Strays (WHM)

Part 1

"First you team up with that insufferable ass, now you're pawning me off on him?"

"Uh..."

Senji gave her mentor the most deadpan stare she could manage. She had been set to go to Hawks' agency, with Tokoyami, for the second round of hero internships. But plans changed suddenly, with an entire city being wiped out by a Trigger bomb and pros requested to assist across the globe. And now Hawks was giving her orders to go with the group following Endeavor to Otheon. Tokoyami was out of earshot, and feigning disinterest in the whispering pair across the room, but his suspicions about the two continued to grow.

"Listen! I'm sorry, really!," the blonde man clapped his hands together in a praying formation, bowing his head at the teen girl in front of him. Senji's eyebrow twitched, and Tokoyami had to stifle a laugh from Dark Shadow.

"Kei..."

Hawks flinched, not really from what she said but because of her tone. To most, it would sound like she was just disgusted at him bowing his head like this to some random kid. But to him, it was a lot more than that. He knew she was mad, and he could fully understand why. They hadn't had any chances to properly talk for a long time now, and despite her cold appearance the girl must have been worried about him during the Fukuoka incident.

"Listen," he decided to try another approach. "It would be redundant to have both of us in one place. And as cool as the Todoroki family might be, they can all be a little slow on the uptake, y'know?"

Senji sighed and reset her facial expression. Hawks knew he was getting somewhere with this, and pressed on.

"So if you're there, you can help investigate should they miss anything. And you can make sure those two troublemaker kids stay safe, right? That Deku kid, and what was the other one? Blonde, loud...you two get along pretty well. The one you were so upset about on Nab-ow!"

Senji caught onto where he was going with that last part, and before thinking had smacked him over the top of his head. She walked past him to the door, each step slow and deliberate while she held back a flood of emotions. Hawks stood up and watched her with a small pit forming in his stomach. He then noticed Tokoyami, who looked absolutely appalled at what he'd just witnessed. Before Hawks could save face, Senji whirled around and gave her answer.

"Fine," she growled at him. He could see that under her long bangs, her face was burning bright red and her teeth were bared. The next part she practically shouted. "I'll go, but don't you fuck it up then!"

With that, she slammed the door shut and left the pro hero alone with his flabbergasted understudy. Hawks grinned awkwardly at the other student, but the boy just looked away and pretended not to see that weirdly unconfident face. Dark Shadow was less nonchalant about it, spouting question after question out.

"Damn," Hawks' shoulders slumped, with no way to wiggle out of a long-winded explanation this time.

...

"Why're you here!," Bakugo shouted at Senji as the group shuffled through the airport. Endeavor's brow furrowed, because of his intern's loud attitude and because he could easily guess why the number two hero had sent the girl with his group. That raised some questions, though, about why he would entrust that to a student of all people.

"Boss's orders," Senji grumbled.

She looked completely infuriated, something made worse by Shoto's attempts to discern what her frustrations might be. Izuku had questions of his own, but didn't want to add any more fuel to the ticking time bomb beside him. Burnin', one of the pro's stronger sidekicks, poked at Senji until she unleashed a volley of swears. Endeavor cleared his throat, then ordered them all to board and quit making a scene.

The group, accompanied by two more of Endeavor's sidekicks, boarded a special plane headed overseas. They were tasked with taking down the Humarise base located in Otheon. They would be moving into action as soon as the plane landed, so the students changed into specialized hero costumes en route. The costumes had additional sensors, and were designed similarly to Endeavor's to provide some unity.

"Seriously. Why. Are you here?," Bakugo asked again, but quieter than the first time. He understood that there was some sort of bond between his classmate and the pro hero Hawks, so he was sure that she would have stuck with him for this assignment. She had been pretty excited when she received the call for it, at least.

"Babysitting you idiots," Senji muttered an answer, but all three of her classmates took offense to that statement.

"Babysitting?," Shoto shot her a brief glare.

"Y'know. You guys are all pretty good at getting yourselves hurt. Recovery Girl ain't here, so it's my job to make sure you guys stay in one piece. Him included, for some reason," she waved her hand around as if swatting away their dirty looks, then pointed at Endeavor who was sitting nearby. The pro had been listening in, but pretending not to hear. Her last comment made it hard for him to hold his composure, though, with him sharing in the group's distaste for her choice of wording.

"Time to go," Endeavor spoke up, calling everyone to action. The group dropped from the back of the plane, rushing downward and into the halls of a large building tucked into the trees. They were greeted by several Quirkless gunmen. Senji used her scales to plug the barrels of the initial firing squad, causing the guns to backfire and allowing the others to rush inside. She wrapped up any injuries, and restrained the guards with specialized finger cuffs before heading in. She found the aftermath left by the others, and set about tying up and treating any injured. It had barely been twenty minutes when she received a broadcast over her ear piece, stating that the leader and any evidence was long gone.

"Of course it would be," Senji cursed under her breath. One of the Humarise members nearby spouted off at her, but she silenced him with a swift hit to the neck.

"Hey, we're supposed to go easy on them," Izuku spoke up. The group was already making their way back out, with police and ambulances rolling in outside.

"He's not dead. And it's not as bad as the dude-cicles over there," Senji stood up, dropping the man lazily onto the ground and shrugging.

"Shoto, your friends really are weird," Endeavor mumbled from the back of the group. Senji shot him a look, but said nothing and walked out with the others. They would leave the clean up to the Otheon authorities, and investigate further on their own.