Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Momo kept herself low, weight distributed evenly and breathing even, as she and her team crept into the heart of the testing site. 

She could already see the building they’d been briefed on, about two blocks away. It was cordoned off with police tape, and a few cruisers sat amongst the otherwise empty street, lights still flashing.

The realism of the view was juxtaposed with the sound, or at least the lack thereof. A normal city like this would have traffic, people, life. Ground Beta had none; the entire space was eerily silent in a way that sent shivers up her spine. 

The four of them gathered in an alleyway, well out of sight of the target. She silently ushered everyone up the fire escape, clambering onto the roof and gathering behind a large industrial air conditioning unit.

“So, what’s the plan then?” Shinso asked quietly.

“Why are you whispering, ribbit?” Tsu asked, also whispering despite the question.

Momo produced a large tablet from a compartment on the back of her costume, already pinning various chemical formulae while she talked.

“The first step in any good operation is reconnaissance. Right now, the villains have all of the information, and we have none. Until we can upset that balance, victory is unachievable.” She produced a small pair of binoculars and handed them to Shoto. “Do a quick scan of the building. Look for anything unusual, or any signs of our targets.” Shoto nodded, wordlessly carrying out the order.

Finally finding the schematic she’d wanted, Momo spent a few minutes focusing on her quirk as Shinso and Tsu whispered quietly to one another. Though their approaches to problems were so different, they did actually work pretty well together, she thought.

Finally, she handed Shinso her creation; a small electronic device, similar in look and size to a large cellphone. 

“Hypnos, Froppy, you two will be on recon duty. Pluto and I will set up contingencies and prepare for the capture stage of the plan for when you return.”

They nodded, though Shinso looked confused at the item he’d been given. “And this?”

“A basic sensor.” she said, flipping it on. The batteries should last…at least 45 minutes, based on her estimates. She kept it low, since she’d be using her quirk plenty more today. “There’s a small embedded camera on it that can spot different wavelengths of electromagnetic signals. I’ve calibrated it based on common radio waves and signals used in CCTV technology.”

Shinso blinked at her. Momo sighed. “It should do a pretty good job of pointing out cameras to you. If the villains have control of the building they’re hiding in, which we should assume that they do, they probably put someone on lookout once the police showed up.”

“Ah, that makes more sense. Cool.” he said dully, pocketing the device. “I learned a few tricks on my internship. If this thing can spot the cameras, I should be able to disable them without immediately giving us away. What about Froppy?”

Momo looked over at her friend, seeing nerves mingling with anticipation. Nerves were much easier to deal with when you had a task to perform. “Froppy, when Hypnos disables enough cameras to give you an opening, climb up the walls. Avoid the windows as best you can, and don’t enter just yet, but we need to see what our options are for entrance points.” She produced a few small earpiece receivers, handing them out. “They only have one channel. Mute button is on top, on/off switch on bottom. We’ll check in every few minutes.”

The four of them, now better equipped and with the kindling of a plan, started to spread out. Shinso produced a thin chord from his belt, tying it off and using it to rappel down the opposite side of the building. Tsu scaled the walls in her usual way, quickly vanishing from view.

“Pluto,” she said over the comms. “What do you see?”

“Nothing. The building looks as normal as any other. No sign of any people either.”

“Good. That helps us narrow things down.” She produced a freshly-printed copy of the building blueprints from their briefing, along with a red pen, and started marking off rooms.

“How is that good? Don’t we want to know where they are, ribbit?”

“Correct.” she replied, marking off another three rooms on her map. “If we can’t see them from here, that excludes all of the exterior rooms on this side of the building. Since they already know we’re coming, it makes more sense to fortify an interior room.”

“On we go, then.” Shinso sounded done with today already. Momo could relate, but put those feelings to the side as she delved back into her quirk once again.

They had a job to do.

—---------------------------------------------

After a good thirty or so minutes, Tsu was finally feeling a semblance of control.

She idly wondered, just for a moment, how the rest of the class was fairing in their own exams, but the thought was buried under a sense of urgency. It wouldn’t do to get distracted now.

She was grateful that Momo had taken over planning. The girl had the makings of a great leader, underneath all of the imposter syndrome. Her plan was simple, doable, and broken down into manageable tasks, even if they sounded slightly insane at first.

She’d been carefully creeping along the edge of the building that the heroes/villains were holed up in. Shinso would stop every few feet, do a quick scan with the device Momo had given him, and react.

A few times, the boy simply shrugged and continued walking. Once or twice, he’d silently mimed to her, having them duck behind different objects as they moved. She’s seen him take what looked like small darts out of his costume’s belt, throwing them into dark corners a dozen or so feet up.

Apparently, they sent a weak pulse of electricity into delicate electronics on impact. Not enough to break anything, but enough to cause them to reboot for a few minutes. Plenty of time to sneak past undetected. The design had been a gift from his internship mentor.

Shinso, it seemed, had really started hitting his stride as a future underground hero.

Before long, they’d made their way around about three-fourths of the perimeter, before Shinso halted and turned to her, whispering.

“That’s all the cameras I could see. Still, keep an eye for any red lights near windows.”

“Roger that, ribbit.”

“After you, then.”

Tsu started ascending the building, keeping low and flat as best she could. She hadn’t had nearly enough practice changing her skin color to apply any kind of camouflage, but moving forward it was definitely something she wanted to work on.

Slow and steady was the name of the game. Had she not been so patient, it would have been almost painful, but after a reasonable fifteen minutes, Tsu had carefully cataloged and pictured a handful of potential entrances around the exterior of the building, along with any other security features she’d spotted. The two of them crept a few dozen feet away, taking refuge behind a large trash can to rendezvous with Momo and Shoto.

“Creati, Froppy checking in. We have options for getting inside. How’s your end of the plan going?”

“Almost done here, Froppy. Hypnos, any issues with the cameras?”

“None. I don’t know if we raised any alarms, but it’s not likely.” Shinso said with a shrug.

“Good. Shoto didn’t see anything on recon either, so he went to finish up the preparation phase for Plan P. Shoto-er, Pluto, sorry. How are things on your end?”

A minute of silence. Had Shoto been taken out that quietly, or was he not paying attention?

“Shoto-chan, focus up, ribbit.”

“Yes, sorry. Still here.”

“Do you remember your part of the plan?” she asked gently. She felt a bit bad, none of this was the boy’s fault, but they still had a job to do regardless.

“Creati wrote me a list. I should be ready to go in…um…a few minutes or so? Five. Five minutes.”

“I can work with that. Thank you, Pluto.” Momo said cheerfully. “Froppy, Hypnos, thoughts on infiltration?”

“First floor window looks best.” Shinso said, causing Tsu to arc a brow at him. That…was probably the worst of the options she’d seen, based on the number of cameras on the outside and the access points in the hallway.

