Chapter 12: Nomu, Hitoshi, Soundbite, Chizome, Talk, Patrol, Live Radio
Mid-morning in Hosu…
Three beat up vans, one brown, one grey and one an unevenly faded red, pull up to various spots near the center of Hosu. A moment later, the drivers hop out and walk to the back to open the rear doors.
One driver makes the mistake of flinging the doors wide open and is promptly the first victim of the black creature that emerges from the dim interior.
Another unlocks the doors and scurries back to the drivers' seat to wait. It takes several minutes before a whitish creature shoves at the doors and wanders out to create mass havoc.
The third driver cracks open the doors, then dives flat as an arm punches out where his chest was just an instant before, and rolls under the van while a greenish-white creature bursts out.
Within the space of a few minutes, Hosu comes under large scale attacks in multiple sectors.
~
Hitoshi lays face down on the mat, completely exhausted. "I'm dead. Just bury me now."
The Twilight hero he's interning with laughs. "Should I buy some higanbana, then?"
"Ugh, no. Bury me with lilacs. I want to haunt people."
Another laugh. "Alright, you. Go take a shower and then we'll get you started on paperwork."
"Thank kami." He mutters and shoves at the mat. Hitoshi groans when all he manages to do is roll over weakly. He appreciates the training, but damn.
~
"Oh, that's not good." Soundbite says, drawing Izuku's attention from the case file he's been studying. It's a long closed case, but he doesn't have anything but the basic initial investigation to work with to try and solve it.
"Something wrong?"
She gives him a funny look. "Do you have HeroLine on buzz instead of chime?"
"Uh. Yeah?"
"Well, set it to chime for HPSC alerts. Hosu's under attack and no trains are running."
He fumbles for his phone to change that, and says worriedly, "One of my classmates is in Hosu."
"That's tough luck, kid. If you've got his number, you can try sending him a text and see if he's okay."
Izuku nods, reading the ongoing HPSC alert.
Hosu under attack. All Hosu heroes alerted. Initial estimate of villains is that they are monsters that may be related to the USJ attack. Elimination by any means authorized. Rescue heroes stand by until situation stabilizes. Trains to and from Hosu currently not running. Prepare to find alternative commutes. Hosu under att-
"Nomu." He says in a sick tone. "They're being attacked by Nomu. People are going to die."
"Hate to break it to you, Novell, but that's pretty common in attacks large enough to warrant an HPSC alert. And before you ask, no, we will not be going unless the HPSC specifically calls us in. Not only is it outside our jurisdiction, it's outside our agency skillset. We're of more use calming people down."
He winces, but nods again.
"Don't worry too much, though. There's extra heroes in Hosu currently, due to the Hero Killer, so they should be able to deal with the attack soon enough."
"Really?" But that does make sense.
"Really. In this business, you have to trust your colleagues to take care of situations. You can't be everywhere and you can't do everything, and you'd die of exhaustion if you tried. Then you wouldn't be of use to anyone. You gotta pick your battles."
"I can't just do nothing, though. I don't want to be like those heroes who just stood around while the slime villain suffocated Kacchan."
Soundbite's eyes narrow on him for a moment. "You were involved in that?"
"Yeah, I was the kid who threw a backpack." He flushes and looks down at his phone, expecting to be scolded for that again.
"Good job. You saved his life. Even though All Might jumped in after that, a few seconds can be the difference between life and death when someone is drowning." He looks up, wide eyed, but she continues. "And that's a good example of picking your battles. Sometimes you have to jump into a situation with just what you have and your creativity, because no one else can or will. But if that's not the case, sometimes it's better to let those with more appropriate skills do the job instead, back them up if needed and in general stay out of their way so they can do their jobs."
"Oh." All Might had told him that his feet moving without his consent was what made him hero material, but no one had ever praised him for jumping in that time. Even Kacchan had thought he did it to make him owe him something. (Which wasn't true at all!) "Th-Thank you."
~
The first Chizome hears of Hosu is at the train station, bag with a collector's item firmly in hand, as he's waiting to buy a ticket. Apparently trains aren't running to Hosu due to a villain attack. Hmph. Good thing he's not headed to Hosu today.
It's only later, in an entirely different city, that he sees the news and realizes that All for One has made a power play in his hunting territory. Whether that's an attempt to piss him off, an attempt to link their names together in the news or an attempt to take over his hunting ground he doesn't know. But in any case, he considers it a failed attempt. The only thing that it's accomplished is property damage and civilian deaths. Sure, there's a few heroes with serious injuries, but none of them are among the worst of the fakes so nothing good has come of it.
