3rd paste

Chapter Summary

The teams retreat and recover.

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

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notesDay 1: 13 hours 38 minutes (1:38 pm, local time)

It had taken the hero teams two hours to regroup, put out the fire at the government building and sort through the rubble of both sites.

Finally, tired and low on morale, they trekked through the city towards the fake Hero Agency building they were all staying at; a skyrise on one of the four center blocks of the fake city, a full 13 stories of rooms and basic equipment and records.

Katsuki turned to address the gathered teams as they stood in the lobby. "LISTEN UP! We need to take time to rest and re-arm ourselves. Sero, Hagakure, head up to the medical bay. Set a damn alarm for six hours so that you both can get back in this godforsaken game of tag. Take time to eat and go the fuck to sleep. Grapefucker got slimed and has been deemed eliminated, so feel free to eat or use anything given to him, it's all extra right now. This goes for the rest of you too: rest up. We're going to swap to the three-team rotation we talked about on Thursday. Shiozaki, Todoroki, Tsuburaba and Iida, come with me for debriefing. We're going to call back to HQ, see if they have an update on the whys and hows for this clusterfuck. If you're not sleeping, your comm stays on. And if horror movie shit goes down, you fucking CALL ME, got it?" He was answered by a wave of tired agreement and grunted. "Good. Get some rest, fuckers."

He stormed off and was followed by the squad leaders. A few minutes of wandering and exploring later, they found the "operation center," a large room with a gleaming white conference table. Katsuki stood in front of the table as the others slumped in their seats. Iida took off his glasses to massage his eyes, Todoroki sunk down further in his seat and Shiozaki seemed to murmur a half-asleep prayer.

Katsuki synced his phone and its saved mission files with the computer in the table. The holograms of the tables showed the current state of the city, both buildings attacked by villains sketched in red against cool blue.

"Fuck… let's take this step by step. Iida, where's the building where you lost the truck's trail?"

Iida put his glasses back on and looked, before reaching out and tapping a building on what looked like a slow shift towards where a more industrial district would be. "Here. Uraraka and Kodai identified it as a market, 'Yuki's Winter Goods.'"

"And you said it was some sort of tunnel or pipe down?"

"Indeed. It was embedded into the ground and looked as if the concrete had melted around it. None of my team were suited to break through that, with the possible exception of Tsunotori." Iida pulled his own phone, sending a picture to be displayed on the table. Suddenly, Tsuburaba blinked and leaned in.

"That's Honenuki Juzouu's work. He softens the material, then deforms it and lets it resolidify. It's how he tried to trap Midoriya in the Sports Festival. He's one of the recommended students, skilled as well as smart." Tsuburaba also pulled out his phone, bringing up his classmate's profile and linking them to the current investigation on the table.

The meeting continued like this. Each piece of evidence they found and each sighting of a villain was marked. Recordings of the original live stream and the explosion warning were linked, along with whatever technical data their phones had recorded.

In the end, they had four confirmed villain sightings. Tokoyami Fumikage and Kuroiro Shihai at the bank, Midoriya Izuku over the live-stream and Kaibara Sen at the government building. They also had another seven unconfirmed sightings; the five other people who left the two vans in the original security footage (three at the government building, two at the bank, all of them disappearing in the destruction of their buildings), and the person driving the truck with the turret ("I couldn't tell who it was. The windshield was tinted dark."). Finally, there were the signs of Honenuki Juzouu at the underground entrance.

There were eleven villains they had seen. That left four they hadn't.

Katsuki pulled up the city infrastructure files and began to overlay them. Quickly, everyone saw the connection.

"Sewer system. Eww, that has to be gross." Shiozaki cringed, imagining what it would be like to deal with sewage in her vines.

"Not really. The city is fake. The infrastructure would have to be damn near unused. But what that means is that the villain team has a network of five-foot diameter tunnels that lead below every building in the city. But look at this. The market? It's over a larger cistern and flooding chamber. That's more than large enough to hide a truck if you could get it in there. Aside from that, the other two buildings don't make sense. The tunnels are more than ten feet below the basements in each building. You'd have to have heavy equipment to move that much material and even then it'd be hard to get through."

"Or Honenuki could soften it and you could literally claw your way through," Tsuburaba muttered, his own screen pulled up across the table as he reviewed the events of the government building once more. He paused. He had a video feed from an intersection camera and paused it to look at the picture of Kaibara Sen on the truck. Then he noticed something. "Hold up. What's… Hatsume Industries?"

Across from him, Iida froze.

The villains were gathered, sitting in a restaurant and enjoying a fine meal prepared by both their illustrious leader and a few other members of the team. Awase Yosetsu had helped out in the kitchen, same with Monoma Neito and Aoyama Yuga.

Soon, everyone was enjoying a massive pot of sukiyaki with plenty of toppings for everyone to choose from.

Izuku himself sat on the counter leading to the kitchen, putting him 'slightly' taller than the rest of the villains, with the exceptions of Shouji Mezou and Kouda Kouji, who were leaning against the walls nearby and conversing quietly.

Finishing his bowl, he saw that most of the teams were close to finishing or done. He pulled out a bottle of water and sipped it as he waited for the teams to finish. Smiling between sips, he picked up bragging from the 'techie' table about the explosives that Yaoyorozu Momo and Hatsume Mei designed, and how Neito helped with production to an interested Ashido Mina and Jirou Kyouka.

Another table is nothing but low murmurs, the more gothically inclined of his team relaxing and chatting. It was composed of Honenuki Juzouu, Tokoyami Fumikage, Kuroiro Shihai, and Yanagi Reiko. They looked remarkably relaxed, dressed in shades of black, grey and red. Really, even with the dressed-up nature of their outfits, something that some of the others had issues wearing without feeling out of place, the table looked remarkably carefree and stylish.

The third table had the last of the members conversing quietly, though two of them looked dead on their feet. Awase Yosetsu was tired from the stress of driving through a battlefield and Kaibara Sen had been tense and tightly wound for nearly the last four hours since he had to bluff the heroes. They were chatting quietly with Aoyama Yuga and Kendou Itsuka. Across from them was an empty seat, Con Man having left earlier to get some more sleep, which was fine - his act wasn't until midnight anyway.

As seconds and desserts were finished off, Izuku clapped his hands.

"We have done really well, ladies and gentlemen. Everything is going better than I scheduled. We already have three of the fifteen objectives and we all know where a fourth sits, for now." A low chuckle ran through the room. Everyone knew where the fourth was and why they hadn't taken it yet. It was a trap unlike any other, and would no doubt put them on the back foot. "Beyond that, thanks to the firepower of Mei, our wonderful Hacker, we even took out the slimeball Mineta!" At this all the girls clapped, and Kyouka even wolf-whistled in Sen and Yosetsu's direction, getting blushes and mock bows from the two boys.

"However, from now on we have to be better. Bakugou is already regrouping with his team, and likely preparing to respond violently and drastically to anything we do. As such, we're going to phase two. Duo operations." Izuku looked around and saw everyone glance at their designated partner. Good. They better have remembered after three days of practicing combinations.

"Yosetsu and Sen, Fumikage and Shihai, and Juzouu and Itsuka. The six of you can go get some rest. You've all been busy and stressed. Mina and Reiko, you two can also rest for a while, but no sleeping. We still need you for an entry in about an hour. After that, feel free to return to here or to the Tower and get some sleep." He checked they were all fine with that and turned to the teams of true importance for this next part.