“Why there, ribbit?” she asked, trying to keep the skepticism out of her voice. She trusted that Shinso knew what he was doing, but…it just seemed like a bad choice.

“It’s the worst place a person could infiltrate.” Shinso pointed out obviously. 

“Yeah, ribbit, so-”

“So,” he interrupted, “if we can pull it off, it’ll probably be one of the least-watched areas. If you’re defending something, you put more focus on the spots you expect people to come from. Few people ever expect a sub-optimal move from their opponents, and should put less thought into countering them.” he sighed, running a hand across his utility belt absentmindedly. “It’ll give us an edge in surprise, if nothing else.”

She went to speak, refute his point. Surely the roof was a better option, but…

“Hm…the logic is sound, but it’s a risky play. Are you sure?”

Shinso paused for a moment, grimacing. “I-”

“Let’s do it, ribbit.” Tsu cut in, overriding her own initial thoughts for the moment. Shinso was smart, and she could put her trust in her teammate. However…

“Let’s just set an escape route in case it goes south, ribbit. Creati-chan?”

Momo hummed over the earpiece. “If you’re spotted, go for Plan B. If you’re captured, Plan F.”

“I know you like labeling things,” Shinso said, humor coating his voice. “But are you sure Plan F doesn’t stand for ‘Fucking Nuts’? Because it is.”

“If it’s dumb and it works.” Shoto said blandly. 

“It’s not dumb!” Momo defended. “It’s creative, and a good way to subvert expectations!”

“If you say so. Hypnos-chan, let’s get going.” Tsu said, rolling her eyes at Momo’s theatrics and preparing to approach the building again.

This was either going to go really well, or really, really poorly. 

—---------------------------------------------

It only took them a few minutes to renavigate themselves to one of the less risky windows on the first floor. Shinso, from his seemingly endless number of random tools, produced an odd-looking device from his belt. Some kind of compass? Like the one they used in geometry, not the one for hiking. Except this one was larger, folding out and extending to several inches long, with a strange, jagged-looking metal tip on the end.

“Glass cutter.” Shinso whispered.

“You’re…weirdly prepared for this, ribbit.”

“My mentor has a…specific taste in support gear.” he mumbled. “She’s weird, but she’s damn effective.” That was fair, Tsu supposed.

The process was agonizingly slow. Five whole minutes spent cutting a small, near-perfect circle out of the glass. Tsu stuck her hand to the circle, silently removing it and setting it safely off to the side. 

It took another few minutes to slowly, carefully feed her tongue into the window and flip the latch. The entire test was insane, but at least they were off to a good start. Now they just needed to sneak in, past three pro heroes, and find a way to ambush them. It was fine, they could do this. 

“After you.” Shinso whispered. Tsu’s feet remained locked in place. 

It was fine. Momo had come up with a great plan, and a few backup plans that were all easy to remember. They had equipment, and good quirks, and she was level-headed enough to make it through anything.

“...you good?”

“Yep, ribbit-ribbit.” Her face may as well have been stone. She was fine. Her legs just…weren’t moving right now. Towards the pro heroes that were going to clobber them on sight.

“Hey, Tsu?”

“Hm?” she barely reacted, trying to get her feet to un-stick themselves from the ground. Maybe her quirk was acting up? Had that ever happened bef-

Her body froze. Her mind turned cloudy as her vision tunneled. 

‘Shinso-chan’s quirk? Why now?’

“Take a slow, deep breath. Hold it in for five seconds, then quietly exhale for seven. Repeat this five times.”

Tsu was a backseat passenger, experiencing the completely alien feeling of her lungs inflating without her consent. 

She finished her breathing, facilities returning to her as Shinso released his quirk, looking almost…sheepish.

“...Little better?”

She smiled in spite of herself. And Shinso thought he had a villainous quirk.

“Much. Thank you, Shinso-chan.”

He grinned back, before schooling his features. “Then let’s go.”

Tsu nodded. “Right.” She…they had this.

The two of them entered through the opening, keeping their bodies low and their heads on a swivel. They crept around two corners, mentally following the blueprints they’d seen towards the nearest staircase. 

The building itself was quiet, eerily so. Tsu was thankful that whatever office this place was based on had carpeting to mask their footsteps.

Shinso took out two more cameras in the hall, and another two near the stairs. The climb to the fourth floor was agonizingly slow, each step light and deliberate, until they finally reached the corridor Momo had pointed out as the most likely place in the building for the villains to be holed up. Based on the layout, it looked like a conference room near the center of the building.

That was, of course, when they ran into their first issue.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ Tsu thought to herself as she and Shinso shared a dry look.

The fourth floor hallway was covered in tree branches. Dark tendrils of plantlife snaked around the walls, floor, and ceiling as if they’d been growing there for decades. Some were as thin as a finger, while others were as wide as Tsu was tall. It was a veritable forest.

It was almost definitely a trap.

The villains were obviously close by. Not wanting to risk speaking, Tsu got out her phone and sent a message to her teammates, containing a picture of the hall and a request for backup. A fight was looking more likely by the minute, unless Momo could make some kind of zipline or something to navigate the hall without disturbing the branches.

Crack!

She stood stock-still, utterly silent as her head slowly, slowly tilted down towards Shinso’s feet…and the single, cracked twig underneath his left boot.

“Oh…oh no.” he whispered, voice horrified and face pale.

A heartbeat. Then two.

A faint sound in the wall, like the creaking of an old boat. A tingle went up Tsu’s spine.

Then all hell broke loose.

The entire hallway sprung to life like something out of a horror movie. Branches twisted and thrashed like rampant serpents, smashing lights and tearing grooves into the floor. Tsu began leaping from surface to surface, sticking to things and trying to avoid getting caught by anything.

Shinso stumbled backwards, tripping over a branch but keeping his footing as Tsu’s brain went into overdrive.

‘Think think think…we’re spotted. Plan B!’ 

Plan B, or ‘Breaking and Exiting’, was simple. They needed to leave as fast as possible and regroup. Despite the chaos, Tsu could see several windows on the exterior wall of the building, that would do fine. Even if they were reinforced, her legs would be more than enough.

“Tsu!”

She leapt on instinct, sticking to the ceiling as branches coiled around the spot she’d just been standing.

‘I don’t think he can see through his branches…so Kamui Woods has to be within eyeshot somewhere.’

Shinso was fairing a bit more poorly, being overall less mobile than her. She wrapped her tongue around his waist, lifting him into the air for a moment to avoid a limb moving towards his legs and setting him down further behind her. 

“We need an opening, ribbit!”

Shinso unsheathed a knife from his boot, hacking into a thinner branch trying to grab his arm. “Working on it!” The frustrated look on his face was overtaken by panic as a second branch curled around his leg.

