- Tokyo Japan, outskirts -
"Of all the days to oversleep!" Serena cursed as she jumped out of bed, frantically trying to get herself dressed "I just HAD to choose the day of my entrance exam to UA, literally the only day I can absolutely not be late for."

It was a big day for the teenage girl, after months of stubborn determination, pestering, and navigating red tape, Serena had managed to get UA to let her take her entrance exam to start in their first year hero course, despite her being a year too old for it. Most students started their studies at age 15, but Serena had spent a year figuring out what she wanted to pursue in life before deciding to become a pro hero.

"I told you staying up to do a late night jog was going to come back to bite you Serena" a voice called from outside the bedroom "but don't worry, I told you the exam was earlier than it actually is so that when you inevitably overslept you wouldn't miss it"

Serena stopped short, halfway through the process of putting on pants "You… damn it you got me again… I can't even be mad that you assumed I'd oversleep because you ended up being right…. Thanks Mom" she called back, pouting a bit as she finished getting dressed and walked out into the hallway. A quick jog down the stairs and into the kitchen brought her to the source of the voice. A young woman, probably only in her late 20s, dressed in a business suit with her long brunette hair tied back in a ponytail. She was currently at the stove, making bacon and eggs for them to eat before setting about their days. The woman was Leona Ikusei, a private detective and medical specialist who worked with the local police, and she was also Serena's adoptive mother.

"Another day at the station Mom? They've been working you pretty hard lately" Serena said as she sat down at the table.

Leona sighed as she brought over the plates of steaming food to sit across from Serena "yes, there's been a sudden surge of homicides in private residences lately. Likely the work of some restless villains who can't operate freely anymore with All Might moving to the city for his new teaching position, things were tough enough for them with just the headmaster monitoring things. So since they can't commit crimes out in the open they resort to murdering in places heroes wouldn't be able to stop them… which makes a lot of extra work for me as we try to track them down"

"ALL MIGHT IS BECOMING A TEACHER?" Serena exclaimed, spitting out the water she'd just started to drink.

"Ah shoot, that's not supposed to be public knowledge until tomorrow, you heard nothing" Leona said "if anyone knew I let that slip the chief would have my hide… but yes All Might is becoming a teacher at UA, not sure why he suddenly decided to take up teaching, but it's quite exciting news for whichever class he ends up running."

"Wow, I hope I end up in his class, being trained by the number one rated hero in the world sounds amazing" Serena said, then she began to dig into her meal.

"Pass the exam first young lady, then you can start hoping to be in his class, I know you're more than capable of excelling, but there's going to be hundreds of applicants you need to outperform, don't get cocky" Leona scolded "remember this isn't a pass or fail type of test, it's a competition, you might not get in"

"Right, sorry" Serena said sheepishly "still I'm pretty confident I can make it, they're starting up a whole new class, so there's over 20 new spots to fill that weren't around in previous years. I'm sure with that bit of breathing room I can manage to place high enough to be accepted."

"Confidence is good, just don't get arrogant, you're prone to that" Leona warned, then glanced at the clock and sighed again "well looks like I'm out of time, your train ticket is on the counter, don't be late now. I'll see you tonight, good luck!"

"Alright, thanks mom, I'll make you proud, just you wait." Serena said with a smile

"Silly girl" Leona chuckled as she stood and walked towards the door, pausing briefly to give Serena a hug before leaving "I'm already proud of you every day, you should know that"

Serena blushed a bit "m-moooom, don't say things like that you'll get me all flustered" she protested, but she returned the hug and then focused on eating her food.

Leona laughed, then walked out the door to head to work. Serena finished her meal, then went to finish getting dressed into her uniform before setting out for the day. Taking a look at herself in the mirror she could barely contain her enthusiasm.

She tied her long, fiery red hair back in a ponytail so it wouldn't be in the way, then grabbed her gloves and slid them on. As was usual for her in the mornings, she winced a bit when she looked at the back of her hands while putting on the gloves. There were massive and very deep scars on her hands, which the fingerless gloves covered up, but looking at them even for the brief moment before she covered them always soured her mood a bit.

