"Weiss, repeat the old plan!" Weiss immediately looked over to Izuku, a slight grimace on her face as she immediately started working her Semblance, a Glyph appearing under him crackling with electricity.

"Izuku, your-"

"I know, I promise, I'll only use one finger this time!" Izuku called out, feeling the familiar energy wash over him as the Glyph rose over his person, charging his entire body with energy.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT BY SHOWING RESTRAINT, YOU DOLT!" Still, if Weiss was 'actually' angry at him, it seemed buried underneath the fact that they had two of their friends right in front of them, one in the middle of being attacked by a cloud of Nevermore and the other doing what he could to help some very badly injured Hunters recover. The situation, as it were, was a little too hot for semantics over his fingers to come into play. As he felt the energy of the Glyph finally fully enter his body, the familiar charge of speed flowing through each of his veins, Izuku broke off into a sprint. The fight was taking place a little closer to the entrance of The Tunnels that time, allowing him to cover the distance in a much shorter period of time.

As he arrived, there seemed to be one Murder in specific that saw his approach and gave a mighty caw from its ranks even as Izuku raised up his left hand again. As he did so, and as the Murder peeled away to avoid whatever attack it seemed to imagine was incoming, the cloud of vulture-sized Grimm broke away just enough for Yang to actually be able to see him.

"Slugger, when did you-"

"YANGJUSTDUCKNOW!" It seemed she hadn't entirely got what he said in his sped up state, but a look at his finger and its glow, Yang grasped the picture quickly and ducked down. "GLENNSMASH!" With a violent explosion that broke a finger, a huge shock wave was unleashed just above Yang's head, her blonde hair billowing slightly from the very edge of it as the two Murders of Nevermore that were caught dead center practically disintegrated. Izuku barely even stopped to register the pain as he immediately turned on his feet and faced the last remaining murder, tightening his fist as he pulled 5% of One For All into his right hand.

"BEACONSMASH!"

With a bolt forward he drove a fist into the body of one of the Nevermore, before all at once the force of his Smash, his Fist and Emerald Gust carried through. A smaller shock wave banged through the ranks of the creatures and, though they weren't dead or even unconscious, it was clear he'd hurt them badly. Enough to enrage them, even.

"Man, you're a sight for sore eyes there Slugger... and sore everything, really." Yang said with a bit of a laugh as he just nodded.

"Yang,focusongettingthetwohurtguysoutofthecircleofGrimm,ifwedon'ttheycouldhurtthemevenworse!" Her eyes just blinked as, again, his sped up speech proved a slight impediment to getting his message through. However, as he threw a powerful punch into the Murder of Nevermore and, actually destroyed it, Yang seemed to get the picture as both Izuku and Weiss immediately bolted off for the Larval Ursa. In a bit of a comedy of errors, Izuku swung and wildly missed it, his attempt to call 5% of One For All to helped him adjust the momentum of his swing having been for naught, while the baby bear Grimm actually managed to avoid Weiss' rapier by 'jumping' to the side.

It was only when Yang, slightly slower than Izuku knew she could move, ran up to the Ursa and, fist reared back for only a moment, blasted the Ursa's head with such force that it 'popped' off, that he was reminded that yeah, Yang was pretty friggin' great in the 1v1. From there, the Hunters took advantage of their position opening up and, turning and stepping away from the crowd of Grimm that formerly surrounded them, quickly slaughtered the two younger Beowolves that had come around for them at the back. From there, it was actually a pretty simple affair of cleaning up the Beowolves. It was clear that most of the fighting was done by the time Izuku and Weiss showed up, if the numerous dissolving corpses that surrounded Yang were any indication, but he was still glad that his presence could help end the fight even quicker.

"Alright... everyone good?" Yang asked, seemingly out of the blue, as slowly the Glyph that had supercharged him faded out, leaving Izuku just in his normal state. He nodded slowly at that, and Weiss did as well, while the two Hunters held onto their wounds and give a slight nod. Injured but not put too badly into place, it seemed like they were still quite capable of being up and moving around. Which just lead Yang's lilac eyes to roam over toward Ren and the three Hunters he had under his care. "Ren?" Yang called out, her skin going a bit flush as she looked over at the young man.

