Chapter 97: A Troubling Time

------Author's Note------

Hey guys! I found some pictures of what I imagine Glitter to look like :)

Koto's POV

I try to keep up with Glitter for the few weeks that I work at Nyikang's agency, but I'm also nervous to get too close. She seemed really cool, but totally reprimanded me on that first day. I suppose it gave me a reality check.

This wasn't just some little internship like before where I learned little lessons about my quirk and overall combat with Nyikang. This was real hero work. I have to be constantly considering every possibility and everything around me. Some part of me thought this would be fun instead of the hard work it's been proving to be.

I guess I needed the wakeup call.

Glitter Bomb still seems friendly around the office and on patrol, but it's clear that she becomes all business when we start a mission. Her focus is honed like a freshly-sharpened blade. I have to concentrate to match her demeanor.

As we go throughout our day, she tasks me with making constant observations, surely as a product of my mistake that first day. But I'm grateful for the chance to grow. Had we left when I started questioning her reasoning, those people would still be out there to sell those weapons and make the community more dangerous.

The team managed to track down the truck with a container full of weapons and ammo within a few hours. We called in a report with all the agencies in port cities to catch the barge off the coast of Nagoya later in the week. The criminal with the shadow-hopping quirk still hasn't been found, but the team seems to think she's lying low for a while. They assure me that she'll be caught.

After our patrol and quick dinner on a Saturday night, I head back to the lodging wing of the agency, ready to take a shower. Glitter walks down the hall with an intern pushing a mail cart.

"Hey Maestro," she calls out to me, chipper as she always is within the agency. "There's a package for you. We left it on your bed."

"Alright," I say, pushing a stray curl behind my ear. "Thank you."

She pats me on the shoulder as we pass by each other. "No worries, have a good night!"

"Thanks, you too."

I roll open my door and shuck off my heavy coat, hanging it in the dry-cleaning chamber of the closet. Being a work study intern has its benefits. I grab a towel, marking the wrapped package on my covers.

After my long shower, I return, twirling my hair into separate curls with product as I sit on my bed. The package is wrapped with a string of twine, knotted into a bow at the top.

I unwrap it and fall back off the bed as a spring loaded cage reaches out to capture me. I'm about to illuse for help when a familiar voice speaks to me.

"Hey there, kiddo," my uncle's voice says. A screen displaying his smiling face pops up from the package that is enclosed with me. The cage is roughly a two meter cube that holds me in place. "Sorry for all the dramatics, but there's an important announcement and we don't want somebody overhearing."

"This is a simple Faraday's cage," another voice explains, and Principal Nezu pops up on my uncle's shoulder. "The electrical current scrambles any signals that try to enter, so nobody should be able to tap into this recording and listen in. Please put on the headphones."

I notice a pair of old school earphones on the floor of the cage, connected by a thin black cord. I snatch them up and put them on as Mic begins talking again.

"Again, sorry for probably giving you a scare, but what we've got is important!"

"We have it on good authority that there are corrupt heroes in most agencies with the League of Villains expanding their circle. We can't be sure that anybody you work with hasn't been corrupted," Nezu explains. "We are planning a mission on this very day next week to take down the League in their two main bases. We expect to see you there. If you make your way to this location," he gestures to the address of a national park on the screen, "one week from today, you'll be given your task and teamed up."

"You have to keep this completely to yourself, kiddo," Mic says, eyes wide. "We don't know who's on our side and who's not."

"I have an educated guess," Nezu interjects unhelpfully.

Mic just continues to speak directly to me. "But we can only hope that we've got more allies than we think. Stay safe, Koto. I love you."

"And now, this message will self-destruct," my principal chirps happily. "I've always wanted to say that!"

The cage springs back into the package as a beeping sound fills the air, and I scramble backwards.

When the dust from the blast settles, it's clear that I'll have to take another shower.

•°•°•°•

Every shadow became a spy. Every co-worker became a threat.

