A/N: The last chapter was so rushed, inconsistent and shitty, my apologies for that. I've also extended this story to four chapter because goodness, this chapter was going to get too long.


"Harper."

The green haired teen shot his head up, hurriedly wiping away the drool from the side of his face. He twisted around, ready to screech at the teacher that he hadn't been asleep, stopping dead when Angelina's piercing stare glowered at him. "H-hey, Angie…"

"First off:" Angelina gave him a sharp tap on the shoulder with her fist, adding to the garden of light bruises that were blossoming there, "we're not close enough for you to call me Angie." She waited for him to nod as he tenderly rubbed his shoulder – was he ever going to heal from his classmate's tendency for casual violence? "Secondly, if you're going to sleep in class then you'll need to study even harder."

"Ye-yeah." Harper flinched as he remembered the score he had gotten on this morning's pop quiz in heroics. It was difficult to study when you were always so exhausted from a certain angelically devilish hero's boot camp training. He met Angelina's gaze and he swallowed; even after a few weeks under her tutelage, she still intimidated the hell out of him. "I'll… I'll try my best to stay awake from now on."

"That's not the entire issue." Angelina mumbled and she dropped a piece of paper on his desk. "You came midterm so you've missed out on a lot. You'll need tutorship in order to catch up."

Harper had the supress a groan. He hadn't been at Saint Rose for long but he already felt like his old personality was being ripped apart by this intense environment – how did the other kids manage it? Angelina, according to the others, had turned a lot more serious once she entered the school, but everyone else seemed pretty carefree.

"Oi, Asparagus, I need an answer."

Harper snapped out of reverie and nodded quickly, before his brain was able to catch up with what he was agreeing to. Angelina, now satisfied, walked away to begin organising the heroic theory lesson. Harper picked up the sheet of paper and saw scrawled across it were directions to one of the buildings on campus with times and days printed across the top. Ah… that's right… he'd agreed to be tutored… oh boy.

For the umpteenth time, Harper wished he was back home in England – at least there, he wasn't being worked to the very bone for the sake of a test score and a job that he doesn't want.

When class was finally over, Harper dragged himself to where the sheet of paper requested, coming upon one of the many looming, elaborately designed buildings on campus. It had been quite difficult to locate, seeing as the only difference to distinguish this one from the next was the tall, ornate fence lining the perimeter with bright orange crystals placed intermittently. Harper looked at the flimsy looking deterrent with suspicion – something must be off. His red eyes sought out the large crystals at the top of the fence and he narrowed his eyes. Angelina's crystals were a reddish-pink, while these ones captured the weak mountain sun and shone like miniature suns. A lot of Quirks were hereditary so were these ones made by a family member?

Whatever they were, Harper decided, it would be better not to touch them. He looked at the gate and slowly clinked it open, triple checking that he had the right building. It looked a bit too grandiose for a study hall or something just for the school's tutors… but hey, Saint Rose was very liberal in showing off its wealth.

The gate slid open with ease and he climbed up the stairs, knocking on the door, flinching at the noise it made. Sheesh, he had really changed after coming here; he used to be way more assertive. Guess that's just what happens when you become the straggler in Europe's top hero school. The door opened and a man in what appeared to be a butler's uniform opened up, looking imperially and stereotypically down his nose at the teen boy. "Can I help you?' Wow, he even had the French accent and everything.

"Um, I'm Harper Dean and A-Angelina sent me here-!" he showed the man his sheet of paper, holding back a wince at how crinkled the paper was. The butler didn't even touch it, continuing to stare at Harper.

"Dubois," a familiar voice called, "Monsieur Dean est mon invite." The butler huffed, looking at the ruffled boy before he fully opened the door and disappeared back inside. Taking it as his que to enter, Harper slowly inched his way inside. He gasped at the interior of the building – arches, paintings, detailing along every inch of surface, expensive furnishing, waxed floors and a wide staircase leading to upper floors. He must've stumbled into a palace! Well, the entirety of Saint Rose was like this, more or less, but this place was like everything had been an added an extra thousand-dollar price tag to it.

"W-whoa…"

"Hey, Asparagus." Harper twisted at the sound of the call, nearly slipping on the brutally clean floors, to stare bewildered up at Angelina who was peering at him upside down from a balcony. She raised an eyebrow at his display and gestured for him to join her upstairs. Seeing his lack of movement, she rolled her eyes. "What? I would ask if you're waiting for an invite but I already gave you one, so get up here already."

She flickered away and Harper hurried up the stairs, feeling anxiety trickle into his bones. Should he have wiped his shoes? Should he have taken them off? What should he do? This place was too fancy – what if he tracked something in! Where was he anyway? He reached the top of the stairs and saw his blonde classmate waiting by one of the many off shooting doors. He quickly strode over and she gestured for him to enter.

Inside was a fairly small room, but it easily made up for its expensive tastes, somehow even more elaborately decorated with just a few couches and coffee table. The vase sitting on the coffee table looked like it was worth more than his home back in England. "Where… where am I?"

