All Might - or rather, Toshinori Yagi in his depowered form - can't help but let out a sigh. He knew that 'stepping back' from hero work to deal with 'personal obligations' (as is the official statement) would cause the crime rate to spike, but what he underestimated was exactly how much. Adding on to that is the fact that out of the thousands of heroes that used to patrol the streets less than two years ago, twenty-five percent of them have since left the occupation. Though it would be more accurate to say that they were either arrested or fled before they could be. For what other reason would they go into hiding before they could be investigated?
A full quarter of Japan's heroes, gone! And him, the Symbol of Peace, forbidden from providing aid to those in need! Well, mostly. After the seventh instance of technically-but-also-not vigilantism he'd technically committed, Mera had come to the conclusion that the number one hero is simply incapable of leaving a crime he sees alone, even if simply calling another hero and keeping an eye on the situation would be just fine.
Which Toshinori can admit is completely correct. After all, it's a hero's duty to help those in need! …Even if his doctor, former sidekick, friend, mentor, Nezu, and the occasional exasperated hero would rather he learn when to take a break. But that's essentially what his forced leave is! And he can admit (very reluctantly) that it's done him more good than he expected.
Ever since he'd been injured in that final battle against All For One, the time he's able to utilize One For All has been steadily decreasing. By the time his license got suspended, he could only hold his muscle form for five hours a day! But now that he's not straining himself to try and squeeze every last second he has available out of the quirk, it hasn't decreased at all! At least, he would assume so. He hasn't had any particular reason to hit his time limit since he's only allowed to deal with crimes that he comes across naturally while going about his day.
If him going about his day in his civilian form just so happens to take him along areas with a high crime rate, well. That's hardly his fault, now is it?
Except… those areas have a noticeable lack of crime? Not that there are no crimes, obviously, but the areas he definitely remembers being listed as dangerous are distinctly not. He did notice that there are a higher number of people with more full-body mutations, and that they tend to alter their appearance rather significantly from what is typically considered 'baseline human', but that's hardly something to make note of. People are people, and whatever their quirk is will hardly change that
No, he has no idea why those areas would be declared as having a high crime rate, so he sent an email to the head of the HPSC that the man should look into why they were, and moved on to more populous areas. Of course, he failed to spare a second thought for the new headache he'd given the perpetually sleep-deprived Mera, who was forced to do an audit of every member of the HPSC's staff, newly hired or survivors of the previous purge. This ended up with even more people getting fired and/or arrested for quirk discrimination, sabotaging records, and so on. He was furious to find that, somehow, members of the Creature Rejection Clan had managed to worm their way into his workforce. Alongside members of the Inhuman Supremacy Party and Quirkless Liberation Front! How damn lazy was their hiring process!? He'd need to rework everything from the ground up!
Not that such a thing is any concern for Toshinori, especially with it having occurred months ago. No, at this moment his only concern is with the young lady who was pulled into an alley in front of him!
After taking a moment to buff up, he leaps into action, taking what he thinks is an intimidating yet heroic pose at the mouth of the alley and giving off his signature catchphrase! "FEAR NOT, CIVILIAN! WHY? BECAUSE I AM… HERE?" …Only for it to trail off awkwardly at the sight that greets him.
Instead of seeing the expected sight of a heinous criminal targeting a young lady for nefarious reasons - perhaps a mugging or kidnapping? - he instead sees said young lady with her fist frozen beside her head, arm cocked back while staring at the Symbol of Peace with jaw-dropping astonishment! …And the criminal on the ground holding his stomach while groaning in pain.
All Might isn't entirely sure how to react to this, and he's self aware enough to know that if he'd come across this situation without seeing the girl pulled into the alley that he would have made the same assumption as when he confronted that scaled girl who threw him out of Tokyo. Literally. After he'd gotten his license suspended he read the reports of the incident and felt like an idiot for jumping to conclusions. He wanted to apologize to the girl but was immediately told that if he tried anything to get into contact with her that he would be incarcerated in Tartarus. Which he thinks is a gross overreaction! Thankfully, no such thing will occur here!
"I AM GLAD TO SEE THAT YOU ARE ALRIGHT, YOUNG LADY! THOUGH, UM, I DO BELIEVE YOU ARE TAKING YOUR SELF DEFENSE TOO FAR?"
