4th paste

Across the entrance to the tunnel a wall of ice caught the shot, shattering because of the blast. Midoriya stepped back and Katsuki swayed forwards, breathing deep and coughing from the chokeslam.

Mei looked over the AR monitors, cursing as she directed the acquisitions squad through the tunnels to the drop-off for the coffin. Mezou was with them moving the coffin, but Larceny and Con Man had both stayed back to wait for Izuku. In the meantime she looked at the rifle next to her, cursing the fact that Izuku had told her not to shoot anyone who wasn't on the target-of-opportunity list. Beyond that, Ojiro had finally gotten Kirishima out of the car he had been entombed in, and they were both helping to pull Tetsutetsu out from the half-meter deep hole he caused in the pavement.

She had sent a warning to Izuku about the backup team of heroes but hadn't had a chance in hell to stop them. Not with Todoroki there.

Regardless, all she could do now was grit her teeth and hope that Izuku could pull out a win. The fight so far had sounded, and looked, brutal over the security monitors. She could only imagine how the teachers were reacting.

A green lightning-laced spartan kick sent Bakugou flying back down the hallway, only to be caught by the combined efforts of Shishida and Fukidashi, while beside them Shiozaki and Tsunotori readied to fight.

Yet the biggest threat to Izuku stood before the cluster of heroes.

Todoroki stood next to Iida, both of them tense. Down the hall, Izuku chuckled before standing up straight. Gently, his hands reached up to touch his bleeding lip and poke at the bruise across his jaw. His eyes were focused on the heroes.

"Well. Six on one. Seven, if Bakugou still counts, but considering how soaked he is, gonna say not."

"F–FUCK off Deku," Bakugou choked out, before falling into a coughing fit, holding his neck.

"And the bruised throat, can't forget that." Izuku nodded amicably.

"SURRENDER NOW KINGPIN. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE," Iida thundered, the statement backed by a rumble of engines and a tensed stance. Beside him, Todoroki swirled with traces of fire as ice wreathed the ceiling, sealing off the sprinklers.

Izuku chuckled but hid a wince. Bakugou hit hard and he was now sporting a few aching ribs and jaw. Not to mention his knuckles were bruised and swelling from the punches against the grenade gauntlets. The gloves had helped but these weren't the special ones for Kacchan.

He eyed them, options from what he had ready rolling through his mind. He didn't know how many of his backups or prepared plans were even close to ready, and his earpiece was missing. Lost in the fight, most likely. It was looking more and more like he was going to have to bluff or connive his way–

"Excuse me, boss!" A flash of blond showed Monoma Neito, codename Larceny, stepping forwards, hand already resting on Izuku's shoulder.

"Sorry about this Boss, but your taxi is waiting and you are far too important to lose here."

At that moment, green met grey. Izuku realized that Larceny had touched the side of his neck.

"Wait, LARCE–" With a glowing surge of green and silver lightning, Izuku was lifted and sent flying back through the tunnel to the entrance to the underground, only to be roughly caught by the slim form of Con Man. Izuku's eyes were panicked, green staring out with glowing fire.

"See ya, Boss. Stay safe, yeah?" Neito grinned back down the hall at Izuku, throwing his boss a wink, before the door started to close.

"WAIT– FUCK– NEITOOOO," echoed his voice as the doors slammed shut.

Neito bit off a hiss, looking at his now broken left arm. It was quickly turning black and blue from the damage. He turned to look at the heroes, who were standing there in shock. Neito chuckled, though the pain made the sound sharp and shaky. "Well. I still have an arm, so let's see if I can copy my boss, yeah, two for two?"

Todoroki was already widening his eyes as Neito drew his arm back, taking aim down the hallway at the heroes. A quick rush of ice was thrown up and the heroes stepped back and started to brace themselves, ice forming thick walls and rushing down the corridor towards him.

"You know what our teachers say." Neito grinned, green light surging down his arm. "Go Beyond. Plus. Ultra."

Neito swung in a full-body motion forwards and roared. He unleashed a punch aimed not at, but above the heroes, at the ceiling and into the lobby of the skyscraper. He watched the water around him turn into mist in the shockwave's pressure, walls cracking from the edge of the force. The ceiling shattered under the force of the hit, caving out and away from the source of the pressure.

Then the pain hit and he blacked out for a few seconds. Trying to cradle his broken arms as the pain consumed him.

A beat, anywhere from a few seconds to half a minute.

Neito blinked to clear the tears from his eyes, looking out and up at the ruins of the lobby. The angled, several meter thick ice wall that had been built to shield the heroes quickly began to have a hole melted through it. Above them, the concrete ceiling had been shattered and pushed back, the floor of the lobby bucking and bursting through the front door, the associated lobby wall and a good portion of the neighboring second story wall.

Even through the night, Neito could see that the windows across the street had shattered from the force.

He winced at the fact that his arms felt like they were on fire and staggered forwards, kicking a seat into place that had fallen from the front lobby; a couch now missing half its length. As it settled back onto its two left feet and the broken center resting on the shattered concrete, Neito breathed a deep sigh and the ice barrier cracked and shattered. In less than ten seconds, he found himself facing the seven heroes, newly ruffled from his grand hurrah.

"Well. I surrender." Neito smiled, slightly manic. "Though I can't quite raise my arms to gesture right now."

Across from him, seven pairs of eyes narrowed.

"Damn. Tough crowd."

Izuku caught his breath as they finally reached far enough that heroes couldn't catch them. The tunnel network around the museum was filled in with resin bombs, and rigged tunnels collapsed behind them, traps going live. The green-haired leader looked at the purple brainwasher across the pipe from him.

"Think I sold the performance?"

"Yeah, very melodramatic. A villain sacrificing himself for the cause, the leader grieving the loss of a subordinate." Con Man chuckled, tossing the white and black mask of the Kingpin back across the tunnel. "I think Larceny is going to be right where we want him. I gave him the rundown and he loved the plan."

"Good." Izuku pulled the mask on, voice suddenly coming off far more sinister through its distortion. "I hate that we had to play this out, but it does mean we are one step closer. In fact, I would even say that we've now begun moving into the mid-game phase. Hmmmm… Contact base, get teams sorted. We're going for the rush."

3 days before the exam (Musutafu Ward)

Hitoshi and Midoriya sat at a counter. The coffee shop was open until midnight and the hour was fast approaching. He and Midoriya had talked 'business' as it was. So, the two were now simply enjoying the calm atmosphere, coffee and tea cups littering the table as much as paper and pens did. Hitoshi sipped his tall dark espresso, eyes soft from their usual mania, as he looked over a few notes he had made. Hitoshi considered what was happening, how close he had become to Midoriya's master plans, and felt a rush of familiar anxiety.

The words slipped out.

"Why me?"

Midoriya blinked, eyes widening as he sucked down another mouthful of creamy frappe coffee. "...In what context?" He tilted his head.

"The exercise, the huge game you're playing, the plans and routes we can take. Why are you telling to me?" Hitoshi emphasized by tapping his finger on the notebook's title 'Stage Directions' in the center of the table. "I'm not even in your class. Hell, we only started meeting up after the Sports Festival and your internship because we both suffer insomnia and prefer to be productive at ungodly hours of the night. Why make me your second, your field commander?"