“Creati-chan, Plan F!” Tsu yelled into her earpiece.

Her friend’s response came in a staticky shout, but she was more focused on getting Shinso out of trouble than what the words were.

Attacking the branches was pointless, she needed to find the hero himself. She continued evading as Shinso became more and more enveloped in Arbor, following the branches with her eyes and tracing them away from the ends she could see.

It looked like most of them went into the walls and ceiling…did that mean he wasn’t in the room? 

She kicked the branch restraining Shinso with all of her might, muscles coiling and driving her heels through the relatively soft wood. She pivoted as soon as she landed, using her tongue to toss the boy down the hall as she leapt next to him.

They finally gained some space as the branches extended, then stopped about three or four feet away. ‘A range limit? Or a red herring?’ 

“I’m afraid not, heroes.” The last word was spat with something close to venom. But the sound was sourceless, echoing around the room. Was there an intercom?

“He’s throwing his voice.” Shinso muttered quietly. “It’s a useful trick. Keep him talking and I can find him.”

Tsu swallowed, but nodded. If she could talk a four-year-old frog/toddler out of the swimming pool, she could do this. 

“Kamui Woods? Is that you, ribbit?”

“I do not go by that name anymore. I’m giving you one chance to leave before I strangle you.” He punctuated the sentence with an ominous slithering of branches, though they didn’t get any closer.

“What’s the point of all this?” she asked bluntly. She hadn’t really prepared for negotiations…what was Shinso talking about in the prep room? “Isn’t there a reason you’re doing this?”

“Of course there is.” the voice replied curtly. “Not that it matters now.”

Maybe it was an ingrained, quirk-related instinct. Maybe it was a coincidence. Something tingled on the back of Tsu’s neck, causing her to glance over her shoulder-

“MOVE!”

She leapt forwards with all of her might, taking her closer to the branches but further away from their newest problem.

“Well now, decent reflexes. I’m impressed.” 

Backdraft stood in the entrance to the hallway, clad in his regular hero/fire fighter uniform. Chains of flowing, interlocking water streams wrapped themselves around Shinso, holding him tight and covering his mouth. Dammit.

She met Shinso’s eyes, panicked, but tilted her head as he smirked around his bindings.

She heard a quiet ‘clink’ sound, before everything went white. 

Trying and failing to regain her eyes and ears- had Momo given him a flashbang or had he brought his own?- she stuck to a random wall and attempted to regain her bearings. Tree limbs grasped at her, forcing her to move further down the hallway, further away from Shinso, to avoid getting wrapped up.

By the time she finally blinked the spots from her eyes, Shinso was locked in hand to…hose? Was locked in melee combat with Backdraft. Elbows and knee strikes were deflected by short blasts of water and metallic hose nozzles. Shinso went full-in, pulling out everything from smoke grenades to knives to wires. 

He was still losing, unfortunately, but Tsu was pleasantly surprised by how well he was doing. She narrowed her eyes. She hadn’t seen much of Backdraft in action, maybe he wasn’t very good at combat? He normally did crowd control, didn’t he?

Shinso leapt back a step, dodging a slow, heavy-looking attack from the hero.

‘Wait, heavy? He’s attacking so slowly…oh!’

She hadn’t noticed at first, but Backdraft had strange, metallic loops around his arms and legs, clearly contrasted from the rest of his gear and costume. Some kind of handicap? Weights, maybe?

It was better than nothing.

She kicked out, shattering more tree bark that wound its way towards her, starting to move her way back towards Shinso.

“Ten seconds, second window.”

Tsu barely kept herself from sighing out loud in relief, too focused on not getting corralled into a trap.

Eight seconds.

“Come on, Water Boy! That all you got?” Shinso taunted, audibly out of breath. There was no response, so they probably knew his quirk. Expected, but annoying.

Five seconds.

Shinso choked on the high-pressure stream that blasted him into a wall. The water coagulated in the air, forming more restraints and holding him down. 

Three.

Tsu was running out of breath, lungs heaving as a branch rapidly wound around her leg, pinning it down.

Two.

“Game over, heroes-”

Tsu had never been happier to hear the sound of an exploding wall.

—---------------------------------------------

Hitoshi was, for the lack of a better term, over it.

He hadn’t slept more than an hour or two the previous night, which was normal, but it was hurting more than usual lately. Probably something to do with the trauma. Don’t think about the bodies don’t think about the bodies.

Then, after sloshing through the written tests, he realized he’d have to fight actual pro heroes…for a test grade. 

Real bummer. 

On paper, his team wasn’t just great, it was spectacular, consisting of both recommendation students, one of the best performers in the class, and though he was loath to admit it, his own quirk was extremely useful.

But even with that, plus all of the tricks and training Siren had left him with, he was pretty sure their final exam grade was forfeit.

If it had been any one hero, Hitoshi knew they could’ve passed. Well, any hero other than like, All Might or Endeavor, at least. But three!? Not likely.

Still, heroics doesn’t give out participation trophies. You had to try, whether or not you thought you’d actually succeed.

So he tried. He managed to sneak him and Tsu into the target building, and up a few floors before they hit a road block. The scanner Yaoyorozu gave him (that he was for sure keeping after this) proved invaluable, and the pulse darts that Siren had given him worked perfectly on the cameras. 

Naturally, the problem was him.

He stepped on a damn twig (‘Watching your footfalls is an essential skill for an underground hero’) and all hell broke loose. He was caught, then freed by some quick thinking, then caught again, and now he was slowly drowning on dry land as Backdraft restrained him. He tried to garble a few words through the water, but had no luck. No brainwashing today, it seemed.

Then, because of course it did, the wall exploded.

The explosion itself nearly deafened him. Hitoshi’s best guess was that Yaoyorozu had blown it up with some kind of small bomb. Smoke and debris poured into the room, clouding his vision and covering him in dust. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, he reached into his belt, grabbing the first canister he felt in his grenade pouch.

None of them were lethal, thankfully, but that didn’t mean they were pleasant. 

Operating on little more than raw adrenaline, he pulled the pin, tossing what he hoped was a flashbang directly into Backdraft’s face.

HISSSSSSSS!

‘Ah, the tear gas. Sorry, man.’

As the hero recoiled from the move, moving to encase the hazard in an orb of water, Hitoshi unfolded the collapsible staff on his back, striking the hero in the ribs a few times and finally freeing himself from the water that was restraining him. 

Froppy landed next to him with a thud, looking a bit beat up but otherwise unharmed. “Plan F?” she asked, breathing ragged. He nodded, fitting his facemask into place. Now felt like a good time to try.

“Kamui! You alright!?” he called out in Backdraft’s tinny-sounding voice.

“Fine! Focus on the-”

Gotcha.

