Deku? I Think He's Some Pro...

Chapter 8: Is this supposed to be a joke?

“So, Deku, you ready for your first internship?” 

Izuku nodded as Ms. Joke led the way into the agency she shared with several other underground pros. He couldn’t believe he was actually going to be staying the week, learning how to be a hero! Yeah, he knew he’d made it into UA, but this just felt more real, somehow. 

“Ok, we’ll drop your bag off in your room, then our support department wants to meet you.”

“Support department? Like the people who make your weapons?”

Joke nodded, “That’s part of what they do, but there’s more too. The support department of a hero agency provides us with costumes, gear, and weapons, but they also do analysis, help us track down villains, and gather evidence to turn in to the police. Basically, kind of what you’ve been doing so far. That’s why they’re so eager to meet you.”

“O-ok.” 

Joke led him up several floors to where they had several small rooms for internship purposes and let him drop off all his stuff before going to another floor and leading him down a long hallway to a dark room filled with various monitors and a team of people Izuku had never seen before.

“Hey everyone!”

“Hey Joke! Who’s the kid?”

“Oh him?” Joke smiled and pulled him out from where he had been trying to hide behind her, “This is Deku!”

Izuku gave a hesitant wave as the team stared at him.

“That’s Deku?”

“I heard Deku was young, it’s just...he’s tiny!”

Izuku shrunk in on himself as the whispers continued. Of course, even Deku was cooler than him. He shouldn’t have come. Maybe it wasn’t too late to tell Joke he wanted to go home. He felt Joke put a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her. 

She was smiling, “Why don’t you go show ‘em what you got?” She said softly. “Hey, you got any videos Deku here can analyze?”

One of the support team pulled up a video from earlier that day and pressed play before Izuku could even get out his notebook. 

“A bullet quirk...but why are the bullets ricocheting like that? They seem to be breaking the laws of physics. Maybe a telekinesis quirk? Is that her quirk or does she have a partner? She doesn’t look betrayed when she’s arrested, so probably no partner then. Most likely she brings along a limited number of bullets, then pretends to have a bullet quirk so people are more wary of her. Still, the speeds she’s able to move them are really impressive…”

“Wow…” Izuku stopped and tried to stomp down his embarrassment at being caught muttering, “It really is Deku…”

“What? Did ya think I’d lie to ya?” Joke laughed. 

“I mean, you do have a tendency to pull pranks, so…”

“Ha! That’s fair! But I’m telling ya, the kid’s the real deal. Nearly gave us all a heart attack the first time we saw him though. We were expecting some grey beard, then in walks a baby!”