My Hero Automata

Summary: Internships start! Izumi gets some advice that leaves her feeling a bit sheepish...

Chapter 27: Scary Extroverts!

... ...

Izumi pouted as 2B ruined her dramatic pause with a mental poke to the forehead. Okay, so Momo had insisted she take her anti-anxiety meds this morning and they were taking enough of the edge off that she was just being melodramatic. Of course, given that a part of Izumi's anxiety was actually induced by the sheer speed that even her non-hyper-cognition thoughts moved at, the meds didn't completely chill her out. But they were enough to level her off, and as she stepped through the Dragon Agency main entrance, Izumi was glad that Momo had insisted she take them today. They were, these days at least, mostly an 'as needed' sort of thing, and Izumi had a tendency to favor not using them whenever possible. At the moment, however, she was grateful that the meds were working, allowing her excitement at the prospect of meeting the Dragon Hero to win through to dominate her mood.

The agency itself was impressive, with the lobby filled by tasteful mix of memorabilia, information screens, and sculptures. The memorabilia wasn't for sale, Izumi knew from her research earlier in the week. Nor was it an attempt at self-glorification, as it might be in some agencies. Of the entire current Top 10, Tatsuma Ryuko was by far the humblest. While immensely popular in her own right, she eschewed the bombast and flare of most other top heroes, in favor of a certain elegance and down-to-earth gentleness. Instead of being the narcissistic edifice many Heroes made their agencies into, the glass-and-steel modern receiving area of the Dragon Hero's agency was a sort of history display. While it was focused on Ryukyu's public case history, a glance showed that there was equal time and space given to the other heroes she'd worked with during each operation. Better yet, as far as Izumi was concerned, was that not all the displays were focused on fights. Nearly as much space was given over to the heroine's work with various charities. Again, not focusing on her own presence so much as on highlighting what each of those charities was about.

Izumi, of course, had taken that all in at a glance. 2B, who virtually always had more practical views of reality, had focused on something else. The 'mental HUD' they'd long since designed to share relevant data with each other in an easy-to-digest format, highlighted the presence of a lot of bullet-proof glass and reinforced metal. Which was probably the secret to why the hero, whose costume and mannerisms were quite traditional seeming, had such a modern-looking front lobby. Its design hid the fact that this place was a fortress, with its first line of defenses right out in plain sight. Izumi hummed agreement with 2B's approval of that. A Top Ten Hero was a walking, talking target in a lot of ways. Someone that the ambitious would gun for just to make a name for themselves.

Still, she'd wasted enough time, all of seven and a half seconds, considering all of that. More importantly, in those seconds, she'd crossed the lobby to the front desk, where a politely smiling woman with reptilian eyes and a smattering of blue scales around her eyes and nose was waiting. Izumi opened her mouth to introduce herself, but the other woman beat her to it by speaking first.

"Hello! Welcome to the Dragon Agency! Unless I'm very much mistaken, you are Midoryia Izumi, the new intern from UA, right?"

Izumi blinked and nodded, surprised at being recognized. Her surprise must have shown, as the woman's eyes and smile turned a bit mischievous as she clarified.

"Everyone already knows what you look like, dear. We're required to watch at least day 3 of all years of the UA Heroics Tournament. Mostly to give all of us a head start on recognizing student heroes or heroes in training either here or in the field. And you, specifically, put on quite a show! I admit I probably laughed harder than I should have when you half-stripped that vine-haired girl as a way to make her drop her guard…"

Izumi turned crimson, not having really properly thought through the fact that she'd done that in front of a millions of viewers until this very moment. She'd just been trying to make a point about Ibara's costume weakness! She…blamed Momo! Yes, it was totally Momo's fault! Her girlfriend's exhibitionist nature must have corrupted Izumi! And the greeter giggling over that fact wasn't helping!

"Oh, don't worry dear. That girl needed a reality check. And it's not like she was naked under that ridiculous toga. Though, I'd keep one eye open for revenge, given that you did it on national television! Now, if you can give me your student ID, I can get you a temporary access card and send you up to the boss."

Izumi's cheeks refused to let go of her blush as she handed over her ID, had its digital tag scanned and checked, and received an access card in return. It only finally died down when the woman cheerfully sent her on her way, telling her that 'the boss' was waiting for her in the penthouse office. Boarding the elevator, Izumi took a moment with the doors shut to take a deep breath, hold it for a meditative ten count, and let it out. She compartmentalized her embarrassment as something to agonize over later, and psyched herself back up before punching the button for the penthouse. Thankfully, despite being able to feel the amusement radiating from 2B, her companion didn't try to tease her. A quick elevator ride later, Izumi stepped out of the elevator car…and oofed as she was blindsided by a cyan blur. Instinctively catching the blur and moving into a Judo flip, she was surprised for a second time as said blur simply stopped in midair and aimed back down at her.

