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He lunged at the same time she did, except while he lunged toward her with his gauntlets, fully prepared with an explosion, she lunged away from him, out a barely visible doorway.It was right then that his explosion went off, and it shot off straight towards where Toga used to be.The blast blew him back a foot, and his wrists ached.He would've kept chasing after her, but the building was so run-down and worn that the doorway partially collapsed.It would take more time than he had to clear it, especially if he wanted to pass the exam.Plus, even if he did use his explosions, he had no guarantee that it wouldn't just tear down the building further.

Letting out a short, frustrated scream, he stomped back to the entrance, every cell igniting with rage now that Toga was out of his sight.He cursed himself over and over again for letting her get away, for being so pathetic that he froze when he first saw her.So useless.

The light burned his eyes as they adjusted, but he didn't slow down for a single step.In the distance, he could see three examinees standing huddled together.Bakugo charged straight for them, ignoring the logical parts of his brain that told him to wait and make sure it wasn't a trap like before.

It didn't feel the same way, though.They were speaking in low, angry tones of voice, arguing over something or other.Bakugo didn't really care.All he wanted was to take out as many of them as possible before the people overseeing the exam called him out.He was dying to blow something- someone up.

"I don't care!If all three of us want to pass, then we're going to need to single someone out and attack as a group."

"That just draws attention to us!Then some bigger team comes along and all of us get out."

"Then what do you want for us to do?It's not like- LOOK OUT!"

Bakugo dove in, making a big blast that sent them dodging in all different directions, scattering them like leaves after a big gust of wind.One of them, the only girl in the trio, recovered the fastest and came at him with some kind of stick, like the kind some martial arts use.That doesn't do her much good when he blows it into splinters, though.

It doesn't even take another three seconds for her to be out of the game entirely.There was only one target to hit.

He knew that he had technically passed the exam now, and any moment his targets would glow pure white and he would be sent away.But he was seeing red, and he couldn't stop his actions as he took out the two other guys in rapid succession, both of them rushing him at the same time.His wrists continued to ache, throbbing more with every explosion that he sent the extra's way.

Some distant part of him recognized that he had gotten them out too, but he didn't really hear anything beyond the rushing in his ears, beyond the constant thud of his heart.The only thing that stoped him from continuing the fight was a boisterous and noisy voice appearing over the speakers, cutting through the static in his mind.

'Examinee 356, stop immediately and proceed to the waiting room.You have passed, and will be disqualified if you continue to go after other examinees.There are now only 15 slots left before the end of the first half of the exam.The pressure's on now!'

Bakugo blinked, arms falling against his sides limply.Mechanically, he walked away from the distraught trio and made his way to where everyone else had gone.He... he should probably tell Aizawa-sensei about what happened.But not Izuku-sensei, not alone anyway.

After everything he had just learned, everything he had just put together, he wasn't telling that man anything until he found out exactly how he knew All For One.

Right now, Izuku-sensei wasn't his teacher.He was someone that was keeping something from him.And Bakugo didn't trust him.

"Did you take care of it, Toga?" She clutched the phone tightly in her hand, pressing it against her cheek.

A short sniffle."Yeah.I took care of it."

Izuku walked alongside Aizawa and Joke, the three of them making their way towards the waiting room for the students who passed.There were still ten slots left, but the last of their class had just finished, and there wasn't as much of a reason to watch anymore.Present Mic was still doing the commentary, and had sufficiently subdued Mera and his attempts to get the microphone back.Given what Mera had tried earlier, Izuku didn't even feel bad for him.

He didn't really have anything against Mera specifically, he was just following orders and trying to get something out of him.The newest in a long line of Commission employees sent after him.It was frustrating to have to deal with their constant attempts to get information out of him, information they weren't in the slightest entitled to.For instance, they would try to casually work into the conversation how he got all of his information in the early days.

Please.Just because they asked politely now doesn't mean he doesn't know why they're asking.The HPSC had been respectful and courteous at first, relying on all of the quirked individuals to help them as they first formed.Then they started to get cocksure and arrogant, and at that point they could stand on their own two feet and they stopped including Izuku and all the others in their decisions.But they still expected him to give up confidential and irrelevant information, for no other reason than they were control freaks that wanted it.He wasn't an idiot.

"Well, Eraser, I guess all of your students survived the Crushing of UA.Might be the first time in years that's happened, especially while they're still first-years." Joke sighed ruefully, taking on a fond expression."And I see you've only expelled one of them this year.Is Eraserhead finally getting soft?Do you actually like your class for once?"

"Never," Aizawa immediately denies."As you said, all of them survived the Crushing of UA in their first year.They've got potential, that's all."

Joke lifts a brow skeptically, and Izuku silently watches the show in front of him."Really?That's pretty cruel, Aizawa, especially considering one of them is your son."

"He's the exception, not the rule." Izuku purses his lips together, stopping the chuckle from escaping.Aizawa had the most indignant expression on his face, clearly offended that Joke would suggest he actually enjoyed teaching his students.

"Righhhttttt," Joke drawls out, nice and disbelieving.In his mind, Izuku remembers why that batch of students had been so fun to teach.Of course he remembers every set of students that walk through his doors, but there was every once in a while that he could tell they were going to do something great.He's just glad he always had the chance to see it.

Though there were always some drawbacks to that too.

They arrived at the large white door where all the students were gathering until the second round started.Joke nodded to them once and blew a kiss to Aizawa before hopping over to where her students that passed had clustered together, clearly congratulating them on their victory.Meanwhile, Izuku and Aizawa trekked over to the portion of the room that all of their students were waiting at.

"Well done!" Izuku beamed at them."All of you have made it past the first round.Impressive!"

Smiles were tossed back at him from all but a few students.One of the most memorable of which being Bakugo.He was glaring at Izuku with something in his eyes that hadn't been there before, a resentment and silent loathing that Izuku didn't fully understand.

"Thank you, sensei!" Several of the students chorused.

"Do you know when the next part of the exam is going to start?" Kirishima asked Aizawa."I want to get back out there while all of this manliness is flowing through my veins!"

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"Be patient.They need to set up the stage for the next part of the exam.It shouldn't take that long at all," The black-haired man huffed."Though if anyone could manage to make it take forever, it would be the Hero Commission." The last part was muttered under his breath.

Silently, Izuku rejoiced in the fact that he wasn't the only one with a distaste towards the Commission.Sure, he believed that tey were necessary in the society they had right now, but they also made things a whole lot more difficult for everyone.And then they painted themselves as the heroes of every story.Even the ones they had nothing to do with.

The students all nodded, the more anxious of them wringing their hands and doing their best to breathe deep breaths.A few of them were calm and collected, like Yaoyorozu and Todoroki, but there was one students that didn't fit either group.Bakugo.

The spiky blonde was glaring at him still, but his attention started to focus on Aizawa.He wasn't nervous like his classmates, but there was clearly something eating at him.Izuku watched carefully as he approached them.

"Aizawa-sensei," the boy grunted."I have to tell you something you need to know."

"Can it wait?" Aizawa also watched their student carefully."You don't have that much time."

"No." Bakugo didn't say anything else, just followed sullenly as Aizawa jerked his head over to a more private part of the room.Izuku quietly fell in step behind them.

"All right, Bakugo.What is it?" Aizawa's words might have seemed harsher than necessary, but his tone had a soft edge to it, not as tough and emotionless as he usually addressed his class.

"When I was in the exam," Bakugo started, still not looking at Izuku, "I went into this building and there was this weird girl there." Izuku started to get the same feeling he had earlier and knew this wasn't going to be good."She was acting creepy, and then her face melted off and she became Toga."

"You mean you saw Toga here?" Aizawa clariifed."Wearing another student's face?"

"Yeah, if that's what you want to call it." The teen crossed his arms jerkily."She started by asking me questions, and then she just started on this weird monologue."

"What kind of questions was she asking you?" Aizawa asked, not taking his eyes off of Bakugo.The teen shifted uncomfortably.

"Mostly just stuff about him," Bakugo flicked his eyes over to Izuku."The same as when I saw her in Kamino.She's weirdly obsessed with him and his blood." That... makes me feel weird.But... a fixation with blood might stem from the fact that her quirk requires it to function.I wonder if her intake influences the fixation at all, or if it's separate.There's not much known about this, so if I could just...

He snapped himself out of his musings when he realized that Bakugo and Aizawa were still talking about what she said.Bakugo was being partially evasive, though not in his usual confrontational way.It was more like... he didn't want to talk about anything specific she said.Which wasn't that hard to believe.From what they were able to puzzle together from Kamino, Toga was one of the main two that was around Bakugo.There was obviously going to be some inner conflict here.

