Chapter Text
"Todoroki!" Kaminari exclaimed as he pushed into Todoroki's room and held him in a bear hug. "It's been so long! I missed you too! Man, it's good to be back in the dorm with everyone!"
"Good to see you too Kaminari" Todoroki replied and went back to unpacking.
"So what have you been up to this summer? I mean other than your workstudy?"
"Not much. Mostly visited my mom a lot and spent time with family."
"Man, working with your dad and hanging out with your siblings, you sure are close to your family."
Todoroki froze for a moment. If you only knew how close Endeavour and I are. "Ya. Since I spend all year here anyways, I thought I should spend the rest of my time with my family. And I work with Endeavour because his agency seems to be the best fit for me, so far at least."
"Well yes and then there's also...."
Kaminari blabbered on as Todoroki finished unpacking and joined everyone else for breakfast in the dining area.
Everyone seemed refreshed after the summer, other than the ones on workstudy. Life got pretty real for them pretty fast. But as tiring as it was, every day was rewarded with civilians appreciating them for their service, and nothing matters more to heroes than people's happiness.
Everyone's excitement was carried on to their classroom as well, with voices chatting here and there, only to be interrupted by Aizawa Sensei's arrival. They half expected him to arrive in a sleeping bag, and they half expected to have him as their homeroom teacher at all in their second year as well.
"Quiet down everyone and take your seats!" Iida was back at his CR tendencies, even though they haven't even elected a CR yet. Though chances of it being Iida again is unquestionably high.
"You take your seat too Iida." Aizawa ordered calmly and stood at the podium as Iida apologized and sat down.
"I hope you all are energized for this semester and a new school year. You are now second years so naturally our expectations of you have increased. Those of you who had workstudy all summer, I hope you have learned a lot and have a lot of experiences that have both motivated and inspired you. And those of you who didn't get to go on workstudy yet, I hope you enjoyed your vacation but did not skip training. I will be making preparations to get you all into one this semester, so you better be prepared. You are one step closer to being pro heroes, but how good of a hero you will be is completely in your hands."
Sensei paused to look at everyone. Everyone had a determined smile of their faces.
Well, almost everyone.
"We'll begin this year the same way we did last year, a test to determine your improvements, strengths, weaknesses and decide how to move forward. Everyone put on your costumes and meet me at the Gym Gamma in 10 minutes. If you're late, I will consider expelling you." Everyone gasped.
Aizawa turned to move to the door. "Iida."
"Yes Sensei!"
"Costumes on the first day? What kind of a test do you think this will be?" Kaminari exclaimed.
"Well, either we will be testing our moves or combat training. Although combat training is unlikely since we're not going to the battleground." Midoriya wondered.
"Lucky for you workstudy people, most of us have been lazying around the whole vacation! Right Mineta?"
"Huh?"
Kaminari, Kirishima and Midoriya turned to find a trembling Mineta.
"Mineta kun! Are you all right?"
"Are you feeling ill? Should I take you to recovery girl?"
"You're shaking! Do you have a fever?"
"STOP! I DON'T WANNA GET EXPELLED!" Mineta screamed as he burst into tears.
"Well, then move your ass and quit wasting our time you ball head!" Bakugo shouted, banged his locker shut and stumped out, closely followed by Kaminari and Kirishima.
Todoroki returned his attention to his cuffs.
"Todoroki kun" Midoriya greeted.
"Midoriya"
"Great job with your workstudy over the summer. I saw it all, all over the news! Your achievements were celebrated all over media!"
"Don't worry about the media. The only reason they broadcasted me as much was because The Number One Hero's Son Finally Joins His Father On The Field. If they were unbiased, the world would see so much of you too, with the swamp monster, the razor villain, the warp gate and everything."
"Oh I didn't really get to do much in those" Midoriya says as he bashfully scratches his head.
"You always put your 100% to your heroism. Don't discourage yourself. The important thing is we got to work on the field and have made actual contributions. "
"Yes." Midoriya said with a smile, impressed with Todoroki's growing positive outlook.
"For now, let's get back to training so we can become better heroes." Todoroki shut his locker and made his way to the gym with Midoriya and the rest of the boys.
________________________________________________
"Today's test will be quite different." Aizawa said. "A test and a training combined, but this will also test your teamwork. Pro heroes may work with 2 or 3 sidekicks, but in times of great danger they find themselves teaming up with many more heroes from many agencies. People they've never worked with before, who they don't know at all. The teams of 4 become a huge group of 20."