There was a pause. Midoriya swallowing another sip of his drink and then leaning back, arms crossed as he stared at Hitoshi.

"Because I trust you. I trust you to know, better than anyone else I can bring in on this, how far is too far." Midoriya looked Hitoshi dead in the eye, and said, with as much honesty, purpose and pleading as he could. "I trust, that if I get too into the persona of a villain, you'll snap me out of it. Not just because your Quirk can but because I trust you will. I know that you dislike the idea of being a villain. That though you enjoy the irony of the exercise, you don't want to be a villain more than you already are accused of. So if I go too far, if I get lost in my own mind, I need someone to pull me back from the edge."

There was a moment of silence and Hitoshi was in awe.

'Me? But I don't have the best Quirk or share classes with you? How can you trust me?! All we do is come and sit and talk, we're friends yeah but–' is what he wants to say, but the thought is cut off, a flash of memory from after the internship period. ("I never had many friends," Midoriya rubbing his neck and looking tired at 3 in the morning in an all-night diner. "But I wanna be one of yours.")

Izuku rubs his neck the same way now, and beneath the thin veneer of smiles and nervousness is true uncertainty. He's putting himself out there. Trying to open up.

"Sure, Izuku. I'll keep you in check."

That blinding smile he gets makes the anxiety he will no doubt suffer worth it.

Recover and Progress

Chapter Summary

Injuries are treated, and Night falls.

(Updated with final edits, 5/2/19)

Day 1: 20 hours, 52 minutes (8:52 pm, local time)

"Microfractures all over the metacarpals in your right hand, contusions across your entire upper body, a slight concussion and a fractured jaw. Wow, Izu-kun, did you have to let him hit you so hard?" Mei joked, running a small scanner over his hands before she set it down. She turned to gather the antiseptic and liquid bandages from her pack.

"It wasn't exactly consensual, Mei," Izuku muttered, wincing as she cleaned the scrapes across his hands, eyes lidded as he ignored the pain that flared with every motion. "Besides, this is within what I expected, if a bit earlier then I would have liked. Thanks to you and Momo, the accelerant serum will help with the early healing and numb the pain. Your prototype gear will let me participate in the third act. I figure most of the second day will be spent resting in preparation while we acquire the last objectives. And while you mission-kill the snitch-bot." He lifted his far less damaged left hand (he hadn't used it to catch a high-grade explosive, at least) and moved to bring up his plans. A few taps of the console Mei had set up nearby and the Holowall glowed to life.

"I managed to snag the #1 insignia patch from Bakugou's uniform. We got the coffin out. We also have our VIP agent, the black data laptop and the skull from the vault. That's 1, 4, 5, 12, and 13. Kouji and your camera-bots confirmed eight more objectives," Izuku mused, flicking through stills from the cameras. A jewelry store with a large gaudy diamond and a comically oversized price tag, number 7. Another high rise, this time a server room with a computer bank, a large 10 etched on the case. A warehouse on the edge of the city blocks, a large crate marked with 14 on the side stacked among the other boxes. A radio broadcast office, set up on the western half of the city, with another hostage bot, its eerily Present Mic-styled attire adorned with a bright 3.

"The four of these are spread out and divided enough that the night teams can take them. Let's choose Breakdown Six. Con, Assault, go wake the teams, get them some food and give them time to gear up. We plan to start at 11:45. Mei, you get watch tonight. Hitoshi will run comms, and Mezou needs rest like me. Tonight needs to be in and out. No fuck-ups, no delays."

Hitoshi and Mezou nodded, already heading down to relay orders, Mezou shifting to loosen bruised muscles.

As they left, Mei looked at Izuku with a gleam in her eye. "Hey, Izu! Do you really think Neito will pull off the act you want?"

"Not at all. While he talks and plays haughty, he can't lie for shit. Too proud. It's why I had Hitoshi drug him to the gills. Saves him some pain from the broken arm as well." Izuku grinned, smirking at the remembered proud and expectant expression on Neito's face. He also knew that his poor savior was fine with sleeping a chunk of the night and tomorrow away.

"Wait, what drugs?"

Izuku smirked, pulling out an empty vial from his pocket, tossing it so she could see the label.

"The good kind."

Katsuki cracked his knuckles, feeling the low-burning ache through his arms and shoulders from his fight with Deku. His head wound had been shallow and sealed up with some liquid stitches with no problem, but he was technically concussed. With a ruling from Recovery Girl over the comms to check him, he was essentially removed from command for 12 hours. Also, he couldn't sleep due to the risk.

So instead, here he was. Sitting in bed with a warm blanket, looking over the feeds on his smart tablet. The villains had gone silent for the last few hours and with the exception of a very quiet, smiling Monoma, they were nowhere to be found. He tabbed to a feed of Tsuburaba and Asui interrogating his prisoner, or at least trying to. Monoma had refused sedation and was currently in a cell. Asui was playing good cop, trying to coax out anything she could and asking leading questions. Meanwhile, Tsuburaba tried to get Monoma angry or annoyed. Both had been told to keep a five-foot range, easily marked out by yellow tape, to keep him from stealing Quirks.

Bakugou was fucking annoyed. The whole sacrifice rubbed him the wrong way. He had never anticipated shit like this. He had expected Deku to fight tooth and nail not to lose anyone. Deku had looked surprised, damn near heartbroken, at Monoma jumping in. But something was… wrong.

Why didn't he try to save Monoma? He could have doubled back and saved him. The only other way was if Brain Drain had mind-washed his boss to head home. If that happened, Bakugou would have expected a dangerous level of damage to occur somewhere.

It didn't add up.

Hitoshi stepped down the last few steps into what at one time had been a fairly beautiful open-space office, but was now home to several crates of supplies and tables where gear was spread out and being assembled. The four teams he was sending out tonight were getting ready. Like the rest of the rooms the villains had taken in the building, thick blackout curtains covered the slew of windows.

Yosetsu and Sen were the team that seemed the most collected; their assets sliding into pockets and gear being tightened. Sen's armor was exposed, his long coat draped over the back of his seat as the fairly basic body armor, not much more than a vest and some arm guards, was strapped down. Then he added the equipment netting loaded with his supply of tools. His gas mask was sitting on the table, the filters fresh and ready. Beside him stood Yosetsu in a black tank top and cargo pants, with a courier-style pack of tools. His bandana was still there, holding his hair back, but a face mask similar to Mezou's stretched from cheekbone to collar, decorated with a massive blue smile. Yosetsu had taken his role as 'Graffiti' with glee and had already been planning out places for traps and ambushes through the building. The main stairwell, covered with bright red and blue 'X' marks and tripwires, was proof of that. The elevator itself was the only safe way through the upper levels of the Tower now.

The other teams were setting up as well.

Fumikage had his cloak spread out over the counter as he checked its wiring. His under-outfit was designed with leather and buckles in mind, taking inspiration from the old movie, The Crow, with Brandon Lee and Edward Scissorhands. A leather vest covered his torso, strapped tight with multiple buckles, many of which held small bits of gear. His black jeans were buckled with a bright red belt, matching his collar, and a second black belt was slung low on one side, ladened with a row of grenades.

Beside him, Kuroiro had swapped his grey vest for a deep red one and was also grabbing quite a few tools and a pair of batons for combat. Beyond that, his hat had been replaced by a short black hood that stuck into the collar of his shirt. He had also added a gas mask with bright, green-glowing lenses.