Though he couldn’t see where the tree-themed hero was, he felt his quirk activate, snagging control of the man before he noticed the deception.

“Shit!” the real Backdraft shouted from behind. Hitoshi could see now, the smoke having cleared enough to make out the form of the hero brandishing his quirk. Two streams of water blasted towards them, but before Hitoshi could try to dodge, Tsu moved in front of him.

“Brace!” she shouted, lowering her costume’s large goggles over her eyes. 

Not fully understanding what she meant, Hitoshi lowered his weight and braced as best he could, but was completely unprepared for Tsu’s back to slam into him with all the weight behind their opponent’s attack. His feet went sliding back a good three or four feet, before the two of them finally found enough purchase to withstand the onslaught of high-pressure water.

“Not a smart move, heroes!” Hitoshi was inclined to agree…for about a second, until he saw Tsu shoot her tongue out at blinding speed, wrapping it around Backdraft’s face. Hitoshi locked his arms around his friend’s waist, keeping her steady as she yanked the hero right off of his feet, slamming him onto the unforgiving ground. At the same time, an idea struck him.

“Kamui! Restrain Backdraft!” he shouted, feeling a sense of satisfaction as branches burst from the floor, wrapping up the hero tight.

They were…winning? Was this doable?

“Hypnos-chan…where’s Momo?”

Hitoshi blinked, looking over at the hole in the wall in confusion. Yaoyorozu was supposed to move in after her bomb went off to back them up, allowing them all to…oh no.

He dashed forwards towards the opening, reaching into his belt just as something slammed into his chest, knocking him onto his back and stealing his breath from him. Some kind of liquid (had Backdraft gotten loose already!?) covered his torso, before hardening, sticking him to the floor like a fly in a flytrap. He glanced down, seeing an odd red crystal grown over him. Confusion and terror flooded him.

“Well now. I gotta say, that was almost impressive, kids.” 

“You…you’ve gotta be kidding me.” Tsu said, the indignation in her words buried beneath layers of fear and surprise.

Standing in the opening to the wall was a tall, imposing figure clad in red. He had white hair, thick white gauntlets, those same thick, metallic bands on his limbs, and most importantly, he had Creati wrapped up tight in that same red crystal and thrown over his shoulder. She barely looked conscious, a fresh red mark blooming on her head.

“Vlad King.” Hitoshi hissed. “You weren’t mentioned in the briefing.”

Infuriatingly, the man just smirked, before a flash of red severed the branches holding Backdraft down. His eyes wandered down to Froppy, clearly speaking to her to avoid Hitoshi’s quirk.

“Heroes aren’t the only ones allowed to call in backup, you know.”

Both students took a step back as the heroes brandished their quirks. “Hypnos-chan, what’re we gonna do?” Tsu whispered, crouched low and prepared to jump.

“Retreat.” he whispered back, brain going a million miles a second. “We stand no chance. Not now.”

“And Momo-chan? We can’t just-”

“I know.” he cut in. “I have an idea.” It was dumb, asinine, even. But if it was dumb and it worked…

“And?”

He dropped his mask, smirking at the adults. “Hey villains, not so quick. Since you clearly know my quirk, you can probably guess that I have Kamui Woods hostage right now. Another step and I have him take down the building!” He honestly had no idea if Kamui Woods was even capable of such a feat, but that wasn’t the point. 

The point was to get them talking to Tsu.

The two pros glanced at one another, before Vlad King looked at Tsu again. “Froppy, that kind of leverage doesn’t work on villains. If he got himself caught, he’s no longer useful to us. Take down the building for all we care, we’ll be fine.”

Tsu blinked. “Well that’s not very nice. Why not just surrender peacefully instead? Isn’t fighting tiring?”

“You don’t get it!” Backdraft yelled back. “We’re the ones making the rules now! Stay out of our way!” As he went to blast them again, Hitoshi moved.

He flicked his wrist, sending one of his pulse darts down the hall. The heroes had been so focused on avoiding his quirk, they’d subconsciously started ignoring him as a person. It was an old habit he’d seen in plenty of people in the past, especially classmates and teachers. If he moved carefully, it let him do plenty of things without people noticing. 

Simple things, like slipping a hand into his belt and lining up his shot.

Vlad King immediately put his arm out to block his body, but Hitoshi hadn’t been aiming at him.

The dart sunk into Yaoyorozu’s calf. He saw the moment the small electrical shock hit her, based on the flinch. It was now or never.

“Creati! Can you hear me!?” He screamed, hoping she was conscious enough to-

“Hm?” she mumbled. He hoped she wasn’t concussed. Either way, it was just good enough.

He grabbed his teammate with his quirk, bracing himself for the hard part. His focus was now divided between two people. Normally very doable, but he needed his all for this.

“Kamui! Make a wall in front of me and run away!” Without delay, a barrier of tree branches sprung from the floor, blocking them from sight. He had pinpointed Kamui’s location down to somewhere in the ceiling above them, and he was thrilled to be proven right when a tile shifted, the hero dropping down into the hall and running towards the gaping hole in the side of the building to escape. A branch emerged from his arm, grasping the floor above them as he swung into the midday sun. It would have to be close enough.

He dropped control on the hero, pouring his mental control into Yaoyorozu. 

“Execute Plan F!”

A mental tsunami slammed into Hitoshi’s mind, nearly strong enough to cancel his quirk entirely. Brainwashing was more than just a basic call and response, it did, to some extent, actually connect his own brain to that of his target. He hadn’t really thought so before, but training with Siren had really broadened his understanding surrounding his quirk.

The more complex an order he gave, the harder it was to maintain that connection. Best he could tell (mostly from late-night internet searches and inquiries on the quirk blog he was a part of) it also mattered what part of the target’s brain he was making them use. That’s why basic motor control was so easy, but he had yet to make a person convincingly speak under his influence. 

Needless to say, Yaoyorozu’s quirk required a lot of brain function.

He collapsed to his knees, sweat pouring down his face as his vision blurred. The pain was almost indescribable. He knew, immediately, that what he was trying to do was outside of his limitations. On a good day, that kind of strain would sever his hold on the target’s mind, a bad day would land him bedridden with a migraine and a bloody nose.

This was worse. It was so much worse.

He could almost feel it. The molecules of Creation flaring beneath Yaoyorozu’s skin. The compounds coming together. The steps and angles and even the fucking paint colors can’t this girl make anything simple-

He felt something snap, like his brain was physically fighting with itself. He felt sick. Something was going to give, but she wasn’t ready yet!. Too bad, something was better than nothing!

“FIRE!” he cried, blood running from his nose into his mouth, the taste of iron mixing with raw desperation.

All at once, Yaoyorozu’s body lit up like a Christmas tree, dozens of identical, half-finished  creations sprouting from her skin in a horrid, yet oddly beautiful display.