"... They're still badly injured, especially this one here, but between the two of us, none of the Grimm came over here and I was able to apply first aid. These two should be able to walk without too much pain now and the last one... well, we should be able to wake him back up. You've done it again, Yang." Ren offered with a nod, which just caused Yang to give a wide smile.

"Great... then if you all don't mind..." Izuku flinched as, without warning, Yang suddenly fell backwards, collapsing onto her back as she took some deep breaths. "I think... I'm just gonna lay down for a second... hoo boy..."

"Man, it looks like whatever you two got up to it really took a lot out of you guys." Izuku said somewhat worryingly as he brought his bag down and looked through his supplies, Ren just having shook his head.

"As much as I've put my Semblance through its paces to help ease concerns, Yang's been the one doing the heavy lifting... and yes, it has been a bit rough." Ren said with a sigh as he scratched at the back of his head, Yang just having given a slightly tired laugh as she gave a big old thumbs up.

"Kicked plenty of ass though, tell you what. Between seems like the Goons that let them loose really didn't know what they were getting their hands full of, so our 'friends' that we came across ended up being pretty badly beaten by the time we came through." Yang said, looking over at Izuku and puzzling over him as he messed with his bag.

"You'll find that much the same's true here... although to a lesser degree." One of the older Hunters said firmly as he tightened up a bandage on his body. "The people who let loose the Nevermore from their cave ran as fast as they could when they did... we barely got out of our ropes in time to start resisting, but they were long gone by then. Caused whole schools of Nevermore to follow them out into the various Tunnels." The man went quiet after that, as did everyone else, the likely fate of these men going distinctly unspoken.

"Well, we'd appreciate any information on where they might've gone or where we can go from here... also, a point of curiosity." The man blinked slightly as he spoke, turning his attention away from his bag as he looked up at him. "I've been wondering about this; how do you all keep in contact down here anyway, especially for emergency situations? Is there a PA system or something to do with the Communication Hubs or... what?" The Hunter tilted head at this, obviously confused.

"Where have you come from so far young man?" He blinked as he informed him; Chambers 16 and 17. "Ah, that explains it, the Hunters in those Chambers wouldn't know the protocol for stuff like this; if emergencies transpire from 'their' neck of the woods they're expected to evacuate and make a call in so the guys up top can send down the heavy machinery for fixes." The Hunter winced slightly as he pointed off in some direction. "In short young man, you're actually surprisingly spot on: there's a P.A. System that goes throughout The Tunnels connected to The Communication Hub. Should something happen where any of us Pit Hunters lose control of the Grimm down here, we're supposed to send one of our number off to the nearest Hub in order to sound a Tunnel-wide alarm. For us here that'd be good old Chamber 14." The man turned his attention back to Izuku. "Now, that's just a way to do it if we keep the Grimm in their areas after they break out... if they've obviously gotten out into the Chamber proper, then the folks over at the Hub will notice... they've got cameras locked onto it."

"... Then shouldn't an alarm have gone off by now?" Weiss asked, crossing her arms, while Ren just frowned in thought.

"I think we can take the state of the rest of the Tunnels to assume that the Communication Hub might not be in Mountain Glenn's control right now." The older Hunter nodded as he crossed his arms.

"That's about how I'd figure it." Izuku returned the nod at that as he turned back to his bag and produced a couple items: a Lightning in a Bottle and some Fire Dust Salve.

"Hey, Ren, you need an extra bandage? I got some over here?"

Ren shook his head as he applied the last of his bandages to the man beneath him, lightly slapping his cheek in order to stir him. "That shouldn't be necessary... I do believe that this should do it. He'll be able to walk under his own power... admittedly with some difficulty." With that he gave a slight nod as, instead, he turned his attention back to Yang, still fixing him with that puzzled look. A look that turned surprised when he extended out his hands.

"Yang, here, take these. You're looking pretty banged up so you could use them a lot more than Weiss and I can right now." Yang blinked slightly at the offer, though a grin soon formed on her face as she nodded.

"Appreciate it Slugger. We were running pretty dry ourselves after the last couple Chambers we've been through." Yang appreciatively took the supplies offered and, after quickly downing the Lightning in a Bottle, began to apply the Fire Salve to some of the wounded areas of her body, an audible 'hissing' sound being made as he watched the wounds slowly burn away at the edges.

"Speaking of, maybe we should all figure out where we've been, get a good idea of where things are." Ren nodded in agreement with that as the young man started to spin his own tale, along with the older Hunter.