With her uniform on, she grabbed her bag and the train ticket from the kitchen counter and darted out the door to head for the train.

-UA practical exam testing ground A -

Serena stretched out as she stood in front of the large metal doors keeping her and the other applicants outside the exam area before it officially started. The written portion of the exam had been easy enough, she'd done a lot of extra studying to prepare for it, and the description of how this exam would work suited her just fine. All she needed to do was break a bunch of machines… she could break machines no problem, all she needed was to not let the other applicants get too many points before her.

Looking around she could see why her mom had told her not to be overconfident though, everyone here looked formidable in their own right, when it came to fighting faux villains they would prove an obstacle for her, taking down enemies before they could help charge her energy reserves. She needed a plan, some way to…

Serena's train of thought was interrupted by the starting bell of the test and the gates opening, all of the applicants surging through in a tidal wave of hopeful applicants. "crud, guess I'm winging it" Serena muttered as she charged through the gates at top speed. She was faster than a lot of the other applicants around her, that was to her benefit. Presumably the faux villains were scattered across the whole city, if she kept on charging to the center while her fellow applicants got distracted by the initial encounters, she could scope out an area for her to fight in without any kill stealing.

She didn't get far before a robotic foe darted out towards her, with two arms, a single wheel, and a tail that counterbalanced its weight, it was just a one-point villain, but it was coming right for her already, not giving her the option of just ignoring it to hunt for more valuable targets. It threw a jab at her while accelerating, but she batted it aside with one hand.

"Not much energy from these guys' punches huh, well it's just a 1 point" Serena thought to herself as she rotated herself around the charging robot and spun into a roundhouse kick to the joints connecting its wheel to the body, unleashing a burst of force at the point of impact and easily breaking the vulnerable area to incapacitate the faux villain. Her quirk, energy absorption, was perfectly suited to mindless opponents like these. She could absorb energy from anything she touched, store it inside her, and then dish it right back out in her own attacks. Currently the only type of energy she could absorb was kinetic energy, but these villains were just throwing punches and the like, which meant every reckless attack they made was just an all you can eat buffet of offensive power for her.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Serena continued her sprint for the center of the city, destroying a few more single point and 2 point targets on her way until she found an area that was relatively unpopulated by other applicants. She'd built up some energy on her way, and as she suspected, there were targets for her here too. This deep into the city there were mostly 2 point and 3 point targets. She gave the different models a once over before charging in. The 2-point bots were the most humanoid in design, standing upright with large fists for crushing blows, the 3-point bots were 4-legged tanks with two guns on their backs. She doubted the guns were loaded with real bullets, probably just rubber rounds or something, not that it really mattered in her case.

With a burst of energy from her feet Serena sprung at the nearest two point villain, moving deliberately slow enough to let it react and throw a punch at her, which she stopped with one palm, absorbing the energy of the attack and making it stop short, which threw the robot off balance as it suddenly jolted to a halt for an instant. With a slight grunt she pushed off of the fist, flipping herself over it and propelling herself into a kick to the neck of the bot, unleashing part of the attack she'd just absorbed to make her kick decapitate her target. The head flew off and clanged against the body of a 3-point target, causing it to turn on her and open fire.

"Bingo" Serena said with a smirk as she sprung off the now defeated robot and flew into the hailstorm of rubber bullets being fired at her. Each bullet that struck her was instantly stopped by her quirk and fell to the ground harmlessly, providing her with a surge of energy as she reached the body of the robot and crumpled its skull with a flying kick. She wasn't done yet though, ripping off a metal plate from the defeated robot and using carefully controlled bursts of force to bend and crush it into a spear-like shape.

She'd gotten the attention of the rest of the bots now, and several were approaching her, just like she wanted. Looking around she found two 2-pointers and a 3 point all in a line, so she hurled her makeshift javelin and imbued a surge of kinetic energy into the throw, piercing all three targets with the spear and earning 7 points in a single attack.

"So with that and the things I beat on the way here, I think that's 22 points now" Serena mused as she began running towards her next target "add in the ones around me and I should be at 40… is that gonna be enough?"