Before the girl can respond, the downed man lashes out at her ankles, his fingernails extending and sharpening to dangerous points. All Might kicks into motion, appearing right next to the two near-instantly! 'Near' being the key word. In the second it took for him to actually appear next to them, the girl's foot had already begun swinging for the man's head. And in the second it takes for him to pull his arm back for a punch, it makes a crunching contact with the man's head and knocks it into the ground with a loud thud.
All Might stares for a moment after the villain's hands fall to the ground, surprised that he… wasn't needed. Even being right at the scene, he accomplished nothing before the young lady had taken care of everything. And judging by the mutation on her ears, she didn't even use her quirk! Which means no vigilante laws were broken! He's pulled from his thoughts by the girl's voice.
"Yeah, thanks for the 'help', All Might, but I got it handled." The girl says casually before pulling out her phone and pressing two buttons before putting it to her ear. All Might can't do anything more than stare at her for a moment, baffled. This is not how people typically react when he appears!
Before he can collect himself, the person on the other end of the phone appears to pick up, because she starts to speak. "Yo… Yeah, it's me… Yes, it happened again… Nah, just me this time, though you should probably expect a call from the others soon, shit seems linked for whatever reason…" She uses her quirk to hold the phone next to her ear while she rummages in her pockets, not having to search long before pulling out a number of long zip ties. Zip ties that she proceeds to wrap around the villain's hands and feet, not even pausing in her conversation.
"Of course I knocked them out, I'm not an idiot… Again, not an idiot, I'm doing it now… They can grow and sharpen their fingernails. They haven't gone back to normal though, so it's probably more complicated than that… No, I don't think they have any tricks. Just a random mugger, I'm pretty sure." Whatever is said on the other end causes her to roll her eyes. "No, I'm not going to 'end their bloodline'. That's more Yui's thing than mine… Well, obviously. I'm pretty sure one of her main motivations for becoming a hero is so that she's not tempted to join an underground fight club… Probably, but we all went to therapy when we were younger and she still ended up like that, so not sure what to tell you… Yeah, yeah, I know the drill. See ya soon."
She hangs up after that, seeming to remember that All Might is there for the first time. She raises an eyebrow sarcastically at the man as she puts her weight on her back leg and shoves her hands in her jacket's pockets. "Need something?"
All Might blinks blankly at her before shaking his head and clearing his throat. "UM, YES. I NEED YOU TO ACCOMPANY ME TO THE POLICE STATION SO THIS VILLAIN CAN BE PROPERLY PROCESSED AND YOU CAN GIVE YOUR STATEMENT! DO NOT WORRY, IT SHOULDN'T TAKE LONG."
The girl gives the hero an incredibly unimpressed look, which is impressive in itself since she hasn't looked impressed for a single moment since he showed up. "Didn't you hear my call? The police are already on their way. Not supposed to move away from the scene just in case there's something more going on." She shrugs. "I mean, it's not likely, but I'm hardly trained to make that call. Need to get taught at UA before I earn the right to say that I am."
That manages to catch All Might's attention. Enough that he brushes past the fact that she's apparently involved in enough crimes to have the police on speed-dial. "YOU PLAN TO GO TO UA?"
"Duh. It's tied for the best hero school in the country alongside Shiketsu." She rolls her eyes like such a thing should be obvious. Except…
"IS UA NOT CONSIDERED THE BEST ANYMORE?" He could have sworn that his alma mater hadn't dropped in the school rankings…
The girl scoffs disdainfully, which honestly hurts All Might's pride a little bit. He remembers his time at UA rather fondly, after all. "People only say it's the best because it's the school you went to. It's always accepted the same number of students as Shiketsu, and the graduates at both schools have consistently topped the hero charts. Neither school has ever pulled enough ahead of the other for either one to be declared 'the best'."
All Might admittedly scrambles a bit to think of something to point to to defend UA, and eventually lands upon the one thing he's certain helps his case! "AH! BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ACCEPTANCE RATE? UA HAS A 2% ACCEPTANCE RATE DUE TO THEIR EXCEEDINGLY HIGH STANDARDS!"
"That's only because everyone thinks it's the undisputed best and so applies there," she retorts easily. "The hero course exams take days to go through since it's almost everyone's first choice. It's not like they accept less people or any shit like that, people are just dumbasses and don't put any thought into why the rate is so low."
All Might stares at her, this time appraisingly, taking in her appearance. She looks old enough that she has to be nearing the end of middle school, either this year or the next. Dressed in a black, mostly unzipped hoodie over a grey shirt with the words 'Deep Dope' plastered across the chest (All Might has no idea what that is, maybe he should look it up to connect with the younger generation?), and a dark green skirt that comes to a stop just above her knees. He thinks she looks a bit like a delinquent, especially with that suspicious and challenging look in her eyes, but the world is changing, maybe how heroes are perceived needs to change as well.