"This is one of the parlours." Angelina said simply, drifting past him to seat herself. He noticed that she was out of her school uniform, now dressed in a floating, pastel pink dress. She glanced back up again at his lack of movement and rolled her eyes. Oh no, did she think he was staring? He had only been looking for a moment! "You can sit, y'know?"

"Ri-right." Harper shot over to the adjacent couch, noting how incredibly soft the material felt. There was no way this place could be normally accessible to students. "Uh, so… what is this place?"

"My house."

"H-huh? This is your place?"

Angelina nodded and glanced out the arched window. "Yes, this is my family's residence."

"I thought you'd live in the dorms…" Harper mumbled, rubbing the side of his head. Well, it did made sense after all that she'd live with her parents – she had grown up on campus after all.

The hero-girl sighed and twirled a bit of hair in between her fingers. "I did want to, but my parents insisted that I stay here." She grumbled, shooting a glance at the still open door. She reached over to her school bag and begin to pull textbooks and tablets out of the folds. "Get your stuff out, we're starting."

"So, I guess you're going to be tutoring me as well?" Harper gave a shaky laugh as he too brought his stuff out. Ah, he should've expected her to also take up this role; Angelina had taken it upon herself to be his personal trainer as well, what was to stop her from coaching him academically?

"Mhm… we'll start on page 327." She grumbled, flicking through her own notes and books.

"You take on a lot of responsibilities – more than most people ever would." Harper muttered under his breath. While Angelina did intimidate him and had an awful temperament, he could see that she was devoted to her school and to her future.

"Of course," the heiress waited for Harper to finish scrambling in surprise at having heard his little comment, "I've spent my whole life here at Saint Rose so I know the curriculum inside and out, so it'd be selfish of me to keep this knowledge to myself while my classmates struggle along at the mercy of our teachers."

Harper nodded, trying to organise his belongings before a thought flickered through his head. "Have you ever been off campus?"

Brown eyes raised to lock with his red ones and Angelina slowly shook her head. "I've been all around the mountain, but I've never actually left it."

"R-really?"

"I've got everything here, and if I don't, it's not hard for it to be sent for." She grumbled, flicking her hand around to the expensive items surrounding her.

"But isn't it lonely being up here?"

Harper winced when Angelina turned to look at him, ready for the deathly glare she would certainly give him, but was surprised to see only a childishly bewildered look on her face. "Lonely? This isn't an isolated mansion from a gothic novel – this is a school so there's always people around."

Harper raised an eyebrow at her. "Being alone is different to being lonely."

Her expression ticked over at that statement, returning to its usual unreadable irate look. She harrumphed and turned her head back to the work. "If you have time to be asking me questions about my social life, you have time for bringing up your grade." She swiped up a piece of paper and pushed it to his chest. "Here, this should prepare you for the upcoming test."

Harper nodded, certain that he had crossed some sort of line with her. Right, right, he should be trying to get close to her so he could find out if there really was a shady underside to this school, so best keep on her good side – the sooner he completed the mission the sooner he could go back home. He flicked his eyes down to the paper and his jaw nearly dropped. "Um… Angelina? This… this isn't in English…"

"Hmm?" She grunted and leant over. She scowled when she saw the page and pulled out a blank page of paper, snatching the notes of Harper's grip to begin copying in English. "Sorry, I wrote it in Italian."

Harper's memory flicked back to the butler and how Angelina would often come up with a variety of nicknames for him that weren't always in English. So far, he knew she could speak English and French, but she also knew Italian? "You write your notes in other languages?"

"Yeah, and?"

"Well, why?"

Angelina's pen continued to scratch out lines of notes, but she scowled at him from the corner of her eye. "We don't have any Italian classmates to converse with and I need to keep my skills sharp."

"Do you know other languages?"

She finished her page in record time and flicked it over. "I'm in the middle of learning Spanish, German and Chinese, but I'm pretty fluent in English, French, Italian, Russian and Japanese. I can understand but can't speak quite a few Slavic languages."

Harper sucked in a breath. "H-how?" he stared at the girl, his intimidation growing – who knew that many languages at that young an age?

"Well, Saint Rose is an international school and I've been here since I was baby so I had to learn quickly to converse with people, and my parents and servants are from different countries so I was always surrounded by different languages. Once you have the basics of a different language, it's easy to learn more." Angelina mumbled with a shrug.

"But Saint Rose's default language is English, everyone is expected to speak it, so why bother learning so many?" Harper could only stare at her wide eyed. She… she was on a whole different level. No wonder she was the class president, respected by her peers, allowed to teach classes and had so much free rein – it wasn't just because she was the principal's daughter, it was because she was a prodigy. If he didn't know any better, Harper would've believed she had some learning or memory Quirk to aid her.

"Because…" Angelina paused in her writing to look at him, brown eyes boring into him. "I want to start my career outside of Europe."

Harper blinked and cocked his head to the side. "You don't want to be a hero in Europe? Then where do you want to go?" He had of course expected Angelina to carry on the family tradition of working in Europe, so to hear this had taken him completely by surprise.

"I don't know – I might even try to a global hero." She began to continue her writing, printing the last few lines. She finished and handed him the page. "Here – study this and you'll pass the next test with ease."