"Can you describe the girl that Toga impersonated before she changed?" Izuku asked, knowing that they needed to find out what school she was from and whether she was alive now.

"I dunno... She had brown hair that was pretty long.And she had one of those hats that the extras from Shiketsu have, I guess.She doesn't look like that anymore.She ran off."" Izuku and Aizawa shared a glance, agreeing that they would need to inform both the exam proctors and the teachers from Shiketsu what just happened.And they would need to confirm every student and teacher's identity before anything went on further.

They couldn't completely cancel the exam, not since it only happened two times a year and some students had already passed the first part.They would only have a hundred students to check, and they just wouldn't let the others leave until they had been cleared.Same for all of the teachers.

"Are you injured anywhere?" Izuku finally asked.He knew Toga had a fondness for knives, and while he didn't see any open wounds on his student, he knew that it didn't necessarily mean he hadn't been hurt.

"Like she could have touched me," Bakugo scoffed, though the way he leaned back on his heels was defensive.He also looked uncomfortable at the suggestion that he could have been hurt.He still wasn't looking at Izuku in any other way than to glare.

"Is that all?" He grits out.

"Is there anything else you can tell us?" Aizawa asks right back.

"No.There's nothing else." Bakugo resentfully stares at the ground, kicking a foot angrily at the wall.Izuku winces slightly when his foot makes contact, but doesn't say anything.Instead, he quietly observes his student, noting how his eyes flick towards and away from Izuku with suspicion.

He didn't do this before today... He might have glared, but not like this.Whatever Toga said, he wouldn't have bought it unless there was a reason to, and Toga wouldn't have said it unless she thought she could have driven a wedge somehow.Or... whoever told her to come thought they could drive a wedge.

Now the only question is what she told him.

"Bakugo, did Toga say anything to you about why she's here?Anything at all?" He watched him closely.

"Nothing important," The blonde gritted out."She was just rambling on and on about her crush on you."

"What?" Izuku squeaked, momentarily forgetting about why he asked Bakugo what she said in the first place."She's seventeen!" He shudders.

"Well, you don't exactly look your age, Izuku-sensei," Aizawa pointed out, pocketing the cellphone he had texted Present Mic with.The other Pro Hero was near Mera, and they would be able to contact security as a whole much faster than Izuku and Aizawa could individually.Toga was probably long gone already, but on the off chance that she was still around somewhere, they would need to do a full sweep of the premises.

"But..." He gestured around helplessly."She's seventeen!"

Aizawa rolled his eyes, turning to Bakugo's simmering form.The teen was getting fidgety, clenching and unclenching his hands.He was obviously done talking to them, and Izuku wanted for him to have time before the second part of the exam started.

"Bakugo," the black-haired man addressed him."If you're sure you're fine, and there's nothing else we need to know, you can go back to your classmates." Aizawa hesitated."Don't tell them about this yet.We'll get everything taken care of before the second part of the exam starts.Just get ready for that."

Bakugo jerked his head in a nod, stomping away.Some of his classmates were looking curiously over at the blonde, like Kirishima.When he got over there, some of them looked like they tried to ask him what was going on, but Bakugo swatted their questions away with short, angry shut-downs that had several of the teens flinching.

This was the final straw for Izuku.He had hoped that they wouldn't have to shove Bakugo into therapy, as it was going to be more helpful to the student if he was the one to go to it, and not just if they forced him.If Bakugo just refused to talk to Hound Dog, or whatever other therapist there was, there wasn't going to be any progress there whatsoever.It was a delicate process, one they had to handle carefully.

But this... this wasn't healthy for Bakugo or his classmates in the slightest.And Izuku wasn't just going to step back and watch them all crash.When they got back from this, he was going to have to have a talk with Bakugo about help.It had gone on long enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aizawa split off from Izuku-sensei, his teacher going to find out more about who the Shiketsu student was that got taken.At this point, every single hero in the facility had been alerted to the problem and were making sure that if Toga was still here, she wouldn't be getting out.The students were all blissfully unaware.

He caught Joke's eye from across the room, and for once she wasn't smiling.Instead, her face was grim and serious, mouth set in a firm line.He could understand why.A student, a student that could have been one of their students, had been taken right from under everyone's noses.No one had noticed a thing until the teenage villain had attacked Bakugo, and even then they didn't know anything until after the fact.That was terrifying.

Joke strode to him, separating herself from the curious eyes of her students.One of them with black hair looked freaked out once he realized it was Aizawa Joke was approaching.Come to think of it, wasn't that the same kid that had pretty much orchestrated the Crushing of UA this year?

"Do they know who the girl is yet?" Joke spoke in a hushed whisper."Anything at all?"

"No.All we know is that she's probably from Shiketsu.Izuku-sensei is going to confirm right now." He could already see his old teacher leading teachers from Shiketsu away.

Joke nodded, relief present in her eyes."Good.That's good.If anyone can track down who she is, it's got to be him."

One of the heavy metal doors burst open, banging into the wall behind it.Aizawa's quirk activated instinctively, hair flying off of his shoulders and around his eyes.It always ticked him off how it slightly obscured his vision, but it pissed him off more when he had to hear about his stupid friends gush about how good it looked tied back.

Nothing was worth that.

He calmed down when he saw that it was Hizashi at the door, the blonde's bright green eyes scanning the room with fervor until they landed on Aizawa.His husband practically dashed over, only slowing when he realized how many of the students were watching him.

"Shouta!" Hizashi whisper-yelled."What the heck was that text?You can't just tell me that I need to make sure Mera locks down the exam because Toga got in!I need more context than that!"

Aizawa rolled his eyes.He could be so dramatic when he wanted to be.Or even when he didn't want to be dramatic."Just because you think you're being quiet doesn't mean you actually are, and we really don't to be trapped in a room with a hundred overpowered and panicking teenagers." He shuddered.That just might be his worst nightmare.

"Right, right," Hizashi said, only moderately quieter."But seriously, Sho!You cannot just send me something like that with no warning!"

"So I should send you a warning text before I tell you any and all urgent information?Maybe give you a couple minutes to anticipate it?" He raised an eyebrow at his pouting husband.

"Well... no.But!You still should give me more information than that!Was anyone hurt?How did she get in?"

"No one was hurt that we know of, and we think she got in by impersonating a student from another school.We don't know who that is yet, though Izuku-sensei is on it."

Hizashi breathed out a quick sigh of relief, letting loose some of the tension from his shoulders.The blonde was clearly worrying about the possibility of one of their students being injured, maybe even their own son.

Aizawa didn't want to think about that.

"Okay.And the Little Listeners don't know what's going on?"

"Only Bakugo.Toga decided to go after him, probably because he was the one that was taken at Kamino."

"Gosh, he just can't catch a break, can he?" Hizashi muttered."But he's not hurt?"

"Nothing physical, although I do think Izuku-sensei's going to make sure he goes to Hound Dog after this." If the green-haired man didn't, Aizawa would.One of their students had just been attacked at a place that, by all means, should have been safe for them.Plus, he had just been forced to confront someone that had played a critical role in previous trauma.He needed to talk to someone about this.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Hizashi nodded along.Joke had been watching the two of them the entire conversation, smile growing wider and wider as Hizashi inched closer to him.Aizawa always made sure that they stayed at least a foot apart in front of the students, but for some reason the blonde always managed to forget.And he especially wasn't going to mess up now that Todoroki was in his class.That kid would see something completely unsuspect and run with it.He didn't want to know what the teen would do with something that actually was incriminating.

He shot a venmous look at the smiling hero, who looked like she was holding back the desire to laugh, for once.Then he shot an almost identical glare at his husband, who caught himself and stopped moving.

"Don't even start," He warned the greatest nuisance in his life.

"Why, Eraser!I'm shocked you think I would say anything," The female hero ribbed, looking like she was glad to have some kind of distraction from the disturbing situation at hand."Haven't I proved myself to be someone worthy of your trust?"

Pff.Aizawa might trust the other hero with his life, but he by no means trusted her to restrain herself when it came to terrorizing him.

"No."

Joke's eyes sparkled with mirth, her green eyes looking slightly like Izuku-sensei's for a moment.The only difference is that Izuku-sensei's were usually more bright.

Speaking of the man, he appeared right behind them, looking down at his phone and frowning."We think we found the girl that Toga impersonated." All three teachers stood up a bit straighter."Her name is Camie Utsushimi, and she's a second year at Shiketsu.They were able to account for everyone except her, and right now they're trying to confirm who was it that saw her last.As of right now, we have no reason to believe that she is dead."