"Kyouka, Momo, Neito and Yuga, your targets are up next. I've already sent you the plans. Remember, keep them from seeing you. Hacker will be available for support and research, make sure to ask if you have any questions. Be careful. You are all key to the endgame. With the heroes ensconced in their base, we have a window of opportunity, but the moment they get an alert all of you will be in deep shit." Izuku leaned forwards, face serious.

The four nodded, faces grim and determined.

"Kouji, feel free to relax, you can pick back up searching when your allies actually have a lead. We have enough places to check now as it is. Mezou, Mei, head to the Tower. I'll follow in a few minutes, just gonna clean up here."

The last of the villains filed back, taking the stairs behind the bar down into the basement, where an entrance into the sewers had been formed. A few minutes later, Izuku put the last of the dishes down and looked at the figure lurking in his kitchen.

"Alright, how did the hero investigation go?"

"They know the basics and because of Iida, they know about the sewers. Beyond that, the teachers have yet to update them. I figure it's a matter of time."

"Thanks, Extortion. Return to the hero base. Don't let anyone know you left."

"Of course."

With quiet footsteps, the figure vanished from the restaurant. Izuku finished setting the dishware away and paused. He looked in the mirror, adjusting his hat and straightening his outfit, eyes drawn to the camera he knew was in the corner of the room.

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players… or perhaps they all get played."

Turning off the lights, Izuku left.

The first act was over. Now onto the interlude.

6 days before the exam (after class)

Izuku looked at his list. In the last four hours, the students of the hero classes had taken sides. After an argument with the rest of his class, Monoma had joined the villains, followed by a nervous Kendou. A few minutes of conversation later, and the information that Momo would be on the same team helped improve Kendouu's mood tremendously. With her help, he had talked a bit and gotten both Awase and Kaibara to join him, while Tokoyami apparently asked if the 'ghouls' of Class 1-B, wanted to join him. Seems that Honenuki, Kuroiro, and Yanagi were all too pleased to accept the offer.

Tokoyami himself had joined up of his own volition, deciding that 'to work in the night would be a masterful use of his skills.' Izuku was quite happy to agree.

He had been surprised not long after, when both Aoyama and Kouda joined, each preferring not to elaborate on their choice.

Then… there was the Bakusquad's self-destruction. It had been fairly quick, but Izuku caught the start of it. Kaminari had suggested some sort of plan to celebrate winning, leading with something like '...since Bakugou is leading us there's no need for us to really do anything, is there? He'll straight-up bulldoze the other team!'

Ashido had gotten snarky in return, talking about how that didn't help at the beginning of the year. Thankfully, Bakugou had been visiting Class 1-B at the time. Not long after, Ashido had approached Izuku and when Bakugou came back, he was frustrated to see her sitting on the 'villain' side of the room.

He was somewhat saddened that most of his friends were going to be heroes, but Iida wanted to prove himself after the Stain incident. Todoroki had mentioned that Endeavor had all but commanded he win as a villain and refused to give the firefly bastard any satisfaction. Uraraka joined the heroes to fight him and stated it quite clearly. It only stoked Izuku's own fire in the end.

Then there were the secret weapons. Hatsume was the easier of the two. Bringing up how it would let her field test her babies. How it would be a demonstration to the rest of the hero course. How her equipment could be used practically. The sheer variety they could use and show off, compared to a simple fight like the Sports Festival... she caved in minutes.

His other secret recruit was a harder sell, but the idea of training and getting one over on the best of the hero course and UA's own biased testing by showing just how powerful they could be… well.

Needless to say 'Con Man' was happy to join his ranks.

Beyond that, Izuku was in his element. It wasn't a sudden duel in a back alley or a test with no prep time. This was a chance to fully abuse tactics, Quirk interactions, and psychological warfare.

Izuku hit the ground running.

First off, while the team was finalizing he got everyone's numbers, typing them up and linking to a chat.

Then he sent out info packets. Instructions, useful resources to read up on and questions about what exactly their limits were. Some of them he sent full books of resources, like Momo. For others, like Ashido, he sent more creative video examples, with more interesting to look at and easy to understand tools and information.

But there was someone he wanted to talk to about this in person.

So after class, he asked Shouji to join him in a simple walkthrough of the training ground they would use.

And there, the two sparred. Izuku asked questions, pushed him. Shouji had come to Izuku first, had asked, had pushed, had wanted to win. He gave Izuku that first push to get out of his own mind, to actually act and decide to play the villain.

He would pay that back by making Shouji a dangerous foe, and an invaluable ally.

Chapter End Notes

If you really like this story (or any of my other writings...) I did start a discord.

Interlude: The Observers (Part 1)

Chapter Summary

The Teachers provide input and reactions, as well as showing the whole story.

Day 0: 5 hours, 5 minutes (5:05 am, local time)

Shouta looked over the rest of the teachers from where his sleeping bag was resting against the wall. Most of them were freshly awake, and carried small bags of snacks and notebooks to take notes in. Every year this was as much of a test of the teacher's attention spans and will to stay awake as it was of the student's skills and capabilities.

Shouta himself had woken up nearly three hours earlier to help oversee the villain team as they initiated the first of their plans. He was unusually prepared for this year as well. Inside his sleeping bag, he had stashed plenty of caffeine-heavy drinks, a pair of thick, unused notebooks and a smaller notebook given to him by the villain team called 'Stage Directions.' That had been a trip to read.

Honestly, when he originally proposed that Bakugou and Midoriya be chosen for the hero and villain roles, he had done so with the hope that putting them in positions of leadership would dull their bad habits. Midoriya was far too meek and willing to take a backseat in planning when it wasn't life or death and Bakugou was far too reckless and brash.

Then Midoriya Izuku turned around with steel in his eyes.

The problem child had talked to him several times after classes, each time to confirm whether something would be stopped or counted against him by the teachers. Like the two students from Support and General Studies he recruited. Or the requisitions for permission to use firearms loaded with the RG13 rounds. And the requisitions for a practical ammunition demonstration.

Each time Midoriya looked more and more confident, more focused and determined.

Then this morning, just after 2 am, the fucking problem child calls him and says that his team is ready to start.

He showed up to see the entirety of the villain team perched on the walls and front steps of UA.

For a split second, as they looked up at him, dressed to kill in suits and dresses, with armor and weapons stashed and ready...

As Midoriya looked up and his eyes glinted green in the half-light...

He pushed the memory of feeling in danger away.

With nothing better to do, he let the villains in and watched them set up. The villains outfitted and stashed supplies in the three trucks, before half of them practically slept where they stood. Midoriya, and three of his allies took a much more low-key sedan into the city proper to set up the villain lair, armed with suitcases and briefcases of supplies.

Shouta, in turn, looked over the cameras. The entire city, every room, every street and back alley and sewer tunnel was hooked up to cameras. Those that were classified as 'public' would be available to the heroes, but the villains would need to hack their own camera feeds to use them.

Power Loader and Shouta had been very clear that while blocking out the hero team feed was fine, the teacher's connection was to be left untouched.

As such, while the rest of the teachers filed in, finding places on couches and at the counter for the dry bar, Shouta panned through the cameras. He set half the screen on the resting villains, the other on the newly-assembling Heros.

Low mumbling started, before the heroes turned towards Principal Nedzu, dressed in a green money counters cap. "All right! Place your bets folks, place your bets!"

The teachers called out bets and wagers. Some of them were cash, but others were offers of dealing with detentions or grading homework for one another.