"W-wow, thanks! I-!" Harper stopped and started at the page. "Um… Angelina?"

"What? We'll go over it in detail in a moment so-"

"I can't read your handwriting."

"Lo spingere questo libro nel tuo asino!"

"W-what?"

"Whatever, just make do or write out your own notes." Angelina huffed and flicked through her notes again, copying more pages and diagrams. The room was filled with an uncomfortable silence as Harper struggled with reading the looping mess of writing – god, it was so difficult befriending her; she snapped at the slightest of things. But still… it should all be worthwhile if he manages to uncover the school's underbelly. What should he do in order to get her to trust him? Scoring well was one idea that came to mind, but that wouldn't work well since as soon as the blonde saw Harper could handle things by himself, she'd likely go off and hang out with her old friends again. No, he had to try his best to befriend her while she was tutoring him. How though? Maybe he could invite her out somewhere? Offer to treat her?

"Hey, Angelina, I-"

"Well, well, what do we have here? Is this a boy you've brought home?"

Harper shot his head up to stare wide eyed at the imposing figure looming at the doorway. Pale purple hair, inching on pastel, dark brown eyes, tanned skin and a thin, almost ice like pattern of orange crystals growing on her cheekbones and jawline – an imposing beauty. Harper gulped and felt himself lean back; her eyes were pin pointed onto him in what could only be described as a hunter's gaze.

"He's just a lagging classmate that I'm helping; don't worry yourself about him." Angelina waved her hand dismissively, not even bothering to greet or even glance up from her work at the newcomer.

The new woman, stepped into the room, the lighting showing that she was a bit older than the currently seated duo – perhaps in her early twenties. She was still staring down Harper and didn't seem she was intending to move her gaze any time soon. Harper recognised her, even without her hero mask – Incendia, among the top five heroes of Europe at an early age, valedictorian of her class at Saint Rose and the eldest daughter of God King.

Meaning she was Angelina's older sister.

"Um… hello." Harper mumbled, wary of the crystals growing on the woman's face, flashing back to the orange crystals he had seen lining the fence around the perimeter. No wonder they hadn't felt the need for a stronger defence – Incendia's Quirk was: "Dynamite Crystal" and, as the name implied, her crystals could explode. Well, more specifically, they were what an rpg gamer called 'fire crystals', they were hot stones that could catch on fire at their owner's command and could act as landmines, boosters, fuel, a blow torch, or dynamite should the need arise.

"Yo." She said simply, her eyes not letting Harper's red orbs leave their frozen lock with her own brown ones – so strikingly similar to Angelina's both in shape and aura. She took another step forward, eyes looking him up and down. "Hey, Angie?"

"Hmm?"

"Est-ce le transfert?"

"Oui."

Ok, yep, Harper was going to have to quickly learn more languages and soon, or else he was definitely going to miss out on some crucial points of evidence. That sounded like French – and they said something that sounded like 'transfer'? Deciding to play it cool, he said, "h-hey, how come she gets to call you Angie and I don't?"

"Because you're a gross boy."

"Stop it, Zephyr, you're scaring him."

Zephyr rolled her eyes, finally breaking eye contact to look at her little sister. "You really helping him out?"

"Mhm – he's scoring low and will fall behind soon otherwise."

Zephyr looked back at Harper, scowling slightly. "You work too hard." She grumbled. Yep, open hostility towards him, ok, totally not being intimidated. He could see the burning crystal grow along her skin, getting closer and closer to her face, inching from under her sleeves to begin decorating her hand. "Son passé est mystérieux." She mumbled.

Harper barely had anytime to even flinch before a wall of bright pink crystal shot up, protecting him and the notes from a small explosion. He gripped the sides of the chair in terror as the smoke cleared the room. Had… had he just been attacked? Had a recognised hero attacked him? The crystal dissolved and Angelina was on her feet, pushing her sister out of the room with a nasty scowl. "I just fucking told you he's lagging behind and even a senior would've only just been able to defend that attack." She snarled, shoving Zephyr from the room.

The purple haired woman gave a short harrumph, not unlike how her younger sister would, and sent a last glance at Harper, eyes slicing through him. "Ne lui faites pas confiance, Angelina." She then turned tail and with a final goodbye of, "have fun studying with your boyfriend!" she was gone.

Angelina sighed and shut the door, icing the lock over with a crystal padlock, and connecting a crystalline thread around her wrist keeping her tied to it as she returned to her spot. "Sorry… about her." Angelina groaned and rubbed her eyes, massaging the slowly darkening circles under her eyes. "I'd say she means well, but, with my family, meaning well is a pretty dangerous idea." She glanced up at the green haired teen and a slow, shaky laugh escaped her lips. "She's hot headed and over protective – she thinks that it's suss that you came in late and doesn't want me hanging around you."

"And what do you think?"

Angelina rolled her eyes and began to get back to her work. "I already explained my thoughts on the matter – and if you are who she thinks you might be, you're still a classmate and I have a duty to help you. Fortunately for us, she's only here for the week, then she's heading back to Paris with mom, so don't worry about her. That little display right there was probably to see if you had been trained."

