Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

One Minute Before the Event.
(Day One, Time 08:59)

“ Alright, my Listeners! ” Mic shouted over the video screens surrounding them, forcing them all to finally focus . “Everyone brace yourselves, the show is about to begin!”

Shouto glanced at his teammates, both braced and ready as Mic continued to explain the event and the rules. “You all know the basics! A free for all match with no rules except no serious injury or harm to your fellow contestants! Due to the nature of this event, the Commission has gotten permission via the Japanese Government to basically say that no other laws will hold you back within the confines of this mock city! Time to embrace your inner Villain and let loose!

Virtually all of UA’s Hero Course, all three years, were crammed into this city. Shouto’s eyes darted from team to team, taking in the groups that distanced themselves from the main cluster, the ones who seemed confident, who seemed nervous, who seemed weak . 

A small flame flickered in his palm as he took note of who would be an easy target.

“Remember! Keep those monitoring devices on at all times!” He spared a glance at his own wrist where he had attached the small, watch-like device. Some people, due to quirks and gear, had opted to have their device hang from a chain around their neck, others tucking them away in a discreet pocket. “They include the basic information about who is still in play as well as a more detailed list of the rules of the event! Official teams are not included in this information, so be cautious. No telling who is really working with who!”

“Oh, I’m getting pumped!” Uraraka half whispered at his side, practically bouncing in place. Shouto was glad she was managing to compartmentalize her earlier worries for Midoriya.

Now, if only he could do the same.

“Ura— Radon , please focus!” Iida begged quietly, though his engines warmed slightly in preparation.

“You all will have free control of the city for the first two hours! Try and take out as many of your opponents as you can!” Mic continued to explain, gesturing wildly and dramatically on the screen while Shouto absently marveled at how the man always managed to keep his hair in place despite it all. “Ectoplasm will act as a neutral piece of the game to collect anyone who has been effectively knocked out! Any attacks against him will be considered immediate disqualification!”

“Can you blame me for being excited?” Uraraka crowed during Mic’s speech. “We are gonna kick some butt!”

“Otherwise, be warned! Once we hit the two hour mark, Patrollers will be set loose on the city!” Mic screamed, dropping into a pose like he was strumming a guitar. “We have kept a tight lid on our guest performers for this act, so who knows who is going to be stepping through those city gates to collect you evil doers! I can certainly guarantee that some of them are really topping the charts!”

Shouto’s eyes narrowed. The Patrollers were the only ones he was truly concerned about. They usually sent them in in rotations of three to four in various years, but each year, the candidates were more and more high profile due to the popularity of the streamed event.

And given that this year’s ratings were predicted to easily beat out the Sports Festival…

“And lastly!” Mic shouted with glee, arm sweeping out in front of him. “Keep an eye out for the Watchers .”

As if on cue, dozens of flying drones zoomed towards the field, circling the whole crowd and zooming in on various students.

“The Watchers will be filming the entire event and zooming by to get your close ups!,” Mic explained as a drone zoomed over close to Shouto, stopping almost directly in front of him. If he did not know better, he would have said that it…happy wiggled? Was saying hi? All he knew for sure was that he was confused, but the drone zoomed off before he could think more of it. “Destroying one on purpose is considered grounds for immediate ejection from the game! Accidental destruction will not dock you, but be cautious! Principal Nedzu is fond of these little guys.”

The drone that had flown into Shouto’s face did a little flip in the air before zooming back into formation with the others, soon to be lost amongst the mass of other drones. 

“Now,” The boisterous blonde continued, leaning in close to the screen with a wild grin. “Are you all ready ?!”

“We’ve been ready!” Someone in the crowd shouted, followed by several other voices chiming in with whoops and hollers of their own. 

“Well, alrighty then!” He shouted, dramatically pointing towards the camera. “Let’s start that countdown!”

It was then that a large, bright red number appeared on the screen, detailing the stylized ten over Mic’s visage. The screen began to split, and video footage of various students bracing for the impending attack began to show up from the film of the Watchers circling them like vultures. He could see flashes of other grades, of Class 1B, of his own classmates, all braced for the start.

“We start in T-minus ten !”

Shouto let ice frost over his palm.

“ Nine !”

Distant shouts of excitement grew over the crowd.

“ Eight !”

“Class 1B—“

“ Seven !”

“—shall be victorious!”

“ Six !”

“Shut the fuck—“

“ Five !”

“—up, Copy Cat!”

“ Four !”

“Found Bakugou,” Uraraka muttered.

“ Three !”

“As if that’s hard to do,” Iida quipped back, causing Shouto to smirk.

“ Two —“

The screen distorted, glitching over Present Mic’s visage.

“ O—on —“

The screens all suddenly froze on the eerily distorted image of Present Mic, and everyone just… stared . No one moved, no one acted, all caught off guard by the glitch. 

“Is…is something wrong with the tech?” Someone shouted amongst the silence.

Another chimed in shouting, “Do we start?!”

Everyone still remained rooted in place, shifting nervously, sending unsure looks amongst each other as the Watchers continued to lazily circle overhead. Then, before anyone else could comment…the screen came back to life.

Covered in static and producing the most ear splitting screech —

Shouto was quick to try and cover his ears, and distantly he could see several others trying to follow suit. Those with more sensitive hearing literally collapsed to the ground screaming , the few seconds of sound causing severe pain and left them highly disoriented. He thought of Jirou, of Shouji, both on Yaoyorozu’s team but nowhere in sight.

The pain they must be dealing with—

And then the sound ceased as suddenly as it began, and the static began to flicker away from the screen…only to reveal someone that was decidedly not Present Mic. 

“Hello, little Heroes… I hope you do not mind the interruption.” 

The figure was close to the screen and backlit, making it near impossible for Shouto to make out their features. All the while their voice was… distorted , pitched low and just sending chills up the ice user’s spine. Despite the distorted tone, however, the amusement was clear in the speaker’s voice. “I just had a little announcement to make before this event continued—”

“What the hell is going on?” Someone in the distance shouted.

The figure grew unnaturally still , the amusement dropping from his tone. “I would tell you if you would be quiet and listen .” 

Shouto felt his stomach drop . 

They had just replied . Whoever this was, whatever was happening, that was not just a video recording. That stream was live . 

This person was watching them.

“This isn’t funny!” One of the 1B girl’s shouted at the screen, and Shouto glanced over to see her in the distance. Her face was hard to make out, but she was clearly disturbed. Which, for good reason.

“Who said this was a joke?” The figure shifted, holding his hands up at an angle that outlined them in the light as he slowly adjusted his gloves on his wrists. “I am merely here to guide you all…to act as a mentor of sorts. To give you all a lesson .”

Not being able to take it anymore, Shouto finally stepped forward despite his teammates whispering at him not to, and he resolutely shouted out, “What kind of lesson?”

The figure shifted, seeming to almost turn towards him on the various screens surrounding the field. It had to have been a trick of the eye, because there was no way he could face towards him on all of the screens, but the idea still floated in the back of his mind, still set him off, screaming danger, danger, danger —

“Oh, Shouto… ” His blood ran cold. The figure on the screen began to step backwards, stepping into the lights behind him, all while the distortion to his voice slowly flickered in and out. “You should know better…”

And then they could finally see him. 

Standing in the light, the figure was clad in a relatively simple outfit, just dress slacks and a crisp white and tucked in button down dress shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbows, displaying well toned and muscular arms and all the scars he had accumulated over the past year. The gloves he had been adjusting were pure black leather, fitted and snug on his hands. The usual fluffy mess of curls seemed to have been cut and styled since the last time Todoroki had laid eyes on him, and an undercut shaved along the sides of his head. Even his ears, once devoid of anything, now both sported piercings.

And his eyes . The same familiar shade of green, but whether a trick of the light or a side effect of his quirk, seemed to glow, giving off an air that screamed predator. The small, coy smirk that replaced the usual bright and cheerful smile only served to solidify that feeling.

A large, black trench coat was tossed to him from offscreen, and Deku dramatically and smoothly swung it around to drape over his shoulders, framing him like a cape. Adjusting the coat as he moved back farther, he dropped into a previously unnoticed chair, one that looked more like a throne than anything else, crossing his leg in a casual pose as he leaned on the arm, his familiar bright red shoes on display.

Those shoes felt like a mockery on this… imposter .

Several gasps of shock and recognition broke out, cries of denial and outrage, Bakugou’s voice and quirk crackling amongst it all as he shouted out an enraged, “ Deku! ”

Dropping his cheek into the palm of his hand as he leaned casually against the arm of the chair, Deku’s smirk growing into a devilish grin. “Oh, the lessons I have planned for you all! I’ve grown quite weary of some of your behavior, how you tend to view society despite all that has happened in the past year, all that has occurred that should have pulled the wool from your eyes.” The grin slowly dropped, and something so unfamiliar , so cold and callous and apathetic and just not Midoriya appeared on his face. “It’s getting rather disappointing .”

All the whispering and denials ceased at that one word, replaced with nothing but dread .

Then, the smirk returned as if it had never left. “But you are all still students!” He threw his arms wide before clapping his hands together in an exaggerated fashion, as if he were giving a performance on a stage. Shouto supposed that in some ways, he was. “It is understandable that you are still learning, and I am more than willing to help! However unlike most Villains—“ The casual referral of himself as a villain had Shouto reeling back as if struck. “—with their usual grand displays and speeches about their cause, I have no intention of revealing too much of my hand so soon.” 

Leaning forward, hands braced on his knees as he continued to grin at the camera with those glowing eyes and his face eerily lit by the overhead light, he cooed, “So, I urge you all to listen , to pay attention . I have so many plans! But first…an exercise to get your blood flowing and adrenaline rising!”

… oh no .

Suddenly, the sounds of mechanical whirring cued up from all around them, and they all watched in muted horror as remnants of Nedzu’s security system fired to life. Dozens upon dozens of machine guns popped out of the surrounding buildings and structures, all settling into place, all taking aim as the Watchers swirled in mass higher to the sky…

Out of firing range.

“And for the record, Deku isn’t here at the moment,” Midoriya said in amusement over the screen, his eyes glinting with mischief. “So please…”

The guns began to whir to life. 

Shouto found himself shouting, “ Everyone move! ”

“Call me Sensei.”

And then the gun fire rang out, and the Event truly began.

Chapter Text

Two Weeks Prior to the Event.

“We have an important topic to discuss today.”

Everyone sat up straighter in their seats, all focusing in a bit more on the tired looking man leaning on the podium in front of them. While yes, it was quite common to see Aizawa like this, he looked unusually…. haggard today. 

“I am not happy about this announcement,” he continued in his usual monotone tone, though with a tad more bite than usual. “Most of the staff agrees that this is in rather poor form, even more so than the Sports Festival, but we were overruled by the Commission.”

Confused murmurs circled around the room at that. “The Commission?…” Sero asked warily. “What got them involved?”

“It’s about the annual Villain Day Event, isn’t it Sensei?” All eyes turned towards the back corner of the room where Yaoyorozu sat, her hand meekly half-raised, a pensive look on her face. “It is held in a few weeks time, correct?…”

With a tired sigh, Aizawa ran his hand across his face. “Yes. The Commission convinced the school board to continue with the event.”

The room broke into sharp gasps and shouts. “You’re kidding , right?” Mina objected as she slammed her palms on her desk, looking half ready to jump to her feet. “After everything that has happened this year—!“

“Like I said , the majority of the teachers were against it,” Aizawa interrupted, though his tone was calming, reassuring, having noticed the frayed edges that his stressed class had already been exhibiting. And with good reason, too. Very few students have the kind of experience that this class has earned, very few fully licensed heroes even. They knew the truth: they knew how heroics was not all glamour, how harrowing and terrifying and dangerous this career can truly be. These children knew all too well. 

And now they were being expected to play the role of the kinds of villains that had tried to kill them.

“Um…” Satou chimed in carefully, glancing around the room at the mix of mild outrage and slight confusion. “What exactly is the Villain Day event?”

Before Aizawa could elaborate, Iida was on his feet and facing the class, arm chopping at his side as he explained. “This event is an annual school competition! In it, all three years of Heroics take place in a mock battle royale style brawl in an attempt to be the last one standing! It is an honored UA tradition!…” His voice suddenly trailed off, a hesitant tone replacing his usual booming persona. “…but perhaps not so honored given the past year.”

Aizawa looked too tired to even be upset by Iida jumping in. “As your president said.” Shoving his hair back from his face, he propped himself on the podium as he dug out a little remote device from his pocket, clicking on the projector that descended from the ceiling and flickered to life. “Villain Day is, yes, a battle royale event. Students are encouraged to make Villain themed personas and then fight in one of the various cityscapes on campus.”

“…doesn’t sound pleasant,” Ojirou began hesitantly. “But nothing too bad—“

“Isn’t it live streamed online, Sensei?” Hagakure cut in.

Ojirou’s face went blank. “…okay, so kind of bad.”

Jirou scoffed loudly, slumping in her seat as the PowerPoint display appeared on the screen. “So, the Commission really wants to televise us again , even after the shitshow—“

“Language,” Aizawa cut in, but only half heartedly. 

“After the fiasco post Sports Festival,” she amended, still just as irritated. “Have they already forgotten the freaking nightmare of the training camp?”

A loud snort came from across the room, and all eyes snapped to one of the boys sitting by the window. They were used to the sound, were used to it coming from that place in the room. It was a daily occurrence to hear whenever anyone, be it teacher or classmate, said something that hit a nerve just right. However, the bitter sound did not come from the usual source. 

Bakugou snapped around in his seat and scowled at the boy behind him. “Something funny, Deku ?”

Midoriya blinked, seeming surprised, before flushing bright red and stammering at all the eyes on him. “N-no! No, that’s not— I just—“ Then, an unusually frustrated sigh chimed from Midoriya before he snapped, “Just—are any of us actually surprised that the Commission would do this?”

Several jaws dropped , and even Bakugou blinked in surprise at the uncharacteristically… bitter tone from the boy. Kind Midoriya, Heroic Midoriya, the ‘You can do it!’ Midoriya…just made a statement that is very not Midoriya. Nor was it very Deku. It was…unexpected.

It was different . 

Midoriya glanced around the room, suddenly seeming more surprised as he took in the looks of shock. “…really? None of you expected this?”

And it was eye opening . 

“Oh?” And all eyes were once again back on their sensei who watched Midoriya with a decidedly neutral expression. “Care to elaborate, Midoriya?”

The hesitancy was back on Midoriya’s face, but after a moment, a specific look, a familiar look that Aizawa was becoming increasingly well versed with as time passed settled on Midoriya’s face. And with a determined glint and a hard set scowl, the usually timid boy bared his teeth. “Do I really need to explain why to an Undergrounder?”

The room was dead silent. Several of the class looked near panicked, possibly even horrified at Midoriya talking back to Aizawa. Bakugou looked like his whole life was starting to shift. Midoriya’s friends looked shell shocked, and then Todoroki looked… intrigued . 

And as for Aizawa?

“Huh.”

And then a smile, the smile slowly began to creep across the Pro’s face, something behind his eyes seeming to click , as if he finally understood some long held mystery that had been evading him for years. The class all physically leaned away from that look on Aizawa’s face, his eyes just the slightest bit manic…only for the man to quickly school his expression into something semi-normal.

Though he still looked like the cat that had gotten the cream.

Shaking his head, he barked out, “Watch this video on the rules and safety regulations for the event.” Then, his scarf whipped off to the side to flick off the room lights before he hit play on the projector, moving to drop down onto the floor behind his desk and pretend to sleep as if he had not just given half his class a heart attack and emotional whiplash. 

Once within the safe confines of his sleeping bag, he discreetly pulled out his phone and began to type away in the teacher’s chat.

Dadzawa: I am now cautiously excited for this year’s Villain Day.

Dadzawa: …

Dadzawa: Okay, who tf changed my name again?

Yūei Academy @uaofficial ✓ · 1 week ago

Everyone, it's that time of year again! Time for UA’s annual Villain Day Event! Be prepared to see our hardworking Hero Course students show off their talent and skill during this action packed two day event streamed right from our official webpage!

Keep an eye out for updates in the next few days. 

PLUS ULTRA!

#VillainDay #UAherocourse

6,483 Replies | 94k Likes | 759 Retweets | Share

        Present Mic @mic_official ✓ · 1 week ago

            replying to @uaofficial

        I’ll be hosting this event for UA! Everyone make sure to tune in for some wicked sound bytes!
        OH YEAHHHH!

        839 Replies | 11k Likes | 78 Retweets | Share

        Hawks for #1 @marryme_hawks · 6 days ago

                replying to @uaofficial

        I can’t believe that after everything that’s happened this year, they are actually going
        through with this. The sports festival after the USJ was distasteful enough.

        22 Replies | 343 Likes | 7 Retweets | Share

            Miruko’s Thighs @mirukoswife · 6 days ago

                      replying to @marryme_hawks

             I take it you didn’t hear the rumor that Hawks was going to be a patroller this year—

             5 Replies | 24 Likes | 1 Retweet | Share

                   Hawks for #1 @marryme_hawks · 5 days ago

                            replying to @mirukoswife

                   Nevermind, this is an amazing idea—

                   2 Replies | 57 Likes | 3 Retweets | Share

One Hour before the Event.
(Day One,  Time 08:13)

“Todoroki?…”

The boy in question snapped his head up. He had been lost in thought for a while now, trying to mentally prepare himself for what was about to come. “Oh, Uraraka. Is it time to head out?”

“Not quite, but soon.” Shifting awkwardly, the girl wrung her hands in front of her, looking nervous. Most of her outfit for the day was already donned, just a simple black flight suit with a few dark pink and white accents. Her hands nervously twisted the hem of a dark grey aviation jacket, her helmet nowhere in sight. “I was actually hoping you had seen Deku?…”

Several heads shifted towards them, everyone likely wondering the same thing. Sadly, Todoroki could only shake his head, fiddling with his temperature regulator gear, staring at the gunmetal colored accents. Like Uraraka and many others, he had put in a request for an outfit change but had opted to simply change the colors of his hero costume, his once blue jumpsuit now black and the accents all darker tones. “I’ve barely seen him over the past two weeks…and he hasn’t responded to my texts since yesterday.”

She looked defeated. “You too, huh?…he hasn’t said much to Iida or I either…not since the Event was announced…”

Kirishima wandered over, spiked shoulder pads already on as he hesitantly asked, “Is he sitting the Event out?” 

“It would appear so,” Iida chimed in, approaching the group with his helmet tucked under his arm. His costume had very little changes technically speaking, but the darker metal with sharper edges was still an intimidating look. “He has been rather… cagey about the event as a whole.”

“I don’t blame him,” Jirou interjected. Her costume change was simple compared to everyone else’s, only having the difference of a solid black shirt with black face paint. She had commented before about not caring enough to put much effort into a new look. The main reason she was even participating was because her teammates had asked her to join. “We’ve all been through some shit this year, and I can’t see our class cinnamon roll being even remotely comfortable with participating in this. And he’s definitely not the only one to sit it out.” 

Several members of their class had already announced that they did not wish to participate in the event, with ultimately Ojirou, Koda, and even Tsu not joining them. Kendo even admitted a couple members of Class B would be sitting out as well. The trauma from the past year had been heavy for their grade as a whole, and no one could particularly blame them for not wanting to join.

“Has he joined anyone’s team?” Kaminari chimed in, looking more like a punk rocker wannabe than a villain. “I know we’re permitted to go solo, but like, that doesn’t seem to be his jam, y‘know?”

Uraraka slumped even more. “No, not as far as I’m aware of...He did mention that if he joined, he might just go solo…that way if he has to forfeit part way through, he wouldn’t drag anyone else down.”

Sero frowned, the white accents of his usual costume replaced with dark grey. “Well, that’s just depressing—“

“This whole event ain’t exactly sunshine and fucking rainbows,” a voice snarled from the other side of the room, though not nearly as loud as usual. Bakugou strolled forward, his outfit every bit as eye-catching as his hero outfit. The familiar orange X crossed his chest, his top looking like a sleeveless version of his winter outfit, though he threw on an oversized street style jacket as he approached, one with a stylized orange dragon motif on the back. “Yeah, let’s have a bunch of kids run around and beat the shit out each other playing ‘villain’ while all of Japan gets to watch: It's not like real villains are an actual threat and should be taken seriously .”

Jirou rolled her eyes. “Wow, Bakugou, look at you. Both turning your nose up at a chance to beat others up and defending Midoriya.”

Red eyes narrowed in on her as he quietly growled, “You fuckers know exactly why I’m not over the moon about the idea of playing a villain for the public’s fucking amusement. You know, since they already think I’m a villain anyway.”

The earjack user seemed slightly cowed, slumping in her seat. “Well, you don’t have to participate…” she muttered. 

“Like hell am I not gonna join,” the surly blonde barks back. “Someone’s gotta give you shits some real competition. Who else is gonna put up a fight? The fucking Copy-Cat?”

“Still,” Kirishima began, hesitantly reaching towards his friend. “If you aren’t comfortable, you don’t have to join…”

Despite the scowl on his face, Bakugou did not shake off the redhead who patted his shoulder. “I’m fine , Shitty Hair.” Then, glancing at the rest of the group, he barked out, “And the whole lot of you better not hold back on me or some shit, you got that?!”

“We understand, Bakugou,” Yaoyorozu chimed in softly, fidgeting nervously on the side of the room. She had on a pair of black shorts and a bando top, with a matching cloak resting in her lap. “We just want to make sure you are okay.”

“Tch.” With that, the blonde began to storm off towards the exit. 

Todoroki turned his attention towards Kirishima, who watched after the blonde in concern. “Is he a part of your group?”

“No…” Sighing heavily, he added, “Bakugou said he wanted to do this on his own. That he had something to prove.”

Before the bi-colored hair teen could comment, a buzzer sounded throughout the room, signaling the time to leave. Iida stood at attention, loudly calling out to them. “Alright, everyone! Take your places: the event will be starting soon!”

As they all moved out, Todoroki trailing closely to Uraraka and Iida, his two teammates, he felt a pit of dread growing in his stomach. 

For the life of him, he wished he knew why .

Yūei Academy @uaofficial ✓ · 3 days ago

Here is our very own @mic_official to give an update on this year’s Villain Day Event!

[Static cleared, and the screen focused in on a familiar face, scrunched in confusion as he squinted at the camera lens, occasionally tapping on the glass. “Hello? Mic check! Is this thing on?” A thumb flashed from behind the screen, and the man grinned broadly as he jumped back with a spin, loudly shouting “Oh YEAHHH—”

Red light flashed from somewhere behind the camera, and an irritated voice ground out, “ Mic , I swear to god, if you break another camera, so help me—”

The grin only broadened as Present Mic carried on, ignoring the angry voice. “Well, hello out there, listeners! It's your favorite radio host here to record the opening announcements for UA’s annual Villain Day! I’m Present Mic, ready to present you with the quick 4-1-1 of what to expect from one of UA’s most highly watched events!

“Now, the layout is similar to previous years. For the next thirty six hours, our hero course students in all three years will all be locked inside of one of our cityscapes in order to duke it out to be the last hero standing!…Or, should I say, villain .

“Yes! Unless you’ve been living under a rock somewhere, you should know that all of the students involved will be taking on villain themed personas! The goal of this event is to give the students a chance to not only get a look at fighting from a villain's perspective, but to also let off a little steam at the end of the year by competing against their fellow classmates! It's gonna be a free for all in the streets, but they are going to need to channel both their fighting prowess and street smarts if they want to be victorious!

“And it's not just their fellow students that are threats! All throughout the event, several heroes, both teachers and other surprise guests topping the charts, will be making the rounds on ‘patrols’ to ‘capture’ these nefarious evildoers! The Patrollers’ goal is to ‘arrest’ as many of these villains as possible! The villains can still escape custody, but once transported out of the city, they are out of the game! So remember, keep an eye out for some rather interesting cameos!”

Present Mic let his smile slip a bit, donning a slightly more serious look though still warmly smiling to the camera. “As a side note, unlike in previous years where this event was a mandatory assignment for students, this is now an optional event due to incidents occurring over the past year. Students have the right to opt out if they so choose and participate in a different assignment. We understand the stress that various students have been faced with, and we here at UA will offer all the support needed to students both involved in the event and those sitting it out.”

His eyes darted to the side for a moment as the cameraman seemed to signal that time was running short. “Anywho, be sure to stay tuned in for future updates about the event! Keep on rocking, Listeners, and this is Present Mic, signing off!”]

#VillainDay #UAherocourse

4,573 Replies | 102k Likes | 684 Retweets | Share

        Dream Girl @dream_girl94 · 3 days ago

                replying to @uaofficial

        Oh thank GOD its optional—

        67 Replies | 378Likes | 47 Retweets | Share

                Mt Lady is a Goddess @mtladystan · 2 days ago

                        replying to @dream_girl94

                Still kind of sketch that they are allowing this at all…

                58 Replies | 88 Likes | 8 Retweets | Share

                        Stain had it right @stainfan732 · 2 days ago

                            replying to @mtladystan

                        All heroes care about is the money and attention, is it any wonder that
                        they kept this up?

                        14 Replies | 5 Likes | 7 Retweets | Share

                                Mt Lady is a Goddess @mtladystan · 2 days ago

                                        replying to @stainfan732

                                Ew, stain apologists still exist??? I’m blocking you, get tf off my tweet—

                                27 Replies | 201 Likes | 17 Retweets | Share

Five Minutes before the Event.
(Day One, Time 08:55)

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe—

“Todo— Phosphorus ,” the voice quickly corrected as she spoke, and Shouto found himself glancing over his shoulder towards her. Uraraka had a brave face on, but her nerves were evident. “Should we be this close to the center?…”

His eyes darted to the side, scanning over the large cluster of students in the square. You could barely go ten feet without being able to touch someone, despite how large and open the area was. But Shouto assumed that this is what happens when you cram three years worth of hero course students into one area.

It was not as if they all just randomly decided to convene here for the Event start. The teachers had all encouraged the students to meet in this spot, having baited them with the fact that it was the best position to see the announcement screens that would keep them informed of the Event’s progression. Present Mic would be hosting for the majority of the Event, with Midnight supposedly filling in for his off hours.

Still, no matter what the teachers said, everyone knew the truth. 

This was the epi-center, the point of detonation…

Shouto’s eyes locked onto a familiar blonde only around a hundred feet away.

This was location ground zero.

“It certainly is not preferable,” another voice chimed in, and Shouto stopped scanning the crowd to glance over at Iida. With his helmet tucked under his arm, the boy stood tall and resolute. “But this is the best place to have updates and receive supplies, should we manage to collect them before the others.” The small smirk that grew on Iida’s face was well deserved, seeing as how they doubted anyone would be able to snatch the best supplies away from Ingenium , even if he had a different moniker for now. “ Plus, this is the best place to gauge our opponents’ strength.”

Shouto nodded. “As Iida—as Mercury said.” Shouto quickly corrected. “We are well suited enough to survive this, and should we need to fall back, we will.” Trying to think about what to do, what to say— Midoriya would know — He shook the thought from his head. Trying to smile, to look even slightly encouraging or like a leader, Shouto added, “It will be alright, Radon.”

She shifted from foot to foot, sighing. “I guess you two are right…I just…have a bad feeling, is all.” Her face grew distant. “I thought for sure Deku would change his mind…”

“It might be for the best,” Iida added with his own sigh. “I am simply glad that he admitted to himself that this was not a good environment for him mentally. Hopefully, once this is over, he comes out of this… funk he has been in for the past few weeks.”

Funk . Shouto rolled the word around in his head while grimacing. Funk was not how he would describe Midoriya’s recent behavior, but he presumed it could fit…

But funk did not encapsulate or even come close to describing how off Midoriya has been—

“We should focus,” Shouto suddenly said, hardening his voice and shoving the distraction that is Midoriya from his head. “The event begins soon—“

“ Well hellooooooo, Listeners! ”

They all grimaced as the familiar face flashed over the various billboards surrounding the square. “Or it could begin right now.”

“Status report.”

“Testing, testing, one, two , three ! Pestilence here, and all drones and security feeds are secure!” A bright and eager voice practically chirped over the comms. “Just waiting for the countdown to take control of the screens, and then we’ll finally be in business…”

“This is Death. I’m with the Boss preparing to head out to pick off stragglers after the main show. Any word from Famine, Pest?”

“Famine is in position, awaiting the appropriate moment to split off to us. She has a part to play, after all,” the first voice explained. “Is her gear in place?”

“Yep, yep! Safely tucked away at her rendezvous point. I made sure that all of her wonderful babies were in tip top shape too!” The eager voice of Pestilence explained. “War’s gear is also ready for them at base station 3! It turned out way better than I expected. And it no longer blows up when I turn it on!”

“…uh,” Death began in a concerned tone. “Are we one hundred percent certain that Pest is mentally stable enough to be left unattended?…”

The person in question simply cackled. “Sanity is the bane of all creation, my dear Death! And explosions are a way of marking progress .”

“ …suuuuuuure .”

A low chuckle came over the line. “It’s alright, Death. Pestilence is a lot of things, but they know not to risk their future investments. Everything rides on today going off without a hitch…”

“Whatever you say, Boss…”

“Now then, everyone be prepared. We have a strict lesson plan to follow, after all.”

Chapter Text

Forty Nine Hours Before the Event.

Aizawa knew that he was not awake enough for this. 

Slumping down into the meeting room chair, he practically chugged the remains of his coffee as everyone stared at him uneasily. While it was usual for the man to look a bit rough, especially after the past year and given his class’ tendency towards attracting trouble, today he looked particularly haggard which did not bode well for the rest of this Event.

“Jesus, Aizawa,” Vlad barked out as the teacher in question barely glanced at him in acknowledgement. “Usually you are a bit more excited for this event.”

Aizawa let out a snort. “ Usually , my class isn’t composed of hellions.”

Snickering, Midnight leaned forward while cooing, “Oh, is our favorite little hell class getting up to some mischief?” 

“For the most part, they aren’t too out of the ordinary,” Aizawa drawled, staring at his empty coffee cup sadly. “But unfortunately, a few have shown signs to be a bit too... excited for this Event.”

With a roll of his eyes, Vlad barked out, “Let me guess: Bakugou?”

“No. He was actually against this Event,” Aizawa snapped at the other teacher. “You know, given how the entirety of Japan tried to accuse him of being a villain when he was a victim of kidnapping .” Vlad and several other teachers had the decency to at least wince over the reminder of what the kid had been through. “Doesn’t exactly make him that pleased to be forced to play the role for a grade .”

Looking concerned, Present Mic hesitantly asked, “Will the little listener be okay to participate?...”

“I’ve already sat him down about it. He’s viewing it as a free for all exercise and just not focusing on the villain aspect at all. Competition is Bakugou’s specialty. He’s not being graded on how much effort he puts into his character, just his fighting style and teamwork. They know to watch out for him as well.” Shoving away the coffee cup, he added, “And he agreed to see Hound Dog once the event was over.” 

Hound Dog nodded. “Yes, I have quite a few students who went ahead and scheduled appointments, several from your class.”

“Given the past year, I don’t blame them,” Mic interjected. “They’ve been through hell and have more villain experience than most of our third years except maybe the Big Three.”

Thirteen slumped into their chair, looking distraught. “The more we discuss this, the more I think this might have been a bad idea.”

Aizawa shook his head in disagreement. “No, despite everything, my class will be fine. They are using this as a chance to let off some steam, though a handful are sitting out and taking the alternate essay assignment and drills instead. I’m fairly certain that the ones competing are all to some degree excited about it, though a few moral dilemmas have arisen.”

Letting out a small sound of agreement, All Might shifted awkwardly in his seat but made no comment. Everyone in the room knew who he was thinking about, however: despite his attempts to be unbiased, his favoritism towards young Midoriya was as plain as day. And everyone was very well acquainted with the boy’s heroic tendencies. Playing the villain would certainly be difficult for Midoriya.

Or at least, that’s what they assumed, all missing the knowing glances shared between Aizawa and Nedzu.

Clearing his throat, Nedzu spoke up. “Now, let’s get this meeting underway. We have a lot to accomplish today, and I, for one, believe that this year in particular will become one of our most interesting yet!”

The teachers all collectively shivered at the principal’s eerie tone and smile, realizing that whatever he knew would certainly not bode well for any of them.

Hero News Official @HeroNews1 ✓ · 2 days ago

Everyone get ready for this year's UA Villain Day! In preparation for the start of the event, we’ve devised a list of potential heavy hitters this year based off of this year’s sports festival. Let us know your thoughts and who you believe could potentially come out on top!

Toptenvillaindaywinners.heronews.net

#VillainDay

3,736 Replies | 27k Likes | 131 Retweets | Share

       Rev Your Engines @go_iidaten · 2 days ago

           replying to @HeroNew1

       I’m a bit disappointed that the list just includes the top three winners of each grade

       year. There is like, no creativity in the choices???? There were so many kids that did

       well in the Sports Festival that didn’t place in the tournament, like Ingenium’s little

       brother.

       27 Replies | 234 Likes | 4 Retweets | Share

                The Crystal Queen @crystal_queen ✓ · 2 days ago

                       replying to @go_iidaten

                Seriously, that first year gravity girl was a major heavy hitter during the final

                round! Imagine how well she would do with some actual ammo to work with

                without having to wait on someone to blow up the field—

                15 Replies | 178 Likes | 6 Retweets | Share

                           You Mad? @fight_me183 ✓ · 1 day ago

                                    replying to @crystal_queen

                           Speaking of him, that explosive blonde brat is going to be in his

                           element with this event, huh? He’s practically a villain in the making.

                            37 Replies | 36 Likes | 13 Retweets | Share

                                    Petition to Adopt All of 1A @mamabear ✓ ·  1 day ago

                                              replying to @fight_me183

                                    That is a god damn CHILD that you’re calling a villain, you waste of

                                    oxygen. A child that unlike YOU made it into UA’s hero course and is

                                    top of his class. There are plenty of heroes with worse personalities

                                    that don’t get treated half as bad as this kid!

                                    17 Replies | 318 Likes | 17 Retweets | Share

Two Minutes into the Event.
(Day One, Time 09:02)

“What the fu—! “

“Language!” Nedzu chastised, tail swishing to and fro as he rapidly began to type away at his laptop, clearly displeased with the situation as much as the others but not willing to let his control slip just yet. “Do not make me implement the swear jar again—“

“With all due respect, sir,” Midnight chimed in, watching the video screen in pure shock as none other than Midoriya Izuku gave his opening speech. “I think swearing is deserved right now.”

Vlad’s hands slammed on the table. “How in the hell did he get access to the feed?”

“Did he hack one of our accounts?” Snipe asked, clearly at a loss in this situation.

“We’re trying to figure that out,” Powerloader replied, typing away at his own laptop at a rapid pace while various strings of code run across the screen. “I haven’t found any entry points as of yet. But I don’t know how in the world he got access to the feed.”

“What do you mean?” Thirteen asked with a worried tone.

“What he means,” Nedzu answered in a stiff tone, his tail swishing growing more rapid as he typed. “Is that the stream is routed through my account...my account that has now been stripped of admin access to the event with a duplicate of my original account taking its place. A duplicate account that I cannot access .”

All the teachers stared at Nedzu in shock .

“Are…are you saying that he hacked you ?” Thirteen asked in disbelief.

Not even bothering to look away from the screen, Nedzu snipped, “I certainly did not give him access to my account.”

“Why can’t you just…hack the duplicate account?” Snipe asked, only to be met with a fierce glare from the principal that had him shrinking.

“Because it is a duplicate of my account, an account with all of my protections and then some, with every single password changed and what appears to be an offsite server hosting the additional firewalls and protections.” Shoving the laptop away for a moment, tail whipping in a dangerous, predatory way, Nedzu remarked, “The only control they left me in my original account was access to all the students’ vitals to assure their safety…and the power to reset the entire system. A reset which would give me back my old account powers…”

Powerloader glanced at him warily from his own laptop. “…but would shut down the Event stream.”

Nedzu scowled. “And I would have to publicly admit defeat to one of my own students.”

Everyone fell silent as the gravity of the situation began to settle in. Then, a low chuckle came from across the table, and all eyes snapped towards the tired looking Pro that was casually reclined in his chair. “I told you all that my class was composed of hellions this year.”

Nedzu stilled for a moment as realization dawned on him. “You know his plan. The privacy I gave you in the conference room that day, he told you—“

“He told me the overall concepts,” Aizawa drawled in an almost bored tone. “None of the details on how he is doing most of it.” His eyes glanced at Nedzu’s laptop. “Though, I have a few ideas.”

Their eyes met. Carefully, Nedzu asked, “Are you going to tell me?”

“I could.” Then, a slow, feral grin spread across Aizawa’s face. “But would your ego handle being handed over the answer?”

A beat passed. Then, with a low, animalistic growl, Nedzu turned his attention back to his laptop. “I will not be beaten by a child .”

Aizawa could not help but chuckle once more as Nedzu continued his attempt to reclaim his account. Glancing towards the screen, the homeroom teacher mused, “Ah, it looks like the Event is about to get interesting.”

Vlad looked exhausted. “What in the world is your kid doing now— what the hell, Aizawa?! ”

Midnight launched to her feet as the guns on screen powered to life. “Is that the security system?!” Her head whipped to Aizawa. “ Shouta , that is—“

“Perfectly safe. Watch.” And they did. They watched as the kids on screen scattered in a panic, many screaming and confused on what to do, all while red splattered and painted the concrete. It was a horrifying scene…only made less so by the realization that the red was not, in fact, blood.

“…just because those are paintball rounds does not take away the fact that this is overkill , Aizawa,” Vlad ground out, looking pale as he watched his kids scatter, a few being caught in the crossfire.

Aizawa’s gaze turned cold. “Better they learn now in the safety of our walls than the cruelty of the real world…because not all villains are going to care that this is considered overkill .” Settling back into his chair as the other teachers were torn between staring at him or watching the screen in horror, he remarked, “Perhaps we should listen to what Midoriya has to say. He does have a few good points.”

It was clear at that point that the conversation was over for now. So the teachers began to slowly sink back into their seats, carefully watching the screens, all while the rapid tapping of paws on a laptop keyboard filled the air.

A homewrecker apparently @bibble_time · 2 minutes ago

Was…was that just a student acting for the event or did we just watch a real villain attack on live stream????

@ua_official Um….wth???????

#VillainDay #didijustwatchamurder #scarygreenboi

4 Replies | 210 Likes | 33 Retweets | Share

Five Minutes into the Event.
(Day One, Time 9:05)

“Call me Sensei.”

Shouto wasted no time. Hand slamming against the ground, a gigantic blockade of ice sprung up around him and his team like a fortress, blocking out the rapid gunfire ringing out all around. Dozens of people cried out in shock and fear, all scattering and screaming in the chaos of it.

He felt his wrist monitor buzz .

It was a sad showing for the future heroes of Japan.

But in this moment, they were not of any concern to Shouto. He could play hero another day. Right now, he had priorities. “ Mercury! ”

Iida’s engines revved loudly, “On it!”

His wrist monitor was still buzzing. It buzzed again. And again. And again .

With a well practiced precision, Shouto willed a flame to his hand and expertly shot it forward toward the ice wall, melting out a perfect hole for Iida to escape through. “Find the supplies from the drop point and report back,” Shouto ordered, watching as Uraraka began to tap various chunks of ice in the background, all while the steady buzz continued on his wrist. “ Be careful . No risky maneuvers , am I clear?“

Buzz.

The screams and shouts outside were just as prevalent as before, but Iida bore no trace of hesitation on his face. “Am I ever anything but—“

Buzz .

“ Hosu .”

Buzz.

“…must you bring that up?!—“

“Hey!” Uraraka snapped as she took one of the chunks of ice and used her quirk to full speed fling it with ease up into the face of an unsuspecting student attempting to sneak up over the edge of the ice barrier. “Argue about secrets later, get moving now .”

Iida looked ready to retort, but a well placed glare from Uraraka quickly shut him up and he took off out of the barrier without another word. 

Another buzz.

“Now,” Shouto began glancing at his remaining teammate. “We just need to hold for him to return and then head out—“

“Don’t you think we should discuss whatever that was?” Uraraka asked almost desperately before launching quirked chunk of ice at yet another unfortunate individual trying to seek shelter in their protective zone. 

Buzz.

Shouto watched someone try and sneak in through the ice doorway, and he was quick to launch a small wave of fire at them, sending them screaming and running back out into the hailstorm of bullets. “We can discuss later when things are secure.”

“But—!“

Buzz.

“We need to focus for now!”

Buzz .

She looked so frustrated. “But Deku—!”

“I know , Radon.” And oh, did he know. The boy he kept no secrets from coming out with and doing something like this — He shook his head. “Focus for now, worry about Izu—about Sensei later.”

Buzz.

And just then, Iida came barreling back through the doorway, panting and exhausted and the bottom of his boots coated with brilliant red paint— “That was a nightmare .”Then, he held up several backpacks. “But I got the supplies.”

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

Shouto nodded, and just before he could speak, the gunfire outside ceased . 

The buzzing stopped. 

They all went still, staring up in the air, bracing as if waiting for the other shoe to drop—

“This concludes our introductory lesson,” Izuku— Sensei called out over the speakers. “We now will have a short break to help reflect over what we just learned. Be prepared! The next lesson starts at 1000 hours sharp! Don’t be tardy!”

Then, just static followed by silence.

Quietly, Shouto ordered, “Mercury, consolidate the supplies to three bags while Radon and I stand watch.”

Uraraka whispered, “So…it’s over?”

“…for now.”

Distantly, he could faintly hear some other student yelling, “ What the fuck was that? ”

Shouto was inclined to agree. 

Still. 

They had more important things to focus on.

“Let’s stick with our original strategy. We get our gear settled and move out to a more secure building, and take down anyone we run into on the way,” he ordered, taking the lead. “We will worry about Sensei once we regroup somewhere safe.”

The two gained steely expressions and nodded towards their unofficial leader, hurrying to get ready to make a break for it into the city. Shouto finally glanced at his wrist monitor, staring at the notifications that had been buzzing so urgently during it all.

The notifications of confirmed ‘kills’.

He looked away. He did not have time to worry about them. They needed to move.

It was time to either hunt or be hunted.

Chapter Text

Eleven Years Before the Event.

“Daddy?”

“Hmm?” The older man absently replied, still engrossed in his newest quirk theory article, though he did glance over towards his son. “Is everything alright, Izuku?”

The small, five year old boy stared down at the action figure in his hand, seemingly lost in thought. Then, carefully, he asked, “Why do you hate All Might?”

A soft sigh, not one of irritation however, came from his father who carefully sat down his tablet before patting his knee, gesturing the small boy over. Izuku hurriedly stood up and trotted over, holding his arms up as his father scooped him up with ease and sat him gently on his knee. 

Once assuring that the boy was settled, the man began to explain. “Izuku. I do not hate All Might.”

The boy’s face scrunched up in disbelief and confusion. “But Daddy, you always complain about him—“

“Because the man is an idiot.” 

Izuku gasped, sounding scandalized. “Daddy said a bad word!”

“And that stays between us,” the man hurriedly added, glancing over his shoulder towards the kitchen where he knew Izuku’s mother resided. “…but I speak the truth.”

Izuku looked unconvinced. “But All Might is the Number One hero, dad! He can’t be…” Then, glancing towards the kitchen like his father had done, Izuku leaned in towards the man, who leaned in close in turn while fighting an amused smile, and the boy whispered, “ stupid .”

His father began to cough into his hand, managing to get out a, “You should not use that word, Izuku,” though the boy could see the smile his father tried to hide and knew he was not in trouble. 

Clearing his throat, his dad explained further. “Perhaps that is not the most accurate way to describe him…” Brows furrowing in thought, he suddenly perked up and snapped his fingers. “Naive! He is naive.”

Frowning, Izuku asked, “What does na-ive mean?”

The older man hummed softly, trying to find the best way to explain to the curious toddler. “It means…he is innocent in his way of thinking. That he sees the best in everything.”

Izuku’s head tilted in an almost adorable manner. “Is that a bad thing?…”

“In some respects, no. But not acknowledging the bad, not accepting that there is darkness in the world, can lead you to neglect certain things in favor of looking at the ‘bright side.’” His father ran his fingers through Izuku’s head, smiling sadly at the boy. “The world is not a kind place, and it is detrimental to assume otherwise. 

Izuku slowly nodded, staring down at his hands. “Am…am I naive?” He asked a quiet whisper.

“Izuku…” his father gently tilted his head up, and he could see the slight sheen of tears in the boy’s eyes. “Izuku, yes you are innocent, but you are a child . You are expected to be. He is an adult, and he is shirking his responsibilities by continuing to allow himself to be blind to what is happening around him. You, however, are encouraged to see the good in everything…just be aware that not everyone in this world will have your best interests at heart, and that not all heroes are infallible.”