Aizawa felt the urge to wince.It was going to be hard to confirm straight off the bat, especially while almost all of her classmates are doing the exam.He would almost suggest canceling the exam altogether, but he was well aware of the Commission's policy on that.A few years back, just a year or two after he had started teaching, there had been an incident where the integrity of the exam had been destroyed.The Commission added a new rule where the two dates spaced six months apart are the only ones the exam can be held on.It was a stupid rule, but the Commission wasn't always the smartest.

"Gotcha." Joke nodded."Anything we're supposed to do?Is there anything we can do?"

"Not right now," Izuku-sensei sighs."All of you just need to watch the exams and make sure the students don't suspect anything.We don't want an incident of mass panic on our hands."

All of you...

"And what are you going to be doing?" Aizawa asks.

"There's still a chance Toga's inside the building.I'm going to be going along with the security detail and make sure that there's no chance of her getting back into the exam, or leaving the building if she hasn't already."

"Are you sure it's the best idea for you to be searching for Toga?" Aizawa sees an opportunity and goes for it."Based on what Bakugo said..."

"It'll be fine!" Izuku-sensei squeaks out."She's... she's only seventeen," he finishes weakly, dashing away from the rest of the questions they were going to ask.

"...What was that about?" Joke asked after a minute.

Mic caught sight of his grin, and being the smart person that his husband is, he immediately caught on."Looks like another seventeen year-old got a crush on him." They both smirked when they looked at Joke, Aizawa noting how she immediately got indignant.

"Oh my All Might!For the last time, I never had a crush on Izuku-sensei!And I don't care what Nemuri chose to tell you, she lied." Joke stared pointedly at him.

Not so fun when it's the other way around, is it?

"Surreeee," Hizashi teased."And we all believe that, one hundred percent."

"Just out of curiosity," Aizawa jumped in, "what do you think Nemuri told us?"

"Only daily reports of how my love for you will never die." She glared at him.

In actuality, Aizawa was aware Joke never had a crush on Izuku-sensei.Sure, she might have looked up to him more than the rest of their class, but it wasn't like she ever wanted to do anything like that.She had always just respected him.But if she was going to constantly pester him about getting married, he was going to retaliate in the only way he knew how.

"Y'know," Hizashi paused, a thoughtful frown tugging at his lips, "I don't think we've gotten those in the past few years.Shota, do you remember getting those?"

Of course Hizashi had gotten distracted the second a new shiny thing had been dangled in front of him.And judging by the triumphant gleam in Joke's eyes, she knew exactly what she did.

"Oh," Joke waved a hand dismissively, "I asked her to stop relaying them once you adopted Hitoshi.The poor kid looked so uncomfortable all the time, I figured I'd give him that one."

Yeah... That was probably for the best.At that point, Hitoshi had no idea what his admittedly strange relationship with Joke was, and it might have been weird for him to see a woman constantly flirting with one of his new fathers, especially right in front of the other father.It's probably confusing even now, after knowing them for years.God knows he didn't understand it.

"If I knew that's all it would take for you to at least partially stop, I would have adopted a kid years ago."

"Sho!" Hizashi gasped, scandalized."That is not why we adopted him!"

"No," Aizawa agreed, "But it's a nice perk."

Hizashi shook his head in exasperation, the ridiculously tall spire that was his hair remaining stock still.He opens his mouth, probably to chastise Aizawa some more about not being sarcastic while talking about the adoption of their son, but his attention is once again drawn away.

Looking over himself, Aizawa can see Izuku-sensei talking animatedly with Mera, the beige-haired man leaning back against his heels like he wanted to be anywhere but there.Aizawa started to nonchalantly inch closer, taking a page out of Izuku-sensei's book and eavesdropping.

"Look," Mera was saying."It's not like there was anything we could do.They're supposed to be hero students, and-"

"Just because they're hero students doesn't mean they are equipped for these situations right away," Izuku-sensei hissed."They aren't getting their official pro hero licenses, they're getting their provisional licenses.Bakugo should have been able to contact a teacher during the exam!"

"I'm not the one that made the exam," Mera protested weakly."All I do is make sure that no one cheats and that..."

"And that no one gets hurt beyond the parameters of the exam?" Izuku-sensei suggested with a dark tone.

"Well..."

"That was one of my requirements for the exam proctor, Mera.I know what your job is supposed to be."

Mera grumbles some more under his breath, unable to offer anything more than, 'I'll talk to the president about it.'

Aizawa discretely slid back to his fellow teachers, a smirk plaguing the corners of his mouth.Maybe he would feel bad for Mera but... He just really didn't have it in him.

"Students, listen up." Mera slouched over to the microphone, dead eyes surveying the room."The first part of the exam is over.From this point on, you all have the opportunity to pass the exam.If you'll follow me," He turned away and clicked a button that opened a giant garage door-like window in the room, "Out here, there will be actors masquerading as victims that need help.You will be graded by these actors by how you react to the situation and how well you do overall.Those who receive a score high enough will pass, and the rest will fail."

Mera clomped back over to the room with the rest of them, clicking the button once more and closing the giant door.He yawned.

"Good luck, or whatever."

Hawks dragged his feet, almost collapsing against the side of the alleyway wall.He'd been flying all around the city for hours, running to whatever incident the Commission told him to, like some kind of animal at their beck and call.

He winced.He wasn't supposed to think like that.Maybe it's just because I'm spending so much time with the League... I'm bound to pick up a thing or two from them.I just have to remember that the mission is the most important thing and anything else will always come second.

Sluggishly, he spreads his wings open and takes off into the skies.His head feels distinctly fuzzy, but he still manages to navigate over the city and to his apartment.He doesn't bother to come in through the main entrance and just flies right to his balcony door.Since he was at the top floor and it wasn't likely someone could break in, he never locked that door.The Commission would probably have a fit if they knew.

Dragging himself over the cold wooden flooring, he sank down into his couch, one of the only decent things about the apartment, in his opinion.He didn't know how to cook, so the kitchen was just mostly there for show.And it wasn't like he got all that much time to sleep, so the bedroom wasn't his biggest concern.The view... Well, he could get that anywhere.But the couch... the lovely, comfortable, amazing couch.It was big enough that he could lay down on it, and even spread his wings slightly.Honestly, falling into that couch was probably one of the highlights of his day.

He doesn't want to think about how sad that is.

Instead, he snatched one of the pillows and curled around it, shutting his eyes tightly and blocking out the world.His wings instinctively came around him, and one of the feathers tickled his nose.He knew that there were a million other more productive things he could be doing, whether it was tailing the League or going over case files that had a one in a million chance of being helpful, but he couldn't find it in himself to move.

Listlessly, he thinks back to the raid he and Dabi did with the supply truck.At the time, he hadn't been that concerned with where the supplies were, just that he got them.They needed to be low-risk for the Commission, and they needed to fit what the League needed.If they thought for one second that Hawks was more of a threat than he was a resource, he knew he would be out of there faster than he could snap.And that was if he made it out alive.

So he hadn't run it by his handler, and had instead just put the parameters into one of the Commission-only search engines.That truck was the one nearest to them that fit everything he needed, so he chose it.The location of the storage facility hadn't seemed that strange to him at first, just another lifeless building the Commission occupied.

And when he had gotten there, it had all been fine.He'd met up with Dabi, exchanged their usual snark-filled remarks, and had everything go according to plan.Sure, they had had a small problem when the Commission employees got off of their lunch break early, but all it took was a simple detour into a filing room and they were fine.Maybe Dabi got a little too interested in the files, but the villain had always been weird.

Once he had found a route that would take them out of the place discreetly, he started leading Dabi out of there, the black-haired man begrudgingly following him.He could tell that Dabi was thinking about something else, gripping the lapel of his black coat every few moments, as if checking something was still there.So he stayed silent, forgoing their usual back-and-forth.That was when the weird feeling started to settle in his chest.

The path to the outside had led them through an area that specifically said restricted access, the precise reason that Hawks chose to go that route.Dabi wasn't exactly inconspicuous.

When they were in that room, crawling started to settle under his skin.He vaguely remembered stopping in his tracks and staring wide-eyed at the entirety of the space.The off-white walls, the floors that were just slightly more padded than the rest of the building.It was all too familiar.

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'Come on, Takami.You think you can be a hero if you can't do this one simple thing?Get up and try again, and this time you shouldn't go down before the twenty-fifth hit.'

I think I was nine at the time?

'Stop behaving like a child and quiet down.I don't care if you don't want to do it.This is for the good of our society.You want to be a hero so badly?Start acting like it.'

Maybe ten?

'Finally starting to show some initiative, are we?I was starting to think you didn't actually want to save people.From now on, your training schedule is going to be nine hours a day, and academics will be four.Anything less is unacceptable.'

I was fourteen.