Mina stood with Reiko by the window. She had forgone her classic motley array of colors in exchange for an outfit that looked like black scaley joints and plates of polished black armor, adding a smooth black visor that wrapped her eyes. Her pink hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail. Her armor had also been hooked up with tubes to and from tanks mounted on her hips, to store extra acids. In the end, she did indeed look like an alien queen.

Her partner Reiko, on the other hand, looked ghoulish. Her outfit, a loose school uniform in grey and black, was tattered and ripped. Her hair was covered by a black veil, giving her an appearance straight out of a horror movie. The pale, faceless white mask she favored only added to that menacing expression. Hitoshi knew from talking with Mei there were a few secrets to Reiko's outfit, extra armor and gear stashed in its layers.

The final duo was Juzou and Itsuka.

Juzou picked a full suit with tails when they had asked for his preference, and had a gold tie and hat band to accentuate his off-color skin tone. He also had a long, curved hook staff with him, for ease of use. The soft-spoken teen was engaged with Itsuka in conversation, who had taken a business casual approach. Button up shirt and vest, long skirt that parted up the sides to her thighs for ease of movement, and a belt of pouches filled with various tools and gadgets.

For several minutes Hitoshi watched, seeing them all finish setting up, zipping bags and stashing the last of the tools. With a twirl, Fumikage wrapped his cloak around his shoulders and the internal lighting turned on, bathing the depths of the cloak and hood with a deep red glow, both to keep Dark Shadow at bay and provide an intimidating effect. Particularly when he slipped on a cloth mask with the same tech over his head and it lit up with glowing red eyes and a smile over his avian skull.

With that, Hitoshi stepped forwards and tapped a console, the white walls behind him being covered with projections.

"Alright, fall in ladies and gents. Izuku wanted us to strike at 11:45, I want us out and moving into position by 11:30. The faster we get this done, the faster we can set up for day two."

Neito felt his eyes focus back on his… 'interrogators,' as they rattled off another line of questions. Tsuburaba was loud and aggressive, slamming the wall and blowing wind around. Asui was calm and focused.

Honestly? Even if Neito wanted to respond and fuck with them, he really couldn't. The pill that Con had slipped him was great at numbing out the pain of shattering both his arms, but it made the world… hazy. He sort of got what they were saying. "Where is your base? What are your plans? Blah blah blah." Honestly? Neito couldn't care. Con had said that it would wear off in about 16 hours and that Extortion would help with his arm problem.

'Heh. The plan for Extortion is really, really, really funny!'

Neito burst into giggles and his interrogators gave up.

"Shouda, Asui–" Shiozaki Ibara started, looking over the gathered heroes.

"Call me Tsuyu."

"Tsuyu, then. We're setting up patrols. You two have the console."

"Understood."

"I, Todoroki, and Uraraka are team leaders. With me are Satou and Kamakiri. Uraraka has Sero and Tsuburaba. Todoroki has Rin and Shishida. Tokage, Hagakure, and Komori. You're on base watch. Keep the place secure. In several hours the injured will start coming off bedrest and join you. One of you needs to keep watch on the prisoner." Ibara continued, checking her tablet to confirm she had everyone in the right teams.

"For those of you who haven't been informed," Todoroki picked up, a screen behind him turning into a mugshot of Monoma and a fake rap sheet. "During the museum heist the villain team began a few hours ago, we managed to capture the injured Monoma Neito. He broke both his arms channeling the Kingpin's super strength, buying time for their escape before surrendering to us. Shortly after, the system granted us access to his file. His villain alias is Larceny and he was supposedly partnered with Yaoyorozu Momo. He is currently self-sedated, potentially as a way to keep the pain from using Kingpin's Quirk at bay. As such, we cannot apply any sedatives until it clears out of his system. Interrogation proved unsuccessful. However, we believe it's possible that Kingpin will try to recover his ally sometime before day three. Keep an eye out."

With that, the heroes scattered to prep for their missions.

Across the street, an earphone jack slipped back into a manhole cover.

"Hacker, got some news for you. Heading back to my hideout now to transmit it to the Tower."

"Thanks, Miss Pirate Radio! Rember, get your stuff set up before noon and you can sleep the rest of the time."

"Good to hear. It's been a long day. PR out."

3 days before the exam

Izuku sat in Hatsume's workshop, testing out her mobile Holowall set up.

"So like this?" He made a gesture and the video feed his hand was hovering on was highlighted.

"Yep, that selects a feed, then you drag to your preferred location. The other gesture is for pausing data."

"Cool."

For a while, that was it. Occasional comments and questions, before the conversation died out. Mei focused on assembling the last barrel for the big gun before she noticed something. Namely, Izuku slouching against the back wall of the counter he was sitting on.

"Hey… Izuku?"

No response.

"Izzzzuuuu????"

A faint snore and Mei stepped around, looking at the dozing green-haired teen.

"Huh."

Up close, Izuku didn't look that good. He had the bags that she would associate more with Shinsou and his face was pale. Stress? He had been active and up late if the odd midnight updates to plans were any indicator.

She frowned and poked him, his head slowly tilting as he let out another light snore.

"Silly Kingpin," she sighed and lifted his arm, pausing at how toned it seemed. Anyway, she had a beanbag in the corner she used when she needed a sleep break from tinkering on her babies. It would be more comfortable than sleeping standing up. She got his arm around her neck and reached to grab under his knees, planning to princess carry Izuku to the beanbag.

She got her grip, crouched and stood, and almost staggered because holy hell for such a small guy Izuku-kun was heavy.

Careful not to wake the sleeping mastermind, Mei navigated towards the massive bean bag she had in the corner. She set Izuku down, sighing in relief at letting the weight go. She was no stranger to heavy stuff, but Izuku still weighed more than she thought. She glanced down and noticed his shirt had ridden up, exposing the reason. The little badass was pure muscle. She grinned and took a picture of his abs, before shifting his shirt back down.

She laid a fleece blanket over him to keep him warm and headed back to the Holowall. She had a few adjustments to do.

Though if she ended up with a few more pictures of the sleeping green-haired boy… well, no one had to know.

The Witching Hour

Chapter Summary

Midnight approaches, as the games begin again.

(Updated with final edits, 5/2/19)

Day 1: 23 hours, 44 minutes (11:44 pm, local time)

"Check in," Mei called, looking at the Holowall as she popped in her earset once more. Her eyes focused as the eight camera feeds from the villains' masks and hats came through.

"Nightmare and Blackout, ready." The two were crouched in a back alley, ready to move.

"Hold Up and Graffiti, ready to rock." They sat underground, standing at the base of a manhole cover.

"Drug-Runner and Lift, set and good to go!" There they were, Mina making acid to top off her tanks as they looked at the street from behind a dumpster.

"Sleight and Smuggler, eyes on the target." The two were sitting in an empty restaurant, having tunneled into the basement and already cut the alarms.

"Good. Go, on all fronts. Keep your wits about you; get in, get out, and get home."

"Base, this is Alpha, moving back down the third street going south. No signs," Uraraka called in over the comms, Tsuyu nodded to herself, making notes.

"Roger that. Beta, Delta, update?" Tsuyu murmured, marking Uraraka's current location on the map.