Shouta himself called out only one bet.

"One month of detention watching and homework covering, and 20,000 Yen, on the villains breaking Endeavor's record win."

Present Mic turned, mouth dropping. "WHHATTT?? SHOOUTTAA??? YOU NEVER–" Shouta's red-eyed gaze cut off the rest of Yamada's tirade.

"I placed my bet. Deal. With. It. Now shut up, the villain team is getting ready to move."

With that, the teachers settled back into their seats.

The first live-stream started.

Day 1: 6 hours, 12 minutes (6:12 am, local time)

The teachers were chatting about the hunter team, mainly how they needed to be reorganized.

"The issue I'm seeing," Vlad King spoke up, "Is that for all the heroes' combined forces, each team is far too specialized for its role. It would have been better to plan for more varied teams."

"Perhaps. But he also had only a short period to integrate each team with each other. This may be his opening gambit, it's possible that he will change team formations down the line," Ectoplasm responded.

"Look, they found the manhole," Cementoss commented, pointing to the screen with the hunter team.

"I have to admit, I was impressed with the villain team's vanishing act. Carrying smaller travel platforms into the tunnels for the teams to reassemble was interesting and unexpected. Though without the combined abilities of Honenuki and Kendou to push the van into the office next door, they would have left quite the evidence as to where they went," Ectoplasm commented, leaning on the couch back.

"Though simply pulling a section of bricks out by softening the mortar holding them was inspiring. Shame the heroes never noticed that," Cementoss noted, looking over a few stills from the concealment.

"They only noticed the manhole due to the antics of Tsunotori. They were lucky on that front," Shouta muttered, sipping at another juice pouch.

"Oh holy shit, look at the street." Ectoplasm leaned in, pulling up a new screen off his tablet.

The heroes took in the barricade of cars, the limp bodies all too easy to imagine as injured and dead civilians.

"Look, is that Tokoyami and Kuroiro?" Power Loader looked at the two figures, now climbing up an upside-down car to the top of the wall and taking positions.

"And there's the hero team led by Bakugou," he remarked.

Day 1: 8 hours, 45 minutes (8:45 am, local time)

The screens were divided between the battle in the street, the hold up at the government building, and the interiors of both places.

"Here, looks like the teams are closing in on three of the objectives."

"What three?"

Nedzu tapped a controller, and three screens changed to show the items.

"In the bank vault, there is a safety deposit box with a fake skull, marked with the tag for the event and the number '12.' In the government building, the left arm of a modded civil-bot is marked as number '4.' In the government building is a laptop marked with a '5.' The civil-bot also has to be taken intact."

"Hostage, espionage, and vault robbery. That's three."

The teachers continued to comment as they watched the side-teams get to work. In the bank, Jirou Kyouka, dressed in a black shirt, skirt, boots, and a red tie, slowly cracked the code to the vault. She was guarded and assisted by Monoma Neito for a short time before he hefted a bag and began to travel through the building, placing black objects on various walls and consistently referencing his phone for directions.

In the government building, a swarm of rats and flies hunted for the laptop, lead and assisted by Kouda Kouji and Awase Yosetsu. Meanwhile, Yaoyorozu Momo and Aoyama Yuga tracked down and detained the civil-bot. Yaoyorozu strapped it to a quickly-created gurney as Aoyama began to take the bag he held and head for the basement.

Videos of the subterranean crew, consisting of Honenuki Juzou and Kendou Itsuka, showed them working together to craft escape tunnels, traveling from point to point in the city using the motorized platforms. At the same time, Yanagi Reiko and Ashido Mina traveled along their own, more circuitous route. Ashido melted the way into locked power boxes and security feed lines, while Yanagi hooked up countless connectors from her bag to each, allowing another team, the villain leaders, to begin hacking every building security feed they could find.

Yanagi also used her poltergeist powers to slowly lift smaller devices into small corners and into the streets through storm drains across the city.

Day 1: 11 hours, 15 minutes (11:15 am, local time)

The duo guarding the bank retreated, with the villains carrying their objective through a new underground entrance and out into the tunnels, Monoma leaving one last attachment at the roof of the tunnel.

The objectives at the government building were also almost completely collected, the location of the laptop already narrowed down to a single set of rooms the villains were rummaging through, though Awase had jogged to the box truck, joined with Yaoyorozu as they hopped in the back.

The teachers were interested but somewhat unenthused. Even the Dark Shadow and Black Quirk combo had only kept their interest for a short time. And while Power Loader seemed to realize what Monoma was doing, he had declined to share the information with the others.

However, when Izuku's bomb call began, Shouta could only smirk as the bank they had prepared to assault blew sky high.

A round of curses and exclamations from all but Shouta, Nedzu, and Power Loader erupted. The fact that they were smirking was not unnoticed.

"WHAT THE HELL HA–" Yamada cut off under a red stare, and Power Loader cut in.

"I spent a long afternoon talking construction and demolition charges in a quick certification class with both young Yaoyorozu and Monoma, and signed off on their use during this. Along with a few other forms for extra equipment usage and materials."

"That's against the rules, isn't it? We weren't supposed to help the villains or hero–" Snipe drawled from where he sat at the counter.

"They didn't mention the exam, they simply had me sign off for their certifications. I got an email from Nedzu a few hours later to sign off on use in the practical... They brought it up in the context of learning for the future."

"Okay, what the fuck?!" Came the yell from Midnight, drawing everybody's attention to the massive truck-mounted artillery piece.

"I signed off on that too!" Nedzu commented in the sudden silence, only punctuated by the rat-a-tat of the gun firing, and the violently cut-off scream from the purple-outfitted Mineta.

"Ouch." Ectoplasm frowned, already sending one of his clones on standby at the edge of the city down to retrieve the kid from his red goo coffin and take him to Recovery Girl. "That's gotta hurt."

"Little pervert fucking deserves it," came the mutter from Midnight, leaning back as the truck went careening down the road.

"Though, it feels like the end of the foreplay is coming up," she noted with a smirk.

Day 1: 13 hours, 45 minutes (1:45 pm, local time)

The teachers watched Bakugou's meeting with his team and his sorting of information. Then they watched the meeting with Izuku and the villains. In the end, they noted there were plenty of differences between the two.

"Midoriya is acting very social with them, like a concerned friend and leader for his troops. He made them food and Bakugou... despite how his temper is more reigned in, it's still making him curt and dismissive. That's a mistake," Hound Dog noted, watching as the villains dispersed.

Then the surprise guest stepped out and the teachers were dumbfounded.

"Is… is this even allowed?" All Might muttered, flipping through his book.

"The rules never said no, at least considering the circumstances," admitted Nedzu, "Though I do admit, after this year we may have to refine those rules a bit more..."

On the screen, Izuku smiled before he paused and looked up. It took a few seconds for him to find it, but he gave a small nod to the camera, a knowing smirk dancing across his lips.

Heists, Coffins, and Fuck-Ups

Chapter Summary

As Night falls, Conflict brews.

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

Day 1: 17 hours and 42 minutes (5:42 pm, local time. One hour until sunset)

"Shit."

Momo, Neito, Yuga, and Kyouka all looked at the case with a combination of focus and annoyance.

Their target was sitting there. In the middle of the museum's grand showcase.