That room... he shifts on his side as he remembers.That room was where he trained as a child, where the Commission made it clear that failure wasn't going to be accepted.He hadn't been back there in... All Might, it had to have been at least four years, when he first made his debut.After that, the Commission had sent him to where he lives now, and had declared that while he was expected to put in a certain number of hero hours in, he no longer was expected to come in for the same training he'd had to before.

So when he stepped in there, he wasn't expecting the visceral reaction he had.Sure, maybe he might feel uncomfortable when he came back there, but he wasn't expecting for his gut to be in knots and his stomach to bubble like he was going to throw up.I mean... it wasn't that bad... was it?

In the end, he had been snapped at by Dabi for being weird and taking too long.It was one of the few times he'd been thankful for the other man's impatient nature.

He sighed.There's no point in thinking about it now, is there?Doesn't change the past, and it doesn't really affect the future.It is what it is.

Absently, he detached one of his feathers from his wings and began twirling it around in the air.His eyes lazily tracked the bright red tuft as it floated above him, spiraling gently.Apart from a single air conditioning unit buzzing gently, it was silent in his apartment.

Which is why it was deafening when the balcony door squeaked open.

Instinctively, his feather shot through the air, embedding itself deep in the wall as the intruder dodged.Hawks bolted up into a seated position, preparing to send as many sharpened red razors as need be.Then he saw who it was.

"What the hell, Dabi?" He sent an incredulous look at the man, the infuriating, infuriating man."You can't just break and enter into my home!"

The villain grinned at him."One, I'm a villain.Two, technically I didn't break into anything.All I did was enter."

Hawks ran a hand through his tangled blonde hair, trying to resist the urge to strangle him.So far, it was touch and go.

"How did you even get up here?" He asked.

Dabi shrugged, leaning casually against one of the armchairs Hawks never used."Just had Kurogiri drop me off on the roof.From there, it's just a simple hop down onto your balcony." He grinned."For the number two hero, you have shit security."

"Yeah, well, not a lot of criminals try to break into heroes' homes.Lotta risk for no reward." Hawks crossed his arms grumpily, tapping into the weird mental link he had to each of his feathers and digging it out of the wall.It neatly reattached itself, blending in with all the others.

"Why did you even come here?There weren't any more missions set for today." He paused, a wide smile slowly growing on his lips."Unless... You didn't come here because you miss me, did you?"

"In your dreams."

"All night, every night," Hawks fired back.He gets a certain sense of satisfaction when he sees Dabi stiffen and glare at him.

"You're an idiot.How are you not dead yet?"

Hawks fluttered his lashes innocently."First you're worried about my security, and now you're worried I'm going to die?You do care, Dabi."

"Like fuck I do." Dabi dropped down into the cushion with a huff, glaring at Hawks with those shockingly blue eyes of his.A pang of recognition went off inside of him at the sight, but he brushed it off.He had enough things to worry about right now.

"That's okay; I can see you're not ready to admit that you have feelings that aren't bitchiness and resentment." Hawks placatingly raised his hands.

Dabi grunted in annoyance, looking around his apartment like it was some foreign world."Whatever.Why's it look like there's no life here?"

Hawks squawked."Of course there's life here!I live here!"

Dabi side-eyed him."Really?The League Headquarters looks more like a home than this.And it's covered in substances that may or may not be blood." A pause."We haven't really asked Toga about it yet."

Probably a wise move.

"Just because it doesn't look like a dump doesn't mean that it's lifeless," he grumbled."Why are you even here?"

Dabi arched a singular eyebrow at him, the motion somehow both disbelieving and amused."I told you I would be watching."

"You're avoiding the question.And you said you'd be watching always, so by that logic you don't need to be here."

Dabi blew out a puff of air."Fine.You know a lot of things about what the Commission does, right?"

Hawks blinks from the seemingly sudden change in subject."Uh, kinda?They don't tell me everything, but I know more than the average person does.Which can be a low bar sometimes, but whatever."

"Great.Then you know about the things in the classified files?"

Hawks stared at Dabi suspiciously."Again, it really depends.You're being strange.Do you have a concussion or something?"

"No.Maybe.It doesn't matter." Dabi leaned forward."What I want to know is if you've ever heard of someone with the surname 'Takami'."

Hawks froze.

There was no other word to describe it.His arms stopped functioning and just became useless sticks at his sides.A rushing in his ears drowned out anything else Dabi was saying.How did he know, how did he know, how did he know-

Nobody was supposed to know about his real name unless they had a ridiculous level of clearance.In fact, if he wasn't Keigo Takami, he wouldn't even know about the Commission's young heroes project.So how had Dabi, of all people, found out?The League couldn't be getting their hands on information like this.They must've heard about his father somehow... they probably haven't connected it ot him yet.

Even as he was silently screaming and panicking inside, he kept a calm demeanor and did his best to seem like he was pausing thoughtfully, and not like he was about to flee the country.

"Umm... That might sound familiar?Wasn't that some kind of criminal that was arrested around... fifteen years ago?The serial thief or murderer?" His heart thudded painfully in his chest.

Dabi shrugged nonchalantly."Maybe."

"Why do you ask?" Hawks wills the sweat to stop running down his back.

"None of your business, bird brain." Even though he said that, he still continued."I just happened to come across the name somewhere, and when I looked it up it was all heavily redacted.Figured the Commission might have their fingers dipped in it."

Hawks faked a laugh as best as he could, praying to All Might it didn't sound as canned as it felt."Well, I don't know how old you think I am, but that was a little before my time.The guy was arrested around... what, fifteen years ago?" It was seventeen.

Dabi shrugged, but his eyes narrowed and he stared at Hawks more intently."Eh, whatever.I also came to tell you that there's going to be a weekly League meeting from now on on Fridays.Kurogiri's on this 'bonding' kick, and I think he's just going to shove us all together until we play nice."

Hawks blinked owlishly at him, pulse still racing."I don't think that's going to end well."

"Probably not," Dabi agreed."It's going to be fun as fuck to watch, though."

Sending one last disgusted and curious look around his apartment, Dabi went out the way he came, climbing up the balcony to the roof with the practiced ease of one who had done some parkour in their life.

Hawks threw his head back against the couch and groaned.

I need to start locking that door...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shinso was working with Iida and Uraraka to get three 'victims' out of a collapsed building.He had to give it to them, the actors were pretty convincing.And while it felt a little ridiculous that there was a whole company of people dedicated to being test subjects for hero students, it made sense.Where there was a demand, there was a supply.

"Okay, sir, if you would just grab my hand I'll get you out of here," Uraraka leaned down, supporting herself against one of the only stable beams.A man leaning heavily on his left side stared at her doubtfully.

"You sure you'll be able to do that on your own?" Shinso side-eyed him from where he was holding up a block of cinder, but the guy didn't seem to notice."I don't know if you can lift me out of here."

Uraraka gritted her teeth, but kept a smile plastered on."Don't worry about it!I'm stronger than I look.Just grab my hand and we'll get you out of here in no time."

Still eyeing her like she was about to fall over, the man gripped her wrist, staying consistent with the way he dragged his foot across the floor.Uraraka hefted the man up nimbly, Iida ushering him away with a polite smile.There were two more people they had to get out, and then they would move onto the next hub with people that needed saving.

One of the first things Yaoyorozu had done when they got there was set up a station where the rescuees of the exam could go to be treated further.Even the kids from other schools had listened to her without any complaint, though Shinso did see that Shindo guy rolling his eyes once he thought they had all looked away.Dick.

"Alright," Shinso dusted his hands off, "I think that there's some more people out in that direction." He pointed off to the right, where a crumbling building was.

"An excellent idea!" Iida exclaimed, back from running the 'victims' to the triage center."We must make sure we find as many of the victims as we can, both so we can be amazing heroes as well as to pass this exam!"

Uraraka caught his eye and rolled hers good-naturedly.The three of them were making good time, and had already gotten pretty okay reviews from the actors.Some of them were pretty judgy, though.If Shinso heard that he should smile more one more time...

He got why girls were upset by that.It was infuriating.

As they got closer, he started to make out another exam-taker yelling at some couple in a ditch.And, lo and behold, it was Bakugo.

"Hey!That is not how you should react to victims when they are hurt and having the worst day of their lives!Points taken!" A man proclaimed, still keeping up the appearance of having a cut on his arm.

"Though, he did seem to know we weren't the high-priority victims..." A woman next to him mused."So, maybe not all the points are redacted."

"Hmm..."

"Hi Bakugo," Uraraka called out."Is there anything you need from us?Any help?"

Oh, Uraraka... Don't say the 'h' word.

"Like hell I need help from you!I don't need help from anybody!" The angry blonde spat at them."I'm not some weakling who can't handle this."