"Delta here. Moving north now, up near the west side at the moment, and we're heading back soon." That was Todoroki, marker goes there...

"Beta here, circling two blocks from the outside as usual, east side currently." And there was Shiozaki, marked there.

"Understood. Keep in touch."

Juzou yawned as, with a soft click, his neck loosened and his jaw popped, clearing the last of sleep stiffness from his body. Beside him Itsuka, or Sleight, as she went by in the field, was stretching herself, hands locked behind her back. With a slow stretch back her spine clicked, a soft sigh of pleasure and relief leaving her lips as the duo turned their gazes to the heavy metal grate between them and their prize.

"It's impressive. The window is alarmed to hell and back, there are cameras everywhere and if any of the glass shatters, the alarms are triggered. Even then, there's no real way to reach the case. It's reinforced and loaded with sensors. If we break it, the alarms go off," Itsuka commented, looking over the information they had on their phones.

"Sadly, they never expected me, or us, choosing to simply smash and grab." Juzou grinned, stepping to the side of the building closest to their target. With a tap, the wall shimmered and its texture seemed to soften.

"Would you be so kind, my Lady Sleight?"

"No problem, Sir Smuggler." Cupping her hand into a clawing motion and growing it to be as wide as she was, Itsuka grasped the top and slowly dragged her hand down, leaving a new entry into the building the width of her massive hand.

"Wonderful. Let's grab and go." He smiled, stepping over the now solid pile of brick sludge.

Juzou stepped quickly, ignoring the alarms that began ringing as he reached out. His hand pushed through the reinforced glass of the display with ease and pulled the gaudy, oversized diamond necklace out, sliding it into his coat to sit in a large interior pocket.

"Alarm's going off and you got the Gravity patrol heading your way. Stay off the streets."

"I guess we should take our leave before the heroes show up," he muttered, amused, stepping out and looking up. The building next to the jewelry store was only three stories. Wonderful! "Shall we?"

Itsuka nodded and turned back to the wall. With her massive hand held out, and a hop and a crouch to get ready, he jumped up as she threw him high. He hooked on the end of the cane, lashing out to catch the lip of the roof and guide his motion into a curve with a smooth landing. Spinning back around, he tightened his grip as he lowered his cane, and Itsuka leaped, a large finger catching the hook before she shrunk her hand, transitioning to a tight grip. A twist and a pull, and Sleight stood on the roof beside him.

"We're not too far from the restaurant. Let's move," she called out and the two rushed to the far side of the block.

With luck, the heroes would never see them.

"Sleight and Smuggler got their attention. Todoroki's moving towards the east side. Move in."

Fumikage and Shihai rushed through the shadowed streets towards the warehouse. They froze and kept an eye out at every corner as they stayed on the lookout for heroes. Blackout was a wraith, the deepest, blackest of shadows coating his skin and absorbing light, leaving a surreal blank spot in the night where he moved. Behind him, the faintly glowing cloak of Tokoyami looked like a demon from hell as it kept pace, red and black shifting as the tears in his cloak opened or shut with each movement.

They reached the warehouse without any sign of the heroes. With steady hands, Blackout picked at the lock, Nightmare letting the tension relax as he kept watch. Within a minute, the door was opened, and they were in. They rushed through the stacks, looking for the crate they wanted.

There it was.

It was large and strapped to a pallet. They had a plan for moving it, but that would be reliant on Graffiti bringing the truck around. Their job was to be ready for it.

"We'll need the pallet jack or a forklift. I'll track one down, double-check the straps and set up for the next stage," Shihai said and Fumikage nodded, already running hands along the straps to check the connections.

They just had to hold out for pick up now.

"Clear. Shiozaki's team just checked in and she's heading across town. Move."

In the backstreet they had exited the sewers from, Yosetsu was already crouched with his hands in the guts of the pickup truck they had chosen to use. He mumbled as he reviewed the instructions Mei had given him, and as he twisted wires to get – there. A spark. He quickly welded those wires together and let the engine spark to life, leaving it idling in the alley.

"Exit route is prepped. Let's get our guy."

He and Sen made their way across the street and around a building to a fire escape, Sen twisting his legs before leaping the twelve feet up. It took only a few seconds for him to drop the ladder so Yosetsu could follow. The building they were at was only a few stories tall, but they needed to reach the top floor. That's where the recording studio would be.

The two villains reached the top floor and the security door that was their entrance.

"So... wanna knock?" Yosetsu asked, pulling a coil of wire from his bag.

"Sure." Sen shrugged, before shifting his stance back. His hand began to rotate, his arm twisting and shortening as the mass was repurposed. Then, with a sound not unlike a snapping cable, slamming his fist into the door, denting the metal and blowing it off its hinges.

"Knock knock! Kidnapping! We want to give you to our boss! It's like a violent religion, just come quietly!" Yosetsu called out, striding in and kicking the door to the side, welding it into the wall to keep it out of the way.

"Isn't 'violent religion' a redundant turn of phrase, since historically religion is fairly violent?" Sen murmured distractedly, taking a gun out from the inside of his jacket and pulling back the slide to check the chamber, before turning back to the alley.

"Shhh, I'm bird hunting," Yosetsu called back, storming into the building and down a short hall, kicking through a frosted glass door.

A fire alarm finally began going off. There, clumsily standing behind a desk across the open floor studio, was the target. A modified civil-bot with a conical yellow hat and a leather vest. It looked like a shitty Present Mic cosplayer.

Yosetsu snapped the wire taut between his fists, the blue painted-on smile and dark eyes showing as he stomped across the room. "There you are! Now hold still so this doesn't hurt..."

"Shit, there's a second alarm! Uraraka, keep on the first alarm, Todoroki, get ready to back Uraraka up from the north if there's a fight. Shiozaki, the alarm is coming from three blocks east and one north of where you are now. Hurry! Sending you the marker now!"

Reiko held out her hand, watching it turn pale and lifeless, stuck rigidly in place, as a new spectral arm emerged from the wall and opened the door from the inside. She and her partner walked through the side door of the high rise without setting off the alarm. Behind her, Mina grinned and looked around.

"That was easy. Now we just need to get to the fourth floor and plug in the uplink!"

"Yep. Let's head up. You'll need to melt a few walls. I can only open some of the doors like that."

"As we planned?" Mina asked, already tapping her visor and seeing the overlaid blueprints through the walls. Wiring and plumbing showed up in bright red, supports in yellow.

"As we planned," Reiko echoed back, striding through the building's back hallways.

The two horror movie villains grinned as they headed upstairs.

Uraraka leaped from building to building, short pulses of weightlessness letting her move from one vantage point to another with long, carefully timed jumps. Sero moved across the street, and between them Tsuburaba ran down it, his breathing slow and easy as the three headed for what HQ had told them was a jewelry store. She was heading up to a taller point when she saw them, nothing much, but a flicker of change, a breaking of light from one window to another. Two figures leaping across the rooftops a half block away.

"Sero, Tsuburaba, I have visual contact. Here's the plan."

6 days before the exam

Uraraka glanced back across the room, seeing Deku tense slightly but keeping his eyes down as she joined the hero team. Beside her, Todoroki leaned back against the wall, eyes also locked on Izuku. Todoroki looked at Izuku with a thoughtful expression as Iida joined them, also somewhat morose at what felt like a betrayal. She looked over and shared a commiserating look with her rule-abiding friend, only to be interrupted from her thoughts.