Her thoughts were interrupted again by something she saw out of the corner of her eye however, two small figures huddling in the doorway of one of the buildings, with a two-point villain approaching them. "What the… children?" she thought in a panic as she abandoned her target and began running towards the figures, now that she was focused on them she could tell they were indeed children, dressed in raggedy clothes and clearly quite malnourished, they must've been orphans who somehow made it inside this replica urban zone thinking it was just another part of the city, using it as their home and getting caught up in the exam. There was no time to ponder how they'd gotten in, as the faux villain was clearly winding up to attack them indiscriminately just as if they were applicants.

Just as the robot threw its punch Serena darted between it and the children, catching the strike and quickly countering with one of her own to destroy it. With the immediate threat addressed she turned to the children "are you two ok?" she asked, her tone must've come off as too urgent and intense, because the children flinched and shied away from her. The older of the two, a girl, nodded nervously, trying to position herself between Serena and the other child, a small boy that may have been her little brother.

Just then a 3-point villain opened fire on Serena, normally not a problem, but some shots were bound to slip past her and strike the children, and she couldn't allow that. "Get lost!" She growled as she threw a punch at the air towards the villain, unleashing the majority of her stored energy in the process to send a wave of force and wind to knock the shots away and disable the villain. She inwardly cursed at having to blow that much energy to take out a single target, but the immediate safety of the civilians had been more important.

This put her in a bad position though, as more villains were closing in on her now, and without a decent reserve of energy to let her fight aggressively she likely couldn't handle this many while protecting the children… it was likely going to ruin her exam score, but she had little choice but to take the kids and run back to an area more densely populated by applicants, if she could get there then the other applicants could help her keep the kids safe. Plus the instructors overseeing the exam would certainly see the situation and come intervene to save the children if she brought them closer to where most of the action was happening so they'd notice.

"Sorry about this, there's no time to be gentle" Serena said as she reached out and grabbed the two kids, slinging them over her shoulder. She made sure to keep her tone softer this time as she added "please just trust me ok? I'm going to help you, I'm going to bring you somewhere safer." With that Serena began sprinting back towards the entrance of the mock battle zone, dedicating her remaining energy entirely to speed. Fortunately she was very efficient at using her energy to speed herself up and then reabsorbing most of it before it dispersed, allowing her to maintain her heightened speed rather than losing the energy entirely like she did when she used it to attack.

The children struggled to break free at first, but they quickly realized what was going on as Serena took pains to avoid the faux villains surrounding them, and then started clinging to her for dear life as she accelerated. Serena made good time, and it was starting to look like she'd make it back without a hitch, but then the ground beneath her exploded as a massive robot began emerging from the ground, sending her flying. She lost her grip on the children as she fell, and the three of them tumbled along the ground for several meters before coming to a stop at an intersection, in view of a group of applicants and the wreckage of destroyed robots.

Serena struggled to her feet, trying to gain her bearings before realizing she'd lost the kids. In a panic she looked around, locating them. The girl was trying to get the boy on his feet, but the boy's leg was facing at a weird angle, and judging by his cries of pain, it was definitely broken. It wasn't safe to move him anymore, but the giant robot had now emerged and was approaching. "crap, it's that 0-point obstacle robot! Why'd it have to show up now of all times?" she cursed as she looked to the applicants. Most of them were seeing the massive bot now and fleeing, she couldn't expect help from that group, and she didn't have enough energy stored to even hope to defeat the massive bot before her.

The bot looked down, registering three lifeforms on the ground in front of it, two were grouped together, making them a better target, and so it raised its massive hand and began to slowly punch down to crush the targets.

There was no time to form a plan to fix the problem entirely, Serena darted over to the children and stood in front of them, then jumping and releasing her remaining stored energy to meet the giant's fist and slow it down as much as she could, as well as emptying out her reserves so that she could absorb as much of its force as possible before reaching her limit. The blow visibly slowed down as Serena met it in midair, but it was still descending, pressing Serena down towards the children as it did so.