Harper raised an eyebrow, loosening his grip and pretending to also get back to work. So Incendia was suspicious of him? That meant two things; the first one being that she thought he was from the government so Saint Rose really was conducting criminal activity, and the second being that he might be a spy from a criminal organisation. He had a chance now, best not to waste it. "By whom?"

The blonde raised her head, and slowly exhaled, "I've probably spoken too much – you'll likely find out about in a year or so, but for now my family would like to keep their investigation on the quiet." She folded her hands into her lap and pierced her bright brown eyes into him. "So I would appreciate it if you would not repeat my sister's… unorthodox sense of action outside of here. I will treat you to lunch this weekend in apology."

Harper nodded and could almost sigh as a weight was lifted off his shoulders. So, Angelina wasn't going to budge easily in giving up information – after all, they've only known each other for a small amount of time and to give out what was highly sensitive information would be foolish on her part. But at least she had set up a lunch date and that was a start in the right direction at the very least. If he could gain her trust, he was sure Angelina would begin to relax more and begin dropping hints and clues as to where he might find more out.

"Alright, now we should be able to work without interruption…"


Harper ended up spending a surprising amount of time with Angelina. His grade soared, both in normal classes and heroics. Though, he wasn't entirely sure if he liked the payoff. If they weren't in class, she was training him to fight. If they weren't training, then she was tutoring him. If they weren't studying, Harper was struggling to keep himself from not curling into a ball from sore muscles and mental fatigue as the two had lunch together on a Sunday at one of the school's mini cafes. The first lunch meeting had gone so well that it ended up becoming a mutual agreement to keep it up, and Harper was thankful that he had so many opportunities to get closer to Angelina.

For the sake of the mission, of course!

Harper doubted if Angelina slept – from what he heard from the rest of the students, the blonde was still organising lessons, doing her own studies, helping other students and being an overwhelmingly perfect student. Harper might've asked how she was able to do it, that it would surely impact on her health, but he was able to see the slow, decaying transformation. Dark circles began to grow under her eyes, she became thinner and her crystal paled and took slightly longer and longer to form each time. Her personality took a hit, continuing its downhill roll of becoming snappish, mean, snide and sarcastic.

During one of their lunch dates, Harper had been talking about a park near his home from when he was child, only to realise that the heiress had stopped humming to signify she was hearing. The green haired teen turned, ready to give a hurt retort at the lack of interest – yeah, it may not have been the most stimulating of topics, but you should at least feign interest out of politeness. He stopped however when he saw the mop of blonde hair spread out over the table and Angelina was snoozing beneath the knotty mess.

"Honestly…" Harper sighed and leant forward, looking her over carefully and sighing. Poor thing was probably working herself to death; it was amazing she hadn't gotten sick yet. The red eyed teen looked at the blonde hair, seeing it had become tangled and greasy; when was the last time she washed it? Harper couldn't help worry rise up in his stomach. They weren't even past the halfway mark in their first year so how was she going to manage for the rest of it? She was his lead in getting information and he couldn't afford to lose her… right, that was the only reason. He raised a hand and gently tapped her shoulder. "Hey, Angie."

The blonde shot up, her eyes wide before they narrowed into a scowl. "What?"

"You were asleep."

"I wasn't." she growled around a yawn, rubbing sleep away from her eyes and flicking hair away from her face, "and I thought I fucking told you not to call me Angie, putain oeuf." She righted herself into her previous position and scowled. "So, what aimless thing were you talking about?"

Harper sighed, counting down from ten before he answered. He had to stay calm – she was tired and full of evidence, he just had to bear with it to see if it would come to fruition. "You know, I don't mind if you went to sleep during these."

"The hell does that mean?"

"With all due respect-"

"That always means you're going to say something disrespectful."

Harper clenched his hand in his pocket, struggling to keep the mission in mind. Angelina was his ticket back home and he was stranded at this school until then. He had to come up with something – they don't approve undercover searches like these unless they have due evidence so he had to find a reasonable explanation or he wouldn't be going back to his village or his family until after graduation. He. Had. To. Keep. His. Cool. "You look like you're about to drop dead any moment, so I would rather prefer you spent this time sleeping than crankily drifting off."

Angelina glared at him, a full on gaze that put shame to the phrase 'if looks could kill'. "If you don't want to do this anymore, then I can find better use of my time." She grumbled, scooping up her bag and preparing to leave.

"Angelina!"

She paused and slowly turned her gaze back to him. "What?"

Ok, he was going have to choose his words very carefully – one wrong move and Angelina would drag them back to square one. "How much sleep have you gotten this week?"

Angelina paused and raised an eyebrow. "The he-"

"Answer my question."

"Look, I'm taking some stuff that-!"

"Answer me, Angelina."

The blonde dumped her bag and slumped back into her chair, laying her head onto the table with a clunk and groaning. "One hour each night." Harper whistled – how was she still standing? "But I've been taking meds that keep me up." She exhaled, and the tension in her shoulders deflated like a balloon, relaxing in the probably uncomfortable position.