Tch. He should have killed the man when he had the chance. Convictions like that are worthless.
~
Mic comes in a little early, with a grave look on his face which lightens into a smile when he sees them looking at him in concern. "Hey there! It's good to hear Hosu got those villains under control, isn't it? Novell, I need to talk to you in private."
It was good news, of course, but it had taken over two hours for the heroes to put down or scare off the Nomu and they'd had to send aerial heroes after the flying one that had escaped with a civilian in its claws. The death toll is surprisingly low, however rescue efforts have barely begun and the number of reported casualties is guaranteed to climb in successive hours.
Izuku swallows hard and follows the man to his office.
"Hey little man, don't look like that. You're not in trouble. What I need to talk to you about is important but it's not life and death serious."
He nods and sinks into a chair facing Mic's desk.
"I know I wasn't going to have you go on a live radio hour, but your quirk brought up that possibility and we should talk about that. Do you think you'd be comfortable with that? I won't lie, it's a good opportunity for you to get your name out. You did well at the sports festival, but your fight with Shinso wasn't very flashy."
And that is very true. "Um. What would it entail?"
"Well, I'd introduce you and ask you a couple questions, then open it up to listeners to ask us both questions. If a question makes you uncomfortable, you can just decline to answer it or say you don't have an answer. They might ask you questions about your views and you should be careful answering those. They might also ask you about Hosu, but you can refer them to watching the news or asking me about it, since that's not really information you should know a lot about. They might also ask you personal questions. I suggest not giving out very many details about your family and where you live, that kind of thing can put you at risk."
"What if they ask about UA?"
"Stick to generally known information and decline questions that get too specific or invasive."
"Oh. Okay. I'll, um, I'll do it. That's alright, isn't it?"
"Sure is! You can go get ready for patrol and I'll let the station manager know you'll be a guest on the show tomorrow."
"Uh, um. About Hosu-?"
Mic's expression turns serious. "It sucks, I know. And I want to go and help too. But we'll be doing more good reassuring people with smiles on patrol and not freaking out on tomorrow's broadcast. Public panic is a real danger to everyone. Every person we reassure is going to be that much less scared and worried and it'll make a visible difference.
"Stabilizing a situation like this is way more involved than just those heroes and emergency workers on the ground. Any social media can be a breeding ground for fears, rumors and unrest. Any hero with media presence who isn't actively helping with the rescue is going to play their part in keeping that to a minimum and promoting hope and community spirit. With a quirk like yours, you have a unique opportunity to fill an influencer role like I do.
"As heroes, our words carry weight and if we use them right, we can save more people with words than we could with our own two hands.
"Even All Might does this. He says 'I am here', right? And people trust him, so it stops panic in its tracks and gives the heroes on scene a boost of confidence because they 'know' that with All Might there, they will win. Pretty powerful, yeah?"
"Yeah." He says, feeling a little dazed at the realization. Of course he's always wanted to be a hero like All Might and save people with a smile. 'I Am Here' and 'Anyone can be a hero' have made such an impact in his life, and yet… He's never considered the impact that words carry.
This time he goes as Mic shoos him out of his office. It feels like half his worldview has been stood on end.
~
Patrol feels different this time. There's an air of tenseness that seems to pervade and Mic stops often to reassure individuals or anxious groups that rescue efforts are working to capacity, referring them to ways that they can help from a distance.
He knows Mic isn't feeling the genuine smile he gives everyone, but Mic mixes it with serious looks, so people know he's taking their concerns with the gravity they deserve. It works really well.
As for him, he plasters on an All Might smile, his mentor's words about smiling in the face of fear echoing in his head. One girl asks him angrily if he even cares about Hosu.
Izuku allows his smile to fade a bit. "Of course I do. It's scary. I have a classmate there and I still haven't heard back from him. But panicking or crying would just make everyone worry more, wouldn't it? Right now all I can do is trust the heroes in Hosu to know how to do their jobs. There's extra heroes in Hosu right now to begin with and rescue heroes have been called in as well. If it helps, I've heard that not a lot of buildings came down even though a lot of them were damaged, so there shouldn't be a lot of people to dig out."
She calms down a little, no longer looking like she wants to slap the shit out of him. "What about the Hero Killer?"
"That's why there's so many heroes there to begin with. They will catch him and he won't be on the streets killing or injuring good heroes like Ingenium."