"Shit! There's too much energy here! I can't possibly absorb it all or absorb it fast enough" Serena thought in a panic as she continued being pushed back. She had no choice now, it would be a blow to her pride, but being put in this position left her without other options. Taking in a deep breath she screamed as loud as she could "SOMEONE PLEASE HELP! THERE ARE CHILDREN HERE!"

Stopping her absorption for a moment as her limit was reached, Serena punched the fist of the robot with all her might, leaving a dent in it before slowing it with absorption again. The blow was most already halfway to the children now, and time was running out. Had someone heard her? Would anyone even come help if they had? She had no idea, but buying time with this ploy was the best she could manage, even if it was only a tiny bit.

Suddenly several spear-like objects embedded themselves in the robot's eyes, causing it to lose the visual it had of its targets and draw back it's arm in confusion. With the attack aborted Serena allowed herself to fall back to the ground, gasping for breath as several fleshy, bird-like things flew into the robot's face and exploded further disorienting it and making it roll backwards to retreat from the sudden assault.

Serena looked to see where the attacks had come from and found two girls and a boy, one of the girls was bristling with quills, and presumably had used them as the initial spears. She had spikey brown hair down to her shoulders and a feral appearance, her skin seemed relatively pale, and her eyes were a light green color. The boy was producing more of those fleshy bird constructs from his body. He was rather plain looking, short black hair, average build, brown eyes, and his clothes weren't flashy apart from the fact that he'd ripped open his shirt to expose a lot of skin, which was where the bird bombs were coming out of.

The third girl was tending to the little boy and girl, she had cut herself with a small knife and was dropping a drop of her blood into one of the scrapes on the boy's leg. The girl had blonde hair, and a rather athletic build to her, but since her back was turned Serena couldn't make out more details than that.

"Thank goodness" Serena sighed with relief "I couldn't hold it off much longer and I wasn't sure anybody would actually come to help

"You're lucky I saw the kids and shouted out to these two, seems most people thought it was a trick to get them to waste time on the 0-point villain and mess up their scores." The boy said

"As if any aspiring hero would stoop that low" Serena grumbled "thanks though, I probably would've just died there along with those kids"

"What're those kids even doing here anyway? This is a private facility." The quill girl said "are they part of the test?"

"Doubt it, these kids haven't eaten in days it looks like" the blonde girl said as she finished tying a splint for the child's leg. Serena wasn't sure how, but the children's scrapes and bruises were all gone now, and boy's leg, while still seeming to need a splint, looked much better… but they'd passed out. "I can't fully treat them here, but we can get them to safety now, bomb boy, help me carry them out, you two distract the villain if it attacks again"

"It's too big for that, now that it's blind it'll probably start swinging randomly and destroy buildings, then the debris that falls could put everyone in danger again even without it attacking us directly… we need to bring it down now before it decides to do that" Serena said as she got back to her feet and took a deep breath "I've got a full charge now, all I need is a weak point to strike and I can bring it down, luckily it seems they programmed this thing to be really dumb, a real villain wouldn't be giving us this much time to plan"

The 0-point bot was beginning to recover from its initial confusion now, but it still had no visual data, so it defaulted to simply trying to strike the same general area as it had before, it drew back it's arm for another strike, then began the attack.

"shit it's attacking here again, that's even worse than random swings" Serena cursed as she tried to study the bot for a weak point, unlike the normal bots, this one didn't have an obvious weak point, but she was only going to get one shot at this

"You need an opening? I'll give you an opening" the boy said as he unleashed a flock of the bird bombs, as well as several humanoid creations that were presumably also explosives, these humanoid constructs went and picked up the children and began running awkwardly away from the fight

"You're carrying them with bombs!?" The blonde girl protested

"They don't detonate without my willing it, they're basically just regular creatures I create until I make them detonate, they'll be fine. Now to make that opening" the boy replied simply, as if the concern of the kids being carried around by explosives were utterly ridiculous. With a snap of his fingers his flock of birds converged on the center of the robot's torso and detonated simultaneously in a huge explosion, blasting a hole in its armor plating "there, a weak point"

"Works for me!" Serena said as she sprung towards the weakened section of plating, propelling herself with a small burst of energy as she drew back her fist "now take this!"