At Hitoshi’s command, three things happened at once.

First, Tsu tackled him behind the hastily-erected wooden barrier. Probably good, since he was about to pass out.

Second, the instant the command registered, the feeble connection remaining in his quirk snapped like a high-tension powerline. 

And finally, just as Hitoshi blacked out, six-dozen professional grade fireworks rockets all exploded simultaneously.

‘Plan F…for Fireworks. I’m surrounded by insanity.’

—---------------------------------------------

By the time Momo’s head cleared, the plan had already gone significantly off the rails, not that she was horribly surprised. Everything at UA always went off the rails, it was just a matter of adapting. Something that Momo was, admittedly, not very good at.

But her teammates had exceeded her wildest expectations. Tsu and Shinso had managed to hold their own beautifully, and though she didn’t remember much from the last ten minutes or so, the lingering smell of gunpowder, her own fatigue and burns, and Shinso’s bloody nose all painted a pretty clear picture.

The three of them regrouped in an empty conference room on the third floor. They’d flat out destroyed every camera they came across that wasn’t already out of commission, so Momo figured they had at least a few minutes to catch their breath.

“Well…now what….ribbit.” Tsu croaked between breaths. She was on the floor, leaned against a large table, keeping Shinso upright as he stared blearily at his feet.

Her mind whirled through the scenario as she had seen it so far. She tapped her finger to her chin, cataloguing the information she could as she attempted to ignore the pain covering most of her body.

“So far things have stayed mostly within parameters, but we’ll need to adjust for the inclusion of Vlad King. I’m both surprised and not that they included a fourth pro hero, even if we haven’t seen Mt. Lady yet.”

“Where do you think she is, ribbit?”

“She’s not suited to indoor combat. She’s either waiting outside to ambush us, or is trying to escape the testing grounds and fail us. But the plan accounts for that; Shoto should be mostly ready with Plan P by now, so we just need to finish up here and join him.”

“Your naming convention needs work.” Shinso breathed. Momo felt her brow twitch.

“Thoughts for later.” She dismissed. “For now, we’ve exhausted all of our primary plans…so it’s time to improvise.” she said nervously. She hated improvising. Start small, Momo. 

“What do we need to accomplish next? Let’s start small.” she said, looking to her teammates hopefully.

Shinso continued to glare at his feet, clearly thinking. Tsu shrugged. 

Momo closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath while attempting to ward off her incoming migraine. She didn’t think she was concussed, but Vlad King’s surprise attack had really rattled her. Either way, she was moving off little more than adrenaline at this point. They would all need to see Recovery Girl.

“We need to capture Team Raiders.” Shinso finally said. “That’s the objective. But it’s three- or I guess four, pro heroes. So…how do we do that? I had Kamui Woods for like, two minutes, but I doubt he’ll fall for the voice trick again.” A soft clicking sound came from his support equipment as he played with one of the knobs on it. It was a genius idea for a support item, Momo had to say.

“Wait…that’s it.” she gasped quietly. “We need more support!”

“Well…yeah.” Shinso said skeptically. “But, uh…how are we supposed to get anyone here? The rest of the class are in the middle of their own exams, right?”

“No, not that kind of support, support items!” She reached for her tablet, already flying through different designs and molecules. “By the time we could call anyone from the school here, one of the villains would escape for sure. It’s a good idea, but not plausible in our current situation.” Her arm glowed as she started on her first new creation. “But this is a battle of wits as much as quirks. Did you see the armbands the pros were wearing?”

“Yeah, ribbit. They look like weights, or at least something to slow them down.” Tsu said, watching the growing pile of things on the floor with curiosity. Momo was getting hungry, she’d have to finish this up quickly.

“Exactly! Now we know exactly what we’re dealing with! We’ve won the information war, now we just need to push our advantage.”

“But…they also know exactly what they’re dealing with.” Shinso pointed out. “Like…they know everything about us. Probably even our costumes and what equipment we…have…” he blinked, purple brows hitting his hairline in wonder.

Momo wobbled on her feet, feeling lightheaded, but grinning like a lunatic. 

“They know what we had. So, let’s change things up a bit.” she reached down, throwing a heavy metallic shape towards Shinso, who caught it with a grunt.

“Oh…oh, shit. This is gonna be fun.”

—---------------------------------------------

The building had fallen eerily silent as the three heroes-to-be stalked through the halls. Momo wasn’t sure how much time had passed since their exam started, but it had certainly been a while. They were bruised, exhausted, and probably nearing the end of their rope. Which meant that they needed to end things quickly if they wanted any chance at passing.

Momo crouched low, covered nearly head to toe in various gear. Perhaps she had overcompensated, but UA started it by throwing four heroes at them for a test. 

There was a heavy pack strapped to her back, with a hose that fed into what looked like some kind of firearm, all metal with a barrel six or so inches wide. She had a visor over her eyes, a gas mask over her mouth, and her belt pouches were full of surprises.

Hitoshi was creeping along behind her, the only visible differences in equipment being what looked like a pistol strapped to each hip, black armored bracers over his arms, and the two tonfa he was carrying.

Tsu was traveling light, since she was sneaking along the ceiling. Momo had only given her a weighted net that was folded on her back, since she needed her mobility, as well as a basic slingshot strapped to her arm, the ammo in a pouch next to it. Why didn’t more heroes carry ranged options? Maybe she’d help her friends with that another time.

They continued on, pace slow and measured, listening for any signs of life. It was intimidating, how such large people could be so silent when they wanted to be.

Tsu froze in place for a beat, gesturing around a corner to their right.

‘Contact?’ Hitoshi signed. Tsu shook her head, making a mostly-correct sign that Shinso had taught them a few minutes prior.

‘Obstacle.’

The boy looked back to Momo, arcing a brow, as if to say ‘now what?’. She pointed at him, then around the corner. At his incredulous look, Momo just shooed him onwards. All according to plan.

Shinso walked around the corner into the open. Using a small, handheld mirror, Momo moved up near Tsu and watched from out of sight. The end of the hall was a veritable blockade. Desks, potted plants, furniture, and what looked like other random pieces of material were all stacked high in front of a set of double doors that dead-ended the path. Likely constructed with Kamui Woods’ quirk, unless there was another way in. Either way, it was likely the heroes were there, they just needed to get inside.

“Uh…knock knock?” Shinso asked aloud towards the debris. “You guys in there or what?” He waited a moment, before smiling. “What, no dice? You’re not mad about the whole brainwashing thing, right Kamui Woods? I promise not to do it again, I just wanna talk.”

Silence. It was worth a shot, but she figured that, with such a heavily fortified location, it would take something spectacular to get them to leave their position.