At that, Izuku nodded, his face lost in thought. “Okay dad…” Then, hesitantly, he looked up at the man and asked, “Um…what does in-fall-i-ble mean?”

“…Why don’t we head to the bookstore, and I will buy you your first dictionary.”

I just want to sleep @night_night ✓ · five minutes ago

I had every intention of sleeping in this morning but APPARENTLY some UA kid decided to go feral, so here I am, awake before noon due to like fifty Discord notifications.

#UA #VillainDay #feralgreenboi 

56 Replies | 381 Likes | 28 Retweets | Share

Twenty Minutes into the Event.
(Day One, Time 09:20)

“ Hold it! Hold!” An explosion rang out, sending ice shards scattering in every direction. “Hold your god damned fire!”

Sliding to a halt, ice creeping on the ground as he braced with his right hand, flames at the ready and flickering along his left side, Shouto could not help but sneer at the blonde who just leveled his barrier wall with a single blow. “I am not so foolish as to trust an enemy—“

Suddenly, chunks of ice from the decimated wall came flying over his head at rapid speed towards Bakugou, a voice from behind yelling “Release!” Just in time for the attack to smash into the ground where Bakugou was standing moments before. Glancing over his shoulder, he could see his teammates at the ready, Uraraka levitating more chunks of ice as Iida began to rev his engines to use a supercharged kick to launch them towards their opponent.

They had been moving fairly quickly through the city, sticking to side streets and avoiding most of the other groups as they progressed in search of a decent place to set up a base. Their original plan was to set up a stronghold to store supplies and pick off any teams that came close until the final rounds. With Shouto’s ice, they could have easily built a fortress and lasted out while the rest of the groups picked each other off one by one.

But with Deku…with Sensei in play, that plan would likely not hold for long. 

Even still, they were trying to find a secure place to discuss their next moves away from the other students. But apparently, their classmates had other ideas.

Bakugou slid along the ground, barely bracing himself in a crouch as he dodged another chunk of ice. “And you fuckers say that I’m the one with communication issues.” Rising to stand, Shouto could see his completed costume, the jacket in place and the sleeves tied up with straps, allowing his newer gauntlets more unhindered space on his forearms. These were much more streamlined than his original designs, looking more like concussive grenades.

Uraraka shouted, “We don’t have communication issues! We just know better than to trust  you — “

Growling to himself as he dodged a blast of fire from Shouto, Bakugou braced himself, lifting his arm and grabbing the pin on his gauntlet as he snapped, “I’m about done with playing nice!—”

“Woah guys!” Another voice shouted, sprinting onto the field and sliding into place next to Bakugou, hands waving in the air in surrender. “Please! We’re calling a ceasefire, we swear!”

Shouto refused to drop his ready stance as Kirishima stood between him and Bakugou. Despite the pleading, Shouto did not trust the word of someone who was arguably Bakugou’s closest friend. “Forgive me for not trusting either of you—“

“It's true!” Chimed in another voice, Mina running in from the side alley Kirishima had come from, followed quickly by an out of breath Kaminari. “Please, just hear us out!”

Iida’s engines revved once more. “Why should we?”

“Because I know Deku better than any of you.” 

The declaration Bakugou made was so bold, so certain , it had Shouto physically flinching . 

It was like an open secret among anyone who knew the two that there was something heavy in the air anytime they interacted. Something old, something broken, like a scar from a knife that had cut just a bit too deep. Though Shouto did not want to acknowledge it, did not want to accept it, they all knew it to be fact. They knew that there was some hidden layer between the two, some history and bond that none of them would ever be able to comprehend or understand.

As much as it hurt, it did not matter how close Shouto and Midoriya were. Bakugou would always understand things about him that Shouto never would, because the two had a connection that no one else would ever achieve. It wasn’t something meant to hurt outsiders, it was just a fact.

Still.

Shouto did not know why the thought hurt so much.

Uraraka had moved closer by this point, he could hear her approach, though he did not dare take his eyes off of Bakugou and his friends. “Phosphorus…” Uraraka began quietly, her voice stern but with a curious edge. “It’s not like any of them to lie...even when we fight in training. Maybe…maybe we should hear them out.” A pause. “We will follow your lead.”

The standoff continued for a beat, Shouto staring directly past the trio and straight at Bakugou, trying to figure out exactly what the blonde’s endgame was. Eventually, he begrudgingly agreed with Uraraka. Loosening his stance, he barked out, “Explain. Now .”

Bakugou sneered . “That’s a lot of fucking attitude towards someone offering a chance to save your sorry ass.”

“… excuse me? ”

“You heard me.” Bakugou ignored the hesitant attempts from Kirishima at getting him to be less…himself. Stepping forward, the blonde barked out, “We need to get off the damn streets. Move it, Candy Cane.”

“…I have the sudden urge to test how flammable your nitroglycerin is.”

“Too fucking late, the nerd tested that when we were toddlers,” Bakugou responded back with one last jab about how well he knew Deku before stalking off, not even looking at Shouto as he headed towards a building. The rest of his friends trotted after him, glancing back at Shouto, Uraraka, and Iida and gesturing for them to follow. 

Iida’s engines whirred down as he approached, though they were still idling. “Is this a wise move?…”

“Baku— Nitrogen isn’t one for subterfuge,” Shouto relented, though he sounded begrudging about it. 

Uraraka nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I think he would rather just launch at us yelling ‘ Die!’ then actually talk to us.” Her face grew concerned. “…he must be really serious to go to these extremes.”

Shouto let out a sigh. “…we will hear him out.”

Uraraka beamed. “That’s the spirit!”

“If he is lying, I will simply level the building on top of him.”

“…not with us inside, right?”

Shouto did not reply, heading off towards the building with a steely expression.

Uraraka gave Iida a panicked look. “He’s not serious, right?!”

Iida looked mildly constipated about the idea of answering. Then, without a word, he began to speed walk after Shouto.

“ Right?!”

“Well, this is going better than expected!”

Footsteps walked up from behind him, and Izuku felt the person slump over, resting a chin on his shoulder in a casual fashion. “Oh? What was expected?”

Eyes still glued to the screen, Izuku casually highlighted a few specific screens, some of the main ones showing on the public feed due to the high activity rate. “The scattering is normal, and several of the teams still remaining have resorted to hiding themselves away.” Zooming in on a screen with two teams on the far side of the city deep into a dog fight, he dryly remarked, “Sadly, despite the looming threat they were presented with, most of the Seconds Years and even some of the Third Years still seem intent on attacking everyone they come across.”

The person slumped on his shoulder hummed to himself, seeming bored with the screens showing the various Watchers’ footage. “And the First Years?” 

Izuku grinned viciously. “That’s where things are getting interesting!” He pulled up three screens. “Class 1B has already teamed up, forming one large Alliance of sorts, but I expected that. They tend to over rely on each other and have favored these group formations since their first big showing during the Sports Festival. But the interesting part—“

He switched to another screen, showing Todoroki, Bakugou, and the several others heading into a building. “—is that Class 1A is following suit.” Then, with a laugh, he clapped his hands together. “And it even looks like Kacchan is taking the lead! I had expected as such from possibly Shouto-kun or someone else, but Kacchan is actually seeking out assistance in taking me down.” Grinning widely, he cooed, “I feel honored .”

A low whistle sounded. “Wow, that is a big thing for him. He talked things out and even used words other than die .”

“Now, Death, be nice.”

“Maybe another day.” Straightening back up, arms stretching high overhead and his back letting out audible cracks at the motion, he drawled, “Now, I remember you mentioning that the next lesson starts at 1000 hours?”

With a sigh, Izuku drawled, “Yes, yes it does. We have so much to prepare…” Tapping on another screen to his right, he mused, “You and Pestilence need to get into position. She should be towards the Far East side of the city still after the warm up exercise. I’ll figure out what group to send her after, and you simply stick to the shadows nearby and pick off any stragglers not joining the main groups. Be prepared to also give Pestilence backup if needed.”

“Sounds like a plan, Boss.” Stepping back and heading over to his pile of gear, his hands reaching up to start pulling his hair back into a low bun. It had grown out throughout the year, having been too lazy to cut it. By this point, he couldn’t even wear it in its usual style and had to resort to stealing hair ties from his mentor. “Is Famine going to need backup soon?”

Izuku finally zoomed in on the last screen, just in time to watch as Famine efficiently and almost ruthlessly took down her targets before they even realized they were being attacked. “No, she seems to be doing quite well for herself.”

Another whistle as he slipped on his mask, clipping the mechanisms in place and testing the collapsing joints as he stretched his jaw. The oni styled mouth gave and stretched with his own, despite looking permanently open, the cybernetic joints clicking and whirring as it calibrated to his face shape. Then, with a low hum, the mask began to glow an eerie violet color that seemed to seep out of the cracks and crevices and emanate from the depths of the open maw. “You know, she scares me almost as much as you do.” 

Izuku hummed quietly as he tapped on the screens, throwing up dozens of shots of various main targets heading through the streets, selecting certain ones to focus on. “I seem to scare a lot of people these days.”

“For good reason.” Scoping up his wrist cuffs and snapping them in place, allowing them to let out the same violet glow as the mask, he grabbed the oversized hood of his suit and flipped it up. 

Stabbing a few buttons, Izuku muttered, “If you say so.” Glancing back over his shoulder, he called out, “Just remember the list!”

Death had dropped into a crouch, snapping a few clasps on his boots into place and adjusting the straps on his utility belt as the boots glowed as well. Eyes tilting up from where he crouched, he quipped, “Yeah, yeah…your toys are safe.”

“They are not toys—“

“Whatever you say, Boss!” Death deftly ducked the book thrown at his head before jogging towards the door. “Make sure to send me updates on Famine!”

“Fine!” Izuku called after him, still muttering under his breath as his teammate disappeared. Cracking his neck, he mused, “Time to prepare for the next step…”

But his eyes drifted up towards the screen, seeing the standoff between Bakugou and Todoroki. 

He slowly reached forward and tapped on the screen, switching a particular Watcher to free-roam.

“…perhaps I could watch for a few more minutes.”

Chapter Text

Thirteen Days till the Event.

“Let’s be a team.”

Izuku just about jumped out of his skin, nearly launching to his feet, having not heard someone approach him. He had half shoved his notebook into his backpack in the process, only to pause upon seeing who was behind him, the boy standing stiffly next to Izuku. “Todoroki-kun…you scared me!”

His friend did not apologize, but he did look a bit embarrassed about it. “You were engrossed in your notebook, and I could not think of another way to get your attention beyond being…blunt.”

Smiling softly at the boy, Izuku shook his head as he properly shut the notebook and tucked it away before patting the ground next to him under the tree for Shouto to take. Hesitantly, his friend did so, being careful not to spill his lunch tray. Izuku simply picked up the sandwich from his own tray, one piled high with food for his high calorie diet, asking, “What was it you asked?” Before taking a large bite.

Shouto shifted a bit in his spot looking more uneasy. “I said that we should be a team.”

Izuku froze mid chew, staring wide eyed at Shouto. Swallowing, he clarified, “…for the Villain Day event, right?”

With a curt nod, Shouto immediately launched into his reasoning. “You and I are both powerhouses in the class: having us teamed up together would guarantee us making it to the final.” He said it with such conviction, such lack of hesitation, not even considering that any of the other grades might be threats. “And given your aptitude for strategy, it would even further guarantee us a spot—“

“Todoroki-kun—“

“Iida would also be a good teammate option due to his speed, and Uraraka for her quirk and hand to hand combat prowess, maybe even Tsu for her versatility to round out our five allowed members—“

“Todoroki — “

“I know that I am just listing off our closer friends,” he continued, rambling at this point and unable to make eye contact, but still barreling on. “But they are all highly capable, and I would trust them to have our backs, given how the rules have so many loopholes for betrayal—“

“ Todoroki .”

The dual toned boy finally paused in his rant, turning his gaze to look at Izuku for the first time since he had started his speech. After the silence hung between them, with nothing but the breeze brushing through the tree’s leaves for ambiance, he quietly commented, “…you do not wish to be on a team with me.”

Izuku immediately reached out to him, desperately trying to explain. “It's not what you think—“ 

But Shouto was already rambling again. “It’s fine, I understand, you do not have to explain—“

“Yes, I do—“

“No, you—“

“ Shouto .” 

Izuku’s voice was just a tinge desperate, and Shouto found his breath caught in his lungs. Before he could think, he blurted out, “I like you using my name.” And then he felt his face run warm, and he watched Izuku’s freckles be flooded by a sea of scarlet. Realizing what he said, he tried to course correct, but the words were stuck in his throat. “I…” 

“You can call me Izuku then?” The green hair boy blurted out in an equally flustered tone, and even more of his face turned red. 

Cute .

Shouto immediately banished that thought, dropping his gaze to his lap. Needing to think of something else, he decided to try out his new privilege. “Izuku.”

He spoke it quietly, perhaps even reverently. Shouto was not built for letting people in, for being close enough with others to earn this privilege. While his own name was something dry and dull to him, something that only his family used, he realized that being given this permission, this power…in felt thrilling and terrifying in new, innocent ways. 

He could not help but smile softly and speak it again.

“ Izuku …”

The boy in question suddenly dropped his face to his hands and let out a very soft scream. 

Shouto blinked, trance breaking. “…should I leave?—“

One of the hands holding his face darted out to grab Shouto’s sleeve, gripping it tightly like a lifeline, or like a anxious child afraid that their parent might wander off and leave them behind. “No. Please,” Izuku asked meekly. “Just—just give me a second.”

Shouto nodded, settling in a bit by leaning back against the tree and starting to eat his lunch, all while his flustered friend struggled to regain his composure. Seeming to finally gain his wits, Izuku spoke, all while keeping his gaze tilted down and his broken, jagged fingers clutching at Shouto’s sleeve. “Shouto…” Oh, Shouto was going to regret giving him permission to use his name— “Shouto, I can’t be on your team, because I…this Event…”

Something clicked. “…are you thinking about sitting this out?”

Izuku finally lifted his gaze, staring off blankly into the distance. “I have a lot of thoughts about this Event.” Glancing towards Shouto, he offered a weak smile. “None of them are in the right headspace for being on a team that wants to win…” 

Shouto nodded in understanding. “Whatever you choose, I will respect that.”

Izuku looked so sad, his hand finally releasing Shouto’s sleeve and dropping limply at his side. “I’m sorry.”

“It is fine, I promise.” With his own small smile, Shouto tilted his head and commented, “We will still be friends, no matter what happens during this Event.”

Green eyes became distant before he quietly replied. “I hope so.”

Shouto felt like Izuku had more he wanted to say, but the rest of their lunch was spent in silence.

Kamui for Number One @hero_fan95 · five minutes ago

Did…did I just watch the bomb kid who went feral at the sports festival actually initiate a peaceful conversation with the unconcious kid he tried fight?
Hero course students are weird.

#VillainDay #UAHeroCourse #charactergrowth???

37 Replies | 204 Likes | 13 Retweets | Share

Twenty Five Minutes into the Event.

(Day One, Time 09:25)

“I’m sorry. You want us to what ?”

They stood inside what looks like an empty office building, devoid of any life beyond themselves and the Watcher hovering nearby, lazily buzzing about. Bakugou looked physically pained as he spoke, teeth gritted and brow twitching. “Don’t make me fucking repeat myself, Candy Cane. I want us to team up.”

Shouto blinked in confusion. “…did I get a concussion?“

“ Oi! I’ll show you a fucking concussion!“

Kirishima had darted forward at this point, quirked up and grabbing Bakugou in head lock as the blonde practically growled at Shouto. “Hey, easy man! Attacking him isn’t going to help anybody!”

Uraraka looked just as shocked as Shouto. “Baku— Nitrogen , are you surprised that we are shocked? I mean, you always pitch a fit—“

“I do fucking not!—“

“—whenever Aizawa and Yagi Sensei have us do team exercises,” she continued, ignoring the outburst. “It's just…really out of character for you to suggest something like this. Especially since you were adamant about not joining anyone’s team when the Event was first announced.”

Bakugou scowled, shaking off Kirishima with a grumbled, “Let go of me, shitty hair…” Shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket, he glared at the ground as he seemed to be figuring out what to say. Eventually, he barked out, “I know Deku.”

Shouto resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “We are aware.”

Eyes snapping up to meet Shouto’s, the fire and ice user was suddenly struck by the pure intensity in his gaze. Bakugou had alway been an intense person. He had a drive and a willpower unmatched by many, and despite the tension between them at times, Shouto could respect that. But seeing that drive, that determination, that sheer… something that Shouto did not even know how to describe…

Shouto understood at that moment why he would never understand Izuku the way Bakugou does.

Because how could he ever understand better when Bakugou could hold the same exact look in his eyes as Izuku?

“I know Deku,” Bakugou began again, his voice stronger, more insistent. “I know Izuku .” From the corner of his eye, he could see Iida and Uraraka flinch slightly at this. “I know how he thinks, how his mind works. I know how he plans, how he strategizes. I know that if we continue to treat this as an all out brawl, if we don’t come up with a plan and work together , we are well and truly fucked.”

Shouto’s jaw nearly dropped at Bakugou’s admission.

The blonde crossed his arms, clearly looking very displeased over everything. “Deku planned this. He went all out on this grand plan, and we don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of outmaneuvering him as we stand now.” 

The seriousness, the certainty in his tone rattled Shouto’s confidence. But…but it made sense, what Bakugou was saying. Shouto might not know Izuku as well as Bakugou…but he knew him enough to know what a threat Izuku could be when he set his eyes on something. There was reason everyone always fought to have him on their team for class practices, why they went to him for advice about their quirk, why Izuku had quickly slipped into one of the top spots in the class. They know that he could be a force to be reckoned with when given a goal and a drive. 

And heaven help anyone who got in Izuku’s way when he had an endgame in mind.

“So, you want us to team up?” Iida interjected, watching the exchange with a concerned yet serious look. 

“We need to track Deku down, fast ,” Bakugou insisted. “Us running around with our usual teams is just asking to get us picked off. Deku is fucking playing some kind of damn game with us, and the longer we sit around and wait, the deeper he will spin his web. We can’t afford to fucking fight among ourselves when he clearly already has a strategy worked out.”

“So, we team up!” Mina chimed in, pumping her fist up into the air with a bright smile that contrasted her solid black halter style bodysuit and the short sleeve black leather jacket that shimmered iridescent purple in the low light. “Like a team building exercise!”

“And once we beat Midoriya,” Kirishima added. “We can split up and go our separate ways…or fight. Whatever you feel like.”

Shouto stared Bakugou down, as if trying to see some kind of lie or falsehood in the blonde’s eyes. Seeing nothing but determination and a bit of impatience, Shouto slowly nodded, holding out a hand. “Fine then. We will join you…for now.” His eyes narrowed. “But the first sign of you betraying us…”

“Yeah, yeah, you’ll flambé me or shit.” Bakugou stalked forward and aggressively shook his hand. “Just know the same goes for you, Candy Cane.”

“Understandable.”

“Okay, now that the posturing is over with,” Mina chirped, ignoring the disgruntled grumbling from Bakugou. “What’s our next move?”

Iida hummed under his breath. “We likely should consider other possible allies. We won’t have time to hunt them down if we want to keep on top of this, but we people to keep an eye out for if we happen to come across them.” Then, eyes trailing over the group, he suddenly asked, “Wasn’t Sero—apologies, Fluorine on your team?”

The trio all slumped, Kaminari glumly replying, “We lost him during that intial murder spree.” 

“We all panicked and scattered,” Kirishima explained, looking rather sheepish about it. “Not very manly of us, but he’s always been better at dodging in the air, and the rest of us were stuck on the ground. By the time we regrouped, we immediately ran into Nitrogen and decided to make moves to follow after you guys hoping we’d run into our bro along the way.” 

Shouto took note of the red paint he missed earlier that littered parts of Kirishima’s arms and torso. Nothing excessive, but enough that clued him in on the fact that this likely meant Kirishima was deemed bullet proof for this competition. Something that could be very favorable if Izuku continued with his earlier tactics. Storing that info away for later, he asked, “Are you sure he is still in play?”

“Team members get like, a specialty notification when a teammate dies in game, right?” Mina asked, glancing around at them for confirmation. “I didn’t see him on my wrist watch thingie.”

Iida nodded in agreement, finally relaxing to take his helmet off for a moment. “Yes, you should,” he answered with a sigh, tucking his helmet up under his arm. “But we did receive quite a few notifications during the…” He eyed Kaminari. “ Murder spree .”

Uraraka held up her wrist display, quickly scrolling through the device. “It looks like Deku took out a lot of people during that initial attack…there are only seventy two people left out of all the hero course students.”

“There was only, what, one hundred something to start, right?” Kirishima asked. “Not the full one hundred and twenty?”

“The event started with one hundred and four hero students,” Iida offered. 

Kaminari leaned in. “Cause of people sitting out, right?”

“More because there were only thirty two hero course students in the second year due to Aizawa-Sensei’s purge last year,” Shouto supplied neutrally. “Not all placed back into the course.”

Iida nodded in agreement. “And the third year had thirty seven members. The remaining five were those that chose to sit out from our year.”

Kirishima scratched his head. “I guess that makes sense. I keep forgetting that it’s actually kind of rare to not have empty seats in a Hero Course year.” Then, he looked like he was starting to tear up. “1A and 1B are so manly .”

“Judging by the death times,” Uraraka continued, trying to keep the conversation on track, “It looks like only seven have died post the initial incident in the square. And it's probably safe to assume that any death besides those seven were because of Deku…”

Gulping, Mina replied, “So, Midori took out twenty two people in the first five minutes?”

“Twenty five, dumbass…” Bakugou muttered in response.

They all fell silent as the reality washed over them.

“…Midoriya is kind of terrifying.”

Bakugou growled and shoved Kaminari. “Be more scared of me if we keep sitting around and wasting time!”

“He’s right,” Shouto added, though he sounded very reluctant to agree with Bakugou. 

Uraraka chimed in with, “Okay, Fluorine is still in play.” Sero’s teammates began to whoop with joy as she continued to scroll. “So far, it’s looking like most of our year is still in play, actually: I’ve seen maybe two deaths from 1B and one from ours, Sato— Carbon .”

Glancing Uraraka’s screen as she scrolled, Shouto suddenly grabbed her wrist to stop her. “Yaoyorozu— Palladium is still in play.”

Everyone visibly brightened as Kaminari shouted, “Oh thank god, we’re saved !”

Bakugou did not even seem to protest the declaration. “Ponytail would be one hell of an asset.”

Nodding absently, Shouto continued. “If we can find her, I can talk her into joining our alliance. She also mentioned being teamed with Jirou and Shouji. They would be immensely—“

“They’re dead.”

The words hit them like a freight truck, and everyone stared at Uraraka in stunned silence. Recovering, Bakugou snarled, “How the fuck did the those two get caught in machine fire?!”

“They always get past any traps during practice!” Kaminari worriedly added. 

“Maybe another team took advantage of the chaos to target them?…” Kirishima suggested, though he sounded unconvinced. 

Shaking her head, Uraraka let out a sigh. “No, according to time stamps, this was after Deku’s initial…murder…spree…” Letting out a growl of frustration, she threw her hands in the air, shaking her head. “No, nope , we need to call it something else! I can’t keep saying Deku murdered people, it feels wrong .”

“He called it a warm up!” Kaminari helpfully chimed in.

“Whatever in the fuck he called it doesn’t matter,” Bakugou snapped in frustration. “All I want to know is who the fuck took out the two people with the best stealth quirks in the entire Heroics department! I didn’t even see them in the goddamn city center, so they must have already been hiding for crying out loud!”

Scowling, Shouto let out a frustrated sigh. “How honestly does not matter right now. All this means is Palladium is on her own right now and likely could use the backup.” Glancing around the group, he added, “With her knowledge and quirk, she is our best chance at outmaneuvering Deku, especially without having anyone capable of tracking, so we need to keep an eye out for her.”

“And for Fluorine!” Mina insisted. “He’s probably trying to keep an eye out for us to regroup.”

Choruses of agreement sounded from the group. Iida stepped forward at this point. “We should try to find a more fortifiable position soon, and then figure out strategies for our search. I can easily do a grid search, but Midoriya is very familiar with my quirk and range of abilities, so we would have to be cautious.”

“Let’s stick together for now,” Bakugou barked out, stepping forward. “We can move and discuss possible recruits on the way to another building. Now, any last minute suggestions for team ups—“

“Oh! We would love to join!”

Confused glances were thrown, only for Bakugou to turn around…and nearly blast the taller Third year leaning over his shoulder in the face. Everyone either shrieked or fell into defensive stances, scrambling away, all while Mirio, clad in what looked like basic tactical gear with a large white zero on the front, laughed brightly at the group even as a large chunk of ice stopped just short of hitting him. “Wow, you guys sure are tense right now!”

“Please do not antagonize them, Togata… Zero , I mean.” From the shadows, hood of his large, black cloak pulled down over his face, Tamaki stepped forward, looking as if he wanted to be anywhere but here.

“Aw, he’s just trying to lighten the mood!” Another voice called out from above, and Hadou floated down from her perch on a ceiling beam to join them, wearing a dark purple version of her hero costume with red decals. “Be happy, Moondrinker! We even found your favorite Kohai!”

Grimacing, Amajiki muttered, “The last group he tried to ‘lighten the mood’ with nearly shot us in the head.”

Mirio let out a loud booming laugh before strolling over towards his socially awkward friend and heartily patting him on the back. “Sorry about that! But you and Nejire-Chan ran them off really fast!”

Hadou zoomed over, her cheeks puffed out indignantly. “I keep telling you! My villain name is Hadou-san!”

“Ah, sorry, Hadou-San!”

“What the actual fuck,” Bakugou barked out in a dry tone, clearly over having to watch the three banter.

Making the executive decision to step forward before Bakugou could shout out anymore obscenities, Kirishima asked, “Amajiki-senpai, are you three looking to team up?”

With a tired nod, the boy quietly droned, “We would appreciate the help. Zero is the only one of us overly familiar with Midoriya—“

“But I’m more familiar with the ‘You can do it!’ Midoriya, not the “Call me Sensei” one,” Mirio chimed in, still smiling but his eyes a little tense. “It’s a bit of a jarring shift, to be honest.”

Uraraka frowned. “Yeah…it was jarring for all of us.” Then, side eyeing Bakugou, she amended, “Well, most of us at least.”

Bakugou let out a disgruntled snort. “Have none of you read those fucking notebooks he carries around everywhere?” He was met with blank stares. “Seriously? None of you? Do you even know what he writes about?”

Uraraka looked mildly offended. “I just assumed they were like diaries—“

“They were quirk analysis.” All attention shifted to Shouto who stared at the ground. “I asked once. He seemed almost…afraid to share it.”

Bakugou frowned, grumbling, “Considering how people in the past have reacted to it…”

“Huh?” Mina chimed in, clearly confused. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“…Deku is a fucking quirk genius, alright?” He finally snapped. “He can pick quirks apart and tell you things about your own quirk that you could have never even hoped to have imagined. Like, all you fuckers go to him for advice, but he doesn’t even scratch the surface of what he has written about you in those talks. That’s because his thoughts, the shit he writes out in those notebooks, they are fucking creepy at times, alright?”

“Creepy?” Kirishima asked in confusion. “How—“

“He has strategies to take people out.” Several people visibly flinched in shock. “Both as capture methods…and sometimes permanently. ” Frowning, he muttered, “The nerd doesn’t mean any harm by it…but that’s how his brain works. How it’s always worked.”

Iida looked shaken. “Why…wouldn’t he have told us about this?”

“…not everyone is nice to people who are different.” Bakugou crossed his arms sullenly, staring at the ground. “He dealt with a lot of shit in Middle School whenever people found out the contents of the notebooks.”

“…oh, Deku …” Uraraka quietly murmured to herself, her heart hurting at the thought.

“As sad as this fact is,” Amajiki began hesitantly, still refusing to look up at anyone. “We still have a matter of this meaning that he is overly prepared compared to us and at an obvious advantage...” Shrinking in on himself and growing quieter the more he spoke, he muttered a soft, “We’re all doomed at this rate.”

Mirio nodded, ignoring his friend’s gloom. “All this means is that we need a plan.”

“Oh!” Neijire chimed in brightly. “Does this mean we are all officially a team? Oh! Oh, this is going to be so much fun! We get to fight our Kohai with even more Kohais!” The girl practically squealed as she zoomed in to scoop up Uraraka, cooing, “And we get to work together again! Oh! Oh we need to find Tsu-Chan—“

“Oh, uh, um…”Uraraka began, wiggling in the older girl’s grip. “Tsu…decided not to participate.” Pasting on a weak smile, she let out an equally weak laugh. “She didn’t really like the idea of playing a villain…”

“…oh.” Neijire quickly brightened. “Well, as long as she is okay! You and I still get to work together though!”

“Enough chit chat,” Bakugou barked, stepping forward. “We need a plan, and we need it fast. And like Icyhot said earlier, we have one major goal we need to accomplish if we want a shot at surviving this.”

Bakugou and Shouto shared a knowing look.

Distantly, Shouto noted the Watcher drone lazily hovering at the edge of the group, seeming to be pointed directly at Bakugou as he spoke.

“We need to find Palladium.”

“Well now…” 

Izuku leaned back in his chair, propping his chin in his hand as he watched the screen with a lazy smile. “Kacchan is stepping up… and is working well with Shouto. Oh, this should be interesting .” Then, his smile slowly faded. “I might have to move up my plans for my dear Senpai, however…”

A ping sounded from the computer to his right, and he absently glanced at it before sitting up straighter. “Ah, Famine is ahead of schedule! And she has our package in tow…”

Rising to his feet, he cracked his neck, adjusting his posture. “Time to collect her delivery.” Rolling his shoulder as he trotted off towards the lair entrance, he mused, “We need our final details for War, after all…”

And he disappeared down the hall, leaving the newly formed Alliances to their private plotting while he focused on moving his next piece on the chess board.

Chapter Text

Two Weeks Before the Event.

“…Sensei?”

Aizawa glanced up from his paperwork, seeing a familiar head of green hair poking in through the doorway to the teacher’s lounge. “Ah, Problem Child.” Shoving the paperwork back, he remarked, “I was wondering when you would show up.”

Izuku blinked in surprise. “O-oh?”

Aizawa tilted his head. “Your reaction during the Villain Day announcement this morning was not very subtle.” Moving to stand before the boy could reply, Aizawa gestured for him to follow. “Come on, I feel like we should have this conversation in private.”

Izuku dutifully plodded after him, trailing along like a lost duckling—no, more like a kitten, this boy had claws hidden underneath—as they headed towards an unused but secure conference room. Aizawa held the door open, gesturing the boy in before following after, making sure to shut the door firmly before hitting the ‘Do Not Disturb’ switch to assure that no one else wanders in.

“There, no one should be bothering us.”

Midoirya was glancing all around, as if searching for something . “How secure is this place?”

…Aizawa was genuinely not expecting that.

“It’s completely soundproof,” the teacher offered as he moved to sit down at the conference table. This sounded like it would be a long conversation.

Midoriya nodded, before asking, “And what about Principal Nedzu?”

“…it’s Nedzu .”

The boy looked disappointed but unsurprised. “I…don’t want to ruin the surprise.”

Years of being a Pro, working the Underground, knowing how to spot possible threats, how to remain cool under pressure, and none of it had prepared him for the little jolt of fear he felt at the thought of the Problem Child wanting to surprise Nedzu.

Aizawa took a deep, grounding breath. “Why—“

A ping alert rang out on his phone. A familiar ping. Reaching for it, he unlocked the screen and stared in tired resignation. “Nedzu said he will give us an hour of privacy in this room. He is turning off all the cameras and listening devices.”

Izuku blinked before slowly nodding. “…well, at least I was right to be wary.”

“And that brings me back to my other point.” Aizawa quirked a brow, staring at the boy expectantly. “Exactly why are you trying to surprise Nedzu ?”

The Problem Child had the audacity to shrug. Digging through his bag, he commented, “I feel like he would enjoy what I have planned…And this way, he could have plausible deniability.”

“…deniability in case of what ?”

With a small sound of triumph, Midoriya pulled out a small, inconspicuous flash drive. “In case of this!” Smiling far too brightly, he handed over the drive, sitting it down carefully in front of Aizawa who made no moves to touch it. “However, I wanted to run my plans by you, Sensei.”

Aizawa eyed the drive as if it were a live grenade. “Plans?” Then, after a thought, he blandly asked, “And wouldn’t this take me out of the running for plausible deniability?”

Midoriya shrugged again . “I have a feeling that the Commission avoids discussing things with you as much as you avoid talking to them.” Aizawa felt mildly insulted despite how true the statement was. “And yes, plans. For the VIllain Day event.”

Finally reaching out slowly, he cautiously took the drive, staring at it for a beat before looking back up at Izuku. “It has been less than eight hours since this Event was announced, and you spent the entirety of that in classes. What kind of plans do you already have, Problem Child?”

That damn smile was back, but for just a moment, Aizawa could see something else, something far more…mischievous behind Izuku’s eyes. “Oh, these? Sensei, I started them a while ago!”

He felt his body go still. “…when?”

Absently tapping at the table, the boy seemed to shift before him. None of the nerves he was used to, none of the meek personality that was ever present at the start of the year. This was something colder, something more serious. 

This was Deku…

“Since Kamino.”

…or even perhaps something more .

The fingers drumming on the table ceased. “Well, perhaps not planning since Kamino,” Midoriya quietly mused. “I didn’t have anything solid until after the Raid. But…that’s when the idea finally settled in my head. Like an itch you can’t scratch.” The fingers resting on the table curled into a fist. “The idea wouldn’t go away .”

Aizawa’s grip tightened on the drive. “What are you planning?”

“Change.” The word was softly spoken, Midoriya’s face shifting to something almost gentle, almost innocent, were it not for the fire burning behind his eyes. “I am planning change .”

The two continued their staring match, Aizawa seeming to finally see his student for the first time. As if the curtain surrounding the boy, shrouding him in uncertainty had finally been opened just a sliver. But in his gut he knew, he knew he was only scratching the surface. 

So, he made a deal.

“I will look at this drive, and I will help you, under one condition.”

Midoriya straightened in his seat. “Name it.”

“I want the truth .” He leaned forward, bracing his arms on the table. “Since the beginning of the year, since I met you, there has been something you’ve been holding back, something that you guard as if lives were on the line…something that is involved in the mess of everything that has happened this year.”

Midoriya slumped. “You noticed.”

“You are not as subtle as you think…that or the secret is bigger than I thought.” And he already had thoughts , all of which were increasingly worse. “But that’s my deal. My assistance for your truth. I want to know who you truly are, Midoriya Izuku.”

And for the first time since they entered this room, Midoriya looked hesitant . “…It’s not only my story to tell.” 

“All Might?” Midoriya remained silent, and that was all the answer Aizawa needed. “Let me deal with Yagi. Midoriya, please . I am your teacher. I want to help you. But from the beginning, you have been nothing but conundrums and secrets. A quirk that broke you and absolutely no control, but a brilliant mind that can pick quirks apart in seconds . Someone who is clearly at a higher intelligence range than he tests, and yes, we have noticed you faking your test scores.”

Aizawa held out his hand not holding the drive. “We cannot help you if you do not let us. So please .”

Midoriya’s eyes remained fixed on the table, and for a beat, Aizawa feared he pushed for too much too soon. But before he could break…

Izuku bridged the gap.

“…it's a bit of a long story.”

Future Hero Hopeful @herobaby · ten minutes ago

Yo, I wonder what the League thinks about this?

#VillainDay #UAHeroCourse #feralgreenboi

78 Replies | 1,290 Likes | 28 Retweets | Share

Ten Minutes into the Event.
(Day One, 0910 Hours)

The door slammed open, and Shigaraki snapped awake. He moved to launch himself to his feet, only to find himself cursing under his breath as he was tangled in his blanket and fell face first on the ground. Snapping his head up and glaring daggers at the man towering over him, Shigaraki snapped, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t dust you right now?”

Dabi dropped into a crouch, shoving a phone into Shigaraki’s face and hitting play on the video. “Your Hero Brat is acting up.”

“I don’t have a—“ the words came to a sudden halt as Shigaraki stared at the screen in dumbfounded silence. Then, he softly muttered, “What the fuck ?”

Snatching the phone away, Shigaraki shifted to sitting cross legged on the floor, staring silently at the screen and ignoring Dabi hovering over him. “Be careful with your quirk and my phone, Crusty,” the fire user drawled in an amused tone, chuckling when Shigaraki flicked him off.

Then, after another minute, Shigaraki’s eyes go wide as he shouts, “What the fuck?! What— Are those guns ?! This can’t— Holy shit ! ”

Full on grinning, Dabi crowed, “Ha! I knew you would want to see this— Oi , you fucker, I said not to dust my damn phone!—“

Before he could protest more, Shigaraki was on his feet and shoving past Dabi. “Hey!” Dabi shouted, looking between the now empty doorway and the fresh pile of dust on the floor. Scowling, he jumped to his feet and braced his hands on the doorframe, leaning out to yell after the retreating form of Shigaraki, “You owe me a new phone, asshole!”

Shigaraki did not even acknowledge him as he disappeared around the corner.

Letting out a frustrated growl, Dabi felt a little flame burst from his fingertips, searing the door frame with blackened handprints. “No respect. I get no respect around here!”

Thirty Eight Minutes into the Event.
(Day One, 0938 Hours)

“Death-kun! There you are!”

Her voice rung out across the empty room of the building they were laying low in until the event began. Sighing heavily, Death strolled over towards the exuberant girl waving wildly at him as she struggled to balance on the crate she sat atop of, her nearly knee high mechanical boot half on as she struggled with the clasps. Her outfit was only half assembled, the blue neon of the mechanical bits still powered down and her oni themed mask sitting on a nearby crate with her jacket. All she wore at the moment was her black cargo pants and her usual tank top, along with that half a boot.

Watching her with a frown, he mused, “You should be quieter, Pest. We are trying to stay undetected till the Lesson starts.”

“Psh, we’re fine ,” she drawled, waving off his concerns and nearly falling off the crate in the process. After a bit of flailing with her face twisted in momentary panic, she managed to balance herself, and then her face immediately slipped back into its usual manic grin. “But yeah, no one is in the area right now, and you know that we don’t have to deal with being overheard.”

Quirking a brow, he drawled back, “Oh really? Because I’m fairly certain we missed a particular pair of targets during the warm up—“

“Okay, okay , I get your point!” Her grin slipped away, frowning at him but then immediately dropping her gaze. “They slipped away from the center too quickly.”

Stretching absently and not noticing the look on her face, he commented, “We’ll just have to fix that later. I don’t know if they’ll be as much of a nuisance as Boss-Sensei worries about, but his paranoia is usually well placed.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to miss them…” Twisting her fingers and absently swinging her leg, she mumbled, “I’d like to see you do better with a sniper rifle…”

He sighed, then moved to saunter over towards his teammate as she fiddled with the latches on her boots. “Pest…” She still refused to look up at him. “ Mei .”

Her gaze snapped up. “We aren’t supposed to break code names—“

“You know we don’t have to be perfect during this Event, right?”

Her hands clenched at her sides, looking absolutely distraught at the suggestion. “But there is so much riding on this! Sensei put in so much work—“

“ Izuku put in the work to plan it,” Death interrupted gently. “But you also put in more than enough help with the prep work, an excessive amount might I add, and here you are, still helping. None of this would have been possible without you.”

Her gaze dropped. “I don’t want to ruin this for him. Everything has to be perfect—“

“Everything just needs to happen , Mei.” He flicked her forehead. “Worrying is only going to distract you. And Izuku chose you, chose us to get this job done. I don’t think he would have done that wanting anything other than us being ourselves.”

Lip wobbling, she quickly scrubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand. “Yeah, yeah you’re right.” Lifting her head and practically bouncing in place, a beaming grin on her face despite the slight mist of tears in her eyes, she pumped her fist in the air shouting, “We’re gonna wreck some havoc!”

With his own lazier grin, he drawled, “Now, that is more like it— oof! ”

He had suddenly found himself with an armful of manic inventor, arms awkwardly hovering in the air before settling around her in a sort of hug. After a beat, she pulled back, softly saying, “Thanks for the pep talk, Hitoshi.”

Sighing, he looked away, mumbling out a, “It’s nothing…” Then, desperately looking for something else to discuss, he whipped out his knife. “Can you show me again how to equip the blood cartridges again?”

The knife is suddenly being snatched from him and she expertly began to pop apart the hilt with ease. “It's not blood , Death-kun! Its an ultra sticky specialized polymer I made for the Event that is dyed red for show—“

“So, fake blood.”

“ It’s not blood! ”

“Then name it something other than ‘ultra sticky specialized polymer’.”

Glaring at him, she popped the fresh cartridge into place without even looking at the knife. “There, that’s how you add it.” Focusing back on reassembling the hilt, she added, “Remember, the polymer is condensed and expands to a runny consistency—“

“You mean drips like blood.”

“—and will get stickier and solidify overtime as its exposed to air—“

“As it coagulates like blood—“

Suddenly, he was dodging the knife being thrown at his head, and he reflexively shot out part of his capture scarf to grab it midair and pull it back to him while she snapped, “Fine! It’s Faux Blood!” Arms crossed and huffing as Hitoshi chuckled to himself, flipping the blade through his fingers, she snipped, “Sure you know what you’re doing with that?”

He side eyed her. “I’ve been training with Aizawa . I can handle a knife—“

In a blink, she’s lunging forward, grabbing his wrist holding the knife and twisting his arm in a painful angle. Even with her boot half attached, she deftly ducked under his arm as she twisted him around, giving her the advantage as she leveraged pulling him off balance and using his own weight to slam him face first into the ground. “You sure about that, Death-kun?”

Thoroughly pinned and unable to break free without one of them getting hurt, he scowled and drawled, “Oh, I’m sure that I’m never dropping my guard around you again—“

Mei began to cackle as she yanked the knife from his grip only to hold it to his throat. “Remember! This is designed to, as you claim, bleed and tag players when slashed—“ she made a slashing motion with the blade across his throat, “—and stabbed!” Hitoshi could not see, but felt the knife be playfully poked into his side. 

Letting him go and stepping back, she ignored his groan of discomfort as he rolled over, stretching his arm in the process. “This is essentially an improved version of a prop knife! It collapses into itself when used in those motions which both limits damage to the target and makes the move look more realistic! Hit this button on the hilt if you want to use it and not have any of the polymer come out.” Grinning sharply at Hitoshi who sat glumly on the floor, she added, “And remember! Just because it’s blunted doesn’t mean it won’t hurt like a bitch when hit with it, so watch your power—“

“Duly noted.” Holding out a hand for help, which Mei thankfully returned, pulling him to his feet, he then asked while brushing himself off, “Okay, how about you give me my weapon back now, and I help you finish putting on your armor pieces?”

Flipping the knife skillfully up in the air and catching it by the hilt, she spun it in her finger and then offered it back to him hilt first. “That sounds like a fine deal. Now, chop chop! Sensei won’t be happy if we are late!”

Staring blankly at the screen, he resisted the urge to growl in frustration as the others around him continued to bicker.

“This doesn’t mean anything, the boy is just acting dramatic—“

“He literally turned machine guns loose on his classmates, using UA’s own defense system against them, and you want to act like he’s just being dramatic ? ”

“I called it. I told you all that we should have dealt with the boy when we first noticed All Might’s interest. He’s only been getting worse—“

“He’s playing a villain . That’s hardly the future Symbol of Peace material—“

“Have you seen Twitter?! He’s trending!—“

“He’s trending as ‘feral green boy,’ forgive me for not being too concerned—“

“ Enough .”

Silence fell through the room as the others on the video call ceased their bickering. Leaning back in his chair, hands steepled before him, he took the reins of the meeting. “For now, we shall closely monitor the situation. Keep an eye on conversations online, and we shall wait to see how his first “Lesson” plays out. Then, if needed, we shall pull our agent in to handle the situation.”

One of the men on the other end looked concerned. “Sir, should we really be allowing him a chance to gain momentum?”

With an amused smirk, he drawled, “Let him get the attention he wants. It will make it far easier to crush his support in the public eye if we cut off the head before he reaches his peak and turn the viewers against him.”

“But is bringing our agent in on this a wise idea?” Another man asked hesitantly. “I thought we were avoiding letting the two meet unless absolutely necessary due to Project Phoenix—“

He scoffed. “Our agent will do as he’s told if the need arises, just as always.” Reaching forward and tapping on his laptop, pulling up the screen grab of Midoriya in his villain outfit leaning casually in his throne like chair, lazily grinning at the camera, he added, “Our hawk will take out this rabbit, one way or another.”