Serena's fist connected with the weakened torso of the robot and she unleashed all of her stored energy at once, sending it forward from her fist as a wave of pure heat and force. The remainder of the armor plating and the far more delicate wires gears, and motors that lay behind it stood no chance, the attack tearing through them and dealing fatal damage to the robot's systems. The robot's body groaned in protest as it began collapsing, both due to the complete shutdown of its motors and due to the structural damage it had sustained.

Landing on the ground, Serena let out a sigh of relief, now with that taken care of and the children safe, she could go back to earning points to pass the exam. Or so she thought, before the bell signaling the end of the test began to ring. "Ah…. Crap…." Serena muttered "24 points… not a great showing…"

"It's a pity they don't give points for beating that huge thing" the quill girl said "that strike of yours was really freaking badass, probably could've easily taken out any 3 of the regular bots… besides you outdid me, I only got 20, my quills did basically nothing unless I could get em in the joints, fighting robots definitely isn't my strong suit"

"Don't feel too bad about it, I didn't score any points as all" the blonde girl said with a sigh "my quirk is not exactly suited to taking out big metal robots, this practical exam was a wash for me from the outset, I just focused on using my powers to heal the other applicants whenever something went wrong."

"Well at least we got those kids out of harm's way" Serena said "even if I fail the entrance exam because of it I'll at least have that to be proud of"

The bomb boy looked around sheepishly before silently absconding, not wanting to mention his point total being quite high due to his mobile bombs.

"I'm Serena by the way, didn't have time to introduce myself during the fight" Serena said, she typically wasn't quite to open and friendly with total strangers, but these girls had come to her aid and saved both her life and the lives of the children she was trying to protect, so she felt a bit more at ease with them.

"Nice to meetcha, name's Onaka" the quill girl said " and this lovely blonde bombshell of a chick here's my friend Freya"

"Onaka I told you to stop introducing me like that!" Freya protested "you know I don't like people focusing on my body like that"

Now that Serena got a better look at Freya, she could see why Onaka had called her a bombshell, she'd clearly hit puberty early and filled out quite well, but considering her own experiences with that process, Serena could get why Freya was less than pleased about it.

"Well it's nice to meet you both… and that bomb boy too… he seems to have wandered off already though"

"yeah I bet he aced this exam with a quirk like that" Onaka said "producing living bombs that can fly or run to their targets is pretty insane, between you and him I'm pretty sure I flunked."

"I only scored slightly higher than you here, I'm probably not getting in either" Serena sighed "well I guess we should get going so they can clean this place up, I wanna make sure those kids got out ok too."

"Gotcha, see ya around then, I've got a lunch date with Freya here and I'm not letting her bail on me, so I'm gonna run" Onaka said with a cheerful grin, then turned and darted off, dragging Freya behind her.

Serena sighed and left the testing grounds, she spent some time looking into what happened with the kids, but couldn't find anyone willing to talk to her about it. The faculty either didn't know what happened, or they weren't talking. She could only assume that the entire incident was an embarrassment to the school and they had a gag order going on until it was sorted out. Ordinarily she'd have pestered someone into telling her anyway, but at this point she just wanted to go home and rest, the adrenaline rush from the fight was wearing off and she was too drained to muster her usual relentless willpower. And so with not much else to be done, Serena went home, climbed into bed, and passed out.

- one week later -

"Serena you've got mail, I think you're gonna want to read it now rather than later" Leona called from downstairs.

Serena looked up from the book she'd been reading in confusion, who would send her mail? She didn't have many friends from school who had moved away or anything, so anyone who wanted to talk to her would've just come in person, and she wasn't subscribed to any magazines or anything. Sheer curiosity drew her downstairs to find her mother at the front door, her face beaming as she held out a package with the signature symbol of UA right in the center of it. "Mom they send these out to everyone, I already told you I blew it on the practical, this isn't anything exciting."