Impulsively she hugs him with a dry sob caught in her throat. "Thank you!"
"Um." He watches in confusion as she runs off with a smile. What just happened?
~
"Welcome listeners to Put Your Hands Up radio! This is Present Mic. Can I get a Yeah!? Today I've got my intern Novell with me again. Call in with your questions, concerns and song requests! Oh, there's a caller on line 1. Go ahead, listener."
"I've got a couple questions for Novell. Are you that green kid who's been trailing Present Mic around?"
Somehow it's easier to answer questions if he can't see the speaker. "I am."
"How is it interning with Present Mic?"
"Oh, um. I'm really enjoying it! I've been learning a lot and most of it is stuff that I've never even thought about. It's a good experience."
Mic beams at him. "That's good to hear! We've got another caller on line 3. Go ahead, listener."
"Yeah, so. This question is for-"
Izuku's phone chimes at the same time Mic's does. Only HPSC alerts are set to chime on Izuku's phone. They exchange a look and pull out their phones to check.
"What was that noise?" The caller breaks off to ask.
"That's a good question, listener! Give me a few seconds to read this alert. … Alright, I'm going to have to interrupt you with an announcement. Well, two announcements. First, rescue efforts in Hosu are expected to be complete by 6 O'clock tonight. Good news, Yeah? And second, Endeavor has captured Stain, the Hero Killer, and taken him into custody. This is news we've been waiting for, for a while now haven't we, listeners? Give me a Yeah! And before you all start calling in to ask, that's all the information I have right now, so don't waste your time. Now what was your question, listener?"
"Oh, wow! So this question is for you, Mic. What's Novell like as an intern?"
"The kid's smart as a whip and so is his quirk. He picks things up crazy fast. He's a great kid and his learning curve is insane. What's your question, caller number 3?"
"I want to know- Actually, no. What did you mean by his quirk is smart?"
"You want to take this one, Novell?" Mic asks.
Izuku blinks, then nods. "Oh, so. My quirk is actually sentient. His name is Find-san. I'm pretty sure it's a lot smarter than me, because he plays chess against Nedzu and sometimes wins."
Hello, listeners.
He laughs in surprise. "Find-san says 'Hello, listeners.'"
"Pretty cool, Yeah? Go ahead, caller number 4."
"This is for Novell. What kind of quirk is Find-san that he can play chess? Are you that bird-kid with the shadow quirk from the festival?"
"Um, no. That's Tsukuyomi and Dark Shadow. You're right that Dark Shadow is sentient, though. Find-san and Dark Shadow like to talk to each other. Find-san is an information quirk. He plays games online and has easy access to anything easily available on the internet. He knows more memes than my entire class combined!"
"And there you have it, listeners! What's your question, caller number 5?"
"This is also for Novell. In your opinion, are the League of Villains and Stain working together, given that they both attacked in Hosu?"
Izuku frowns. "In my opinion, absolutely not."
"Can you expand on that?"
"Well, for one, Stain didn't attack during the chaos yesterday, which indicates that they're not working together. For two, and I think this is a more convincing reason, their philosophies don't match. From what little I've heard, Stain wants to 'cleanse' society of corrupt heroes. He wants a better society, even if he went about it completely the wrong way. And as someone who was at the USJ attack, I can tell you that what the League of Villains want is to take down All Might and society as a whole, in that order. They just want power. Those philosophies are pretty much directly opposite to each other, so no, I don't think Stain would work with the League of Villains, even if it was convenient."
Mic gives him an impressed look. "I have to agree with that analysis. See what I mean about Novell being smart? Go ahead, caller number 6."
"Um, this is for you, Present Mic. Your website says you're fundraising for Hosu. What does that mean?"
"That's a good question, listener. Proceeds will go to help small business owners whose businesses got damaged and victims who got hospitalized or lost family members, because they're the ones who struggle most in disasters like this."
"What about people whose houses or apartments got damaged? Can I donate to help them?"
"Hm. You know what? Yeah. Those people need help too. Just specify what you want your donation to go towards on the donation form. That's already an option on the form, so you should be able to find it, no problem. Thanks for asking! Okay, caller number 7, what's your question?"
"This is for Novell. What do you think of the guy who won the festival?"
"Hypnos? He's a nice guy and he's got a really cool quirk. It's got so many applications! Getting villains to surrender, calming victims in an attack or disaster and even putting people to sleep! All with just his voice! That's pretty awesome if you ask me."
