"The villain's name is The Juggernaut. He is notorious for his strength and has been involved in multiple bank robberies. His Quirk allows him to bulk up into a large muscular man, also boosting his strength drastically." Sukuna heard the operator's voice from his earpiece.
"Alright listen up, I'm giving you full permission to act on your own." Sukuna then heard what Hawks said as the pink haired boy leaped from building to building at blinding speeds, his Quirk already activated as soon as he exited the agency.
"Don't bother about the stuff about the Provisional Hero License, I got it handled long before you came to my agency. Though I suppose that you don't really care about it, considering your past stunts." Hawks glanced down, noticing that Sukuna was keeping up with him even though he was flying at full speed.
"Why would you go through all that?" Sukuna asked, confused. In reality he didn't mind if he was told to sit back and observe, he came here to learn from one of the best, not be a battle hungry maniac.
"Well... no reason!"
"Are you fucking with me?" Sukuna grumbled to himself. Why the hell would someone bend institutional norms just for him? There was no pros to this reckless behavior, unless the number 3 hero really did have that much sway with the Hero Public Safety Commission.
'What the hell are you pulling here?' He thought to himself. Ironically, the fact that Hawks didn't act like a strict supervisor made Sukuna more cautious, added from the fact that the hero explained hero agency mechanics too casually, then asking weird scenario questions to him, wanting to know about his decision timing and the likes.
'Either he trusts me completely or he is measuring my natural behavior. And I'm not going with the former.' Sukuna doesn't mind evaluation. What he does mind however, was being treated like an unstable vector until proven otherwise.
Though he wasn't sure about Hawks' true intentions, as these were only guesses, he could only stay wary of the man.
"We're coming close." Sukuna heard Hawks' voice again from the earpiece. Just then, he heard panicked screams from the streets below.
"Juggernaut is currently charging through the streets. Evacuate the civilians, stat." Hawks ordered. Sukuna, without hesitation, jumped off the building.
Landing on the ground, he saw a giant man, about 2.5 meters in height, stomping through the streets while holding a giant bag full of cash. He immediately went to grab a civilian that was the Juggernaut was about to crash into, and carried her out of harms way within the second. This process repeated a bunch of times, as Sukuna got people out of the way at blinding speeds.
Meanwhile, Hawks had send out his red feathers to carry people out of the Juggernaut's way, creating a clear area. Sukuna didn't wait any longer, he charged towards the giant man while balling his fist.
A loud boom rang across the district a second later. Hawks and the civilians watched Sukuna land a full powered punch on the Juggernaut's stomach. The Juggernaut his body folded from the punch before falling down with a huge boom. His eyes rolled back while his body started shrinking, returning to a normal sized human.
"Target... Target is down..." Hawks found himself stumbling on his words as he pressed on his earpiece, his expression nothing but in pure disbelief.
'What the hell? Juggernaut's body was so strong that the analysts say he simply crashed through a steel vault once to grab the cash. And this kid just folded him like a piece of paper. What kind of monster am I monitoring...' Hawks thought to himself, putting up a cheerful facade as he landed on the ground, patting Sukuna's shoulder.
"Well done, kid! Not bad for your first patrol huh?" He congratulated. Sukuna glanced at him silently before looking away, his eyes already searching for any wounded.
"Our job's not over." Sukuna muttered, shrugging off Hawks' hand on his shoulder, walking towards an injured bystander who having some debris on his legs, trapping him. Hawks, with an unreadable expression, watched as he walked away.
This kid was more uncontrollable than he thought.
...
"Thank you."
"You're so young to be out here."
"Aren't you that Sports Festival kid?"
"Can I have your number?"
Sukuna had a deadpan as he was surrounded by a crowd of civilians, all showings their gratitude to the teenager for saving them on a moment's notice. It was the aftermath of the battle, Hawks' sidekicks came in and cleaned up the scene while paramedics brought the injured to the hospital via ambulance. Hawks wasn't by Sukuna's side, the man had the unfortunate luck of being trapped by journalists from various news channels.
At some point, Sukuna noticed cameras flashing as some people decided to take pictures of him. He still maintained his deadpan, not knowing what to do or how to reply to their gratitude. Though unknowingly to the pink head, his signature deadpan would quickly become a national meme in a couple of days. Such was the power of the Internet after all.
Now he knew why Aizawa hated the spotlight. But Sukuna had chose this path for himself, so he might as well endure it.
"Young man, what type of hero do you want to be?" He blinked, noticing a journalist holding a microphone near him.