"Hi! You must be Izumi-chan! The new intern! I'm Nejire-chan, your senpai!"

Cute girl! Very close! Abort! Evasive Action! Deploy Momo Shield! Wait…no Momo! Deploy 2B Countermeasure! Nejire blinked in surprise as an adorable child-form 2B was abruptly pulled out of empty air and shoved between them! The remote platform looked at her with a completely deadpan expression.

"You might want to back up a bit, miss. Izumi is busy have a crisis because your eyes are gorgeous."

"2B!"

Nejire blinked rapidly at the exchange…then decided whatever had just happened didn't matter compared to the adorableness in front of her.

"I'm going to hug you now. Just so you know."

2B sighed and suffered in silence. This girl was far from the first person who'd had the same reaction to her child-form, and almost certainly wouldn't be the last. Oh well, at least she could broadcast the sight and sensations of Nejire-chan's 'marshmallow hell' to Izumi later, as revenge for being used as a shield.

... ...

Thankfully, the 'use 2B's cuteness as a shield' plan had bought Izumi enough time to get herself back together, properly processing who she'd just met. Nejire had been put on the back foot for the first time by the rapid string of questions Izumi had asked about her Quirk…only to make a comment about 'Oh, so this is what it feels like!' before cheerfully answering and asking a bunch of her own. She'd floated off as she did so, little swirls of power from her hands and feet keeping her in the air. Izumi had unconsciously followed, fully involved in the conversation, only to abruptly find herself in front of a half-exasperated, half-amused looking Ryukyu without any warning. Thankfully, Ryukyu had immediately taken the reigns, before any awkwardness could set in.

"I see you've already met your senior. As she might have already told you, Nejire-chan is doing a long-term Work Study with me. She'd been with my agency since early last year, and is in her third year at your own university. I'd warn you not to let to her enthusiasm overwhelm you and to just tell her when to back off…but you seem to have already figured out how to occupy her better than I ever have."

The last was said with a tone of fond exasperation, even as Nejire-chan herself beamed, completely unphased by the implication. Her boss didn't seem at all surprised at the lack of reaction, focusing her attention on Izumi, even as she moved over to a side table and began to make tea for the four of them.

"Now. While Nejire will likely help out with your training, you're primarily here as my intern. Some of the experience will be the same I give to every intern. A practical view of how agencies are run, some basics do's and don'ts on interacting with the public, and a handful of patrols over the course of the week. The rest, however, I try to tailor to each student's needs. Do you have anything specific you want to work on this week? A reason why you chose my offer in particular?"

Izumi blinked, caught just a bit off guard at that question. She frowned slightly as she tried to put her reasons into words, as well as figure out if there was anything in particular she needed to work on. She only had vague ideas of what the Dragon Hero might be able to help her with.

"Um, I don't know if there is anything specific? I picked you as I believe you might have the most to teach, given that my Quirk is technically a transformation type. That and you're known to handle the public well, without being the…well, bombastic sort? That might work for people like All Might or Miruko, but I don't think I really have the right personality for that…"

Ryukyu hummed, even as she waved Izumi and Nejire into seats. Not in front of her desk, but into a set of facing chairs around a small coffee table off to one side of her office. A less formal space for discussions, with all the accessories for the tea that she placed in front of each of them a moment later. Izumi, after years of training from Momo, instinctively went through the proper process of accepting her tea and delicately sipping it. She noted appreciatively that it was a premium blend which even Momo might approve of, though she wasn't familiar with the exact type. After seating herself with her own cup of tea, Ryukyu spoke again.

"My usual intern experience should help with the latter portion. But your Quirk is more than a bit mysterious. You say it's a transformation type, yet the files on you list it primarily as a sentient type."

Ryukyu smirked and waved to where the child-sized version of 2B had her own cup of tea and seemed to be lost in it. Love of tea was one thing which 2B and Momo shared to a greater extent than Momo and Izumi did. Izumi was quietly appreciative that the Dragon Hero had included a cup for her companion in her preparation.

"Can you describe your Quirk for me? Break down its basic mechanisms and how you use it in combat."

This was something Izumi could do in her sleep. The only issue was keeping the information from being overwhelming, as well as remembering to conceal a few things she didn't want to become common knowledge.

"Well, it obviously is a sentient Quirk, but how that manifests is a bit complex…"

... ...

