In His Element(s) || avatar / bnha

Manual Override

Mizushi Masaki, better known as the pro hero Manual, didn't regret having to retake the hero licensing exam.

Honestly, he was just glad that the kids all made it out alive that night. The police department had made a futile attempt to keep the details of the Hosu Incident on the down low in face of panic and media outrage. (Though in the wake of Kamino, he wondered if that was really necessary anymore.) That meant while he didn't technically get a formal reprimand, he was dropped back to a provisional license until he retook the test. Did it grate a bit? Sure. But...

Iida Tenya had almost died because he hadn't kept a close enough eye on him. He was a kid- a gifted kid, sure, but a kid nonetheless. Masaki had seen how much he was hurting. He'd known that the real reason the youngest Iida had decided to intern in Hosu was to find the Hero Killer.

He'd fucked up.

So yeah, retaking the hero licensing exam was the least he could do.

Hosu was well along the way of being fully rebuilt in wake of the Nomu attacks. There was the odd collapsed building in between those that had gotten better insurance, and the pavement in some areas still bore scorch marks or a pitted surface, but most importantly, the people had started to relax again.

The complement of heroes who patrolled Hosu had changed quite a bit. Some, like Native, had taken leave to recuperate from their injuries after the Incident. Others, like The Fly, had moved to other districts. And though they'd never admit it out loud, to safer streets. So the current patrols had a lot of newer heroes, straight out of school with a shiny new license to prove it.

Which meant that despite the fact that he still needed to retake his exam, Masaki held seniority over a good portion of the heroes in the district at the moment. He'd been stuck on night patrols mostly, but it did lead to some awkward situations with some of the fresh pros he was paired with.

Then of course on top of all that, they had to have another problem start plaguing the city. Because, you know. Karma or something.

There was a surge of petty theft and minor assault cases in Hosu. What made it unusual, rather than an unfortunate norm, was the fact that all of these incidents seemed to have been committed by someone, or someones, with an invisibility quirk. Now those were rare enough already: to have multiple at one time in one city? That was suspicious.

So here he was. On a late night patrol with a newbie pro and the instruction to "look for anything suspicious." Sigh.

"You worry way too much," his partner for the evening scoffed. Coil was a recent graduate from Shiketsu, or so he had bragged, with a physical mutation quirk that gave him about half a meter on the average person and spring-like attachments to his lower legs. He bounced in place as Masaki took a moment to check both above them and around all corners before they moved on to the next patrol grid. "It's not like we're gonna get jumped on a street corner. We're pros."

"It's our job to worry," Masaki countered tiredly, this not being the first time the other man had brought up that point. Coil just rolled his eyes, indigo cape swishing over his calves as he trotted ahead a few steps.

"No wonder he's still stuck here," he heard Coil mutter under his breath, clearly thinking he was out of hearing range. His eyebrow twitched.

So he only felt a little bad at the bit of vindictive pleasure he gleaned from Coil getting bonked in the head with a soda can about ten minutes later.

Coil immediately whirled towards the alley the projectile had come from, an incensed glare on his face.

"Who the hell threw that?!"