He reached the top of the giant smokestack with no problem, and he'd angled himself so that he'd grab the ledge as he came up, then moved in an arc so that he'd flip around and land on his feet in a crouching position.
He need not have bothered. As it turned out, someone(Probably someone Black Cat knew Izuku suspected) had closed up the roof of the pipe with a giant, thick sheet of metal.
...
"Oh yeah, I forgot you could jump like that." Mina noted with a smile. "Kinda takes the wind out of the first part of mom's training though."
Black Cat though looked neither displeased nor angry, just… Melancholic as she looked at him. Then, as if she just realized it, she blinked then quickly turned to look out over the drop.
"It doesn't really matter. The important part is what comes now."
She motioned with her arm to the drop in front of them.
"Tell me Izuku… How would you start your next move from here?"
She pointed at the neighboring smokestack.
"Would you let loose a line now, before you jumped, or would you fire one after you were in the air?"
Izuku looked at the smokestack.
Then gave it a second of thought.
"I'll have to fire away after I jump. And… And I can't just jump straight towards it either. There… There isn't anything to grab onto after firing here."
Memories of the few times he'd used lines to move around buildings came to his mind. And so did the fact that he'd usually ended those by slamming straight into said buildings.
"If I don't have another line to the side while I'm moving, I'll just go down like a pendulum, until I slam right into the smokestack."
"Yes, very good. That's pretty much what I've seen happen with half the people I've taught to use web-shooters. They just web themselves to a wall and jump at it. Most understand from the start that you need to make a second line, but they never understand nor predict how hard that can be to do when you jump straight at it. It always ends the same though, with them slamming into the wall in a rather hilarious manner."
Behind her, Mina got a rather pouty expression as she glared at her mom.
"You though, you understood from the start that jumping straight at the wall you're web lining to is a bad idea. That's the first lesson."
Once more he felt a blush and a nervous smile come to his lips at the praise.
"You don't have the best instincts I've seen, but you've got a good head on your shoulders. That's great. I'd much rather prefer having someone who can think around… Sure beats another one like Tomo anyway."
Izuku grinned sheepishly at the praise.
It took him exactly 8.32 seconds to realize the implications of what she had just said and the fact she had just compared him(favorably at that) to her daughter-in-law.
As Izuku froze as if he'd been petrified, his face turning completely scarlet red under his mask, he was thankfully saved from having to comment on the matter, as Mina and began talking about something, as Venom commented on the matter inside of his own skull.
-Well, at least she's blunt about it all.-
What the two Hardy-Ashido's were talking about, however, was something he didn't hear, dazed as he was, and he didn't snap out of it until Black Cat suddenly addressed him again.
"Let's get back to the topic at hand. The line, now watch closely and use the same angle I do. And if you somehow actually do miss, don't worry about it, and just make sure you land on your feet. Unlike Mina, you're strong enough to just tank this fall without rolling immediately afterwards."
"YES!" He exclaimed in a very, very stilted manner.
Black Cat did not respond to the stilted yes though. Instead, and with a much slower speed than normal(more like a normal human athlete than the seeming bullet in human form Izuku usually saw her move at), she took a start, then jumped off the roof.
True to her explanations, she did it at an angle, and she let gravity take her for about 4 seconds of falling, before a line of that strange, sticky web shot out from her wrist and hit near the top of the opposite pipe.
What followed was an elegant pendulum motioned as she went around the pipe, before going up on the other side, and swung up over the lid of the thing, then from the other side she had just swung over she landed onto the pipe with a smacking sound as her feet hit the top with some force.
"We'll work on the finer points later, for now just focus on swinging around in a motion with hitting pipe head-on!" She yelled at him. Then grinned.
"I'll leave the "how" of how you stop up to you!"
Izuku swallowed.
Then looked down across the edge.
He couldn't help but be reminded about the first time the concept of jumping off a tall structure had been suggested to Izuku.
The first day with Venom as he truly was.
That day he'd been terrified of the very idea.
Today though… Well, the idea of jumping off this thing wasn't exactly enticing, but… Black Cat was right. He'd survive a fall like this with no problem. It was strange how much experience and understanding your own limits could completely change your perspective.
As he looked down, Mina stepped up beside him and gave him a playful slap on the back.
"Don't worry so much, you'll do fine Midori!"
She grinned at him, an expression of absolutely no doubts at all. About him. That he could do this no problem.
"Yeah…"
He swallowed.
Then, after crouching down his knees juuust slightly.
He jumped.
As he began falling, he didn't feel fear, though there was an element of… Uneasiness as gravity took hold of his guts.
Then, he extended his hand, and a long and thick rope of black and dark blur hit the Smokestack.
For a moment he kept falling.
Then, immediately, there was a PULL, and then…
Then he forgot that there had ever been anything in the world like fear.
He forgot that he was a shy, and generally nervous kid of 15 years, and that a beautiful girl that he liked and her mom was watching him.
He forgot every single doubt and worry that had ever danced through his mind as he took to the sky, and for the first time, he truly SOARED.
-Told you we should have done this from day one.-
---
Iida walked more along the city streets, as the hour struck 14.00.
Another day of so far 5 hours of patrolling the streets, and another day that was relatively uneventful. There was not a single case where anyone needed help today. Not in their presence anyhow.
"Just another day of patrolling." Manual noted in a somewhat forced cheerful tone.
Silence followed for a while after until Manual continued in a genuinely apologetic tone.
"Sorry if it isn't more exciting."
"It's alright. In fact… I think it's better this way."
As he talked, his head went from side to side.
Scouting for a certain man. For any hint of danger or out-of-place detail.
He'd literally been doing it for days now. Constantly scouting from side to side as Manuel walked in front of him.
He always immediately stopped whenever Manual turned to look at him or glance over to talk to him, and as the man suddenly stopped right in the street, he did so once more.
Manual swallowed before he spoke, and his expression was clearly that of a man that was bracing himself for something as he looked Iida straight in the eyes.
"Hey… I really hate to have to ask you this but… You're after the hero killer right?"
Iida froze.
"Well…" He said in a very robotic manner, completely emotionlessly, speaking as he had many times in his youth when talking to his brother.
He thought he'd managed to grow out of that by now.
"Truth is Iida… I've been wracking my brain around it since we met, but… I just can't see any other reason why you would possibly choose my agency."
Tenya didn't answer, so after a small bit of silence, Manual continued.
"I mean… Don't misunderstand, I AM happy that you did so, don't get me wrong, but…" His face turned into a kind of serious frown Tenya hadn't seen on him before now.
"Don't let your main motivation devolve into personal grudges."
Iida did not reply and so Manual continued.
"We heroes don't have the legal right to make arrests or to dole out punishment. It's only due to the advancements in quirk regulation that we are allowed to use our quirks at all. Vigilantism is a major breach of the rules our society is built off of. And if you're caught running off on your own, that's considered a major crime."
For a moment, silence just hanged in the air between them.
Until finally Manual's expression abruptly softened.
"Oh, don't misunderstand, I'm not saying heroes shouldn't deal with the Hero Killer and he should get off scot-free. It's just that you have this really intense look in your eyes. I'm Just worried about you, that's all."
The tension that had risen evaporated immediately as Manual backed down on the matter.
"I appreciate the warning."
And he kinda did.
However, he didn't need the warning.
He was well aware of the legal consequences of what might happen if this actually led anywhere.
But right now… Somehow that just didn't seem to matter to him.
All he could think about was that he had to do this. That if he didn't do something about the Hero Killer, these feelings inside of him would never go away.
The urge to do something was like a siren's call that Iida just could not imagine not following to it's end.
...
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