"Uraraka," came the soft voice.

That was not Iida. She turned to the ice and fire user. "Wh–"

"Don't pity him."

"What do you mean?" she hissed back, a flicker of anger igniting under her skin before she noticed how tense Todoroki actually was.

"Don't. Pity. Midoriya. It's not going to end well if you do," Todoroki emphasized softly, but his gaze was locked on her. "I've seen that stance twice. Felt this mood before."

"W-When?"

"When he stood back up and yelled at me during the festival, when he broke his already broken fingers. When he convinced me to use my fire."

That was enough to shock her. She had seen Deku during that, they all had. The two fighters had been away from any microphones and most of the cameras aimed at them had been unable to really get a good shot of Izuku's face during that fight in the arena. Todoroki had tossed ice everywhere and Izuku's strikes had claimed their fair share of cameras. But she had seen Izuku pause and then push harder than before.

"What was the second time?"

Iida spoke up this time, a sharp hissed word that surprised her.

"Hosu. The second time was in Hosu. That's when I saw it."

Uraraka looked back at her friend. Everyone in the class knew something went down in Hosu. Midoriya's mysterious message, the fact they were admitted to the hospital, Iida's new scars and the video of Stain. She knew those things meant something, but she didn't know exactly what. She swallowed, finding her throat suddenly dry, and looked back at the green-haired kid who she had saved on the first day. This time she paid more attention.

'Like Gunhead-sensei said. Watch the body. Watch the eyes. They'll give themselves away.'

Izuku… was still. Not like when he was scared. No. It looked like when he was muttering. Like when he was standing and focused. But this time it wasn't about a hero or a new Quirk. No. He focused on the room. On Bakugou.

'I wonder… what is going to happen, Izuku?'

As the class came to a close, Aizawa dismissed them, only calling for Izuku to stay for a moment to discuss a test.

'What are you going to do?'

Duels in the Dark

Chapter Summary

Nighttime mayhem runs through the streets, the Heroes have been pushed back, but now they return the favor.

Now they chase.

(Updated with final edits, 5/2/19)

Day 1: 23 hours, 54 minutes (11:54 pm, local time)

Juzou would have been taken out in the first moment of the fight if he hadn't turned to check his six o'clock. As it is, he only brought his hook staff around in time to clumsily fend off a high-speed kick from a student in orange and black armor.

He stumbled back and into Itsuka's side, causing her to spin around, hands already expanding.

By then the attacker had kicked off, flying up and back across the roof, pulled back in a long arc to where two strands of tape were stuck to the rooftop.

"Tower, got three on us from above. We need an exit stat. Sero, Uraraka, and Tsuburaba," Itsuka muttered. It was true, staff raised and held to guard, Juzou could see what was going on more clearly now. Sero was floating just above the roof, the tape from his elbows anchoring him. Beside him, Tsuburaba mantled over the ledge, while Uraraka landed from a long jump, tapping her hands together as she and Sero dropped to the floor.

"Hello, villains! We are here to capture you. Come along quietly or get wrecked!" Tsuburaba called, tensed for a fight.

"Hold on a minute, I gotta check something."

"Better make it fast, Hacker."

Sen and Yosetsu rushed, the civil-bot held by its legs and torso between them as they moved across the street.

Sen glanced around and cursed. There, probably two blocks away and closing in fast, a snaking line of vines was coming their way. It was ridden by three figures as it lashed out and dragged itself forwards rapidly.

"Graffiti, get going. I'll slow them down."

Sen dropped the legs towards Yosetsu, who rushed into the side street and headed for the still idling truck.

At the same time, Sen pulled his handgun back out and took careful shots at the heroes. Two blocks… almost a fourth of a kilometer in distance.

The snap-hiss sound of the gun went fast as he tried to pepper the approaching heroes. Sadly, that fell apart when the vines simply shifted and curled back, granting Shiozaki and her allies built-in cover before they surged forwards once more.

"Oh, that's not fucking fair." Sen put the gun away as he ran down the side street, the roar of the pick up signaling that it was time to go. He reached to his jacket lapel and pulled a cylinder from where it hung, yanking the pin and dropping it as he vaulted the back of the truck. He came to a stop less than a meter from the welded-to-the-wall Mic-bot.

"GO GO GO!" He hammered on the cab's back wall with a boot, looking at the first tendrils of vines that came creeping along the street. Then, his grenade started spewing thick and heavy smoke into the night air, quickly blacking out the alley behind him.

Awase hit the gas, shifted gears, and with the squeal of tires on concrete, they were off.

They exited with a cloud of smoke-spewing after them, along with vines that crept along buildings and chased them.

"Oh goddamnit." He pulled the gun again and started taking potshots, forcing Shiozaki to multitask. "I know she's been putting time into growing her vines bigger and faster, but this is goddamn insane."

He managed to make them stagger back, hiding behind vines a few times, but the truck was swerving slightly. "Graf! Keep her steady, Hack we need a route that won't get us caught please!"

"HOLD TIGHT!" came the call and Sen grimaced, holding tight as the truck all but drifted and they turned south, spinning their tires and squealing as they made a wide right turn away from the borders of the district, taking them down another street.

"Working on it!"

"WORK FASTER, BITCH!" Yeah, okay, Yosetsu was pissed. Fuck.

Sen grabbed another grenade, an incendiary this time, and yanked the pin, counting down from three.

"Tossing flame!"

The bomb skidded off the street where, with a dull explosive sound, it spread a splash of flames across the street, the fuel sticking to the concrete and burning. The plants reared back, Shiozaki obviously was taken off guard, before the vines shifted to climb the buildings as the three riders were circled up and around the flames.

"Floor it past this street and take the next right turn, then go straight through the next three blocks. After that, the road turns back north as you pass the city center and you can hopefully juke the heroes a bit!"

"Fine. SHI– SEN, BRACE."

"Oh, shIT–"

The truck shuddered as it sideswiped a parked sedan, the turn down the side street going wide. Sen was gripping the truck bed walls with white fingers at the impact before the car skidded back off and continued down the street.

"Warning would be nice!"

"FUCK YOU SEN. SORTA BUSY."

"This is Con, I'm back and retaking comms so Hacker can do her job. Drugs, Lift, keep it slow and careful. Sleight, Smuggler, get inside the building. The roof beneath you is clear for passage. Night, Black, open the southeast side warehouse loading door, you want bay 4. Get the pallet ready to go as fast as possible at the opening. You'll have less than a minute to drop and get in. Graf and Hold, keep on the course. The heroes are falling behind, which is good, but I've got some worrying movement from the Ice Man to the north."

Mina and Reiko shared a glance, hearing the troubles their allies were facing.

"Let's hurry. They might need back up," Mina held out her hand and flexed as she spoke, the gloves that collected the acid releasing sharp hooked claws. With a flex of her wrist and hand, she swapped the pump on her suit from draining to releasing her acid.