As all the information was shared, he was sitting there, nodding his head, as he took it all in. Eventually he started to come around to some kind of decision when, finally, he looked over to Yang who has just finished applying the Fire Dust Salve. The Lightning in a Bottle hadn't had quite the time to kick in yet but, already, Yang looked better without those wounds.

"Listen... Yang. I know you can take a few more hits and that you've got a wicked punch, trust me, I still remember that quite clearly." Yang blinked as Izuku started off with that, seeming slightly confused as he spoke. "But with the condition you're in, you don't look like you can take 'too' many, while Weiss and I are fresh as daisies. We really don't have the time and the resources to get you back into such a fresh state yourself..." Yang furrowed her brow as he spoke, turning to face him.

"Now hold on Slugger, you aren't about to have me run off and-"

"Which is why, if you do come with us... I'd appreciate it if you let me take the brunt of it." That seemed to take Yang by some surprise as Izuku looked at her seriously. "I'd want you to take out targets of opportunity, you've still got a wicked punch... but if you did come with us, I wouldn't want you right in the fray, especially not when I've still got plenty of kick left in me." He looked over his shoulder at Ren. "If you two don't want to come, if you'd rather split up again so you can rest or look around some more, that's fine, but... well, if you do come with us, then I'd want you guys to be safe." Yang seemed slightly caught off guard by his answer, as if she had been expecting something slightly different. Ren just shrugged his shoulders as he packed up himself.

"Well, you're the only one of us who is actually a Team Leader Izuku. While I can't speak for Yang... I think it'd be best if I went with you. I'm best in a group and I would like to find Nora myself." Izuku nodded at that and turned back to Yang, expecting to find her a bit resilient. Instead he saw an amused look on her face as she shrugged.

"'Pick off targets of opportunity huh'? Way to call 'Sucker Punch them' something that sounds a little cool at least Slugger." Yang offered an overly dramatic sigh as she just nodded. "But I guess if those are your terms, I'll have to agree. Ruby's still out there after all and... well, Ren and I have had a good run together, but I think a few more numbers might be best for us." Izuku gave a smile at that as they all gathered around... though Yang was still seated on the ground. The Hunters, either having not been so critically injured or having been patched up by that point, took their information about safe zones in Chambers 16 and 17 and immediately made off for them, leaving the four students to their own devices.

"So... Yang's not exactly had time for that stuff to kick in yet, and if we have her up and walking on her own with her Aura already so exhausted, it might not be 'given' time to do so." Weiss muttered to herself as she brought a hand up to her chin. Izuku nodded; it wouldn't take too much longer for Yang's Aura to kick in for recovery, but given her current state, pushing her to keep up with them all might negate that.

"We could go at a slower pace, let Yang move at a more comfortable rhythm until she was back in top shape... or, if we're not dead set against allowing some time to pass, we could rest here and let it happen." Weiss frowned as she crossed her arms.

"Given that so many of our friends and teammates are still out there, plus with who knows what else the Monochrome League is up to, I'm not sure if that's a good idea." Izuku hummed to himself as he considered the idea, turning down to look at the ground.

"What about you Yang, what do you think you'd be more comfortable with?" Izuku turned to face the blonde brawler... only to soon feel a mixture of confusion and dread as Yang just fixed him with a grin. Izuku felt like she was getting ready too-

Before he could even finish the thought, Yang, draped a hand across her forehead as she leaned back dramatically, swooning. "Oh my, what a predicament. I'm just so frail and in need of a rescue. If only there was a Strong, Heroic Huntsman who was just so brave who could carry my poor self during this arduous time. One with green hair and solid abs to boot..." A wide grin stretched across Yang's face as Izuku immediately turned a shade of red, the blonde having cracked a big smile and laughed while Weiss just sighed.

"You know, forget what I said, she seems fine enough to walk..." Yang waved Weiss off as she shook her head.

"Oh relax Ice Queen, I'm just kidding. The stakes are high, but worrying about it too much isn't going to do us any good." Yang shrugged as she placed her hands on the ground. "But Weiss is right; I can walk on my own... I'll just sit back in the next fight or whatever. I don't want to slow you guys down or anything."