"Oh trust me on this one, just bring it upstairs and open it, you'd be surprised" Leona chuckled as she shoved the package into Serena's hands and began nudging her back to the stairs

"Alright alright I'm going!" Serena protested, darting up the stairs before she could be shoved any more than necessary. Looking at the package she debated not opening it and delaying the inevitable disappointment it would bring, but her mom had seemed so eager about it. She didn't know why that was, but if she'd make Leona happy by opening now, it was worth it.

Sitting down at her desk and moving her computer keyboard aside, she tore open the package, there was nothing inside except a small little device that clattered onto the desk in front of her. She leaned over it to inspect the thing, but then without warning it lit up and a holographic screen shot up into her face

"gah! What the?" Serena cried out as she recoiled from the sudden burst of light, blinking a few times to help her eyes recover and look at what was on the screen. On the screen was All Might himself, dressed in a suit and looking as majestic as he always did on TV.

"Congratulations young Serena! You've been accepted to start your first semester here in UA as part of class 1C!" All Might boomed giving her a thumbs up

"huh? I did? But how…?" Serena stammered, trying to process the information through her surprise and confusion.

"Now you may be wondering how you managed to get accepted despite the setback you faced in the practical exam, and to clear up any confusion I have two points to make. First of all, your villain point total was actually quite good compared to most applicants, your quirk is truly quite a fantastic one young lady, and though I'm sure you'd have scored more points in that category if not for the complications you faced, you score was solid nonetheless." All Might explained as he displayed a leaderboard showing various applicant scores. Serena looked to find her name, and found herself listed at the number two spot with 74 points, with the student above her having 77.

"Wait, 74? How did I?" Serena began

As if anticipating her question even in the recording, All Might held up his hand "I know what you're thinking now, but fear not, my second point shall answer all of your remaining questions. You see we weren't ONLY grading you on villains defeated, there was one more way to earn points in this exam. A hero must be capable in combat to some degree it is true, but they must also protect and defend the defenseless from villains even in the face of great personal risk or sacrifice. As I'm sure you know, you did exactly that when you abandoned your pursuit of further points to rescue and defend those stray children. We were watching your performance the entire time, ready to step in and interrupt the test to get the children to safety, but you handled things effectively enough that our intervention was unnecessary!"

Serena's jaw dropped, so she got those extra 50 points from…?

"That's right young lady, your performance was viewed and judged by a panel of faculty members who graded your reaction and effectiveness to the unforeseen crisis, and they awarded you points both for your valiant efforts, your successfully saving the children, albeit with some help, and the fact that you were willing to sacrifice your own chances at excelling in the exam to ensure both the children and the fellow applicants who came to your aid would not be injured." All Might explained "and while we did not award points for it, your ability to work together with other heroes you had just met to take down a superior foe was impressive in its own right. And so between the points you earned from fighting, and these rescue points you were awarded, you have officially passed the entrance exam with flying colors! Now for one last thing just for you, as I'm sure you've been worried"

Serena watched as the scene shifted to a different recording, with the two children she'd saved now standing together, fully healed, visibly better fed and dressed, and with bright smiles. "U-um, we're sorry we caused you so much trouble Miss, we didn't realize we'd entered somewhere so dangerous" the little boy said "but uh… well"

"Thank you so much for saving us!" the boy and girl said, bowing in respect and admiration. Serena's heart swelled with joy, and she could feel her eyes tearing up. She'd been worrying about the kids ever since the exam, and while she'd been sure they were fine on a logical level, seeing them alive, healthy, and thanking her put her mind at ease and filled her with relief and joy.

The scene shifted back to All Might shortly after "those two orphans are being cared for by our faculty for now, until we can find them proper homes. They'll have better lives now, all thanks to you saving them. And that alone, in my opinion, is reason enough to accept you into our school. So congratulations again young Serena, and welcome to UA!"

