Bokuboy

  I was not surprised that Lois and Rachel hit it off right away as we ate supper. The two women acted like they had known each other their whole lives and I realized Lois had copied my own learned trick to treat people like old friends that you didn't know yet. Rachel had picked up on it and seemed to really enjoy that Lois was making such an effort to make her feel comfortable.

  Of course, hearing about the battle between the heroes and the League of Vilins second-hand, instead of the whitewashed version on the news, made it all the more real. Both Lois and I learned about the deaths of the heroes that had been censored and how only some of the vilins had been captured. Their portal guy was just too powerful for anyone to stop, since All Might had been too busy with Luthor.

  “They're only having private funerals, friends and family only.” Rachel said. “Endeavor tried to convince the Hero Association to make their deaths public, since they died heroically.”

  Lois reached across the table and took Rachel's hand. “They did the same thing the st time the Masked Vilin rampaged. They don't want to encourage the bad guys by telling everyone who they managed to take out.”

  Rachel closed her eyes briefly and then opened them to smile at Lois. “Thank you, that makes much more sense than the Hero Association being a callous organization that doesn't care about the less popur heroes working under their authority.”

  “Oh, they are.” I huffed and both women looked at me. “Look at Hawks, the number three... no, number two hero.”

  Lois nodded and Rachel looked thoughtful.

  “He's both proof and a warning about what a state raised quirk user can become.” I said.

  “You know he's not the only one.” Lois commented and gently let Rachel's hand go.

  “He's not, he's just the most successful and his artificially infted popurity keeps him in the public eye.” I responded. “With everyone looking at him, no one is looking at the other things going on.”

  Lois gave me an almost proud look at my deduction.

  “You're going to be a part of that soon.” Rachel said and the inflection of her voice almost made it sound like she was asking a question.

  I smiled and pulled out the folded sheet of confirmation I received from the registration office. I opened it and held it up for them both to see it and they beamed smiles at me.

  “Oh, Connor! That's wonderful!” Lois said and stood, as if she was having a difficult time controlling herself, and she walked around the table and gave me a firm hug.

  “Thanks.” I said and accepted the hug. I felt a little bad that she had to restrain her reaction with Rachel there, so I didn't tease her or push her for more. “By this time next week, I'll have my provisional license.”

  “So confident.” Lois purred and kissed my cheek.

  “Try to not act like that when you take the exam.” Rachel said and we both nodded in agreement. “The examiners look for that kind of attitude and mark it against you right from the start.”

  I thought about it for a moment and then smirked. “So, I should be an eager happy puppy?”

  Lois snorted and then barked a ugh. “I just imagined what you would look like hopping around and wagging your butt like that while wearing your cape!”

  Rachel ughed at the image and I joined in.

  “Maybe just the happy part.” Lois said as she let me go. “You don't want them to think you're overzealous.”

  “Right, that's a good point. No joking around or being too intense.” I said. “I'll show restraint and express my opinion for how happy I am that they're allowing me to advance so quickly in order to help.”

  “Yes, that would be the best way to get on their good side.” Rachel said as Lois walked back around the table and sat down.

  “I'm not sure what agency you should apply for during the work pcement.” Lois said.

  Rachel gave me a sad look. “Despite the temptation and the familiarity, you shouldn't apply to Endeavor's Hero Agency.”

  “I figured. There was a bit too much going on there for me to be accepted back without incident or stirring up a lot more controversy if I became an actual paid employee.”

  “You have no idea.” Rachel said and smiled. “Endeavor would welcome you back, only he'd wonder the entire time why you'd want to come back after all of that.”

  Lois chuckled. “I can only imagine.” She said and her eyes nded on the envelope beside my pte.

  “Exactly.” Rachel said. “I'd mitigate as much as I could; but, you know I can only do so much from behind my desk.”

  “I do, and I wouldn't want to put even more pressure on you. You have enough to do without adding my questionable career choices on top of that.” I joked.

  Rachel smiled warmly. “Thank you.”

  “I'll take the afternoon off tomorrow and we can get that check deposited into your account.” Lois told me.

  “Lois, I was thinking...”

  “No.” Lois interrupted. “Whatever you were thinking of doing with it, the answer is no. You were more than generous to give me your very first paycheck to make up for how hard I worked while you were growing up. I was touched at how thoughtful that was and I didn't refuse, because I knew you would be upset if I did.”

  Rachel looked surprised at her words and then saw my pouty face. She covered her mouth to muffle her ugh and Lois smiled at her.

  “He's a little stubborn about some things; but, he's a good man and his heart is in the right pce.” Lois told her. “Unless you're firm with him when he has his flights of fancy, he gets out of hand really quickly.”