"A fucking coffin. Really?" Kyouka called out. She was listening to the area, checking if they were in the clear. Yuga was with her in a silver and black outfit with a short red shoulder cape wrapped around him, his torso was covered with armor connected to the silver focusing array. The loose fabric and puffy sleeves looked somewhat French, with silver patterns that caught the light.

Across from them, their companion team was wearing more... risqué outfits. Neito wore black sleek pants and boots, an open black vest, and a pair of black gloves, his head topped by a felt flat-topped cap. It made him look one part page boy, one part male stripper. Momo wore a sleek red backless dress and black thigh-highs, with an array of pouches across her hips. For shoes, she wore stylish black boots that reached her knees, leaving several inches of black satin stockings above them, before leaving a gap between her dress and the edge of the satin. The two were currently trying to spoof the case security for the exhibit. The coffin, emblazoned with the distinctive number 13 over the UA seal, rested in the center of a massive exhibit on zombies. Clearly a joke exhibit too, like the rest of them (the exhibits on UFOs, the Mad Science of the 22nd Millennia and Mothman were notable). The Support Class clearly built them for fun.

"We have less than two hours until the system swaps to a high-security lockdown for the night. But if we disturb the exhibit, then we're already fucked."

Momo and Neito both made their way back.

"Well, good news? The coffin is unanchored. If we get it, we can just carry it out. The issue is the motion sensors. If anything else gets disturbed, it triggers an alarm. If the glass shatters, it triggers an alarm. If the laser grid over the coffin is set off, it triggers an alarm," Momo explained, already texting the data they had gathered to Hacker and the Tower.

"Seriously? What about having Hacker turn off the alarms?"

A beep preceded Mei's voice over the comms.

"I wish I could, but this is definitely older students at work. It's awesome, but several of these tricks I don't have counters for. First off, the alarm uses what's referred to as an interrupt system. If you break the circuit or interrupt the signal, three separate receivers go set the alarm off. If one of the receivers goes offline, the other two set the alarm off. I can't disable it from here. If I was there, I might be able to delay it, but no dice."

Kyouka, Momo, and Neito stared at the display. It was five meters on the side and a little under a meter tall. The area was covered in a massive pile of gravestones and fake zombie pieces behind glass. In the center was the coffin.

Yuga tapped the base of the display and then tilted his head. Kyouka looked down and listened as he tapped again. 'That's hollow,' she thought. "Umm.. if we can't go over, because of the lasers, or through, due to the motion sensors… can we go under?" Yuga asked, looking at the case with a critical eye.

The other three paused and Yuga grinned, opening the panel carefully to reveal a smooth wooden surface under the exhibit.

"Momo, Neito. Do you have laser pointers in your repertoire?"

A few minutes later they were set. Momo and Neito marked off the exact lines of where the box was, using the lasers to show it across the underside of the box. With careful hands, Yuga marked off the square with a marker, then had them re-check his measurements as he stared at the underside of the case.

He was handed a knife, and Kyouka popped the corners with careful taps of her ear jacks.

"Alright. Start nice and slow, Sparkle, we have time."

He nodded and took the chisel-shaped knife up, digging it through the wood slowly. He had the better part of an hour to get through this and didn't want to mess it up.

Izuku looked at the screen as the feed from the four-man team came through. The team was working well, though this was a far more intensive theft then he had originally planned. He glanced at the diagram of the building.

Behind him, Mezou napped on the couch, hat over his face to keep the light from the holo-screens from waking him.

Izuku began to pace, hand over his mouth to muffle his mumbling.

Seventeen floors, with the top three being a massive amphitheater and museum, where the team was currently pulling their heist. The only reason they were getting away with this was the fact they had already ordered the museum closed earlier that day. Mei had hacked the system and sent a 'museum closing' message over the civil-bot network. However, the system itself ran off a radio-updated internal clock and as such couldn't be hacked to keep the museum closed. The result? A three-hour window where the teams could get in, get the goods, and get out.

Izuku zoomed out and looked at the picture of the building once again. The triangular window scheme was nice, but the sphere of triangular panels made the massive glass dome of the top seem almost like a disco ball. He tabbed through some of his different cameras feeds, finally settling on a mixed display of the crew at the museum, and the exterior of the Hero Agency.

For the better part of half an hour, he watched the crew work on getting into the case without setting the alarms off.

And then things went wrong.

Yuga scored the line once more and then there was a cracking sound, an entire side suddenly shifting and pulling away from the boards.

"SHIT, HOLD IT STRAIGHT!" Kyouka called out, Yuga already pushing up to try and keep the board steady.

But it was too late.

With a creak, part of the board beneath the coffin dipped and the coffin went crashing through the rest of the exhibit.

A beat, panic already setting in.

Then the alarms went off.

Metal shutters dropped over the doorways throughout the museum, and the elevators rose up and locked into place on the top floor.

"Shit."

Neito and Momo rushed the display. With the alarm already off, they just needed to grab the coffin and bail, and Yuga rolled out from under the display with a grimace of self-reproach.

They reached it and lifted the dark metal case, dragging it forwards, while Kyouka was already tapping her comm. "Tower, we have a fucking problem."

The sun's last light of the day was making the sky burn like fire and Izuku cursed, adjusting the holograms as he tried to keep track of what was happening.

Izuku swore, kicking back to jar the couch and jolt Mezou awake as his eyes tracked data and images of the heroes rushing through the doors, already oriented and heading for the museum.

Headcount…

Iida, Kirishima, Tetsutestsu, Kaminari, Ojiro, Bondo and Tsunotori.

Led by Bakugou.

'That's a heavy assault team. Could I send a team to– no. No time.'

"Mezou, get prepped for a fight and get Hacker and Con Man up and ready. The museum job just went south."

Mezou took a second to process the words before he rolled off the couch, standing and stretching as he headed for the door.

"Have Hacker get the rifle. Grab your gear and get going. I'll meet you at the tunnel." Izuku was already connecting the system to the HUD in his jester mask, tapping the connection and considering times.

"Seventeen floors at average, thirty seconds a floor, so say eight minutes. The museum is locked, they need to get out…" Tapping the comms on, Izuku started relaying orders, moving to the elevator while a monochrome green screen on the mask lenses showed the camera feeds. "Yuga, laser the gates between you and the exits. Keep them in short bursts, as much as you can handle without going over. Momo, Neito, casters and webbings on the coffin, make it easier to carry. Drop down four floors, floor 13 has the first set of offices through the stairwell. Move now. You have less than five minutes before the hero teams hit the building, hide out there as long as you can. The heroes are probably rushing the top floor first. Kyouka, you're on watch and keep the line open. My team and I are coming to provide a distraction to get you out. Keep your focus and use your heads."

"Roger," came four voices. Tapping the mic, Izuku stepped into the elevator, tapping the basement button as he scowled under his mask.

"Great. This is going to be a mess," he muttered.

4 days before the exam

Midoriya stood and sighed as he looked down at the form of Neito, who cradled a broken arm. "Yeah. That's what happens. Figures. Head out to Recovery Girl, you're done for today and we know you can't handle my Quirk at all, even now."

"Fucking ow, Midoriya. You put up with this during the tournament?" Neito panted, looking up with a wild look in his eyes. Midoriya rubbed his wrist and looked thoughtful, unknowingly displaying the white scarred flesh and twisted fingers of his final clash with Todoroki in the ring.

"Yeah. I did. A lot worse than what you've got now. The damage you have is diffused, spread out. Doing it in a smaller space hurts more and deals loads more damage." For a moment, Monoma Neito could only look on in awe at the absent-minded way Izuku explained how he hurt himself.