With the heavy-duty non-corrosive points exposed and dripping with alkalines, she went to work. She scored lines filled with the highly potent acid that slowly melted and corroded through the concrete and rebar wall between them and the server room. As it crumbled she dug the claws in, pulling the decayed chunks away to let the acid eat deeper, faster. She scored through each layer quickly, Reiko standing back to avoid the slowly-spreading line of acid across the floor. The ghost girl poured a neutralizing compound across them with the help of a phantom limb.

From testing on another building, they knew this would take almost ten minutes. The schematics showed there weren't sensors or alarms in the server room, only the rooms and offices leading into it.

Uraraka was pulled back by Sero's tape once more, the coil around her hand helping as she pulled free of the sudden quicksand that the floor became.

Across from them stood Itsuka and Juzou, breathing heavily as they looked ready to fight. The combat had been hectic, the heroes avoiding the rooftop itself as best they could, since the surface shifted back and forth from stone and concrete to a consistency resembling tar. The villains in return were much more elusive, avoiding Uraraka's hands or Sero's tape. Tsuburaba had taken a few potshots but was far more concerned with giving his team a place to step or thing to grab so they could stay free to move.

"Sleight, I believe it's time to for us to step down," Juzou called, slamming his foot down and setting his staff at the ready. A moment later and he had shifted a much larger radius around him to a tar-like consistency, the heroes leaping back. Itsuka stepped close as she pulled a simple mouth and nose mask from her jacket, pressing it on to seal with a hiss.

Uraraka had but a second to realize what their plan was before she was lunging in low gravity, trying to clear the gap in a last-ditch attack. She was stopped though, Juzou swinging up the bottom of the hooked cane to slam into her, throwing her back and up for a minute as the two villains dropped through the roof, sinking through a sudden hole of liquid.

"Shit. In we go," Tsuburaba muttered before blowing a platform of air for Uraraka to land on as the surface of the roof solidified once more.

"This is going to be a nightmare," Sero muttered, flexing as he readied himself.

Yosetsu gritted his teeth, hand gripping the gearshift tight and body leaning into the foot on the gas pedal. He popped the clutch and swapped to a higher gear, palming the wheel as he steadied his course again, avoiding one more reaching vine that tried to engage and slow the sideswipe the truck made from a side-alley. Honestly, he knew Shiozaki had been training but normally to get her Quirk going like this she needed an open field or somewhere to grow and strengthen– "FUCK, Con, is there a city park around here?"

"There's a corner park a block north and two closer to the center of the district," Con confirms his suspicions and Yosetsu guns it, counting down the distance. Another creeping vine crawling from an alley on the north side of the street gets flattened, but not before taking off his right-side mirror.

"It's there. Her vines are coming from there."

"Well shit. You need to go right past it unless you want to be close enough to the Hero Agency for it to send back up," Con responded, voice sharp.

"Good." Reaching back Yosetsu reached down and grabbed his gun from his belt before he slammed the butt of the weapon through the rear window of the cab, shattered tempered glass raining down across the seat next to him. "SEN, I GOT A PLAN."

"WHAT DO YOU NEED?"

"YOUR FIREBOMBS."

3 days before the exam

Mei finished her final check on the equipment. Before her, twelve metal briefcases were opened and lined up, their contents on display.

"Red goo, flame, concussive, flash, smoke, tear gas..." She checked-off her list. Izuku had requested these and they were easy enough, most of the designs had even been premade. A bit of editing to remove as much spare material as they could feasibly get away with was done, particularly once she had Momo and Neito produce the casings. Speaking of the 'Miracle Matter Makers,' the two had headed to lunch, planning to gorge themselves to make up for lost calories and fat reserves.

Mei took her time closing up and locking the cases. After Izuku's earlier visit and subsequent nap, she had finished most of the materials for the exercise.

She packed the briefcases in a crate and looked over the back of the trucks in her lab. Two were filled with stacks of organized cases and crates, all small enough to fit in the eventual bases and travel through the sewers. She had RG guns and ammo, demolition charges, the Holowall, comms and computers, and personalized suits of gear, all personally designed to make the villains stylish and dangerous. And much, much more.

The one with the mount for her baby was particularly exciting, and there were a few crates prepped there as well.

But she had two more projects that Izuku hadn't seen yet.

Mei stashed the grenade crates in the trucks and then wandered to the back of her lab, pulling the half-completed projects from where they sat, hidden in plain sight.

She had her personal equipment almost ready, the partial exoskeleton finished and the armor close to completion. But for Izuku...

Well, his gear was still only going to be a prototype and that's all she could give him. But she was sure he would make it work, despite the time limit it would have.

She heard the door to the lab open, Neito's softly accented voice chatting about basic weapon designs with a cheerful Momo.

Mei blocked them out for a moment. She had three days, and aside from finishing with her personal projects, there was one more thing she wanted to do. The trucks were nice, but Izuku had a point: style and impact were important.

She pulled up the requisitions form and the catalog of cars already placed in the city (most were old beaters, donated for use in the exam) and tabbed through it, selecting a town car for getting in early. But she needed the right car, something Izuku would like. Tomorrow, any of the villains who couldn't already drive were learning the basics of driving anyway, Yosetsu planning to walk them through it.

Since Mei could drive (just not legally) she decided that she would use the spare time to get started.

"What I need… is something fast." She paused, looking at the pictures on her screen, before grinning. It wasn't what she expected and Izuku would need to take an extra class to learn it.

"Perfect."

Burning Away the Chaff

Chapter Summary

(Updated with final edits, 5/2/19)

Day 2: 0 hours, 2 minutes (12:02 am, local time)

"I hate this plan!" Sen muttered, slowly twisting his legs as he focused on the trailing Shiozaki. He would only really get one shot at this.

"So do I, but let's do it. Be safe!" Yosetsu returned, eyeing the next block and where he had to go.

Ibara pushed harder, growing her vines faster and larger. After her humiliating defeat in the Sports Festival, she was going to prove herself. Before her team's patrol, she had spent the better part of an hour at one of the only plots of plant life in the city, growing the infrastructure to make her vines longer and stronger.

Then these two showed up. Kaibara and Awase, better known as the class jokers. Awase was rude and uncouth, constantly vulgar as he taunted and insulted his opponents. While far calmer, Kaibara was disrespectful and apathetic towards those around him, not to mention openly heretical, as evidenced by several very loud, very pointed debates he had started with her. Both had mocked her Christian leanings in their own ways, and she had no plans to let them escape her grasp during this exercise.

She focused, the closing distance back to the park making her vines grow stronger as she pushed herself faster and farther. Sen brought up his gun again and with a newly practiced motion, a swift weaving of vines flowed before her and her companions.

But the thud and splatter of the bullets never came.

Instead, a hissing sound reached her. She glanced up, the vines loosening to let her see, only for Kaibara to go crashing through, kicking her back with a surprised gasp as his boots made contact through the vines. His gas mask shone with blue baleful eyes, gazing through the dark of the night. In each hand was a pair of pulled grenades, smoke pouring out and wreathing him like a demon of hell and brimstone. One was deep black and thick, the other a noxious green-blue glowing in the street lights, the scent of it making her tear up and choke.

'Tear gas of some sort! No!'

She shoved him back, trying to get him away but he simply dropped the grenades, making her gasp and stagger as the vines pulled her and her allies back. In the corner of her eye, she could see Kamakiri swipe his hand, a blade growing from his arm to swipe the grenade's smoke clear.