"Being insensitive around civilians," The man listed off."Points redacted."

"Whatever," Bakugo mumbled, glaring spitefully at them.

Shinso dragged the other two away from Bakugo, and towards whatever other points awaited them.Sorry, he meant injured civilians.It was hard to really take this as a serious attack when the victims of said 'attack' would pause and judge them on how much they smiled, or what tone of voice they took.It didn't feel very logical to-

Okay, maybe papa was right and I am a mini-Aizawa.Crap.No wonder Todoroki figured us out so quickly.

"Hold up, Intestate, I think I spotted someone." Iida gripped his arm, pointing over to a broken piece of concrete, one that was hiding two people trapped under it.A middle-aged short man and a younger woman, both of whom were sporting 'blood' that decorated their faces and bodies.

"Help, help!" The woman called out in a fake strained voice."My father and I are trapped."

"Fear not," Iida declared."For we are on the scene!"

"Are you going to get us out of here or not?" The man crabbily snapped, angling his head as far to the side as he could in his current position.Shinso pursed his lips and did his best to ignore his tone."My back hurts like a son of a bitch."

Iida blinked, and Shinso had to resist the urge to smirk at him.He was going to have to get used to people cursing around him if he was going to be around villains.They didn't really care if you were uncomfortable with the language they were using, and apparently neither did this guy.

"Yes, well, um," Iida coughed into his hand, trying to stutter out some kind of assurance."We'll be able to fix that, sir, if you would just listen to us and-"

"Why the hell should I listen to you whippersnappers?!You're practically babies!" Shinso felt his eye twitch.Some of the actors had been taking the 'grateful rescuee' role, and other had been taking the 'difficult person' role.It wasn't that hard to guess which route this guy was going.

"Sir," Uraraka diplomatically stepped in, "We do know how to handle this situation, and we are sure that you can make it out if you listen to us.I'm going to use my quirk on this concrete, which will lift up.Before we do that, however, are there any injuries you have?"

"Haven't you been listening?I said my back hurts!"

Uraraka turned to the woman."How about you?"

"I've got a scrape on my leg, but nothing serious."

"All right then," She turned to Shinso."Intestate, if you would help me pull them out once the concrete is lifted, then Ingenium can run them over to triage."

"Gotcha, Uravity." They had all decided to use their hero names, since that was what they would actually use in the field.That was especially important for Shinso, because he couldn't let the media or the villains find out his name.It was best to get into the practice right now.

"All right... one, two, three... now!" Shinso and Uraraka both grabbed the 'victims' at the same time, yanking them upwards as gently as they could.The older man still grumbled and complained, but he looked like he was having fun with it, which made Shinso a little salty.

As the woman righted herself, Shinso remembered what they said about smiling and begrudgingly pulled the corners of his lips up as best as he could.

"What... what is that?"

"I'm smiling?" Shinso didn't know why that sounded more like a question than an answer.

"Maybe... maybe don't do that around victims.Or ever."

Shinso cleared his throat uncomfortably as she was carted off by Iida, and did his best to ignore how Uraraka snickered next to him.'Shut up.I- was it really that bad?"

"You looked like Aizawa-sensei whenever he gives us a hard homework assignment and then changes the due date at the last minute to a later date, once all of us have already finished the assignment."

Oh.Well, crap.

"Seriously, how did no one except Todoroki figure out that Aizawa-sensei's your dad?" Uraraka asked."It's stupidly obvious."

Shinso shrugged, picking at the corners of his capture scarf.

"By the way," Uraraka got a scary look in her eyes, "I don't suppose you'd tell me who your other parent is?"

"Not a chance," Shinso deadpanned.

"Oh, come on!If Todoroki figures out both of them before us then he's going to gloat forever!"

"Todoroki doesn't gloat," He pointed out.

Uraraka opened her mouth, then closed it."Yeah, that's fair."

Iida raced back."Yaoyorozu said that we need to-"

Suddenly, a boom sounded from across the exam zone and several buildings came tumbling down, sending rocks and dust flying.Shinso and Iida lunged at a nearby wall to keep them steady, and Uraraka floated herself upwards.The ground quaked and rumbled, an ominous roll.

"I thought this was just supposed to be clearing up the aftermath of a disaster!" Shinso yelled.

"When are we ever that lucky?"

"Good point," he sighs as Uraraka comes floating down."I guess we should go check that out?"

Iida sent him an incredulous look."Of course we're going to check that out!It's our job as heroes to!"

"Yeah, yeah..."

Shinso heaved out a breath and took off after the two.He didn't know what it was about loud and energetic people, but somehow both him and his dad had been drawn to them.

They really did have a cursed existence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Izuku smiled gleefully as he watched the students go through their rescue efforts.They had already done well by setting up some sort of a system and working together to help the supposed victims.

Well, for the most part.Todoroki, Bakugo, and the kid from Shiketsu named Yoarashi had all taken it upon themselves to go off on their own and forgo the offered help from their classmates.And it wasn't like they were doing a bad job of it, but there were little things that needed to be worked on.

For instance, Bakugo was admittedly skilled in blowing away debris and getting the victims out of difficult spots, but he would scare them while he was doing it.Not exactly what they wanted.And while Todoroki was handling the situations wonderfully, he seemed indifferent to the victims' suffering.Even if his face wasn't the most expressive, he could spare them a second's worry.Though, Izuku did suspect that it was harder to get into the exercise since he knew it was fake.

And then there was Yoarashi, a student who, by all means, should have gone to UA.From what he had heard from Nezu, even though he placed first in the recommendation exam, he had dropped out and gone to Shiketsu instead.Nezu had said he had no idea why Yoarashi had chosen to leave, but after witnessing even a small interaction between the teen and Todoroki, Izuku had at least a small understanding of what went on.

Yoarashi's enthusiastic nature seemed to scare the victims, something that would probably lose him a couple points in the end.Not enough to fail, but enough that they would be noticed.

A resounding boom threw itself around the stadium, and Izuku's smile turned more sadistic.This was going to be the fun part of the exam, the one that he had been waiting for all day.

"Ahh..." Joke said, "They're running exam 2.18b, aren't they?"

Aizawa flicked his eyes over to her once."Looks that way.The last time they used this particular version was what... eight years ago?"

"Mmm... maybe nine."

"Still, a villain attack will be a good chance to see how they react in a high pressure situation, and how they prioritize the safety of the civilians around them."

"Well..." Izuku said, "I might have suggested a little change this year."

Aizawa and Joke shared a glance."What do you mean?"

"Let's just say it's going to be a bit different." Izuku said."We'll see how they handle it, won't we?"

Todoroki guided another group of actors to the triage center.Another student examinee that he didn't recognize took it from there and led them away.Yaoyorozu had set this place up so they would be able to further care for the actors once they were found, maximizing the amount of people they could rescue.It was a solid plan.

"Hey, sonny," an older woman said, tapping him on the shoulder, "In the future, try to be a bit more considerate when dealing with victims, m'kay?You seem a little... indifferent."

Todoroki blinked."But you're not victims.You're actors, and this is a test."

The woman opened and closed her mouth, finally electing to just walk away with the other actors.He didn't really understand what the problem was, but apparently there was one.Several of the people he had rescued had said the exact same thing, but the most important part of this exercise was proving you can save people, right?Therefore, the faster you can do this, the better chance you have for passing the exam.It didn't seem like there was much more to it than that.

He turned to head back out and find more of the actors, but Yaoyorozu rushed to him before he could."T-Shoto!Could you wait a second?"

He paused."Yes.What did you need?"

"Some of the victims have injuries that would benefit from an icepack.Since we don't have those, I figured you were the next best thing."

He nodded, and she grabbed his arm and pulled him away towards the actors.They didn't have real injuries, and Todoroki knew that, but he still understands the importance of demonstrating his abilities.At least that makes sense, compared to pretending to think injuries are serious.That didn't make much sense at all.

"Hey, hey, hey!" A girl shouted from next to him.Her pink skin stood out starkly from the rest of the cotton-white set-up, and he recognized her immediately.If the pink skin wasn't a dead give-away, then her enthusiastic attitude would have been."If it isn't our new human icepack," she crowed.

Todoroki blinked."I... but I'm not the ice pack?I just make them."

Mina rolled her eyes."Yeah, yeah, if you want to be all technical about it." She flounced back to a pair of kids, entertaining them.

Kaminari tapped him on the shoulder."Hey, dude, you gotta couple of ice blocks for me?" He points over to the left with his thumb in a jerky gesture."That group over there needs it."

Todoroki obliged, pushing the cold, icy feeling out from his right side, into his fingertips, and out of his hand.The temperature dropped a few degrees, and he could see goosebumps break out over his fellow students' skin.