With that the screen disappeared, and the small device it had been projected from turned itself off, leaving a stunned and overjoyed Serena sitting in her chair in a silent room. "I… I made it… and I saved two people… and got them off the streets? This is… is…"

"I told you that you'd want to open the mail now" Leona said from the doorway "now come downstairs, I've cooked up a celebratory feast for you"

Serena wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up, unable to get words out through the rush of emotions she was experiencing. She simply turned to her mother and grinned, nodding enthusiastically, and rushed over to give her a hug.

"That's my girl, see, you were always someone I'd be proud of all along." Leona said softly "now come on, we've got a party to throw."

- UA campus, faculty room -

Meanwhile, in the meeting room at UA, the teachers and principal of the school were sitting around a table, all of them looking very concerned.

"Every security feed's recordings were deleted from the facility's databanks at roughly midnight the night before the exam" A man said, he was dressed in black clothes with cloth bandages hanging loosely around his neck. The hero Eraserhead was typically half asleep and exhausted, but at the moment he was completely alert "we figured out who deleted them, but even under interrogation with quirks to ensure he was telling the truth, he has no memory of doing so. So we're left with no clue how those children got into the testing grounds."

"That is concerning, could it have been the work of a villain with a psychic type quirk using compulsion?" All Might asked "Shin, this is your area of expertise, and as principal I know you wouldn't hire anyone with questionable motives to the security force."

A man dressed in a casual dress shirt and a brown coat sitting at the head of the table let out a sigh, taking off a pair of glasses and running a hand through his short black hair. "It certainly seems to display properties of a psychic compulsion effect, followed by a memory wipe. But I check each new employee for previously existing compulsions and vulnerabilities before hiring them, and if someone were using a psychic compulsion strong enough to accomplish this without leaving a trace of their presence behind, I would've sensed it even as far out as the testing grounds." Shin said "I can't shake the feeling that this was the work of a villain controlling the man in question, but we've found no technological method of control, and psychic compulsion is out of the question. He didn't turn traitor as he clearly has no memory of the events, and if he had a split personality disorder I would've learned that in his initial application."

Another man at the table spoke up next, he had an odd appearance, tall and skinny, but coated in a strange rock-like substance with a series of 'veins' built in to create what looked like the circuits of a power grid on his body, the veins glowed a faint yellow, pulsing with energy. The only exposed part of the man was the face, the man had short brown hair just barely longer than a crew cut, and glowing golden eyes that gave his pale white skin an almost ethereal glow to it. "Even if we assume it was a villain though, what purpose could luring two random orphans into the testing ground serve? The doctors checked their quirks, neither are particularly spectacular, so it wasn't an attempt to make them panic and destroy the facility when the faux villains attacked," the man said "they have no family or connections, so it wasn't to eliminate them as part of some gang war, and even after sweeping the area several times and thoroughly checking every hackable system for tampering, it seems nothing else was done and nobody else came inside during the system's downtime."

"If I had to make a guess, I'd say the children getting in wasn't the intention, or rather, the act of them getting in itself wasn't the goal" Shin said "I'd wager this was just a test, to see if whoever the culprit is COULD compromise our defenses for an extended period of time and make a situation like this occur. Presumably the end result of what happened with the children was irrelevant, so long as they went undetected until the exam"

"Well their test was a successful one, and we don't have the slightest idea who did it or how" Eraserhead mused "which raises the question, what's next? Both for what their next move is, and for ours."

"First of all, I'll be putting in some redundancy measures into the security systems. I'll make sure that there aren't any more blackouts like this one, even if the official records are deleted, I'll keep personal copies of my own" Shin said "we'll also hire more trustworthy staff members to monitor the ones we have, if our current staff has somehow been put under the influence of a villain, we need to monitor them with fresh recruits in secret. Apart from that, there isn't much more we can do until we know more. I'll dismiss you all for now to prepare for the coming lessons you'll need to teach, but stay on alert…. I don't like this situation… not at all…"

The other teachers nodded and left to go about their work, leaving Shin alone in the room. "We have both myself, All Might, and at least a dozen other professional or formerly professional heroes on campus… and someone is still bold enough to be probing our defenses" Shin mused "either someone out there is very foolish… or very, very dangerous. Either way… I don't like the thought of it."