Chapter Text

Twelve Days before the Event.

“…I think you should name yourselves after the four Horsemen.”

The other two paused mid argument, turning to stare at Izuku, clearly caught off guard by the suggestion. Blinking, Shinsou finally shook off the surprise and remarked, “Wait, the four Horsemen, as in, the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ?”

Izuku could not help but smirk at the boy. “Why not?”

“I don’t know, just…” Shinsou, dressed in protective goggles, dropped to sit on Mei’s rolling chair, wheeling a little ways away from them on accident and having to shuffle back closer. “It’s not too much?”

“We’re playing villains, right?” Mei chimed in as she slapped down her welders mask and fired up her blow torch, sparking Shinsou to rapidly start scooting back away from her and her project as she began to make perfect, neat little lines on her latest invention. “Over the top names seem to fit the part.”

Shinsou seemed to think for a moment. “I guess that’s true…” Glancing at Izuku, his eyes narrowed. “But something tells me you have a more specific reason behind the names.” 

Izuku absently twirled his pen as he leaned against Mei’s desk, one foot propped up on the desktop, notebook against his knee as he jotted down ideas. “They were villains from an old Pre-Quirk comic series.”

Mei perked up. “Like Batman?!”

Izuku blinked. “No, wrong company, but just—You know him?”

“Duh!” She exclaimed, slamming her hands down on work bench next to her project, ignoring Shinsou’s panicked shouts about being careful with the blowtorch. “His gadgets are awesome ! He inspired me to be a Support Engineer!” Pumping a fist in the air, she declared, “Not only am I going to be the world’s best Support Engineer, but one day, I’m going to outfit a badass Quirkless Hero, just like him!”

Izuku dropped his pen. “…you are going to what —“

“Okay, as much as I love unlocking more lore about your backstory,” Shinsou interjected, oblivious to Izuku’s minor mental breakdown. “I have to leave soon, and we need to get personas handled today so I can start planning…so, the Horsemen?”

Izuku shook his head, burying his inner turmoil for later. “Right…right. Okay. So, uh, they were in the X-men universe—which, the X-men verse is a lot like early quirk time the more you think about it, and after this I should really bring it up with Snipe-Sensei for part of our history lessons—“ 

“Focus, Boss.”

“Right! Right…But yes, the Horsemen were villains.” He paused and then grimaced. “Sort of. A lot of them weren’t willing and were experimented on by Apocalypse, the big bad villain, to make them stronger and completely under his control. A lot of different people filled the roles, but the roles were always Famine, Pestilence, War, and Death…” Izuku trailed off from his rambling, suddenly hesitant. “I thought it would suit us?…”

Shinsou let out a snort. “Well, we know which one of us Famine is.”

With a cackle, Mei declared, “Oh, I think she’ll love that!” Then, with a grin at Izuku as she picked the blow torch back up, she stated, “I’ll take Pestilence since I love being a pest.”

“If we are getting to choose,” Shinsou chimed in. “I’ll take Death. If we are going with over the top names, I might as well go full Plus Ultra. Besides, I think it would suit me sticking to the shadows.” Glancing towards Izuku, he asked, “Does that make you War? Or are we skipping that and making you Apocalypse?”

Izuku just gave him a faux innocent smile. “Oh, I’m neither. Both of those roles have already been filled!”

Shinsou and Mei blinked. 

“ What?! ”

Sensei is my sleep paralysis demon @stargirl24 · six minutes ago

Not me calling into work sick just because I don’t want to miss whatever happens during this “Lesson”

Fingers crossed this kid is as feral as we are all hoping him to be!

#feralgreenboi #mybossfollowsmytwitter #noregrets #VillainDay

37 Replies | 840 Likes | 12 Retweets | Share

Forty Three Minutes into the Event.
(Day One, 0943 Hours)

“Are you sure this is the best idea?”

Scowling towards the electric blonde, Bakugou snapped, “If you have any better ideas, Dunce Face, I’m all ears.”

Kaminari held his arms up in surrender, edging away from the bombastic blonde as they continued down the road, though he still continued to press his argument. “Look! All I’m saying is that isn’t it a bit risky for us all to be traveling in such a large group?”

“Yeah,” Uraraka agreed, glancing around the streets warily as she flanked Todoroki with Iida on his other side. “We aren’t exactly being subtle…”

Todoroki let out a tired sigh. “We cannot afford to split up right now, not so close to when Izuku’s next… lesson is due to take place.”

“And it’s not like he doesn’t probably already know where we are!” Hadou chimed in cheerfully, though the fact was largely unhelpful. She floated a decent distance above the group, smiling brightly as she lazily twisted through the air while keeping a lookout for threats. “He obviously found a way to hack Nedzu’s system, and this city is littered with cameras, not counting the Watchers.” She let out a mad cackle. “He’s probably tracking us as we speak!”

All of the First Years grimaced in tandem, sparking Mirio to start laughing as well. “Aw, no need to look so glum! Deku is just keeping us all on our toes!” Practically jumping in place, his standard, dark colored tactical gear clicking with each bounce, he crowed, “This makes me pumped that he talked me into participating!”

That sparked Todoroki’s interest. “Izuku did what?”

Mirio froze, blinking wide eyed before sheepishly laughing. “Oh, yeah, well…obviously, I wasn’t going to compete this year originally.”

Staring at the older boy with a puzzled expression, Todoroki asked, “What do you mean?”

Now, Mirio looked puzzled. “Well, I—you heard about what happened to…to my quirk, right?”

“Yes?”

The two continued to walk next to each other awkwardly while everyone sans Hadou tried to appear not to be listening in on their conversation. “Well…just…I’m quirkless now.”

Todoroki blinked. “I am aware.”

“…that means that I can’t fight as well.”

He blinked again. “Oh.” Then, after a thoughtful look, he commented, “I guess it would be important to unlearn the habit of jumping through walls and floors mid-fight. But still, this is a good place to get field experience doing so.” With a confident nod, he quietly declared, “Izuku was right that you should compete.”

Mirio’s pace slowed, staring at Shouto with something close to awe in his eyes, but then a small, sad smile slipped onto his face. “I can see why Deku speaks so highly of you, Todoroki.”

Todoroki’s face suddenly felt warm . “He is a very kind friend.”

At that, Mirio burst out laughing, several of the others either snickering as well or smiling fondly at Todoroki as if they were all in on something he did not know. But, seeing a chance to change the subject, Mina skipped over towards Tamaki and Mirio and interjected. “You know, we should really exchange Villain names! We’re supposed to stay in character.”

Kaminari started bouncing in place, darting over to Mina as well. “Oh yeah! I really dig our class’ theme!”

“You guys did a theme?” Mirio asked curiously, smiling at the two though still seeming just a tad bit off from his conversation with Shouto. 

Clearing his throat, Iida chimed in. “Yes, our class decided to have a joint theme to help us get into the spirit of the competition, despite not all of us being on the same team!”

Hadou swooped down from above, twisting till she was floating on her back next to Uraraka and Kirishima. “Oooo, the theme is periodic elements, isn’t it? Am I right? I’m right, aren’t I?! Cause you said that the Yaoyorozu girl was named Palladium, the missing teammate was Fluorine, and Peppermint here—” she added pointing at a blinking Shouto, “—was Phosphorus while Explodoboy—” “ Oi! ” “—was Nitrogen!”

Grinning widely, Kirishima nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah! Nice job spotting it!” 

“You are really observant Neiji—Hadou-San!” Uraraka added, correcting the name quickly.

The girl in question did a happy little spin in the air while Mirio mused, “She’s always moving, so she has to be observant or she’ll miss things.”

“Well, to complete introductions,” Iida continued while swinging his arm through the air for attention. “Uraraka, Todoroki, and I are technically a team, and you already know that Todoroki is Phosphorus. My title, however, is Mercury, whereas Uraraka’s is Radon!”

Kaminari then brightly exclaimed, “Mina, Kiri, Sero, and I are a team too! I’m Lithium, like the battery.”

Jerking a thumb at himself, Kirishima proudly declared, “My name is Iron!”

“Kiri originally was going to be called Blood Riot but switched it to match our theme,” Mina cheerfully explained. “Like how I was considering Alien Queen, but, you know, copyright, blah, blah, blah, so I had to change it.”

Mirio curiously asked, “Oh, well what did you settle on instead?”

She grinned proudly. “Arsenic!”

He blinked. And then he burst out laughing. “Oh, that’s an amazing name!”

Tamaki stared at the still laughing blonde. “Zero. She named herself after poison .”

“I know! Isn’t it great?!”

Hadou zipped over towards the pair, circling them absently. “I mean, it's not like our theme last year was any better!”

“Oh?” Kirishima tilted his head, glancing between the three of them. “I figured this year you guys just went with the opposite of your hero names—“

“Oh, that makes so much sense…” Kaminari whispered.

“—but you guys had different villain names last year?”

“Yup!” Mirio cheerfully quipped. “We named ourselves after crimes last year!”

Hesitantly, Uraraka asked, “Aren’t crime based names not allowed?”

The blonde nodded before replying, “They were allowed last year!”

“I’m afraid to ask…” Iida muttered quietly, knowing where this was going.

Unfortunately for him, the others were too curious, with Mina gleefully asking, “What were your names?!”

Hadou cheerfully declared, “Grand Theft Auto!”

Tamaki quietly replied, “…Felony Tax Evasion…”

And Mirio rounded out the trio, striking a power pose and proudly exclaiming, “First Degree Homicide!”

All of the First Years stared at the Third Years in horror. Shouto turned to Bakugou and blandly demanded, “Are you sure you did not give me a concussion?”

“Why the hell are we just sitting around?!”

Letting out a weary sigh, Kendou leaned back against the stack of boxes, leveling Tetsutetsu with a flat look. Her usual costume had been swapped with a dark green version with gold and black detailing. “You know why. We are regrouping and waiting for the rest of our class—“

Tetsutetsu’s costume was barely changed, only making it a slightly darker color. Scoffing as he irritably paced the open space nearby, he loudly snapped, “Yeah, just us sitting around twiddling our thumbs while that bone breaking kid from 1A calls the shots!”

“Tetsu— Diamond , we all agreed to this plan,” she replied irritably, throwing her hands in the air. “If we just run off on our own and try to take on Mido— Sensei on our own, we risk not getting a proper look at the situation and back up from the others—“

A haughty laugh rang through the near empty warehouse, and all eyes turned towards Monoma who sat primly perched on top of a box in his usual villain suit, only with a dark red tie. “Why, those 1A glory hounds really know no bounds! Going so far to truly embrace their inner villain and attack others so viciously . My, my, how the little golden boy has snapped—“

“I don’t think he’s the only one who snapped,” Tsuburaba muttered under his breath, earning snickers from Awase. 

Monoma tried to swing his arms grandly and continue his speech, but he found his arm being roughly yanked . “Pyrite, will you please sit still,” Tokage growled out, her hand gripping tighter to Monoma’s own, maintaining the skin to skin contact. She still donned her usual purple bodysuit, but small black spikes trailed along her shoulders and back. “I know your quirk has a five minute window, but the idea of it accidentally cutting off with your eyes still scattered across the field freaks me out.”

“I agree with Amethyst,” Kendou chimed in, grimacing at the sight of her two eyeless classmates sitting side by side on the crates, holding hands like two kids in a horror movie. “Focus on searching for our classmates, Pyrite. Which, have either of you seen anything of note yet?”

Tokage sighed. “No, nothing. Well, none of our classmates at least. The East side of the city is absolutely swarming with Second Years and some Third Years. I’ve run into a few fights, but most of them seem more focused on claiming the best building rather than taking out any opponents.”

Looking rather glum about it, Monoma added, “The West side is very dull . I have not seen a—oh, well would you look at that!”

Everyone perked up. “Did you find someone?” Kendou asked excitedly. “Our classmates—“

“Sadly, not our classmates,” he drawled, his body leaning forward out of habit, as if trying to see better. “But I did happen to stumble across some 1A members…I think two teams actually.”

Tetsutetsu barked out a laugh. “Let me guess: they are fighting each other like cats and dogs—“

“They are talking .” A pause. “…they seem almost… civil ?” 

They all grew a little silent, and eventually Kodai softly chimed in with, “… oh .”

Taking a deep breath, Kendou mused, “It can’t be that bad, some 1A members get along—“

“Oh, this is just an odd sight.” He leaned forward a bit more. “Two of the members talking are Todoroki and Bakugou .”

“… what? ”

Monoma’s arms flung in the air again as he overdramatically shrugged, only for Setsuna to let out a growl and yank his arm down, causing him to fall over in an awkward jumble in her lap. He let out a panicked yelp as she snapped, “Monoma for the last time—“

“Can you not just detach his hand?” Kodai offered.

Tokage froze, head eerily being able to turn towards Kodai despite not having any eyes, then at Monoma, who was still struggling to sit up because he was not used to the disorientation of losing his sight. With zero hesitation, Tokage hopped up on the boxes, stepped on Monoma’s arm while ignoring his shouts of protest, and then easily popped his whole hand off, holding it up in the air with a satisfied grin, like a hunter with his first kill. “ Ha! Take that you fidgeter! I can finally sit in peace —“

“Rude!” Monoma barked out, still trying to yank his arm out from under her foot. 

She let out a huff, steeping off his arm and letting him sit up slightly before stating, “Now, perish ,” and promptly kicked him off the stack of boxes, causing him to shriek as he fell the four feet to the floor.

Kendou watched the scene, shoulders sagging as Monoma began to rant about the indignities while Tetsutetsu, Awase, and Tsubara burst out with laughter. Kodai just solemnly watched the scene, and Tokage just settled atop the boxes, sitting like a cat who just caught the canary, still holding the stolen hand. Trying to regain a little control over the situation, Kendou asked, “Pyrite, are they still…talking?”

His head snapped towards her…or at least attempted to, with him facing more towards her left. “Are you just going to—“

“It was a valid strategy. Yes, she could have asked, but she did ask several times for you to sit still,” the class rep interjected in her usual authoritative tone she had to adopt when mediating. “Now, please . What are they saying?”

Grumbling a bit, he finally shifted up to sit, all while explaining, “I have no idea what they are saying. They look like two feral cats that want to fight but are tolerating each other for the meantime.”

“What about their other classmates?” Awase asked, stepping forward a bit. “Anyone of threat?”

“ Please , as if 1A could—“

“ Pyrite .”

Slowly edging away from Kendou’s voice, Monoma began to speak more concisely. “So far, I see five others, the gravity girl and Ingenium boy appear to be with Todoroki—“

“They’re friends so that’s not surprising,” Tokage interrupted, before shouting with a startled laugh, “ Oh , ouch, that’s gonna leave a mark! These Second Years are scrappy—“

“As I was saying ,” Monoma cut in, scowling up at where he probably assumed Tokage to be but looking just a tad bit to the right. “The others are the acid girl, lightning boy, and Tetsutetsu’s red clone.”

“Pyrite, you know their names.”

“But I do not know their villain names,” he countered with a shit eating smirk. “So for now, they are nameless.” 

Kendou just buried her face in her hands. “Why did I volunteer to be class president…”

“But in any news, I’m assuming that those three are with anger management issues,” Monoma drawled absently. “That or they tailed him and he for some reason allowed it.”

Tsuburaba let out a groan. “This is going to make fighting them a nightmare if those two powerhouses are teamed up—“

A crash resonated through the warehouse and they were all up on their feet in an instant, Tokage whisper-shouted, “What was that?! Are we being attacked—“

“Shh! Quartz, Ruby,” Kendou cut in, motioning to Tsuburaba and Kodai respectively to move and cover Tokage and Monoma with barriers. Then, she fell into a fighting stance, hands enlargening as she made to move around the stacks towards the sound moving swiftly towards one of the doorways to the side halls along the far side of the warehouse, both Tetsutetsu and Awase moving to flank her.

“Be careful, Emerald…” Tetsutetsu muttered, quiet for once as his body hardened over. 

She absently nodded at him before pressing forward, edging ever so carefully to peek around the edge to get a better view…

Only to freeze when she saw the figure standing at the end of the hall.

“Oh my god.”

Kendou could not help but dart into the hall, the other two following after, only for them all to stop and stare just a few dozen feet away from the figure struggling to balance against the wall.

“ Help… ”

Tetsutetsu let out a loud growl, moving to rush newcomer. “Help yourself to this, 1A scum —!“

“Diamond, no! ”

Tetsutetsu suddenly found himself stuck in place, his one foot unable to move as he uselessly tried to yank it from the floor, only to realize that Awase’s hand was wrapped around his ankle and the other hand touching the floor, welding him in place. “Awase— Topaz , what the hell, man!”

Awase nervously looked between him and the person swaying in the doorway, struggling to stand. “We should hear her out—“

“She’s the enemy!”

“She’s clearly hurt!” Awase insisted, gesturing wildly at her. “She looks seconds from passing out—“

Yanking fiercely to try and free himself, Tetsutetsu snapped, “She’s faking—!”

Awase ignored the shouts of protest, darting over to catch her before she collapsed to the ground. “Yaoyorozu, are you alright?—“

She let out several hacking coughs, her body trembling slightly as a gas mask hung loosely around her neck. “Someone—gas, there was gas out of nowhere. I barely—“ She coughed some more as Awase shifted her to a more comfortable seated position. “Barely managed to create a mask in time…”

Kendou left the growling Tetsutetsu to head over towards the pair, dropping to kneel in front of Yaoyorozu. “Hey, easy there…what happened?”

Holding her head, her hair hanging loosely, she managed to hoarsely reply, “We were ambushed. The gas was just everywhere , and someone attacked—“ Another set of coughs. “They—they took out my team. Shouji and Jirou.”

Kendou let out a hiss of breath. “They snuck up on them ?” 

“I think they were simply waiting,” she mused, shoving her hair out of her face as she stared at the floor. “I fought them off, but then, they were…they were yanked away by…by tape, by Sero, I think?…” A frustrated groan came out of the usually proper vice representative. “I think…the gas messed with my head…everything is… hazy .”

Awase and Kendou shared a look. “This is getting out of hand…” Kendou whispered.

Then, carefully, Awase mused while glancing at Yaoyorozu, “We are going to need all the help we can get…and with her likely comes 1A’s support.”

With that, Kendou’s shoulders slumped once more, letting out a tired sigh. “Monoma is going to pitch a fit.”

Back with the others, Monoma sneezed.

Chapter Text

Twelve Days Before the Event.

“Aizawa-kun!”

Said Pro paused in his attempt to swiftly leave the staff room, quietly sighing to himself. Glancing over his shoulder, he watched as the familiar blonde hurried after him, and he braced himself for the conversation to come. “Good morning, Yagi.”

He received the usual beaming smile from the man, though the edges of the look were a tad more hesitant, a tad more unsure. It was a look he was admittedly familiar with on Yagi. Yagi took to this hesitance, always seeming like a man lost in a sea of unfamiliar faces despite having known all of the staff for nearly a year at this point. Whereas with his All Might persona, he had been loud and booming and a force to be reckoned with, a proud and confident friend to anyone who did not present themselves as an enemy.

Aizawa has slowly learned that Yagi and All Might were not the same man, not really. And though Yagi has made strides to whittle down his nerves to reveal some of his past confidence in his now permanent form, Aizawa doubted that he would ever quite reach what he once was.

Yagi was a shadow cast by past mistakes.

But despite all of this, Aizawa much preferred Yagi’s company any day.

Reaching up to nervously scratch his head, Yagi meekly asked, “Ah, well…I was hoping I could have a moment of your time?…”

Aizawa glanced at the stack of paperwork in his arms. “I—“

“ Please .”

Looking at the tinge of desperation in the man’s eyes, Aizawa relented. “Yes, I am free.”

And soon they found themselves sequestered in Aizawa’s tiny private office. Very few of the staff had one, but Nedzu had made an exception for the Pro. His cynical and antisocial nature was just one of the reasons: he could only tolerate people for so long before needing to hide himself away. After the first few times of disappearing and only appearing for classes, making contacting him near impossible, Nedzu offered a compromise.

A private office in exchange for Aizawa attending three sessions with Hound Dog.

Nedzu did not give his reasoning for the sessions. But here he was, years later, with his cozy office devoid of listening devices and window vantage points, a singular quirk resistant door, a vent large enough to escape through…and monthly sessions with Hound Dog that never stopped.

The large private coffee pot had been a nice consolation gift after having to be faced with the PTSD and advanced paranoia diagnosis. Not that the caffeine helped either, but it was a give and take sort of situation.

Pouring himself a large mug, he asked the blonde fidgeting in the chair across from his desk, “Would you like something to drink?”

“Ah,” The blonde smiled sadly. “Despite not needing to transform anymore, what remains of my stomach still cannot handle coffee—“

“I’m aware,” Aizawa interrupted. Not in a rude way, per say, but in his own way. The one thing that truly bothered him about Yagi was the rambling. Aizawa was blunt, efficient, to the point. Yagi was not. But Yagi was harmless in his own way, so Aizawa could tolerate it.

Stepping to the side, he opened a cabinet that doubled as a mini fridge. “I have water and some of those prepackaged nutrition shakes that Recovery Girl approved for you.”

“Oh…” The word was spoken softly, and he turned to see Yagi staring at the fridge with an odd look. “I—I will have the shake…Did you keep those for me?”

Aizawa ducked his head away and shrugged as he snatched one of the drinks and carried it over, his other hand carefully carrying his coffee. “I figured we were going to be seeing more of each other soon, so I stocked up on some things.”

Yagi fumbled with the bottle that was practically shoved at him, but he still gave Aizawa a beaming smile. “Thank you, Aizawa-kun!” The tired Pro grunted in response as he circled the desk to sit in his own chair. Then, the once more fidgeting Yagi asked, “Er…what did you mean by seeing each other more often?” Then, in a panicked tone he added, “Not that I have any issues with that! I just—“

“Midoriya told me.”

“…oh.” Yagi blinked, then sat up straighter. “ Oh .”

“Yes. Oh.”

Yagi was quiet for a beat, and then he mused, “I had been mentioning to the boy recently that he should possibly bring you in on the secret…I was unaware he had already done so.” He seemed to wilt a bit. “I have not seen much of him the past few days…”

“He’s been rather busy, prepping for the Event.”

“Yes, yes, he mentioned that…” Yagi wilted even more. “I don’t suppose he has told you anything about it?…”

Aizawa tilted his head as if considering something, but then slowly explained, “If my student told me something about their thoughts and plans for the upcoming Villain Day Event, then I am not at liberty to share without their express permission.” Seeing Yagi’s eyes dim ever so slightly, he added, “But I can assure you that all the students who have spoken with me are well and coping with the parameters of the Event.”

Nodding absently, the blonde let out a tired sigh as he slumped back into the chair. The mannerism was very much not one he was used to seeing on Yagi: the man usually carried a tenseness to his frame, always leaning forward, always fidgeting, always either jubilant or concerned and rarely anything that seemed so bone deep tired .

“I guess that is good enough news.” Reaching up to scrub his large, bony hand across his face, he asked, “Can you…can you at least tell me why he…well…”

Aizawa listened to him trail off, eyes pleading. Taking a sip of his coffee, he sighed. “You did nothing wrong. Midoriya is just… concerned about the details of some things.”

“What kind of details?”

Studying the man before him, this shell of a hero, Aizawa bluntly threw a question back at him. “What do you want from Midoriya?”

Yagi looked caught off guard. “ What? ”

“You gave him your quirk.” The cards were thrown on the table, and Aizawa was going all in. “You sat your legacy on this boy’s shoulders after barely knowing him, after seeing one moment of blind, self sacrificing heroism. You trained him, pushed him, and unintentionally isolated him—“ Aizawa regretted the phrasing as he saw how violently Yagi flinched at the accusation. “—all for the purpose of continuing a fight centuries in the making—“

“ I did not ! ”

The words were violent and loud and so very harsh . They were spoken in an anger and protective rage that Aizawa did not think Yagi was capable of, certainly not something All Might was capable of. Yet here this shell of a hero stood, chair thrown back and towering over Aizawa’s desk, wearing a look on his face that even in his emancipated frame struck a note of fear in Aizawa’s heart that would have set him off were it not for how well he knew the man.

“I have done many things, Aizawa, and I have made many mistakes,” Yagi angrily declared in a low, quiet voice that somehow had more power behind it than his booming All Might persona. “But never have I wanted to put that burden on Young Izuku’s shoulders. I—I had thought—“ The anger leaked out, and the regret creeped in, and Aizawa could easily see the despair on his face. “I had thought All For One to be dead .”

Aizawa finally understood. “You wanted him as a successor as the Symbol of Peace, not as a successor for One For All’s legacy.” 

The anger completely drained out of Yagi at that point, and the shell of a man sunk back into his chair. “But of course, I fucked that up.”

Aizawa could not help but let out a dry laugh at Yagi swearing. Normally, it would be such a jarring thing to hear, beyond the occasional English ‘shit’ slipping out. But now, seeing this new layer of Yagi, knowing his true story, it just seemed to fit. Yagi merely smiled tiredly at Aizawa, his own chuckle slipping out as the two mulled over the situation.

After a minute, Aizawa asked him, “Had you known that All For One was still alive, would you have still chosen Midoriya?”

Yagi sat quietly for a minute. “If I had known All For One was alive and knew nothing of Izuku? No. No, I would not have chosen to put this burden on a child. Even if I knew that All For One was behind bars, I could not justify passing this to an unknown child…But had I known of All For One and known Izuku as I do now?…” He leaned forward, steepling his hands on the desk, pressing his face into his fingers. “…does it make me a terrible person to say that I could think of no other better suited?”

Aizawa seemed to think for a second. Then, slowly, he replied, “No. No, it does not.” 

“…oh?”

“It makes you a fool.” 

Yagi began to sputter and cough, frantically reaching for his handkerchief as Aizawa just watched with thinly veiled amusement over how shocked the man was. Still, once Yagi had collected himself, he elaborated. “Only a fool would put himself on the line for someone he doesn’t know, would risk dying over and over again just to keep someone else safe. Only a fool…” He leaned back in his chair, watching Yagi carefully. “But sometimes, to do the right thing, to be a true hero, you have to be a complete and utter fool. We’re all fools, Yagi-kun, even myself. You and Midoriya, though?” 

Yagi’s eyes went wide as he clutched tightly to his bloody handkerchief.

“You just happen to be the biggest fools of them all.”

Snipe for President @gunslinger · six minutes ago

UA teachers rn: Everything is totally fine.

Us all wondering what in the fresh hell the Sensei kid has planned: You sure about that?

@UA_Official We are all CONCERNED.

#UA #VillainDay 

94 Replies |2,132 Likes | 36 Retweets | Share

Forty Nine Minutes into the Event.
(Day One, 0949 Hours)

“So, do you really know what the kid has planned?”

Aizawa glanced casually to the side, eyeing his fellow teacher who had saddled up next to him on the far side of the room. Snipe leaned against the wall, eyes glued to the scene in front of him as various teachers fluttered to and fro, taking calls from various agencies and companies while the school line continued to ring with half a dozen more calls.  All the while, Nedzu still focused on his computer, running yet another program in an attempt to find out how Midoriya had gotten into the system.

Shrugging, the Erasure hero drawled out, “More or less.” Allowing himself to lean back against the wall next to his coworker, he mused, “Midoriya mostly just wanted to assure that he wasn’t crossing the line too much. I mean, the whole premise of the event was far too vague.”

Chuckling, Snipe countered, “You’ve been saying that for years, and none of the students have ever gone far enough to make it an issue.”

“None of those students have ever been anything like Midoriya.”

The man hummed softly, shifting against the wall. “…must be something if he’s got your interest.”

Aizawa shoved his hands in his pockets. “The kid is taking risks. Calculated ones, but risks nonetheless…we are going to need to be prepared for the inevitable fallout.”

Snipe let out a snort. “I’m surprised you’re supporting him. You aren’t one to take unnecessary risks.”

Aizawa let out his own absent hum, watching the chaos of the room in silence before commenting, “I never said the risks were not necessary.”

Snipe did not know quite what to say to that.

Deciding to change the subject, Aizawa asked, “Aren’t you supposed to be helping the Patrollers set up?”

Snipe let out a tired groan. “I know, I know .” Then, in an almost pouting tone, he added, “I still say I should have gotten to be a Patroller this year.”

The flat look Aizawa gave him almost had him edging away. “Snipe. We’ve been over this. No .”

“Oh, come on—“

“We are not letting you shoot children on livestream.”

“I wouldn’t use real bullets!”

“No.”

“But Midoriya—!”

“ No .”

“So, the set up is still working?”

Present Mic gave Yagi a tired shrug. “Yeah, for now at least.” Tapping away at the controls, he quipped, “Midoriya might technically have control over the main show, but he still let us keep enough access to keep the event running.” Spinning slightly in his chair, Mic quipped, “The kid wanted the ability to jump onto the stream whenever it suited him but not the responsibility of running the actual show, ya dig?”

Yagi absently hummed, letting his eyes scan over the dozen or so screens in front of them in the viewing room. Currently, it was just the two of them while everyone else handled other various issues regarding Midoriya’s entrance, negating concerns from various agencies and officials. Yagi had felt rather useless standing around in the room, not being the best and smoothing over these types of matters, so he found himself wandering off and ended up here. “And these are all of the cameras for the event?”

At that, Mic started snickering. “Yagi, there are far too many cameras for that.” Tapping away and letting one screen grow in size, he explained, “The Watchers and various other stationary cameras set up throughout the arena are all continuously filming and backing up data, sure, but they’ve been programmed to only stream content that shows actual things taking place. Like, look at this.”

He pulled up one screen in particular, showing three Second Years ducking it out over leftover supplies from the plaza. “These three are on the main streaming screen online right now because they have the biggest, most action packed fight, you dig? But, if that’s not the watchers jam, they can rotate through up to twelve other options offered by the Watchers. Like…look! There’s some of your class!”

And indeed, it was his class, with several members of 1A sneaking through a side alley. “Ah, that appears to be Tokoyami and Aoyama…” The screen flipped again, and then, Yagi blinked. “That…is a lot of 1A. And…are those Third Years with them?” 

Mic looked surprised as well. “Whoa, is that Bakugou and Todoroki? Being civil? That sure is a shocker if I ever saw one!”

Yagi could not help but smile at the sight, even though the two seemed to be bickering while several other classmates trailed after them. “I am glad to see the two putting aside their differences in the name of teamwork!…now if only they would do this in class as well.”

“Midoriya really must have made them nervous,” Mic mused, glancing towards the retired Pro. “You and the kid get along well. Did he tell you anything about what he has planned?”

Yagi went silent for a moment, before quietly commenting, “Vaguely.”

Mic waited for a response, but seeing that Yagi added nothing else, he turned back to the screen. “Well, whatever he has planned, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

Yagi nodded, still staring at the screen as it rotated through the various students still in play. “I suppose we will.”

Fifty Seven Minutes into the Event.
(Day One, 0957 Hours)

Ectoplasm hovered high above the chaos, absently watching the scene before him while doing his best to keep a balanced focus between his other clones scattered throughout the event. The beginning few hours were always a tad bit difficult, but this year certainly required more focus than others.

He received a ping, one of the Second Years finally being knocked out a few blocks over, and a clone closer to the location headed off to collect them. He was a tad bit disappointed in that particular grade’s performance thus far. He would like to blame it on them having less experience, many of them having been expelled and then reentered into the grade by Aizawa, but even the First Years were doing better so far.

Perhaps he should request remedial lessons with Aizawa after this. Ectoplasm’s homeroom would surely be bitter about making them interact with the man again, but considering their lack of teamwork and planning, he would rather them dislike him than end up dead in the field…perhaps Eraserhead did have some merit in expelling students from time to time.

Before he could contemplate the idea further, the numerous electronic screens decorating various buildings around the cityscape filled with static, crackling to life before a countdown timer appeared. He watched as the giant, bright red number ticked down from sixty, the ticking sound echoing through the city with the red throne like chair Midoriya had been sitting in during the last broadcast settled in the background of the screen.

He let out a sigh, creating more clones and scattering them about to brace himself for what was to come.

Izuku watched the clock tick down, taking one last glance at the screen and assuring that all of his necessary players were in position. Then, he made his way towards his chair, settling down under the spotlight as he had done before, mimicking a familiar smirk as he propped his chin in his hand, staring at the camera.

The clock hit zero. 

A school bell began to chime over the speakers. 

The camera clicked to life, and his smirk grew into a devilish grin. 

“Take your seats, everyone. Class is in session.”

Chapter Text

Twenty One Hours Before the Event.

“Eri-Chan?”

Before Deku could blink, a small blur of silver hair sprinted across the room, colliding full speed with his legs, eliciting a surprised “Oof!”

The blur in question simply buried her face into his stomach, murmuring out a quiet, “Sorry, Mr. Deku…” Tilting her head up to look at him, she sniffled a bit with misty eyes, refusing to let go of him. “Eri missed you…”

Izuku felt like his heart was breaking at the quiet admission, and immediately found himself scooping the girl up into a tight hug. “Oh, I am so sorry, Eri-Chan…I didn’t mean to be away for so long.”

Izuku inwardly berated himself for having spent so long away from the girl. Yes, he had been busy with preparations, but when had been the last time he had stopped by? It had to of been nearly two weeks, and the visits before that were scarce as well…he hugged her tighter, secretly grateful that Aizawa had barged into his dorm and dragged him out, demanding he watch Eri for a few hours while he finished preparations for the Event with the teachers.

Another sniffle, and the girl buried her face into his neck. “‘S okay…” she quietly replied without looking up. “Aizawa-San said that you’ve been really busy with school.”

“It is still not an excuse.” Repositioning her on his hip and holding her with one arm, he gently ran his now free hand through her hair, smiling softly. “I promised to be there for you, and I am not one to break promises. Can you forgive me?”

The girl was rapidly nodding her head already, her fingers clutching tightly to his shirt. “Mr. Deku is so nice! Of course Eri forgives him—“

“No, Eri-chan,” he replied gently as he moved to walk across the room towards the couch. “Remember what we discussed about forgiveness?”

Her fingers tightened slightly into the shirt as Izuku sat down, and she dropped her gaze to her fingers as she began to carefully trace along the folds of fabric. “…that…that forgiveness is earned . And Eri doesn’t have to forgive someone just because Eri thinks she has to…”

“Exactly.” Settling her carefully on his knee, much like how his father used to do for him so long ago, Izuku continued. “This was my fault, my mistake. I promise I will do everything I can to make up for it, okay? You shouldn’t simply forgive me just because you think I’m nice.”

A rare pout crossed her face as she still refused to meet his eyes, staring at the shirt. “But Mr. Deku is nice. He’s extra nice to me! And he was the first person to be nice to me after—“ Tears began to glint in her eyes. “Mr. Deku is nice, and I will always forgive him and—!“

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” he shushed gently as he pulled the young girl closer, feeling almost pained at the tiny sobs that wracked her frame. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It wasn’t my place to tell you no. You can forgive whoever you want. I just…”

Gently coaxing the girl out to look at him, he tried his best to offer a soft, encouraging smile despite being faced with those bright, tear laden eyes. “ Please , Eri…promise me that if someone hurts you, truly hurts you, whether physically or emotionally, you will not just forgive them simply because you feel you have to, alright?”

All he could hear for a beat was tiny, choked breaths as the girl slowly calmed herself, but eventually, she nodded in agreement, though clearly hesitant. 

His smile brightened more as he slowly wiped her tears. “Thank you, Eri. I’m sorry, I just…don’t want to see you hurt.” His thumb gently squished her cheek, eliciting a soft giggle. “I know what it’s like to make excuses for someone even when they hurt you, to forgive them when they haven’t earned it yet. It…is not pleasant to go through.”

Tears forgotten as she stared at him with a surprised look, she tilted her head and asked, “You have been hurt too?”

“…yes. Yes, I have.”

“…like Eri?”

“…in some ways. Not as much as you.”

She nodded with a soft hum of thought under her breath. Her fingers trailed along her arms, covered in long sleeves as was her preference. Quietly, barely above a whisper, she asked, “…did…did they leave scars too?”

Izuku swallowed heavily. “Yes, they did.”

Her head snapped up, her eyes almost desperate. Mouth opening to speak, she hesitated, clearly at war with herself, wanting to ask but not being quite sure, wanting to know but not wanting to hurt him…

He bridged the gap. 

“Would you like to see them?”

Five minutes later, his sleeve was rolled up, and tiny hands were gently poking at the burn scars along his shoulder, trailing down to his upper arm. “These ones were from my quirk,” he explained, pointing to the jagged lines that encircled his forearm, looking like some kind of cross between torn skin and lichtenberg scars. “And these…” His hand trailed up to the starburst burn scars she was tracing. “…these were from a friend.” 

Her fingers halted over the years old burns. “A friend?”

“…it's complicated.”

She was clearly confused, perhaps even angry as she gently traced the scar. “Mr. Deku said not to forgive people who hurt you.”

“Only if they have not earned forgiveness,” he corrected. “And even if they did, you still do not owe them forgiveness.”

Another soft hum of thought. “…the friend earned it?”

“Yes. Yes, he did.” Izuku was now tracing the scar as well. “There were other factors at play. Other things that pushed him. It is not an excuse…but sometimes all you can get is an explanation.”

Her hand fell from his arm to her own, fingers wrapping tightly around her other arm. “I never want to forgive him.”

Izuku did not need to ask who.

“Then don’t.”

She looked pensive, and she stumbled over her words as if afraid that he would be upset with her for disagreeing. “…Mr. Hound Dog says that holding grudges is not good.”

“Well. Adults can be stupid at times.”

Eri gasped, sounding scandalized. “Mr. Deku said a bad word!”

A wave of nostalgia, an old, almost forgotten memory hit him like a freight truck. “And that stays between us,” he whispered conspiratorially, barely able to hold back his smile as he watched her head bob up and down in agreement. “But still. It’s one thing to let anger and hate consume us. It’s another thing entirely to simply not want to forgive someone who has done something unforgivable. Remember, Eri-Chan…you owe no one anything. The only person you owe something to...” He tapped her lightly on the nose. “Is yourself.”

“Okay, Mr. Deku…” she replied quietly, but with a serious tone, and Izuku had to hold back the urge to scoop her up and hug her at the adorable serious expression she made.

“Now, Eri, I have something important to discuss with you,” he stated, changing the subject as he began to roll his sleeve back down.

Her head tilted curiously. “What is it?”

“There is an event coming up. Something that I’m going to be involved with in school…”

Eri perked up, loving to hear about Izuku’s classes. “Is it another festival?!”

“Sadly, no…” his hesitancy began to show, and he tried to rip the metaphorical bandaid off to not scare the poor girl by dragging it out. “Eri-Chan…we have to compete in this contest that is going to be played for everyone to see. And one of the parts of the contest…is we have to pretend to be bad people. We have to play Villains.”

She went quiet for a second, before hesitantly asking, “Mr. Deku has to pretend to be a Villain?…” At Izuku’s nod, the girl seemed… unbothered . “Okay! Can Eri watch?”

Izuku looked surprised. “Eri…Eri, I am going to be a bit… scary during this.”

Eri merely blinked, her head tilting slightly. “But Mr. Deku is already scary?”

“…huh?”

“Mr. Deku fights bad guys and scares them all the time!” Eri explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Eri has seen Mr. Deku be really scary before. You even scared the man who hurt Eri and Mr. Lemillion! But it was only to keep Eri safe…so, Mr. Deku is scary, but that makes Eri feel safe.”

She said that all with such finality, such conviction, that Izuku struggled to not cry in that moment. “I…I’m glad I make you feel safe, Eri.”

The little girl leaned over and hugged Izuku. “Now, Mr. Deku can be scary and show everyone that he can keep them safe.”

Izuku hugged her back. “Yes. Yes, I hope to do just that.” Then, with a smile, he asked, “How would you like to have a way to stay in touch with me?”

Yūei Academy @uaofficial ✓ · 2 minutes ago

Our annual Villain Day is well under way! Only an hour before the first of our Patrollers will be released on the city. What are your predictions for who they might be? Let us know your thoughts below!

PLUS ULTRA!

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Fifty Six Minutes into the Event.
(Day One, 0956 Hours)

“And this will be y’all’s prep room!”

Striding through the doorway, Pixiebob let out a small hum of approval upon seeing the large open space. “Oh, this is more than enough!”

Mandalay stepped in beside her teammate, nodding along as well. “We really do appreciate this. Having the first Patroller slot is really going to help get our numbers back on the charts. And to even find a sitter for Kota—”

Scratching his head, he replied, “I swear it’s nothing. And the student who was sitting out of the event will do great watching Kota and Aizawa’s kid. Tsuyu has a really good head on her shoulders and said she used to babysit her siblings all the time, so it’s no trouble at all. Thirteen certainly does not mind taking him to her either.”

“Still—“

Snipe waved off the thanks, laughing softly, “Nah, it's the least we could do after everything you did for our kids.” 

“The children during the attack took great steps to fight and protect themselves as well,” Tiger chimed in as he twisted through the doorway, lugging two ridiculously large cases of equipment over each shoulder. “But of course we did our best to keep them safe all the same!”

“Ah, Tiger be careful with that!” Ragdoll cried out as she darted through the door, wheeling another chest of equipment and hovering around the larger hero. “That stuff is super delicate, I told you to carry it one at a time!—“

“Easy there, Ragdoll, your tech will be fine,” Mandalay said with a calming tone, trying to ease her teammate. “Tiger knows what he’s—“

It was in that moment that Tiger nearly dropped one of the cases of equipment, scrambling to catch it while everyone shrieked, jumping in to help balance the case. Snipe ended up being the one to catch it, sliding in dramatically into a crouch just below the massive case. Everything seemed to come to a screeching halt in the room, the panic spike now leading to several sighs of relief, with Ragdoll nearly collapsing to the floor.

Once assuring his grip was more stable, Snipe slowly stood and carefully slipped the case from Tiger’s grip…only to nearly drop it himself. “What in the hell —“

“I told you it was too heavy!” Ragdoll angrily snapped at Tiger, ignoring Snipe’s plight as he struggled to sit the case down, the other two women hovering about him as he readjusted and managed to move the case a bit away.

Tiger also seemed unbothered by Snipe’s plight, his attention on Ragdoll, apologetically replying, “I’m sorry, I thought I had a better grip—“

While Ragdoll continued to rant, Snipe managed to move the case off to the side, sitting it down with a heavy sigh. “What is even in these things?”

Trying her best not to laugh, Mandalay replied, “Ragdoll’s new toys. Since she can’t… search like she used to, she has been switching to tech based searching.” Patting the case purposefully, she chirped, “These are all of our computer bases and control stations for her drones.”

Despite having his mask on, Snipe seemed to frown at her. “We already have the Watchers, why don’t—“

“The Watchers don’t technically exist for this event!” Pixiebob chirped, leaning in close to Snipe despite his confusion. “ So we shouldn’t have access to them. We want to treat this like a real life scenario and use our own equipment, a good… trial run …” She then laid a hand on his arm, looking up at the man and seeming to actually purr . “You know, you must be really strong to carry that box…”

Before Snipe could even think of a response beyond leaning away, Mandalay was stepping between the two, an embarrassed and apologetic look on her face. “Ha, sorry about that…she just a bit… much in recent years.”

From across the room, Tiger called out, “I think Snipe would be an excellent choice in mate for Pixiebob!”

Snipe went stock still. “Choice in what —“

Pixiebob was giving him a strange smile over Mandalay’s shoulder, something that might have been alluring but Snipe was in too much of an inward panic to think too much about that. Mandalay, thankfully, shoved Pixiebob back and took control. “Pixie, we are not propositioning coworkers!”

“ But— “

“ No! ” Before the blonde could protest anymore, Mandalay swiftly turned her attention back to Snipe, looking all shades of embarrassed. “Now, sorry about that…where can we set up our equipment?”

Snipe contemplated asking what in the world just happened, but swiftly decided to just not kick that hornet’s nest. He has made poor choices before, and something told him that this would be one of those types of choices. Turning towards the desks in the corner, he ushered them over. “This is where you can set up your equipment…” Glancing overhead at the overheard television monitors, he frowned. “I guess if y’all are considering Watchers as nonexistent, we should turn that off.”

Mandalay made an inquisitive sound, but glancing up to where Snipe was looking, she immediately understood what he meant. “Ah, is that the live feed?”

Humming in acknowledgement, Snipe quipped, “Yeah, it's been a hell of a start this morning.”

“We haven’t been watching the feed,” Ragdoll cut in as her and Tiger made their way over. “But we’ve had a bunch of messages about it. Something about the opening being intense?”

Snipe tried to hide a laugh behind a cough. “Yeah, you could say that. Aizawa’s kid went and stirred up a right mess.”