'How does one even think of answers to questions like these on the spot?' Sukuna wondered, thinking for a moment before answering, staying true to his core principles
"I want to be a hero people don't need to think about when they are afraid. When danger appears, I want people to believe someone will handle it." Sukuna stated as the gathering crowd became silent.
"And why do you say that?" The interviewer asked, intrigued at the mature response.
"Heroism isn't entertainment. Saving people shouldn't require the people to wonder whether help will come."
"You'd certainly become quite the hot topic after this. Tell me, how do you feel about the spotlight being on you right now? Do you like it? Do you perhaps want more of it?" Sukuna internally wished he could just disappear using the Substitution Jutsu. If he answered these kinds of questions wrongly, he would essentially be digging his own grave.
"Recognition is not protection. If someone is safe because I was there, that is enough." He answered simply, still staying true to himself. Although he internally questioned how a journalist could be asking a high schooler these types of merciless questions, yet they ask braindead ones to influential political figures.
"Alright! Alright! I think that's enough for the day. We have some more work to do!" Hawks dragged Sukuna out of the crowd in time, as more and more journalist had crowded Sukuna, wanting more from the hero of the hour and the winner of the UA Sports Festival's Tournament.
"Ciao." Sukuna, who now had his Quirk activated, waved slyly at the crowd before he disappeared, while Hawks took off flying.
The journalists, being true to their nature, started interviewing the crowd instead, hoping to get more info about this new intern working under the Number 3 Pro Hero.
...
"Sorry I'm late. The staff decided to give me a tour first before sending me to find you." Tokoyami apologized as soon as he arrived in front of Hawks and Sukuna. It had been thirty minutes since the villain encounter, Sukuna and Hawks were currently patrolling the streets until Tokoyami appeared from the shadows.
"Oh yeah, Tokoyami right? I was wondering where you went when we were at the agency just now."
"By the time the tour ended, you two were already outside." Tokoyami explained. Hawks waved him off.
"What matters is you're here now. C'mon! Don't stop now, we'll be going at it all night!" Tokoyami and Sukuna both stared at Hawks, wondering if this was the true number 3 Hero, making dirty jokes all the time.
"Ew..." Both teens said in unison.
"It's you guys' brains that are dirty damnit!!"
...
"I'm sure you already know that hero work isn't just beating up the bad guys. We also have to prevent panic, limit damage, control the narrative and preserve public trust, sometimes all at the same time. You already know how to kick ass, but do you know how to be gentle when the situation calls for it?" He turned around to look at the two teens.
" We've got reports of a lost child around the corner. I'd like to see my two new interns give it a shot." Hawks grinned at them, clearly challenging them.
Sukuna and Tokoyami both looked at each other.
It couldn't possibly be that bad... right?
Well turns out, it can be.
"Wahhh!!! Mommy!!!" Tokoyami was speechless.The two had found the child, with Tokoyami taking the lead by approaching him first, but it seems as if his gothic knight appearance only scared the child further.
"What's wrong?" Sukuna knelt down to her level, a strange gentleness to his tone. The girl sniffed, pointing at Tokoyami.
"This bird man is about to kidnap me!" She wailed.
"I-I..I..." Tokoyami's eyes were wide, his beak open in pure disbelief. He tried to form words to dispell the child's thoughts, but nothing came out. Surely his appearance can't be that scary, right?
Little did he know, his shocked expression would also become a meme in a couple of days, at the same time with Sukuna's 'I'm so done with this shit' face, courtesy of the bystanders recording and taking pictures of the scene.
Sukuna snorted, stifling a chuckle while shaking his head. "No he's not, why would he kidnap you? He's a hero, both of us are, and we're here to help find your parents." Sukuna explained, showing the child a reassuring smile. Technically they weren't official heroes just yet but hey who's counting?
"R-really? You're a hero?" The child looked up expectantly at Tokoyami. Sukuna took a glance at Tokoyami, all it took was one look for the goth to know that he should smile and be gentle.
"Y-yes. I am." Tokoyami managed a smile, although it looked awkward. "I'm to assist in finding your parents, do you remember where they last went?"
The girl shook her head. "I-i dunno. Mommy and daddy just disappeared like poof!"
" How about we take you to the police station, and we'll wait for your mommy and daddy? Or do you want to wait here?" Tokoyami asked some more.
"U-um... Police station I guess..."
Tokoyami nodded before Sukuna smirked, patting the child on the head.
"Say little girl..." He then glanced at Tokoyami.
"Do you wanna fly?"
To be continued.....