December, 20XX
Brooklyn, New York
The fires still raged along 73rd Street. Craters now where buildings once stood. Loch Ridge...no all of Brooklyn may have been lost. Any civilians still conscious could only look on at the horrors before them. But as if he could feel their terrified gazes, the fog that bogged his mind began to fade.
Koichi's body stirred to life despite being bloodied and battered. His visor in pieces, with parts of it barely hanging onto his face.
"I-it's fine now.."
The pain surged all through out his body. A broken leg, shattered ribs and a bloodied right eye he could barely see out of.
"Why?"
He managed to rise to his knees. He could still taste the blood in his mouth but he knew better than anyone what the people needed from him now. He saved their lives but now he needed to save their hearts. Through labored breathing he slowly rose his left arm or at least that's what his eyes told him as the feeling in his arms had been gone for a while now.
A warm smile graced his battered and bloodied face.
«I am here!»[1]
...
Months Earlier
July, 20XX
Manhattan, New York
«Huh? Yes mom I'm here.»
The gleam of the bright summer sun barely pierced Koichi's visors as he flew around Midtown. He typically avoided taking calls from folks back home while on duty. International calls always dropped occasionally as he flew along his patrol routes. But it was a different story with his mother, Shoko. For the sake of a quiet evening, it was best to answer her whenever she called.
«Makoto tells me that your English lessons have been going well...» Mrs. Haimawari said before trailing off.
«Yup! At first I was really rusty since I hadn't study since university but Makoto-senpai is a phenomenal tutor!»
«So when are you going to propose? I'd like to see my grandkids at some point in this lifetime.» Mrs. Haimawari replied in her typical condescending tone.
To say Koichi lost focus in that moment would be an understatement. For a moment, the owner of a nearby ice cream stand could have sworn he saw a man-shaped meteorite on a collision course for him. Luckily for the both of them, Koichi was able to collect himself before he could ruin both of their mornings.
Instinctively, he retracted his visor to analyze his surroundings. If he caused any more while on property damage on patrol Makoto threatened to dock his pay for 3 months. While trouble was avoided, a crowd did begin to gather. Seeing the nearby civilians' reaction to his near blunder and fearing what another one of his mother's outbursts would do to his concentration and his self-esteem, Koichi decided to take an early lunch break and finish their conversation somewhere private.
«I think its too soon to be thinking about that mom.»
«So when will that it be then? After you settle those lawsuits? After you retire?»
Mrs. Haimawari let out a small sigh.
«Its not just about you and Makoto. This is your dream...I understand now, but don't let your dream stop you from truly living. Remember, you were born as Koichi Haimawari first.»
Though she struggled a bit with the phrasing, Koichi knew what his mother meant. He's been so caught up in the storm and spotlight that is professional heroics for several months now. Since becoming a hero, his life has revolved around C.C Cooperation. Taking English lessons 3 times a weeks, physical training 4 times a week, and patrolling for hours on end. Without question he enjoyed helping people and making them smile but still his mother's words unnerved him.
«I-I'm sorry! That was uncalled for. I've very proud of you Koichi. I just-»
Mrs. Haimawari tone turned frantic as she quickly tried to fill the stewing silence.
«I know mom. It's fine, really.»
«Just keep yourself safe until I visit next month. It'll be a terrible birthday if I have to spend it visiting my son in a hospital again.»
As far as phone calls with his mother went, the fact that she was the one apologizing at the end was enough to call it a success. Though her closing remarks did bring up some particularly traumatic memories of Koichi's battle with Number 6. However, reminiscing about the scariest night of his life would have to wait as the communicator inside his visor began to ring. Luckily it wasn't his mother again.
"CCC-02. CCC-02 do you copy?"
Koichi regained his composure and cleared his throat.
"CCC-02 here. over."
"Your beacon was standing still for a while I'm guessing it was your folks givin' you hell again, Koichi? Try to keep personal calls to a minimum on duty, okay? I don't need Chris berating me again this month."
"I'm sorry Dean. Becoming a hero overseas is something my mom is still coming to terms with." Koichi responded meekly.
"It's fine, let's move past it we're on the clock! The ravens sent a priority alert for a shipyard downtown and asked us to help since you'd be the closest dispatch."
"Okay sounds good, I can be over there in-"
"However!" Dean interjected.
"The order is just basic recon. This is a commercial property with workers on duty. If and big IF things get hairy your orders are to keep damage to the absolute minimum."
"Understood." Koichi replied.
"Now I know Chris and the GM said you should just stick to disaster relief to avoid the possibility of any more bad PR, so if you not up for it just say the word and I can have the association-"
"No, Dean. I can do this."
There was a small pause followed by a brief sigh from Dean.
"Alright, sending you the coordinates now. Skycrawler Ganbatte! Try to keep both of us out the dog house, please..."
A familiar nervy smirk graced Koichi's face as he lowered his purple visor. As far as wearable support items go it was quite advanced. The latest and greatest from Shield industries according to Captain Celebrity. The view of the vacant rooftop Koichi found himself on was now overlayed with a 3D map of Manhattan. Every building, streetlight, and even tree were digitized. A blinking white dot labeled "SC" marked his location while a large red dot 7 miles away denoted his target.
Koichi did a few stretches as he readied himself for takeoff.
"CCC-02 en route!" Koichi exclaimed.
In the next moment, he broke into a short dash towards the edge of the rooftop. Though instead of using the roof's ledge as a final foothold, Koichi leaped gracefully over it down to the alley below or so it seemed...