Mandalay’s gaze darted between Snipe and the live feed. “Which kid?”

Suddenly, the main feed cut to static, and before anyone could react, the static disappeared to reveal none other than Midoriya Izuku sprawled on his throne, smiling at the camera. 

“ Take your seats, everyone. Class is in session. ”

Snipe snorted as the Pussycats stared in shock. “Take a wild guess.”

“You prepared?”

Yagi’s gaze drifted to the side, seeing Aizawa step into the room and drift close to him. Allowing a grimace to cross his face, the ex pro quietly muttered, “I want to say yes, however…”

“ Our first lesson is going to be very important… ”

“However, he’s your successor,” Aizawa supplied, his tone blank yet somehow understanding.

“ It’s something that certain heroes tend to focus on, something that really sets the stage for their career! ”

“It would be strange if you weren’t torn about your successor leaving this kind of mark on society.”

“ Today, I am going to teach you about leaving an impression . ”

What remained of Yagi’s stomach churned, and he silently reminded himself that he needed to have faith in his successor.

Izuku had a point to make, and Yagi had his own role to play to ensure Izuku succeeds. 

“ One of the hallmarks of being a hero is having a persona, an image that you display to the public. ”

Fuwa watched the screen silently, feeling uneasy as the first year continued to monolog. The morning had been stressful, with their teammates insisting on an aggressive strategy of taking out other teams despite their quirks not being very suitable for such combat. They had encountered two other teams so far, and not only had they not taken anyone out, but they lost a teammate in the process.

To say that Fuwa was frustrated was an understatement.

Their other Second Year teammates huffed at their side, and they could not help but skirt away from them. “Who the hell does this kid think he is?” One of their teammates angrily shouted up at the screen.

“Shut up , Knockout…” Fuwa muttered, though their words went ignored.

“Whether the persona be outlandish or muted, an exaggeration of yourself or something outside of the box, it is a way to grab attention, to get the public to notice you…”

“Oof,” their other teammate chimed in. “That First Year is kind of creepy.”

“But Heroes aren’t the only ones who want to leave an impression.”

Fuwa simply chose to watch on in silence, a feeling of dread growing in their stomach.

Shigaraki leaned forward on the dingy old couch, ignoring the bickering of the League around him.  His attention was locked onto the flickering screen, watching aptly.

“Sometimes, the ones wanting to leave an impression are the very people the Heroes fight to stop.”

“But I’m just saying!—”

Shigaraki finally snapped, interrupting Twice and snarling, “Will you all shut the fuck up!”

“From as grand of an entrance as an attack on a Hero School, to something as simple as a chat with your hand wrapped around someone’s throat…”

Dabi seemed to finally take note of the screen. “Oi, the brat is talking about you, right?”

“Rather than making people feel safe, the person leaving the impression wants to leave a different tone of message. But in the end, we all have the same intent.”

Shigaraki did not answer, still staring intently, trying to wrap his mind around what the boy was saying. Midoriya had pissed him off from the beginning, seeming to represent everything he hated, everything he despised . He wanted nothing more than to turn the boy to dust beneath his hands.

And yet…

“The intent to look the world dead in the eye, stand your ground and announce ‘I am here. ’”

He couldn’t help it.

He laughed .

Nedzu watched the scene quietly.

He wanted to be proud. 

He wanted to praise this boy for his cunning, for his ingenuity, for his boldness. 

Nedzu wanted to do many things.

Instead, he settled back in, typing away at his laptop, trying yet another code before he allowed himself to consider the option of cashing in favors with those who had tech based quirks. He settled, forgetting to hide his true self behind his usual empty smile. He settled, body tense, tail twitching, and his jaw twisted into an angered snarl that betrayed his true nature.

He settled. 

For now.

The Commission Council watched, silent, seething, like a crank slowly being twisted inch by inch, fraction by fraction, tension building in the spring…

“We want to declare ‘I am here…’”

The boy’s stare felt challenging, daring them to do something, to say something, to meet him face on, and the tension rose —

“‘And I will win.’”

And then it s n a p p e d.

Monoma glared at the screen from the warehouse window, both him and Tokage having returned his eyes by this point. None of them wanted to risk it, not before knowing exactly what “Sensei” had planned. “That foolish 1A member, thinking he’s so much better than us—“

“But for now, winning is not on the agenda!”

“Knock it off, Pyrite,” Kendou groaned tiredly, eyeing the Watcher that had made its way into the Warehouse with them. She felt mildly disturbed with how it just seemed to… stare , but she did her best to ignore it. “We need to be on guard—“

“No, I just need to get my point across to you all.”

“We can handle anything they throw at us!” Tetsutetsu shouted out, causing Tokage to grimace and edge away. “One opponent doesn’t stand a chance—“

“The moment I realized what I wanted to teach you all was the moment I started planning.”

“How do you know he is alone?” All eyes snapped to Momo who sat quietly on a box, Awase checking the bandages on her head. “Someone attacked my team and I, someone was fighting Sero when I escaped.”

“And how better to teach people than when they are a captive audience?”

She looked up to the screen where Sensei grinned back.

“And what better way to learn than by trials by fire?”

“And I do not believe that person was him .”

“He’s….actually teaching us.”

“Ah, I’m rambling a bit, aren’t I?”

Kaminari gulped. “Yeah…teaching. Who else would rather take a pissed off Aizawa than that as our teacher?”

“Let me get back to the point.”

“At least with Aizawa we know what to expect…” Kirishima muttered under his breath. “But this…”

“Today’s Lessons shall begin with lectures…”

“It’s just Deku!” Uraraka insisted, fists clenched at her sides. “It's not like he’s really some big bad villain—“

“And then…well, attempts at practical applications.”

She swallowed heavily. “It's an act .”

“Act or not,” Shouto chimed in as Mirio silently stepped up to his side, watching the screen with a steady gaze before glancing off to the side as two watchers approached, circling their group before flying up into the air. “He has proven himself a threat already. We need to—“

“So, let’s begin another exercise, shall we?”

Bakugou grew rigid as Izuku held up his hand, a familiar device resting in his palm. “We need to move.”

“This will also double as an introduction to my teaching assistants, so to speak!”

“Kats—Nitrogen, what—“

Before anyone could say anything else, Katsuki was shoving several of them off the street, shouting, “We need to move, now, now, NOW— “

“Try to be on your best behavior…”

Mirio caught on, grabbing and pulling others along at random. “ Hit the deck— ! ”

“The test begins now !”

Izuku clicked the large red button on the device.

Their life monitors buzzed .

Tsu did not know what to feel.

Watching the screen with the rest of the Hero Course, both the ones knocked out in the early game and those who chose to sit out like her, none of them knew how to respond or what to say. Midoriya had always had a presence, but one that was somehow meek yet encouraging. At least, that’s how she had always seen it.

But she thought back to everything that had happened to their class, all the times when Midoriya took charge and fought back, and she wondered if they maybe only saw what they wanted to see. 

Ojirou leaned closer to her. “It’s a good thing Eri is so distracted by her tablet…”

Tsu glanced over to Eri who had her cat ear headphones on, staring intently at her tablet with a soft smile. It was good to see that she had not noticed the screens. She wasn’t sure how the little girl would respond to seeing the boy she idolized acting like this.

Looking back to Ojirou, she replied, “Small mercies, I guess.”

At that point, Thirteen entered the room with a familiar boy in tow, looking around before spotting Tsu and waving all while Kota sulked at their side. “Ah, there’s Kota,” Tsu commented as she rose to go greet the boy.

Hopefully he and Eri would distract themselves. She did not want to have their idolization of Midoriya be crushed.

She hummed softly to herself as she paced around the kitchen. The apartment was quiet besides the usual sounds of the city around her, and for the most part, she was content.

As content as she could be.

Setting aside her worries, she decided to herself to the task of doing some meal prep for the week. After all, she would need it for when—

The phone rang, a shrill sound startling her from her thoughts. Taking a fortifying breath as she floated the phone closer, she tapped the answer button. “Hello?…”

A pause. Then she felt her face light up with a smile. “Ah, Mitsuchan! How are you today?”

Settling the phone into the crook of her neck, she floated over her cooking book, absently flipping through the pages till she found the recipe for a good stew. “Hmm? What about Izuku?”

Turning on the sink as she floated over a large pot, she set it under the water to fill before floating some chicken stock out of the cabinet. “No, no I have not been watching the Villain day Event…” Frowning, she added, “Mitsuki, you know how I stress over those things.”

Pot filled to the height she wanted, she turned off the water and lifted the heavy thing with her hands, knowing it was too much for her quirk, struggling with both that and keeping the phone tucked between her neck and cheek. “I—Mitsu, just a sec—“ Heaving a heavy sigh as she sat the pot on the stovetop, she reached up to better position the phone while she turned on the flame. “Oh, you remember what happened during the Sports Festival! I was a complete wreck during the fights with my baby!”

While letting the pot come to a boil, she opened the fridge to grab various vegetables and floated the cutting board and her preferred chopping knife onto the counter. “Oh, he hasn’t fought yet? Oh, I’m so relieved! He promised me he would be less reckless during—“

As she shut the door with her hip, slowly settling all the vegetables on the counter while listening, she finally cut in. “Mitsuki, I understand your concern. But I do not want to know what is happen— No , Mitsuki. I just—I can’t take that stress right now. You know I can’t.”

After a pause, she added, “Besides, Hisashi promised to take off work to watch him. He said he would keep me updated of anything I needed to know.” Grabbing a stalk of celery and setting it on the chopping block just a bit too harshly, she snapped, “ Mitsuki ! Don’t talk about Hisashi that way! Just because our family dynamic is different than yours doesn’t make him any less of a father to Izuku!”

Another pause to listen, and Inko let out a tired sigh. “I know you didn’t mean any harm. It's just a stressful day for all of us.” With a small smile to herself, Inko commented, “I know my boys. Izuku is very much his father’s son. He may drive me up the wall with worry, but he knows his limits. This isn’t like the other incidents. He has a plan this time.”

Tucking her hair behind her ear, Inko reached for the knife without paying attention. “Just wait and see, I’m sure he will— oh! ”

Dropping the knife on the counter, Inko replied, “Ah, I need to go Mitsuki. I will call you later!” 

Ending the call and sitting the phone on the counter, she stared glumly at the vegetables scattered about and the splattering of red across food and countertop. Glancing at the still dripping slice in her palm, she remained unphased by the sight, simply pulling a hand towel through the air to carefully wrap the wound. 

“Oh dear…I’m going to need to go get more ingredients.” 

Chapter Text

Four Weeks Before the Event.

“Mei?”

A loud clang echoed through the room, and Izuku swallowed down the urge to jump out of skin. Really, he should be used to this by now. He certainly has wandered in on worst scenes, but his paranoia always spiked upon first entering Mei’s little private workroom. 

Well…if you could call it a workroom…it was more like her own private hangar, if he was being honest. PowerLoader learned early on that while Hatsume was brilliant , she also was a bit of a… hazard , to put it lightly.

Case in point.

A delighted gasp, and he heard a cheerful “ Ten Million! ” Just before he heard the sound of rapidly running feet on the scaffolding above him. He barely braced in time as a blur of pink hair and dark navy canvas full on launched over the railings at him. 

Did he mention the scaffolding was also ten meters above him?

Letting out a strangled sound of panic, he shouted, “Mei, no! ” Before lighting up green and shooting upwards, meeting Mei half way. “Are you trying to get yourself hurt?!”

The girl in question simply cackled, spider monkeying herself to him in his hold on her. “Got to test your reflexes, Ten!” As Izuku landed in a crouch on the ground, she was immediately scrambling off of him and digging out a notebook from the pocket of her oversized overalls that were tied and hanging low around her waist. “How am I supposed to build you the best equipment if I don’t know what you are capable of?”

Letting out a tired groan, he bluntly replied, “You can’t exactly make me anything if you break your arms and legs.”

She waved him off. “Meh, details.” Then, grabbing his arm and manhandling him over towards a desk, she quipped, “And besides, breaking bones was your routine, Ten.”

“Not anymore!” He squawked indignantly, stumbling along after her. He knew better than to resist.

“And that is partially thanks to me!” Mei chirped as she reached her desk before all but shoving him into an empty rolling chair, not bothering to help him as he flailed and attempted to stop himself from rolling away. Grabbing another chair and pulling it over, she immediately began to ask, “So, what wonderful and brilliant ideas have you brought me! You better have some good ones: I was beginning to think that I had finally scared you off.”

Izuku had been attempting to scoot himself closer while she spoke, but as her words hit him, he paused. “I…didn’t mean to be gone for so long.”

Mei shrugged. “It’s not a big deal—“

“No, it is. I’m sorry—“

“Ten, I swear it’s fine—“

“No, it really isn’t.” He had an edge of finality to his words as he cut her off, causing her to finally trail off on her protests. “You’re my friend , and I shouldn’t have neglected you. So, please, will you forgive me?”

She seemed to hesitate, looking like she wanted to protest the apology again, only to instead give him a firm nod.

He smiled brightly. “Good! Now, to get to the part you enjoy!” Slumping his backpack off his shoulders and shifting it around to his lap, he dug around inside for a moment before finally pulling out his prize with a loud, “Aha!”

She practically squealed .

Before he could stop her, she was up on her feet and snatching the book out of his hands, flipping rapidly through the pages. “Oh, Ten, you have really outdone yourself this time!” Grinning wildly at him, she mused, “Some of these probably won’t be possible here at UA due to limited materials and equipment, but we can definitely keep the schematics for the future!”

Izuku could not help but smile back. “So, these designs seem doable?”

“For the most part,” she drawled with a shrug, still flipping through the pages as she paced the area in front of him. “But seriously, you have been busy .”

“I needed to get some planning done…” Head tilting slightly, he began to ask, “Mei…I was wondering if I could ask for your help with some—“

“I’m in.”

Izuku startled. “I—I haven’t even explained—“

Mei flipped the book shut, her grin shifting to a soft smile. “You don’t have to.” Crossing her arms and stepping back to lean against a support beam, she quipped, “In case you haven’t realized by now, I’m ride or die for you, Izuku.”

He swallowed heavily, trying to push down the emotions. “It’s a big task.”

“You know I love challenges!”

“Likely to take up all of your free time for the next few weeks.”

“Things are slow right now anyway.”

“It’s going to be dangerous —“

“I literally just jumped off a ten meter scaffolding to see if you could catch me. Danger isn’t an issue for me.” Head ducking away, she quietly commented, “I know I’m not the typical friend material.”

Izuku’s face softened. “Mei…”

“I’m loud, I’m brash, I say things I shouldn’t and understand machines far better than people.” Reaching up and shoving her dreads out of her face, she let out a hollow laugh.“I run people off before they even get close. Power Loader had to give me a separate lab because my classmates didn’t like how destructive I was yet still managed to finish so many projects—“

“It’s their loss,” Izuku cut in before he could stop himself.

Mei’s sad smile grew. “And that . You just—despite it all, despite my flaws, you still decided to be my friend. You decided to stand at my side.” Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, she managed to choke out. “I had decided that having friends was a lost cause long before I met you, and then you showed up and said ‘fuck that, I’m your friend now—‘“

“I didn’t say that —!”

“Yeah, yeah,” she replied with a cheeky grin. “But you know what I mean.”

Pushing off the support beam and striding over to him, she proudly declared, “The point is, you are stuck with me. Through thick and thin, whether it’s hero costume gear or you taking down the government, I’m all in.” Jabbing him in the chest with a finger, she added, “And don’t think you can get rid of me, got it?”

Tears began to shine in his eyes as he let out a laugh. “Alright, I got it…” 

“Glad to see we are on the same page now!” She chirped brightly. “Now, what can Hatsume Industries help you with today?”

Izuku shook his head. “You really are fantastic, Hatsume Mei.” Then with a warm smile he added, “So…about taking down the government…”

The Rogue Hero: Vector @officialprovector ✓ · 5 minutes ago

So, currently watching my Alma Mater’s #villainday event.

What's 'timberrrrr' but for GIANT CONCRETE AND STEEL BUILDINGS!?

375 Replies | 6,893 Likes | 267 Retweets | Share

            The Pun Hero: FlowJo @officialproflowjo ✓ · 3 minutes ago

            UA: It’s going down—

            This one kid: I’M YELLING TIMBERRR!

            262 Replies | 4,852 Likes | 147 Retweets | Share

Sixty Two Minutes into the Event.
(Day One, 1002 Hours)

Hitoshi glanced to his right as adjusted his half mask and pulled up the hood of his outfit. “Ready, Pest?”

“Try to be on your best behavior…”

Mei met his gaze, an excited grin growing as the sounds of her gear began to whir to life, lifting her own mask into place. “Always, Death-kun.”

“The test begins now !”

And then the world around them exploded as they parted ways.

They had their orders. They intended to follow them through to the end.

Their Sensei deserved no less than their best, after all.

Despite the explosion not being anywhere near them, they could all easily feel the ground shake from the force of it all.

“What the heck was that?!” Kaminari screeched as he grabbed hold of Mina, still looking around wildly from the aftershocks.

Looking immensely tired, Tamaki muttered, “I should have just sat the event out.”

“Is everyone alright?” Iida called out, helping Uraraka to her feet from tripping during their initial scrambling.

Before anyone else could say anything else, Hadou stopped down from above. “Look over there!”

All their gazes snapped to the East where she was pointing, seeing several plumes of dust and smoke rising. With an audible gulp, Mina asked, “Weren’t there more buildings over there before?…”

Mirio stepped forward, his face oddly serious. “Yeah…yeah there were.”

Seeming to be losing his patience, Bakugou stepped forward in the middle of the group. “All of you need to stop standing around gawking!” Jabbing a finger at Hadou, he snapped, “Oi! Twirly Bird!”

“It’s Hadou-San—”

“Go scout ahead!” He barked out, cutting off her protest. “See what we are dealing with, but do not engage!”

She looked like she wanted to protest, but Mirio chimed in, “You can get in and out faster than us, Hadou-San, it's our best way to get an idea of the situation.”

A clear pout was on her face, but she did as told, flying off from the group towards the smoke.

“Be careful!” Kirishima called out after her, only to be met by her twisting in air to wave at him and flash a thumbs up as she sped away.

“Is it safe to be sending her off on her own?” Uraraka asked warily, eyeing where her Senpai had flown off to.

“It’s our best way to get an idea of what we are facing,” Shouto explained, moving to stand at her side. “Whether Izuku…whether Sensei is simply causing random destruction or actively attacking.”

Bakugou nodded, a scowl planted on his face as he began to move. “We can start heading off in that direction after her in case it’s a situation where we can step in. I don’t like the idea of not knowing what the hell we are dealing with.”

“I thought you said you knew Midoriya,” Iida asked sternly.

“I know Deku ,” Bakugou snapped irritably. “What I don’t fucking know is who in the hell these ‘teaching assistants’ of his are, and I don’t fucking like not knowing.”

None of them could disagree with that.

“Alright, let’s move people!” He ordered, waving for them to follow him. “Stick to the edges of the road, and keep your guard up for any extras or surprises possibly hiding in the buildings or alleys.” A feral grin crossed his face. “We’ve got a nerd to catch!”

It was official.

This Sensei kid was fucking mental .

Shifting on the ground with a pained groan, Fuwa struggled to roll over on their side, coughing heavily as the dust began to clear. The kid was nuts, absolutely insane , who in the hell would think this was a good idea.

Finally managing to push up slightly on their knees, the coughing continued as they squinted through the dust, taking in the destruction around them.

“Did—Did he just…” Takeo called out from about a dozen feet away, staring in horror at the remnants of the city buildings around them.

Before they could say anything, a distant “ Hey!” Broke through the ringing in their ears—which oh, that was certainly a thought. Eyes drifting off as they shoved pink strands of hair from their eyes, they noticed a familiar figure darting through the smoke, followed by several others, at least three teams worth.

Ishiyama, their other teammate, stumbled into their frame of vision. “Are they seriously attacking after that —“

“Oh shut up, Ishi!” The approaching girl leading the other teams called out, having heard Ishiyama’s voice even though Fuwa was still struggling through the ringing. “We came to make sure that everyone was okay!”

Takeo let out a snort. “We’re fine, Hina. Fuck…” Turning in a circle, he let out a low whistle. “Damn, the kid really blew up a huge chunk of the city.”

“It was so badass,” another of the girl’s from Hina’s team chimed in, practically bouncing in place. “He blew up all the buildings around us! Isn’t that cool?”

With a snort, Ishiyama snipped, “Not all of them.” Jabbing a finger towards the empty bit of road further ahead framed by still intact buildings, he snapped, “He didn’t get the ones North of us.”

Slowly shifting to their feet, Fuwa began to glance around, their face beginning to shift into something of concern. “…are you telling me that we are essentially boxed in except for one exit.”

“We—“ Ishiyama paused, head snapping to Takeo, each sharing a panicked look. “Oh. Oh no.”

Hina looked concerned. “What? What’s wrong—“

And then, Fuwa barely noticed what Hina was saying, their eyes having focused on something in the distance. Launching themself forward and shoving past the others, they barely managed to yank and expand the cotton from both of their earlobes, tossing it out in front of them to expand into a massive barrier, shouting out a quick, “ Brace! ”

Then, a small clink and beep was heard…followed by an explosion igniting from the other side of their quirk’s barrier, and everyone watched in horror as the explosion of blood red paint erupted from the other side of the cotton wall, splattering all around and staining the white cotton red. Fuwa stood at the ready, pulling their staff from their utility belt as the cotton puffs regrew on their ears, preparing themselves for the next attack…

Only to be met with cackling .

“Well, it’s good to see that one of you has some decent reflexes!” 

They all edged out around the barrier, being met with the sight of a figure slowly gliding into frame at the Northern entrance to their boxed in position. The long tails of a trench coat billowed out behind them, a hood pulled up over their head and obscuring their face. Hands tucked behind their back in an almost disarming and falsely innocent kind of way, they slowly appeared to be skating…no, not quite skating, they were hovering above the ground as they moved with what appeared to be boots straight out of some sci-fi movie. Their whole outfit honestly looked like they had just stepped out of a cyberpunk remake, with neon blue circuitry lines and decals peeking out on the gear and clothes under the trench coat, accentuating the outfit as a whole.

Not to mention the eerie blue glow emanating from the mouth of their oni mask peeking out from under the hood.

Letting out another cackle that set all of them on edge, the figure slid to a halt, reaching up to through her hood back, revealing what looked like a first year with dreads a darker pink than Fuwa’s own. They all watched as she reached into her pockets before pulling out several spheres with the same blue glow as her outfit, all expertly fanned out between her fingers as she dramatically posed with her arms crossed before her. “But still!”

Fuwa did not waste any time. “Everyone, move! ”

“Let’s see how you hold up to the rest of my babies!”

And then their attacker threw the spheres, each hitting the ground around them with a loud bang as they all scattered and screamed .

Cackling even louder, their attacker dropped into a crouch as her gear began to glow brighter. “It’s time for you to see how Pestilence runs a show!”

“This is sad .”

Hitoshi watched the two Second Years struggle to get to their feet as he casually strolled forward towards them, twirling a pair of batons at his sides. “You really think you deserve to be in the Hero Course with this type of performance?”

He was met with dagger glares. “ Oi! —“ “Watch your—!“

As their eyes began to glaze over, Hitoshi moved to twist the batons one more time before shoving them down in their holsters. “Alright, listen up. Act normal, and go lead more people into the blocked off zone where Pestilence is teaching. Understand?”

He was met with two blank nods, and then with a quick shake of their heads, they were standing normal once more. Watching as they headed off, he was pleased that the quirk control lessons with Izuku were paying off. Were it not for the eyes, no one would be able to tell they were being controlled. 

Cracking his neck to the side and ignoring the Watcher that had finally floated down from above, he drawled, “Time to go find more fodder for Pest…”

Though, as he started to stroll off, pushing a few strands of hair that had fallen loose from being tied up back from his face, he paused for a minute, head cocking to the side to listen. Then, he softly muttered, “…is that music?”

“Boss.”

Barely glancing up from the gear Izuku was hastily tweaking for a future lesson, Izuku pulled the screwdriver from his mouth and hit his comm button. “Status report, Death.”

“Pestilence is holding her own fairly well,” the voice drawled, sounding infinitely more tired than the last time he spoke to his teammate. “And guiding fodder to her has been almost concerningly easy.”

Snorting, Izuku asked, “Then why do you sound more exhausted than you usually do?”

Hitoshi didn’t even reply to the jab, he just bluntly asked, “What the hell were the orders you gave Pest?”

“…what?” Finally turning his attention fully to the comm channel, he shoved away from the work desk, rolling his chair over towards the monitors as he preemptively began pulling up video feeds. “I told her to give the Second Years some trouble and keep casualties to a minimum for now, just to put on a show for the cameras. Why?”

“Because she’s currently kicking the absolute shit out of them while singing along to Mary Poppins show tunes.”

“… what?! ”

“ Ohhhhhhh!~ ” 

Sliding to a skidding halt next to a shell shocked second year, Mei proceeded to full force kick the poor boy in the stomach with her gear enhanced leg without hesitation or stopping as she continued to glide through the group. “ Supercalifragilistic— “ 

Speeding in a figure eight behind the person who tried to dash off to cover, she snatched them by the arm and yanked them off their feet, sending them skidding along the ground as she leaned into a turn back towards the others. “ Expialidoscious! ”

Zipping off to the side, dodging the rapid fire blast attacks from another student, some dime a dozen energy blast, she sang out along with the blaring music coming from the cityscape speakers. “ Even though the sound of it—“ She looped back around, pulling one of her basic stun grenades from her pocket, priming it, and chucking it at the shooter. “Is something quite atrocious!”

Several people taking cover behind the shooter screamed in response to the grenade, all going down from what she considered to be a fairly weak taser blast. “ If you say it loud enough— “ Speeding out to cut the others trying to retreat towards the Northern entrance off, she skidded to a halt, grinning ferally at the terrified looking students. “ You’ll always sound precocious! ”

Crossing her arms and tapping buttons on her wrist gauntlets, she grinned ferally behind her mask as she experimentally tapped the fingers together, creating sparks of electricity from her gloves. All of the Second Years' faces shifted from regular fear to just straight horror at the sight. 

“ Supercalifragilistic expialodocious! ”

Izuku took a deep breath as he watched the monitors, dropping the screwdriver on the table. “This…is fine. This is totally fine.” He steepled his hands in front of him as he stared at the screen. “We can work with this.”

“Boss, I am not singing.”

“Death, I can assure you I have no intentions of turning this event into a musical.” He winced as she grabbed one of the Second Years, twisting and then spinning rapidly only to toss the Second Year at another, cackling all the while. “…she is just following the lesson plan.”

“Did I miss the part of the lesson being ‘how to be batshit crazy 101?’”

“Be nice, Death.” Tapping away at several monitors, pulling up several live feeds of some of his main targets, he smoothly commented, “We wanted to show them how to leave an impression.”

“An impression…and now that impression includes trauma to classic musical movies.”

Dropping back into the chair and closing his eyes, Izuku let out a very exhausted sigh. 

Chapter Text

Four Weeks Before the Event.

“You’re insane.”

Izuku let out a quiet hum, not moving from his spot on the training room floor as he stared up at the ceiling. “Perhaps.” His head tilted to look at Hitoshi, who sat on the ground just a few feet away, flipping through one of Izuku’s notebooks with shaky hands and a furrowed brow. “So?”

Hitoshi’s head snapped up. “So what ?”

All he did was blink in response. “Do you want in?”

A small, slightly hysterical laugh broke out of Hitoshi. “You…are very, very insane.”

Izuku waited.

Hitoshi closed the notebook, shoving it back towards Izuku. “…what do you need me to do?”

Izuku smiled.

The Pun Hero: FlowJo @officialproflowjo ✓ · 5 minutes ago

Them: What are you watching?

Me: A crazy pink haired chick beating up her schoolmates while blasting and singing along to show tunes.

Them: …are you okay?

Me: She’s my spirit animal.

342 Replies | 5,871 Likes | 290 Retweets | Share

One Hour into the Event.
(Day One, 1009 Hours)

All the teachers watched the screens in varying stages of confusion and horror. 

“Is…” Thirteen asked weakly, still not sure what to say. “Is she allowed in the event?”

Vlad slammed his hands on the table. “This is supposed to be strictly for Hero Course students, what the hell is Support doing down there—“

“If you had read the rules, Vlad,” Aizawa chimed in as he strode back into the conference room from having checked on Yagi. “They only mention Hero students having to be the ones to submit the team rosters but with everything else about team members being referred to as UA students.”

Shoving up out of his seat, the Class B homeroom teacher snapped, “You and everyone else damn well know what the rules meant—!“

“Rules are rules.” Head tilting as a smirk grew on his face, Aizawa blandly asked, “Are you saying that I should hinder my students for following the guidelines given to them?”

“It’s a technicality—!“

“One that a student exploited. It was a logical and tactical decision on Midoriya’s part. Besides, even if the technicality was not there, we told them to portray Villains.” Aizawa’s smirk grew to the devious grin. “Villains do not exactly play by the rules.” 

Vlad looked like he really wanted to hit Aizawa at that moment.

Eyes sliding to the scene as Hatsume continued to barrel through the Second Years, not bothering to actually ‘kill’ any but certainly leave them smarting in the morning, Aizawa drawled, “Majima, have you ever considered having Hatsume enroll in Hero classes?”

The teacher in question straightened in his seat. “Don’t you dare poach my student, Aizawa!”

Chuckling to himself, Aizawa drawled, “Trust me, I don’t think the Hero Course could survive her full time. Dual enrollment, however…”

Majima slowly relaxed and slumped back down. “You might regret that offer.”

Shrugging absently, Aizawa quipped before gesturing to the screen, “If this is what she can do with no Hero training? It would be illogical to not expand upon her talents.”

Midnight chuckled to herself as she leaned back in her chair, watching the others with an amused glint in her eyes. “Oh, isn’t this turning out to be a thrilling year…”

Sliding to a halt, Mei felt the grin on her face begin to almost ache behind her mask as she stared at the scene before her. “Aw, come on everyone!” She happily crowed as she hovered from side to side, adrenaline pumping through her brain more fiercely than she could ever remember. “Don’t tell me you're slowing down already!”

One of the many downed Second Years that were scattered across the wide street that she had turned into her domain stared at her in disbelief as they stumbled to their feet. “You’re crazy , absolutely psychotic , what the hell— “

She cut him off with a wild cackle. “Aww, be more original! I’ve been called much worse than psychotic before. Now!” Arms crossing her torso to pull out another set of flash bangs from her trench pockets, she called out, “Who here is familiar with the musical the Heathers— Woah !”

Barely dodging in time as she zipped off to the side, Mei slid to a halt at the far side of the road as a large mass of cotton hit the ground where she had been standing just moments before. “Now, that wasn’t very nice!”

On the opposite side of the road, two Second Years landed, obviously looking displeased that their plan had not worked. “Could you not hold still for five more seconds?!” The one with spring shaped legs shouted as he sat the other down next to him.

Floating from side to side with a grin, Mei crowed, “I haven’t held still since I was born! Too much to do, too little time!” Suddenly zooming towards the pair, she watched them panic and the one with springs try to jump away, completely forgetting his partner. “Oh no, no running away just yet!”

She then reached to her hip, activating one of the large metal boxes strapped to either side and flipping a particular switch as she twisted her torso to face him. “Let me show you one of my babies!”

A wire shot out of the device, seeming to track the guy midair, and then upon impact, the end of the wire seemed to explode into a net. The guy let out a shriek before the wire quickly began to reel back in, dragging him back towards Mei who had shifted her momentum to speed backwards, dragging him further away from the partner he had abandoned.

“Takeo Fumi!” Mei shouted as the guy hit the ground hard , with her finally stopping her momentum. “Quirk, Spring Leg! You can use it to jump incredible heights and clear long distances easily! However, you lack creativity.”

Despite the pain from hitting the ground, the boy in question glared up at Mei while snapping, “What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means that Sensei is unimpressed with you.” This time, the amusement and mirth from her voice was gone, and nothing but a blank tone remained. “He is unimpressed with a lot of you. So, he decided to make an example out of you.” 

She hit another button, and the wire detached from the net, leaving Takeo struggling on the ground in his trap. “Tch, the net isn’t even anything special, and you don’t have a knife or anything to free yourself. None of you utilize support equipment when offered,” she commented in a disappointed tone as she floated closer, leaning over him and shaking her head. “Such a shame—“

Then Mei was darting to the side, just barely dodging another giant mass of cotton thrown at her. “Oh, you certainly know how to wait for openings!”

The partner stepped forward, bits of cotton in each hand. “I have experience. Villains often like to talk too much.”

Mei’s grin was back in full force. “Oh, Sensei likes you , Fuwa Mawata.”

“Oh, does he?” They asked as they began to slowly edge forward, body tense and prepared for an attack. “I don’t believe that he and I have met.”

“Sensei did his research,” Mei replied smoothly, watching the other like a hawk. “The Sports Festival is plastered all over the internet, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why you won for the Second Years.” Casually stretching one of her arms up over her head, reaching with the other to pull it back slightly as her shoulder popped with a sigh, Mei parroted, “Fuwa Muwata, Second Year in the UA Hero Course. Quirk: Cotton Puff. You produce a cotton puff from each ear that stays small while in contact with your skin. The moment you toss it, however, it begins to expand to massive sizes. The more you use it within a period of time, the smaller the masses, unfortunately.”

Clapping her hands together and cackling, she cooed, “Oh, Sensei is so curious about what’s at the center of those! The outside does appear to be cotton, but the weight they display when in momentum suggests a more solid core, oh, imagine if its bone or—“

Fuwa chose this moment to toss both the bits of cotton at Mei, causing her to zoom back…only to narrowly miss being shot by an energy blast from another Second Year creeping up behind her. 

Speeding off and circling back around away from the two, Mei crowed, “Oh, that was close! ” One hand balanced on her hip and the other pointing directly at Fuwa, she called out, “Let’s talk later! For now, I have orders to follow.”

Quite frankly, Hitoshi was beginning to feel a bit… bored . 

Beyond the occasional scuffle in an alley, his role of sticking to the shadows and funneling fodder to Mei was feeling more tedious than anything. He understood his role, understood the importance of controlling the number of targets and exactly what targets entered Mei’s zone. Overwhelming her would undermine their goal, would make them look sloppy and hinder the lessons Izuku was giving.

Giving Mei too little to keep herself occupied, however, could lead to some… interesting situations, however. 

Still, Hitoshi was beginning to feel a bit antsy. He just wanted something, anything to do—

“ Death, come in. ”

Quickly tapping the comm in his ear, he drawled, “Any new orders, Boss?”

“ In fact, yes. You have targets incoming. ”

Hitoshi felt a rush of adrenaline at the thought. “More Second Years?”

“ No. It seems Bakugou and company are about to converge on your area. ”

Suddenly, the adrenaline dropped, and Hitoshi felt like a bucket of water was dumped over his head. “…Bakugou…and didn’t you say Todoroki was teamed with him? And the Big Three?”

“ Yes, the Alliance. ”

“…and you want me to fight them?”

“ All you need to do is distract them while Mei escapes—“

“Boss, what the fuck— “

“ I have faith in you! Feel free to be creative. ”

“You cannot be serious— “

“ Have fun, Death! ”

“Wait, no! ” But he heard the telltale beep of the end call, and Hitoshi found himself staring wide eyed at nothing. Suddenly, a Watcher gently drifted down from above, settling into floating next to him. Turning to look at the robot, he blurted out, “Today is the day I die, I guess.”

The Watcher did not seem to care.

Taking a deep breath, Hitoshi tried to center himself. “Okay, alright…gameplan, I need a plan.” Grabbing at the ends of his scarf, he shot it up to one of the ledges alongside the building and began to pull himself up, scaling the wall. “I am one of Sensei’s Horsemen, I can handle this…”

Pulling himself onto the ledge, he crouched down, staring off at the zone where he could hear Mei’s distant cackling, the music having slowly drifted to other showtunes. He contemplated heading over to the entrance of the funnel, considering ambushing the incoming Alliance from the narrowed path, but he paused, noticing something floating above the destroyed buildings framing Mei’s field.

Or, well, noticing someone .

Hitoshi grinned beneath his mask, watching the person observing the chaos Mei was causing down below. “Be creative, huh?” Cracking his knuckles, he mused, “Well, at least she’s not on the list…”

Reaching up to his mask with both hands, he slowly began to turn one of the scales on either side, feeling the gentle hum of the device kicking on.

Then, in a loud, projected voice, pitched in a melodic tone that echoed through the air, the glow of the mask seeming to pulse, he softly began to hum a song, making sure to stay hidden in the shadows as he laid out his bait…

Her head spun in his direction, and he watched her speed through the air towards his position. “Hello?” She called out as she grew closer, not an ounce of hesitation in her movements. “Who’s there?”

He couldn’t help himself. Turning up the volume slightly, he called out, “Have you ever heard the story of Persephone?”

She halted in the air. “What—“

His grin grew as he watched blue eyes glaze over. “Never eat the pomegranate seeds if you wish to escape.”

Things were finally getting interesting…

“I cannot believe we are doing this.”

Kendou let out a tired sigh. “Pyrite, we’ve been over this—“

“Yes, yes, strength in numbers, I understand that,” Monoma spat back out, barely even looking at Kendou. “But you want us to team up with those Glory Hounds in 1A—“

“I would appreciate it if you stop badmouthing my class, Monoma .”

All of their attention snapped back to Yaoyorozu, who had been quietly trailing along behind them. Most of the group had chosen to stay behind at the warehouse, to keep the base secure and wait out for others of 1B to possibly arrive, but Kendou decided that they needed to have a face to face meeting with 1A in order to convince them for a possible team up.

So, here they were, her, Tetsutetsu, and Monoma traveling to meet up with the little Alliance that Monoma had seen, with the Yaoyorozu heir insisting on coming along.

Monoma simply huffed at the girl’s request, crossing his arms and glaring off in the distance while Kendou shot her an apologetic glance. Yaoyorozu let her expression remain fairly blank, but she was clearly tired of the tension.

Tetsutetsu huffed quietly. “Not all of 1A is manly, but some of them have some fire in them. It would be nice to have Todoroki and Bakugou on our side for now.”

Kendou beamed, ignoring the sulking Monoma. “Yes, this. Thank you , Diamond.” Turning her attention back to Yaoyorozu, she asked gently, “You still doing okay? You were pretty out of it not even half an hour ago—“

“I am fine, Emerald, I promise,” Yaoyorozu insisted with a small, tight smile. “The gas has worn off, and my head only hurts a little. Besides, having me with you is your best chance to convince my classmates.”

Then, before Kendou could say anything else, Yaoyorozu was moving forward past them, gesturing for them to follow. “We need to hurry. No telling what Sensei has planned, and I do not like hovering out in the open for long.”

As she headed off, the three 1B students exchanged concerned glances before following after. It is not as if they did not share the same sentiment.

Those teaching assistants could be anywhere…

…or anyone.

“…Neijire-Chan has been gone for a while,” Uraraka quietly commented as they approached the wreckage of the West side. 

The smoke had begun to clear, but they could hear the distant sound of fighting ringing through the air. Their pace had been slowed, wanting to be cautious about entering the zone before hearing back from Hadou’s scouting session.

A scouting session that was taking far too long.

Mirio let out an absent hum, still wearing his ever present smile but his eyes seeming just a touch heavier than usual. “It’s Hadou-San! And have faith,” he chirped brightly, still walking along at ease. “Hadou-San is more than capable of holding her own.”

Uraraka frowned. “I know, I just…”

Pausing long enough for Uraraka to be at his side, Iida warmly replied, “Hadou-San is one of the Big Three for a reason. I am sure she is fine.”

“Yeah!” Mina chimed in brightly. “She’s the epitome of girl power!” Then, in a more comforting tone, she added, “Besides, the watch still has her marked as in play, right?”

Nodding, Mirio chuckled to himself. “It would take a lot to take Hadou-San down. She and Amajiki were the only other students who could really give me a run for my money.” Then, sheepishly scratching his cheek, he added, “Well, you know, back when I had my quirk.”

Todoroki’s gaze drifted over his shoulder towards the Third Year, noticing the way his eyes fell despite the smile on his face, the way Amajiki shifted towards him in silent comfort. He felt like he should say something, but feared it was not his place. 

Before Shouto could comment, however, he heard a soft whirring of a machine, and quickly found himself face to face with another Watcher. Pausing in his steps, he blinked in wide eyed surprise as the bot hovered inches from his face.

“Um…” he began, glancing around at all the others who had paused to stare at the strange display. “…hello?”

The Watcher did nothing for a beat, only to suddenly start wiggling in place like a happy puppy.

Everyone looked as confused as Shouto felt, Kaminari stepping forward. “Uh…what’s that thing doing, Todoroki?”

Sending the boy a tired look, he remarked, “I do not know. I think it is the one from earlier.”

“What one from earlier?” Kirishima asked curiously, edging towards the bot. 

“The one from the start of the Event, that flew to me before Izu—before Sensei’s speech,” he replied, reaching up slowly to gently pat the top of the Watcher. This caused the drone to resume wiggling once more. “The wiggle one.”

“Oh my god,” Mina whispered softly. “We have to name it Wiggle.”

Practically growling, Bakugou stepped forward and snapped, “We are not naming the fucking drone!”

“Oh come on!” Kaminari whined. “Look at it!” The Watcher then seemed to sink down as it faced Bakugou, who was in turn still angrily glaring while small pops crackled along his palms. “Ah, don’t be so mean! You’re scaring it!”

Stuttering, Bakugou shouted, “It’s a robot! ”

“Robots deserve love too!”

“Did you fry your brain again ?”

“ Rude— “

“I like the name Wiggle,” Shouto chimed in with a tone of finality, reaching over to pat the bot once more with a small smile on his face.

“What the fuck , Icyhot—“

“Can we please stay on task?” Iida chimed in, arm swinging through the air. “And can we please not get attached to another inanimate object—“

“Another?” Mirio asked in a slightly concerned voice.

Kirishima laughed nervously. “Someone put googly eyes on all of the dorm appliances a while back…”

“Admit it, Kiri!” Mina half shouted. “We broke way less appliances after we named them all!”

“This was a mistake,” Amajiki quietly muttered as he tucked in closer to Mirio’s side.

Bakugou looked dangerously close to having an aneurysm while Shouto continued to pat the Watcher and maintain eye contact with the seething blonde. “It’s name is Wiggle,” Shouto declared. Giving the Watcher one more goodbye pat, he then began to head off in their original direction. “Now, let’s…oh.”

Everyone spun in the direction Shouto was looking, and they all noticed a familiar shape. With a relieved sigh, Uraraka darted forward. “Nei—Hadou-San! Over here!”

But as Shouto watched the girl’s approach, floating listlessly through the sky, he knew that something was… off . Glancing towards Bakugou and seeing the tight expression on the blonde’s face, he realized he was not the only one.

“Radon.” Uraraka spun on her heel, blinking in confusion as Mirio made quick steps towards her. “Please, stand back.”

“Huh?” She asked. “What do you—“

“ Radon… ” Shouto spoke up, tone firmer but with an edge of pleading. “Step back with us.”

Hesitantly, shooting one last glance at Hadou who had slowly begun to float down to them, Uraraka moved back with the others, letting Shouto step in front of her.

“Hadou-San,” Mirio called out, plastering on a tight smile. “Are you alright?”

Hadou said nothing as she finally reached the ground, seeming to almost…stumble with her landing. Her head was tilted forward, close to appearing to be limp, casting her bangs over her eyes. Arms hanging loosely at her sides, her posture seemed to tilt, her whole demeanor just feeling off . Almost like—

It clicked for Shouto. “She looks like a marionette.”

And apparently, that clicked something for Bakugou too. “Zero, Moondrinker, get the fuck away from her! ”

Before either could do so, Hadou’s head twitched, twisting towards them, her eyes wide and unseeing with a pure white iris staring back at them through the messy strands of her bangs.

Mirio stumbled back, Amajiki dragging him along. “What—“

Hadou’s head snapped to the side. “Death sends his regards…”

Then, she shot up into the air, lifted her arms, and opened fire on them all.

“You know, I looked into your class!”

Fuwa was hunched over and panting, standing on shaking legs as they refused to take their eyes off of Mei. Pestilence had been running them and any of the other Second Years managing to get to their feet in circles, barely breaking a sweat thanks to those hover boots. Mei never gave Fuwa a chance to get close, and none of their classmates had been able to damage those god forsaken boots.

So, Mei just continued to chip away at them all while Fuwa scrambled for some kind of opening.

“Oh, did you now?” They asked between panting breaths, trying to buy time for a plan. 