"Alright… grab Miracle Matter on your way out and recheck the distance you can hold it, please." Izuku was already turning away, sketching out notes in his book as he glanced at the other villain teams testing their powers.

"... Miracle Matter?" Monoma inquired, raising an eyebrow as Izuku blushed.

"O-Oh. Sorry, I meant Creati. Go grab Creati." Izuku shook his head and moved over to look at the others.

Neito looked back down, seeing the dark purple bruising that wrapped his arm from wrist to elbow. As he tagged Yaoyorozu and borrowed her Quirk, he felt at his arm.

Honestly… it hurt. He's had broken bones, but even now, ten minutes after it broke, he felt a deep throbbing ache through his arm. But that was nothing compared to the rush of power. It felt like he had stood in a tunnel as the ocean crashed through him.

With one last look at the scarred figure of his Kingpin, Neito headed to Recovery Girl.

Under Siege

Chapter Summary

Traps, lies, armor, and orders. The villains are being pushed back, but with reinforcements on the way, can they hold out?

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

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notesDay 1: 18 hours, 55 minutes (6:55 pm, local time)

"Kirishima, Tetsutetsu, take the ground floors up. Bondo, you run support with them. Seal off areas as you pass. Iida, Ojiro, Tsunotori, take the west stairwell to the museum floors, lock it down and figure out what they were after. Then start searching from the top down. Me and Sparky here will head to the center floors and then clear up to meet you, then we'll all double back down to meet the ground team. GO!" Katsuki barked orders as his team closed in on the building.

After nods and muttered agreement, the teams hit the building lobby at a run. Bondo fired a quick stream of Cemedine across the elevator bank, before he followed the rest of his team through the grand doors into the ground floor. The other teams headed for their stairwells.

Iida took the stairs three at a time, engines pumping and steps sure as he raced. Ojiro simply leaped from railing to railing, zig-zagging up the stairwell center towards the top, joined by Tsunotori. She would leap several floors, land and then leap several more.

On the other stairwell, Bakugou and Kaminari were forced to take a more mundane route. They ran the stairs two at a time as they raced for the seventh floor to begin their chase.

Far above, a pale blond-haired boy sighed and tossed a can attached to a small blasting cap, a long line of string and a wireless trigger over the railing. The string quickly pulled tight, the line tied off on the lower railing of the staircase.

"Bombs away." Neito grinned, then turned back and helped maneuver the coffin through the doors onto floor 13. Across from him, Momo was turning and placing a second prepped can-and-cord set up on the ceiling, attached by a strip of duct tape from her pocket.

"Move it, assholes. We've got to get set up!" Kyouka whispered at the two creators as Yuga pulled the leading edge of the coffin through doors and into a high rise office.

"King to acquisitions squad. Defend your floor and keep the elevators intact. We're arriving through the tunnels in four minutes. Hold off until then. Hacker suggests compound six on the doors and support structures to reinforce. Hold out on the far side from the elevator banks and clear an arena in the center. Feel free to trap the halls from the stairs."

"Understood, King," Kyouka replied, already moving to begin.

Tenya broke into the museum entrance first and started a search of the floor, looking for messed up exhibits, broken glass or signs of a struggle. He found it easy, as there was a straight path of molten metal grates leading through the hallways. Following them, he found and marked seven variant civil-bots, their outfits and painted decorations marking them as fake security guards. Each of them had holes punched through heads or necks. He quickly compared them to memory and tapped his comms. "Alert. Two intruder identities suggested from damage in the museum location. Jirou Kyouka and Aoyama Yuga." He looked around before adding, "Whatever they took was from the zombie exhibit. Looks like it was a centerpiece."

"Got it, Glasses For Brains. Take a look around for a minute then start down. Sparky and I are almost at floor nine. Shitty Hair, Steel Hair, you two find anything?"

"Uhh, not yet Bakubro! Most of the lower floors are just conference rooms and cubicle cells so far. We've got Bondo sealing up the main exits as we go and he's got the elevator banks done. We're finishing the second floor now."

"Hurry it up. Iida, get a move on."

"Understood." He disconnected and then turned to his team, who had been following along. "Ojiro, start from the central room, check the upper balcony. Tsunotori, clear where you can on this floor and then guard the door. I'll start on the computers, set up an uplink to HQ so we can access the feeds."

Denki jogged through the floor, eyes roaming as he searched. Bakugou had gone the far way around the floor. Each step sent small sparks across his skin and lights flickering brighter as he passed.

"Next fucking floor," came the order as he and Bakugou regrouped at the stairs, heading up once more.

They rushed up the steps and Denki saw Bakugou flinch and start to turn. He turned with him, eyes barely making out something swaying in the center of the stairwell–

Then he heard a beep and a bang. He felt himself get smacked with something wet and rubbery, reflexively covering his face and closing his eyes. Long, thin lines of something unknown wrapped around and clung to his skin and clothes.

"SHITFUCKER!" Well, Bakugou sounded pissed. No surprise. Denki opened his eyes and looked around. The section of the stairwell and the next floor, both above and below, was lined with sticky green threads that reminded Denki of a spider web from hell. The feeling was reaffirmed as he tried to pull at it and it simply stuck and started to set across his limbs.

A few steps up, he heard a small explosive bang, and a set of lines fell free to tangle in the web in the center of the stairwell.

"MOTHER FUCKING BULLSHIT." A click and then: "Glasses be on the lookout for fucking traps. Canister about four centimeters across and ten tall. Had a blasting cap on it. Filled the stairwell down here with gunk for a good ten fucking meters across cube. We're stuck for a bit until I can blow a hole through without breaking the goddamn staircase."

As he spoke, Denki focused and began to channel a charge through the strands closest to him, slowly making them crack and sizzle, before some of them popped, falling off his body.

The conversation with Iida cut out, and the two of them started forwards, Bakugou blowing the strands away, and Denki frying them.

"I can still hear Bakugou and Kaminari at the lower edge of my range. The trap worked and they're stuck for a bit. Iida and his team are getting ready to come down the west stair door in less than a minute," Kyouka called out, looking at the rest of the team.

Neito and Momo were just about finished setting up traps. Both of them were making a second cylinder trap in the other stairwell above the door.

The substance they sprayed across the door itself was a compound Mei had come up with after seeing Bondo's Cemedine in action. As a quick-drying bonding agent, it would form a thin layer of resin across the doors, practically freezing against the material and keeping them supported against impact. A quick layer of extension bars were screwed into the frame that kept the doors secured and then got resin glued to the back of the doors.

Meanwhile, both Yuga and Kyouka had cleared the cubicles back, a quick laser burst on a low setting cutting some pieces in half as they, also with a bottle of compound six, sprayed and crafted a quick set of fortifications out of the cubicle remains. They had three points of security: one simple foxhole at the end of each hall from the stairwells and a larger one backed against the private offices at the far side of what was once sea of cubicles.

As the creative duo fell back, Kyouka pulled a simple handgun from her pack and three clips of RG13 rounds. Yuga did the same and the others pulled their own skeletonized versions out of their gear, clipping parts together as their guns took shape.

Kyouka could call them all smaller handguns, based on what video games have taught her. She also knew that they were fired using a compressed air cartridge with a red goo payload on the end, spent CO2 cartridges getting kicked out the chamber.

"Boss, contact incoming."

"We're almost there. Hold out for two minutes more and be ready to move."

