Minoru found himself ushered into the Fly’s office and left alone with his costume and the precarious mountain of paperwork on the desk. After giving it a dubious glance and moving out of the likely blast zone should anything trigger its collapse, he pulled open the briefcase containing his new and improved costume and began putting it on.

  This was the first time he’d had a chance to look over the changes that had been made after his scathing criticism of the first iteration, and he was finding it a mixed bag.

  On the plus side, the absurdly oversized pant waist was gone. The costume was still a two-tone purple and yellow affair, but was much more form-fitting. He was pleased to find that it wasn’t tight, however; it was simultaneously loose enough to be comfortable, but tailored enough that it wouldn’t interfere with his movement.

  The downside was that the costume designer evidently really wanted to ornament it somehow, and they’d installed balls somewhat reminiscent of his grapeshot around his knees and elbows, with smaller variants near his wrists and ankles.

  So he still looked ridiculous; he just didn’t look quite as much like a clown, anymore.

  Minoru glumly prodded at the ball around one of his elbows. It was weirdly springy. He wasn’t sure what they were made of, but they might actually absorb some impact when he landed on them. He’d have to test that out in a safe environment, but if they were purely ornamental he was going to request a new costume designer.

  Costume in place, Minoru exited the office to find the Fly practically bouncing in place as he waited. “Wonderful, wonderful!” the man cried. “Excellent thematic cohesion; you look stunning.”

  Minoru eyed the Fly’s own costume, which also had somewhat bulbous decorations just above the man’s elbows. He suspected his wasn’t fashion advice that Minoru should take.

  “And now, to the roof!” The Fly threw open the outer door of the office and strode into the hall while Minoru scurried after him.

  A the end of the hallway was a door that didn’t quite stay closed with a faded sign that said: “Roof entry; unauthorized persons stay out.”

  The Fly blithely ignored the sign, pulled the door open with a screech of metal-on-metal, and tucked his arms up against his sides to allow him to proceed up the tight stairs. Minoru, being much smaller and without a protruding Quirk, had no such trouble.

  They exited the darkened stairwell onto the roof, which was as dirty and nondescript as the building beneath it. About the only feature of note was the hulking bulk of an HVAC system off in one corner.

  The Fly surveyed the sky above with a look of satisfaction. “Excellent weather for flying!” he proclaimed. “Now, come stand in front of me, Minoru. No, not facing me, the other way. Perfect! Alright, now the nature of my Quirk means that it’s somewhat difficult for me to maneuver while holding someone, but you’re just the right size so I think we’ll be able to work around that! I’m going to hold you under the arms like so—“ The Fly grabbed the sides of Minoru’s chest up near his armpits. “—then I’ll lift you up, and you’ll need to brace your feet back against my upper thighs.”

  He suited actions to words, and Minoru found himself half standing, half leaning forward. He glanced over his shoulder and the Fly was standing in a partial squat to give his feet somewhere to plant.

  “Excellent, excellent! Yes, I think this will work just fine.” The man’s Quirk fluttered suddenly, the wings or whatever they were making quick little adjustments that Minoru found difficult to track via sight. “Ready, Minoru? Then up we go!”

  A loud buzzing sounded as the Fly’s Quirk sprang fully into action, and Minoru felt his stomach fall out from under him as the two shot into the sky at an upward angle. Surprisingly, the Fly was able to maintain his posture, and Minoru found himself standing relatively securely on the man’s thighs. Practically the only thing moving were the wings extruded from the man’s forearms, which were buzzing so furiously that they just looked like a blur.

  Minoru was beginning to see why the man had ended up labeled the “fly”.

  Although Minoru had said he wanted to see what flying was like, he had to admit this particular flying experience was a bit of a disappointment. Rather than gliding and swooping like a bird, the Fly moved in ways that were hard predict and made Minoru vaguely nauseous. It was admittedly pretty cool to see the city spreading out beneath him, but the need to brace himself against the man along with the unpredictable movement sucked a lot of the enjoyment out of it.

  At last the Fly landed on a balcony near the top of one of the tallest buildings in the surrounding city, and helped a wobbly Minoru hop down to stand on his own.

  “Well, how was it? Flying, that is!”

  “Uh,” Minoru said. “Flying is pretty great, but—sorry, I’m just a little sick to my stomach at the moment.”

  The Fly threw back his head and laughed. “Yes, indeed, flying with me is not for the faint of heart! You’re lucky we didn’t have to do any real maneuvering! I can’t tell you how many times I lost my lunch learning to use my own Quirk.” He shook his head.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “Sorry, that sucks.”

  The Fly waved a hand. “It is no matter; it was well worth it in the end. But that’s not why I brought you here!”

  Minoru looked around. “Where are we, by the way?”

  “This building is the headquarters of the largest hero agency here in Hosu City; I have special dispensation to use these balconies while pursuing my own hero business.” The Fly puffed up his chest, looking prideful, though Minoru wasn’t sure what about that statement was so amazing.

  The Fly turned to take in the city before them. “I would have preferred to talk about this in the air where we have a proper top-down view, but, well…admittedly my wings are a little noisy for that and you were looking a bit green about the gills. So! Here we are instead as a compromise.” The Fly gestured to the city below. “What do you see?”