He wordlessly handed them to Kaminari, and the electrically inclined boy shot him a thumbs up.

"Are you going to head back out there now, Sho-woah!"

Yaoyorozu rocked into the wall as a huge rumble shook the ground, sending students everywhere to their knees.He himself had to make ice boots of a sort that attached him to the ground, like cement poured around his ankles.Except, unlike cement, he could immediately melt the ice and move after the wave passed.

"What was that!?" An unidentified voice in the crowd called out.Todoroki didn't wait to hear the response, he just ran straight forward, towards the building that had toppled down.Dust was everywhere, and he could feel it coating his lungs whenever he took a deep breath in.

He raced along the splintered sidewalks and broken glass, ignoring the other exam-takers.They were all making sure that there weren't any actors left in the danger zone, and he wasn't really interested in that right now.Something was going on, and he was going to take care of it.

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He ran up a hill, pushing his legs as hard as he could.Every step felt like it was another step closer to something terrible, something that would throw this entire exam off course.

And then he saw it.

At the very top of the hill, he had a clear view of everything.The destroyed buildings, the giant stadium and where it ended, but most importantly, he could see Gang Orca and his minions.

The place was crawling with them, and judging by their manic laughter and intimidating postures, they weren't here to help with the rescue efforts.

"Mwa-ha-ha!!!Aren't any of you pathetic little heroes going to stop me?I'm going to burn this place to the ground!"

Yup.Definitely a mock villain.Also, not the greatest evil laugh.

"None of you have come to stop me yet?What weaklings!"

Todoroki was about to make an ice ramp down, plans already forming in his mind, when someone rammed into him from behind.

"Oh!Hey, I'm sorry about that!I-" Yoarashi froze, and his face soured again, like when they had met earlier that day."Oh.So you decided ot give up on rescue efforts and just go for the villains, right?Just like someone else I can think of."

"You did the same thing."

"Yeah, but I'm not a cold-hearted bastard like you are."

Todoroki frowned."But my parents were married?" Unfortunately.

"You think you're funny?" Yoarashi scoffed."You have no spirit or passion.I don't even know why you want to become a hero.Is it just to make daddy dearest happy?"

"That's not really your business, is it?"

Yoarashi glared at him."I have no interest in working with someone like you."

Todoroki felt a rare burst of anger, but he mercilessly shoved it down."Fine.I have no interest in working with you either."

Gritting his teeth, he pulled away from Yoarashi, the other teen using the wind to propel himself forward.As he slid down the ice he had created for himself, he couldn't help the feeling that this wasn't going to end well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaminari clung to one of the beams for support as a shockwave hits their acting triage center.He clamps down hard on his quirk, knowing that they really couldn't afford for him to knock them all out with lightning in his surprise.If he almost killed all the victims of the attack, he was sure to fail the exam.

Plus, he just really didn't want to go whey right now.Or really ever.

"What was that?!" A victim screeched from right behind him.He had to give it to the actors, they were definitely very skilled at what they do.They almost had Kaminari believing that this was a real attack and that they had no idea what was going on.Even the kids were blubbering and sniffling, but Kaminari could tell they were really having the time of their lives.

"Pinky, make sure all the civilians are okay!Froppy, help me ensure the structural integrity of the tents," Yaoyorozu ordered, rushing over to the poles of the tents as soon as she regained her balance."Everyone else, defend the triage center and the civilians while providing aid when you can!"

Kaminari nodded, even though she had already turned away.Yaoyorozu was an amazing leader and vice president for their class, and he had realized that her ideas were almost always incredible.Case in point, the triage center.He would never have had the brains to do something like this in his entire life, but Yaoyorozu came up with these kinds of ideas like it was nothing.She was awesome.

"Right!" Mina shouted."Chargebolt, can I get some help here?"

"I gotcha!" He flashed her a grin and quickly ran over to some of the collapsed civilians, starting with thsoe who either couldn't get up or hadn't yet.

"Hey, you okay?" He tried to gently ask an elderly woman.

"Oh, don't you worry about me, sonny.I'll be fine, but you should look out for the others." She nodded resolutely, and though she seemed confident, Kaminari was hesitant.Was this the kind of situation where he was supposed to listen to what she said, or was it the kind of situation where he should make sure she was checked out first?How was he supposed to know?

Thinking was hard work.

After a moment or two, he gave her a once-over and didn't see anything that was worrying, so he moved on.A couple of kids were letting out ear-splitting screams- yeah, they were having the time of their lives- and he was doing his best to make sure they were all okay.Which was hard when some of these kids had lung capacities the size of opera singers, and-

All Might, do some of these kids have voice quirks?!I thought only Present Mic could scream this loud!

"I've got this area cleared," He said to Mina, picking up a couple supplies from the ground."Do we know what happened yet?"

"No, I think Todoroki went to go check it out, though.And- oh!" Mina hopped up."There's Ocha-Uravity and Nitro!"

Belatedly, Kaminari realized that was Uraraka and Iida.The other boy had changed his hero name sometime after the Stain incident, since at the time they were picking their names he wasn't sure if his brother was going to be able to continue his hero work.Calling each other by their hero names felt... strange, especially since they hadn't really come up much since their internships.

However, Izuku-sensei had suggested that they get into the habit as soon as they could, and this would be one of those settings where it would be preferable to use their hero names.Something about being a 'professional setting' where they could 'practice without getting strange looks'.Something about the way he phrased that and looked off to the side gave Kaminari the impression that he had maybe had an embarrassing situation or two in his past.Plus, the smirk Present Mic-sensei gave him told Kaminari all he needed to know.

"Hey," Uraraka panted, "Need any help over here?"

"Uh... yeah!But, uh, you got any idea what's going on out there?" Kaminari scanned the two's disheveled forms."And where's Shin-Intestate?"

Iida jolted up from where he had been doubled over, leaning on his knees."Ah!We saw what was going on as we made our way here.It appears that there is another aspect to this test.Gang Orca and his... well, gang, are attacking the city.Intestate went to go deal with him while we rushed here."

Of course.They couldn't just make it to where we were being criticized by actors as we rescued them; they had to add yet another element to this test.The people who made this exam are jerks.Total jerks.

"We've made sure that there aren't any victims remaining that are in that zone," Uraraka tacked on."But there might be some to the east."

"Nah," Mina waved her hand around."Some of the students from Ketsubutsu took care of that.I think everyone that needs to be rounded up is here."

"Are you positive?" Iida double-checked.

"Yeah, dude!" Kirishima ran towards them, holding some empty medical supply bags in his hand."We went over everything as many times as we had to." He glanced around."Anyone seen Bak-Explosion... I think just Bakugo?Around?"

Uraraka frowned."I saw him right before Gang Orca showed up, over in one of the ditches."

Kirishima's eyes bolted to her immediately."He was okay, right?"

"Yeah, Kirishima," she sighed, sharing a knowing glance with Mina, "He's totally fine.Barking orders and obscenities like there's no tomorrow, as usual."

Kirishima nodded immediately in agreement, but his thumbs twiddled nervously with the handles of the bags.Mina noticed.

"Hey, you good?You didn't get hit in the arm or anything, right?"

"Huh?No.I'm just a little worried about him," Kirishima awkwardly glances to the side."When he came back from talking to the teachers he was acting a little weird, like something happened."

Kaminari hadn't seen anything was off with his explosive friend, but it makes sense that Kirishima would.Not only was his red-headed friend more observant than one would think, he hung off of Bakugo like a scarf.He still didn't know how Kirishima did it without being murdered in spectacular fashion.

"I'm sure he's fine!" Uraraka reassures."And if anything was wrong, I'm sure that Mr. Aizawa and Izuku-sensei have got it handled."

"Yes!" Iida exclaims."Our teachers have incredible sense and ability!They can handle even the most disastrous situations."

"It's nice that you care so much about your friends, sonny." The old woman from before was on her feet again, along with several other civilians."But you should really be more worried about yourselves."

What?

The woman, no longer seeming so old and feeble, lunged at them, along with several of the other civilians.Kaminari's eyes widened, and he rolled to the side as fast as he could.Mina and the others did the same, all in varying degrees of shock.

"What the heck?" He screeched, scrambling to his feet as soon as he could.Ten people that they thought were civilians were standing there in front of them, holding some of the basic medical items they had gotten.Everyone except the sweet old lady, that is.No, she had a cane held high above her head.

It gave Kaminari flashbacks to Recovery Girl.

"Wait- you guys are the villains too?!" Mina yelped, blocking some of the crying children from their view.He was pretty sure that the children weren't villains in disguise, so it was probably okay.