After her meeting with Ryukyu that morning, Izumi had spent the majority of the day with Nejire and one of Ryukyu's sidekicks. Tess, as the woman insisted on being called, had quite a bit in common with Asui, though she was apparently some variety of humanoid chameleon rather than frog. She was cheerful and upbeat, despite claiming she was mostly in charge of 'the boring stuff.' Which, Izumi had to admit, wasn't entirely inaccurate. They'd spent a little bit of time going over the sorts of paperwork that were required of Hero Agencies, before switching tracks to something which Izumi actually hadn't ever thought through or experienced. Specifically, heroic logistics.

While Tess might have lumped it all together under 'the boring stuff,' Izumi was fascinated by some of it. Nothing about the various necessary connections with support companies really surprised her, of course. She'd worked the other end of that pipeline with various parts of the Hero Scan Network setup. But other aspects were new and interesting, at least to Izumi. Things such as ensuring rapid transport was available for the agency's heroines, maintaining a stock of disaster relief supplies, and creating the ever-shifting patterns of patrol routes. Almost all of it was new information to Izumi, and the sort of thing regular people didn't think about heroes needing to know. Which was fair enough if you considered smaller agencies. But a large operation like Ryukyu's agency meant an equally large chunk of responsibilities. All of which had to be coordinated in a complex dance of puzzle pieces, one where getting something wrong could result in dead civilians. The sheer complexity of managing it, particularly in an agency that tended to avoid entanglements with the HPSC, actually appealed to both Izumi and 2B. Here was something productive that could actually challenge even their combined processing power!

Tess had seemed taken aback by their interest, apparently used to her area of expertise being somewhat overlooked despite its importance. The result had been the three of them getting far deeper into it than had originally been intended, leaving poor Nejire looking like she'd been clubbed in the face with information. While the cyan-haired provisional-heroine was obviously intelligent, she'd also clearly gotten lost in information overload at some point. Thankfully for the older student's sanity, they split from Tess late in the afternoon and met back up with Ryukyu in one of the agency's training rooms. After Izumi made a quick change into her costume, Ryukyu set the two of them up for a spar.

"Alright, this isn't an all-out-fight. Your battle with the Yaoyorozu girl in the finals already gave me a good idea of what you can do in that regard. Instead, I want to see your stamina problem up close. Nejire-chan here had a similar issue when I first met her. Her Quirk is based on her stamina and when she first interned with me, she tired quickly. Now, stamina is one of her greatest strengths. Which is why she's your opponent today."

She paused to make sure Izumi was following, then continued when it was obvious she was.

"This spar is simple, and your goal isn't to win. Instead, what you are going to do is start out slow and pick up the pace steadily. Do whatever you need to in order to evade or block while Nejire-chan puts increasing amounts of pressure on you. The two of you will go until you run out of steam, while I watch and see what I can make of your stamina problem. Got it?"

Izumi nodded her acknowledgement even as Nejire gave her boss a confident thumbs up. Then, the very moment Ryukyu stepped back, Nejire-Chan cheered and launched a tight spiral of energy right at Izumi's face! By sheer, practiced reflex, Izumi dodged the unexpected attack, but there were more coming after the first. Already seeing them start to speed up as Nejire slowly but surely escalated the pressure, Izumi got her head in the game…

... ...

Izumi lay panting, slumped against one wall and sipping a bottle of water, even as Nejire continued to bounce around the room. The cyan-haired monster occasionally zoomed over to Izumi's half-collapsed form to ask random questions, to which Izumi only groaned one or two word answers. That didn't seem to bother the hyperactive bundle of smiles, who would just zoom off to play with a bit of equipment, destroy a few targets with her spirals of energy, or badger her boss instead. Ryukyu seemed used to it, calmly redirecting the other girl's energy in useful ways, even as she kept an eye on Izumi's recovering form.

Thirty minutes. That had been all Izumi had managed, despite all the time she's spent over the years trying to increase her stamina. Barely better than the twenty minutes she'd have had if she'd just gone all out from the start. Even with the recently increased challenge post One for All Momo had become, the revelation was disheartening. She hadn't realized that, if pressed in a real combat situation, she would only last that long. Her fights, she realized, tended to all be short and sharp affairs precisely because she was aware of her time limit. So, was this it? Was this as far as she could…

"Stop berating yourself."

Izumi jolted, abruptly realizing that she'd been so lost in thought that she hadn't noticed Ryukyu covering the distance between them and kneeling across from her. Focusing on the heroine, she started to reply, only for the Dragon Hero to raise one hand to forestall her.

"You're a lot like Nejire. You wear your heart on your sleeve, and I could see you starting to spiral. Don't. This exercise showed me exactly what I expected to see. And between this match and your rather thorough breakdown of your Quirk earlier, I already know how to fix your issue. We have a baseline now, and the rest of the week will be spent on a mix of training and patrols. With the training focused on your efficiency problem."

Izumi blinked.

"Efficiency problem?"