  Minoru just couldn’t keep up with this guy’s train of thought. He looked out over the admittedly-impressive vista. From here he could see down into a number of the surrounding streets, the people scurrying about far enough below that they were difficult to distinguish aside for some with flashier Quirks. “Hosu City?” he ventured.

  “Well, literally, yes,” said the Fly, deflating somewhat before rallying with his prior energy. “But what we as heroes care about is what makes up a city: its people! You know what I see?”

  Minoru was willing to bet the Fly would tell him.

  “I see the people and the cars and the buildings, of course, but what I’m looking for as a hero is not where people are but where they could be. That is what I hope to teach you with this internship!”

  The Fly looked expectantly at Minoru, and Minoru looked blankly back. “I’m not sure I follow.”

  “Hrm, how to explain it.” The Fly fluttered his wings in what Minoru could only assume was a nervous tick. “I don’t know about you, but when I first started hero work, I dreamed about defeating villains in epic battles, saving people from disasters, that kind of thing. But then I showed up to the job, and well…I just wasn’t good at any of that. My Quirk was situationally excellent, and I’ve never regretted being able to fly, but villains mostly ignored me or blew me off and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.”

  Minoru understood that so well it hurt.

  “So anyway, I was in kind of a dark place there for a bit, but then I got to thinking: maybe my utility as a hero was less about my Quirk and more about the perspective that my Quirk gave me. And that’s what we’re getting from way up here. Ah, there! See the person in the yellow hat?”

  Minoru looked where the Fly was pointing and sure enough could make out someone wearing what appeared to be a bright yellow hat. Either that or they had a truly unusual manifestation of a Quirk.

  “Now say that person is a villain. I’m unlikely to be able to stop them directly on my own, but I have something better than direct confrontation: we can see from here that their movement is heavily constrained. If they move off the sidewalk they are at risk of getting hit by a car. The buildings prevent them anywhere but up or down the block. There’s an alley there ahead of them, but if they duck into it they have even fewer options because there are fewer doors or windows into nearby buildings.”

  “Okay…” said Minoru. That was all pretty obvious, though Quirks could completely change the math.

  “Given my knowledge of where they can go, then, my job as a hero is to direct them down routes that ensure public safety, reduce the likelihood of property damage, and ensure their capture. Which brings us to your Quirk.”

  Minoru’s eyes widened. “Oh! That really is just like my match with Todoroki.”

  The Fly pointed at him. “Exactly! Your hair balls are a perfect deterrent, particularly if your opponent knows how they work, which as someone who wants to work as a public hero is incredibly important. Lesser or new villains may have the element of surprise on their side, but professional heroes always must assume their opponent has at least cursory knowledge of their Quirk’s capabilities. By placing your hair balls intelligently, you can checkmate your opponents before they realize what is happening!”

  “Checkmate?” asked Minoru.

  “Yes! Are you familiar with Western chess?”

  Minoru shrugged. “I had a teacher in elementary school who taught it to us, but that was a long time ago.” A really long time ago; he barely remembered anything beyond the fact that the pieces all had different ways they could move, and the horse was weird.

  “Good enough!” proclaimed the Fly. “In chess, the goal is to maneuver your opponent’s king into a position where he has no choice but to be captured: checkmate! It wasn’t until I discovered chess that I realized what I was doing wrong all those years, but now that is what I do every day, and what I hope I can encourage you to start thinking about, as well!

  “Look at it this way: the street you see down there is the chess board. The civilians are mostly pawns, moving slowly down predictable paths, though some of them might be able to promote to a more powerful piece during a crisis, depending on their Quirks. Their own capabilities and the hard constraints of their environment dictate what types of movement each person is capable of, and they are additionally under soft constraints based on one another.

  “For instance, no one wants to enter the street because the cars are the rooks: they can travel very quickly down a straight line, and anything that enters that line is at risk. We can then use our knowledge of those patterns to take actions that force people to move in predictable or beneficial ways.”

  Minoru supposed he’d have to take the man’s word for that; the Fly’s ideas were turning out to be more intriguing than he’d expected after his first impressions. “That’s all well and good, but how do you put those concepts into practice? Your Quirk is completely different from mine.”

  “Ah, yeah, that’s true. I was more excited to find someone who would benefit from my theories about villain capture, but from the standpoint of practical applications, I can’t really help you. Have you ever seen an English sheep dog in action? They tend to race around the sheep and nip at their heels to direct them, which is more or less how I manage, too.” The Fly laughed, sounding a little embarassed. “Of course, some villains I less chase and more taunt, but the theory is the same, just inverted.”

  “So basically, you’re telling me that I need to know my environment and herd enemies towards where I need them to go?”

  The Fly waved a hand noncommittally. “Yes and no. My approach is to quickly evaluate the environment and my opponent’s capabilities and then influence them into positioning themselves in a place where they can’t help but be defeated, often by heroes other than myself. I suspect you will also need to learn to assess situations quickly but more so that you can block off your opponent’s winning moves before they’re able to make them.”

  “And you got all of that from…Western chess?”

  “Never underestimate chess!” exclaimed the Fly cheerfully. “Though practical training is arguably even better, so let’s go interrupt that purse snatching, shall we?”

  Before Minoru could spot what the Fly was talking about, the man had swooped behind him, scooped him up under the arms, and winged down off the building towards the street below.