A New Job
“SH-SHOOTING ACROSS THE SKY LIKE A – A, um..”
“STOP! NO STUTTERING! FROM THE TOP!” roared Saurus, a clawed hand covering his eyes in exasperation. Kaylee slumped, still standing, but her head fell down and her arms went limp. When she went for the internship with the Number Two Hero, this was not what she had been expecting. She had never been so embarrassed!
For what had felt like hours, Saurus had been drilling her. The true role of a hero, he said, was not simply to show up and beat up the bad guy. No, a hero must be a figure of hope, whose very presence told civilians that everything was going to be alright. For Saurus, that meant having a presence that would not be out of place in televised wrestling, along with all it entailed. Catch phrases, posing, the works.
Kaylee was awful at it! Fighting, no problem. Facing danger, bring it. But striking some pose while spouting some corny drivel? She couldn’t do it! It was too embarrassing!
It didn’t help that Shinkan took to the theatrics like a duck to water. With how his family had a long history of heroism, it wasn’t surprising that he was so skilled at the other parts of heroics. He had done his performance first time, and Saurus had been so impressed, that he didn’t have anything to add.
Shinkan took a running start, before skidding to a stop, releasing a blast of steam as he did so.
“NEXT STOP, JUSTICE STATION!”
He struck a classic pose, with one arm curled to show off his bicep, while the other reached into the air with a clenched fist.
“DON’T WANNA DO THE TIME? STAY OFF THE LINE!”
He flipped the pose.
“THE STEAM-POWERED SUPERHERO!”
He crossed his arms in front of him and crouched slightly.
“CUUUUHRAZZY TRRRAAAIIIIIINNN!”
Popping up, he brought his arms from their crossed position to the front Double Bicep position, releasing a wheesh of steam that billowed behind him!
“PERFECT!” roared Saurus, before turning to Kaylee. “WHY CAN’T YOU DO IT LIKE THAT?”
Kaylee took a deep breath and prepared to do the ridiculous display again. At least none of her classmates were watching since Shinkan had gone off to do something else.
She flew up to the ceiling in order to emulate her ‘hero’s entrance’.
“SHOOTING ACROSS THE SKY WITH THE STRENGTH OF A STAR!”
She landed on one knee in the classic superhero’s pose.
“FACE THE WRATH OF THE HEAVENS!”
She rose to her feet, levitating slightly in the air, with her arms extended and flexed by her sides as though she were about to do dumbbell curls.
“FLYING FORCE!”
As she called out her name, she released a pillar of Ki around herself, as the final part of the performance. She could feel her face burn with embarrassment, but at least this time she hadn’t collapsed in humiliation.
“HMM. BETTER.” Said Saurus. “BUT YOU STILL NEED TO WORK ON YOUR CONFIDENCE. NO-ONE’S GOING TO FEEL THAT A HERO IS HERE IF THEY’RE BARELY ABLE TO KEEP THEIR COMPOSURE.”
“R-right.” Kaylee responded, just hoping that she wouldn’t have to do it again.
“NOW, LET’S GET IT TO STICK IN YOUR MIND. ONCE AGAIN, FROM THE TOP!”
After another 20 minutes, Saurus finally let Kaylee go. She sighed with relief as she made her way to the cafeteria to get a drink. She’d rather have spent ten times that time in the gym or in combat training than go through that again!
Flight, or indeed any form of quirk-enhanced mobility, was forbidden in Saurus’ agency outside of emergencies. Too many here had the speed and power without the finesse, and after having to pay for so many new doors and walls, Saurus had ruled it out across the board. That meant a long walk. Saurus had an entire skyscraper for his agency’s headquarters. The ‘Tyranno Tower’, as it was named, was fitting for a hero of Saurus’ stature; located on prime real estate in Osaka’s Nishinari Ward, it dominated almost everything around it. From the outside, there was little additional aesthetics beyond the massive logo branded upon the street-facing side, but inside was a different story. In the foyer there was a colossal statue of Saurus in his ‘base’ form, posed in his trademarked victory stance, and that was just the start.
The entire décor was set around the biome of ancient Earth, with some floors designed to look like forests with plants that seemed to scrape the high ceilings, while others emulated deserts, and others still were mountainous in feel. All in all, Saurus had made sure that his agency felt like a world long since gone.
While this certainly fed into his theme, getting about was a secondary concern. While there were elevators, heroes, sidekicks, and indeed interns were forbidden from using them outside of emergencies. “Good exercise for legs and cardio”, Saurus called it. Kaylee was fine with exercise, but without being allowed to run at any decent speed, or at least jump down the stairwell, that meant walking for ages to get anywhere. At least there was a general consensus between those affected that they wouldn’t report infractions if you didn’t.
There were two cafeterias. One was near the top of the skyscraper, serving as fine dining for important guests and paying public alike, while the one closer to the ground floor was far more suited to the heroes who worked here. Much less fine dining, more like steak and eggs. Kaylee wasn’t hungry right now, having eaten a massive meal for breakfast, but she still wanted a drink.
