Puppet Master

Internships Pt. 2

"Check list time!"

Shoto sweatdropped as Avalanche whipped a list from somewhere in her cluttered desk. It's Thursday and they had skipped doing their morning patrols, one of the sidekicks taking it. Now Avalanche was finally bringing Shoto on her mountain patrol. Avalanche said that she usually only does the mountain patrols on Wednesdays and Saturdays, her sidekicks do it the other days but there was never a day that the agency did not check the mountain.

"First things first," Avalanche pointed between him and her a few times. "Never go up the mountain alone. Ever. Mkay?" Shoto swallowed. He nodded. "Next, do you have a rope to your costume?"

"No, ma'am," he replied. Avalanche hummed. "If you plan on being a winter hero, that is a must as well as a small grappling hook of some sorts." She reached into her cape and pulled out a concealed rope with a small grappling hook at the end. "Something like this." She put it back in. "Follow me. We will go get you set up because I have a feeling there is some other gear you will need."

Shoto followed her to the back storage room of the first floor of the agency building.

They ended up getting Shoto set up with a small flashlight attachable to the top of his ski goggles, as well as a couple to put in his utility belt. They got him a few other things and headed out. They walked through the village just like any other day but this time they stopped and took a left somewhere in the middle which brought them to the bus stop.

"Alright," Avalanche pointed down the mountain along the bus route. "We are going all the way down to the city at the bottom and making our way up. The bus only runs on Mondays and Fridays so we should be clear. Off we go!"

Avalanche began the walk down the icy road. Shoto swallowed and followed slowly after, willing himself not to slip.

"Now, normally it would take forty minutes to get down by bus, so maybe an hour?" Avalanche hummed. "However, this is a patrol and we have a whole half of a mountain to cover by midnight so-"

"Midnight?" Shoto couldn't help but gasp out.

Avalanche laughed. "Yeah! We have to check the whole south side for those who got off the trails, are lost, or got stuck somewhere."

"But it's only ten in the morning."

She nodded. "Yup! Welcome to being a winter hero, Brand. Now let's get a move on or we'll be out even later."

Shoto swallowed.

"Now," she continued, "as I was saying, it would normally take us an hour to get to the bottom from here but we have quirks, ya know?" Shoto paled. "You don't mean..."

"Race ya to the bottom, Brand!"

Avalanche activated her quirk and JUMPED OFF THE PATH. She landed further down, digging her claws through the snow and into the mountain, creating a billow of snow behind her as she slid down to where the road curved around further down only to jump off that and continue.

Shoto sighed. "I guess I'm really doing this then." Shoto threw his right arm forward, a path of ice forming. He jumped on it and ran. Shoto got to the end and looked down. "Alright." He smashed his right foot down, a slide of ice forming going down as far as he could see and further until he couldn't anymore. He shivered from overusing his right side. Shoto nodded and jumped onto the slide. The lack of traction had him bulletting down. "TODO?!" he heard Avalanche gasp as he passed.

Shoto smirked.

Then he saw the slide end. Shoto's eyes widened. Suck! He slid off, flying down the mountain. Shoto flipped and kicked out, a casing of ice forming on the side of the mountain and a slant. Shoto's feet connected and slid around to a stop on the side.