"We'll try," she said, pointing for Momo to trigger the doorway charges.

"Fuck!" came echoing up from one stairway, while a squeal of disgust came from the other.

"Hurry, Boss. They're at the doors."

"ReciproBURST!"

And with that, the doors began to cave in.

Izuku adjusted the long, loose jacket he wore over his suit, emphasizing his thin figure and making him seem taller. The short lifts on his boots also assisted with that illusion.

To his right, in an identical jacket, Con Man matched his pace. Assault took his left, his form all but concealed beneath the broad brim of his hat and the massive, loose high-collar navy-blue coat he wore like a cape. As he got to the maintenance room, he looked at the controls, knowing Hacker could see them through his mask cameras. He plugged her thumb drive into the security computer, the civil-bot that had been sitting there quickly bearing Assault's handprint four inches deep in its face, sparks flying before it could react and alert the hero team.

In the meantime, Izuku stepped away and popped the cover of the breakers for the building off with a flick of Full Cowl through his fingers. He looked at the array of switches.

"Which breakers?"

"Top left, flip up. Bottom center, flip down, same to the bottom left. Center is lighting and main power. I need it turned off and the far left flipped to full to keep the elevators on."

Izuku followed the instructions, Con Man and Assault were standing next to the main elevator with arms crossed, until with a click, the elevator button beeped.

"Elevators coming down. Cameras say that Kiri, Tetsu, and Bondo are about to hit the fifth floor. Baku and Kami are pushing up the stairwell to the east, and are close to the mess at the door. Iida and his team are almost through the web bomb outside their door, however, and are nearly in."

A beat passed, Izuku lowering his head, and mouth moving near silently as he thought.

He took a slow breath and he looked up, eyes gleaming under the brim of his hat.

"Alright. Here's how we're going to play it..."

4 days before the exam

Izuku was a teenager and his room reflected that.

Besides the overwhelming hero-worship, he had an array of clutter across his room most of the time. But with the last few days of surprise exercise reveals and choosing teams, his desk had become cluttered to a new level. A notebook with his team's Quirks was sitting on it, each page cross-referenced with possible combinations and tricks. His laptop was set up beside it, the screen filled with basic blueprints and a few hundred tabs with various research papers and theories.

Aside from that, there was also a large map of the fake city pinned to the wall, graciously procured by Mei from the school's servers. He had spent time mapping out the tallest buildings and points of interest. Bank, museum, government offices, hero offices. The tallest building was marked on the blueprints as a landmark, which means there was something going on there.

Izuku himself was sketching his latest revamped villain outfit design into his notebook. His laptop tabbed to a new window as he played highlights of old movies.

Movies where villains were one of the main characters.

Old superhero movies were a good start, even 200 years later, the 32 part MCU was still a good watch. Besides that, he watched some true classics. The Godfather series (both the Marlon Brando original and the 2082 remake) the entire gamut of Ocean's 11 movies (cut down to mostly heist plans and executions). He looked through fan breakdown videos about Magneto, Loki, the Joker, and many more.

On his desk was a smaller black book, marked with black ink and red cross-outs, notes on how villains acted, on what they did right and writing on how they inflicted fear and made their enemies flinch away.

He would have to make an impression. He had to hit the morale and minds of the heroes hard and fast, plant the idea that he is in command…

'Explosives… fire… and collateral damage. I have to make the entire city a war zone. I have to take control.'

For the first time, the villain smile came effortlessly to his face.

Chapter End Notes

I have to say, Two weeks ago when I first posted this story, I did not expect the sheer level of response you've all given me. thank you for the support!

High Rise Showdown

Chapter Summary

What Goes up, must be Brought down.

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

Chapter Notes

HAPPY MOThERS DAY! Enjoy a new chapter from me to you!

See the end of the chapter for more notesDay 1: 19 hours, 12 minutes (7:12 pm, local time)

Eijirou looked around the fourth floor. "Next, and let's hurry. It sounds like they need us upstairs soon."

"Got it!" Tetsutetsu called, already jogging over, followed by the hulking and eerily mute form of Bondo.

They rushed up the stairs, hearing the faint sound of repetitive slams from the top floor echoing down the concrete tube to them. Eijirou really did want to go and help, to give a good showing, but Bakugou had been determined. 'Clear the floors so there are no surprises.'

Which to be fair, the villains have offered a lot of surprises.

With that thought, the heroes entered the fifth floor.

Almost immediately, there was a change. Every floor before this had been fairly similar. Lights, cubicles, a neat arrangement of offices and tasteful artwork.

The lights on the fifth floor were off.

The team slowed and both Eijirou and Tetsutetsu triggered their Quirks, while behind them Bondo shifted his stance, more Cemedine guiling up in his maw as he readied himself for combat.

Suddenly, a light turned on across the office.

"Let's go!" Tetsutetsu cried, rushing. Eijirou ran at his side as they crashed through cubicles towards the lights. Bondo, giving a deep rumbling sound as he staggered and followed after them, stumbled and twisted to get through the mangled mess of cubicles left in the wake of the harder duo.

They crashed through the cubicles, throwing the last few to the side as they stared at the lit office.

There, sitting at the desk in the glass-walled corner office, was Midoriya. But in front of him, leaning on the door to the office, was a figure who made them pause. Long black suit jacket, a green tie and black vest matching Midoriya's down to the red leather shoes and red gloves of his outfit. A black, full-head mask with a solid, featureless black void, with the exception of a faintly glowing green question mark.

"Welcome, heroes! Sadly, your player three has another game to play. Assault, if you would?" The man with the mask said, voice distorted but clear.

There were rapid footsteps and then a crash, making both Eijirou and Tetsutetsu flinch and half turn back. A massive, blue coat-wrapped form with a wide-brimmed tan hat slammed into Bondo from the depths of the cubicles and sent him crashing into the maze of office supplies.

"But enough about him! You two gentlemen are mine to deal with!"

Both turned back, crouching and raising fists, radiating righteous aggression. "Let's go!"

"First, the pleasantries!" He called, holding up his hands in a non-threatening manner. "I go by the name Con Man, and yourselves?"

"I'm Red Riot!" Kirishima shouted.

"And I'm Real Steel!" Tetsu echoed.

And then, everything just… began to fade away, leaving one last line echoing through their memories.

"And you both lost the game. Thanks for playing, heroes."

Mezou stood panting as the immobilized form of Bondo laid on the floor, pinned by a toppled cubicle.

His head was stuck in a trashcan, keeping him from spewing his Cemedine Quirk across the office.

Con Man approached Assault and stood at his side.

The sound of Izuku's rapid steps came up behind them. As they stepped to the side, he moved between them, pulling a larger caliber gun from his jacket and firing twice; once at the bucket, once at the chest of the glue Quirk user. "Sorry Bondo, but you're too useful to let Bakugou keep. Gentlemen, let's move. We have an appointment with our pals upstairs to attend to. Con, was auto-defenestration really necessary?"

"No, but it was funny as all hell." The distorted voice carried a clear tone of amusement.

"Good point. Assault, you good?" Kingpin turned to his left-hand man.

"Bondo was strong but aside from a few bruises, nothing major," Mezou stated, already adjusting his coat to hang correctly once more.

"Good." Kingpin approached the elevator. It opened. "Thank you, Hacker. Thirteenth floor if you would."

As the three stepped inside and turned to face the doorway once more, they got one last view of the destroyed offices. Including the two gaping holes of shattered glass on either side of the corner office. Izuku took off his mask and hat and looked at them.