Izuku bit his lip slightly, his cheeks remained flush as he looked down at Yang. The young woman was pushing up on her hands, forcing herself up onto her feet so she could stand up; it was clear that either they were going to have to slow down or Yang would have to exert herself in order to keep moving forward. As much as Izuku wanted Yang to have her rest, he didn't want it to come at the expense of moving around quickly and finding his friends... so, he decided to go with Yang's idea.

Everyone blinked in some surprise as he quickly turned around, back facing toward Yang, and got down onto a knee, extending his hands out behind him. "You're really out of it... there's no helping it if we want you up and ready for the next fight and want to keep going forward. So... hop on Yang." He said, trying to keep his voice from cracking too much as he felt his ears heat up. Back facing away from Yang he couldn't see her expression, though he could see an amused grin crossing Ren's face while Weiss just watched the scene with a raised eyebrow, her expression pretty well neutral.

"Hey now Slugger, I said it was alright... you don't have to do something like this, I can get over just fine on my own. I'll just-"

"You'll hate just sitting out of the next fight Yang and I wouldn't blame you. So rather than that and rather than us slowing down... let's go out and find our friends. I'm fine, I can carry you on my back for a while." While he couldn't see Yang, he did hear a slight, nervous swallow come from behind him. The sound of long locks of hair being ruffled, likely from Yang running a hand through them, also reached his ears before he felt a distinctly feminine hand on his back.

"A... Alright there Slugger, can't exactly argue with that logic." Izuku nodded as he kept his eyes forward, doing his best to fight down his blush. Izuku was fine, it was fine.

'Just let Yang onto your back,' he thought, as Yang stepped behind him, her legs positioned for him to scoop them up, 'I'll be able to carry her without this getting awkward, for sure,' was the thought going through his mind as, with a tap, Yang told him she was in position. 'There was no way I've screwed this up,' had been the words on his mind as he stood up, scooped Yang's thighs into his waiting arms and hefted her onto his back…

'I've made a huge mistake.'

It wasn't that Yang was too heavy for him; goodness no, the girl was just around his weight considering her height and similar training regimen. It wasn't that she was taller than him and that made it uncomfortable, far from it; she wasn't 'hugely' taller than him like Pyrrha and, with a some slight adjustments, he was able to easily position her on him back.

No. It was two things he hadn't immediately thought of when making his decision. Two things that now pressed into his shoulder blades and neck.

Two things that made his face turn a crimson red.

"Hey Slugger, if this isn't working out for you, I can get off and walk, it's-"

"N-No! I-I'm fine, everything's fine." Izuku's voice was cracking so much at this point that Ren's usually calm exterior gave way to a slight smile, one that he tried to hide behind his hand as he shook his head. Weiss, meanwhile, just rolled her eyes as he gave one last readjustment... which didn't help things. "It's really okay Yang. You're pretty easy to carry..." Not discussing the slightly more obvious issue, Izuku did feel Yang nod behind him as the young woman... jeez... she reached forward and lazily draped her arms across his shoulders as she gave a relaxed sigh.

"If you say so Slugger... gotta say, way more comfortable than being on my feet... even if you are more rock solid than I thought." Izuku gave a slight nod as he immediately turned towards the tunnel leading off to Chamber 7 and began to move on, Ren and Weiss soon following up on him. As he walked off, Yang hummed a bit as she leaned forward slightly. "Seriously though Izuku... thanks. I do appreciate this." The sincerity in her voice caused him to smile slightly and, for a moment, his blush even died down as his more embarrassing thoughts and emotions were replaced.

"Sure thing Yang... we're friends after all. This is the least I could do." Izuku could practically feel Yang's smile from behind him... and then he could promptly feel that smile turn predatory.

"Oh? Even if this is the least you can do Izuku, it still is an awful lot for you to be pulling off at once..."

'Huh? What does she mean by-'

"After all, from where I'm sitting, this seems like part of a juicy long con you've been pulling." Izuku arched an eyebrow as, suddenly, Yang dropped her chin on his shoulder. "I mean, giving me a ride, getting me a little something to drink and being such a gentleman... I know that I said it'd take more than one date to get me feeling butterflies in my stomach Slugger, but I didn't think you'd be so slick about it. Now you have me on your back, so defenseless, but still being such a proper young man... is this what you had in mind the entire time?" With the way Yang was practically whispering, and the feel of her breath on his ear, he couldn't help but immediately turn a brighter shade of red than he'd ever been before.