There wasn’t a massive crowd in the area by the time she arrived, the peace between the morning and lunchtime rush was in place, letting her get Her drink. A proportionately sized, caffeine laden, sweet sugary beverage. Sitting down with her energy drink, (it was that or coffee, or some bizarre concoction that Saurus swore by) she thought of her internship thus far.
She had only selected Saurus’ internship offer owing to his status as the Number Two Hero, and he had probably only made the offer because of her performance in the tournament. Outside of that mutual respect of strength, they had little in common. Saurus was loud, extravagant, and a glory hound to rival Majestic. Kaylee, at least in her own mind, was far more reserved, more keeping to herself.
Although, it’s been interesting learning wrestling. She thought as she took a gulp, feeling the caffeine kick in. She had no real skill in martial arts before traveling to the other side of the world. She had had no need to. She was bigger and stronger than everyone else, so why learn techniques that were designed to let the weak compete with the strong?
She smiled as she leaned back, taking another swig of her drink as she did. That attitude of hers had been humbled since starting this hero lark. Not only had she met peers of her own age who could survive fighting her, she had found out first-hand the gulf that existed between the youth, no matter how prestigious, and the adults. The drink can crumpled as her grip tightened, as she thought back to the one that laid her out.
Maddox.
She wanted a rematch but she had not gotten the opportunity, and even if she did, would she win? She was way stronger now than then, but Maddox was infamous for a reason. She had been a wanted international criminal since before Kaylee was born (even though she didn’t know her own birthday) and had a record longer than Kaylee was tall. Literally, Chris had shown it to her and done the maths. Murder, theft, corporate espionage, you name it, Maddox and The Five had done it.
She had gotten information from Christopher over the way Maddox fought, from her fighting style to her quirk to her tactics, and what she had learned was somewhat disturbing to say the least. Apparently, her quirk was not just super strength, but also gave her the ability to weaken the quirks of others. She had historically used that ability to reduce battles to straight up fist fights, which considering that she still had her quirk-enhanced physicality, meant that she just won. Most heroes relied on their quirks to fight that, when stripped of that, even when they had other tactical advantages, many were just too off-balance to fight her.
Kaylee knew what it was to fight Maddox, at least somewhat, considering her memories went fuzzy after a point. She remembered taunting the obsidian woman, after that it was hazy, aside from the sight of her fist slamming into her face. Considering the brain damage that The Doctor had to heal, memory loss was expected, but she had vague recollections of Maddox’s eyes glowing just before the worst of it. Guess that was the power suppression activating.
Kaylee could feel her heart rate increasing and she knew it wasn’t just from the caffeine. She had learned some nifty new tricks since their fight, and with more experience under her belt, she felt that she could stand a –
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Kaylee’s internal monologuing was interrupted by her earpiece going off. Wincing at the sudden intrusion, she quickly reached up and pressed it, activating the connection.
“What is it?!”
“DON’T TAKE THAT TONE WITH ME! I HAVE A JOB FOR YOU TWO, GET TO MY OFFICE NOW!” The unmistakable lack of indoor voice could belong to none other than Saurus.
“But, but I’m in the downstairs canteen!” Kaylee replied as she got to her feet. She had only just gotten down here!
“DON’T CARE! GET UP HERE NOW!”
“…Can I at least use the lift?” Kaylee’s shoulders slumped at the thought of having to walk normally back up all those stairs.
“HUH? NO!” And with that, the line went dead.
Kaylee groaned, but before she left, she grabbed one of those energy-dense protein bars. It’d be gone before she got to Saurus’ office.
After taking the stairs in various leaps, giving a conspiratorial nod to other rules-breakers that she met along the way, Kaylee made it to the top. She was about to burst through the doors, when she noticed Shinkan sitting on a chair waiting, tablet on his lap. Across the room, Saurus’ personal secretary – a woman with a triceratops head – sat at her desk, typing something on her computer’s keyboard.
“Yo Kaylee!” he smiled and waved. Kaylee sighed in relief that she wasn’t going to get chewed out for being late, before sitting down next to her classmate. Now, they wait.
After 30 seconds, Kaylee was already bored. She began to slap her thighs and whistle, trying to kill time. She looked over to Shinkan, back at his tablet, and struck up a conversation.
“So, how long have you been waiting?”
“Not long, only a few minutes.”
“Oh, OK. Watcha reading?”
“Mmm? Oh.” Shinkan turned his tablet such that Kaylee could see the screen.
“Railway modelling? Huh.”
“Come on, you can’t be that surprised!” joked Shinkan as he pointed to his tank engine head.
Kaylee raised her hands in a defensive gesture. “Hey, I’m not one to stereotype!”
“Pff, yeah, unless it’s the idea that everyone wants to fight!”