From above the path of the blade Kaibara leaped in once more, body twisted and contorted as he used his strange Quirk. He lept off one vine to another and then shoulder-checked Satou, the sugar eater grunting and stumbling back as he reached for a dose of sugar. With a twisting motion, Kaibara was behind him and pulling his gun, placing it against the underside of Satou's head, keeping his jaw closed and pointing a second gun at Kamakiri and Ibara. catching themselves, both heroes froze, glancing at each other and tensing.

"Now, let's hold up and relax a minute or you may just lose another teammate."

Mina pointed a fist at the remains of the wall where they sizzled on the floor. With a hiss, the back of her gauntlet released a faint spray that seemed to congeal and solidify the mess. With that done, Reiko stepped past carefully and plugged the wireless connector Mei had given her into the server that sat blinking in the room.

"Connection in. Heading out now."

"Understood. Head to provide potential support to Sleight and Smuggler."

"Moving to the west district now."

The two girls trooped back down the stairwell. Reiko's arms went pale, letting her quickly pass from floor to floor by oversized glowing blue translucent arms, while Ashido slid down the stairwell on a stream of acid.

Sero Hanta crouched under the spinning staff of Honenuki Juzou, leaping off another desk in the office he and the skeletal villain were stuck in. The sounds of thuds and Uraraka and Tsuburaba's cursing echoed as they fought with Kendou on the other side of the room. Uraraka had tried using her Quirk, but Zero Gravity and Giant Fists had been a bad experience, so she had swapped to relying on Gunhead's training. Tsuburaba had tried to get a few shots in, popping shields or blowing spears of air, but Kendou was more than strong enough to shatter his air constructs.

The floor around Honenuki shifted and melted once more, the desk Hanta was standing on shifting as the villain lunged, staff spinning around for another strike. Hanta had managed to stick him with tape a few times, but Honenuki simply softened and then ripped the bands apart. He had resorted to this game of keep away and tossing bits of furniture at Honenuki in the hopes to knock him off-guard.

Hanta's tape yanked him towards the ceiling and at Honenuki as the staff passed beneath him before the swinging hook came around and caught his knees. Yelping as he was twisted and all but thrown across the room, Hanta came rolling up on his feet, only for Honenuki to kick a broken chair (one of the earlier weapons Sero had tossed at him) at the Tape Hero's face. Hanta brought his arms up to block the impact, only for Honenuki to kick him back and to the ground. Hanta tried to push himself up when the ground beneath him seemed to shift and give and his hands went through the now-soft floor.

"Team Gamma is awake and soon to head inbound, Team Delta is moving southeast to support Beta. Keep them there and off-guard."

Rolling his eyes, Hanta grunted and pulled his hands out of the soft floor before it could harden, leaping up and at Honenuki once more, only for a weightless Uraraka to be sent crashing into him from behind.

Honenuki lept back, skipping as he ran a hand along the ceiling, making the roof sag in and droop like taffy, long lines of material hardening between the two of them and him.

"Easier said than done, HQ," Tsuburaba called back over the comms, just before Kendou closed in and smashed him back and out of the office, into the halls.

"Todoroki and his Brute Squad are heading south-east. Hold Up and Graffiti, you have maybe a few minutes to get clear. Nightmare, be ready to support once the truck gets to you."

Yosetsu grinned and hit the brakes, the truck skidding to a stop. With Sen distracting the team, Shiozaki had let up on her control, which meant that the park was open. The patch of green had overgrown, massive twisting vines stretching out of the ground and across the street and buildings around it. Larger vines grew as tall as adult trees, trailing off in Shiozaki's direction.

Slamming the door open, Yosetsu hefted the four fused-together flame grenades he got from Sen. With a solid pull, he ripped the cord fused through the pins.

"Three…"

He cocked his hand back, holding the bundle from the end of the cord, the other end fused with the bundle itself. The four pins jingled from where they stayed on the line.

"Two…"

With a final spin for speed, he let it fly above the park, the entire unstable hunk of explosives wobbling and twisting as it went high.

"Burn, bitch!"

Then there was fire. Like a spinning top, waves of the flaming chemical compound splashed out of the fused grenades, scattering across the center of the park as the burning bundle hit the ground. Grinning to himself, Yosetsu watched as the vines, barely sustainable by Shiozaki with the resources of the park, went up like dry kindling. Running to the truck, Yosetsu popped back in the driver's seat.

"Sen, coming back now. Bitch's park is burning, so I give her 30 seconds before exhaustion or panic kicks in."

"So, Shiozaki–"

"–I'm quite amazed you got your vines so large. You used a park or something, yeah?"

She growled, vines thrashing around her as she and Kamakiri stepped in different directions, trying to flank Kaibara. Satou was growling lowly, still stuck with the gun pressed on his chin. "I did. By nature's grace, me and my vines have grown strong."

Sen listened, the faint roar of the engine revving as it came back. He spoke up to cover the sound, laughing. "Really! I wonder, how does fire affect your Garden of Eden?" He glanced between and behind the two of them pointedly and Shiozaki gasped, turning. Across several blocks, the faint glow of the wildfire that Awase had started was already visible in the night.

The truck came back drifting in a wide curve out of a side street so the back of the truck faced the standoff.

Sen took advantage of everyone looking away. He pulled the triggers.

Satou roared in pain, his neck and lower jaw turning red. Shiozaki shrieked, four red patches appearing with wet thumps across her back. However, Kamakiri, when Sen tried for the triple, simply lashed out, the red splashes blasted away with crisscrossing slashes of blades.

Sen turned and ran, spinning with his Quirk to dodge a razor sharp blade from a suddenly very spiky, and very angry-looking Kamakiri, who charged after him. He was getting closer and Sen was stuck dodging the rapid-fire slashes and piercing lunges, darting past them even as they gave him almost no free room to maneuver.

He got clipped, the tip of a blade carving across the face of his body armor and leaving Sen spinning off balance as Kamakiri reached for him, when a rapid hiss-click sound echoed. The hero was now coated with several splotches of red across his side and face.

The incredulous-looking hero jerked his head to the side, Sen following suit. There was Yosetsu leaning out of his broken passenger window, an SMG variant of the RG gun still pointed at the hero.

"Get in fucker, we're going shopping."

With a laugh at the mangled quote, Sen waved at the now 'killed' hero team, before leaping to the truck and swinging into the bed once more.

"See ya, bitches! Good time playing with you!"

With a sigh, the three dead heroes sat and waited. In their ears, they could hear Ectoplasm saying he would have a clone there in a minute to escort them back to the Observer Station, and that there were rooms they could sit and wait in, if they wished. They couldn't even call up the base with an update since they were all considered 'dead' and automatically locked out of the hero comms.

"Shit, I just lost Beta. Delta, hurry to intercept."

Todoroki breathed deep, his team sliding alongside him on an iced-over path over the roofs as he closed in on his target.

He had known from the first day that this would not be an easy fight. But even he had not been ready to face Midoriya as the Kingpin.

Regardless, to succeed they needed to begin taking out Midoriya's allies. If they were so dangerous that he needed to do it himself, then he would.

2 days before the exam

Izuku watched the speeding truck as it raced around the lot. Finding out that UA had a closed racing track was a surprise, but Mei explained it was part of the third-year curriculum for dealing with vehicles and, for the Support Class, a place to test vehicle designs.