Maybe it was the exhaustion. Or the hunger. Or the litany of first and second-degree burns. But Momo was in a bit of a mood. Her head throbbed in time with her stomach as she pushed her quirk, this time focused on something simple. 

“Shinso? Come back over here, please!”

Shinso turned around, blinking a few times and shrugging before moving back around the corner. “Yeah, sorry, I figured that…wouldn’t…um…” He trailed off, face going slack. “That, uh…that’s not real, right?”

Momo patted his shoulder, walking around the corner.

“Tsu, wait, that’s not real, right?”

“I think it might be, ribbit.”

Momo stopped a few meters in front of the blockade, clearing her throat. There had been a man she remembered from her childhood. She never learned his name, but it seemed like his only job around the manor was announcing whatever important people had showed up to her parents’ latest party. He’d stand straight, voice a pleasant baritone that carried through the room, drawing your ear without upsetting the mood. She straightened her back, and attempted to channel that sort of importance into herself.

“Team Raiders. While I respect what you’re trying to accomplish here, this ends now. Please come out and surrender peacefully. There is no need for any more violence.”

She waited a moment. Then a minute, before her patience waned. 

“Well…we tried. If you can hear me, I’d stand away from the door. Heroes, prepare to breach!” she raised her voice, pulling the pin on the grenade she’d conjured and chucking it into the barricade, before dashing back around the corner. 

BOOM!

The sounds of splintering wood and drywall assaulted their ears, but Momo didn’t hesitate, charging forwards with her barrel pointed in front of her.

If she remembered the blueprints correctly, this conference room didn’t have any other exits. They could have gone out a window, but if they had then Shoto would have spotted them. So either Shoto was down for the count, or they were getting ambushed, and the most likely candidate for that was-

“Bold move! What happened to collateral damage, huh!?” Vlad King charged through the still-smoking debris, whips of crimson forming from the gauntlet on each arm.

“Froppy!”

Tsu came thundering in, leaping at top speed and tossing her net towards the hero. Vlad King batted it aside, so Tsu moved in launching kick after kick at him. She aimed at his kidneys, the liver, the head, each and every cheap shot she could think of to get her opponent’s focus on her. Though she wasn’t dealing any real damage, he still needed to block her blows. The weights made him too slow to dodge, just like Momo had hoped.

It should be almost time. Will he employ the same strategy?

She heard a gasp from Shinso as tree branches emerged from the ceiling, wrapping around his torso and pinning his arms in place.

Perfect.

“Hypnos!”

With a terrible crunching sound, Shinso ripped through the branches around him. Sprouting from the bracers on his arms were a series of jagged, serrated blades, perfect for cutting through the hero’s quirk.

And….now!

Momo rolled off to the side as a blast of water emerged from behind Vlad King. She raised her weapon and fired, a dull thunk echoing through the hallway. Faster than she could blink, a glob of orange goop was splattered across the front of Backdraft’s coat, spreading with the impact before rapidly hardening.

“What the..what is this?”

“A special polymer.” Momo said, firing a few shots at him as well as Vlad King. They danced around most of the attacks, but a few hit home, further limiting their mobility as the concoction hardened around their joints. One of Backdraft’s boots was stuck to the floor. “It’s basically my own version of rubber cement. It doesn’t last very long, but it’s rather potent….and highly conductive.”

Backdraft only had time to blink before Shinso drew one of the high-power tasers at his hip, firing it into the man’s arm while he was immobilized. He screamed, before dropping to the floor as the charge coursed through him.

One down…oh my god we actually got one of them! Focus, Momo!

More branches emerged from the walls around them, but Momo was more than prepared this time. Kamui Woods was a talented hero, there was no doubt, but he was also a rookie, which made him predictable.

“Tsu, red mark!” she cried out, brandishing a bright laser pointer and lighting up a tile on the ceiling. It was the furthest one from them, on the left side, the same position he’d hidden in during their first encounter.

Tsu loaded her slingshot and fired, the steel ball bearing punching through the tile like tissue paper. They heard a grunt from within, and after two more shots Kamui Woods crashed to the ground, bruised and furious. He moved to stand, but was clearly struggling under the weight of the bands around his limbs, just like the others.

Two shots from Momo’s cement gun had the man’s feet stuck to the floor. As his limbs started to grow, Momo flipped a switch on the handle, turning the gun from ‘glob’ to ‘stream’. A deluge of viscous, orange fluid covered Kamui from head to toe, hardening and, for the moment, stopping him from growing more branches. She dropped the gun and its tank, now empty, onto the ground. “Now!”

Shinso brandished his second taser, firing into Kamui point-blank and sending the man into unconsciousness. 

Two down.

The three of them turned to Vlad King, who looked an odd combination of furious and…somewhat impressed? Shinso leveled his tonfa towards the man, breathing heavily. Tsu crouched down, preparing to resume her attack, though they could all tell how tired the girl looked. Momo blinked through her growing headache, reaching into a pouch on her belt and pulling out a protein bar. 

“So, do you want to surrender now, Vlad-sensei?” she asked as she unwrapped her much-needed snack. “Or should I start making more grenades?”

He grimaced, before a determined scowl overtook his face. “I think you’ll find that our motivation far outpaces yours, heroes.” He wound back his arm, tendrils of red circling around his gauntlet…but he froze.

“W-what?” Vlad King’s body visibly trembled, like moving a single inch was suddenly more effort than he was capable of. “M-my body…what…?” he wobbled in place, falling to his knees.

“That would be me, ribbit.” Tsu said, holding her arm aloft so he could see the layer of viscous, nearly-clear slime that covered it. “I covered my limbs in a weak toxin before we started fighting. Since those weights made you too heavy to dodge, you got plenty of it on you.” She paused for a second before continuing. “It’s not lethal or anything, but the amount I made will probably leave you numb for a few hours. It’ll definitely give you a rash too, sorry about that, ribbit.”

Vlad King chuckled. “Not bad. Even so, being down does not mean being out-” more blood had started moving from within his support equipment, but the action was halted when Shinso brought his arm down on the back of his head, bringing him down along with the others.

Tsu and Momo blinked at him in silence for a moment. Shinso blinked a few times, face still stained with blood and dust as he wobbled on his feet. A moment later, he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

“...now what, ribbit?”

—---------------------------------------------

After a handful of short minutes, the three heroes were properly restrained in one of the remaining empty rooms. Tsu put a hand on Kamui Woods’ shoulder, shaking him lightly until he started to stir.

“Wha…?” he groaned, eyes unfocused for a moment before clearing. “Ah, so this is it then.”

“Well, we still need to find Mt. Lady, ribbit. But that’s not what I wanted to talk about.”

He glared up at her silently, so she continued on. “Nothing you’ve done here makes any sense.”

“Not a great start, kid.”