Mei could not hold still, doing her now familiar little shuffle back in forth as she spoke, her eyes scrunched up in clear delight and likely grinning cheerfully behind the mask. “ Yep! When Sensei told us that his homeroom teacher had expelled an entire class, I just had to see what you all did!”

One of their classmates who was down but not quite out, angrily shouted, “It’s not our fault the man is an ass!”

Suddenly, Mei went very still, the happy glint in her eyes fading. “That’s not a very nice thing to say.”

The Second Year snorted. “It’s the truth— “

Before Fuwa could realize what was happening, a loud crack rang through the air, and Fuwa found themselves staring slack jawed, head whipping between the satisfied stare of Pestilence and the pure shock on the face of the student who had spoken…the student who now had a very large and red splat across his chest.

Fuwa’s wrist watch buzzed .

“Don’t bad mouth Sensei’s favorite Sensei,” Mei quipped in a sing song voice, though the tone was clearly pissed. “The man has laid his life on the line countless times for his students, many would be dead without him, and you sit there and spew that shit from your mouth because he expelled your lazy ass.”

The kid’s face grew bright red, from anger or embarrassment, Fuwa could not tell. “How dare you—!”

“Dead men don’t talk,” Mei cut in sharply. “So, shut the hell up.”

Seeming done with him, she turned her full attention back to Fuwa. “I had a point somewhere in all of this. I think he just proved some of it.”

Fuwa swallowed heavily. “We were lazy. We weren’t prepared. None of us took the Hero Course seriously.” They straightened their stance, meeting Mei’s gaze and spoke as truthfully as they could. “We deserved to be expelled.”

Their hand began to shake a bit, but they continued to speak. “He wanted to wake us up, to warn us about how serious Heroics can be. He wanted us prepared. I…” They let out a bitter laugh. “I honestly think that if he had not, very few of us would live long after graduation…we owe him for being real…” Then, with a slight smirk, they added, “But he is still a jerk. Just one with a good reason.

Mei did not say anything at first, simply staring curiously at Fuwa. Then, after a beat, Mei began to chuckle, the sound growing into a loud and boisterous cackle, nearly doubling over laughing as she tried her best to control herself. “Oh, Sensei was right to like you!”

Not knowing what else to say, Fuwa awkwardly replied, “Uh…thanks, I think?”

Finally managing to compose herself, Mei sighed. “That’s what makes this next bit suck.”

“…what—“

Crack!

Buzz.

Fuwa blinked, slowly looking down towards their chest in confusion only to stare at the dripping red material covering their top. “…oh.”

“Sorry about that, really,” Mei called out as she tossed the gun into the air just to catch it. “Out of all the people here, you lasted the longest against me, and you are the one who seemed to understand your mistakes the best. You deserve to last longer than the rest of them.”

Fuwa still was not quite processing. “Then…why?”

Mei chuckled. “It’s simple.” She reached behind her back under her trench coat and holstered the gun. “You don’t need Sensei’s lessons as much as the others here.”

Several of the Second Years seemed to grow pale as the implications set in. 

Fuwa just seemed annoyed. “So…you kept them alive because they needed to learn…” They then jabbed a finger at the other kid currently being picked up by one of Ectoplasm’s clones. “But what about him ?”

Mei glanced at the guy. “Oh. Him. Yeah, no, he just pissed me off.” Seeming done with the conversation, Mei began to glide from side to side, “Well, this has been fun! Fuwa, make sure to stop by my lab once this is over! I have some ideas for new babies for you as an apology!” Leaning back and speeding away towards the exit to the zone, Mei waved wildly at them all. “Sorry I can’t stay longer! But I have orders to follow! Bye! ”

Then, she was twisting around and zooming full speed away without another word or explanation. 

Fuwa just stared, not sure what to think, as another clone floated down beside them. “Are you alright, Fuwa?”

“…I’m fine.” Running their hands across their face, they muttered, “Totally fine.” Glancing around to the dozen or so Second Years scattered all around, Fuwa called out, “Good luck to the rest of you, I guess.” Then with a laugh, they quipped, “I think you’re gonna need it.”

None of their classmates looked pleased with the implications.

Fuwa turned to Ectoplasm. “So, am I allowed to go take a nap now?”

“Move your ass !”

Kaminari was then abruptly tackled to the side, both he and Bakugou sent rolling as a blast of energy hit the very spot he had been standing in just a few moments earlier. Bakugou managed to roll himself into a crouch, but Kaminari was left sputtering on his back, trying to process. “What is going on?!” He shouted in a panic just as Shouto sent up a large barrier before them.

“Something is wrong with Neijire!” Mirio shouted out as he dashed over to them, sliding to a halt at Bakugou’s side as Amajiki quickly rushed to join him. 

Energy beams began to pelt the ice, which quickly began to crumble. “Yeah, no shit , Sherlock,” Bakugou snapped at Mirio as he shoved up on his feet. “She ain’t the one steering right now!”

Amajiki’s head whipped towards him as the blasts continued, Mina and Kaminari screaming as Kirishima hardened and moved to block some ice crumbling around them. “ Explain .”

“This looks like the work of that Gen Ed shit,” Bakugou drawled, watching as Shouto moved to reinforce the ice wall. “The one Deku fought at the Sport’s Festival.”

The 1A students all snapped to attention. “Shinsou,” Uraraka mumbled softly.

“Yeah, him. Whatever the fuck he’s named. Thankfully his control is basic and she just is shooting at random, but— damn it! ” More ice fell from the barrier cracking under the attacks, and Bakugou growled in frustration. “We need to attack—!”

“We can’t just fight without a plan!” Iida shouted. 

A large portion of the wall caved in, and Shouto snipped, “Well, we certainly cannot keep wasting time!”

Iida looked torn. “I think— Uraraka, no! ”

But before anyone could stop her, the girl had darted through the opening in the wall. Bakugou and Shouto dashed after her, sliding to a halt just outside of the ice.

And then they watched as Uraraka used her quirk on a chunk of ice, one about the size of a softball…and then full speed launched it at the absently floating Hadou who had just in turn fired off a blast at her. 

“ Radon! ” Shouto shouted, moving to run to her, only to have a blur dash past him. One second she was there, the next the blur was yanking her to the side just before the energy blast made impact.

And in the same second, the ice hit Hadou dead in the torso.

“What were you thinking ?” Iida shouted at the brunette who still stared up at Hadou. “You cannot just take risks like that and not tell us—!”

“I did what Deku would do!” Uraraka yelled back. “I moved . And look!”

She jabbed her finger up in the sky, towards the girl who had been previously attacking them. Hadou was shaking her head, blinking rapidly, and despite the height, they could vaguely make out the white of her irises being replaced with a pale blue.

“H-huh?…” the girl called out weakly, her hovering stuttering a bit.

“Well, shit,” Bakugou muttered, looking over towards Uraraka. “Nice hit, Round Cheeks.”

Uraraka beamed .

Hadou looked very confused as she began to float to the ground. “What…what happened?” Looking all around as the rest of the group began to pile out from behind the barrier, she asked, “How did I get here? What’s going on? Were you guys fighting? Who did we fight? Did we win?!”

Mirio let out a relieved sigh. “It’s good to have Neijire— Hadou-San , back!”

Hadou blinked. “Back from where—“ Her head suddenly whipped to the side as she spun around. “Who said—“

And then her whole body went stiff, before her limbs suddenly seemed to go limp .

Everyone froze. 

Pulling away from Iida, Uraraka hesitantly edged towards the older girl. “…Neijire?”

Hadou slowly circled back around, hovering just a few feet from the ground. Her head tilted down, arms and legs seeming to just…hang.

Swallowing heavily, Mirio asked, “Hadou-San…is that you?”

Her head slowly began to tilt to the side, her face lifting to meet their gazes. Her eyes…were white once more.

With a blank, emotionless expression as she began to lift off the ground higher and higher, she lifted her hands, making peace signs next to her face, almost like a mockery to the bright and cheerful poses she usually made. “Death isn’t done yet.”

“ Back! ” Shouto barked out, grabbing Uraraka and Iida and yanking them back towards the barrier. “Everyone, get back —“

He had to lunge away as a blast was fired directly at him, and he watched as she flitted back and forth through the air, every bit the marionette on strings. 

“Let’s play .”

“Remember the rules, Death.”

Hitoshi remained in a crouch on the building rooftop, ignoring the Watcher that hovered near him. It was one of the shorter roofs, with the little Alliance thankfully being in one of the less urban areas of the cityscape. “I’m very aware, Boss.” Shifting on his feet, he drawled, “I won’t take out one of your toys .”

“Hm. That is good to remember…but also.”

Hitoshi watched as Hadou shot upwards, only to be hit by another ice chunk by Uraraka. Tapping the button on the side of his mask, the lights emanating from the mouth began to pulse as he spoke. “Have a nice dream?”

A crackling came in over the comms, a faint, “Wha—“

Distantly, he could see Hadou grow tense, before her body slumping back into place like a puppet. Hitoshi could not help but grin in success behind the mask as he prepared to give her more orders, only for Izuku to cut in.

“Remember to pick up your own toys when you are finished.”

And then the call cut off, and Hitoshi focused on his task once more.

“Neijire, please! ”

“Radon, look out!” Iida barely managed to sprint over in time, grabbing Uraraka around the waist and pulling her out of the way of another attack from Hadou. Skidding to a stop next to the rest of the group, he pleaded, “Uraraka, I am sorry, but she cannot hear you!”

“I don’t understand!” She shouted, looking in confusion between the others. “Shinsou’s control should fully break whenever the person is hit or shoved! He can’t recontrol them without asking them a question and getting a response!” 

Another beam of energy was fired off near them and they all dodged to the side. “Well, clearly , that’s not true!” Kaminari shouted in a panicked tone.

“Not necessarily,” Amajiki chimed in, his voice louder than usual as he pulled out what looked like jerky from his side pouch to eat. 

“Moondrinker is right,” Mirio added as Amajiki’s arms began to shift and twist, tentacles springing out. The blonde stared intensely up at Hadou who slowly twisted in an almost broken doll sort of fashion towards them. “His quirk could still work the same if he had a way to ask a question from a distance.”

Mina yelped as Hadou slumped forward, her beams charging. “How is that possible? ”

The energy blast was fired, and the group split apart, all while Bakugou shouted, “The fucker put a comm in her damn ear!”

“…oh no,” Uraraka whispered as she slid to a halt, staring up at Hadou.

“Everytime we break the control, he can immediately ask another question,” Shouto irritably remarked. 

Mirio shifted into a more defensible stance, ready to move. “And she’s too disoriented to hear us warn her not to reply.”

Iida looked horrified. “An infinite loop.”

Bakugou’s hands began to crackle. “Not if we pry the damn thing out of her ear!” He then proceeded to launch up off the ground with a battle cry, heading straight for her.

Despite how disoriented and off balance she moved, she still managed to lift a hand before he could reach her…

And he just barely dodged an energy beam directly to the face.

“God damn it! ” He snarled as he crashed back towards the ground.

“We need to fall back!” Amajiki shouted, shooting his tentacles out to grab Kaminari and Mina with one arm and Kirishima with the other, dragging them all back towards the barrier. 

Bakugou looked pissed at the prospect but snapped, “You heard him, everyone move!”

Soon, they all found themselves dodging behind the remnants of the ice wall as Shouto hurriedly began to reinforce it once more.

“This is getting ridiculous. We can’t keep this up!” Shouto shouted out to them. His face had a sheen of ice creeping along his cheek as he patched the wall yet again while small flames crept along his other side in a poor attempt to raise his body temperature. “I will reach my limit soon. We need a plan —“

Before anyone could throw in any ideas, a particularly powerful blast seemed to hit the wall just right to break through. Shouto did not have time to reinforce, and another blast shot through the opening. 

“Look out!” Kirishima shouted, shoving Kaminari aside as his skin hardened, taking the full brunt of the blast which sent him flying back, skidding along the ground like a stone till he crashed through the side of a building. 

“Kiri!” Mina shouted in distress, heading to run after her teammate before Bakugou snatched her by the arm. “Let go , I need to—“

“What you need to do is sit your ass down, and listen up!” Turning to Shouto, Bakugou snapped, “Reinforce the wall as well as you can, I have a plan.”

Shouto wasted no time doing as he was told as Bakugou began to bark out orders. 

“Alright, Hadou-San clearly has no control, and any attempts to break her out of Mind Fuck’s control ain’t gonna work till we get that god damn comm out of her ear,” he quickly explained. “So, here is what we need to do. Radon, Moondrinker, Dunce Face—“

“Hey!”

“ Shut it , you three go dig out Iron and make sure he’s okay!” Bakugou called out while pointing at the building. “ Lithium , don’t use your quirk, we can’t risk you short circuiting this early on. Now move .”

The three in question barely hesitated, running off to the building with only a worried glance back at the rest. Meanwhile, Bakugou wasted no time continuing his orders.“Zero, you’re not rusty on your grappling skills, right?”

“Uh,” the older blonde replied, caught off guard. “I mean, I kept up some of my training, but it does me no good if she’s up in the air—“

“Let me worry about that,” Bakugou snapped. “You, Icyhot, and I will need to set some shit up.” Then, turning to the last two, he ordered, “You two need to distract her.”

Mina seemed to choke on air. “You want me to distract her—“

“You and Mercury are the fastest two in the group,” he reasoned. “And she isn’t in a clear enough mind to aim well or else she wouldn’t just be firing at random spots in the barrier wall. Just keep her distracted and off balance, preferably facing away from the barrier while we set up.”

She gulped nervously but simply nodded while Iida resorted to a stiff nod. “We will perform to the topmost of our abilities!—“

“The barrier is cracking again,” Shouto cut in with a scowl. “We need to act now .”

“Right!” Iida replied. His engines began to rev, and he called out a quick, “Be careful,” to them before dashing away.

Mina still looked scared, but she straightened her spine, giving them all a tight smile and a nod. “Wish me luck!”

“You’ll do fine,” Bakugou called out to her as he grabbed Shouto and Mirio and began to drag them away.

He missed the shocked look on the girl’s face, the near tearful eyes at the bit of faith in her abilities, then the steely resolve as she spun on her heel, shooting out her acid to skate away.

They had their orders to follow.

“How are you holding up?”

Hitoshi glanced behind himself, seeing Mei approach, but he quickly turned his attention back to the fight. The distance hindered him, and holding the girl under his control for so long was beginning to build up a small pressure in his head. He could not risk losing focus right now, so a reply to her was out of the question.

Thankfully, Mei understood. She always understood. 

They were partners for a reason.

Her eyes focused in on the distant scene, her quirk zooming in to get a better view. “They look like they’re regrouping. Oh! Oh, they definitely have a plan now. About time…” She glanced at him. “You going to do anything to counteract it? Or are you just going to let this play out?”

He said nothing, still silently focusing.

She simply nodded. “I would let it play out too.” Turning her attention back to the fight, she added, “It’s too early in the Event to make things too hard.”

He let out a soft hum of agreement. 

Then, he glanced for just a moment to see her slipping off her jacket and tossing it to the ground as she then reached behind her to pull out one of her more favored weapons, quickly working to assemble and set up the pieces. She shot him a wicked grin. “Boss mentioned you might need help with cleaning up your toys once you were done. Felt like I should return the favor for helping watch my back earlier.”

Hitoshi could not help but smirk.

They were partners for a reason, alright…

“ Arsenic !” 

Mina barely managed to turn in time to avoid being hit dead on in Hadou’s beam. While yes, the girl’s aim while under control left much to be desired, the end result was no less destructive. Her and Iida had not been running distraction for long, but they were quickly running out of space. Both may have quirks suited for speed, but neither had a quirk that would do well on uneven terrain…

And giant craters in concrete certainly qualified for uneven terrain.

Growling in a very Baku-esque fashion, she called out, “We’re running out of space!” 

Iida darted to the side, having to abruptly stop to avoid running smack into a large slab of concrete debris. “We just need to hold out a bit longer!”

Yelping as she sped away from another blast, she shouted, “How much longer is a bit!”

Iida, seeming just too done with the situation himself to care, shouted back, “A bit is longer than a second and shorter than a while!”

She would laugh if she was not currently fearing for her life.

Who was she kidding? She still laughed as she narrowly dodged death via mind controlled Senpai—

And that’s when a loud shout rang out. “ Fire in the hole!” It was immediately followed by a particularly loud explosion, and both she and Iida slid to a halt as they stared up in shock and slight horror at the sight.

“ Yeet! ”

Above them, Mirio was flying through the air on what looked like an ice sled, nearly colliding with two Watchers before lunging forward off the cracked sled as he flew directly at Hadou. Hadou, in turn, had an extremely diminished reaction time apparently while under control, and she had only barely managed to spin around to face him in air when Mirio collided with her.

The girl went through the equivalent of stumbling in air, stuttering in flight causing her to fall towards the ground and just barely keeping from full force crashing from the sky. Mirio simply focused on adjusting his hold to spidermonkey on her back, one arm firmly locked around her neck and the other pinning her arms at her sides to where she could not aim at him. 

Iida began to dash over to where they were falling, seeming intent on catching them, only to be cut off by ice shooting across the ground to form a makeshift ramp. Mirio twisted in air to where he appeared to be sitting, using his legs to keep hers up, and landed on the ice fairly skillfully if not just a bit bumpy in a way that Mina mused he might be sore from in the morning.

The pair ended up rolling to a stop on the ground as everyone moved to converge on them. Mirio did not let up his hold, keeping her facing away from them, and Mina could see her eyes flickering back to blue, before she mumbled, “What did you—“ and her eyes were once more pure white.

Bakugou came sprinting over, using his quirk to shoot him forward just a bit faster. “I specifically said not to fucking yell yeet! ”

Mirio looked unbothered, grinning brightly as his cheeks were flushed from adrenaline. “As your Senpai and the one not given the choice about being turned into a living missile, I reserve the right to do what I want!” He brightly responded. Then, glancing meaningfully at the girl in his arms, he asked, “Can someone please get the comm out of her ear? I would, but I’m afraid to let—“

Suddenly, Hadou fired off a blast, and the pair were sent skidding along the ground away from the group. “Fucking—!” Bakugou started to yell, only for Iida to run over and intercept them.

Bracing behind Mirio and helping to stop them, Iida began to reach for her ear. “I’ve got—“

Another blast, and Iida was knocked aside as Hadou and Mirio went skidding in another direction. Mirio apparently had no intention of letting go, and having her arms pinned was making it difficult for her to get airborne again, so the result was quicklyturning them into a horrific version of live skipping stones.

“Neijire!” Mirio pleaded, a nasty scrape on his cheek beginning to bleed. “We are trying to help you!”

Her eyes flickered, the stress building. “I… I… ” She swallowed heavily. “I…I need to…to fight but—Can’t fight you, can’t hurt you, you’re on the list .”

Using his last bit of ice, Shouto skated forward towards them. “Enough of this!” He reached out, but instead of going for the comm…he whacked the side of his palm sharply into the side of her neck at a precise angle, and suddenly, she went fully limp in Mirio’s hold.

Everyone came skidding to a halt behind Shouto. “Oh my god,” Kaminari whispered as he and the others who were rescuing Kirishima came sprinting over, Kirishima leaning heavily on Amajiki. “Did Shouto just murder someone?”

“Did he what? ” Amajiki called out, sounding both pissed and panicked in his quiet tone.

“She is unconscious, not dead,” Shouto insisted, watching as Mirio slowly and carefully loosened his hold. “I did not want to take the time to mess with the comm and risk her firing off another shot.”

Mirio slumped back onto the ground as Uraraka ran up and dropped next to the pair, gently pulling Hadou over to remove the earpiece. “Good call, Kohai,” Mirio managed between exhausted pants. Then, he weakly pumped his fist in the air. “Way to go teamwork!…I am in pain.”

Everyone collectively winced for him.

Amajiki was surprisingly the first one to speak up, shuffling hesitantly towards Hadou as Mirio sat up and propped her up against him. “How long will she be out?”

Shouto hummed softly, head tilting. “Not too long. She should be awake soon enough—“

A crack rang through the air, and they all watched in horror as a bright red splat hit Hadou directly in the center of her chest. 

Their watches all buzzed .

No one moved, no one spoke, all in too much shock over what had just happened so suddenly, so out of nowhere—

“Nei…Neijire Senpai…” Uraraka whispered, reaching out with shaking hands. “What…”

Iida looked shaken. “What…what just—“

“Sniper.” Mirio’s face hardened, his surprise melting quickly. “There’s a sniper, we need to move —“

“We aren’t in danger.”

All eyes snapped to Bakugou, with Shouto snapping, “We are exposed, of course we are in—“

“Why did they only shoot her?” He asked gruffly. “They could have shot most of us by now. Why only shoot her?” His eyes dropped down to the unconscious girl, then drifted to Uraraka who sat numbly next to her Senpai. Bakugou moved to Uraraka, dropping to kneel next to her. She seemed to know what he wanted, and she silently handed him the comm. He stared at it blankly for a second before moving to slip it into his own ear. 

“Bakugou!” Kirishima weakly protested from where he was leaning against Amajiki, but Bakugou just held up a hand to stop him.

Moving to stand, Bakugou began to turn in a circle, staring at the horizon. “What was the point of all of that?” He asked.

Mina began to step towards him. “What do you—“

He held up a hand to her, holding the comm in place with a neutral expression before pausing in his circle, staring off at a distant building. They all looked.

And they all saw the two figures standing there. Watching.

And then the figures turned around and headed off, disappearing from sight on the rooftop.

Bakugou’s neutral face shifted into a scowl. He reached up and snatched the comm out of his ear, clearly not happy with what he heard.

“What did they say?” Shouto asked, breaking the silence.

Bakugou let out a quiet huff. “They said that it was a test. A test to prove potential …and to leave an impression .” A small growl grew in his throat. “He said that she was not on the list…and that they had to put away their toys when done.”

No one knew what to say about that.

Bakugou did not seem to want to discuss the implications much either. “Let’s move. We need to regroup.”

“But…” Uraraka whispered, clutching at Hadou’s arm. 

Suddenly, the air seemed to shift, and they all spun to see one of Ectoplasm’s clones hovering silently behind them, like a Reaper waiting to collect a soul.

Mirio gently laid his teammate down, straightening her hair as he did so before moving to stiffly stand. He slowly held out a hand to a stricken Uraraka and coaxed her to her feet. “Come on. Neijire wouldn’t want us being sad over her…” Offering a kind smile, he added, “You can talk to her once the Event is done.”

Uraraka did not resist, simply taking his hand and meekly following along as they left their fallen teammate behind and headed out in search of cover.

Not even two hours into the Event, and they all silently knew that they just might be in over their heads.

Izuku felt a little bad.

“You were rather harsh with them, Death,” he spoke into the comm, watching as the Alliance trudged along, trying to keep a steady pace and find somewhere to hunker down.

“ Tch. You told me to be creative.”

Letting out a little sigh, Izuku smiled ruefully. “Yes, yes I did. Though I hope you are prepared for the consequences.”

“They were going to find out my identity sooner or later. ”

“ And thanks to me, he has a lot more tricks up his sleeve than that!”

“Which we are very appreciative for, Pestilence.” Tapping away at the screens, he quipped, “Make your way back to base to rest up. We’ll let the Patrollers have the reigns for a bit and monitor progress till the next Lesson. War and Famine need more time before their debut.”

“ Fine with me, Boss. My head is killing me, and I could use a nap.”

“You can nap, I want to tinker on my boots! That one person got a good hit and they seem off balance.”

“Perfectly fine, I’ll await your arrival. Be careful.” Then, he clicked off the comm system before looking back to the screen, noticing how the Alliance was still moving…directly towards the little welcoming committee of Class 1B and Yaoyorozu.

Izuku grinned. “Oh, this should be interesting to see…but first.”

He rose to stand, making his way over towards his chair. “A quick broadcast to make.”

“This concludes Lesson One. Take a moment to breathe and reflect on what you’ve learned! I have much more prepared…so brace yourself for what’s to come.

“Oh, and do be polite to the Patrollers. I look forward to seeing what they have to offer.

“Until the next Lesson…”

Humming softly, the girl continued to tap away at the computer, prepping files and code, organizing last little tweaks to make everything just perfect. Deku rarely asked for favors, and how could she risk disappointing him?

“Is everything in order?”

Smiling brightly as if this was not about to technically break dozens of laws in Japan, she happily replied, “Everything should be ready!”

As the man strolled over to her work station, watching her as she switched away from the basic proxy protections that she had set up after Deku had sent over the admin control account for UA. “Are you sure about this?”

“Dad,” she said in a fond tone as she kept her eyes on the task at hand. “Don’t worry so much. This project has already been approved, and you know that legally we’ll be fine—”

“I know, I know,” he interjected with a half hearted chuckle. “I just…worry.” Gaze dropping to the ground as he stuck his ankle out, looking with a pinched expression at the ankle monitor that he had been required to wear after his stunt with the expo, he mused, “I would just prefer if getting arrested did not become a family tradition.”

“You were the one that thought staging a hostage situation was a good idea,” she remarked a bit stiffly, before letting out a small sigh. “We ran this by the board. This test, this plan…we were cleared. Well, I was cleared.” Looking up at him with a sad yet warm smile, she finished with a determined tone. “Deku needs me, and I intend to see this through.”

Her father seemed to melt at this. “When did you become so grown up…” Shaking his head, he reached up to push his glasses out of the way and pinch the bridge of his nose. “All right, all right…I’ll get out of your way. You go help Toshi’s boy, and let me know if you need anything.”

“I’ll be okay, Dad,” she promised as she shifted back to the screen.

He patted her hair, ruffling it as he chuckled at her protests. “I’m sure you will, Melissa. Us Shields are tough.”

Glancing over her shoulder, she chirped, “Well, as of right now, I’m not Melissa.”

His head tilted with an amused smile. “Oh? Well then, who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?”

She stretched her arms out, linking her fingers and allowing them to crack. “Till the end of this Event…”

The account on the screen dinged, and she knew she was live.

“Call me Apocalypse.”

Chapter Text

Twelve Days Before the Event.

“Okay, explain this to me again—“

“You need to take the square root of—“

“Not my homework!” Hitoshi groaned, yanking his textbook away from Mei and rounding on Izuku. “Class is over, now elaborate: how the fuck do we have six team members? Isn’t that one of the rules we can’t bend?”

Leaning back in the desk chair, Izuku let out an absent hum as he stared at the notebook before him, working on one of the future Lesson notes. Glancing up at Hitoshi, Izuku replied, “We only have five members—“

“You said we had four horsemen and then someone other than you filling the role of Apocalypse,” Shinsou interjected. “I may be bad at math, but I’m not that bad.”

Mei, leaning across the workbench to glance over Hitoshi’s homework notes, bluntly said, “You sure about that?” She then launched back out of reach of Hitoshi swatting at her as she cackled madly. “But yeah, Ten, I don’t really get it either.”

“Simple.” Smiling at the two, Izuku chirped, “Apocalypse is, essentially, an outside contractor of sorts. She is not officially on our team, and she is not assisting us during the event. Technically.”

Hitoshi gave him a deadpan look. “ But? ”

Izuku twirled his pen through his fingers. He used to be better at this, but with the damage to his hands, it had grown more difficult. “We are going to be causing a lot of waves. Making a lot of difficult points. And while we are busy with the Event, we have no way to control the outside view among the public and are at risk of the people we are exposing late game twisting our words.”

Mei blinked. “So, Apocalypse is going to be the one driving the narrative.”

“Among other things.” Grinning, Izuku added, “She is also going to help us with digging up a bit of dirt on certain people.”

Hitoshi dropped his face into his hands. “Izuku. That sounds mildly illegal.”

Izuku shrugged. “We aren’t the ones doing that bit of dirty work, not that it would matter since the Event gives us permission to break laws. We only have that during the Event, however. She, on the other hand, essentially has semi-permanent diplomatic immunity.”

“… what—! “

“She lives on I-Island and has an official contract through them,” Izuku explained.

Hitoshi slammed his hands on the table. “That explains nothing— “

Mei also slammed her hands on the table, shoving up out of her chair. “That explains everything! ” Getting right up into Hitoshi’s face, grinning broadly, she half shouted, “I-Island isn’t under any specific government’s laws! Sure, they have regulations put in place by the United Nations and any other countries signed on, but they basically have the scientific equivalent of diplomatic immunity in virtually any country!” Then, rounding on Izuku, her face grew stern. “Why did you never tell me you knew someone that worked on I-Island?!”

Izuku grew sheepish. “Ah…sorry! It just slipped my mind—“

“How could you! I feel so betrayed—“

“Mei—“

“Backstabbed, hoodwinked—“

“ Mei! ”

“I could never— Mpth! ”

Mei was dramatically sprawled across the table at this point, hand draped on her forehead, but Izuku had his hand slapped firmly over her mouth so he could speak. “Mei. I genuinely forgot to tell you. But I’ve already sent them schematics of your designs. They have plans to offer you an official internship once the Event is done.”

Then, he carefully removed his hand as she stared up at him, shellshocked. “…oh.” She laid on her back on the table, staring at the ceiling blankly. “…who is it?”

Izuku looked wary. “…the Shields—“

“ What?!” She shrieked, flipping over on the table and sending Hitoshi’s math homework flying as she jumped to her feet, arms waving through the air. “You personally know the Shields, and you never told me?! ”

“It’s been a busy few months!”

The bickering continued, Mei standing up on the table, ranting and pacing while Izuku sat calmly below, pleading up to her and trying to justify his mistake. Hitoshi just stared blankly at his math textbook that now had a rather large boot print across the pages, wondering briefly what exactly he had gotten himself into.

Generic J-Pop Name @jpop123 ✓ · ten minutes ago

Okay, this event has more drama than my Nona’s telenovellas.

TV producers, take notes!!!

#villainday #UA #drama

46 Replies | 302 Likes | 16 Retweets | Share

One Hour into the Event.
(Day One, 1032 Hours)

“I never understood.”

Monoma startled, half spinning to the side to see Momo strolling along beside him. The group had been making slow but steady progress towards the sounds of fighting, trying their best to stick out of sight and not exhaust themselves in their search for the 1A members. 

So far, they had only stumbled across one group of Third Years, but thankfully had gone unnoticed while ducking back into an alley. Monoma still believed they would have been fine if it had come down to a fight, but they could not afford the risk, especially if there were others lurking nearby. Still, it might have been worth the risk to not have to trail along behind Tetsutetsu as he angrily complained to a very tired looking Kendou. 

This had led to both himself and their… addition trailing along behind the pair, but she had been quiet for the time being. 

Apparently, she had now deemed him worthy of small talk.

Huffing to himself, he snarked, “Oh, well at least you 1A members are somewhat self aware.” With a smug smile, he taunted, “What seems to be alluding you, hmm?”

A pinched look crossed her face and she halted in her steps. “Just—do you hear yourself?”

He halted as well, rounding on her with a frown. “What are you talking about—“

“Why do you hate my class?” She snapped, trying and failing to keep her voice low. “You call us glory hounds and every other insult that you can think up just short of crossing a line, but honestly, what have we ever done to you? ”

He was honestly startled by the venom in her tone. “Come now, Yaoyorozu,” he replied disbelievingly. “You can’t be this dense.”

“ Monoma— “

“We’re rivals ,” he cut in irritably. “Your class and mine. Everything we do here in school, everything we do once we graduate: we are all here to be the top, the best, to go Plus Ultra .” Laughing, he added, “You and your class got a head start to fame. Are you really so surprised that people are bitter about it?”

She let out a half hearted laugh. “You act like we wanted to be attacked by villains—“

“I’m not stupid .” His gaze snapped back towards Kendou and Tetsutetsu, both unaware that they had stopped. He began to march forward after them. “I know that none of you asked for that.”

She began to hurry after him. “Then why— “

“Because you don’t know what it’s like to not stand out, to not be the one everyone notices,” he explained, refusing to look at her. “All I’ve ever wanted was my chance to stand out, and when I finally make it to UA…it’s your class that ends up plastered everywhere, talked about by everyone. And every time we try to stand out…we end up in your shadow.”

He finally looked at her as she silently trailed at his side, her face carefully blank. “I do not care what it takes. I will claw my way out of your class’ shadow…and I do not care if I hurt feelings along the way.”

He expected anger from her. Instead, all he got was a resigned but saddened look. “That…sounds lonely.”

He did not know what to say to that.

Thankfully, he did not have to reply as Kendou’s voice called out from ahead. “You two, hurry up! We found something—“

“And by something, she means we found a lot of ice!” Tetsutetsu added.

“Todoroki…” Momo whispered quietly. Then, she started to dash ahead to catch up, passing Monoma without another glance. “Come on, Pyrite. Whether you like it or not, we are on the same team.”

Monoma glared after her before quietly trailing after, muttering, “We will see about that.”

Sensei Supremacy @herotozero · 16 minutes ago

-raises hand- 

Okay, who wants to explain to me wtf is going on with this event? Anyone? Please?  

@uaofficial I would appreciate some answers???

#villainday #somuchishappening #feralgreenboi #callmesensei

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Yūei Academy @uaofficial ✓ · 6 minutes ago

@uaapocalypse

#villainday #callmesensei

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        Sensei Supremacy @herotozero · 2 minutes ago

        Ummmmm @uaofficial this is not what I meant by an explanation
        NOW I JUST HAVE MORE QUESTIONS????

        14 Replies | 376 Likes | 4 Retweets | Share

The first thing that came back to her as she woke up was, of course, her hearing.

It was a rather unfortunate thing. Despite the room being relatively quiet, every beep, every creak, every heartbeat felt like a hammer to her temple. Her still shut eyes scrunched closed even more, her face twisting in pain as her head thrummed along to the beat of the heart rate monitor.

Trying to swallow, she found that her throat was dry , as if she had been chugging sand for the past hour, and that paired with the headache only made things so infinitely worse . She opened her parched mouth to try and breathe, only to gasp and immediately begin to start hacking violently , further provoking the stabbing pain in her head.

“Hey, hey, easy there…” a voice spoke, one that she could just barely make out through the throbbing in her head. She willed herself to stop coughing, tapering off slowly a large hand cautiously began to pat her on the top of the head. “Easy, that’s it…” Glass pressed against her lips as the voice added, “Take a small sip, slowly…”

Parting her lips, she felt the glass being carefully tipped to allow her the chance to drink, and she took slow, yet greedy gulps of the water, as much as the other would allow. Too soon the glass was pulled away, and she made an almost pathetic whine over the loss. 

The voice chuckled, a low, deep timbre sound and the hand withdrew from her head. “You can have more in a minute. Drink too much at once and you’ll make yourself sick…”

Finally cracking her eyes open, she looked up from the bed she was propped up in towards a familiar hulking figure. “Titan—“

An amused but sad look flashed through his eyes. “Not Titanium anymore. You aren’t Copper either.”

Her brows furrowed as she watched Shouji carefully as he set about straightening her hospital blanket. “What?…”

He looked…sad. Frustrated even. “We were taken out already, Jirou…”

She took a moment to process this information, but then everything finally clicked for her and she shot up in the bed. “WHAT— oh fuck! ” Clutching tightly to her head, the pulsing pain returned with a vengeance, worse than before, and she genuinely felt like she was going to pass out. “Oh god, what were we hit with…”

“Easy, Jirou, easy ,” Shouji insisted, fussing over her while two arms guided her to lay back as another straightened her blanket while another grabbed her the water and some pills from the counter. “We both got some heavy doses of a gas, you need to rest.”

Flashes of the summer camp, of Mustard, of laying out and feeling her body slowly give out with each gulp of air—She banished the thoughts and half heartedly snatched the pills and the glass of water. “ You aren’t resting,” she grumpily mumbled before tossing the pills back and taking a rather large gulp of water, only to have Shouji snatch it back before she could finish the glass.

“I am at least four times your body size and have a far higher metabolism than you due to the nature of my quirk,” he drawled blandly. “I was bound to burn off the gas first.”

Scowling about losing her drink, she cannot help but sigh. “I guess…” Then, a thought hit her. “Palladium!— Yaomomo ! Did she—?!”

“She’s still active,” Shouji replied solemnly, easing the girl to lay back down again. “She must have gotten on a mask and escaped before we succumbed to it. She was a little ways behind us…”

Trying to wrack his still aching head, Jirou muttered, “Who in the hell had knock out gas on hand?” Throwing her hands in the air in frustration, she snapped, “I usually can hear a canister dispensing and clear out, but I don’t remember hearing anything!”

“Honestly?” Her companion answered, eyes narrowed and arms crossed. “The gas reminded me of Miss Midnight’s Somnambulist.”

“…holy shit—! “ She cut off mid shout, wincing and clutching at her ear jacks. Still, in a quieter tone, she snapped, “The teachers never enter the play field that early in the game. Why in the hell was she there? Patrollers usually don’t start until at least the second hour mark, and she is hardly ever in play!”

Shrugging, the taller boy crossed his multiple arms and leaned back in his chair, obviously just as perplexed as her. “I really don’t know, but I know these symptoms. I remember them from that training exercise we did last month.” Then, as if grasping at straws, he offered, “Maybe it was because of Midoriya?”

And oh, did that remind her of a lot of things. They had not been in the city center, but they were still located in a building with a good view of one of the announcement billboards. They had watched Mic’s announcement, watched the static, watched the speech and watched in horror as they realized it was the last person they had ever expected playing the role of the big bad.

And then they had to listen .

Shivering, she muttered, “I know they were just paint rounds…but hearing what was happening in the main square—“

“I know,” Shouji remarked bluntly, seeming just as put off as her. “We may have been taken out early on, but at least we were not stuck in that hellstorm.”

“Small victories,” she mumbled, shifting in the bed and clutching at the sheets. Then, she glanced around, realizing that they were the only ones in the room. “Hey, where is everyone?”

“Recovery Girl is on-site for the event to be ready for any major injuries,” Shouji explained. “Since we were just unconscious and uninjured,” which he said while her eyes darted to the huge fake red splotch of blood on his chest, “We were left here with one of the assistant nurses hired for the event. She left back to the site once she deemed me awake enough to watch over you.”

Jirou hummed quietly, absently grasping at her ear jacks and beginning to tap them together while she gathered her thoughts. “Thanks…” she mumbled quietly, ducking her head as she did so. 

Though she could not see his mouth, she could tell he was amused and smiling. “Of course.” Rising to stand, he held out a hand to her. “There is a viewing area for contestants who were knocked out to watch from. Interested?”

“…fine.” She began to stretch, her back cracking lightly. “Beats sitting here for the rest of the event.”

Shouji chuckled lightly, carefully helping her out of the bed. “That, I can agree with.”

Pinned Tweet

Call me Sensei. @uaapocalypse ✓ · 27 minutes ago

Post Lesson notes to come…

#villainday #uaapocalypse #callmesensei

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One and a Half Hours into the Event.
(Day One, 1046 Hours)

Midnight wanted to hit her head against the wall. “Look, I can assure you,” she ground out over the phone. “The situation is under control. Our student did not go rogue, he is just playing within the parameters of the Event—“

“ You think this falls within the parameters of the Event? ” The person on the other line half shouted. “ He shot at his classmates! ”

“With paint rounds!” She snapped back, letting her patience snap. The Event had been going on for nearly two hours at this point, and she had been stuck dealing with these kinds of calls for the majority of that time. Her patience was running thin.“We have no serious injuries, and he is just acting according to the game that you people at the HPSC created. They wanted the kids to play villains for the public’s amusement, and they got exactly what you asked for!”

“ But this— “

“This is the kid going Plus Ultra. You wanted a show, and you got it!” Then, just to rub salt in the wound, she added, “We tried to warn you that making the kids do this after the year they had would be a mistake, but no , you wanted your publicity .”

The HPSC official on the other end scoffed. “ You act like none of you were on board with this idea either, yet you are actively helping— “

“How many times must I tell you that we did not give Midoriya access to our system!” Dropping back into her chair, she griped, “It’s just like you bureaucrats to not listen and just point blame. It was your agency’s stupid idea to suspend laws against the kids: it was only a matter of time before one took advantage to make a statement.”

“ And expanding that statement onto the school’s official accounts? ”

Midnight paused. “…what?”

Clearly irritated, the official snipped, “ I would think that such a prestegious school would keep track of their social media accounts during such an important Event— “

“We’ve been too busy fielding phone calls to check,” she quipped with a very pointed tone. “You know how long it can take to explain things to idiots.”

“ What did you—?! ”

“But I will take your advice and focus on that rather than this pointless conversation!” Midnight practically cooed over the phone before slamming it back into the receiver. “ Bitch …” she muttered under her breath.

Then, she pulled out her phone, opening up Twitter and searching for UA’s official account…and it did not take her long to realize what the woman meant. 

“…Shouta, your Problem Child better know what in the hell kind of trouble he’s getting himself into…” she murmured under her breath, her tone worried. Clicking on account handle posted clear as day on the official account, she stared at the new account for a beat…then shouted, “How are they already verified?! ”

TWITTER TRENDING

#villainday

#ua

#feralgreenboi

#callmesensei

#uaapocalypse

Two Hours into the Event.
(Day One, 1052 Hours)

When Hawks woke up this morning, he had hoped that it would be a rather calm day. 

Despite how he enjoyed always moving, always saving, always achieving something more, even he had to admit that the routine can be exhausting over time. So, usually, UA events led to lowered crime in various areas of Japan due to the extreme watch rate, which meant that he would have more leisurely patrols. 

He had been, for a minute, signed up by the Commission to be one of the Event's Patrollers, but then was quickly deemed to be a bit too… overpowered for the students. It would not be preferable to have all the students captured on the first day, which is what was predicted to happen if he was set loose on the unsuspecting chicks. Which, boo, he wanted to see Tokoyami again, but yay in the fact that he would have an easy day for the first time in months.

Unfortunately, one of the kids this year was apparently feral .

“ You need to go put an end to these hijinks ,” his handler had ordered over his phone as he watched the city bustle about from his perch on top of a nearby billboard.

“It has only been like, what, not even two hours since the event started,” Hawks drawled lazily as he watched a little old lady scold a man for bumping into her. “What’s the worst the kid` could have done—“

“ He has called into question the validity of the hero system and sparked debates online on whether or not modern day Heroics cause more villains than it prevents ,” she snidely interjected. “ The Commission is getting bombarded with questions about him, and we cannot afford for this child to gain too much momentum amongst the public. For god’s sake, the boy is trending—“

“Okay, okay! I get it.” Hawks really did not. He had not been watching this morning due to being out on patrol, but from what little he had heard, the boy just seemed to be having fun.

But heaven forbid people have opinions against the Hero Commission. And apparently, this kid has had not so nice opinions in the past according to their sources. Which yeah, at the rate he’s going, feral kid is going to have quite the cult following by the end of this.

With a bit more of a serious tone, he added, “You know that me taking him out early is not going to be a good PR move for either of us.”

“Based on what the boy has hinted at,” she continued. “It sounds as if it would be far worse for us should he be allowed to gain momentum.”

Now, that made him pause. “…you are genuinely afraid of him.”

“ Hawks. This is no mere child. This is Midoriya Izuku. This is the Symbol of Peace’s protege .”

And then he remembered.

The Commission had kept him vaguely informed about the boy. He had been on a watch list since early on in his UA career, from when the Commission first caught wind that All Might was mentoring the boy. Though they were initially unimpressed, seeing the boy’s rapid growth in skill, his growing confidence and charisma, his just genuine determination and how he seemed to be at the epicenter of everything that has happened with the League…

(because they knew about Hosu and the Hero Killer approving of the boy, they knew about the Mall incident, they knew about that rescue operation the boy ran, about how this boy near single handedly took out an S rank villain during the Hassaikai raid, they knew because of Hawks that Shigaraki had an interest in the boy as a legitimate threat, this child —)

Seeing everything that made Midoirya Izuku into Deku , they knew that what they were looking at was a potential future Number One hero, a new Symbol of Peace. One that, unlike the past one, unlike All Might, had grander thoughts, grander ideals, and eyes that are a bit too sharp .

Deku was the very thing that could potentially break a system.

And the Commission was terrified .

“…so, you want me to fight the feral bone breaking kid?”

“ Do not call him that on live feed .”

“…but it’s true —“

“ Hawks .”

“Okay, okay! I get it, sheesh . Tough crowd.” He moved to stand. “When do you want me there?”

Because he knew better, he knew he had no chance to decline this mission from the moment they decided to give this task to him. His handler humored his banter, but they all knew in the end…

“Now. You need to go now .” 

He had no choice in anything.

“Understood.” Wings flaring out at his sides, he asked, “Does Nedzu know to expect me?”

“ We will call and let him know as soon as you head out .”