My cheeks hurt from smiling at Nyikang when he greeted me every morning. I had gotten along with him so well during my initial internship. Surely he couldn't be colluding with the League, could he?

Nezu and Mic told me to not trust anyone. So what am I still doing here?

My stomach curls up and hides deep within me, anxious that I'll let something slide. Or see something I'm not supposed to and get a target on my back. I struggle to focus on my assignments with the weight of this secret on me.

I would text Mic about it, but are our phones even safe? Who's to say somebody didn't bug mine? I check the pockets of my coat constantly, feeling the inner lining for anything that could catch on my gloves.

Since it's winter break, I don't even have school to distract me from the worry building up inside. I'm just left to fend for myself in this agency without knowing my allies or the vipers set to strike. I blow out a large breath and head into the kitchen.

"Hey there, Maestro," Glitter chirps, handing me a purple smoothie. "Blueberry," she explains with a wink. "Gotta have a healthy-ish breakfast." The hero gives me a conspiratorial grin and dumps three spoonfuls of sugar into her porridge.

This loosens a laugh from my chest. I pull up a stool at the counter and rest my elbows while sipping the smoothie. The freshness of the fruit bursts over my tongue, and the tangy yogurt awakens my senses. I slurp it down while she explains our trip to the women's shelter for today.

"We'll spend most of the day downtown and then head back here for the dispatch shift," she says. A leaden feeling sinks in my gut at the thought of not doing any more high-profile cases.

Are they that disappointed in me? More than that, did I accidentally get Glitter demoted to desk-work too?

I nod anyway, figuring that any work will be beneficial to me. Maybe I can keep a lower profile and keep my mouth shut. I can just focus on the important work of getting help to the community. At least for now...

•°•°•°•

The goodbye keeps playing in my head. The way Uncle Mic's body shook as he held me close. The way I buried my face in his leather jacket and told him to come home for dinner. The way it hammered at the walls of our resolve.

But I had looked up into his eyes and not a tear had fallen from either of us. He kissed me on the forehead and started giving orders. I looked back at him as I made my way over to Mandalay's group where I've been stationed, and he gave me a wink. Despite my trembling lip, I winked back and steeled my nerves as we entered the Jaku General Hospital.

As I work beside Jiro from Class 1-B to help calm down patients and get them evacuated, a comforting weight hangs at my side. This morning, before we left U.A., I met up with Momo and Mei Hatsume. They helped to design a receiver for me and Mic to notify each other that we were okay when the fighting had ceased. Hatsume programmed the receivers, and Momo created the shatterproof casings for it. Mic and I both slipped them into hidden pockets of our costumes, and there they will stay.

My hand brushes against the weight as I wheel a bed down the hallway. Jiro's earphone jack scrapes against the wall as we walk, surely to pick up the vibrations of where we have left to go.

"They're almost done on the third floor," she relays calmly to me as we enter the freight elevator with a few more heroes and patients.

"Then we're on schedule to get the buses loaded and evacuated," a hero towards the back announces. They surely did this not only to convey the plan to us, but to assure the patients that everything will work out.

After helping them onto the buses, Jiro and I return to the second floor of the hospital, sending each other hopeful glances as we clear the last room.

"Maestro, Earphone Jack," Mandalay's voice calls in our heads. "When you finish with that floor, report to Nejire-Chan on the front lawn for city evacuation."

Jiro gives me a subtle nod and I illuse down to the lobby the hero is supervising. "We copy, Mandalay."

Sure enough, Nejire hovers over the grassy lawn of the hospital and beckons us to follow her when we emerge from the evacuation bus. "We're modifying Maestro's Echolocation tactic," she explains as we run to keep up with her. "We need to make sure we've gotten everybody. So Maestro, cast out an evacuation message as we go. Earphone Jack, I need you to listen for anyone who hasn't been evacuated yet. We'll move everyone to the city perimeter."

As I send out my first message, the hospital buses trundle past with all the patients. They head for the city limits. I pray we can get everyone out in time.