“Sorry, ribbit, I’m pretty blunt when I talk. It’s true, though. You didn’t make any demands, you brought in an extra villain out of nowhere, and you bunkered yourselves into the building. Even when you consider the fake police barricade outside, the four of you could’ve muscled through them before we got you, probably.”

He squinted his eyes at her. “And your point?”

“It’s another logical ruse, isn’t it? Ribbit, we were given so little information about this exam, there’s no way there isn’t some kind of hidden angle to it. So what is it?” she glanced down at the hero, trying to read something through his mask. She glanced over at her teammates, both of which were taking a break, slumped onto the ground and holding their heads in their hands.

Tsu saw something flash through the hero’s eyes. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it was something…angry? Scared, maybe? It was weird, whatever it was. When he did finally respond to her, his voice was quiet, almost choppy.

“Why do you think villains do the things that they do?” he asked. Tsu’s head tilted at the question, but she didn’t hesitate on her answer.

“It depends on the villain. Everyone’s different, ribbit.”

Kamui sighed. “Fair point. Fine, why do you think we, as Team Raiders, did what we’ve done up to this point?”

Tsu thought about it for a moment, but she wasn’t really sure. The briefing didn’t really say much, something about a bribe?

“You took bribes from villains, right?” Tsu asked calmly. It was a fake scenario, so it was pretty easy to keep any judgement out of her voice. “So, there could be a few reasons. Something to do with the villains themselves, or just for the money.”

The hero sighed again, deeper. His head fell back, softly knocking into the wall they’d set him up against. He glanced down at his colleagues, before locking eyes with Tsu again.

“I’ll tell you this. Froppy, right?” At Tsu’s nod, he lowered his voice. “I don’t think you were the only ones being tested today.”

—---------------------------------------------

This was somehow the most stressful, but also the most boring day that Yu had ever experienced since becoming a hero.

She’d barely graduated a year ago, finally scraping and saving enough money to move to a more populated area to make her independent debut as Mt. Lady. Which went great! Mostly. 

She hadn’t meant to literally step on top of Kamui Woods’ hard work, but heroics was competitive! She needed to stand out to make a living!

…Or so she had thought.

She’d shrunken down once the media had wandered off, mentally preparing herself for whatever insults the other hero would throw her way for stealing his big moment.

Except…that didn’t happen.

“You seem talented. It must have been challenging, kicking a villain of that size without damaging the train tracks. Even so, please be more careful of your trajectory. Thankfully those buildings were evacuated beforehand, but you could have hurt someone when you threw the villain like that.”

She had cringed, offering an apology she hoped was less sarcastic than she normally sounded, but he had barely reacted, waving off her concerns and even helping her with the paperwork.

She and Kamui Woods had become something akin to, well, friends, since then. The man was nice, both in and out of costume, helping Yu with her paperwork, giving her advice on situational awareness, and even introducing her to some of the locals. She did better work, felt better doing it, and her popularity started rising all on its own!

But being a hero wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. 

With a quirk like hers, property damage was inevitable. She either had to work out in the country, getting paid in breadcrumbs and well wishes…or she had to work in a city. Better paycheck, but way more stuff to step on.

Her first few months put her into the red, even with Kamui’s help. The next month after that had her selling most of her stuff. She already knew she wouldn’t make rent next month, but she was repressing that as best she could.

So, when she was offered an entire days’ pay to help with UA’s heroics exams, she jumped at the opportunity.

Get paid to wail on a few first years? Sure! Her own teachers had used her for the same thing before she’d graduated, her quirk was great for it! And Kamui was invited too? Even better! He even offered to drive her, which she thought was sweet.

Backdraft was cool too, she’d appreciated his help the last few times they’d teamed up, though she didn’t know much about Vlad King. It seemed a bit overkill, but who was she to judge? She was sure UA knew what it was doing.

But then she saw the prompt for their little performance, and her stomach dropped.

She didn’t want to be a villain. Some big bad monster for heroes to overcome. She didn’t like breaking things with her stupid quirk, it was just hard not to. She had to be careful with her quirk, not just step on things all nilly-willy. What if she stepped on somebody!? 

She’d swallowed down that particular fear, but asked her ‘teammates’ if she could have a different role, besides ‘distraction’. After a bit of back and forth, they’d agreed, which led her to her current predicament.

Apparently, the students would fail their exam if any of ‘Team Raiders’ managed to escape the testing site. So…that was her job. It felt a bit underhanded, but she supposed that was the point. There was more to heroics, as she was learning, than beating people up and posing for the cameras. If they couldn’t keep a villain from escaping the crime scene, then they weren’t ready to pass.

Despite her appearance, not to mention her quirk, Yu wasn’t totally useless when it came to stealth, though these heavy-ass armbands weren’t helping! She’d managed to creep her way past the police tape, and got almost a block away before she turned into an alley and snagged her foot on something.

She caught herself, but looking down, it was clear that she’d just tripped some kind of trap. She swore to herself as what looked like a series of trashbags fell from above her. None of them impacted her, but they all hit the ground with heavy thuds and limited her movement options. She needed to reposition before-

“Hello.”

She jumped, whirling around with a roundhouse kick, but nearly lost her balance again when she only met air. She blinked, seeing a young man in the mouth of the alleyway, standing almost nonchalantly, right hand in his pocket and left pressed against the wall. What was his name again?

“Er…Pluto, right? Todoroki?”

He hummed in what Yu supposed was confirmation. “So, you’re the one they sent to escape. Nice try.”

Yu backed up a step. If she could get back into the open-

Fwooosh!

She stumbled as a wave of heat rushed at her back. She sent herself into a roll, taking a defensive stance and staring as a wall of fire, probably five or six feet high, cut off her exit. Pluto himself was poised on her other side, left hand extended towards her.

I thought he didn’t use his fire powers! I guess the file we got was wrong.

She blinked, realizing that the student had been talking to her. She really needed to focus, her mind was all over the place today! “Sorry, what did you say?” Should she be apologizing? Wasn’t she supposed to be a villain?

“I asked what you’re doing here.”

Yu blinked at him. “Like…at UA, or?”

“No. The, um, the test.” His right hand emerged from his pocket, holding a crumpled up piece of paper that he quickly unfolded and read. “Ah, right. Your villain scenario. Shinso wanted to know why you were taking those bribes, and what you were doing with them. Care to explain?”

Ah, right, the exercise. Yu thought over the scenario and notes she was given, mentally cringing. It was a good scenario…it just hit a little close to home.

“You…wouldn’t understand. Heroics isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, kid.” she said, trying to channel her inner…villain? Eh, she could work on it.

“Probably not.” Pluto agreed, nodding sagely. “But I’d like to hear about it anyways, if that’s alright with you.”

“What’s the point? You’re just gonna arrest me anyways, right? Why should I explain anything to some kid who’s probably got everything he’s ever wanted?” Where did that come from?