Hawks bit back a sigh. “Very well. Let me know how that goes.” He flapped his wings and began to take air. “And which unfortunate soul you are sacrificing to Nedzu. I want to send flowers to their funeral—”

“ Hawks —“

“Gotta fly!” With that, he hung up, let out a huge, pent up sigh, before finally heading off. He had a good hour flight to build up the courage to hunt down children for the internet.

Fun .

Two Hours into the Event.
(Day One, 1058 Hours)

He cleared his throat, readying himself for the camera to turn on. Despite the chaos of the morning, he thanked his luck that Mido— Sensei decided to be merciful and allow him access to the live feed still. It was bad enough to have been interrupted during his countdown earlier, and the Event would be a lot more confusing and concerning to the public if he were unable to announce the Patrollers.

Hopefully Sensei did not interrupt this time.

The camera flickered to life, and he pushed the concern aside, putting on his best game face, lifting his microphone up and plastering on a wide grin. “Why hello Listeners! Present Mic is back in action, and I hope you all prepared yourself, because it’s time to crank it up a notch on our survivors!”

Spinning around and then throwing his arms out dramatically, he half shouted, “It is finally time…to unleash our first round of Patrollers! ”

In their base command room, Mandalay and Ragdoll shared a look as they sat in front of their tech station. Throwing on a smirk, Mandalay asked, “You ready?”

Ragdoll practically cackled with glee as she flipped a switch, remotely powering on their personal search drones. “I was born ready!”

“Back from their hiatus, it’s their long awaited return…”

Pixie Bob let out an excited squeal as the underground transport elevator ground to a halt, gears shifting to begin lifting them to the surface. Practically bouncing in place, she practically cooed, “It’s finally here! We’re finally back in action!”

Tiger let out a hearty laugh at her side. “We have some time to make up for. Let’s show the viewers that we are as strong as ever!”

The ceiling above them began to open and the distant voice of Present Mic rang out over the display screens. Feeling the claws in her gloves extend, Pixie Bob purred, “And let’s gather up these naughty little kittens while we’re at it!”

“ All systems are a go on our end! ” Ragdoll chimed out over the comms.

And remember , Mandalay added via mental projection. Anything that Ragdoll and I find that we do not want to risk being intercepted over comms, I will project to you via my quirk. Be careful to not let the information slip in the open .

Pixie Bob almost replied irritably to Mandalay’s warning, but she snapped her jaw shut, realizing she almost did the very thing they were warned about. With how Midoriya has been playing the game…

Present Mic’s voice rang through loud and clear as they finally breached the top of the lift tunnel. “ Give it up for the Wild Wild Pussy Cats! ”

They could never be too careful.

Izuku felt a grin just about split his face as Pixie Bob and Tiger emerged from the lift. He reclined back on the worn but comfortable old couch they had dragged into the spare room of their base, several spare monitors decorating the wall to observe what was going down. Shinsou and Mei currently dozed at his sides, resting up for their next big play.

“Take your time in the spotlight, Pussycats…” Izuku murmured quietly as Pixie Bob slammed her hands into the ground, Earthflow sending out cracks and ripples through the concrete and dirt deep below, dragging out the familiar creatures from the Summer Camp. “You deserve the boost.”

Settling back in to relax for a while, he mused, “I’ll deal with you once I have no choice.”

Picking up the tablet in his lap, he began to casually scroll through various Watcher feeds. “Now then…let’s see where you are hiding, Silicon.”

Chapter Text

Three Weeks Before the Event.

“Again, we are so sorry for this oversight—“

“No sir!” She insisted, waving her arms dramatically through the air. “You don’t have to apologize, it’s fine—!”

“Hagakure.” The tone Midnight cut in with was gentle yet firm, the smile on her face soft but her eyes broaching no room for argument. “This mistake was unacceptable. The fact that the support company approved your original…costume…is horribly negligent at best.”

Hagakure let out a small, nervous laugh. “It’s fine, really! It’s not like anyone could see anything—“

“That doesn’t make it right,” Powerloader insisted, shaking his head. “Besides, it’s dangerous . Without a suit of any kind, doing hero work? You're lucky you haven’t gotten seriously injured.”

Throwing on a knowing smirk, Midnight added, “Besides, it must be very chilly when you don’t have anything on…”

Letting out a loud ‘eep!’, the girl in question started flailing her arms again, as shown with her uniform sleeves waving through her hair despite her face not being visible. “Well, I mean—“

Before she could protest anymore, Midnight was shoving a large case in her arms. “Here. Try this on. We made sure to pull out all the stops when designing it!”

The girl awkwardly hovered with the case in her hands. “You…didn’t have to.” Laughing weakly, she began to scratch at her cheek. “It’s DNA based, right? It’s not like anyone can see it—“

“Just trust us, kid,” Powerloader insisted. “Try it.”

Midnight’s smirk grew into a devilish grin. “I can assure you, this suit is not going to be anything you ever expected…”

Hagakure looked down at the case in her hands, shifting nervously. “If you say so…” 

Smiling softly, Midnight added, “If you don’t like it, we can make adjustments. I know that given my past designs, I’m not really the one to expect to push for you to wear a costume that covers you…” She reached out, gently laying her hand on top of the case. “But I am strongly of the opinion that you should still have the choice to wear what you want.”

Hands tightening on the case, Hagakure whispered, “Having the choice…sounds nice.”

Midnight beamed. “It does, doesn’t it? Now…” Making a shooing motion towards the changing room, Midnight ordered, “Go try it on! See what you like about it, and we will check the fit! Don’t worry about bothering us with any changes, All Might is footing the bill for everything!”

Half being shoved by Midnight towards the changing room at this point, Hagakure half shrieked, “All Might is what?! ”

But she was given the final shove into the changing room, stumbling in as the door was practically slammed shut behind her, and she just stood there for a minute, dumbly blinking at the door before looking back down to the case.

“Well…let’s see what we’re working with…”

Team Pest @horsemenfan · twenty three minutes ago

[gif of Mei zipping up to a Second Year shouting the caption “Supercalifragilistic-” then spin on her hover boots and landing a painful looking kick to the guy’s torso, sending him flying off screen as she finished the next caption “-Expialidoscious!”]

[gif of Hitoshi staring dead eyed at the camera and announcing “Today is the day I die, I guess.”]

I love them both, your Honor.

#Villainday #Senseishorsemen #UADeath #UAPestilence #feralgreenboi

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Two Hours into the Event.
(Day One, 1119 Hours)

“Are you sure we can trust them?” 

Momo did not even flinch at the sudden voice at her side, keeping her walk steady and her gaze focused straight ahead. “For now, at the very least.”

She did not have to ask who he was speaking about.

The group had met up before the Patrollers were, the 1A members and Third Years trudging forward with the distant wreckage of one of the few cleared blocks in the city behind them. The two groups had paused, each braced for a fight to break out—

And then Momo had simply walked forward, holding her hand out with a simple order. “Let’s go somewhere safe. Quickly .”

Very little else was said as the groups merged, the silent agreement of cooperation hanging in the air. They quickly made their way, only ducking into a building to hide when the screens kicked to life, announcing that the Wild Wild Pussy Cats were in action. They laid low for a while, assuring that the Heroes were not nearby, before slowly making their way out.

Shouto let out a thoughtful hum, his gaze settling on the four in question as the group made their way down yet another back alley. Tetsutetsu and Kirishima were excitedly chattering about something , with both Kendou and Iida trying their best to keep the volume down. Neither Mina nor Kaminari were exactly helping the situation. 

Monoma, however, hung away from most of the group, seeming to sulk as they made their way back to 1B’s unofficial base. Mirio and Amajiki hovered close to the teen, seeming to be the only ones he tolerated at the moment, though he did ignore Mirio’s attempts at conversation for the most part.

Surprisingly, Uraraka and Bakugou were trailing along behind the group together, though neither seemed to really be talking at the moment.

Momo finally glanced at him. “No matter what happens, I will follow your lead.”

Shouto grimaced at that. “The longer this Event goes on, the more I feel like I am not suited for leadership.”

She smiled. “Perhaps.” Then, she leaned in, bumping her shoulder with his. “But you are a good person, Shouto. I know that out of anyone, you would not betray others.”

He smiled back. “I…appreciate the trust. And I am glad to have you on our side.”

Neither spoke for a while after that.

Two Hours into the Event.
(Day One, 1125 Hours)

“ Ah! Wait, no! Put me down! ”

Throwing her head back, Pixie Bob began to gleefully cackle at the boy being lifted up into the air, her tail flicking to and fro gleefully. “Oh, do you seriously think I would just let you continue to run free and cause chaos?” Grinning sharply, she cooed, “Naughty kittens have to be put in timeout!” Turning around to look behind her, she called out, “Isn’t that right Tiger?”

The teammate in question let out his own bellowing laugh as he escorted several ‘detained villains’ into the awaiting transport vehicles. Essentially, they were other students Pixie Bob had managed to corral with her dirt beasts and then were manhandled by Tiger into proper quirk proof restraints. “Yes! Their reign of terror has come to an end!”

Turning back to the boy in question, a Second Year by the looks of it, she shrugged at him. “Nothing I can do! Now, please behave for Tiger, alright?”

The boy looked ready to argue, but the dirt beast was already trodding off towards Tiger and the transports, and she could not quite hear his shouts over the sounds of the beast walking off.

Sighing dramatically, Pixie Bob tapped the communicator in her ear. “Another batch rounded up. Anything else from the drones?”

“ Wow, you and Tiger are really powering through!” Ragdoll chirped brightly. “Nothing just yet, but the drones are picking up some movement North of your position, so we are searching there! If you want to start heading that way, we can give you an exact spot shortly.”

“Sounds good,” she drawled with a grin, hips swaying as she tried to quell the adrenaline pumping through her veins. It had been so long since she had been out in the field, and she was just itching to get back to the hunt. “Tiger and I will finish up here and make our way up.”

“ Be safe! ” Mandalay chimed in. Then with her quirk, she added, No signs of Deku and his team yet. I think they are laying low for now to see how we approach things. Or letting us thin out the students .

Pixie Bob’s grin faded a bit. “We promise to be safe,” she replied, trying her best to not reply to that bit of news. Honestly, the Deku situation had her a bit…unsettled. Not fearful, just unsettled. She did not know what to think overall, but she remembered the kid. She remembered how he fought back at the camp. Mandalay telling her about how he saved Kota, only to dash back out in the fray to try and save his friend—

She remembered seeing how… gone he was when they could not save him—

And now this.

“Pixie Bob!”

She shook her head. Now was not the time to get distracted. Turning to Tiger, she began to jog over to him as he restrained the sulking Second Year. “Alright, let’s finish up here and head on out!” A grin took over her face once more. “We’ve got more naughty kittens to track down!”

Two Hours into the Event.
(Day One, 1131 Hours)

Shouto was beginning to think this team up was a mistake.

Arriving at the warehouse that 1B had turned into their ‘base’ had at first been exciting. Not only did 1B seem to have most of their class gathered, but apparently in Kendou’s team’s absence, they had also gathered Tokoyami, Aoyama, and…Mineta. The last one was not as exciting, and they already had to separate him from the girls twice, but the prospect that most of 1A still in play were here was at least moral boosting—

He then thought of Izuku, and the excitement continued to dwindle.

Still, this was overall a good thing. A large portion of first years being clustered in the same building, all teaming up together. On paper, this was a solid strategy, something that could make them a serious threat against any other teams. In reality, however, Shouto slowly began to notice the flaw to this… arrangement .

The upsides: a large team, pooling resources, some of the strongest quirks in the Heroics Course, and extra input for strategizing their next move. 

The downsides?…

“We need to launch an attack!”

“Attack against what ?!”

“We don’t even know where Sensei is—“

“Just sitting around isn’t helping anyone—“

“We should just hide out here!”

“We need to strategize!”

“We need to gather resources—“

“What about recon?”

“We should fortify the bases defenses—“

“We need to not focus on this base and be prepared to be mobile to defend—“

“The best defense is a strong offense!”

“That makes no sense—“

“It makes perfect sense!”

“Will everyone just listen—“

“Let’s put it to a vote!”

“Wait, what are we even voting for?”

“We need weapons!”

“What, like a gun?”

“I do not trust any of you with a gun.”

“Check out these guns!”

“Stop flexing and get off the damn table!”

“It’s not technically a table—“

“Isn‘t my cape dashing ?”

A low chuckle from beside him, and Shouto glanced over to an amused looking Tokoyami. The two made eye contact from where they both leaned against the wall, arms crossed and resolute in staying out of the worst of the arguing. His classmate glanced at the chaos then shook his head, muttering in a joking tone, “What a mad banquet of darkness...”

Shouto could not help but snort at the absurdity of it all.

More arguing ensued, however, mostly with 1B members shouting over each other, some of 1A hovering about, trying to throw in their input and failing miserably. 

Aoyama and Tetsutetsu were on top of the makeshift ‘War’ table, aka several crates shoved together in the center of the Warehouse. Both were arguing in their own way, Shouto assumed, with Tetsutetsu flexing while Aoyama appeared to be…Shouto thinks Mina called it Voguing? He was doing something distinctly Aoyama, and that’s all Shouto was sure about.

A heavy sigh came from his other side, and he glanced to see as Momo calmly strode forward to the crates, grabbing what he quickly realized was a collapsed bo staff off of her hip. No one seemed to notice as she carefully maneuvered between the crowd up to the edge of the table, glancing around at the gathered group and making a bit of space for herself almost immediately between Aoyama and Tetsutetsu. She then extended her staff as the arguing grew worse and worse .

Then, she braced both hands on the staff and lifted it high above her head, leaning back…only to let out a sharp battle cry as she swiftly swung it forward like an ax and slammed it into the crate table. The wooden planks of the crates practically shattered on impact, sending a loud crack echoing through the warehouse.

Everyone shut up.

Pulling the staff out of the fractured remains of the crate as the teens next to her slowly edged away, she calmly brushed her bangs aside from her face while scanning the group. Eyeing both Aoyama and Tetsutetsu, she ordered, “Get down. Now. ”

Tetsutetsu looked pissed as he rounded on her, stomping  along the crates closer to her. “Hey! Who put you in charge—“

A second later, the staff was swiping his legs out from under him, sending him stumbling backward off of the far side of the table with a protesting shout and a loud clang on the concrete floor.

Momo looked back to where Aoyama had been standing on the table, only to see he had already hopped off and stood to the side. Resting a hand daintily on his face, he crooned, “I am no fool, Mademoiselle. I know when to pick a fight for my spotlight.” 

She nodded, seeming satisfied. “Thank you,” she replied gratefully, before clearing her throat. “Now that I have everyone’s attention…”

Monoma stepped forward, hands spread wide and a condescending smirk on his face. “Now, now, my dear . What makes you think you have the right to— GAH !”

Having snatched Monoma by the tie and dragged him towards her, Momo let out an irritated sigh. “Will you shut up for two minutes and let me talk ?”

His hands wrapped around her wrist as he let out an irritated sound. “ Look— “

“For fuck’s sake! ” Storming forward from where he had been sulking on the sidelines, Bakugou shoved his way towards the pair, moving to stop at Momo’s side and snapped, “Fucking let Ponytail talk! She’s the best damn strategist in the Heroics Course next to god damn Deku, and you are all doing nothing but wasting our fucking time with all this arguing!” Then, Bakugou jammed a finger into Monoma’s chest, knocking him off balance from where Momo still had him by the tie. “And you are fucking close as hell to both of them in terms of skill based on past 1B plans, so stop whining and help her, damn it!”

While Monoma was floundering for a response, the whole group could hear Kaminari whisper, “Did he just imply that three people were better than him at something?”

Bakugou spun around. “Shut your damn mouth, Dunce Face!”

The blonde in question let out a loud ‘Eep !’ before dropping behind Kirishima for protection.

Shouto took a deep breath. “Nitrogen is…correct.” All eyes turned to him as he did his best to maintain composure. “While he excels at coming up with strategies mid-fight, Palladium excels at long term planning. And based on the Sports Festival and other events, Pyrite likely is the same for 1B. If we want this to work…we need to all put our differences aside and cooperate.” Letting his gaze slide across the room, he shifted his stance, eyes narrowed. “Once Sensei is taken care of, then all bets are off, however.”

Dark Shadow popped out, snickering as she swooped around Shouto’s shoulder. “Oh, this is going to be fun!”

Momo smiled at Shouto before turning her attention back to the whole of the room. “Yes…we need to cooperate and plan our next move. Sensei already has a head start on us by preplanning for this Event. We need to combine our knowledge and resources quickly before we lose what little advantage we have.” 

Monoma, looking very displeased about everything but begrudgingly accepting let out a dramatic sigh, leaning back his head as Momo still held tight to his tie. “Well, if we must …you likely are in dreadful need of a new set of eyes to plan our next— ACK! ”

Momo held the flattest and most done looking expression as she released Monoma’s tie and let him fall backwards onto the concrete floor.

Ignoring his muttered complaints, she then spun to look around the room again, clapping her hands together. “Alright! So, any thoughts to start us off?”

Everyone was silent for a beat. 

Then, the shouting began again.

Momo looked very tired, and Shouto felt tired for her. Bakugou’s eye was beginning to twitch, and Monoma was still laying flat on the ground, grumbling up towards the ceiling. 

“ QUIET .”

All conversation halted once more, attention snapping towards Iida. “We cannot continue to behave this improperly!” He scolded, arm chopping through the air. “We are UA heroes in training! We should behave like it, not like undisciplined children!”

Members of 1A seemed to be properly cowed by their president, but 1B seemed to take offense, several trying to voice complaints, only to be cut off by their own president. “Iida—“

“My villain name is Mercury!”

“… Mercury is correct,” Kendou continued, staring down her classmates. “We need to discuss next moves.”

Tetsutetsu seemed annoyed by the whole process. “Isn’t that what we’ve been doing?!”

“Shouting at each other is not a proper discussion—“

“Well a lot of us have things to say—!”

Momo stepped up. “Fine then. Everyone wants a say? We will take turns speaking.”

“You want us to take turns?” Monoma asked incredulously from the ground. “What’s next? Are we going to learn how to share ?— Oof! ”

Pulling her staff back from where she had jabbed it into Monoma’s gut, Momo smoothed out her irritated look as best she could while speaking. “Since several people here insist on acting like children, we will have to take a page from that book.” Twisting her staff in a way that split it in half, she held one up in the air as she slowly turned, making sure everyone was paying attention.

“Now, who has heard of a talking stick?”

“This is fun!” “ This is boring .”

Spinner slumped down into the ratty recliner they had dragged in. “I agree with the boring opinion. Can’t we take a break from watching this for a game or two?”

“As much as I enjoy seeing kids getting beaten up by Heroes,” Dabi drawled in a sarcastic tone, slouching on the couch while watching the screen as Pixie Bob and Tiger waved off the transport vans with about ten or so students. “This is feeling rather dull after the earlier bits with the green kid and his team.”

He could hear giggling from behind him, and soon, Toga was draped over the back of the couch next to him with a wide, fanged grin. “Who knew Izuchan would make such a good Villain!” Pulling out her phone, she pulled up her accounts, showing her media feed absolutely full of gifs and video clips from the Event. “I like the pink girl! She seems like so much fun! ”

“Of course you like the batshit insane one…” Dabi muttered, staring at the clip of the girl where her face went from a Cheshire grin to an angry, cold scowl because of something another student said. 

Toga seemed to ignore his comment and dreamily sighed. “She’d look so good covered blood…not as much as Izuchan or Ochakochan—“

“Will you all just shut up? ” 

Everyone snapped their attention towards the other side of the couch, Shigaraki scowling at the screen of his phone while his hands twitched . Dabi clucked his tongue. “See something online that pissed you off? Or are you mad that the kid might be better at—“

“Finish that sentence, and I’ll turn you to dust ,” Shigaraki warned in a dangerous tone, barely glancing at Dabi.

Dabi did not back down, simply holding up his hand as little flames flickered from his fingertips. “Try me—“

“Could you please not ?” Compress groaned from the other side of the room, having been trying to read a book. He only seemed interested in the Event when Izuku appeared. Probably enjoying the showmanship the boy displayed. “We still have not replenished the med kit from your last scuffle.”

Rolling his eyes, Dabi muttered, “No one can take a joke around here…”

After a beat of awkward silence, Shigaraki finally spoke up, staring at his phone. “Sensei is not answering.”

Twice perked up from where he sat on the floor. “You talk to the kid?” “ Traitor!”

“No, you idiot,” Shigaraki snapped. “ My Sensei is not answering.”

The atmosphere grew tense, everyone sharing wary glances. Spinner straightened in his seat. “That’s…not good, right?”

“The only time he doesn’t answer is when he’s busy,” Shigaraki supplied quietly. “And busy means planning .”

Dabi groaned. “Which means more grunt work for us.”

“Look on the bright side!” Himiko chirped as she crawled over the back of the couch, landing in both Shigaraki and Dabi’s lap, much to the protest of both. 

“And what is that, Toga-kun?” Compress asked in an amused tone.

She flung her arms up, unintentionally smacking Dabi in the face. “Kurogiri should be done with the cookies soon!”

Twice leapt up from the ground. “Hell yes!” “ Who gives a shit! ”

Shigaraki looked two seconds from having an aneurysm as Twice, Toga, and Spinner all began to excitedly debate favorite cookie flavors. “I hate you all.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Awase said slowly, holding onto one of the two talking sticks. “This Shinsou kid is the Death Horsemen, and he has a quirk that can literally turn teammates against each other.”

“ Yep ,” Mina chirped, gesturing with the second stick towards Mirio in the corner. “We had to launch Zero at Hadou-San in order to stop her and take the comm out of her ear that Death was using to control her!”

“…that explains why Zero looks like he’s seen better days.” 

Mirio had the good nature to snicker, only to wince as Amajiki continued to clean the cut on his face. 

Kendou gently took the stick from Awase before stating, “So, we at least have one of the Horsemen identified—“

“We have another!” Setsuna chimed in, before realizing her mistake. “Wait, shit, stick please !“

“Catch!” Mina called out before chucking hers over.

The throw was awful, but Setsuna separated her hand to catch it before it could hit Monoma in the face. “Thanks!” She called out, ignoring Monoma’s shout as she pulled her hand back. “Okay, so while you guys were hunting down 1A, I was still hunting 1B members. In the process, I stumbled across the wreckage from that bomb Sensei set off…and in the middle of it was what I’m assuming was another Horseman.”

Everyone seemed to perk up at that, with Kendou prompting, “Did you get a name, Amethyst?”

Setsuna sighed. “I just sent my eyes, so I couldn’t hear anything. But she was absolutely wrecking their shit with what looked like a bunch of support equipment.” Letting out a snort, she added, “The chick seemed a bit…unhinged to be honest. Even more so than Monoma.”

“ Hey—! ”

“Stick!” Everyone shouted back, causing the blonde to let out a frustrated growl.

At this point, Iida stepped forward, holding out a hand to Kendou for her stick, before asking, “This girl…she would not happen to be average height, pink hair, kind of manic in nature?…”

Setsuna blinked. “Yeah….that fits her to a T.”

Iida grimaced. “Hatsume Mei. The Support Course Engineer I fought during the Sports Festival.” 

“ Support Course?!” Tetsutetsu shouted, only to get shushed by several others.

With a sigh as he adjusted his glasses, Iida mused, “It would appear that both of the known Horsemen were not Hero Course members, given that Shinsou— Death , was Gen Ed.”

“Is that even allowed?” Setsuna asked, before seeing Momo hold out a hand. Setsuna then used her quirk to hand over the stick to her.

“It must be,” Iida replied. “Considering none of the teachers have stepped in at this point. In any case, the fact of the matter is that they are both in play, and we need to gather whatever information we can about them. Hatsume’s quirk is Zoom, if that helps at all. She can adjust her eyesight to see far distances with ease. It would suit the identity of the sniper we spotted at a distance with Death earlier—“

“ Sniper?! ” Several people shouted, followed by several more shushes.

“Yes, sniper,” Iida confirmed with a scowl. “After we freed Hadou-San, they immediately shot her while still unconscious…rather vile behavior—“

“We are playing villains, Mercury,” Momo said calmly. “I do not think they are worried about morals right now, all things considered.”

“…I suppose you’re right.” Adjusting his glasses, he added, “In any case, they only shot her. They could have easily shot more of us…”

Shouto held out a hand for the stick, and Iida easily handed it over. “So, we have the identities of two horsemen,” Shouto stated. “Neither are in Heroics, but we do know their quirks. Obviously, Hatsume is a problem given her skill at building gear, and Death is a different problem as well given that he has been training under Aizawa—“

“Oh?” Momo asked curiously. “He has?”

“Izuku has mentioned in the past that Shinsou is currently Aizawa-Sensei’s personal student,” Shouto added, then he frowned. “He also mentioned that he and Shinsou would spar on occasion…which would explain how he involved Shinsou in the Event.” Then, after a pause, he added, “And I think he mentioned that Hatsume designed his support gear.”

“Which means that he was already familiar with them long before the Event. That would make sense,” Momo mused with a nod. “So, Izuku decided to choose teammates outside of the Heroics Course for a surprise element.”

Tetsutetsu stomped forward and snatched the stick from Momo. “Not so much of a surprise now, given that they have already shown us their quirks— Oi! ”

Momo had immediately snatched the stick back, glaring at the other teen. “Just because we know their quirks does not mean we know everything they are capable of. Keep in mind that we have not fought against either of them aside from during the Sports Festival, and that was a long time ago.”

Uraraka shifted next to Shouto, placing her hand on the stick. “Also, we still have no idea who Famine or War are.”

The words hung heavy in the air.

Shaking her head, Momo remarked, “We can cross that bridge when we get to it. No use planning countermeasures for unknowns.”

Shouto suddenly found the stick being snatched from him and Uraraka, with Bakugou striding towards Momo. “We need to figure out our next moves and prep for future encounters. We have fuck all as far as supplies goes.”

Momo nodded. “Right. Phosphorus’ team is the only ones well stocked, but it's not enough for all of us. We should assemble a team to go collect supplies from whatever is leftover of the starting zone.”

“And then we need to set up a scouting and tracking team,” Bakugou added. “Maybe two of those, with the sole purpose of finding out where Deku’s base is.”

Monoma finally decided to speak up, striding forward to snatch one of the sticks from Momo, ignoring her scowl. “Scouting teams are going to be a little bit difficult , in case you haven’t noticed.”

Bakugou sneered. “And why the fuck would you say that?”

“So, what did we miss?”

Several pairs of eyes whipped towards the pair as they entered the viewing room for those skipping the Event or having been knocked out like themselves. Of the several dozen staring, some were even glaring, looking at them accusingly. Jirou halted in her tracks the moment she saw those hostile looks, immediately on the defensive.

With a glare to match the others, she snapped, “Do you all have a problem with us?”

Shouji had a hand on her shoulder, clearly trying to calm her. “Jirou…”

A loud harrumph came from across the room, and Jirou’s eyes snapped towards a familiar face. Laying a hand on her chest as she spoke, the vine haired girl from Class 1B declared, “Forgive us for being uncomfortable in the presence of the classmates of that sinful boy.”

Jirou blinked, confused. “ Sinful? ”

“She means that crazy bone breaking kid of yours,” another kid, a second year, chimed in. 

Her scowl was back. “You’re seriously ripping on Midoriya for getting into character for the Event?”

She straightened in her seat. “His behavior—“

“Is the Plus Ultra version of what the Commission asked of us,” Shouji smoothly interjected. “He’s just playing the game.”

She simply glared before standing up in a huff and heading out of the room. As the door slammed shut behind her, Shouji scanned the rest of the room. “Anyone else have any complaints?”

No one said a word. Most would not even make eye contact with the usually silent giant who stood like a looming sentinel behind Jirou, his eyes glinting and just daring someone to speak out of turn. When no one replied after a minute, he nodded before gently nudging Jirou, who looked immensely amused at the situation, further in the room.

“Jirou! Shouji!”

Heads snapping to the opposite side of the room, they see the familiar faces of Tsu and Koda settled in at a table at the far side of the room with a few of the nicer members of 1B. 

“Thank god, people with common sense,” Jirou mumbled quietly under her breath as she began to pull the giant towards the group.

Shouji made a soft hum of agreement, but his eyes scanned the room, as if noticing something. Jirou slowed, glancing over her shoulder at him. “Something wrong, big guy?”

Shouji’s eyes slid towards her. “…I believe that there is a commonality amongst most of this room.”

She looked around, seeing a variety of all years, mostly First and Second, though besides themselves and two members of 1B, the rest abstained from the event. But still, she could not quite tell what he saw. “That would be?”

After a pause, he asked, “Jirou…it appears as if most of the students in this room have quirks geared towards stealth and tracking.”

Jirou blinked. She glanced around again. Several people were doing the same as her, having broken out of their conversations as the slow realization dawned on them.

She looked back at Shouji. 

And then she swore under her breath, not that it mattered. Most of the room could still hear her very well.

It’s why Midoriya targeted them, after all.

“I don’t understand.”

Mei jolted up from her sleep, mumbling out a loud, “Ta’ th’ square root o’ seven…four…” She blinked, looking around before realizing that it had been Izuku who had woken her from her doze as he stared intently at his tablet, brows scrunched up tightly which would normally look intimidating with how heavily he was scowling, but Hitoshi was half sprawled across the shorter boy’s lap which took off  points for intimidation stats.

She blinked some more, trying to get her bearings. “What don’t you understand?” She finally managed to ask. Izuku continued to stare at the tablet, muttering growing more incomprehensible by the second, and Mei eventually resorted to poking him sharply in the head—

Only to have him snatch her hand and yank , him jumping up and twisting her arm and dragging her to the floor, unintentionally pulling Hitoshi to the ground as well. Izuku’s hand wrapped around her throat, green lightning crackling angrily in the low light of the room.

Mei was unphased, however, laying pinned on the floor and staring up at Izuku in complete and utter trust despite the hand on her throat. “You didn’t answer my question.”

She could feel Izuku’s hands tighten, before he completely released her, jumping back away as he stumbled back against the couch. “Sorry, sorry…” Izuku mumbled quietly. “I—I didn’t mean to do that.”

Sitting up on the floor, Mei waved off Izuku’s concern and asked again, “What don’t you understand?”

Sighing heavily as he slumped back against the couch, watching as Hitoshi grumbled and pulled himself up to crawl back onto the couch as well, Izuku griped, “I cannot find Silicon anywhere.”

Immediately, Mei’s brows pinched in concern. “I know that Powerloader-Sensei gave her new upgrades, but surely she should appear somewhere— “

“But she doesn’t.” Scooping up the tablet and tapping away, Izuku pulled up a grid map of the entire arena. “All of the Watchers are not only equipped with cameras but heat sensors as well…” Another tap, and the map was now covered with dozens of red dots, some moving, others holding in place. “All of whom I’ve checked twice , and none have been Silicon, not even the lower temperature ones for the few with reptilian or ice quirks—”

“So, maybe she isn’t in play?” Hitoshi mumbled, rubbing his eyes blearily as he slumped back against Izuku.

Izuku immediately shook his head, holding up his watch sensor with the list of those still in play. “She is showing up as active, and I know that Nedzu would have accounted for her when setting up the games. She has to be in the zone and alive.”

Mei stared at the watch. “We could track her sensor—“

“I know that we are bending a lot of rules and pushing boundaries as villains,” Izuku cut in. “But using the Watchers at all is already pushing beyond a real life scenario for this. I can brush it off as the idea of infiltrating the city camera systems, but that is a weak excuse at best. I would like to not abuse the parameters of the Event too much when trying to get lessons across.”

“So, in the meantime,” Hitoshi drawled. “We have a rogue element that we cannot track and could be anywhere.”

Izuku’s jaw clenched. 

Mei dropped her gaze. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get her during the initial rush like the others—“

“Pestilence, if I can’t even find her on the entire network of Watchers with advanced tracking systems, how were you supposed to shoot her in the middle of that chaos?” Offering her a smile, Izuku insisted, “She might not have even been in the city center for all we know.”

She tucked her knees up under her chin. “Still…”

Izuku held out a hand for her. “We will find Silicon, eventually.” Mei took the hand slowly, and Izuku pulled her back up on the couch to sit beside him. “And then we will deal with her.”

Hitoshi, barely awake, chimed in, “We will deal with her and that 1B girl…”

Izuku chuckled. “Do not worry about her…she will be handled in due time.”

Mei perked up. “Oh? By Famine? Oh, wait! Is it War? You still haven’t told us who War is—“

“And I still plan to keep that a surprise.” Clucking his tongue, Izuku mused, “But as far as who will handle this…Let’s just say, I have something else in mind for our dear Amethyst…”

Chapter Text

Eleven days before the Event.

“Mirio-senpai?”

Mirio just about jumped out of his own skin, hand clutching at his shirt as he twisted around on the bleacher. “ What —oh, Midoriya!” Plastering on a smile as his heart hammered in his chest, he could not help but laugh. “You just about scared my pants off!”

The younger teen went red in the face. “Ah! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—“ Slapping his hands on his cheeks, he mumbled, “Everyone says I’m growing too quiet when I walk.”

“Not a bad skill for Heroics!”

Izuku gave him a sheepish smile. “Ah, that is true…” Then, the smile slowly faded as Izuku moved forward to sit down next to Mirio. Both were currently on the edge of one of the more standard looking gyms, watching some Third Years playing dodgeball. Izuku gave him an odd look before nodding towards the others. “Why aren’t you joining them?”

Mirio…didn’t quite know what to say. “Because…well, you know.”

Izuku did not flinch, still staring intently at the older teen. “Know what?”

He couldn’t quite look at Izuku as he laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “Because this is a quirked match—“

“You don’t need a quirk to play dodgeball.”

“…Midoriya—“

“The Mirio I know doesn’t give up without trying.”

Mirio physically flinched .

Izuku had turned his gaze back to the game, his expression unnaturally blank for a teen who usually wore his heart on his sleeve. Quietly, he spoke. “I think you shouldn’t give up just yet, Senpai.”

“Something tells me that we aren’t talking about dodgeball anymore.”

He could practically hear the ‘no shit’ in Izuku’s stare.

Mirio sighed. “…it’s… complicated .”

“Then uncomplicate it,” Izuku countered as if it was the easiest thing in the world. Before Mirio could even argue, however, Izuku was back on his feet, smiling in his normal, encouraging way. “The Villain Day Event is happening soon. You should compete!”

That was not where he expected the convo to go. “What—“

“You would be able to set your pace and work with a team while you readjust to fighting after these past months.”

“Hold on—“

“It would be a great confidence boost after everything!”

“I don’t think—

“ Please .”

Mirio began to cave under that stare. “…if I can find a team—“

“Hadou and Amajiki already said they would team with you!“ Mirio barely could wrap his brain around the fact that this meant Izuku had already asked them, that he had planned for this— “So that shouldn’t be an issue!” 

Then Izuku was backing away, waving at him while flashing his usual a can-do grin. “I look forward to competing against you, Mirio-Senpai!”

And then Izuku was gone, leaving Mirio to wonder what in the hell just happened.

The Pun Hero: FlowJo @officialproflowjo ✓ · 19 minutes ago

Obviously this Sensei kid has a theme for his team, the Horsemen, so that means he has two other members somewhere. So, I have decided that I am the most qualified person to figure out who they are! 

Guess Number 1: that tape kid who’s name escapes me that was buried in that glacier during the Sports Festival. I feel like he’s due a villain arc.

#villainday #UA #feralgreenboi #callmesensei

1,342 Replies | 101 Likes | 213 Retweets | Share

     The Pun Hero: FlowJo @officialproflowjo ✓ · 3 minutes ago

     Wow, okay, you guys really did *not* like that guess—

     349 Replies | 132 Likes | 25 Retweets | Share

Three Hours into the Event.
(Day One, 1250 Hours)

Softly landing on the ground, Hawks bit let out an exaggerated sigh, stretching his arms high above his head. “Ah, I hate long distance flights…so inconvenient.”

Finally taking in the sight before him, he let out an amused hum at all the reporters scattered around the entrance to UA, shouting over each other at the closed gates in some desperate attempt to get a sound byte from the school. 

They were so desperate, none had even noticed him touching down across the street. 

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he looked around. “Now, I wonder where the back entrance would be…”

His cell phone proceeded to beep. Pulling it out of his pocket, he blinked in surprise at the screen. A private unknown number had just texted him…sending directions on how to avoid the reporters and enter the school through another entrance.

…seemed legit.

“Are you both sure that you are ready to head out?”

Hitoshi rolled his eyes as he adjusted his mask around his neck, Mei quietly chuckling as she attached a freshly charged battery pack to her hover boots. “Stop worrying, Boss Man!” She chirped as the blue neon glowed to life on her boots, traveling up the rest of her gear before she turned a particular dial, causing it to dim for a more stealth aimed glow. “We have plenty of energy to spare!”

“Speak for yourself,” Hitoshi quipped, but he still had a lazy grin on his face as he fixed his capture weapon on his shoulders. “But earlier was just a warm up, Boss. We’ve got too much to do to just sit back.”

Izuku looked unconvinced, but let out a relenting sigh. “If you are sure…”

“Look,” Hitoshi continued bluntly. “We need to find Silicon. Clearly, we aren’t going to be able to do it here,” he explained as he gestured around the base. “She isn’t on scanners or anything. We need to try the old fashioned way.”

“….she’s invisible .”

“She’s also a teenage girl, not a stealth expert,” Mei added in. “Whereas I am a genius—“

“A genius who’s best plan is to cover the city in pressure plate triggered paint bombs.”

Mei smacked Hitoshi’s arm. “Do you have a better idea?!”

His grin widened. “ Nope .”

Izuku shock his head. “Just make sure they are properly in tune to the sensors.”

Mei seemed to pout. “That’s going to severely limit how many we can set up—“

“I am not risking one of these setting off on a member of the List, Pestilence.” Izuku’s voice held no room for arguing. “The sensors, or no bombs.”

“ Fiiiiine ,” she drawled, throwing her hands up in the air before gliding off towards the exit in a huff.

Shaking his head, Hitoshi spoke lowly to Izuku. “Don’t take it personal, Boss. She’s just still upset—“

“That Silicon avoided the initial takedowns, I know.” He sighed. “Of course UA finally fixed Silicon’s costume just in time for the Event…”

“Hey, this wouldn’t be any fun for you if there weren’t any hiccups in the plan.”

“This isn’t a hiccup: this is food poisoning.”

“And people think I am dramatic.” Backing away as he dimmed the glow on his own suit, he gave Izuku a two finger salute. “Anyway, I better catch up to her.”

Izuku could not help but smile. “Watch each other’s backs.”

“As if we would do anything less.”

And then Izuku was alone, with nothing but his thoughts and some video screens.

“Will everyone please focus!” Iida shouted, arm swinging through the air. “We need to finish reinforcing the base while the others are gone!”

Kaibara sprawled on the box he was sitting on, letting out a tired sigh. “Can’t your iceburg guy just reinforce the building with a glacier or something when he comes back?”

Iida shook his head. “That would make it too obvious that we are here! We will become targets to anyone passing by!”

Awase, who had been assisting Bondo with barricading one of the doors that was deemed unnecessary, called out, “Ammonite, Emerald left Mercury in charge and went over this before she left. Twice . The sooner we finish, the sooner we can chill out till the others get back.”

Kaibara groaned. “Fine— “ With that, he shoved up onto his feet, heading off towards where Honenuki was working on making an emergency escape tunnel in the back.

Uraraka shook her head as she floated more empty boxes to be moved by Komori and Tsuburaba. “I feel a little useless here…” 

“Everyone has our part to play,” Tokoyami advised as he moved to stand next to her, Dark Shadow extended up into the rafters to look out through the upper level windows, keeping an eye out for anyone trying to sneak in. “While our role might not be as active, it is still vital to our future success.”

She let out an absent hum as the two arranged the boxes near the windows, her releasing the crates once the tower was made to block any outside sight into the building. “I suppose you’re right…” Offering a faint smile, she quipped, “I hope Phosphorus and the others are doing okay.”

“So…tell me again why we split up like this?”

Bakugou let out a heavy sigh. “Its to draw out fucking Deku’s team. We’re out in the open as bait.”

Mina glared at her friend as she struggled to keep up with his quick pace. “I know that. But like, why us ?!”

Moving to flank her other side, Shouto spoke up. “Because we can handle anyone that gets in the way.”

Mina blinked. “Uh…” She began to wildly gesture between the three of them. “One of these things is not like the others?!”

And then suddenly her hair was being tugged sharply, causing her to yelp in surprise more than pain. “Fucking idiot,” Bakugou growled out. Pointing to himself, he snapped, “I’m the fucking brawn—“ then he jabbed a finger at Shouto. “He’s the one to trap the assholes.”

Her cheeks puffed out. “And what use am I?!”

“You heard the Lizard Girl,” he growled out as he stopped to face Mina. “The batshit crazy chick is on hover boots. She’s fast .” He jabbed a finger in Mina’s shoulder. “You’re fast too, but unlike Glasses, you have a more versatile quirk that can disable her gear with a good shot.” Giving one more jab, he snarked, “Stop shitting on yourself and start focusing on your strengths. You have some decent ones.”

Mina…did not know what to say, so she started to tear up. “Blasty…”

“Fuck. No. None of that—“

She threw her arms around his shoulders, forcing him into a hug as he held his arms out to the side, his face twisted into a sneer. “I knew you cared!”

“Fuck that! You all annoy the shit out of me!”

“Too late to insult me! You were already nice—!“

“Eat shit and die —!“

At some point, a drone had floated down next to Shouto as the two continued to shout at each other. Shouto turned to the drone that seemed very fixated on the ensuing drama and patted it gently on the head. As the drone turned to him and wiggled and beeped, he mused, “I wonder if Momo is having this much trouble with her own teammates…”

“I still think we should have come up with a cooler name—“

“For the last time, Diamond: please keep it down.“

“Oi!” The teen snapped, very much not keeping his volume down. “I don’t know who you are, thinking you’re in charge—“

Momo spun on her heel, grabbing Tetsutetsu by the wrist and yanking him forward, speaking in a low harsh tone. “Keep. It. Down . We are supposed to be a Stealth Tracking Team. The purpose of which is completely negated if someone decides to keep talking as if he is trying to be heard across a stadium!” 

The other flushed in embarrassment, but still scowled, letting his skin harden over. “Let go—! ”

Shoving his wrist back, Momo sharply ordered, “Emerald insisted that I bring you along, and I respected her judgment, but that does not mean I am going to sit by and let you compromise this entire mission because Vlad King does nothing to curb your class’ pointless hatred of my own.”

Tetsutetsu looked ready to argue, but Kirishima jumped between. “Hey, take it easy, man! Palladium has a point. We need to be quiet, and you’ve been a little…not?”

Huffing, Tetsutetsu continued to complain, but in a quieter voice. “She could ask a little nicer—“

“Forgive me for giving up on nice after the fifth reminder to keep it down.”

“ Hey—! ”

“Can you guys not ?” 

All attention snapped to the fourth member of their team, and they watched as Kaminari stared at them in frustration, his finger no longer inserted into one of the outer building electricity ports in the alley they were currently hiding in. They had essentially been hopping from building to building, searching for vague directions where Kaminari sensed a stronger output of electricity which, in theory, should be Izuku’s base of operations considering his control on the city. “This is difficult enough as is to do without frying the entire city block, and the constant arguing is just making it impossible to focus!”

Momo gave Kaminari a worried look as she stepped forward, but still maintained a safe distance. “Is everything going well?”

“As well as it can,” the blonde griped, staring tiredly at the port. “This isn’t exactly something I’ve practice a lot: I plug myself in to charge sometimes, but I’ve never tried to, like, back track the electricity.”

“Any attempt helps,” she praised, smiling at her classmate. “Even if we could get a general vicinity of Sensei’s base, it would be a huge boon for us.”

“Yeah!” Kirishima brightly chimed in. “This is super manly on you to try! And we’ve been making progress into the city. We’ll find Sensei and his team soon enough!”

Tetsutetsu laughed loudly, slamming his hands together. “And then we beat them into the ground —“

He was cut off by three people shushing him, with Momo looking near her limit. “What we are doing should we find the base is calling in the rest of the Alliance, not going in with no back up into unfamiliar territory—“

“Yeah, man,” Kirishima added, throwing an arm over Tetsutetsu’s shoulder before the other could complain. “You and I are just on bodyguard duty for now!” He held up a fist. “Bullet proof shields for the win!”

Tetsutetsu seemed to brighten at that, grinning and meeting Kirishima’s fist bump. Momo’s brow began to twitch. “I do not need a bodyguard…”

“Backup isn’t a bad thing, though,” Kaminari commented as he resumed sticking his finger into the socket while the other two bantered back and forth. 