Then again, he was also pretty sure that the lady who looks like she's about to meet Death wasn't a villain either.

"That's right," she cackled."Weren't expecting for us to turn on ya, were you?"

Yaoyorozu came running back with Tsu."Guys, what's the problem?I heard some scream-"

She took in the scene.

"...They were hidden villains, weren't they?"

"Apparently so," Uraraka grumbled, recentering her weight in the way Kaminari had seen her do during training."How many of you are there?"

A man with an arm in a white sling smirked smugly, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"They're not all going to be turning on us," Tsu predicted."I'm guessing that only a few out of the bunch are, which menas we need to get the rest to a safe spot, away from both the villain attack going on outside and in here."

"A decent plan!" A young woman in front of Kaminari crows."But are you going to be able to do it in time?"

Kaminari frowned."There's not a time limit." Or was there?Had he spaced out while that Mera guy was explaining the exam?He might've.Shinso just looked so determined and his eyes looked brighter than usual and he had this cute little tilt to his lips that made him-

Great.And now he spaced out again.Bad brain.

"That's what you think!" Again, Kaminari was uncomfortably reminded of Recovery Girl when the old lady got a triumphant gleam in her eyes.It was just a bit too gleeful and scary in the way only the elderly could be.

Holy shit, was that why Izuku-sensei was so terrifying?

Yaoyorozu nodded to Tsu, and the green-haired girl rallied the rest of the examinees to escort the non-villain civilians out of there.Well, the probably non-villain civilians.They were going to have to have someone watching them at all times, just to be sure they weren't going to go and 'kill' the people they were supposed to be protecting.

"So, you chose to take care of the civilians first, huh?" A man asked them, moving up beside the crazy old lady."Points added!"

Why did he say something encouraging so menancingly?

"What have you done?" Yaoyorozu demanded, holding out her staff in front of her defensively."What do you mean we're running out of time?"

"Let's just say things are going to go out with a bang if you aren't careful," the old woman chortles.Why is the oldest person here the most terrifying...?

"What are you talking about?" Kaminari couldn't help but feel he was a step or two behind everyone else most of the time, but right now everyone was a little confused.

"All that matters is our goal!" The younger woman claimed."The lives lost in the process do not matter!"

"That is not very sound reasoning!" Iida yelled.

"They're not supposed to have sound reasoning; they're villains, Iida!"

"That doesn't mean they should be imbeciles!" Holy shit, did Iida actually just insult someone?How frustrated is he?

"You still haven't figured it out yet?That's pretty on track for heroes.Buncha dolts." That old lady was really mean.Even Recovery Girl could phrase things better than this, and she constantly told them they were being idiots that were going to get killed within the next few years if they weren't careful.

Which was true, but come on.Not cool, dude.

"What are they even..." Yaoyorozu trailed off, glancing between everyone there.Her eye started to twitch sporadically, and Kaminari wondered if she would be the first among them to snap.She may seem put together now, but it's always the quiet ones that are the most dangerous...

Letting her head fall back, she sighed.Iida watched her with concern, apparently not quite ready to elect a new vice president.She rolled her head back up and watched the actors with the most dead expression Kaminari had ever seen from her.

"Shit." Yaoyorozu?"There's a bomb, isn't there?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shinso panted heavily as he watched all of Gang Orca's minions cackling as they destroyed the cityscape.For hero sidekicks, they were very destructive.In a way it made sense, since they were the ones watching their every move while fighting villains and having to overthink every action they made.It sounded stressful.

His gaze panned over to one of the sidekicks furiously destroying a fire hydrant with a metal stick.

"You know what?Take this, Mothman!You said I had terrible aim, so how's this for terrible aim?!Huh?HUH?!"

...Very stressful.

Gang Orca appeared to be the one orchestrating all of the other 'villains', so it looked like if they took him out, they would effectively cut the snake's head off.And Gang Orca didn't know about his quirk, so this was the perfect situation for him.All it would take was one question and boom.That was that, exam over, thank you.

"What are you going to do now, heroes?If you're not careful, we'll destroy everything you've worked so hard for!This city will go down in flames!" Wow.Shinso did not know that Gang Orca could do such an impressive insane cackle.Kudos to him.

That one guy, Yoarashi, was battling him with huge bursts of roaring wind that felt like it could tear through metal and steel.Todoroki was on the opposite side of him, sending waves of ice and fire towards his enemies.It looked like the two were also fighting each other, fire and wind not really mixing well.Every time one or the other would get even slightly close to one another, they would have some kind of contest so see who could overpower the other.It usually ended up with them completely messing up each other's attacks, and then the villain minions got off scot-free.

"Todoroki!" He did his best not to yell at his friend as he got closer."What the heck are you doing?"

The two-toned boy didn't even spare him a glance as he said, "It's not me, it's him." He glared at Yoarashi contemptuously."He doesn't want to work together, and that's fine.I don't care if he thinks I'm like Endeavor.It's not my problem."

Shinso hesitated, watching his friend carefully.It had been a long time since he had seen Todoroki look this... how does one explain being both angry and emotionless at the same time?He hadn't really ever seen anyone who could do it as well as Todoroki could.Ever since the Sports Festival, he had been more open in his expressions, maybe not easy to read, but the slight amusement and little hints of his feelings were leaking through.Now, he was as shut off as a brick wall.

"Okay... yeah, that's not your fault, but I think I have an idea so we don't have t-"

"I have an idea of my own," Todoroki said, dismissing him."All I have to do is get him out of the way, and I can defeat Gang Orca on my own."

Right," Shinso tried again."But I think what I'm saying will work better in the long run.We don't even need to talk to Yaorashi to make it work.It would only take-"

"I wasn't planning on it," Todoroki interrupted yet again.Shinso stifled a growl of frustration, knowing that it wouldn't solve anything to be pissy with Todoroki.The guy was so immune to social cues it would do nothing for him.

"Todoroki, I need you to just stop and listen for a second!You're making things way more complicated than they need to be!It's illogical to battle every single minion when you could just skip past all of that and take care of Gang Orca!"

Todoroki turned away from him, like he was ignoring him.Shinso had to admit, his friend was really pissing him off.He could understand not liking Yoarashi and not wanting to 'lose' to him or whatever, because the Shiketsu student was being a pain in the ass earlier, but what he couldn't understand was being so damn belligerent about it.There was no reason to straight up ignore him.

"Todoroki!Why are you being so-"

"I don't have time for this.We'll talk after the exam, Shinso." With that, he jumped away from him and towards the makeshift villains.

Don't have time for this?Don't have time for this?

Shinso let out a short shriek of frustration, burying his face in his capture scarf.Papa had always said was best to not bottle things up, and while he did ignore that advice a lot- like his dad- just this once, he could see the value in it.Screaming could be a very satisfying thing.

Seriously, what the hell, Todoroki?!For All Might's sake, all you have to do is listen to people!It's really not that hard!You don't even talk that much as it stands!What do you even do if you're not listening!?

He pulled his capture weapon out, latching on to one of the few lamp posts still standing.The wind rushed through his hair, giving it that wonderful windblown look, and he ran along the rubble that was... everything.Wow, heroes can be really destructive.

Yoarashi and Todoroki were closer together now, and their attacks were interfering with one another's more than ever.One gust of wind and flames were off target.A glacier made of ice, and the wind split down the middle, harmlessly being directed towards the sides.

And they were shouting at each other now, too.Honestly, they were acting like two toddlers that were forced to play together by their mothers.The elemental power houses were throwing tantrums- and mock villains.

Shinso caught something moving at him in breakneck speeds out of the corner of his eye and just barely managed to jump back in time.In doing so, he lost his balance and flailed around rather embarrassingly.

Once he had stabilized himself, he glanced back and saw a huge ice chip, one that looked like it had been pulverized by something, fracturing in different directions.The wind, he realized belatedly, it got torn apart by the wind.

He glared up at where those two insufferable, powerful, annoying heroes-in-training were fighting.That's it.I don't care what I have to do, even if I'm working against both of them at once, I'm going to end this freaking exam.

And then I'm going to chew Todoroki out so hard he'll wish it had been my dad.

Uraraka stood at the ready next to Mina, the pink-skinned girl dripping sweet-smelling acid from her fists.The six of them were doing their best to stay in a formation that didn't allow any of the criminals to make a getaway or get the drop on them.

"I really don't think it's that manly to go planting bombs," Kirishima grumbled."Like, the only thing that would be less manly is to do it in an orphanage- no, a hospital for kids with cancer!"

The crazy old lady blinked at him."Why on earth would we plant a bomb in an orphanage?"

Kaminari shrugged, joining in."Well, you decided to plant one here, didn't you?"