"So you don't think he cheated when he won your fight?"
"Not at all. What he was doing was totally within the rules and spirit of the sports festival."
"Thank you for that clarification, listener. What's your question, caller number 8?"
"So you're not mad that a kid with a villainous quirk beat you and got into the hero course?"
Izuku chokes, because he recognizes that voice. What is Hypnos doing calling in to ask him that? Does Shinso think he's secretly mad at him?
Mic looks surprised too.
"Um, no? Because, I cannot stress this enough, there is no such thing as a villain's quirk, only villainous people. I'm glad Hypnos got into my class, because he's going to be a great hero."
"That's a powerful statement, Novell. Go ahead, caller number 9."
"Um, Novell?" It's obviously a little kid this time.
"Yes?"
"So, um, um. Can a kid with a villain's quirk become a hero?"
"Absolutely. It's not the quirk who becomes the hero, it's the person. All that matters is how you choose to use your quirk."
"What if I don't have a quirk? Can a quirkless be a hero?"
"Yes. I'll tell you a secret. I was quirkless up until a year ago and I was still going to be a hero. And my homeroom teacher is an underground hero who fights mostly quirkless. I won't lie. If you want to be a quirkless hero, you're going to have to work harder, have more skills than other heroes and rely on support equipment. But you can do it. What really makes a hero is being willing to save people when others won't. You don't need a quirk to do that."
"Um. What's an unnerground hero?"
"Underground heroes work on cases that don't show up in the news. You don't see them on the news like spotlight heroes. A lot of them work at night. Or in bad neighborhoods that spotlight heroes don't really have time to patrol. Instead of fighting flashy villains that you see on the news, they fight the really sneaky and mean villains. They save a lot of people. My teacher saved my whole class at the USJ attack by going to fight all the villains himself, even though that's way more people than he normally fights. Pretty cool, right?"
"Yeah. Um. What's your teacher's name?"
"His hero name is Eraserhead."
"''raserhead'. Oh, um. Thank-"
"What are you doing on the phone?" A female voice interrupts in the background. "Give that here! Hello, whoever this is. Sorry about my son. He's a Null, so he's kind of retarded, so I hope he hasn't bothered you too much."
"He hasn't bothered me at all." Izuku says coolly, trying to hide his anger. They can all hear the kid crying in the background now.
"Well, that's good to hear. I'll let you get back to what you were doing before he bothered you. Goodbye." She says and hangs up.
There's silence for a long moment. Then Mic clears his throat. "What's up, listener number 10?"
"Ignoring that pile of bull crap, which I hope you're doing something about…"
"Never fear, we're doing what we can, listener."
Izuku gives him a questioning look and Mic mouths 'I'll tell you later.'
"Do you think your quirk affects your intelligence and learning curve, Novell?"
No, I don't.
"Find-san says he doesn't. And medically, it's strictly an emitter quirk, so he's right."
The caller makes an annoyed sound. "Why do you keep going back and forth between 'he' and 'it'? Isn't that really rude?"
"Oh, um, actually that's because Find-san uses he/it pronouns."
"Oh. Carry on then, I guess."
"Thank you, listener. Caller number 11, you're on the air."
"Yeah! Can you play When I'm a Chicken by Smorgasboard, please? It's my favorite song when I'm hungry."
"Sure can, listener!"
The music starts up and Mic turns off the mics for a moment. "You okay, Novell?"
"Yeah, I'm- I'm- No, not really. That poor kid."
"Well, the good news is that the station automatically gets a record of every number that calls, just in case of something like this or in case someone admits to something criminal on air. The kid's living situation will be investigated. In any case, I'll start asking people to request music for a while and give you a break. Stuff like that is really tough to deal with because there's so much we can't do to help."
"Y-Yeah."
A station worker leans into the booth and hands Izuku a sports drink. He looks at it blankly.
"Drink it. It'll help you keep from going into shock. Sorry, I have to turn the mics back on now."
Izuku obediently pops the lid open and nods before taking a drink. He does feel shaky.
"Alright, listeners! Did you enjoy that song? Yeah? Let's have some song requests before we come back to the question and answer portion of the show, Yeah? Alright, listener number 12, what song can I play for you?"
"What is This Hope? by Shocko Mondo."
"Ooh, that's a good one! We haven't played that one in a while, have we? Here we go!"
Izuku relaxes back into his seat, sipping at his drink as the music starts playing. It's a nice song.