"Wait, Yang, that's not, I'm not, you're-" Yang gave a slight, throaty laugh as she pinched his cheek.

"You're a pretty dangerous guy there Slugger, but I guess I should've expected it. You are the guy who has all these plans after all... get me dinner after this and I might just be putty in your hands." Yang leaned forward slightly as she spoke, pronouncing certain issues with the position the two were in, and by that point his ears had to have been 'glowing' at this point.

"Oh would you stop. If you keep that up I honestly think he'll have a heart attack and die." Weiss said, sounding exasperated, as Yang just belted out a laugh as she patted Izuku on the top of the head in a reassuring manner.

"Come on Weiss, I'm just kidding. You gotta learn to live a little." Izuku sighed as he, immediately, started doing his best to think 'very' cold thoughts in an attempt to keep the situation from getting... worse. Unbeknownst to him, the tinge of red on his ears seemed to be reflected on Yang's cheeks.


Entering Chamber 7... it was safe to say that he'd come across probably the most distinct Chamber in the entirety of The Tunnels. Not necessarily for what had already been there, though that was certainly one aspect, but also for what had been 'added' on top of it all. The Chamber itself was rather plain as far as a Pit Chamber went. Some tables, some cages and a whole lot of restraints... however, the tools seem different. Less tools of scientific experimentation and more, what seems to be, items and objects meant to help transport something or to hold it in place. Something larger than even an Adult Beowolf Alpha.

Perhaps it had something to do with one of the tunnels leading off from Chamber 7 being closed behind great iron doors, the first he'd seen for such a Tunnel entrance/exit in his entire time down here. There were other Tunnel exits too, all of them kept normally open and available to travel through... but there was another oddity at that.

One wasn't part of The Tunnels, quite clearly...

It was hard to imagine how a giant series of ice spikes and pillars could have been included in the original Tunnel design. The huge chunk of ice that easily took up at least 1/4th of the entire Chamber blocked off another tunnel, one which it was plain to see amidst the ice were some Beowolves either frozen solid within or trying their hardest to break through the ice.

"I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say that Ice King came through here." Yang said from behind Izuku, the scene having taken his thoughts off of other matters as he just nodded in agreement, figuring that she was referring to Shoto. It was also clear that, while she was still somewhat out of it, she was no longer as extremely tired as she had been, and even Ren and Weiss seemed much more up to speed.

"I certainly wouldn't disagree... though if this is Shoto's work, it looks like he really let go... he couldn't have gotten far, then..." Ren remarked as he looked around.

"What makes you say that?" Weiss asked, curious, though Ren bit his lip slightly.

"I don't feel entirely at liberty to speak about how Shoto's Semblance works but... let's just leave it at the fact that, if he produced this much ice at once, there's no way he started out of this chamber immediately after... or if he did, that he was going at any kind of speed we might expect from him." they all just nodded in understanding as they continued to look around, looking for signs of Shoto or where he may have gone. Before he could get too deep into their investigation, however, they noticed a loud, rumbling noise coming from down the Tunnel that Izuku knew led to Chamber 5. As they all ducked down and waited to see what came through. What ended up coming through was a singular Murder of Adult Nevermore, followed up shortly after by... well, a pack of Beowolves.

And 'pack' certainly fit the bill considering what was up front. Three Beowolves, all taller than the other adults in the pack, that stood greater in height than them and all seemed to command the respect of some of the Beasts behind them.

Beowolf Alphas.

They watched as the whole crowd of Grimm came into the room from Chamber 5, all sniffing about and looking around, as if trying to spot out their prey. They hadn't spotted the students quite yet and, Izuku realize, that there didn't seem to be... 'anything' for them to spot. They didn't locate any civilians or Hunters. The room, it seems, was clear.

That left them with more options than before, Izuku realized.

As much as he might've wanted to deal with those Grimm here and now, that being his job as a Huntsman... he also had another job. A job to do as a Hunter, a Hero, a Team Leader and a friend.

"If that water track is leading off to where Shoto's headed, then we can't just leave him hanging. As much as leaving this Grimm behind might feel off, we know Shoto's somewhere close and could be in trouble. We need to catch up with him and we need to make sure he's secured." Everyone looked down at him and then to the Grimm, their thoughts running through their mind.