“OI! I’m not that bad!” Kaylee pouted in protest.
Shinkan chuckled, a light plume of steam wisping from his funnel. “If you say so!” he said, as the secretary suddenly spoke up.
“Saurus will see the two of you now.”
Both students turned to face her, but she had already returned to her work. Shrugging at each other, the pair got up, and entered the large double doors.
Saurus was behind his desk reviewing documents. As the two students walked into the gigantic room, he looked up, removing the almost-comically small glasses from his reptilian snout.
“FINALLY! GET OVER HERE, YOU TWO, I’VE GOT A JOB FOR YOU.”
Both students had learned not to try and argue with Saurus when it came to punctuality, instead they just listened and approached their intern boss.
“HERE’S YOUR TASK. AN OLD BUDDY OF MINE HAS REQUESTED ASSISTANCE. IF I PUT FULL-BLOWN OFFICIAL HEROES ON IT, THEN IT WOULD DRAW TOO MUCH ATTENTION, SO GOOD THING I HAVE YOU TWO.”
He turned his screen, showing it to Kaylee and Shinkan. There was a photo of a man with the most bizarre physiognomy Kaylee had seen that could still be called recognizably human. His chin and jawline were wider than his cheekbones, while his cranium flared outward, suggesting a gigantic brain.
“HIS NAME IS CAWL, HE CALLS HIMSELF THE POTION MASTER.” Interjected Saurus.
Kaylee snorted. “Potion master? What is this, wizardry?”
“QUIET. HE’S GOT A QUIRK LIKE THAT CLASSMATE OF YOURS, MAKIN’ DRUGS WITH WEIRD EFFECTS, AN’ HE’S SUCCESSFUL ENOUGH THAT EVERYONE PUTS UP WITH HIS ECCENTRICITIES. ANYWAY, HE’S COMING OVER TO JAPAN FOR WORK ON HIS LATEST PROJECT, AND HE’S ASKED ME FOR GUARDS TO ENSURE NO-ONE STEALS HIS WORK.”
“What is it?” Inquired Shinkan, reading over the information present on the screen. Nothing there suggested anything about the project itself.
“HE WOULDN’T EVEN TELL ME ALL THE DETAILS, SAID THAT HE HAS TOO MANY ENEMIES WHO WISH TO STEAL HIS POTIONS. WHAT HE DID SAY IS THAT IT’S CALLED THE ‘DIVINE WATER’ AND THAT IT’S SUPPOSED TO BRING OUT SOMEONE’S POWER.”
“Ooh!” That piqued Kaylee’s interest!
“DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. ANYWAY, HE’S ARRIVING AT THE AIRPORT AND I’M SENDING A CAR TO TAKE HIM TO HIS HOTEL, AND YOU’RE GOING WITH IT. NOW GET GOING!” Saurus roared, brooking no talking back, as he stood up and pointed to the door.
With no option, Kaylee and Shinkan left the office, readying themselves to walk all the way back down the entire skyscraper.
“I still don’t get it. Why send students to help a mate?” Kaylee said as the pair walked toward the stairwell.
“Like he said, he doesn’t want attention drawn to it. If he sent someone like Inemuri, then someone’s gonna notice.”
Replied Shinkan. “If it’s just us, then there’s less heat.”
“Cheers.” Kaylee said in reflex as Shinkan opened the door for her. “Either he’s got a lot of trust in us to deal with any threats, or he really doesn’t think that anyone’s going to notice. We’ve got fan clubs now, you know!”
“You’re putting everything through the fighting lens again.” Chided Shinkan. “The whole point is just to avoid conflict. It’s not like supervillains and assassins are going to come crawling out of the woodwork to battle two students.”
Elsewhere, in a secret, secure location…
The globally wanted criminal formally known as Desolator read over the job offer. There were clients who wanted something from a newcomer to this archipelagic nation, a concoction of some sort, that purported biological enhancement. What it did, and why they wanted it, was not Desolator’s concern. It was not the business of the hitman to request superfluous information.
Cucullam Cawl, notable European pharmaceutical CEO. Powerful build, high intelligence. Known for his eccentricities. Achieved financial and social prominence with the potency of his products. Here in Japan for what is assumed to be R&D. Carrying with him, speculated sample of strongest drug. Retrieve sample undamaged. Collateral damage acceptable.
It was technically a robbery, but with that last line and the underlying attitude thereof, Desolator could see why they would come to him. They had included payment for both his personal services, as well as enough for at least one other member of The Five, in the ‘industry’ standard forms of payment transaction. That was enough.
Desolator stood up from the table. Pulling out his burner phone, he made the call. One, two, three rings exactly before it was answered.
“The terms?” came the voice from the other end. Clearly this was a line dedicated to certain activities that needed to be kept off the records.
“Acceptable.” All Desolator needed to say. No further words were spoken. The line went dead as both parties hung up within an instant of each other. No need for superfluous words in this line of work.