As Kaminari’s focus returned to tracing the larger outputs of electricity, Momo sighed. “Yes, but two bulletproof shields on one team…” She shook her head, grimacing more as Kirishima and Tetsutetsu began to laugh loudly. “I hope our other tracking team is doing better than we are…”

Kirishima somehow heard her, snapping his attention mid sentence from Tetsutetsu to her. “Oh! I’m sure Moondrinker and the others are doing fine!”

Tetsutetsu frowned. “…isn’t he teamed with Pyrite and Amethyst?”

…Momo should have fought harder about certain team arrangements.

“I thought you were going to search the Northern section!”

“I am , you should be heading farther East!”

“I would be, if your eyes had headed North like they were supposed to!”

“What did you want me to do? Simply skip all of this section on the way and risk missing something important? That sounds like a very unwise plan—“

“I don’t want you to skip things, but you need to move faster —“

“I am being thorough! ”

“You are wasting time! ”

“Says the teammate that is following me rather than heading off to her own section!”

The bickering continued as the two sat at the center of the building, lacking their eyes and each with one disembodied hand holding the other floating up in the air. Amajiki just hunched farther into himself as Monoma and Tokage continued to make verbal jabs at each other, his rabbit ears that should be up and alert, listening for possible threats approaching this building that was situated farther in the city than the base, but he could not help himself.

He was stressed.

They grew louder .

He pulled his knees to his chest. “I want to go home .”

Monoma stopped mid rant, his head moving in a motion that probably would have been an eye roll if his eyes weren’t missing. “No one asked you to be here.”

Tokage gasped, her spare hand detaching from her wrist and flying over to Monoma, somehow managing to smack him in the head despite her lack of eyes. “Be nice to our Senpai!”

Monoma let out an affronted sound. “Why you—!” His spare hand detached as well, and despite being clumsier than Tokage, still managed to find her, grabbing a handful of hair and yanking .

“OUCH. You little shit— ”

Then, all that came from them was insults as they devolved into this morbid slap fight with disembodied hands, Tokage eventually rising to stand and swinging her leg, sending her foot flying and smacking Monoma in the face. “You could have broken my nose , you bitch!”

Amajiki somehow shrunk more. 

He wished Mirio was here.

“I’m still surprised that we haven’t run into more teams,” Kendou quipped, stopping just outside of the main center, hands balanced on her hips. “I know the base wasn’t too far from here, but still…”

Mirio chuckled quietly, shifting the backpack that Iida had given him before they left. That team had managed to snag three in the initial chaos, and the Alliance as a whole decided it best to empty two of them out at the base, one as a spare emergency grab bag, and the two empty ones to fill with supplies in case there weren’t anymore at the supply zone. “Most of the teams are probably hiding now!”

Kendou looked up at him. “You think so?”

He nodded with a big grin. “Yep! All the later years know: its a stupid strategy to be out and about when the Patrollers first start!”

“…ah.”

Mirio laughed at the look that crossed Kendou’s face, a cross between concern and mild irritation that just left her looking constipated in his opinion. A sharp huff from the side drew his attention though. “They are just a bunch of cowards.”

Mirio’s smile became strained at Kamikiri’s… rude answer. “Ah, it's a valid strategy, Malachite.”

“Says the Quirkless guy.”

…so maybe rude was just his personality.

“Hey!” Kendou snapped, glaring at her classmate. “Don’t talk to him like that! Zero has a lot of hero experience and is just as qualified as any of us!”

Kamikiri rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say.”

Kendou threw Mirio an apologetic look, and Mirio just awkwardly laugh. “Come on, guys, let’s keep moving! Hopefully we can find some good supplies.”

Yanagi and Kodai just silently nodded before heading on, Kendou, following after them with a weary expression as she glanced back at Kamikiri.

Mirio and Kamikiri made eye contact. The latter made a “Tch” sound, before stalking past after the others.

Yeah. Things were going…okay.

Suddenly Mirio heard a whirring sound and turned around, only to see the familiar sight of a Watcher hovering not far behind them. Which likely meant that people were watching at home.

Fun!

Mirio managed a bright smile, waving to the Watcher before turning back to head off after the group. Part of him felt responsible for their well being, like he needed to be with them to keep them safe.

Part of him knew that he was likely more a liability than help.

He kept moving forward.

Ragdoll straightened in her chair, resisting the urge to squeal as she leaned in, fiddling with the drone controls. 

Mandalay, who had been in the middle of talking to the camera set up about their new gear changes, immediately noticed the change in her partner’s demeanor. Turning her attention to Ragdoll, she leaned over to peer over her shoulder and see her screen better. “Did you find something?”

“More than something!” She cooed, gesturing to the screen with a flourish. “I found the perfect toys to keep Pixie Bob and Tiger entertained a little longer!”

On the screen, you could clearly see a small cluster of students, all oblivious to the drone hovering a ways back. Ragdoll was very thankful for the high powered zoom on their drones: they could watch from afar without being noticed, and while their drones clearly looked different than the Watchers, they could easily be mistaken for a Watcher from far away, aiding in their hunt.

Mandalay felt a grin spread across her face as she eyed the particular group. “Oh, they will be very happy.” Reaching to her ear to tap on her comm, she chirped, “Oh Pixie ? We found some lost kittens for you!”

The Pun Hero: FlowJo @officialproflowjo ✓ · 21 minutes ago

Let’s try this again!

Guess Number 2- Hawks! He left his patrol mid shift not long after the feral kid finished his first lesson. ALSO, he took the last bagel at a mission debrief once and ate it plain and untoasted, and that seems like serial killer behavior—

#villainday #Hawks

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     The Pun Hero: FlowJo @officialproflowjo ✓ · 4 minutes ago

     The comment section on this is 60% booing me, and 40% arguing about whether or not eating a bagel plain is valid. And I just have one thing to say:

     Eating plain bagels should be a war crime.

     986 Replies | 372 Likes | 146 Retweets | Share

Four Hours into the Event.
(Day One, 0107 Hours)

Aizawa walked into the prep room only to freeze immediately. Looking sharply at Nedzu, he flatly asked, “Why is he here?”

Nedzu offered the teacher a tight smile as he eyed the person in question. “The security system alerted me to him loitering outside, so I invited him in before the news crews noticed. Apparently, he decided he wanted to join as the Event as a Patroller.” His tail whipped back and forth, clearly not wanting to be here dealing with this and wanting to be back at his desk, trying to find how Izuku had weasled his way into his account. “He is very determined to join.”

With a dismissive glance towards the person in question, Aizawa snapped, “Well, unfortunately for him, the staff unanimously decided back when negotiations first began that he would be unfit for the role.”

“Ouch, Eraserhead!” Hawks drawled with his signature lazy smile, seeming not too offended by the barbed words. “I think I can handle myself just fine in a fight with the kids. I did well with Tokoyami during his internship—”

“An internship is far different than actually fighting against dozens of teenagers in a simulated environment such as this.” Aizawa straightened his shoulders as he turned his full attention towards the Number Two Hero. “We discussed it, based on the fact that you honestly are too qualified for this position and would likely undermine the chance for a proper winner.”

Hawks head tilted lazily. “So, you think your kids couldn’t hold out?”

He was baiting him. Aizawa knew this. Still… “Most Hero Course students would struggle.” Then, Aizawa smirked, matching the same almost lazy air of Hawks as he strolled towards the winged Pro. “ My kids, however, would certainly do a number on you.”

Hawks’ wings flicked in excitement before immediately settling and tucking back into place. “Do you think so?”

The smirk grew into a grin. “They are all just a touch reactionary…I can name several who could possibly take you out in a group…maybe even solo.” His eyes glanced pointedly at Hawks’ wings. “You aren’t exactly fireproof if I recall, correct?”

“…is that a threat?”

Aizawa’s grin became a touch feral, and he had to admit that he enjoyed the unease cracking Hawks’ devil may care fasade. Leaning in close, he calmly replied, “No. Just a warning.”

His wings flared in challenge, causing Aizawa to straighten back up and step away, having made his point. Hawks must be on edge to be showing behaviors such as this. He was usually extremely controlled in how he allowed his instinctive movements, as Aizawa recalled. Much like Nedzu, preferring to act as human as possible around others unless under high stress…

Nedzu’s ears flicked.

Aizawa knew to hurry this up before his boss got too antsy. With a shrug, the Erasure Hero drawled, “Well, if he is so insistent, we could probably see about squeezing him into a later spot. Several of the future Patrollers are still hesitant about joining.”

Hawks tilted his head. “Oh?”

Aizawa tilted his head as well. “Yes. Oh.” Turning to leave, he quipped, “We will just have to wait and see what they say later.”

“You think they would know whether or not they want to quit yet or not.” Hawks shifted. “We’ve already seen what that finger breaking kid can do.”

Aizawa paused in the doorway. “You think you’ve seen everything, huh?” Rolling his head back to look over his shoulder, eyes glinting from his quirk, Aizawa drawled, “I suggest you prepare yourself, Hawks.”

And then Aizawa left, and Hawks began to wish the Commission had just kept their nose out of things for once.

Something was wrong .

Mirio could not help but fidget, his usual smile wavering as he did his best to focus and help sort through the supplies. Rummaging through a damaged bag for anything salvageable, his eyes drifted off towards the others. 

Kamikiri was sitting and sulking off to the side under the guise of ‘guard duty’, which honestly if he was doing that, he was doing it very poorly. A ways away from the surly teen, Kendou and Yanagi were both currently using their quirks to carefully move the debris out of the way that had fallen on the supplies during the initial chaos.

Kodai was closest to him, carefully picking up various supplies to shrink with her quirk and tuck into the non damaged bags. Honestly, her quirk made this whole process so much easier: the amount of supplies they could carry drastically skyrocketed, and from what Mirio could see around the area, they would easily find enough supplies to split amongst their large alliance.

But still, even with things going smoothly, even with seemingly no other teams nearby, Mirio could not help but feel that something was… off .

Lifting the bag again, a bottle of water fell out, the cap popping off and spilling on the ground. “Oh, whoops!” 

Kodai glanced up at him, eyes dropping silently to the water. She did not say anything, simply turning back to her work. Mirio was still trying to get a read on her, but from what he could tell, she was kind. 

He could hear Kamikiri grumbling under his breath from even a distance. “ Useless ,” the teen muttered, slumping further down where he sat.

Mirio’s hand tightened on the bag, but he kept his face smiling. “Accidents happen! And the cap on the bottle was already broken.”

Another vague, “Tch,” was all he got in response.

Then, a small, quiet voice spoke up, and Mirio found himself looking towards Kodai. “We have plenty of water for everyone,” she commented, reaching into one of the bags and pulling out a large handful of shrunken water bottles.

The grin on Mirio’s face was near blinding. “I’m glad to hear it!” 

But then he suddenly had that feeling again, and he found his gaze dropping to the ground, staring at the puddle of spilled water.

The puddle, after a beat, rippled across it’s surface.

Mirio’s body grew still.

“…Emerald, we need to hurry!”

This was not in the plan.

“Shit.”

This was not in the plan at all .

“ What was that boss?”

Izuku could barely pay attention to what Hitoshi was saying, too fixated on the screen. “Shit, shit, shit —“

“ Boss! What the hell is going— “

“They are going after Mirio,” Izuku cut in, eyes still locked on the screen. “Mirio’s team, I mean, they are still at the city center and Pixie Bob is close .” Tapping the screen to switch views, he let out a frustrated growl. “Tiger is close behind with transports—“

“ That’s bad, ” Mei replied, the sound of gear being dropped in the background of the comm. “ That team was built for gathering, not full out combat. ”

“They won’t win,” Izuku ground out, now on his feet. “They need backup, and none of the other Alliance members are nearby—“

“ And neither are we ,” Hitoshi added. “ Pest and I could head out, but it would take us at least ten to maneuver, and we would likely be noticed above ground, but the tunnels—“

“The tunnels would take you longer,” Izuku finished. “And neither of you are equipped to deal with concrete reinforced dirt beasts, god damn it— “

“ What do you want us to do? ”

“I—“ Letting out a loud frustrated growl, he then muttered, “You know what? Fuck it. ”

“… What?!

Izuku was already moving, sprinting off to the side. “Stick to the plan. Set up those pressure plates bombs. Follow the scouting groups, lead them away from any entrance nodes…” Dropping to one knee in front of a large metal crate, Izuku began rapidly snapping it open. “And keep an eye out for Silicon.”

“ But— “

Flinging open the crate, Izuku immediately began to yank off his leather gloves and toss them aside. “ Stick to the plan . That’s an order!”

“ So, are we giving up on Mirio’s Lesson? ”

“No.” Izuku pulled out a long glove, a more reinforced version of his arm bracers, with dark metal accents and what appeared to be black leather for the rest of it. He began to roll up his shirt sleeves, slipping on the bracers as his quirk began to crackle under his skin. “No, I have no intention of dropping that Lesson.”

“ Then what are you going to do? ”

“Simple.” Bracers in place, he rose off the ground, letting his quirk amp up to a higher percentage. “I’m going to handle this myself .”

At the declaration from Izuku, both Mei and Hitoshi shared a look.

“He’s going off script,” Hitoshi remarked with a grimace. “We knew it would happen eventually, but to happen so soon in the Event—“

Mei cut him off with a cackle. “Oh, Boss Man is going to be mean to them, isn’t he?”

Hitoshi let out a sigh, rising to stand from where they were crouched in an alley. “Let’s hurry up with these bombs before things go to hell and back.”

“Aww, Death-kun, but that’s when the fun starts!”

“I think you and I have different definitions of fun, Pest.”

The Pun Hero: FlowJo @officialproflowjo ✓ · 13 minutes ago

Okay. My last attempt at guessing.

3- All Might. Let the retired man go feral.

#fightme

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     The Pun Hero: FlowJo @officialproflowjo ✓ · 3 minutes ago

     [insert gif of man in a suit shouting “Why are you booing me? I’m right!”]

     1,984 Replies | 598 Likes | 397 Retweets | Share

Four Hours into the Event.
(Day One, 0119 Hours)

This was it.

Mirio knew the odds. Had this been earlier in the year, he would have thought he might have stood a chance. His quirk would have been a perfect match against Pixie Bob: Her dirt creatures meant nothing if they couldn’t touch him, and she herself was limited in combat. She could put up a fight, but it's hard to win against something like Permeation.

Now, he was different.

Now, he was useless .

“You naughty little kittens!” Pixie Bob called out from a distance, too far for any of them to reach. “Why don’t you behave and turn yourselves in quietly?”

The beasts closed in, and he could not help but put himself in front of the others. He was the Senpai here, after all. That and the hero in him was still desperate to fight, to protect, even at these horrible odds. Grinning brightly, he let himself laugh, burying down the darker feelings in his gut. “Sorry! I don’t exactly like to be quiet! I’ve been told it’s a problem!”

She seemed to almost pout, letting out an exaggerated sigh. “Well, I guess it would be boring for you just to give up…” Putting a hand on her hip, she wagged a finger at them. “Don’t say I didn’t try to help you out!” 

And then, as she moved to touch the ground and urge her beast to move, it happened. A canister flew into their field of vision, dropping to bounce with a metallic clinking sound along the ground. They all stared in momentary confusion, until Mirio saw the blinking light.

“Everyone, move— “

The canister beeped, and suddenly large volumes of smoke began to poor out of it, rapidly filling up the area as they all cried out in shock. They all rushed to cover their mouths, Pixie Bob darting back a bit with a shouted warning into her comm, all coughing from the sudden flood of unknown gas. Thankfully, from what Mirio could tell, the smoke seemed to be just that, smoke.

“Who threw that?” Kamikiri shouted with a snarl, looking around for the culprit, but none of them could see much farther than each other. 

“Everyone!” Mirio ordered. “Back to back! Defensive circle!”

“Right!” Kendou shouted, her hands enlarged and waving away some of the smoke. “We need to move before someone—“

The sound of Earth shifting caused them all to stumble, looking back in the direction of where Pixie Bob had disappeared in the smoke. “Not so fast, kittens! This was a nice little trick, but you forget—“ Rising from the fog, they could now see several of the Dirt Beasts, the ground rumbling beneath them as the beasts began to move, swiping their massive limbs through the air to clear some of the smoke. “Rescue heroes have experience dealing with finding people in smoke!”

Mirio let out a frustrated sound as one of the beasts stepped forward. “We need to move —“

And then before he could say anything else, there was a flash of light in his peripheral, and suddenly, something collided with the Beast with immense force. They all watched, gasping in shock as the Beast erupted into an exploding mass of dirt and concrete, shattering upon impact and crumbling to ground in one hit. 

The world around them seemed to go silent, nothing but the sound of tumbling rocks and dirt as the Beast collapsed, the smoke seeming to billow around the spot like a cyclone. As the smoke slowed and dissipated, they could finally see the cause. The familiar green lightning, crackling from within, a figure cloaked in the energy standing atop the piled remnants of the beast, slowly clapping, the sound echoing through the near empty city center.

All accompanied by the figure’s slow, quiet laughter.

“Ah, this brings back memories,” he drawled, reaching above himself to stretch ever so languidly before spreading his arms wide in a dramatic fashion, still cloaked in the smoke and only illuminated by sparks of green from his quirk. “Though your Dirt Beasts were much more difficult to handle last time, Pixie Bob.”

Then, the figure launched up into the air, cloaked in the lightning, twisting in place with a circular kick. The resulting air pressure immediately caused the smoke to dissipate, all of them nearly flying back from the wind gust alone as they grabbed hold of each other to keep from being knocked over

And then they could finally see him.

Izuku somehow looked taller. Whether from a growth spurt or just his confidence alone, Mirio was not sure. But he didn’t have the same energy, the same determined, heroic air about him like he did those months ago during the Hisakai Raid. No, he was different. He seemed changed.

He seemed dangerous .

Izuku was positioned away from them, facing off in the direction of Pixie Bob, who looked like she had been knocked down by the wind. Mirio could see from Izuku’s profile that the boy had a grin on his face, one of amusement, but his eyes —

Izuku’s face dropped into something neutral. “But I’m not here to reminisce.”

Pixie Bob shifted into a crouch, her hands hovering above the ground as she stared Izuku down. “Then why are you here?”

“I have a goal for this Event,” Izuku explained vaguely, head tilting. “And despite my fondness for your team and everything you did for us during the raid on the camp, I cannot allow you to jeopardize my plans.”

“You sound confident.”

Izuku grinned. “Just a bit.” He held his arm up, absently adjusting his arm bracers. “Let me show you why .”

Chapter Text

Ten Days Before the Event.

“I know what you’re up to.”

Izuku paused in the empty hall just outside of the Support Labs, slowly turning his head to look down the adjacent hallway. Less than a dozen feet away, the speaker leaned casually against the wall, arms crossed, a victorious grin on his face. Head tilting slightly, Izuku mused, “Oh, do you now?”

Lazily tilting his head towards Izuku, the figure’s grin slipped into a more relaxed smirk. “Yes. I do.” He pushed off the wall, strolling forward with a leisurely gait. “And I just want to say…”

He came to a halt just a foot from Izuku, arms dramatically spread wide. “I want in .”

Izuku couldn’t help it. 

He laughed .

Finally turning to fully face him, Izuku casually adjusted the sleeves of his blazer, only half giving the other his attention. “Well, now. Quite the request.” Izuku looked back up, head tilting once more. “Why don’t you start by telling me exactly what you think you know…and we will decide what to do from there.” 

He held out a hand.

“Does that sound agreeable…Monoma Neito?”

Monoma laughed. 

He took the hand.

Call me Sensei. @uaapocalypse ✓ · eleven minutes ago

Current Student Kill Count:

Sensei - 17
Death - 0
Pestilence - 11
War - 0
Famine - E R R O R

#callmesensei #villainday #feralgreenboi #fourhorsemen

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Four Hours into the Event.
(Day One, 0117 Hours)

“Well, this is one way to grab attention.”

Yagi could not help but frown as he squinted at the screen, inwardly cursing his worsening eyesight. Still, he could read well enough to know what the tweet said and could not help but agree with Kayama. “It certainly is...”

She let out a hum as she pulled the phone back, frowning as well. “That’s quite a few kills listed under Midoriya, though I assume that it includes the machine gun fire from the opening. Hatsume’s is high too, though that fits with her using the sniper rifle earlier.” 

“She was likely taking out specific players during the initial rush,” Snipe chimed in from across the table. He was leaning back in his chair, arms crossed, staring intently up at the screen over their heads. 

Yagi had glanced up, seeing it was focused on Togata’s team who had just been ambushed by Pixiebob, Tiger not far behind. “That would be a good assumption to make,” he remarked absently as he dropped his attention from the screen with a sigh. “At least Shinsou does not have any kills as of yet.”

Snipe snorted. “The one named Death being the only active teammate to have not killed someone—“

Kayama kicked him lightly under the table, ignoring the man’s grumble of protest though he never took his attention from the tv. “They seem to have a plan. Midoriya is being careful to ensure his team does not make unnecessary kills.”

“I never said otherwise—“

“Besides,” she continued, ignoring whatever else Snipe had to say. “I’m more interested in these other two listed.”

Yagi blinked. “You mean War and Famine?”

“War is zero, which makes sense if he’s not in play right now,” Kayama mused. “But Famine’s kill count—“

“Is an error,” Yagi finished, having seen the screen for himself. “Which can mean a number of things.”

“They’ll probably reveal the actual count once the kid is in play,” Snipe chimed in. “But in the meantime—what in the world…oh shit .” 

Both Yagi and Kayama’s attention snapped up to the screen, only to see the aftermath of what looked like a more large-scale attack. Smoke cleared out, obscuring some of the Watcher’s view, but Yagi did not need a perfect view or good eyes to recognize the light behind that smoke.

“…Midoriya.”

Kayama’s attention dropped to Snipe. “Turn up the volume while I notify the rest of the staff.” Her face was neutral, but Yagi could see the gleam of intrigue in her eyes.

He could see that she was just as excited as he was.

Her eyes moved back to the screen just as Izuku stepped out of smoke, arms thrown wide with a devil may care grin, and a smirk slipped onto Kayama’s face as she purred, “It looks like Sensei finally came out to play.”

Izuku was excited .

No, that wasn’t the right word. On a base level, he was annoyed. He had a plan, and he knew plans often had to be tweaked on the go, especially ones with as many moving parts as his own. Still, he hated that he had to change things so early on.

But on the other hand…

“I was planning to give your team more time in the field, Pixiebob,” he drawled, lazily standing atop the pile of dirt, trying to look as unbothered as possible. “However, you are risking a particular lesson of mine, and I simply cannot allow that!”

“Oh?” Pixiebob called out, crouching down low as she kept her gaze locked onto him. “What kind of lesson did you have in mind?”

He laughed, something deep and low, something very much not like his usual laugh. Part of him wondered if his voice had deepened in recent weeks. Another part wondered if maybe he was just too into this character he crafted—

“Ah, that would be a surprise ,” he answered, his gaze drifting over towards the cluster of Mirio’s team on the edge of this standoff. His eyes managed to find Mirio’s own, the two staring at each other for a beat before Izuku’s head tilted ever so slightly. “A future lesson about… potential. ” He shook his head, turning attention back towards Pixiebob, effectively dismissing the team as if they were not a threat.

In a way, they weren’t.

“But that is for later. For now, I just decided to step in to prevent any… unnecessary roughhousing that I do not approve of.”

Pixiebob clearly looked a bit unsettled by Izuku’s tone, but she maintained her composure well enough. “That’s too bad. A little bit of roughhousing can be fun!”

He grinned. “And you said we were the naughty ones.” He rolled his shoulder and cracked his neck. “Enough chit chat. I have a strict lesson plan that I intend to keep, and you are cutting into my time.”

She snorted. “Fine with me!” Slamming her hands into the ground, the flash of her quirk activating as more Dirt Beasts crawled forth from the ground below to do her bidding, including the demolished one under Izuku’s feet reforming back to life. Above the sound of shifting rocks, she shouted out, “Maybe you will appreciate some time in detention !”

His own quirk flickered back to life. “Maybe another time! Right now, I’m thinking about trying something else!” 

Launching up into the air before the Beast could reach up and snatch him, Izuku twisted around, spinning like a top before aiming himself to place a well aimed kick down below. The resulting gust of air destroyed the Dirt Beast once more, causing it to implode outwards in a burst of rocks and dust.

Landing back down into a crouch atop the pile of dirt, his head snapped up, a feral grin splitting his face as he eyed the two other Beasts between him and Pixiebob. 

And Izuku acknowledged that this was why he was excited.

“Time for a pop quiz.”

David Shield liked to think that he was prepared for any situation.

His whole job was to design gear to help make heroes as prepared as they possibly could be. Then the Expo disaster happened, and he began to question exactly how prepared he was. Finally, All Might finally lost what little he had left of his quirk, and he finally accepted how out of his depth he was.

But then Melissa came to him with her request.

It honestly terrified him a little, the idea of her getting so involved in such a grand display. But she was determined, her eyes gleaming in a way that he knew he had no hope of talking her out of it. Besides, she knew better than him at least. She made sure that nothing she was doing was illegal. Technically. 

So he decided that despite his fear, he would trust her. He would trust her and guide her as she did her best to help Midoriya.

Speaking of Midoriya.

“…Melissa?”

She didn’t even glance up from her computer station, eyeing over the code that had been running since the start of the Event. “Yeah, dad?”

Apparently, Midoriya had requested she find some info for him, and the best time was during the Event as to not alert anyone too soon about the information breach. He wasn’t quite sure exactly where she was acquiring this info, but he knew without a doubt that if this project wasn’t backed by the I-Island Board, it would definitely be very illegal to obtain.

He tried not to think about it too much.

He kept his attention on the screen. “Didn’t you say that ‘Sensei’ wasn’t going to appear till late game?”

“That’s the plan!”

“…well, Toshi’s boy is currently squaring off with two Pro-heroes.”

He heard a crash. “He’s doing what?! ”

Has he ever mentioned that she sounded like her mother when she was upset?

“What do we do?”

Kamikiri practically snarled at Yanagi who was barely affected. “What do we do?! We should attack!”

Kendou immediately had a hand on her classmate’s shoulder. “We can’t just rush in without a plan—“

“We’ve been wondering where the fuck this asshole was all day,” Kamikiri snapped back. “And now that he’s right here, we can’t let him get away!”

“We can’t fight him,” Kendou reasoned, gesturing to their team. “We aren’t built to take on a heavy hitter like Midoriya.”

“Then call for backup!”

“No one is answering,” Kodai calmly offered, staring at the ensuing fight with Izuku and Pixiebob with a frown. “I think our comms may have been jammed.”

Mirio frowned himself, staring at the fight as well, watching as Izuku took out the reformed Dirt Beast below him with ease. The rocks and dust scattered towards them, and they all ducked down, covering their faces. “That’s…bad.”

He was still shaken from when Izuku looked at him, when their eyes had met. There has been something there, something in Izuku’s eyes. If Mirio didn’t know any better…

He would say that Izuku was challenging him.

“Maybe our teammates will see the fight from their positions and come to check?” Yanagi offered.

Kendou grimaced. “Or they will assume its other groups fighting and avoid the area.”

“They at least know that this is the area where we were headed,” Mirio offered, trying to look at this optimistically. “Hopefully, they will try the comms and notice we aren’t responding.”

Kamikiri stared at him. “They would get a notification if one of us died.”

Kendou stepped between the two. “Don’t even think about it, Malachite!”

“Tch.” 

A loud boom drew their attention back to the fight, and they watched as Pixiebob retreated back as Izuku easily took down another Beast with a well aimed kick, blasting the air all around them once more. They watched as Izuku began to twist and weave along the ground around the third Beast, playing a game of cat and mouse…

Or perhaps it was the other way around.

“He’s toying with Pixiebob,” Kendou commented with a grimace. “The Beasts aren’t a match for him.”

“Why would he draw out the fight?” Kamikiri muttered.

Then, Kodai softly replied, “He said that she was risking his plan.”

“That doesn’t explain—“

“All she was doing was trying to apprehend us,” Kodai continued, ignoring her teammate. “Clearly, we, or one of us, is important to his plan. She put that at risk. He’s protecting us.”

It clicked for Mirio. “He’s drawing out time for us to escape.”

Yanagi swayed. “We should flee before we meet our untimely demise—“

“And then we may lose our only chance to take a shot at Sensei,” Kendou countered. “This clearly wasn’t planned, and he is at a disadvantage. We might not get another chance.”

Kamikiri huffed. “So, are you finally letting us fight him?”

It was at this point they could hear vehicles approaching, and all of their attention snapped to see the Transport trucks meant to take captured students out of the city arriving, Tiger bailing out of one and sprinting towards the fight, with a drone that appeared to be a different design to the Watchers zooming over to trail along behind him

Kendou’s eyes trailed after him for a beat, looking up at the new drone before finally smirking. “I have an idea.”

Torino liked to think that he was a patient man. 

He had put up with a lot during his life. Having a friend like Nana really built up his tolerance for bullshit, and that was before she earned herself a semi-immortal arch nemesis who doubled as the Quirk-Stealing Boogieman. Nana had always been one to get herself in trouble doing the right thing, and it had become his job to watch her back.

So when she took Toshinori on as a successor, he rolled with it. When she died, he stepped up. And then once Toshinori didn’t need him anymore, he stepped back. He was getting too old to keep up, and it was best for everyone for him to wait on the sidelines till he was needed.

And then Toshinori picked his own successor.

Now don’t get him wrong. The boy was so much like Toshinori that it worried him at times. Both were self-sacrificing, heroic to the core. But not only was Izuku that, but the boy was…something else. Something more.

Something that honestly made Torino hesitate .

He didn’t fight like the usual hero. Sure, he smiled like Toshinori does, like Nana did, but he had something behind that smile, behind those eyes, something that looked like determination but was something more . You kicked him down, and he got back up. You hit him, he hit back harder . Break his finger, he’d break your hand .

Torino didn’t even need to elaborate on what would happen if you threaten what’s his. He saw the reports from the summer camp about Muscular, the unredacted footage of his fight with Overhaul.

Midoriya Izuku was a hero to his core.

But not all heroes have the same moral code.

So when he turned on the television that day, only to see the news segment showing live clips of the UA Villain Day Event, he wasn’t exactly surprised to Izuku front and center, to see that grin on his face, to hear him talk like that.

No, sometimes there isn’t much of a line between Heroes and Villains.

“I hope you know what you’ve gotten yourself into, Toshinori.” Sighing as he shoved out of the chair, he muttered, “This boy is going to give Nana a run for her money as far as trouble goes.”

And he’s known for a while that Izuku would just walk whatever side of the line suited him.

“Tiger!”

The man skidded to a halt, spinning around and dropping into a defensive crouch, ready to strike. Fortunately, the teens that had been approaching halted a safe distance away, holding up their hands defensively. He recognized all but one from the training camp, and none of them seemed as if they were about to attack him. 

The orange haired girl, the one he believed to be named Kendou, continued to speak. “We don’t want to fight! We wanted to call a truce!”

And to that, TIger froze. “You want to call a what ?”

Kendou jabbed a finger at the sky, towards their team’s drone. “That’s yours, right? Is it blocking our team comms?”

Tiger’s tail flicked through the air, glancing over towards Pixiebob who was struggling against Midoriya and the team of teens in front of him. “What do you want—“

“If you unblock our comms, then we have a chance to beat Sensei.”

At that, Tiger’s eyes narrowed, not ready to listen, but then a loud crash sounded behind them. Unable to stop himself from snapping his head to the side, he watched as two Dirt Beasts crumbled to nothing, could see Pixiebob struggling to fall back—

He knew in an instant that the two of them were not winning this fight.

He looked back at Kendou. “ Explain. ”

Izuku felt like he had given Mirio’s team plenty of time.

Pixiebob was, under most circumstances, an indomitable powerhouse. Her Dirt Beasts were powerful, and her stamina with controlling them was near unlimited, given how long and how many had chased him and his classmates through the woods during the camp. So really, having to fight her could spell doom for most.

He was not most.

Much like her, Izuku’s stamina with his quirk was near unmatched. While yes, he would have a harder crash than her from the physical exertion once his quirk was turned off, so long as he used it, he had a near limitless supply of energy crackling through his veins. Paired with his higher threshold of power, he could easily destroy the Beasts faster than she could make them.

But Mirio needed time to get away. So, Izuku gave him time. He played cat and mouse with the kitty cat, but now it was just growing tedious. 

He needed to end things.

Launching to the side with ease as he dodged a strike from the lumbering Beast, he used a hand to brace himself on the ground as he dashed forward under it. Skidding to a halt, metal boots scraping along the dirt coated concrete, he twisted his body towards it and jumped up off the ground once more. With a spin and a kick, another air blast was set off to decimate the Beast, Izuku falling back to the ground with renewed momentum to continue sliding to a halt.

As he finally came to a standstill, he turned back around to see Pixiebob only a dozen or so feet away, staring at him in poorly disguised horror. Then, seeming to gather her wits once more, she moved to slam her hands back down to the ground. Unfortunately for her, he was faster.

Within a heartbeat, he had reached her, grabbing her wrists as they both stood hunched over the ground, her gloves hovering inches from contact. He could not help the grin on his face. “ Too slow… ”

She, for her own credit, laughed. The sound certainly was tinged with surprise, but the amusement was genuine. “Well now, you certainly are a talented kitten!” Her hands flexed, and a metallic clink echoed through the silence around them. “But let’s see if you’ve sharpened your claws yet…”

Pulling her torso back, she swung her leg up, nearly clocking him under the jaw had he not dodged his head to the side in time. Her leg continued straight up into the air as she twisted her gloved hands to where her fingertips curled in…

Fingertips that now had extended claws .

The claws dug through the leather of his support gloves and into his skin. Izuku let out a hiss of pain, instinctively letting go of her wrists and dodging out of the way as she swung her leg down, nearly slamming her heel into his shoulder. And thus began a dance of him darting back and forth, moving in close only to have to parry a clawed strike away from his torso, all while blocking her attempts to make hand contact with the ground. Not that it would do her any good: he had her so distracted that it would likely be difficult for her to do anything with her quirk at the moment.

Though he had to hand it to her. One of the weaknesses he had listed as a possibility was that she was likely more vulnerable if opponents were to get close. Usually, it wasn’t a problem due to her Beasts as well as support from her team, so footage of her fighting hand to hand was rare.

But she was proving that she could hold her own. Easily.

Unfortunately for her, she still was not up to par to fight against someone with a quirk like Izuku’s.

All it took was one slip from her paired with a lightning fast strike to her torso from him, and she was sent flying through the air. Izuku watched for a second, a victorious grin on his face, before he bolted after her and caught her before she could hit the ground, seizing her by the forearms from behind. Then before she could catch her breath, she was tossed once more.

Call him cruel, but he had a plan to execute.

And she was unnecessary.

A content smile on her face, Inko made her way towards the register with her basket, humming softly under her breath. Finally restocked with all of the ingredients to make a proper stew, she just wanted to hurry home and refocus on her task.

Unfortunately for her, she neglected to remember that this particular store had a television hanging above the register.

Before even reaching the line, she glanced up at the tv, only to freeze at the sight. Locked in place, watching with a morbid fascination, almost a disconnect despite knowing exactly who was on screen. 

With shakey hands, she fumbled around in her purse, eyes barely breaking from the video as she pulled out her phone, dialing a familiar number. Phone in her ear, she stared intensely at the video as the phone rang, not saying a word until someone finally answered.

“Hisashi?” She whispered softly, but with a frantic edge. “Hisashi, I—I went to the store. They are playing the Event—“

Her words paused, her face anxious as she listened to Hisashi speak. The heroine, Inko couldn’t remember her name, slid roughly along the ground from how Izuku had thrown her, skidding like a skipping stone on the dirt till she struck a car. Izuku moved to streak past her, moving faster than a blur, finally sliding to halt without looking the least bit winded as the heroine let out a wheezing cough, clutching her ribs. 

She began to speak again, a little more calm. “I know, I see him. I know he’s fine, but just—“

On the screen, the heroine rose on unsteady legs, hunched over with a snarl twisting her face. They both stood at a standstill, till she finally moved, trying to touch the ground from the looks of it. Izuku dashed forward once more, cloaked in green lightning, twisting his torso last second as the heroine stuck forward with claw tipped gloves. 

“Just looking at him…”

A sly, casual grin spread across Izuku’s face, saying something to the heroine as his eyes hooded, exuding such… confidence and assuredness in every movement. As she stumbled to a halt and tried to spin back around, Izuku struck. His hand grabbed at her wrist, yanking her back and tossed her to the side.

It was barely noticeable were it not for the way the heroine glanced down at her hand with a panicked expression how he had slipped off her clawed glove in the process. 

He just held it up with a laugh before tossing it to the side.

“Oh, Hisashi .”

Inko was unaware of the crowd watching the screen with her, unaware of the shocked gasps as Izuku’s hand wrapped around the heroine’s throat, unaware of the sharp cries as Izuku lifted the woman in the air with lightning tipped fingers as she desperately grasped at his wrists. 

“Just watching how he moves, his face…”

She watched as Izuku’s free hand grabbed her remaining wrist that still wore a clawed glove, twisting it to the side, unaffected by the shout of pain she made. Sweat plastered some curls to Izuku’s face as he grinned in victory, eyes sparking in delight. Were it not for his coloring, the roundness of his face and eyes…

“Oh…he reminds me of you .”

He would look just like his father.

This was not how she was expecting the day to go.

“Pixie!” Mandalay shouted into the comm, hall on her feet as their teammate was lifted aloft into the air, despite the fact that they could do nothing about it. They weren’t in the field, just sitting in this room, isolated from the fight, watching the live feed from their drones. Ragdoll wanted to reach out, she wanted to know if Pixiebob was okay, wanted to sense her like she used to—but she couldn’t. 

She was quirkless.

She felt useless .

The comm crackled to life as Tiger’s voice rang out through the room. “ Turn off the signal jammers! ”

Her head was snapping to the comm mic, yanking it back from Mandalay. “Are you crazy ? That’s the only thing keeping the other students out of the loop about this fight—“

“ Exactly! ” 

On the main screen, they could see Midoriya’s hand tightening around Pixie’s neck, effortlessly holding her above the ground by the base of her jaw as she weakly struggled in his hold. He was still wearing a lazy grin as he turned towards Tiger, calling out “ Well now, hero , aren’t you going to save her? ”

They could see Tiger tense, lowering his stance in the distance of the frame, but they could also make out… others standing around him. In a quieter, lower voice, Tiger ground over the comm, “ Ever heard of fighting fire with fire? ”

Mandalay’s eyes grew wide. “That plan is insane —“

“ I’m getting bored! ” Midoriya called out in a sing-song voice, holding Pixie up a little higher, causing her to gasp out. “ What will it be? ”

“ We need a heavy hitter, ” Tiger insisted. “ And these kids behind me are in touch with the powerhouses that could go toe to toe with Sensei .”

Mandalay still looked unsure. “Our job is to contain, not make the fighting worse —“

“ Time’s up! ” Midoriya shouted, and then, looking up at Pixiebob in his grip, the grin finally fell from his face, leaving him with this…eerily blank look. “ And now, I am done with you .”

His quirk flickered to life, his hand holding Pixiebob’s throat twisting slightly to the side as he called out, “ Snap. ”

And then, all their screens began to flare red, a loud, echoing siren going off both on their systems and on the projections screens scattered throughout the cityscape. Pixiebob’s picture flashed to life as the siren continued to wail, showing her posing for the camera, a challenging grin as she stood in her trademark pose. Then, the siren lifted up a note as a bright red X plastered itself on the image, her picture shifting to black and grey.

Midoriya dropped her. She collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath, but made no move to attack him. Because how could she?

She was now, technically, dead.

Ragdoll was tired of feeling useless.

Uraraka had been growing wary over how quiet the comms had been.

She now realized she should have trusted her gut feeling.

“ Hello? Can anyone read me? This is Emerald, we are under attack by the Patrollers at the supply drop! Sensei is here, and he just killed Pixiebob. I repeat, Sensei is here! We need backup immediately! ”

Deku was there. Deku was there, and he wasn’t fighting them, he was fighting the heroes . Deku, who had been hiding, staying out of sight for the entirety of the game. Why change his strategy now ? Was this a trap? Was this an accident? She doubted that. Something must have made him spring into action. 

What made his feet move this time?

Unfortunately, the details of everything didn’t matter. Not at this moment. Iida was already moving. “Everyone, we need to support our teammates!“

“Go!” Awase called out. “You and Radon have practiced strategies and can get there in time, just hurry!”

Iida nodded, clearly wanting to be the one to head out and being happy that none of the others in the building seemed to disagree. “Everyone, hold positions and be prepared for a counterattack! Radon—“

She was already lightening her gear with her quirk as she sprinted towards him. “Let’s move! ”

He caught her as she leapt to him, swinging her onto his back in a fluid movement as Tokoyami used Dark Shadow to pull open the heavier door that they had left unblockaded as their one main entrance to the base. 

As Iida’s engines revved, Uraraka quickly flipped the visor on her helmet down. “Let’s go find Deku.”

“ I repeat, Sensei is here! We need backup immediately! ”

Amajiki’s eyes widened in concern as Kendou’s words echoed through his mind. “Mirio…”

“Go.”

Heading snapping up, he stared in confusion at Monoma who sat against the far wall, arms crossed as his eyeless face somehow managed to turn to him. Shaking his head, Amajiki tried to insist, “I can’t leave you two—“

“And we can’t afford to lose this chance against Sensei,” Monoma insisted. “And they’ll need as many hands on deck as possible with him.”

“…but—“

“We’ll be fine!” Setsuna chimed in, grinning at him. “This isn’t the first time I’ve defended myself semi-blind, it won’t be the last. And this building is fairly remote anyway.”

Monoma nodded along with her. “Go, Senpai . Save your boyfriend—“

Amajiki let out a squeak, wanting to immediately deny what Monoma was saying. Monoma, however, just drawled out a, “ Tick, tock… ”

Already moving to shove a bit of jerky in his mouth, Amajiki insisted, “Signal over the comms if you need help.”

Laughing, Monoma arrogantly cooed, “ Please , we are more than capable—“

“Bye, Senpai!” Setsuna called out, cutting off Monoma’s tirade.

As his wings finished growing in, Amajiki moved to the window and launched himself out with little hesitation. Mirio needed him, and he would not let him down.

“ We need backup immediately! ”

“Shit,” Bakugou muttered as soon as the call went through, and the three shared only a glance before they were all spinning around, heading off in the direction of the city’s center. 

But before they could even fully take off, a small canister was tossed into the road in front of them. Mina’s eyes widened, and she barely managed to grab Bakugou’s arm, pulling him back and shouting, “ Grenade! ”

Todoroki, to his credit, was quick at throwing up an ice barricade as the three tried to dive away from the blast. But the barricade was rushed and sloppy, not nearly thick enough to survive, and soon they were all faced with a deep boom , ice shattering all around from the force of the blast. A large red splat was left in the blast’s wake, one that just barely missed them.

“Sorry about that!”

The three began to sit up from the ground, watching as two figures descending stood imposingly on a building ledge. Each donned an Oni style mask and black clothes, though the girl was clad in blue accented gear and large trench coat while the guy was accented in purple wore more stylized gear that looked like a cross between military style and streetwear. 

It didn’t take a genius for them to know who they were.

Pestilence threw her head back and cackled. “Sensei is busy right now, and we can’t have you interrupting him!”

Death pulled his scarf from his neck, stretching it between his hands. “So, how about you test yourselves against us?”

None of them took the bait of Death’s quirk, thankfully. Bakugou dropped into a stance, growling out, “They ain’t gonna let us by without a fight.”

“Obviously,” Todoroki muttered back.

“The others really need you two at the city center,” Mina chimed in, sounding far calmer than she felt. “You're the only ones with quirks that can stand up to Mido—Sensei.”

“And these two posers know that,” Bakugou finished. Then, after a moment, he ordered, “I’ve got the Hot Topic reject, Arsenic takes crazy. Phosphorus, make a break for the city center.”

Todoroki glared at him. “You want me to abandon you—“

“I want you to prioritize!” Bakugou countered, and then he noticed the two begin to move, jumping down from their perches. “We don’t have time to argue! Now, move! ”

And then, Bakugou was launching through the air at Death, letting out a battle cry as he just barely missed the teen who used his capture weapon to divert away. “Get back here and fight me, you fucker!”

“I’d prefer not to, thanks!”

Pestilence was already on the ground, hover boots active as she sped towards them. Mina was faster, however, throwing out a thick coating of acid towards the girl. In return, Pest let out a frustrated shout, yelling something about Mina nearly hitting her babies.

Mina rounded on Todoroki. “Don’t just stand there! Go! ”

Todoroki caved. With a stiff nod, he took off, throwing out his hand to start his ice sled as he sped along. He barely could register Pestilence making an attempt to cut him off, but Mina circumvented her, blocking her with a taunting, “So, I hear you can sing, but how about a dance ?”