"Well, I'm in no position to speak on this as I obviously have a bit of a bias going in... but if that's your decision Izuku, I'll gladly follow it." Lie Ren said, a clearly grateful expression on his face, while Weiss nodded in agreement.

"It seems like Shoto's done what he could with the Hunters that would've been in this room at any rate, so it isn't like these Grimm are an 'immediate' threat. If he's run off somewhere, then... well, we should make sure he's alright." Yang nodded from on top of his back.

"Yeah, Ruby'd kill us if we left Shoto hanging, plus the guy could probably use some help. I know I had a rough time of going up against a bunch of these guys... especially if he's doing it on his own." Izuku could feel Yang smile from behind him as she pointed down the tunnel leading to Chamber 1. "Well then, it sounds like we're all behind this decision! Onward, Slugger!" Izuku nodded as he turned to Ren and it seemed the young man already knew what he was thinking before he'd even asked. Ren closed his eyes and, after a moment, the all felt... well, not emotionless but... muted. Even their colors seemed so, as a shade of grey overtook all of them. There was a certain peace to it as Izuku could feel his negative emotions, his embarrassment, his shame, his worry, just kind of... slip away.

It was with that that they ended up easily crossing the room without the Grimm even noticing them... and they 'also' decided to blame that for not remembering the fact that, feeling as embarrassed as he had, he had the opportunity to let Yang off his back so she could walk on her own.

It wasn't until Ren dropped the field someway down Tunnel 1 that the embarrassment rushed back. Izuku 'almost' didn't say anything, red faced as he was from his emotions just rushing back to him, but then Yang patted him on the shoulders a couple time to stop his movements. As he did so he could feel her shifting around and, though for a moment his mind went blank from other things shifting around because of this, he figured out her intentions in short order. Izuku kneeled down and Yang's feet hit the ground for the first time in a little while, the blonde young woman moving around to face him again with a wide smile.

"As much fun as I'm sure we were both having there, Slugger-" Izuku's voice cracked as he tried to let loose a myriad of assurances that 'no', he wasn't doing that for enjoyment, Yang dropped the predatory edge to her smile as she just patted him on the shoulder, "-but I'm pretty sure it'd for the best that I get off your back so you can actually get some of your wind back too. It's been fun watching your ears glow though Slugger, we'll have to do this again sometime." With that, Yang reached out and pinched his cheek slightly before turning around and moving forward, stretching out as she walked to work out some cricks from having been on his back for so long...

He didn't really understand why his face was even 'more' red now that she was off his back, but regardless, he quickly got to moving forward as well.


The trail of water goes a surprisingly long way into the tunnel before petering out, only a few droplets here and there remaining that haven't evaporated under the lights that made moving through these tunnels bearable. Passing through all these obstacles, they eventually found the much brighter, fluorescent lights of an open Chamber at the end of the Tunnel and, with a burst of speed, they all soon passed through it. Somewhat more invigorated following their sojourn, and with Izuku having fixed up one of his two broken fingers, They all enter Chamber 1 expectant of any kind of trouble...

And boy, was there some.

Chamber 1 was about as was described by other people; it was a transport hub. Trucks and cars of various shapes and sizes, some meant for the surface world and some meant for The Tunnels, were parked across varying places in the Chamber. Crates upon crates of Dust were lined up in various places, bags of concrete mix, bits of metal and steel in a variety of shapes or in just plain old sheets, boxes of supplies for varying purposes, lengths upon lengths of chains, belts and rope scattered about the room. It looked more like a warehouse than any of the other Chambers Izuku had come across thus far, that much is for certain.

What was equally for certain was that it's a certified 'warzone'.

Twenty men dressed casually, much like the rest of the grunts he'd come across so far, were fighting it out in the room... and nearly a dozen more were in various states of unconsciousness or being frozen solid. Most of the frozen ones had some pistols in hand, or in ice, leaving only a handful of others holding onto pistols that they're firing at small handful of Hunters, two of them, that were doing their best to fight off the small squad. It was clear that a good number of them weren't like previous goons they'd come across before; stronger than a good deal of their counterparts, though still not eclipsing the strength of a fully trained Mountain Glenn Hunter on their own... though, that didn't so much matter when there were only two fighting, while another two were grouped up with civilians, clearly unconscious.