Right then, All Might walked in, accompanied by a girl. She looked to be their age. She was completely clad in a big cloak and wore half a mask on the right side of her face.
They both took their places beside Aizawa, with the girl in the middle.
"All Might and I will be assessing you today. We will judge every attack, every dodge, and everything down to your tiniest decisions. You will all be teaming up to capture a rogue villain."
Aizawa pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "We will consider the villain captured once you put this handcuff on them." He walked forward and handed the cuffs to Iida. "There are no restrictions on this at all. You are allowed to use your ultimate moves on the villain as well. The only restriction is that you end this before your next class."
Todoroki caught a glimpse of the girl nodding at someone behind him. He turned around to see Tokoyami nodding back. She smiled and diverted her attention back to Aizawa.
"This will be a very hard test, so you are allowed to fail. In fact, I might be a little surprised if you pass."
Everyone grew a little uneasy.
How hard can this test be?
"So make sure to make the right decisions. Your quick thinking will be especially challenged. And remember to use your attacks to their full potential." Sensei paused. "Because today the villain will be Anni." He motioned towards the masked girl.
"Anni, introduce yourself without mentioning your quirk." He turned to Tokoyami. "Don't share her info with anyone else either, Tokoyami."
Everyone glanced at Tokoyami, who seemed to be quite uncomfortable.
"Good morning everyone." Anni spoke, taking back all the attention. "I'm Annihilate, but you can call me Anni. I have been hero training for the last 10 years now under Eraser Head and All Might, and have never had the opportunity to enroll in a school before like you guys. I have been working with Hawks under the radar for the last 2 years, which is how Tokoyami and I know each other, but as I had not been disclosed to the public, almost no one knows me at all."
A secret hero? Why?
"But since I'm in the clear now and am finally allowed to roam around freely in the outside world, you guys will be seeing a lot more of me! I apologize for the inconveniences you'll be facing because of me and the imbalanced playing field right now, but..."
Finally free? Imbalanced playing field? What exactly is her quirk? And how dangerous is it?
Todoroki took another glance at Tokoyami, who still appeared quite uncomfortable.
"...I'm excited to finally be here and work with you guys! I hope you will all truly benefit from this too!"
"Okay, now that we got that out of the way, you all will mingle with her after this so we can have some balance here..."
"Oh..." Anni exclaimed.
"What did you do?" Aizawa immediately questioned her.
Powerful yet sloppy?
"I got so excited about meeting them all that I took a peek into your files." She giggled nervously. Aizawa clearly seemed upset but turned back.
"Well that adds to the realism of this, because normally a villain may be new and no one knows about them but villains do tend to know a lot about the heroes' abilities. Let's see if you can truly harness the power in numbers. Any questions?"
All the students were dumbfounded, but a gloved hand was risen. It belonged to Anni.
"Yes, Anni"
"How much am I allowed to hurt them?"
That question truly scared some of the students.
What. Is. She.
"Minor injuries. Nothing that Recovery Girl can't heal in under 30 minutes."
"This truly is training." She seemed nervous too.
What is happening?
"As promised. Begin whenever you're ready."
With that, Aizawa and All Might walked off to the side, leaving 100% of everyone's full attention to Anni.
"You guys should form your strategy and make your lines of attacks."
Anni said.
Everyone huddled together in a circle to discuss.
Well, almost everyone.
"We don't know anything about her at all! " Kaminari exclaimed.
"And Tokoyami isn't allowed to say anything either." Added a 'about to shit his pants' Mineta.
"Well, if 20 of us with 20 different quirks is at a disadvantage against one of her with one quirk, we should assume she's unbelievably strong." Todoroki said, still struggling to grasp all his observations.
If she is that strong, why is she allowed to fight us in our school?
"The best we can do now is form our normal lines and first launch small quirk attacks on her to see how she reacts using her quirk. Once we've identified her quirk and how she uses it, those of us with quirks that can do damage on her should persistently attack on her while the others attack from the sides." Midoriya, always the smart one.
"Yes."
Everyone agreed and started taking their places.
Well, almost everyone.
"Well..." Anni's bored expression disappeared and she stopped tapping her foot.
How is she even not the tiniest bit worried? We're all allowed to go full force on her, but her hands are tied.
Anni pushed her cloak back, revealing her full costume and started taking off her gloves.
"...I must apologize..."
She let her gloves fall to the floor beside her.
Todoroki's eyes widened.
Are her hands...
"...for what you're about to see."
She took her mask off.