"That's only blocking out the symptoms, you still need to rest or you're going to kill yourself before we even get our first licence." Harper sighed and leant forward, beginning to slowly stroke her back in even circles. It looks like she'd fall asleep right here and now…

"What are ya doing?"

Harper nearly jerked back at the monotone rumble, only freezing up. Yeah, Angelina was probably one of those people that disliked people touching them in general. "U-uh…!"

Harper barely missed the sleepy whisper from the blonde. "You're too nice a guy… how can Wolfgang and the others think you're a government spy?"

The green haired agent went onto auto pilot after that, his hands resuming his actions of slowly stroking the probably criminal's back, as his mind ticked over as it analysed the revelation. You're not worried about government spies unless you had something to hide. Ah, so they had been right all along. Something was definitely up and Angelina had let it slip when she was weak and vulnerable. He might've felt bad for using the blonde, if Harper wasn't informed on what exactly this criminal circuit were doing. Now he just needed to get some solid evidence of this misconduct – it wouldn't be too hard to get it now that he knew where, or who, to look for, and aided by the training Angelina had given him plus his recording Quirk…

Harper hadn't gotten to interact with Angelina's inner circle yet. Angelina sat with them during breaks, chatting with them and laughing. Were those lot the masterminds? He wouldn't put it past Angelina to have added another thing to her already busy schedule – and times like the night, when she should've been asleep, to conduct illicit activities would add up.

He didn't know much about Wolfgang, Lucya and Claus, only having witnessed their strengths in class and a bit of their personalities and backstories from the other students. The three of them were long-time friends of Angelina, all being children of board members so they had spent a considerable amount of time visiting Saint Rose. If this corruption was all the way at the top (teachers, board members, the principal, etc), as it was originally believed to be, then it would make sense that the offspring would be involved as well.

Wolfgang seemed to be Angelina's oldest and closest friend. He was tall and had silvery, wirey hair, and was the second highest scoring student in grade, right under Angelina. His codename had been Fenrir due to his Quirk turning him into a werewolf with incredible size, speed and strength. The few times Harper and Wolfgang had interacted, the newcomer had felt suspicion and dislike from him. Harper hadn't dared approach Angelina when the werewolf like man had been close. Apparently, Wolfgang's father was to take control of the school in God King's absence. It wasn't a stretch of the imagination to see the wolf-like teen as a thug.

Lucya was the only other girl in the group and another over achiever. She was sickly sweet and petite, having slinked up to Harper the odd few times to deliver a message from Angelina. She had auburn hair and melancholic brown eyes, looking too close to comfort to being a doll – her Quirk and heroic name appropriately being called Marionette, which meant that, as long as she had wrapped some form of string or rope to someone, she could control them like a puppet. Harper had gotten a bad impression from her when, during a sparring lesson, she had wrapped thread around his wrist and had him attack himself while Lucya had watched giggling – only being saved when Angelina had cut the sword with a sweep of a crystalline blade. Her ability and personality exhaled malevolent intent.

Claus rarely spoke anything besides German, conversing with his group in his native tongue with a lack of interest in interacting with other. Harper knew the black haired teen could speak English, having seen him turn in homework in perfectly legible handwriting. He had a short encounter with Claus at one point, when the boy had purposefully bumped shoulders with him in the hallway and growled something threatening at Harper, mentioning distinctly Angelina's name. His Quirk, Mistral, was the only one Harper had managed to defend himself against due to it being musically based, turning sounds into attacks, which allowed Harper to disrupt with his own Quirk, but it could still do a lot of damage so it wasn't hard to see it being turned into a bomb in crowded areas.

Well, Harper thought as he raised his head, red eyes looking at the dying sun outside the window of the café, as Angelina slept heavily at the table, it wouldn't be too long now. He just had to get the evidence and then he'd be in the clear.


Harper padded close behind the silver haired teen, his Quirk absorbing any sound he might've made as he stalked his quarry. Strange, that although Wolfgang had a Quirk that turned him into a wolf, he was the prey tonight.

After Angelina had gone home, Harper didn't waste any time in getting ready. Better to get out as soon as possible, in case he was found out in the near future or he missed an opportunity. He donned his old stealth costume; all black clothes that wouldn't flap or slow him down, knee and elbow pads, and a mask to hide his rather vivid features – all courtesy of and insisted to be brought by his parents. Harper had hoped he wouldn't need this stuff for his stay at Saint Rose, but it was fortunate he did.

He donned the outfit, realising that the clothes now felt different due to his change of physique from Angelina's rigorous training. Huh, Angelina had unwittingly helped him become sneakier and more agile for missions like this. A small glimmer of guilt welled in Harper's heart at the thought – wasn't he betraying Angelina, his friend, by going through with this? He crushed that thought and checked to make sure that he was ready. If Angelina really was in league with villains, then it was a cruel irony on her for helping him and Harper shouldn't dwell on the potentially hurt feelings of a criminal.

Worst case scenario, having the training she gave him might just save Harper's life.