  “Hey, that's not fair. I've been perfectly reasonable...” I started to say.

  Lois ughed and Rachel kept the hand over her own mouth to muffle her ughs.

  “Perfectly... reasonable...” Lois said between ughs. “You... hahaha...”

  I pouted again and crossed my arms over my chest. Both women kept ughing, as I intended, and I let out an exaggerated sigh. “All right, fine. I'll keep it all. I can use it as the startup capital for setting up my Hero Agency and renting an office.”

  “Rent?” Lois asked. “Why would you rent?”

  “Because it's initially cheaper. Once the agency is set up and I start working full time, the government funding will start coming through and then I can look into buying a small building in one of the prefectures where there aren't a lot of other agencies.”

  Lois frowned. “I will not have you relegated to a small role in a rge pond, Connor. You deserve better than that!”

  “You're right, Lois.” Rachel vehemently agreed and looked at me. “Connor, starting small might be what a normal hero would do when they are trying to break into the scene.” She reached across the table and took my hand. “You are not a normal hero.”

  I looked between Lois and Rachel's face and saw their determination. I wasn't going to get away with my pns to stay under the radar and to work my way up to the big leagues. “Then what do you both recommend?”

  Their beaming smiles came back and Rachel let my hand go to lean close to Lois as they fervently whispered back and forth as they discussed the best strategy. I did my best to not listen, just so I didn't ruin the surprise of whatever they came up with.

  “Connor.” Lois said a few minutes ter, her voice firm. “The first thing we need you to do is to trust us with your sudden windfall of money...”

  “Done. Next?” I said and both women looked surprised. “What? You were both instrumental in me getting that windfall. I'd be a lot worse off if I didn't trust either of you before new, so if you need all of that cash to do whatever you need to do, then you can have it.”

  Lois and Rachel exchanged looks and both of them smiled warmly as they looked back at me.

  “Then we'll arrange for an appropriate pce for your agency to be. The paperwork won't be filed until you actually have your license, so that everything will be legal.” Rachel expined. “Once it is, we'll accept every single application and transfer request I gave you st week.”

  “Wait, really?” I asked, surprised.

  “Yes, it will give you an instant spread of several levels of experienced heroes, some of which need to be out from Endeavor's shadow to showcase their skills and abilities.” Rachel told me. “Like Fire. She's raised her ranking again and she's figured out two more things she can do from the quirk assessment you gave her during your internship.”

  “Good for her.” I said and Rachel nodded. “I didn't think we could accept anything without me being out there to prove myself, though.”

  “As if you need to.” Lois scoffed. “Connor, once you're out there and dealing with criminals, everyone is going to notice.”

  I sat back on my chair and thought about that. It was true that I wanted to get out there and fight the good fight, I just wasn't sure I could do everything out in the open.

  “Whatever you're thinking as an argument, I only have one thing to say to counter it.” Rachel said and I motioned for her to continue. “You know exactly why Endeavor had earned his spot as the number two hero.”

  My mind came to a screeching halt at her words. I did know why and it was because he had solved more crimes than any other hero. Not just stopped them, he had solved them. Rachel was responsible for handling the paperwork of course, so she knew from her own work how hard Endeavor worked.

  “Ha.” I said and looked at Lois. “Well, if you two are going to help me, then it's only fair I hire a freence investigative reporter with years of experience digging up criminals and the details of their crimes.”

  Lois blinked her eyes at me. “F-freence? What do you...” She stopped talking and gasped. “Connor! You can't mean...”

  “I think someone should cash out all her overtime hours, vacation time, and sick leave. After that, she needs to officially retire from her 9 to 5 job.” I said, smugly. “That way, I can hire her as the head of the investigative department in my Hero Agency and she can set her own hours, work any kind of schedule she wants, and can hire whoever she wants to make her life easier.”

  Lois looked shocked and her hands started shaking. “C-Conner... you... can't...”

  “I can and I will.” I said and sat forward to stare into her eyes. “Let me take care of you as I put myself and the future of my career into your hands.”

  Lois had tears in her eyes as she nodded.

  I turned my gaze to Rachel. “I'm making a simir offer to you and Amanda. I need experienced managers to run my agency and I can't do that alone. You can hire whomever you want to make your lives easier and I'll put the course of all our careers into your capable hands.”

  “C-Connor.” Rachel whispered.

  “Maybe we can so a soft transition? I'll hire Amanda away first as a general manager and let her get her feet under herself, maybe with Karen Starr as her secretary. Once the pce is up and running, and you get the chance to train up a repcement, you can make the transfer and slot right into the senior manager spot.”