Izuku could name a dozen famous heroes with vehicles. Gearhead, Rotoscope, Drift King, and more. Having a driving class makes sense.

As it was, four of the villains had proven to be skilled drivers in some way or another. Yosetsu was the best, with experience with trucks and vans from his family job. Behind him in the ranks were Mei, who had tested a few vehicles, Momo, who learned a few months ago, and interestingly enough, Izuku himself.

Honestly, it wasn't like it was hard, just spacial awareness, reflexes, and memorization. It was actually quite relaxing. After spending the past few days drilling combo attacks and basic strategies, this was a good chance to rest and unwind.

Though Mei did mention teaching him a different control layout.

He bet it had to do with the 'new project' she was working on yesterday.

All he knew was that it was coming along fast, using a lot of the premade parts she had access to, and Momo and Neito were helping her.

Midnight Bash, Buildings Crash

Chapter Summary

The night phase comes to a close, leaving some empty-handed, and other with wounds to care for.

Day 2: 0 hours, 21 minutes (12:21 am, local time)

The truck roared down the street and only slowed at the last moment, skidding as it went around a far corner and down a side-street. Finally, after a running battle, it pulled into a short driveway to a tall warehouse at the corner of the fake city. The truck pulled into the lot and took a sharp turn, fishtailing as it turned around and pulled up aside an open loading dock and braking.

"You are late," came the terse voice of Tokoyami Fumikage, stepping into sight. With the red glow etching his outfit, he appeared ethereal, menacing and demonic all the same time. Behind him, Kuroiro Shihai moved forwards in a forklift, lowering a pallet with a thick wooden crate onto the back of the truck. Through the shattered rear window, Yosetsu leaned out and touched both the pallet and the truck bed, the faint hiss of them fusing reaching their ears as the two other villains stepped into the truck.

"Sorry, vine problem," Sen muttered, finally taking a moment to reload and check his guns.

"So we heard," Shihai's voice, dry and rough, confirmed. "Let's go, we have unwanted friends coming our way."

Yosetsu needed no further prompting. With sharp motions, he popped the clutch, slammed the gas, and let the brakes go. With a squeal, the truck shot off, the three passengers in the back holding the cabin and sides as the truck sped up.

"Fuck, incoming on the tru–"

That's when the massive glacier formed and blocked off the road they were heading for.

Twenty minutes and five floors of melting, twisted combat in a seven-story building later, and the fight was still not over. Each floor they had passed through got destroyed thoroughly before the villains escaped, taking the stairs or simply falling through a floor like liquid as they evaded capture.

Thank God for Gunhead-sensei's insane training regiment.

The heroes were running ragged and the villains weren't doing much better. The three heroes stood staring past a twisted and distorted corridor, into two massive handfuls of brick pulled from the walls of the hallway and smashed into a half-formed wall between the heroes and the villains. At some point Honenuki Juzou had lost his staff and hat, now looking worn down, sporting quite the bruise across his temple from a lucky hit by Tsuburaba. Kendou Itsuka looked far worse, her arms black and red, dark purple bruises already forming up to her shoulders and her hands all colored in purple.

"Alpha, Gamma is coming in now."

Uraraka couldn't help but grin as she heard the good news of her backup coming in. Her opponents tensed as they readied to fight once more.

"Wai– WATCH OUT FOR THE ACID!"

Ojiro frowned as he looked at the two girls who had intercepted his team. With a quick motion, he held his two allies, both hard-headed as could be, back from running into a trap; a rooftop layered with pools of acid, the corrosion weak enough to not kill, but more than strong enough to weaken the roof to the consistency of something like styrofoam. Across the stretch of the decayed and corroded roof, were the two most disturbing villains he had seen yet, Alien Queen and Poltergeist. (Ojiro didn't know their true villain aliases, and honestly never wanted to find out).

"I hate horror movies," Ojiro muttered, and then he was busy dodging acid and spectral limbs.

"Intercept successful, Horrors on the roof of the exit with the company. Get ready."

Juzou felt elation. They could finally stop delaying for the others. The original plan had been to simply escape, but with the eyes on them, Con and Hacker had suggested they fight, drawing it out as long as possible. Now, with their reinforcements here and ready to exit, he tapped into the reserve he had been holding onto, pulling as much power and range from his Quirk as he could.

With that in mind, he smiled and touched the ground. A contact lens in his left eye whirred to life, turning his gaze red as it highlighted the densest materials around him, including the building support beams.

"Foundational–," he called out, making the heroes tense and look worried. He knew his bright red eye would freak them out. The lense cost him some depth perception but it made the entire eye, from sclera to pupils, turn a uniform red. Beyond that, calling out attacks was childish, but it was something that grabbed attention. What the heroes had failed to notice was that they had led the fight so that they were against the back half of the building. The half that was but a short alley from the neighboring building. One which had a convenient entrance to the sewers in its basement.

Quite convenient, but crossing the alley would be suicide with enemies like this team of heroes. Instead, let's make the alley disappear.

As his power encroached into the building and took root, he smiled. It strained slightly as he selected and reached up and around him, as well as below.

"–Collapse."

Just like that, yet another building became a casualty.

Around the hall, in front of his so-helpful defense, the walls and ceiling sagged and began to stretch, the floor tilting and separating as it snapped and the weight took hold. The rest of the building shuddered as well, key supports twisting and making the heroes yelp, the building seemingly sinking in on itself.

As the lower floors of the back third of the building sagged and sunk back into the alley, Itsuka reached out, her hands growing as she punched out through the back wall and into the wall of the building behind them.

Shouto stood atop the thirty-foot-tall glacier, ice in his right side steaming away as a small flame flickered across him.

"Surrender, or fall," he called, voice sharp as the four people in the truck looked at him.

He watched them glance at another and then back at Shouto.

He doubted they would surrender, but protocol needed to be maintained.

He was right.

A squeal of tires on asphalt and the truck began to reverse away at high speed, swerving slightly as it backed up.

Which is why he had his team ready themselves at the far end of the street.

With a surge of cold through his side, he readied another glacial blast. He would be the anvil for his team.

Then he flinched, prematurely drawing a wall of ice before him as it spattered with several red spots.

Of course. Those paint guns.

With a wave of his hand, he sent a wide curved slope of ice down towards the truck, intending to freeze it in place. The truck seemed to slow its reverse, the sound of wheels spinning and squealing against the street echoing as it came to a stop and then charged at the glacier.

A wave of black energy lashed out and shattered the still-forming wave of ice.

The energy and shadow took form, a massive bird-like shape, consisting of static and shadow. It crashed into his glacier, sending him falling back as the mountain of ice shattered.

Shit, Tokoyami.

And it's just past midnight.

Twisting around, fire and ice at his fingertips, Todoroki prepared for a fight like none he had never faced.

Mina and Reiko danced back across the rooftop from the heroic bulldozers that were trying to move across the roof, led by Ojiro and his impeccable sense of balance. Mina sprayed acid on safe paths and Reiko spawned arms to try and pull them off balance while keeping them off-guard. The villains knew where it was safe to stand, Mina's visor highlighting stable supports even as the roof began collapsing. Most of the damage was on the west side of the building, the location where the neighboring building had all but fallen apart, already caving in, all thanks to Juzou.