Clearing his mind, Harper opened the window and exited onto the roof, watching carefully for any of his three suspects to leave the dorms. He waited patiently for hours – if Angelina could manage on so little sleep, he could handle a few hours to stake out. Just as Harper worried that the sun would soon rise, and he would have to return to his room before he was spotted and questioned for such suspicious activity, the door slid open and a grey wolf left the dorm.

Bingo.

Harper followed, sliding down roofs and buildings, hiding in the shadows as he tracked Wolfgang. He followed, all of his training from both Angelina and his parents coming to good use. The spy thought distantly of how he had judged the suspects' Quirks and how villain-like they were, but here his Quirk was only really good for was being sneaky and grey area activity.

He followed his classmate endlessly, careful to make sure he kept far away enough – he wouldn't get caught, not with the amount of monotone lessons drilled into him. Finally, Wolfgang stopped and transformed back into his human form as Harper came to rest hidden by an alleyway. He switched his Quirk from muffling to recording. His ears twitched at the sounds of boots hitting the stone pathway, certainly not the simple school shoes Wolfgang had been wearing.

"Wolf."

"Hello, sir."

"Any updates on that new student?"

"Angelina is still tutoring him and he's managed to catch up to the rest of the class now."

"Hmm, thought so. Has he done anything suspicious?"

"No, he's been kept busy by Angelina and continues to display no confident or active traits."

"Hmm, little Angie's training probably would squash out any resistance… yes, yes, Wolf, I know that look, and no, I'm still against having her join… she's… she's too idealistic."

"You can't blame her."

"'suppose not, but it'll get her killed herself in the end, if her current physical state is any testament."

"Hmm…" Wolf hummed and took a small sigh. "How about you? Is keeping the balance going smoothly?"

"Yes, although I mostly have to credit this school, as it is a wonderful attribute to turning out Europe's next heroes and villains."

If it wasn't for Harper's quirk, he would've gasped aloud and given himself away. So, they had been right all along. Saint Rose was actually part of a mastermind scheme to create both heroes and villains. The government had been suspicious for a while, as conspiracy theorists demanded that their voices be heard. That things sometimes went too smoothly, like a rigged match – that the government was being cheated of their money by a complex plan that had villains working together with heroes to create catastrophes and attacks. Anyone who didn't abide by these rules were abruptly killed, were quickly inducted, or went missing – hero and villain alike. That heroes that should statistically be weaker than their enemy were somehow pulling ahead and it was a sordid system going all the way to the top. The government had collected plenty of evidence, linking different members at different levels, but nothing solid yet.

And this recording was the evidence they needed to warrant arrests and public investigation.

"It's nearly daybreak – you should get back and get ready for class."

Harper waited for the wolf to streak past and the boots to melt away into the quiet, before he hurriedly made his way back to the dorms. He had approximately three hours before class began – enough time to send his Quirk-recorded audio off.

It was over.

Although, as he pulled off the mask once he arrived in the safety of his room, and began to think back over the conversation, Angelina was now implied to be innocent.


It was three months later after Harper had transferred when it happened.

Harper had done his job. He had uncovered the corruption in the school and had the audio to prove it, having set it off to his parents who would relay it to the higher ups.

The problem was what happened as a result.

The class was completely shaken by the events that occurred.

Harper hadn't received a single warning in advance when they were going to storm the school. Angelina had no memory of her little slip up, and had slowly begin recovering thanks to the naps Harper guarded over. He made sure whenever he could, whether it was in between lessons, after tutoring and training, Angelina was getting some rest.

His nerves were on edge and focusing on Angelina was the only thing keeping him sane, 'keep your position and stay in disguise', were not the easiest words to handle when he was now in the confirmed nest of villains. Were they expecting him to send more information? He had kept an eye out to see if Wolfgang, Lucya or Claus had made any disappearances or moves, also listening carefully to Angelina for anymore hints – but nothing yet.

A week after he had sent the file, He was at his desk, going over some notes as they waited for their next teacher to arrive, Angelina resting her head on the desktop so he could ask her if he needed an explanation or something, and Elise came tiptoeing over. "Oooh? What is this?"

"Hey, Ellie." Harper greeted. The dragon-Quirked girl, along with Reiner and a few others, had become good friends of his, often spending his free breaks with them whilst Angelina went with her group. He found the partially scaly girl a good friend, enjoying her chirpy and warm personality after bleak winters of Angelina's snappishness. His only issue with her was that he often had to turn down invites to gatherings with her due to it constantly clashing with his monopolized schedule from Angelina.

"Are you, perhaps," she gave a dramatic gasp, red tail swishing excitedly, "in a romantic relationship with our ice crystal princess? Oh, the scandal~!" she sang and twirled herself into a seat next to him.

Angelina raised her head at arrival and gave a small snicker, "you've caught me – this poor peasant boy is now completely under my control." She joked.

"Oh my! Is that a smile on our wicked witch's face?" Elise leant forward to pinch the blonde's cheek. Harper had relaxed when he saw the heiress begin to liven up – the were naps doing wonders for her. Her eyes were brightening, she was more ready to deal with people, and her crystals were making the recovery to a full, rich, rose colour. She was still her usual smug, snide, swearing self, but more… cheerful, if that made sense.

Angelina chuckled and pushed herself into a sitting position. "So, what makes you think we're together?"