  Lois looked pleased and her still slightly shaking hands took one of mine. “I'll do it. I'll put in the requests and file the paperwork, then submit my intention to retire. Once they learn that, amount of money they owe me will probably make them feel relief I'll be leaving.”

  I chuckled and gave her hand a little squeeze. A moment ter, Rachel took my other hand. She didn't say anything and just nodded. I nodded back and that was that. My pns for my agency was in their hands and I trusted them to make it the best agency in the country.

  *

  The five days left before the Provisional License Exam passed quickly. I did as much precision training as I could, if only to ensure I didn't backslide or let my skills go to waste. Since I didn't have anything like weights or anything to use, I used my own telekinesis and flight ability as resistance tension. Doing that had let me practice multiple powers without having to switch tasks.

  I showed up at the huge testing facility and it was almost like the USJ, or Unseen Simution Joint, where Css 1-A had been attacked the first time by the League of Vilins. I personally thought that was a bit cruel to subject them to that and dredging up those bad memories. The little purple haired sticky ball kid had been the victim.

  In the second attack at the campgrounds, it was the mind-control guy and some other guy, both of Eraserhead's recommendations. Funnily enough, no one I could overhear with super hearing knew their names, even though they were all talking about them. I slipped in between the different groups of students and listened to the briefing.

  I was shocked to hear it was an advanced game of dodgeball that would determine the 100 people that would earn their licenses. It was idiotic, because they were basing the next generation of heroes using fucking luck. How stupid was that?

  We were warned about putting the three targets on our bodies in easily hit spots and also warned that we couldn't tuck them under clothing or under armor. They had to be visible and anyone not with three of them in sight, would be eliminated for cheating.

  I ughed at the shocked woman that handed me the three targets, because I had pced all three of them on my chest, in easy reach and in full view, at the three corners of my 'S' symbol. I told her the 'S' meant hope, so she didn't have to worry about me. She kept the shocked look on her face as she went to the next person and gave them theirs.

  “How the hell did you get in here, Cunt?” A familiar angry voice asked.

  “Well, if it isn't Bitchkugo.” I said and turned to face him. I gnced down at his pcements and almost ughed. How was he going to defend them with them so far apart and in such awkward positions? I thought and then smiled. “I can't believe they let you in at all, let alone as one of UA's representatives.”

  “You're one to talk!” Bakugo spat and pointed across the gathering hall. “You're not even showing a loyal school spirit by wearing your academy uniform!”

  I turned my head to look and barely managed to not react at seeing Tornado guy and Camie standing there. One, I knew both were dead, because I had killed them. Two, there were five Shiketsu Academy students. I had been told the school wasn't sending anyone... and I held in my sigh, because I saw that they were upper years and I would have been the only first year, which was probably what they meant.

  “I'm not here with the support or approval of my registered hero school.” I said and lost the smile as everyone around us quieted down and looked over at me. “I'm here with the current Number One hero's recommendation.”

  Bakugo looked shocked and everyone else started whispering excitedly.

  “I did so well during my internship that he immediately approved it when I asked for it.” I said, which was kind of the truth. Rachel had been the one to pass over the approval, which was technically the same thing. Plus, getting that unexpected check from him was proof that he approved.

  “All right, listen up!” The head guy shouted into the microphone. “You all will be given three balls to use and you have an hour to eliminate three people.”

  “How?!?” Someone shouted. “With only three balls, and each person with three targets on them, the math doesn't add up! We can only take out one person!”

  “Figure it out.” The head guy said with a ft voice. “Or not. Someone that does will take your spot.”

  The same woman handed me three balls. “Good luck, handsome.”

  “Thanks, gorgeous.” I said and held two balls in my left hand and the third in my right hand.

  Bakugo looked disgusted. “He's only 15!”

  The woman looked down at Bakugo and then looked up at my 6 foot of height. “Meh, if he gets his license, provisional or not, by w he's an adult.”

  “I also don't have to be legal age to flirt.” I commented and she smiled.

  “Right you are.” She said and handed Bakugo three balls.

  “You don't have to give him those.” I said and wave her off. “He won't need them.”

  Bakugo gred at me and the woman looked amused.

  “We'll see.” She said and walked over to the next group of people.

  “As soon as you have your balls, head out into the arena to your designated areas. The map behind me shows where the academies are sorted and the independents are deployed on the far left.” The head guy said and I gnced at the map and saw the independent section was fairly rge. It was also close to the center where UA was going to be.

  “See you soon.” I said to Bakugo and I walked off towards the arena's entrance. My cape fluttered behind me, thanks to my telekinesis, and quite a lot of the other hopefuls gave me searching looks. Some of them were longing, too. My words about being recommended and about flirting, probably had them all wondering about who I was and what I could do.

  They would see soon enough. All of them would. Especially Bakugo.