One of the men standing beside their elderly ringleader sputtered."That's only because we're targeting you guys!Going after kids doesn't even make sense!"

"Technically, we are all minors as well," Iida pointed out.

The man's face burned red and he sputtered some more.Uraraka and Mina shared an amused glance, and Uraraka could barely hold back a chuckle.Leave it to Kaminari and Kirishima to confound villains, even fake ones.All Might knows that they did it to them enough.

"That's enough," Yaoyorozu said firmly."Where is the bomb?"

"That's what you would like to know!" The old lady chimed triumphantly, apparently pleased to be back on track.

Kaminari, the sweet dumbass that he is, blinked at her."Uh, yes?That's why she asked."

The man stared at him."You're not the brightest, are you?"

"Well, no, but you didn't have to say it like that."

Uraraka could tell that they were starting to strain the edges of the 'villains'' acting abilities.Ha.

"It doesn't matter anyway!" The mean old lady claimed."The bomb is set to go off, and it can only be defused manually, none of that electronic crap you kids are trying to pull nowadays.And don't even think that one of us is going to help you, nasty heroes!"

Uraraka grit her teeth, trying not to flip the frustrating lady over her shoulder.For all she knew, that would kill her.But it was so hard when she kept doing things like this!Maybe she could make it look like an accident...

Damnit.No, Uraraka.You're going to be a hero, remember?Murder is off the table.

Unless you're Iida, apparently.

"Wait," Kirishima's brow furrowed."Does this mean that you guys are going to blow up too?"

"Yes!" Hardcore.

Kirishima stared at them for a moment, then bluntly said, "That's not manly at all.That's like, the opposite of manly."

"Then it's a good thing I'm not a man, isn't it?" The old lady said, ticked off.

"Being manly is a state of mind," Kirishima proudly declared."Gender doesn't matter as long as you're awesome."

Everyone just stared at him.

"Wait, wait, wait," Kaminari rushed out, holding his fingers up like he was counting something."Couldn't you just set it off remotely and survive?I dunno, but it seems stupid to die when you could live."

"It's a symbolic- it's not like- it's supposed to represent- ugh!" The young woman blurted out.Her, the man, and the elderly woman seemed to be the ringleaders of the group, with the others just standing in the background and looking smug.Uraraka had to remember what Gunhead told her about martial arts in times like these.

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"Uraraka?"

"Yes, sensei?"

"The Gunhead martial arts can be an incredible weapon when in your possession, and you can use them to save lives, but you have to remember to use them only for good, no matter what the situation is."

"Of course, sensei!I'll never use them to hurt people when I don't have to."

"You say that now, but just remember this moment when someone cuts in front of you in line when you've already been waiting for hours and they do their best to be an awful person and in that second you want nothing more than to hit them where the sun don't shine."

"Sensei?!"

"Sorry.That might've been a bit too specific.Just remember, no matter how appealing using force in the situation may be, do it only at the benefit of others and for defense only.And never use more than you need to."

Gunhead was right.It was a struggle to not cave their faces in.Which, she totally had the strength and will to do!

"What this whippersnapper means to say," The old lady butted in, "Is that you shouldn't give a shit why we're willing to die.All that matters is that you're going to go with us.You prepared to face death, brats?"

"I don't know, are you?" Mina said."I'm only saying this because you look a lot closer to him than we do."

The old lady scowled at her."Not very respectful to your elders, are you?"

"You did just threaten to blow us up and called us brats," Iida pointed out.

"Enough!" Yaoyorozu said, exasperated."Where.Is.The.Freaking.Bomb?"

"We're not telling!" The dark-haired man said smugly."Maybe you'll find out right before you're all blown into pink dust."

That's not a nice mental image.

"Ugh.Fine, if you want to be difficult, then we're going to have to do this the hard way," Yaoyorozu declared."Kirishima, Mina, and Uraraka, you're with me.We'll make sure these guys don't cause anymore trouble.Iida and Kaminari, I want you two to run around and find the bomb.Judging by what they're saying, they want mass casualties, most of which being us.Check the central medicare station and the entrance first and foremost, then move on to less populated areas.Kaminari, as soon as the bomb is found I want you to administer an electric shock between 25,000 and 50,000 volts to right under the timer, where the wires all meet.That'll short circuit it.None of the red wire blue wire nonsense."

"We'll follow your lead, vice prez," Mina chimed in cheekily.She leaned forward, sending a grin at their opponents that was more teeth than anything else."Just say the word."

"Word," Yaoyorozu deadpanned.

"What the fuck is wrong with these kids?" Uraraka heard the man mumble.

But he didn't get a chance to get a reply from any of his companions because Uraraka was already on her way over, fingers splayed out wide.A few of the designated lackeys sent chairs flying her way, but all it took was her slamming her hand down on the seat of them and they floated upwards, out of anyone's reach.If she so chooses, she could send them hurtling back down at the actors at breakneck speeds.But, since this was only a test and she wasn't looking to permanently injure anyone, she wouldn't.

Probably.

"Kirishima, go!" Yaoyorozu ordered while Iida and Kaminari sped away."We'll split them up now and each take a couple!"

"On it!" He shouted, letting his skin harden until it was made out of stone.He squared off against three men, the leader of which had been speaking to them earlier, and smiled a sharky, toothy grin that had them flinching back.

Mina bumped Uraraka on the shoulder."You want to team up with ours?"

Uraraka smiled."Thought you'd never ask."

Together, they corralled the five villains they were facing together, using acid and stacked objects.There was nothing Uraraka couldn't lift up when she used enough of her quirk, and that paved the way for Mina to send sizzling acid on the floor around them.It looked like none of the actors were willing to risk layers of melted skin to get to them and stop their friends from finding the bomb.

"What are you fools doing?" The old lady shouted at her younger counterparts."Stop cowering and start doing!"

"She does realize that that's acid, right?" One woman muttered to another.

"I don't know, dude.She's been dying for an assignment like this ever since we met her.I don't know who made the change to the exam, but I'm pretty sure she'd kiss them."

Changed the exam?Uraraka filed that information away to be used later, and judging by Yaoyorozu's expression, she had as well.

"You are cornered... villains.Surrender now and allow yourselves to be taken into police custody!" Uraraka tried, just like they'd learned in their Laws and Ethics class.If you weren't currently locked in a high-stakes combat situation, you had to give the other party a chance to surrender or you could be charged with overuse of force.And even though this was an exam, Uraraka was guessing they'd be held to the same standard here.

"Good," One of the fake villains nodded."Points added!"

"Thanks," She awkwardly said."Can I consider that your surrender?"

Their opponents all shared an uncertain glance, then look down at their elderly leader doubtfully."I don't think we're allowed to," The woman says wryly.

"No, you're not!" The old woman barked."And if you aren't going to attack them, then I will!"

Uraraka watched with no small amount of alarm as the woman swung her cane above her head and, with surprising strength, knocked away several of the floating objects.Then, using horrifying dexterity, she starts hopping onto some of the lower hovering mats, cots, and tables.It... it was terrifying to watch.Uraraka was sure she was about to break a hip.

"AH HA HA!You think a few floating pieces of plastic are going to stop me?THINK AGAIN!!!" She whooped and cheered as Uraraka tried reducing the gravity on the objects even further, sending them up in the sky.It didn't matter much because all the lady had to do was hook her cane around them and she could keep them down.Her quirk was a lot like a balloon.If nothing was holding onto it, then it would soar into the air, but all it took was a single hand holding it down and it was grounded.

"EDNA!You are going to get yourself killed!"

"All for a greater world!" Wow.Uraraka now has equal amounts of respect and fear for this woman.On one hand, she was downright bone chilling and quite possibly insane.But on the other, she was dedicated and was willing to go to extreme lengths for her job.

She squatted down and leapfrogged over the last batch of acid staining the floor, grinning toothily with what Uraraka suspected were dentures."What are you going to do now, heroes?Kill me?You'll never find out where the bomb is then!"

Uraraka chewed the inside of her lip thoughtfully as Mina looked to her.They had successfully boxed off the rest of the civilian villains, so she was the only one left.It didn't look like she was in any particular hurry.All she was doing was smiling at them sadistically, tapping her cane menacingly against the ground.They couldn't handle this violently in any way, as the woman was still a civilian in actuality and they wouldn't give a full on beatdown to the elderly in any situation, whether in the field or otherwise.It was a matter of respect.

Should I have Kirishima help me in case she hits our shins...?

"That is not manly AT ALL!!!" Then a deafening crash.

Okay, so Kirishima might be busy.

She ran a hand over the mask on her suit, making sure that she could still see 'Edna' through the gaps in her fingers.Her fingers...