Elise pouted and tapped her lip, "I've never seen you spend so much time on just one person, Angie." The red head paused to let Harper again complain at his restriction of him using the nickname, "And this sort of banter – I haven't seen you banter with anyone except your old friends."

Angelina rolled her eyes and gave a gentle flick on the scale freckled girl's nose. "Rest assured, asparagus boy hasn't taken me off the market. Besides, aren't I bantering with you right now?"

Harper rolled his eyes and set about doing his work – he'd let the two girls talk in peace. It was rare to see Angelina interact with anyone else, especially when she wasn't so haggard and snappy, so it was pretty nice to see her so relaxed and easy going. A cold feeling developed in the green haired teen's stomach – he didn't know how much longer this would last before the school was shut down by the government.

Screams of surprise rung out when all of a sudden, the shutters slammed down over the windows and the piercing wail of a siren flooded the intercom. Shrieks rung out as a distant, but distinct, boom resounded, rattling the building. There were cries of confusions when the lights went out and an emergency back-up red light washed the room, and Angelina was on her feet in an instant.

"We're in lockdown! Everyone," she formed her crystal into the shape of a rifle, the usually sweet pink now changed to an ominous ruby in the new lighting, "be prepared to defend yourselves!"

Harper froze as the others rose to their own feet, Quirks activating as many took readied stances. No way… he should've gotten at least some kind heads up – a message if anything. Was Saint Rose under siege from the government? There was no way that could be possible – they wouldn't have the right to resist an arrest and certainly not expect the students to involve themselves. What was happening.

Another boom sounded and eyes flicked to the shutter as it rattled, yelling being heard faintly. It was close… too close. Angelina noted this and she leapt, her crystal quickly forming a platform underneath for her to begin doing a headcount. Her eyes darted around and she bit her lip, before quietly repeating the process under her breath. She paled and shouted, "Where's Wolf, Mari and Beet?"

Harper frowned, trying to decipher who the blonde could mean with those nickames, until realisation dawned and he shot his head around, noticing with a crush that Wolfgang, Lucya and Claus were missing. Oh no. Oh no, no, no, NO! This was bad. Very, very bad.

Angelina was on her roller blading heels in a minute, cussing quietly under her breath. "I'm going to go search for them – everyone stay here!"

"Angie, are you crazy?!" Harper shouted, grasping her arm as the heiress made a move to begin rolling off. She whirled around and before she could sling an array of quickened insults at the delay, he yelled, "you know that's against protocol! Without our licence we don't have the legal rights to fight villains without a teacher's consent – we'd be the same as vigilantes!" He roared. Angelina scowled menacingly and wrenched her arm away from his grip.

"Shove that shit away! In a situation like this, if our classmates aren't already here then they're out there!" She gestured at the door with her gun, crystals glinting in the red light to look like blood. "Any repercussions from my actions can easily be handled by my family, so ya'll better keep your asses in here, because my friends are out there where it's dangerous!"

Harper groaned and rolled his eyes. "You drilled into me the strategies for these situations – all of them say don't go. You don't know where they are, who is out there causing this havoc or what they're capable of! You're signing your own death wish!" he snarled, reaching out to grab her arm again.

She twisted out of his grip and began to roll her way towards the door. "I'm not staying here and doing nothing! Bunker down until I come back with them!" she replied before she wrenched open the door and went roller blading at top speeds down the hall.

"Angelina!" Harper called out, sticking his head out the door, seeing it also drowned in the same red light and the windows blocked off with titanium shutters. Shit. She could probably handle herself if this was some villain attack – but there was no way this was some run of the mill villain attack, especially if the evidence Harper had gained was any proof that any and all villain attacks were rigged from the start. That only left one option. The Special Quirk Control Unit of Europe had been dispatched to bring Saint Rose under government control, and Angelina was probably running herself headlong into battle against them.

"Goddamn it." Harper groaned before he bolted down the hall, trying desperately to pick out where the source of the fighting was. Angelina was innocent and to implicate herself against this unit would certainly land her hot water – Harper had to try and stop her. She may have not been the most agreeable person in the world, but she was innocent, and Harper wasn't about to let her become a villain in exchange for her help.

He threw himself over down the stairs, scrambling down the hall to the large front gardens where the explosions and screams were growing louder and louder. He had to move faster, faster, faster. Angelina was his friend and she was in danger. He was going too slow! Goddamn this school and its maze of hallways! On her blades, Angelina would probably already a part of the fight. He knew he'd have to explain his betrayal – but he couldn't let her battle them. Harper rammed the doors open, nearly knocking them off the hinges at the force. The roar of a fight filled his ears and he opened his mouth, ready to scream out a warning to Angelina.

However, the words died on his lips at the display in front of him.

Wounded S.Q.C.U.E members had hauled them away from the fight, some desperately slicing the string around their neighbours to free them, some trying to administer first aid onto themselves while others had passed out cold. Harper slowly tracked the mess, red eyes following the small craters doted amongst the floors and broken fountains, to the battle taking place.