He didn’t spare a look back as he sped through the streets. He would trust his teammates.

His only priority was Izuku.

“What the fuck do you mean we aren’t going to help?”

“I mean just that!” Momo snapped back, gesturing at the three of them. “We are near the edge of the city, and none of us are prepped for speed! We couldn’t possibly make it in time—“

Tetsutetsu marched in closer to her face. “You don’t know that!”

“And what about Kaminari?!”

At that, Tetsutetsu paused in his verbal assault, shooting a frowning glance at the mentioned teammate. Kaminari was off to the side, clearly overloaded, trying to wander around with Kirishima doing his best to hold him in one place.

Things had been fine, great even! But then the sirens had gone off signaling Pixiebob’s death, and the loud sound had startled Kaminari in the middle of connecting with another energy source. The result had left him in his current state. Which left him vulnerable.

They had swiftly learned that the comms were down, assuming it was due to Kaminari, and had resolved to wait out his overloaded state. The main team had known this was a risk and had accounted for it, so they knew the others would be patient for their return to base.

But then Kendou’s message came through, and they realized that Kaminari had not damaged the comms.

Tetsutetsu clenched his fists. “So, you just want me to abandon my teammate?”

Momo sighed. “I know you are worried about Emerald, but have faith in her—“

“Besides, man,” Kirishima chimed in while holding tightly to Kaminari’s wrist. “All the others are probably descending on the spot as well. Sensei is tough, but even he would struggle against Nitrogen and Phosphorus, plus everyone else!”

The teen still seemed unconvinced, but relented. “…I still don’t like this.”

“Look…Kaminari should be back to normal soon,” Momo explained gently. “If we haven’t heard back by then, we’ll head to the city center. Deal?”

Tetsutetsu seemed pleased with this, nodding to her. “I’ll hold you to that.” 

Kendou had barely finished sending out the message when Tiger stalked forward, placing himself between them and Midoriya. “You will pay for this, villain!”

Midoirya let out an exaggerated sigh as Ectoplasm carried off Pixiebob in the background. Strolling forward at a sauntering pace, he drawled, “Now, now. No need to be a sore loser. I believe there is a lesson to be learned in all of this!”

Mirio couldn’t just stand back anymore. Moving around the group towards Tiger, he called out, “And what’s the lesson this time?”

Midoriya stopped, head tilting to the side. “You’re still here.”

Body tensing at the cold focus on him, Mirio responded, “Heroes don’t run away—“

“But you aren’t a hero right now, are you Senpai ?” Midoriya countered, looking frustrated. “But yes, you are correct. It’s a hero’s job to meddle, their job to act . But remember…”

He dropped into a crouch, hands held out at his side as his quirk flared to life and danced across his skin.

“Actions have consequences. ”

And then he lunged.

She was beginning to regret encouraging Amajiki to leave. 

Reasonably, she knew it was a good call. It was an all hands on deck situation to stop Midoriya, and they couldn’t throw away an opportunity like that…plus even she could tell that the two Senpais had a thing going on, and fuck it, she’s a romantic.

But that does not change the fact that she felt far too vulnerable now.

Shifting nervously, she called out to Monoma, “Why don’t we call back our eyes for now? At least until we get back up.”

She was met with silence.

“…Pyrite?” She called out again. “Dude, are you there?”

Still, he did not reply.

“Did you fall asleep or something? Not cool!” And then after a beat, she started to shift to her feet. “Okay, this isn’t funny—“

And then she felt a hand on her ear.

She struck out at the source with a startled cry, but found her hand striking through nothing. “Monoma, what the fuck are you doing?!”

Then, right by her other ear, she heard a low chuckle.

She swung again, once more meeting empty air where a face should have been, and then laughter began to echo through the near empty room.

“Oh Amethyst, my dear…” she heard Monoma coo from a few paces behind her. She spun around, ready to strike, but after several seconds of nothing, she heard him speak again from behind her. “I do apologize for this.”

She hadn’t even heard his footsteps.

“Apologize for what? ” She snapped, spinning once more.

“I just wanted to have a chat with no chance of interruptions.”

Her brows furrowed. “What—“ and then her words trailed off as her hand shot up to her ear.

Her comm was gone .

Laughter echoed once more. “Let’s play a little game , shall we?”

Chapter Text

Ten Days Before the Event.

“…Boss?”

“I know, Mei.”

“I really don’t think you do know,” Hitoshi cut in, still glaring at the newcomer. “This is going against the plan.”

Monoma scoffed, leaning back in his chair with his usual smirk on his face. “It’s not my fault you could not be more discreet with your planning—“

“Watch your tone, Monoma,” Izuku chided with an edge to his tone. “I may have agreed to some terms, but keep in mind that you still only know a very small fragment of our plans. You do not have as much bargaining room as you think.”

“Are we seriously going to just let him blackmail us?” Hitoshi snapped. 

Looking oddly still compared to her usual behaviors, Mei commented, “You know, it wouldn’t be that hard for someone to just go missing for a week or so.”

Monoma let out an indignant squawk while Izuku just sighed tiredly. “The benefits of having him on our side far outweigh the risks of having to fight against him. Though I do have a theory I would like to test first before I fully agree to this.”

That had Monoma straightening up in his chair. “Wait, I thought we had a deal—“

“The parameters of that deal will change depending on my theory,” Izuku elaborated before moving off to the side. Plucking up a scrap of red fabric off the counter, he swiftly strolled back to Monoma and held the fabric out. “Try your quirk on this.”

“…are you sure you know what my quirk is?”

Izuku remained unphased. “Humor me.”

Letting out a tired sigh, Monoma proceeded to snatch the fabric away, holding it tightly before looking at it with a confused look on his face.

Then his clothes suddenly phased through his skin, piling in a heap on the floor.

“What the hell— “ Monoma started to shout, trying to cover himself in a panic as he fell backwards through his chair and onto his rear, phasing through the ground. Suddenly he came launching back out of the floor and into the air with a screech before colliding face first onto the floor.

Izuku smirked. “Well, at least I know your quirk is DNA based, not just skin.”

Mei proceeded to cackle . Hitoshi looked close to caving as well, Monoma was still a sputtering heap on the floor, tossing away the fabric as he scrambled for his pants.

Strolling towards their planning table, Izuku allowed himself to drop into the chair with a contented hum. “Well, this changes things.”

Monoma shot him the nastiest of glares as he finished slipping on his pants, snatching up his shirt. “Changes what exactly?”

Propping his elbow on the chair, chin resting in his palm as he gave Monoma a smile that promised trouble, he drawled, “That this is going to be a more… involved alliance between us, Monoma Neito.”

Monoma’s cheeks flushed at the tone while Hitoshi finally regained his composure, turning to Izuku with a concerned look. “You sure about this?…Famine isn’t going to like it.”

“I’ll talk to Famine,” Izuku assured him. “But this is a boon we cannot risk to lose.”

“So what?” Monoma snapped, gesturing to the scrap fabric. “Are you going to make me carry that around in my pocket or something?”

Izuku dropped his hand from his chin and leaned forward. “Have you ever put much thought into DNA infused suits?”

Call me Sensei. @uaapocalypse ✓ · three minutes ago

Current Hero Kill Count:

Sensei - 1 

#callmesensei #villainday #wildwildpussycats #wwpcpixiebob #feralgreenboi #fourhorsemen

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Four Hours into the Event.
(Day One, 1333 Hours)

“Everyone is really getting upset over this.”

Glancing up from the data pad, Eri blinked in confusion at the boy sitting next to her. “Huh?”

His frown deepened as he nodded his head towards the teens in the room, all with their gazes locked on the televisions displaying the Event. “I don’t like how they talk about Deku.”

Deku had told her that another boy would be joining her that day, one that was a bit more surly than Mr. Aizawa, but she honestly didn’t think Kota was that bad. Sure, he was a bit rude compared to other people, but she knew better.

She knew he was kind under it all.

Turning her attention back to the data pad, she commented, “They don’t know things like we do.”

She knew that sometimes polite people were not kind.

Kota looked at her warily. “What?”

Smiling at the screen as Deku finally cornered Pixiebob, she chirped, “We’ve seen bad people do bad things.”

She watched as Deku picked Pixiebob up by the throat.

“And we’ve seen Mr. Deku do whatever it takes to save someone.”

She watched as Deku imitated snapping Pixiebob’s neck. 

Kota flinched a bit at the sight on the screen. But then he just sighed. “I didn’t think Auntie would win but…”

“It will be okay,” Eri told him assuredly as Izuku turned back to the others, goading them once more. “Mr. Deku may be scaring them, but its for their own good!”

“ You’re still here.”

“Heroes don’t run away—“

“But you aren’t a hero right now, are you Senpai ?”

“He’s saving them,” she insisted quietly, watching as Lemillion and Deku prepared to face off, the others all bracing themselves as well.

“ Actions have consequences! ”

“Soon, they’ll know things just like we do.”

“Did you just fucking blue shell me you scaly—!“

“Language,” Kurogiri calmly called from the otherside of the room as he walked in with a tray of food. The group as a whole was clustered around the tv, intently watching as Spinner and Dabi leaned in close, controllers gripped tightly. They used to have more than just two controllers but well…

“ Mother fucker ! ”

They were a bit of a volatile group.

Spinner cried out in victory as he completed his final lap, Dabi shoving off the couch to violently shove the controller at Twice. Toga quickly hopped over the back of the couch to steal Dabi’s spot as the scarred man snatched a drink from the tray Kurogiri brought, nodding to the Noumu before moving to drop himself dramatically in an empty, battered chair. Shigaraki was next to him but still sitting the farthest away from the main group, sulking irritably.

Compress had wandered off somewhere in the middle of all of this, and Shigaraki wondered if maybe he should have left with the man.

“That’s three games,” he griped, wondering why he put up with their nonsense. “Switch back to the Stream.”

“Aww!” Twice whined, slumping over dramatically. “But I haven’t gotten my turn yet! This game is stupid anyway! ”

“Come on, Shiggy,” Toga chimed in, scrolling absently through her phone. They still had no idea where Kurogiri had acquired phones with internet access, but he assured them that the devices were untraceable, so Shigaraki allowed it.

…fuck, he still needed to replace Dabi’s, didn’t he?

Shaking his head, he resisted the urge to snap. “One more game, and then its back to the stream. And I’m only doing this because I don’t want to hear you all whine about it!”

Triumphant cheers were cried out by the trio on the couch, and Shigaraki could faintly hear Dabi mutter some type of comment, but he chose to ignore it. 

As they cued up the next game however, Toga sat up a little straighter on the couch, staring at her phone in surprise. “Oh. Oh, maybe we should switch back to the Stream.”

“Wait, what?” Spinner asked incredulously. “But I was about to cue up Rainbow Road—!“

“Izu-kun just snapped a Patroller’s neck.”

Dabi spat out his drink.

All over Shigaraki.

He hates them. Every single one of them.

“Turn on the stream. Now .”

Ochako had learned three important things about letting Iida carry you while using his quirk.

First and foremost, having a mask, preferably a full face shield, was very preferable for the experience. Without one, its best to press your face to the back of his neck to avoid the worst of the wind resistance. 

Which leads to the second point: spidermonkeying was the best strategy. Arms around his neck, feet firmly locked as high up his waist as you can manage, and do your best to not interfere with his legs and arms. Iida had enough to focus on while moving at these speeds, don’t give him more to worry about.

And the third and most important step:

Hold the fuck on .

And for her credit, she obeyed these rules well. Iida no longer had to even give her any warning: plenty of training exercises and team ups over the past year had assured that they were unparalleled partners. Unfortunately for Ochako, none of her past experience could prep her for this. 

And by this, she meant Iida running over a literal bomb .

She didn’t know it was a bomb at first. They had not been running for long when they were suddenly flying through the air. She registered the flying part before her brain processed the sound of the explosion. Her brain was struggling to keep up, trying to process as she vaguely heard Iida’s desperate cry of “ Ochako!” as what looked like red paint splattered through the air around them from the bomb.

Huh. That’s the first time she had heard him use her first name.

She didn’t think she minded.

But she couldn’t think of much else as she found herself being yanked through the air by reflexes far more honed than her own, tucking her in close to Iida’s chest as he curled around her—

And then they crashed to the ground and the world became clear again.

She cried out in pain as they hit the ground hard , Iida letting out a loud grunt as his back took the majority of the crash. She could feel the vibrations through him as they slid along the ground, the sound of his metal costume scraping against concrete, and what felt like forever finally came to a halt less than a minute after the initial explosion.

And then all she could focus on was the sound of her heart beating in her own ears. 

The explosion had not been too loud, nothing like Bakugou’s, so it must have been a low grade one. Combining it with Iida’s speed down this straight shot alley was likely poor luck, however, and thus Iida became a human skipping stone—

Iida.

She sat upright with a jolt, ignoring the aches in her muscles from the crash. Iida was under her, and she stamped down the small twinge of embarrassment over her predicament of straddling him to shift off, doing so in a shaky manner as her limbs did not quite cooperate. Still, she managed to move into a kneeling position at his side as she took in his face—

Oh dear. His face. No helmet in sight and what looked like a nasty gash to the head. 

“This isn’t good,” she whispered to herself as her hands hovered above him, panic setting in. This was bad, this could be bad. While his armor was designed for shock absorption, it meant nothing if he lost his helmet. The level of trauma he could have experienced—

A Watcher drifted down in front of her, staring resolutely at Iida’s face. 

“Shoo,” she muttered darkly as she gently began to feel along his arm, searching for the mechanism along the forearm—Ectoplasm gently lowered himself down onto the street.

In a flash, she was protectively leaning over him. “He’s not dead.”

Ectoplasm let out a hum. “Not by real standards but—“

“And not by game standards,” Ochako insisted, fixing him with a glare. 

“Uraraka—“

“I may be playing a villain right now, but I’m still a hero in training,” she snapped at him, turning her attention back to her friend’s arm as she found the plate, pressing the button and withholding a triumphant shout as the display popped open. “A rescue hero in training.”

Ectoplasm tilted his head. “Meaning?”

She gave him a determined look. “It means I can save my teammate.” Turning her attention back to the display on his armor, she remarked, “There! His suit readings: he has no broken or fractured bones. And then—“ She moved up to his face, gently opening his eye, testing the response. “No concussion! Just unconscious.”

Ectoplasm was silent.

She looked at him once more. “You aren’t taking him.”

“Oh?”

“You won’t touch him,” she insisted, her voice more demanding, more… something . “Over my dead body .”

Silence.

Then, without a word, Ectoplasm simply nodded his head before turning away, leaving the pair in peace.

With that, her adrenaline eased just a fraction. “Okay…okay, we need to call the others—“

She reached for her comm, only to find it missing.

Seeing Iida’s helmet a small distance away, she got up on shaky legs and stumbled over, grabbing it and pressing the side to activate the comm—

Static .

She let out a loud, very uncharacteristic growl of frustration. Turning back to Iida, she could see the Watcher remaining, silently staring at her, watching her struggles. 

“Go away ,” she muttered once more. Once more, the drone ignored her as she stomped back over to Iida. 

“Okay…new plan.” With that, she quickly examined the head wound, ensuring the gash was not deep. It wasn’t safe to stay here for long, so she relented that she could properly clean and dress it back at the base. 

Slipping the helmet back on Iida ever so gently, she then carefully laid a hand on his chest and head, activating her quirk. 

Soon, feeling the ever so faint nausea that came with her quirk, she had the far larger teen draped over her back, carrying him poorly in a piggyback style. Shuffling him up higher to keep his feet off the ground, plastering on a determined face, she muttered, “You’re going to be okay Mercury. I’ll make sure of it.”

Then, they moved.

Amajiki arrived in the middle of pure chaos .

Several members of the supply team had taken refuge behind a makeshift barrier of a heavily damaged car. He could clearly see Mirio sprinting towards a pile of rubble, snatching up several rocks and running them back to Kodai. She, in turn, was shrinking down the projectiles only for Yanagi to lift them telekinetically with her quirk and launch them at Midoriya at high speeds. The objects would just barely be in range and Kodai would immediately reverse her quirk’s power, turning the small high speed projectiles into giant high speed projectiles.

Midoriya, of course, was at the center of it all, cackling to himself as he dodged the barrage of gigantified rocks thrown at him. On the far side of the field, he could see Kendou with Kamikiri and Tiger, all moving in with attempt to restrain Midoriya between the lulls in the projectile barrage. 

They did not seem to be having any luck with this strategy.

Touching down just a few dozen yards from Mirio, he darted towards his classmate who had a relieved look on his face. “Oh thank goodness, back up. Anyone else?”

“Not that I am aware of,” Amajiki replied, dropping down next to the car. “Monoma and Setsuna did not have their eyes, but are secure.”

Yanagi sent another barrage of rocks flying. “Our imminent demise is less certain, but still looming above.”

Amajiki frowned. “That doesn’t help.”

Kodai shrugged. “This is Yanagi’s version of optimism.”

“ Yay. ” 

Mirio somehow found the ability to laugh. “You three are a riot! Now, business.” Dropping his latest collection of rocks, he mused, “We either need to restrain Midoriya or hold out until a heavier hitter arrives.”

Amajiki’s frown shifted to a grimace. “We have more players suited for restraint…including me…” He let out a quiet groan as a deep boom resonated from the other side of the car. “I’m doomed .”

Mirio clapped him on the back. “I have full faith in you! You can do it!”

The bright beam of his friend’s smile warmed him as usual. 

Still.

“I’m never joining another Event like this again,” he muttered as he pulled out a piece of Octopus jerky to pop into his mouth, moving to head out into the fray and assist the others.

“You’re graduating soon, so you won’t have to worry about it!”

“Your optimism is yet again not as reassuring as you think, Zero.”

“Thanks, I try my best!”

Hitoshi had many regrets in life.

He regretted letting the doctor label his quirk as ‘Brainwashing’. Granted, he was four at the time and naive to the world, but allowing such a villainous sounding name has made his life very difficult in the years since.

He regretted not training prior to the UA entrance exam. He still likely would not have done well, because honestly, the robots were rigged targets against quirks like his, but he still could smack himself for his early train of thought of trying to get by with his quirk alone.

In some moments, he regretted befriending Midoriya Izuku. Not because he is a bad friend. Izuku was a frankly amazing friend, and he had no idea what he did in a past life to have a friend like him. However, all good things come with a catch. And Izuku?

Izuku was feral .

…maybe that was harsh, but he honestly had no other way to describe him. Who else blows themselves up to win a race? Who breaks bones to prove a point? Who destroys themselves over and over and over just to save a person he barely knows.

If Izuku was not feral, then Hitoshi would eat his own shoe.

But yes, his feral friend often had equally feral ideas, and somehow Shinsou was the dumbass that always agreed to tag along.

Case in point?

“Get the fuck back here, you good for nothing—!“

“No thanks!” Hitoshi shouted behind him as he swung from building to building, trying to gain some distance from the steady explosions growing closer and closer. “You kiss your mother with that mouth?!”

He glanced over his shoulder, and he could practically see the blood vessel about to burst in the blonde’s forehead. Still, despite his short fuse, he did not answer. Because of course the blonde was angry but smart. Of course.

Just peachy .

Hitoshi could not keep this chase up. He had radioed for back up, but Mei was still trying to shake Ashido, and Izuku was currently busy terrorizing people. Famine wasn’t in play yet as far as he knew, and who the fuck knows where War was—Izuku still hadn’t introduced him to any of them. Famine might know who he was, but that had not been confirmed either.

But they trusted Izuku’s judgment.

Hearing the blonde shouting obscenities behind him, growing ever closer, Hitoshi finally shouted, “You know what, fuck it!”

Throwing his scarf out towards the nearest traffic light, he used the momentum to swing himself around in a wide loop, completely reversing his direction, and narrowly avoiding the Watcher zooming after him before full on launching himself at Bakugou. 

Bakugou, who had decidedly not been expecting such a sudden U-turn, could only watch in horror as his target barreled full speed into him. Having had no time to course correct, they were both sent painfully crashing to the ground, rolling together in a cluster of limbs before finally skidding to a halt.

“Okay, ow , fuck, bad decision, that sounded way better in my head—“ Hitoshi had pushed himself up, clutching his throbbing skull, only to completely freeze when he realized the predicament he was in. 

As in, how he was now straddling the equally dazed Bakugou Katsuki.

“…oh.”

The blonde finally realized their predicament, eyes going wide in shock, before his face turned the brightest shade of red Hitoshi had ever seen. Not quite with anger, but almost with… “What the actual fuck ?!”

…embarrassment.

…cute …

Before Hitoshi could think it through, he asked, “Okay, so you don’t kiss your mom, that’s fine.” He pulled down his mask, unable to help the cheeky grin as he leaned in close, hovering just inches above Bakugou’s face as his gaze darted between the blonde’s eyes and mouth. “But what about me, Pretty Boy ?”

Bakugou made a sound similar to that of a dying cat. “Are you fucking insane —?!“

The words trailed off, Bakugou’s mind thoroughly clouded over as his quirk took effect. Hitoshi was quick to scramble off the teen, though immensely careful not to jostle him at all. His control was far better than at the festival thanks to Izuku’s training and his new gear courtesy of Mei, but he still had limits. “Okay, okay …uh…” And then he noticed the Watcher, slowly edging closer, recording his shame for all of the internet to see. 

Lovely .

His cheeks were red as he thought back to his stupid ass comment. God, he usually had better impulse control, but just—

Hitoshi shook his head and ordered, “Sit here, Pretty Boy—“ why do I keep calling him that?! “—until the control breaks or someone collects you.”

The controlled Bakugou slowly began to sit up, letting out a small ‘ hmm’ of agreement.

“Okay. Great…Well then.”

With an exhausted groan, Hitoshi turned and headed off down an alley towards one of their escape hatches before anyone else showed up, the Watcher trailing after him, practically bouncing happily along in spite of his suffering. Tapping the comm on his ear, he bitterly barked out, “I am stupid, and I hate myself.”

“ Death ?” Izuku chimed in. Fighting could clearly be heard in the background, rocks crashing and shouts of frustration from others. “ What happened? ”

As he yanked open the hatch, he snapped, “What happened? What happened ? I’m very stupid and very gay, that’s what happened!”

“ Oh, that’s a mood ,” Mei chimed in from somewhere, the sounds of wind rushing by as she presumably still evaded Ashido. “ The real question is: gay for who—oh my god. ”

“…I am done talking.”

“ Him?! ”

“I am done talking.”

Izuku sighed as Mei screeched in the background, before he asked, “ Death, who did you engage— “

“Bakugou is fucking pretty, okay?!”

Silence. And then, “ Kacchan ?! ”

“I told you! Stupid and gay!” Hitoshi slammed the entrance shut behind him before the Watcher could follow after, feeling somewhat placated by the unhappy whirs it made on the other side of the hatch. “I flirted with him to use my quirk! It just…happened! And I did it with a Watcher present. It's going to be forever immortalized on the internet. Izuku, please, he is going to kill me .”

Hitoshi really began to regret befriending Midoriya Izuku when all he got in response was uncontrollable laughter.

Izuku had only one thought on his mind at the moment:

Evade .

Flipping backwards in the nick of time, Izuku watched as a pair of tentacles shot within inches of his face. Completing the motion and landing on Amajiki’s arm like a tightrope, he barely paused before running along the tentacle with One For All, sprinting towards the older teen. Amajiki did not look pleased about this development and swiftly whipped the tentacle up into the air while drawing it back to knock Izuku off.

Izuku rolled with the movement, however, flipping backwards once more but this time grabbing the tentacle just in time as if landing in a handstand. This allowed himself to be rapidly yanked back towards the user. He could see the moment of panic as Amajiki realized what Izuku was doing, and the teen just barely managed to avoid Izuku colliding directly into him, dodging to the side as Izuku was sent flying past.

Izuku still managed to shift in air to get his feet under himself as he whipped past, feet hitting the ground as he braced his stance, sliding along till he reached the full length of the tentacle. Then, he widened his stance, tightened his grip on the arm, powered up his quirk…

And then he yanked .

Izuku was still facing away from Amajiki, but he could hear the audible yelp as he felt himself successfully yank Amajiki through the air. With a split second decision, he managed to twist himself and aim, sending his senpai flying through the air to collide with a cursing Kamakiri who had been attempting to sprint out from behind cover and attack Izuku. The pair flew backwards a ways, and Izuku almost felt bad sending the shyer third year colliding with such a surly first year.

Eh, it will build character.

Speaking of building character—

He found himself dodging an enlarged piece of debris once more, darting back with a large hop, only to have let his guard down for a moment…

And then he found himself caught by Tiger, the man’s body extended and wrapped around Izuku, effectively entrapping him.

Tiger grinned fiercely. “It’s time to end this, Villain!”

Izuku could not help but grin back. “I feel the same, Hero .”

Evasion was no longer the only thought on his mind.

“Hey, why don’t you slow down for a minute!” Mina called out as she continued to speed down the roadway, propelled along the ground by her acid. “I only want to have a little chat!”

Cackling broke out ahead of her, and she watched as Pestilence, still speeding along the ground with her hover boots, threw a look back over her shoulder, the blue tinted oni mask shining in the sunlight. “Sorry! I’m not buying what you're selling!”

Resisting the urge to yell out in frustration, but she kept her composure, just pushing herself faster as she tried to think up more ways to throw her opponent off guard. Bakugou trusted her with this, and she was a hero course student. She refused to be beat out by the Support student who turned the Sports Festival into an advertisement—

Mina had a thought.

In a sing song voice, she called out, “Well, what if I wanted to buy what you're selling?!”

She could almost see the stutter in the girl’s smooth glide, the tension in her shoulders as she nearly halted her hover boots in place. Pestilence did not stop, however it was enough.

Enough of a falter to put the girl within range .

Using her free hand, Mina pinched her fingers in a way to get a straighter, more consistent shot, took aim, and launched a large, concentrated stream of acid at the girl. And despite Pest’s inconsistent path, Mina just barely managed to hit one of the boots. 

But it was enough.

Sparks began to fly out of the boot, and she heard the girl practically screech . “Ah! My baby— “

Mina nearly forgot Pestilence was that Support student.

But yes, her speed began to lessen, her stance wobbling, as she frantically began to look around. Mina whooped in excitement. “Looks like I’m getting that consultation!”

Pest threw another look back at her. “Sorry, but I’m fully booked at the moment!” Then, she took a hard right turn down an alley, still attempting to escape.

“Oh no you don’t! ” Mina shouted, quickly following suit—

Only to nearly not stop in time.

Were it not for Aizawa’s constant use of ‘logical ruses’ in their training sessions—which she still insists the man has a goal to give them all advanced paranoia diagnoses before they graduate—she would not have noticed the trip wire across the alleyway. But she did notice. 

Unfortunately, she was moving far too fast to fully stop herself.

“ Shit! ”

Oh, this was gonna hurt .

For a moment, Kendou thought they had won.

For a moment, it seemed like their biggest threat had been neutralized, that the Event could go back to normal, that they would all part ways and then resume their normal inter team fighting after briefly recollecting themselves from this hellscape of a morning. Afternoon? It had been far too long in her opinion.

But honestly, she should have known better. She had heard the stories about Midoriya, had seen how he reacted at the Sports Festival when seemingly facing insurmountable odds, had seen Muscular being carted off from the camp, had heard about the aftermath of the Yakuza raid…

Midoriya Izuku does not back down when seemingly beaten.

He just swings back harder—

It must have been a flick of a finger, because one moment Tiger was restraining Midoriya, seemingly victorious, and the next, a gush of wind like a cyclone was erupting from the pair, Tiger’s hold being loosened enough for Midoriya to free himself. 

The fact that he had so much power in one finger, that with one flick he could do what All Might did with a punch—

She couldn’t even react in time, couldn’t even shout as the wind still died down, watching through squinted and shielded eyes as Midoriya flipped out of Tiger’s hold, landing behind the Hero, reaching for something —

She reacted. “Tiger, look out—! ”

She reacted too late.

A crack rang out through the air, Tiger stumbling forward. The Hero reached for the back of his head, touching it gingerly before pulling his hand back in front of his face only to stare in horror.

Sirens rang out through the arena, screens flashing to life with Tiger in his signature pose, and they all watched as his picture grayed out, a bright red X appearing much like Pixie Bob. Tiger simply stared at his hand watching as the red liquid dripped from his fingers.

Izuku lowered his gun. “I believe I’ve let this go on long enough.”

Kendou finally moved. They weren’t planned out actions, wasn’t anything rational. Her feet just moved , a sound somewhere between a scream and a battle cry swinging from her lungs as her hands enlarged, lifting them high into the air, prepared to strike—

To her luck, apparently Izuku had not been expecting such a move. He merely watched, wide eyed and surprised as she struck.

And suddenly he was flying through the air, skipping along the ground like a stone, gun flying off in a random direction. She came to a halt near Tiger, lungs heaving and hands still enlarged, glaring off at Izuku as the teen rolled to a stop. Gritting her teeth, she shouted, “This ends now , Sensei!”

Izuku rolled to his stomach, slowly pushing up off the ground. She watched as he stumbled to his feet, one hand reaching up to clutch his jaw as he rotated it. Even at a distance, she could see the glow of his eyes, the toxic green reflecting off the dust clouds around him. The teen seemed to chuckle, an amused, snarky grin on his face that seemed so out of place on the teen.

“Nice punch,” he drawled, his voice carrying across the space between them. “But honestly, were this to be the time for this to truly end…you wouldn’t have stopped, Emerald!”

Her fists clenched, resisting the urge to snap back.

Izuku shook his head. “Regardless, I’m being called away, so I really do need to go!”

This caused her to flinch for just a moment, glancing to the side as Amajiki and Kamakiri. Then, they were all moving all prepared to strike, knowing that they couldn’t let Izuku escape—

Kamakiri was the quickest, reaching Izuku with a flying leap and a shout—

And he was sent flying , colliding with Amajiki once more, taking them both down in one throw. But Kendou did not slow down, still bracing herself, ready to meet Izuku head on…

The other just braced himself. “How about a punch for a punch?”

She tried to brace herself, tried to prepare for what she was heading into as she swung her fist. Only, he met her swing with his own, green lightning sparking along his body, and when their fists collided…

And then she found herself flying as darkness claimed her.

“Look, maybe we should split up—“

“We just agreed that we were going to wait until Lithium snaps out of—“

Tetsutetsu let out an aggravated shout. “The longer we wait, the higher the risk of teammates dying! We don’t know what’s happening—“

“We might not know the specifics,” Momo countered tensely. “But we know that none of our monitors have alerted us to any team deaths—“

At that moment, all of their wrist watches buzzed, and they all looked in a panic, only to see that it was just a pair of the quickly dwindling Second Years displayed on the scene. 

“Just some second years,” she remarked with a relieved smile. 

Still, this did nothing to ease Tetsutetsu’s concerns. “Midoriya still isn’t dead though.”

“He is just one person. I doubt they need more backup—“

“This doesn’t mean we should just sit around and do nothing .”

“We aren’t doing nothing , we are defending Kaminari—“

“We don’t need three people to defend one guy!”

“We do if another team happens to show up—“

“I thought Kendou said you are some kind of fighting expert, yet you’re so concerned about keeping the only two shields nearby!”

She rose to her feet. “Exactly what are you implying?”

He moved to meet her. “That for all the tough talk you put out, you sure like playing the Damsel in Distress—“

“Okay, that is enough !” Kirishima was in between the two in an instant, glaring down Tetsutetsu. “You are acting way out of line, man. We’re on the same team right now.”

“Are we?” Tetsutetsu asked. “Like, who knows anything right now? All I know is that my classmates need help, and I can’t get to them, and they are stuck facing down your unstable as hell classmate—“

“ Unstable? ”

Momo’s tone had notably taken a darker turn, causing Kirishima to visibly flinch. Tetsutetsu, however, had not seemed to notice. “This ain’t exactly sane behavior.”

Her jaw shifted. “It’s part of the game .”

Before anything else could be said, a siren signaled across the arena, alerting them all to the death of another Patroller. Distantly, they could see Tiger’s face across one of the many video screens, watching as it grayed out and a bright red X was plastered across it.

“That’s two heroes in one encounter,” Tetsutetsu remarked with a glower. “And you still insist that they don’t need back up.”

“For all we know, our teammates took them out themselves!”

“We all know that is bullshit— “

She threw her hands in the air. “You keep treating Midoriya’s actions like he’s some S-tier threat just because he thought up a plan for the Event!”

“It’s not normal —“

“Then please, do explain to me what normal behavior would be—“

“Guys—“

“Literally anything but what he’s doing! And given everything that has happened that he’s been involved with over the past year—”

“Guys, let’s calm down—“

“No, Iron,” Momo interrupted, never taking her eyes off of Tetsutetsu who seemed to suddenly be losing a bit of his steam as he took in the cold look on her face. “Let him speak .” She stepped forward, leaning in as she reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear. “I want you to tell me exactly what you think of our classmate.”

This was bad.

“Let’s play a game, shall we?”

So bad.

Setsuna immediately blurted out, “Oh, fuck that—“

She immediately took off, hand on the wall to guide her as she sprinted in the direction she knew the stairs to be. Her eyes were so far away, and she was so exposed—she needed her eyes back, but it would take so much time for them to return to her. She needed to be out in the open for that, which meant getting outside.

She briefly wondered if she should jump out the window and split to the ground.

A sharp pain grazed her side as she barely dodged out of the way, stumbling on her feet as the slight change in air pressure was barely noticed. She threw out any idea using the window. She can’t risk splitting not knowing for sure where Monoma was: if he started snatching her body parts, it would make things infinitely more difficult.

She needed her eyes, and she needed them now .

“Ah, leaving so soon?” Monoma called out from behind her as she reached the stairs, making the executive decision to sprint to the roof to meet her eyes in transit. She was closer to the roof than the ground anyway. “And here I thought we were finally starting to bond!”

A hand grabbed her shoulder, and she quickly grabbed the fingers and bent them back, causing Monoma to shout in pain. “When hell freezes over!” She snapped back as she dropped the hand and moved, sprinting up the stairs as best she could without falling on her face, willing her eyes to move faster .

She had no clue what was going on anymore, she would be damned if she let herself lose to Monoma .

“All I’m saying is that your classmate is sketchy .”

Kirishima frowned. “Dude, that’s not really a manly thing to say—“

Tetsutetsu threw his hands up in defeat. “Look, I don’t mean it in a bad way! It’s probably just bad luck on his part! But just like—everything that has happened this year has revolved around him, and this Event is not helping. Like, Kamino —”

“Midoriya wasn’t even there—!“

“Kirishima. Bro. Everyone knows about the rescue mission.” 

“…oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.” Then, he added, “And wasn’t he in Hosu too?”

“So were Todoroki and Iida!”

“But still , he was there, and rumor says he’s the kid Stain saved. And of course there is the mall incident—“

“Are you implying something, Diamond?”

The voice from behind them was calm, but had a stern edge quality to it. Both boys froze, having forgotten for a moment that Momo was still there, listening. She slowly crossed her arms, and a brow raised in question as she glared daggers at the steel quirk user.

The target of said glare gulped, momentarily cowed and seeming to realize that he might have gone too far, but did not back down. “All I’m saying is that it's just…”

She shifted her hip. “ Sketchy? ”

He gulped again.

Sighing in a clearly irritated tone, she began stalking away, not sparing another word to either of them.

Kirishima gave Tetsutetsu a pointed look before motioning for the other to take over Kaminari watching duties and heading off after his classmate. “Hey, Palladium , wait up!” Jogging till he was up at her side, he carefully caught her arm to stop her, speaking in lower tones. “I know he was out of line. I don’t agree with what he was implying—“

“Just because our classmate has suffered through more attacks than the rest of us, doesn’t mean he deserves to be—to be accused like that,” she spat out, clearly irritated with the situation. “He barely knows Izuku, and he thinks he can imply—“

“Look, I get it, I get it! Mido-bro would never—“ Kirishima suddenly cut himself off, looking very confused. “Uh…Palladium?”

She seemed caught off guard by the change in tone. “Yes?”

“…since when were you and Midoriya on a first name basis?”

Silence fell between the two, each staring intently at the other. Momo flushed red and quietly mumbled, “…it was a slip of the tongue.” Tucking her bangs behind her ear once more as she ducked her face down, face flushed, she shifted back away from her classmate and added, “This has all been stressful, and with all these new monikers it just…”

“…slipped.”

“Yes.” She looked back up to meet his blank gaze, wearing a neutral look of her own. “Slipped.”

“Hey guys!” Tetsutetsu called out as he jogged up to the pair, “Look, Palladium, I’m sorry, I—“

Before Tetsutetsu could say anything else, Kirishima lunged forward, his hardened arm aiming to grab Momo in a headlock only for her to strike out, knocking his arm aside and redirecting him before darting off to the side out of reach.

Tetsutetsu slid to a halt, watching on with an almost horrified look. “Kirishima, what the hell —!“

“She’s one of the Horsemen!” Kirishima shouted as he spun on his heel and dropped into a ready stance, shocking his friend as Momo steadied herself a few paces away. Staring her down with an excited grin, he asked, “I’m right, aren’t I?”

Momo’s carefully blank face shifted into an almost gentle smile as she held her arm out to the side, a bo staff slowly slipping out of her shimmering palm. “You are very good at reading people, Iron.” Suddenly, her face began to shimmer as well. “Unfortunately for you both, I am far better at planning!”

And then she lunged forward, staff twirling in her hand as she aimed at Kirishima. Bracing for impact while he could hear Tetsutetsu calling out into the comms, “Come in, anyone! We have a situation here!” Dodging backwards, he continued to shout, “It was a trap! Palladium is a Horseman! I repeat, Palladium is—“ Tetsutetsu was caught off guard when she veered slightly off target from him, sliding along the ground, only to use her bo staff to sweep Tetsutetsu’s legs out from under him. 

She pivoted in place before she even came to a halt, already preparing to lunge back at Kirishima while Tetsutetsu was only now colliding with the ground, his quirk finally fully on but the wind still knocked out of him. Kirishima decided that he needed to take the offensive and take her out now , but as he launched forward, he noticed her slight smirk as the gas mask finished forming on her face only a minute too late.

With agility Kirishima could only dream of possessing, deflecting his strike with her staff she sidestepped him again as he dashed forward, her hand pressing over his face…and then a puff of purplish pink smoke clouded his sight, the sweet smelling aroma filling his lungs.

“What—“ Any further words left him as he watched the world spin before collapsing to his knees, then dropping face first on the ground. 

Tetsutetsu rolled over and braced to jump up. “What the hell did you—“

Any other words were cut off by the bo staff being jammed against his forehead from where he kneeled. He glanced up at the looming figure of Momo who coldly stared down at him, commenting in a sickly sweet tone, “Watch what you say in the future.” Then, she pressed a nearly undetectable button on the side of the staff…

And Tetsutetsu screamed .

Once satisfied, Momo released the taser button on the staff, pulling it back and stepping away, allowing the now barely conscious student to collapse forward on the ground. Deciding to take pity on the boy, she held her hand in front of his face and allowed a puff of gas to expel, fully knocking him out like Kirishima. 

A low whistle rang through the air, and she spun around, staff at the ready, only to see Izuku land in a crouch a few paces behind her, green lightning from his quirk flickering away, clapping with a wide, excited grin as a pair of Watchers trailed behind him. Stepping forward, she noted he was now decked out in his fighting gear, complete with a modified rebreather and reinforced arm and leg braces, though she could see the signs of a recent fight from the few scuff marks along the pieces. “Well now, that was certainly a show!”

“…Sensei.” Letting out a small huff as she yanked the gas’s mask down to hang around her neck, she brushed her bangs aside once more, clicking the earring that she had pressed earlier to send out an alert when Tetsutetsu had begun to rile her up and then turned into a distress signal when Kirishima noticed her slip up. “Just going to sit back and let the damsel in distress handle it all?” She bitterly commented, glancing towards Tetsutetsu.

“Anyone who has ever called you a damsel in distress clearly doesn’t know you very well.” Strolling past Momo, he dropped into a crouch next to Kirishima. Seeing that his quirk was still active, his grin broadened as he poked at the ridges along his arm. “Isn’t it fascinating ? It must be a protective reflex. I wonder if he is still vulnerable to possible stabbing between the ridges of his armor plates—“

“ Sensei ,” she drawled, sounding on edge. “Tetsutetsu sent out a distress call over their comms before I knocked him out. The Alliance members will regroup and be here soon—“

“Alright, alright, we can go…in a second.” Shifting away from Kirishima, he turned his full attention on her and ordered, “Choose one to take out of the game.”

She frowned, but then swiftly strolled towards one of the two. “That choice is obvious.” Kneeling beside Tetsutetsu whose quirk was still active as well, she then asked, “But what to do about his quirk…our paint bullets won’t count—“

“Easy fix.” Shifting next to her, Izuku grabbed her hand and plopped it down on Tetsutetsu’s neck. The Watcher drone had flown up to them at this point, hovering across the unconscious player and watching them almost curiously. Smiling, Izuku calmly stated, “You can easily produce acid to melt his throat like this. Thus, he would be dead and considered out.”

The Watcher stared for a moment more, and then an alert sounded over their watches, and Momo briefly glanced to see Tetsutetsu marked as deceased. She let out a sigh. “You really do have ways to take us all out.”

Izuku shrugged. “For the most part.” Standing up, he held a hand to her. “Now, my dear Famine, let’s move before Shouto and the other members of the Alliance arrive.”

She did not hesitate to take the hand.

Bursting through the door to the roof, she stumbled to the ground, letting out a sharp cry as her wrist hit the ground. Still, she did not stop, did not hesitate as she shoved up off the ground, bracing herself for Monoma’s approach.

She still could not hear his footsteps, but his laughter was enough to know he was close .

She only had to hold off just a little bit longer. Once she had her eyes, she could beat him easily. She just needed to distract him. And the best way to distract Monoma?

Let him monologue .

“Why are you doing this?” She called out. “What made you switch sides?”

“Oh, are we talking now, hmm?” His voice echoed from across the roof. “And here I thought you didn’t want to stay and chat.” Sighing, he drawled, his voice now bouncing from another direction entirely, “If you must know, I have my reasons. I’ve been considering something like this for a while now, actually.”

She spun to face the voice as she could see her eyes speeding through the city. “And those reasons?”

“I took a step back and really, truly looked at what I’ve accomplished,” Monoma’s voice echoed from a ways away on the rooftop as she called back her hand, stumbling around blindly. “I wanted to be the star, to stand out amongst my peers, to rise above those I perceived as my competition! I wanted to step out of the shadows, but instead, I only created more .”

She instinctively dodged his approach, nearly falling to the side, pushing and straining her eyes to fly faster . “What in the hell are you talking about Monoma?”

“I mean, instead of building myself up, I just lumped myself back into the crowd!” His voice was on the other side of her once more and she just couldn’t figure out how he was doing that— “Instead of standing tall as the Phantom Thief, I just stood as another underdog of Class 1B!”

An indignant rage grew inside her as she backed up. “So you betrayed us!” Her eyes were so close — “You betrayed us and joined another team to stand in their shadows instead—“ Almost—

“Now, who said anything about joining another team?”

Her eyes were in range now to see the rooftop she was on, but she didn’t need them to know that Monoma was right in front of her. She panicked out of instinct, screaming as she tripped back, tilting over the building ledge she didn’t realize she was so close to—

And then he grabbed her hand.

He didn’t pull her back up. He let her hang in this precarious state of near falling, panic taking over rational thought of splitting without her eyes, just a few more seconds—

He laughed, loudly declaring, “The Phantom Thief is on no one’s team but his own!” Her eyes finally reached her, flying back into the socket, vaguely noticing that his horrendous suit was gone, leaving only a skin tight bodysuit behind. “And I shall use whatever trickery needed to claw my way to the top!”

Blinking heavily as her eyes rolled back into place, she was about to counter, priming herself to split, only for a sharp jolt to spread through her body, seemingly cementing all her parts in place. “What—“

And then she could finally, truly see.

Monoma held her over the ledge, wearing a full body suit that covered from head to toe, sleek black material that faintly shined an almost iridescent red in the light. He had a calm, serene smile on his face, his eyes almost pitying her. 

And his eyes weren’t grey.

No, no they were glowing an eerily familiar red .

And in that moment, she knew that she had lost. 

Laughing in a defeated way, she snarked, “You really knew how to play the villain in this, didn’t you?”

He laughed as well, though his laugh was infinitely more amused as his hair floated around his face. “What can I say? I crave the spotlight…”

He leaned in close, his smile growing into a dangerous grin as he tilted her back… “And who could resist watching the villain everyone loves to hate ?”

And with that, he let go.