The air beneath him hummed as a large, glowing ring began to materialize. Koichi began to squat down a top this ring as it miraculously suspended him in the air. He affixed his gaze to the sky as his visor displayed an optimal flight path.
"Up I go!"
The hues of his hero costume became little more than streaks of color as he shot up into the skies above Midtown. As his altitude increased his visor grew more opaque to block the incoming rays of the morning sun. In a matter of seconds the rooftop he just stood on was now several blocks away.
The hood of his costume rippled in the wind as he propelled over Times Square and flew towards the Hudson River. Captain Celebrity was extremely fond of the sights he saw while flying over Japan and ever since coming to America Koichi has developed a similar appreciation for the city. Certainly, the volume of people was more than what he was accustomed too back in Naruhata but the spirit of vigilantism was strong here. Not only were the heroes strong here but the people were too.
Koichi continued soaring through the skies above until his visor signaled that he had arrived at his destination. Beneath him was an isolated shipyard that ran along the Hudson River. As he descended, he made use of his quirk to lower his speed. Under C.C's haphazard tutelage, Koichi had been able further his mastery over his quirk.
As eccentric of a teacher C.C was, he did at least show Koichi how land without making much noise. Of course, in C.C's case, it was to avoid the sound of him landing masking the blare of his fanfare. Koichi employed this skill as he descended onto an unmanned crane.
"CCC-02 on site, standing by."
Koichi donned his hood and clung onto to the bridge of the crane. He watched as the oblivious workers below went about their day. He was a bit puzzled by the alert order as nothing seemed out of the ordinary as far as he could tell.
"Oh! Sorry I was takin' a leak. You got there a lot faster than I expected." Dean responded over the communicator.
"Dean, are you sure this is the place? Nothing seems out of the ordinary."
"Hmm... it should be. Ravens don't send alerts for nothin'. Keep an eye out, I'll scrub through the security cameras in the area."
Koichi waited on standby, analyzing the shipyard as the obnoxious sounds of Dean's keyboard drown out the typical maritime ambience. The workers seemed to just be going about their daily schedule. The number of workers with heteromorphic features was noticeable but not dubious. Before Koichi could tell Dean to mute his microphone, the clicking quickly stopped.
"Oi! Koichi, check your six." Dean said cautiously.
Koichi leaned back, his feet still clinging to the crane bridge as he oriented himself unnaturally beneath it. Now upside-down, he intently surveyed the area behind him. Quickly he spotted two workers chatting as they headed over to what seemed like a maze of shipping containers. They seemed like more innocuous heteromorph workers, but Dean spoke the contrary.
"The tall one on the right is Gabriel Sala and the other, Frank Bailey. Both have been living in NYC their whole lives. They've been working as hands on this shipyard for 5 years now. Most footage of them I found seemed normal. But the cameras are being a bit weird with them right now..."
"What does that mean?" Koichi asked, keeping his eyes on the pair.
"There's small artifacting happenin' on their faces. The kind you'd get from tryin' to record a hologram with your smartphone."
Dean was perplexed. His head scratching was audible over the communicator.
"Tail 'em for a bit. If I'm right, we're looking at some real tech-savvy imposters..."
Without a word Koichi quietly descended from a top the crane, settling behind a stack of shipping containers. Using his quirk, Koichi hovered slightly above the ground. He slid around the maze of metal boxes, silently tailing the two strangers.
Eventually, the pair came to stop in front of a large, orange shipping container. A few feet away Koichi remained hidden, tuning his visor in order to eavesdrops on the two.
«This is the one right?»
Japanese? Koichi thought to himself.
«Yes. Unit B-59120. Comrade Ivan said the new 'convert' liked oranges. Haha!»
The taller of the pair, the presumed Mr. Sala, stepped forward. He reached a hand to the base of his neck. There was an audible click and the once reptilian visage of Mr. Sala melted away. The other followed suit, disabling whatever holographic devices had been at work. Due to his positioning, Koichi couldn't yet make out their faces but he took note of what he could see.
Sala's imposter was lanky. He had slicked-back, black hair and a fair complexion. His right arm was sleeved in ink. The one that impersonated Bailey was bald, short with a noticeably pale complexion. He seemed particularly giddy, as he rhythmically leaned side to side.
The spindly man placed his thumb in his mouth, seemingly biting it. He approached the orange shipping container, wiping the blood from his digit onto one of its doors. The door vanished without a sound and in its placed appeared a knife which the man casually pockets.
«Knife's clean. I'll need to mark it again when we get back. Get the goods.»
The short man gleefully hummed as he entered the container.
"Dean, you were right. They were wearing disguises." Koichi quietly whispered under his breath.
"Bingo! Okay, smugglers will be a chinch. Let's get a read of what they're tryin' to make off with before you go in tho'. The last thing I need is you shooting your little blasts at an explosive or something..."
Koichi was about to voice his agreement but quickly stopped himself as he saw the short man exit the container with a bound women over his shoulder.
"They have a hostage!"
"Koichi, wait don-"
Dean's words were a moment too late. Like a true hero, before Koichi even knew it, his body had already moved on its own.
[1] Koichi switches to Japanese when yelling this part of All Might's catchphrase ("Watashi ga kita!"). I wanted to integrate bilingual speech into Koichi's mannerisms. So when you see these "«»" assume the character is speaking a language other than English.