer the phone, "Pinky here! What can I do for ya?"

To her surprise, Shinso's voice greeted her on the other end, "Is Uraraka with you?"

"Uraraka?" Mina frowned. "Aren't you both interning with Gunhead? Shouldn't she be with you?"

"Theoretically." Shinso groaned. "Ugh, can you just take a look around and tell me if you see her anywhere?"

"Um, sure?" Mina pulled the receiver away and turned back to Yoroi, who was looking at her with one eyebrow raised in question. "It's a friend of mine. He was asking if another friend was with me."

Yoroi frowned, "Are they interning in this city?"

"No, they're about an hour away." Mina answered as she started scanning the street. "So I'm not sure why she would be here, but...oh! Ochako! Over here!"

Ochako was still in workout clothes, but she was grinning as she jogged toward them, "Hey Mina! I was wondering when I was gonna run into you!"

"What are you doing here?" Mina asked, giving her a quick hug. "I thought you were interning with Gunhead!"

"Oh, I am!" Ochako assured her. "It's just that things have been super weird lately, but enough about me, how are you?"

"I'm...good?" Mina said. "I mean, it's super fun and I'm learning a lot, but, uh...are you allowed to be so far away from your agency?"

"Oh, this is nothing. " Uraraka muttered. "I mean, technically no, but again, everything's been super weird."

"Yeah…" Mina frowned. "I was just so surprised when Shinso called...Oh wait! I totally forgot to tell him I found you!"

She held the forgotten phone up to her ear, glancing away from Uraraka for a second, "Hey Shinso? Yeah, I found...her? Wait, where...?"

"Oh, she's back." Shinso said suddenly. "Well, down the street, but close enough. Thanks Mina! See you later!"

"You're...welcome?" Mina let the phone fall after he hung up. "He said she's back with him?"

Yoroi looked just as confused as she felt, "I thought you said they were interning an hour away?"

"They are…" Mina looked at the spot Uraraka had been just a second before. "Super weird."