His eyes narrowed into a glare. “I may not understand your motives, but do not assume you understand mine, either.”

She scoffed, almost against her will. She remembered who she was dealing with now. “Oh, please. Like the son of the number two hero has ever had to struggle for something a day in his life!”

His glare intensified for a moment, before his eyes seemed to lose focus. He blinked a few times, quelling Yu’s anger with the sheer…oddness that he was exuding. He looked at her for a moment, before getting out that same piece of paper and a pencil, using the wall as a flat surface as he wrote something. 

She wasn’t a pro for nothing though. Taking the distraction for what it was, Yu charged forwards. She felt bad for having to lay the kid out, but it was all for the sake of learning-

FWOOSH!

She staggered back again as one of the trashbags on the ground erupted into a column of white-hot flames. 

She looked at Todoroki, whose left hand was outstretched again. His face looked almost bored.

“What the hell was that!?”

He blinked a few times, before squinting down at the ground. “I…don’t remember. Yaoyorozu made them though. They are…very flammable. I’d advise not moving around too much.”

What was with these kids’ quirks!?

“Wait…how did you get them set up? Did you know which alley I would take to get out of the testing zone?”

To her surprise, Todoroki shook his head. “She figured one of you would try and escape, but we couldn’t be sure who or where. So she had me trap all of the alleyways within three blocks of the building. She made…a lot of bags.”

Yu grit her teeth in frustration. As much as she didn’t really want to, she’d just have to bust through the buildings with her quirk.

“Oh, right. Your quirk. Yaoyorozu had that on the paper too.” Todoroki said casually. “It says…ah, right.” The boy turned around, snapping a finger and creating a large spark-

Not a spark.

A massive wall of flame leapt from the ground, blocking off the alleyway behind him. Based on the bright orange glow suffusing the area, the fire had spread across most of the streets around them, too.

“No matter how tall you get, fire still burns. She also gave me a bunch of this weird liquid. Something about napalm? She said it would stick to you if you tried to walk through it.”

This Yaoyorozu girl needs to chill! Doesn’t this count as a war crime or something?

The heat licked at her from all sides. There were…seven more bags of whatever explosives the girl had left behind, all within a few meters of her. She was trapped as she was, but he was right. If she went giant and tried to run, she’d probably get out, but with some nasty burns. Was she willing to go through that for this?

“So you’re pretty much trapped now. Feel like talking?” Todoroki asked blandly. He was starting to get on her nerves.

“Stop that!” she hissed. “You don’t get extra credit for finding out our motives, or whatever, so there’s no point! You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about!” It was just a test…why was she so angry? It wasn’t even her grade on the line!

“Maybe I’m just curious.” the boy said. He turned his head to the side, giving Yu a clear view of a bright blue eye, surrounded by a burn scar. “I know that heroics is painful, sometimes. You save, and try, and hurt, but…sometimes you’re the one who needs saving. Does that make sense?” He faltered, unsure of himself. “Why would heroes do such terrible things?” his voice trailed off towards the end, as though he hadn’t meant to ask the question aloud.

“Well no shit!” she yelled. “They don’t teach you half of what you need to know until you’ve already graduated! Did you know that heroes only get a third of their paycheck from actual hero work? The rest is from your ranking. It’s a popularity contest!”

“I was…vaguely aware of that, yes. Endeavor always had enough money to do…pretty much whatever he wanted.” Todoroki shuddered, what did that mean?

“So if you’re not popular, you’re poor! If you’re poor, nobody gives a shit about you, so your ranking never goes up unless you get lucky! And luck,” she laughed, but there was no humor in it, “luck is a fucking myth, made up by people better off than you to make you think you have a chance at being like them, even though they were given everything on a silver platter!” Her breath heaved, she felt hot…the heat might have been getting to her.

“So that’s why Team Raiders took the bribes, then.” Todoroki crossed his arms, frowning thoughtfully. “Backdraft has never been ranked particularly high, and both you and Kamui Woods are new heroes, right?”

“It’s pathetic, isn’t it? I’m supposed to be a hero, but I can’t even pay my rent! What kind of hero can’t even afford a bed to sleep on?” She choked down a hiccup. “The Commission keeps saying they’ll help, but they never do! It’s always ‘just flaunt more for the cameras so your rank goes up faster’, and ‘you’re too much of a liability to insure, just figure it out’. I’m sick of it! I just wanted to help people, to feel good about myself! But why is it bad when I try to help myself for once!?” 

Yu blinked her tears away, realizing exactly where she was standing. She wiped her tears away, ignoring the shame pooling in her cheeks as she put on a neutral expression.

“A-anyways, fine. You trapped me. Good work, Pluto. I’d rather not get burned to a beautiful crisp, so…I surrender.”

At that moment, a loud siren blared across the training zone. A deep, robotic voice sounded out shortly after.

“Team 1: Final exam complete. Please exit your testing zone and report to the nurse station. Medical bots will be on their way shortly to collect the injured.”

Yu sighed, letting the tension seep out of her. She was about ready to go home and crash…for as long as she had a home, anyways. She idly noticed the fires around her shrinking, and Todoroki walked around with a small extinguisher, putting out the remains with a focused expression on his face.

“Are you alright?” he asked as he passed by her. 

She straightened on instinct, plastering a smile on her face. “Of course! Nice job, kid! Gosh, maybe I should get a side gig as an actress, huh? That’s one way to rake in cash!”

Mt. Lady was a big hero. She was used to being the biggest one in the room.

But Yu didn’t feel big, and she certainly didn’t feel like a hero.

The next hour was mostly a blur. Yu was uninjured, so she mostly just watched as the other pros were chipped out of some weird orange crust that the War Crime Girl had made. The rest of the kids were pretty beat up, especially the purple one. Two of them were too exhausted to walk, and the Frog Girl didn’t look far behind them. As students and heroes alike were guided  towards the med station, Kamui sidled up next to her, looking as bruised and tired as she felt.

“Takeyama? Are you alright?”

She glanced around, seeing the students talking amongst themselves. Frog Girl was chuckling at something the purple one muttered from his stretcher. Todoroki walked next to them, a small smile on his face as he kept pace with the other girl’s own stretcher as it was wheeled down the path.

“I’m fine…just thinking.”

“About what?” he asked, patient as always.

“...interesting kids, aren’t they?” It hadn’t been what she was going to say, but that was probably for the best.

Kamui nodded. “Definitely. I think they’ll be good heroes, though. I hope we get to work with them in a few years.”

She smirked at him. “Always thinking about the future, huh?”

“Better than dwelling on the past.”

“True.”

They walked on in silence, but Yu’s thoughts were louder than ever. 

Maybe it was about time to start thinking about her own future.