A suit of armour, completely made of rose coloured, opaque crystal, complete with spear and shield, was fighting against an enormous wolf man and several men who were being held up at odd angles by Quirk-shimmering rope. The knight swung and delivered the soldiers freedom from the strings, using their shield to cover them as the beast launched itself at the knight, only to be tossed to the side, sent sliding through the dainty foliage. The knight scooped the men up and pushed them out the way, using their spear to block an attempt to lasso them.

Harper watched in horrified awe as the knight dematerialised the spear, just to recreate it free of bounds. This… this was Angelina using the full extent of her Quirk? No way… this couldn't be her… she was fighting her friends! This knight was attacking without abandon, not holding back their swings as they met the full force of the attacks from the two.

Two…

Two!

"Claus-!" Harper gasped and could see the other teen off to the corner, charging up his Quirk, a great ball of fire forming over his head, his eyes burning into the knight. Harper felt fear light his nerves – if that attack connected, there was no way Angelina could weather it, even with her armour. Harper knew that Angelina's Quirk had been fine-tuned through generation of crystal Quirk users to create a stupidly over powered ability. But it had limits. He had seen it first hand in sparring practice with the others. 1: Angelina could only form crystal on her body and had to be connected to it to continue growing it. 2: If she wasn't connected to the crystal, she had approximately thirty seconds before it would dissolve – that wasn't too bad an issue since that usually meant she would just use it as ammunition 3: She had to already know the shape of what she formed – she couldn't make it up and had to have her crystal cover something to use as a reference later 4: She could recreate twice her body mass in crystal – Harper hadn't seen her try and extend beyond this and he was under the assumption it had dire consequences if she did.

And 5: although nearly impervious to all things, her crystal could be weathered and weakened by large explosions which could then be easily shattered in a small window of time before Angelina could regenerate. She also had a slower generation speed if he health was low.

As realisation dawned, Harper's vision went hazy and the world turned dream like. Sounds became muted and his legs were moving, hurling him towards Claus. His Quirk activated and the surrounding area became devoid of sound. Claus turned to look, his eyes wide in shock as the ball of energy evaporated, face paling when he saw Harper coming towards him.

Harper hadn't really thought his Quirk useful. It was very much a situational Quirk, and it didn't have much use in general and wasn't very versatile. It wasn't flashy, it could rarely be used in combat, it couldn't be used to help many people. All it could do was record and playback, as long as he didn't speak. It wasn't a 'heroic' Quirk, something his parents had been disappointed in when they realised that he had one at all.

Harper Dean was never interested in becoming a hero. He came from a small village in England, where his Quirkless parents where high up members of S.Q.C.U.E. that acted as a bridge in between them and the government. They had hoped their son could become a hero and had pushed him towards the position as soon as they found out he had a Quirk. But Harper never had the drive – he was never motivated in his defence combat and stealth lessons, shrugging his parents off when they suggested he try and enrol in their nearest heroics academy, only doing the bare minimum to keep them happy due to them begging. The sound Quirked boy had only wanted to play his music and go through life, with a hero and villain free lifestyle. He only agreed to this mission at Saint Rose when his parents promised that they would never again pressure him into doing anything heroic related should he complete it. The job was over for him – he had completed his objective and now it was only a matter of time before he was allowed to return home and begin perusing the life he wanted.

Yet, as his pulled back his clenched fist, why was he getting involved? He could've let Angelina fight, stay in the classroom and let everything sort itself out. Why? Why should he interfere?

His fist connected and decked Claus to the floor. He took a gasp of air, his Quirk switching off his playing of 'silence', feeling his muscles weaken at the high levelled trick as the other teen thudded to the earth. Using silence was the hardest for him, since he had to loudly project it, over the sound of a battle, over a wide range of area to block Claus' Quirk. It was difficult and he didn't often have the chance to do practice it, but he had somehow managed.

"Angie… Angelina!" he whispered, whirling around to see the rose-coloured knight whack Lucya unconscious and pull their spear out of the colossal wolf's side, seeming to have been knocked out. The knight turned, slowly looking at Harper as it cracked, pieces floating away on the wind and vanishing, as Angelina stumbled out of the armour. She raised her head and looked at Harper, empty brown eyes meeting his dazed red ones over the ruined garden.

She took a single step and crumbled, her body folding in on itself. Harper took a shuddering breath, his vision snapping into harsh reality and he sprinted to her side. Had she been hurt? What was wrong? Had she over exerted herself? He skidded to a stop and nearly bent down to try and roll the blonde over, when he lurched back suddenly as multi coloured crystal shot out and covered Angelina. He stared in horror as it encased, the opaque crystal forming a tomb over his classmate. "What the…! Angelina!" he screamed and pounded his fist against the stone, seeing the colours change and shift like a kaleidoscope. He hadn't seen her crystal change colours like that before – something was wrong.

"Hey… Angelina! Oi, Angie! Angie, what is this? Angie…?"


A/N: Writing something that isn't smut for a change is pretty nice – I feel like I'm stretching my legs when I'm writing something that spans over a fairly large plot timeline. It just sucks having to edit it all.

Also, google translate is definitely going to fuck me over since I only know so much.