The doors slid closed with a soft ding.

1 minute, 30 seconds earlier

"SHIT!" Kyouka cursed, ducking back as Iida and Tsunotori finally shattered their way through the door, taking out the frame in the process.

Less than a second later, she was back up around the corner, the rapid click-hiss of her gun matched by Momo's as she leaned over the other corner of the hallway. The soft crack-pop! of the red goo splattering against the remains of the threshold echoed as Iida, Ojiro, and Tsunotori dove for cover.

"Fuck off, heroes! We're sorta busy up here!"

"FOUL VILLAINS, YOU WILL CEASE YOUR WAYS AND SURRENDER TO THE AUTHORITIES. YOU HAVE NO ESCAPE," Iida called back before he zig-zagged down the hallway, diving into another doorway. Red spatters painted the frame behind him.

"FUCK OFF!" Kyouka repeated, sending another round through the threshold and making Ojiro flinch back.

As she stepped back and reloaded, Momo stepping out to fire, she whispered into her comm. "Boss, what's the holdup?"

"Just a moment, we're almost done dow–" The sound of shattering glass came over the comms. "Nevermind. We're done. Up in a bit."

Kyouka slammed the new mag into place and stepped around, firing off more rounds as Momo took a turn to reload. Ojiro was pulling the beat and battered steel door back towards him with his tail. That was the problem.

"DIE YOU SHITTY DOOR."

Correction. That was the problem.

"Sacre bleu! Monsieur Paragon is already at the porte!"

"Fuck, fall back!"

Momo and Kyouka made a break for it, with Yuga and Neito following suit across the room. All four raced for the half-built fort across the room, the girls sending potshots at the corner they had just occupied. With a bang, the other stairwell door went flying, shattered resin and broken rods still dragging the stone framework with it across the room. It shattered the glass wall of an office along the way.

Crouched behind the barricade, they watched as Bakugou, hands popping and crackling, walked around the corner. The sheer malice coming from his stance made the villains pause, which let the other four heroes stack up on the corners, ready to act.

"You're all under arrest. Now we can do this the easy way and you surrender, or the fucking HARD WAY AS I RIP YOU APART!"

*Ding*

A pause, and the entire floor felt their gazes be drawn to the slowly sliding doors of the elevator surrounded by the heroes.

Red leather boots laced up past the ankle and polished to a shine stepped through the entrance. Pitch-black slacks rose under a long black coat of the same color. Hands clad in skin-tight gloves, the same color as his shoes, clasped in front of him. The jacket parted to reveal a black vest, a bright white shirt, and a perfectly tied green tie. Above it sat a grinning mask of black on white and a low black-brimmed hat with two feathers rising from each side, each a bright acid green to compliment his hair and tie. To the left of him, his two comrades stepped in. The matching outfit and hidden identity of Con Man slouching slightly, more disheveled at his side, with a looser tie and hat lopsided over his identity-concealing mask. The mountain in the navy trenchcoat known as Assault flanked the other side.

A voice, obviously enhanced with a microphone to be clear, based on the slight distortion, spoke.

"How about my way, Kacchan?" he said, voice chipper and upbeat as the Kingpin tilted his head.

Mezou looked on as his boss pulled yet another flashy play. Drawing all the attention, getting everyone and everything in the room to look at one single person. Kingpin reveled in the attention, standing tall and proud, his focus solely on Bakugou. It truly looked like a fight for the ages was approaching.

"DEKU YOU–" Bakugou began before freezing, face falling blank.

Which is exactly what the boss wanted.

"Go jump out the window you stupid motherfucker." The voice behind the mask was muffled, but the distortion was gone.

And it wasn't Midoriya Izuku giving the order.

Reaching up, as Bakugou turned and sprinted at the nearest unobstructed window, the mask came off, revealing tired purple eyes and a drawn face. Then the hat and a curly green wig also came off, revealing deep purple spikes as Shinsou Hitoshi took in his work with a smile. With the shattering of glass, the biggest fighting asset on the hero team was removed from play.

"Good job, Con Man. That was easier than expected." With a flicker of green sparks across his skin, the figure wearing the Con Man question mask stepped forwards, yanking off his mask and trading with Hitoshi for his hat back, was Midoriya Izuku.

The actual Kingpin, whose side Shouji had never left.

"Let's do this."

Before the words were out of Izuku's mouth, Mezou was already on the move. The lower two arms reached into the folds of his jacket and with two long smooth draws, the red goo equivalent of double-barrel shotguns came forth.

One swung up, already sighting on the panicky sparking mess that was Kaminari as his eyes widened, the other aimed at Iida's team's general direction.

With two pulled fingers, the gun popped with the sound of compressed gases. Kaminari barely had time to respond before he was covered across the legs and up his left-hand side, screaming in surprise and pain as the force knocked him down and back. On the other side, Iida's team dove for cover, Ojiro ducking behind the battered security door for safety as his team split to either side of the corridor.

"Acquisitions squad, bring me the coffin, if you would be so kind. Assault, give them a few hands!" Izuku called as, with a flash of Full Cowl, he kicked the remains of the first barricade on the side where Iida had come from, slamming the broken and modified cubicle mess into a surprised Ojiro and sending him flying back down the hall.

Kyouka and Momo stepped back to the corner and unloaded as Mezou stepped forwards and grabbed the coffin by the netting, pulling two straps over his shoulders and dragging the coffin like an oversized suitcase to the elevator.

The distant sounds of explosions rang out from the window as the villains rushed into the small box. As the doors started to close, Iida's screamed commands and the sound of explosions heralded Bakugou's rocket-powered entrance to the floor.

"Going down," came Hacker's voice over the intercom, before the doors shut and with a lurch, the elevator dropped faster than it was designed to.

Bakugou stared at the closed door and the number above it, which was ticking down fast. "HEAD TO THE BASEMENT!" Bakugou called to the still dazed team left upstairs, before turning and diving back out the broken window.

He flared his wrist out, using a blast to accelerate towards the ground and counting the seconds. At two seconds to impact, he flipped around and used multiple rapid explosions to cut his descent from 'violent suicide' to 'dropping off a short roof' and crouching on contact. He instantly stood up and ran. How had he forgotten the basement? Yeah, he had thought the elevators were locked down, but apparently not. As he slammed through the doors into the first floor he booked it for the 'employees only' door next to the stairwell. He was betting– yep.

"FUCK."

Stairs to the basement for maintenance. He burst through them just as he heard a ding from further down, leaping the stairwell to land on the next landing and shoulder-checking the door with an explosive assist. The area was clear, but the sound of footsteps came from the other door across the way. A charge and another explosion was enough to get through the door.

And there.

No mask, not having put it back on yet, following behind his team as they filed out through the end of a long tunnel (that Bakugou would bet good money on being connected to the sewers), stood the person he most wanted to annihilate.

"Deku you PIECE OF SHIT!" he called, making Midoriya slow to a stop.

The other villains started to turn but he waved them on, before turning back.

"Hi, Kacchan."

7 days before the exam

Izuku held up his oldest notebook and looked over one of his earliest entries. There, after his mother and her Quirk, on pages three and four, his younger-self had shakily written Bakugou Katsuki.

Kacchan was a constant for years. His profile showed up in each edition, always with more detail and proposed limitations and strengths, each time showing up with new sections; analysis of personality, analysis of fighting style, of words not to say and things not to do. Some of them were on how to avoid Kacchan.