She's smart… Obviously trained in combat… Wants to be a hero… Refuses to accept things simply because 'that's the way it is'… Perhaps…
He clears his throat and puts his weight on his back foot before crossing his arms, trying to seem casual. He doesn't notice the way the girl's shoulders subtly tense. "IF YOU DON'T MIND ME ASKING, WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE A HERO?"
She blinks at him, taken aback for a moment. "Not what I thought you were going to say…" She mutters to herself before shrugging, her hands still buried in her pockets. "I… had a friend, a few years ago." She looks away, staring at the wall as she explains, though she makes sure to keep the man in view out of the corner of her eye. "Her dad murdered her because he was a quirkist bastard. I want to be a hero so I can do my best to make sure nothing like that happens to someone again."
All Might nods, satisfied, before holding out his hand. "YOUNG LADY, HOW WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO TRAIN YOU TO BECOME A HERO?"
Contrary to what he thought would happen (he has a feeling he should get used to that, with this girl) she just raises an eyebrow and looks him up and down doubtfully. "Really? Why? We literally met five minutes ago."
"WELL," All Might scratches his cheek awkwardly, unused to needing to explain why he wants to help someone beyond 'Because it's the right thing to do,' "IT'S BECAUSE I ADMIRE YOUR HEROIC SPIRIT! YOU REMIND ME OF ME WHEN I WAS YOUNGER!"
Her eyes narrow and he's sure he sees her glance down at something. He takes a quick look himself but just sees the villain still unconscious on the ground. Returning his gaze to the girl, he dismisses it as a trick of his imagination just as she continues talking.
"Where exactly would we be training?" She asks slowly, almost a drawl. "Might Tower?"
All Might almost says yes. Almost. But if he were to make it so public that he's training her, then there is no possibility of her being able to go about her day-to-day life without being hounded by the press or rabid fans. Not to mention that after he passes his quirk on to her, people would be more suspicious of how… whatever her quirk is… ended up giving her super strength. No, something out of the public eye would be best. If he remembers correctly, there's a place that he can help her build muscle and provide for the community. Where was it…? Ah, yes!
"I AM AFRAID NOT, BUT REST ASSURED! I KNOW THE PERFECT PLACE FOR YOU TO PREPARE YOUR BODY FOR A CAREER IN HEROISM!" After his announcement he turns his head, hearing the rumble of a car but not sirens. Are the police still not here yet? Thankfully he has a good deal of time left on-
He's forced from his thoughts (rather painfully, might he add) when he turns back to look at his chosen successor only to get something sprayed in his eyes. Yelling in surprise and pain, he stumbles back while scrabbling at his eyes in an effort to wipe away whatever it is he got hit with, only to trip on something and fall backwards to the alley floor. The surprise of the impact causes his injury to flare up, a cloud of smoke erupting from him along with a splash of blood spraying out of his mouth. At the same time, he hears a door open and close, but he's too distracted to pay much attention. Especially given that he's just discovered that rubbing at his eyes just makes the pain worse!
"Yo, Detector," he hears the girl say, and a familiar voice responds.
"Please use my title," the voice of his friend, Naomasa Tsukauchi, says tiredly, as if long given up on expecting to get anywhere with the request. He continues before she can respond. Probably with violence, if his treatment is anything to go by. "So, I see the guy on the ground, who I'm assuming is who you called about, but what's with the smoke cloud?"
"An All Might look-alike showed up while I was taking this guy out; a shapeshifting quirk, I'm pretty sure. He was acting suspicious so I pepper sprayed him just before you showed up."
There's silence for a moment as his friend processes those words, and then All Might hears him let out a loud, drawn out groan. "I can't believe this is something I'm about to ask. There's no way I'm right. I mean, he should know better by now, right?" He takes a deep breath in that he lets out slowly. "He didn't happen to go from 'All Might' to a blonde skeleton, did he?"
There's a bit of silence. "Uh, you know this guy, Tsukauchi?" The girl asks uncertainly.
All Might hears the man sigh heavily. "I really hope not."
A few moments later, the smoke clears, revealing Toshinori Yagi laying in All Might's place, his hands hovering over his eyes, twitching in their need to do something to help with the pain but not knowing what. Naomasa groans again, which prompts Toshinori to make what he thinks is a rather urgent request.
"Please call Recovery Girl."