Ryukyu's smile was gentle, reassuring, as she nodded and explained.

"From the start, both on your own and with Nishimura & Croft, you focused on two things with your Quirk. You focused, rightfully I might add, on increasing your QE reserves on the one hand, while on the other doing your best to speed along the progressive changes your Quirk is making to your body. These were the two controllable factors limiting your stamina, and logically the two things you could work on to fix the issue long term."

Izumi was nodding along, frowning as she did so. Just what was the heroine getting at? Izumi knew all of this.

"While that was the correct thing for you to do for training. It is not the correct thing for you to do right now. You know what my Quirk is, correct?"

Ryukyu paused just long enough for Izumi to nod. Of course she did! Pretty much everyone knew the Quirks of the Top 10!

"Do you know how often I actually fully transform into a Dragon?"

That gave Izumi more pause as she frowned in thought, bringing up the extensive files she and 2B had prepared on the Dragon Hero before finalizing Izumi's internship choice.

"It's hard to say, given that no one but the HPSC would have a record of every arrest. But, even in your publicly known arrests, you only use your full transformation around 7.33% of the time."

Ryukyu's lips quirked at the prompt answer with an exact number. Holding up her hand, she shifted…but only shifted a single hand. More accurately, to Izumi's enhanced sight, she shifted that hand and all of the specific muscles needed to support its increased size and weight in her arm. A sign of knowing herself and her Quirk extremely well, not to mention having fantastic control over it.

"The actual number is likely even lower than that, even if I don't bother tracking the percentages myself. The vast, vast majority of the time, turning into a full-sized dragon would be a terrible response to a situation I find or am called in for. If I were indoors, where by far and away the most serious crimes tend to occur, doing so would just destroy the building. And even outdoors, it's rarely justifiable. That new heroine, Mount Lady, is making quite a poor name for herself with the amount of collateral damage she's racking up, do to her inability or unwillingness to control her size change. I would be in the same boat…if I hadn't spent decades honing my transformation so that I can change only what I need to."

Izumi winced at that comparison. Mount Lady was proving popular with the public, playing to them and showboating. But inside the hero community, some of the comments on her methods had been very acidic. She often did more property damage than the criminals she arrested would have even if they'd been allowed to get away. Turning into a giant to arrest a purse snatcher was just…overkill. Still, what did that have to do with her?

"Still not getting it, huh? I'm not surprised, given the mindset you've been concentrating on for so long. Let me ask you this, then. When you fully transformed to fight that monster at the USJ, did you need your electronic warfare suite?"

Izumi blinked, looking at the Dragon Hero with surprise. The woman seemed able to easily read her expression, and grimaced.

"Yes. The footage of that fight was distributed to the Top 10 because of the danger that thing represented. Don't worry, very few people have seen it. Not even the others at our agencies. Now, please answer the question."

Frowning, Izumi nodded. It made sense, even if she didn't like others having been given footage of her…or 2B rather…doing what had needed to be done. Shaking that off, she concentrated on the question.

"Of course. I fully transformed, so I had access to everything."

"Why?"

Izumi blinked at the one-word question, looking at the heroine in confusion. Ryukyu sighed.

"You're a bright girl, Izumi. But you're failing to see the trees for the forest here. Why did you need your electronic warfare suite active while fighting a monster against which it was useless."

Izumi's eyes widened, thoughts racing, as she finally got what Ryukyu was getting at.

"There. You see it now, don't you? You were right to focus your long-term efforts and training as you have. But you missed an important detail. While that training will pay off eventually, you need to be able to fight right now. And the best way to do so is using the exact same method I do. Train to prioritize only the parts of your transformation you need for a specific fight. You have the speed of thought to process every situation you find yourself in at literally superhuman capacity. Analyze your needs and then limit your transformation to just what you need. In doing so, you'll increase your current time limit by several fold."

Izumi gaped, feeling very, very stupid for not having thought of that. She could feed 2B's own similar reaction in the back of her mind. How had they missed this…

"Now. Let's get to work. You're currently exhausted, but that doesn't mean you can't start creating a basic list of several 'loadouts.' Sets of transformations that will be good for a broad range of scenarios, but which cost less than your full transformation. That's where we'll start, even if eventually you should try to narrow it down even farther…"

Izumi groaned, feeling even stupider than she had a few moments ago. It was, after all, almost the very first thing she'd insisted Momo do with her own Quirk, to speed up her reaction time with Creation! Well, at least that experience gave her a good idea of where and how to start…

... ... ... ...

A/N: So, this and the next chapter back away from the action for a bit. I figured that was fine, given that the Tournament chapters were little BUT action. Don't worry, though, thing will pick up again in Chapter 29 ;-). Which is, of course, already available over on P-atreon.