But now...

Now he was ready to fight back.

He pulled out a new, black notebook. Under the cover, he wrote something simple.

"Plus Ultra."

And on the first page...

On the first page, he started writing about how to win.

It all started with Bakugou Katsuki.

Chapter End Notes

Ah, sweet sweet cliffhanger.

Grudging Sacrifice

Chapter Summary

Izuku and Bakugou square off, While the timer counts down.

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

Day 1: 19 hours, 22 minutes (7:22 pm, local time)

"Deku, you piece of shit!"

The yell echoed down the grey stone corridor, the fluorescent lighting and exposed panels above them belying that they were in a service corridor.

"Hi, Kacchan! You know, I was hoping Con Man's orders would work to keep you busy for a while longer." Izuku turned, eyes cold as he looked at Bakugou down the corridor. He reached up and adjusted his hat slightly. Behind him, the villains dragged the coffin through the doors, several of them shooting worried glances at their leader.

With the tensing of his fists, the sound of crackling fireworks filled the room. Bakugou tensed and readied for the fight.

"I'm going to end this fucking exercise. Right here. Right now," Bakugou growled, hand flashing out and sending a burst of light and sound echoing through the corridor. A flashbang, designed to daze and confuse. Bakugou was testing the waters.

With a shrug and a spin, the suit jacket intercepted the explosion; muffling it but leaving the cloth jacket smoldering and in tatters.

At the end of the corridor, Izuku tilted his head, eyes traveling from the cloth to Bakugou, before he gently tossed it and let it land at the base of the cement wall to the side. Izuku began to fold the sleeves of his white button-up shirt up, cuffing them above his elbows to reveal the scarred skin and tight muscle. His forearms were already crackling with faint lines of green and red as One for All pulsed through him.

"Really? You think that you can take me? Right here, right now?" Izuku mocked, before reaching out a hand to the wall and slamming his fist through a glass-covered red metal trigger. He yanked down, all but ripping it from the wall, the motion etched with a glimmer of green energy. "Let's see it, then!" The ring of a fire alarm triggered and with a hiss the sprinklers lining the hall burst to life.

With a growl, Bakugou realized what the play was.

Mixing his sweat with the water would weaken his explosions. The near-rain in the corridor would chill them both, lessening the sweat he could output regardless. That meant he only had two heavy blasts: the stored sweat in the gauntlets. He either had to lead with that or save them for a surprise down the fight.

He chose to lead.

He rushed forwards, getting closer. In response, Izuku rushed back. His face and arms crackled with a faint aura of tightly regulated power, water streaming off his stupid hat as they neared each other.

The two met with roars of effort and a flash of power.

Iida all but staggered down the last of the stairs, looking around. The fire alarm was going off, for some reason, and he could barely hear over it. A battered Ojiro and a focused Tsunotori were trailing as he looked around, reaching up to tap his comm. "HQ, come in, this is Iida. HQ, come in."

"This is HQ. Iida, are you okay? I'm getting crazy signals from the security system of the building. I got those feeds you wanted. Is something on fire?" The slightly nervous ramblings of Kodai came over the comms.

"I don't know, but listen; get the others on watch moving and wake up someone to watch the monitors. They need to get here, now. Kingpin is here," Iida spoke tersely, already running around and trying to listen for the faint sounds of explosions (below him?). "We need back up. NOW!"

"On our way," Kodai confirmed, the sounds of her moving from the console coming through before she cut the connection.

"Ojiro, look for the lower floor team. I doubt Kirishima and Tetsutetsu went down easy. Tsunotori help me find a way down."

The two leaders lashed out.

Fists and weakened explosive blasts slammed against the walls as the two once friends, now enemies, fought.

Splashes of water were kicked up with each step. The snap and hum of superpowered blows being exchanged filled the air with each dodge and parry. The clanging explosions and the pulse of green lights pushed each block. Connecting fists moved faster and faster and faster. All of these things marked the anthem of their fight.

Midoriya ducked around a right, catching Katsuki's arm and twisting, slamming him face-first into the wall.

Katsuki swore and spun back out of the grip, arm scraping along the wall as he twisted and swung his left grenade gauntlet, aiming at Deku.

With a shout, he set his stance to hold against the recoil and pulled the trigger.

"DIE SHITTY DEKU!" He glanced up and saw Midoriya lunge, not away but towards Katsuki, hat held in hand as he brought it down on the nozzle of the gauntlet.

The explosion blew them both back.

After a few seconds to regain his footing, Katsuki looked down. Where his gauntlet had once been now stood only cracked metal wreckage attached to the armored bracer which had protected his wrist.

He looked up, watching the quickly dissipating smoke around Midoriya as the green-haired Kingpin stepped through the curtains of water provided by the sprinklers. The hat he held in his hand smoked, the feathers nothing but ragged tufts.

Yet the hat itself was intact. It had taken his strongest explosion full-force without tearing apart.

"I really do have to thank Hacker for this. She came up with a material resilient enough to redirect your explosions." Deku gave a bloody grin and set his hat back on his head, water running down his face from his green hair, strands plastered to his face. There was a second of stillness, both of them tensing to fight before with a flicker of green Izuku got in close.

The two once more traded blows back and forth, but with only one gauntlet left and soaked to the bone by the sprinklers, Katsuki was practically Quirkless. A series of jabs to his arms and shoulders left him gasping.

Midoriya ducked low, kicking out Katsuki's footing before shoulder-checking him to the ground. As Katsuki tried to reorient himself and get his breath back, he found himself pinned, the right half of his face submerged in the pooling water. Deku's knee was in the center of his lower back and his gauntleted arm was painfully twisted up and back, leaving him panting and spitting water as he tried to catch his breath.

"You know, I find the irony here almost cathartic." The soft voice of Deku came to him. "Not because you're the hero and I the villain, but because this exercise has proven something I've always believed." Katsuki twisted and struggled as he set off as large an explosion as he could. He rolled to the side and up into a crouch, arms coming up on reflex up to block a flickering green knee that shoved him up to his feet.

"What do you FUCKING KNO–" A snapped right hook slammed into Katsuki's cheek, sending him staggering across the hall before he came back. His fists swung in heavy haymakers as he tried to shut Deku UP!

"I know that you are obsessed with being 'Number One.' I know you think that heroism is a competition, that being the best means something." Katsuki screamed and lashed out, making Deku stagger back, a bruise forming on one bloodied cheek. He spun around with the hit and came back to a slam of a glowing foot into a hastily raised guard. It sent Katsuki staggering back once more.

"Being Number One? It never mattered in the same way to me. I appreciate the title, the meaning behind the words." Katsuki raised his remaining arm cannon, trying to aim through the blood stinging his eyes, but Midoriya was already in close. He kicked the cannon out to the side as he choke-slammed the blond into the wall.

For the first time, they stood eye to eye, face to face since the start of the exercise. Blood-red eyes bored into glowing acid-green ones.

Not Paragon and Kingpin, black and white.

No. Deku and Kacchan stared into each other eyes, both locked in a struggle.

"There are heroes and there are villains. That's the fight you should worry about. Number One? It's a joke. A public opinion piece ran by gossip magazines that worry more about sales than merit. I'd rather be a 'Symbol of Peace,'" Deku said, voice soft, private.

Before Katsuki could even consider a response, Deku reached out, yanking his still gauntleted arm-cannon down the hallway back towards the museum building and pulled the trigger with a swift motion.