However, what did matter was the fact that those injured Hunters and Civilians weren't being held hostage; no, they were behind a thick wall of ice. What's more, more and more ice was forming across the room, catching a goon here and there. The source of all the ice was one Shoto Todoroki... who himself seemed in a bit of a state.

It was hard to say whether he was tired or not; on the one hand, it was clear that his Aura wasn't up to full snuff, the full glow of it not surrounding him... but he didn't look to be in the exhausted state Yang had been. Rather, what made Shoto appear like he was winded was... well, the fact that he moved so slowly, his breath was coming out in misty gasps of frost and that large patches, and even whole chunks, of ice were hanging off his right side. A stoic, serious expression still remained on Shoto's face though, his movement, and his ice, may have been significantly slower than what Izuku had seen him pull off, but the young man was still proving to be a considerable headache for the goons, especially as Shoto seemed to have taken the strategy of setting himself up some minor fortifications, keeping him shielded from gunfire and allowing him to quickly shut off paths coming in toward him using his Semblance.

Still, how much longer two fully trained Hunters and one Shoto could hang on against twenty men wasn't a question Izuku wanted to wait around to see answered.

Yet still that didn't cover the entirety of the 'warzone' feeling he got from this room. No: that feeling came solidly from the fact that it sounded like two wrecking balls were smashing against each other. Izuku couldn't 'quite' perfectly pin down the sound... but it sounded like it was coming from the tunnel that he had come to learn lead back into the Underground Training Facility. Loud crashes and bangs could be heard echoing from down the hall... it made him wonder, and worry, for what exactly was happening in there.

But, for now, Izuku shook off that wonder and took to looking back at the scene before him. Now wasn't the time for distractions... now was the time for a plan.

Izuku's mind was whirring at a million miles a minute.

'Okay, I need to think of something and I need to think of something 'now'. There were nearly twice as many thugs in this room as there are us, and a good number of them look far more experienced and threatening than others we've seen. If I just run down in there and try to fight them, we all will get surrounded and then... well, that'd be bad. I need a good plan, but a quick one too... think...thi-'

As he thought, however, Izuku blinked in confusion as something threw a wrench into his careful thinking: namely, Weiss propelling herself off of her Glyphs to literally soar through the air over towards where Shoto was.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Weiss stared down at Todoroki, one of the many reasons why she had been having such a bad day, and she knew she was about to do something stupid.

And she of all people knew when someone is about to do something stupid. After all, she was Nora's partner.

And a member of Izuku's team.

And she was an acquaintance of Yang.

And she knew Bakugou.

And even she knew, deep in her soul, that she was about to do something really fucking stupid.

'Shoto... dammit.'

She had been having one of the worst days of her life so far. Not THE worst, mind, but one of them. First, she had gotten in that death trap of a train, and been shot across a country at far too great a speed to be considered rational. That had meant that she was completely unable to try and get Shoto alone to talk about their...confrontation.

After that, she had been sucked up in a vortex with Izuku, and then been forced to fight a bunch of White Fang wannabes. Then she and her leader had been traveling room to room, all the while she had been forced to watch her leader, teammate and friend tear himself to pieces fighting whatever monsters they faced. She looked down for a moment at Izuku's hand, and felt a pang somewhere inside her about how much pain he must be in each time he uses a finger. She had actually gotten to see a few of his fingers, and she was terrified of the fact that he hadn't been able to recover fully.

Then there had been the next of her issues. She looked over at Yang, and felt the corners of her mouth dip even further. That mo... her classmate had been far too coy for her liking. Forcing Izuku to forego his own healing so she could rest up. Izuku had so far proven to have been far more valuable considering he could do more than punch wildly. That h... Yang had then spent quite a bit of the past few moments flirting with her teammate, who was clearly had far bigger things to worry about. Weiss winced on that word as she remembered Izuku's stammer.

'Stupid boys,' she made sure not to look downward, 'I'm just a late bloomer.'

But then, after all that, she ends up fifty feet away from the guy who she was supposed to talk to, to work out the stupid Aerokreet and Falcon shit. But, it looked like he was about to be skewered by a dozen or so thugs that just happen to think that whatever little worries they were dealing with are more important than Weiss actually getting a stupidly large amount of guilt and frustration off her chest. She could see one of the enemy slowly creeping up behind Shoto, a dagger in his hand, and a gleam in his eye.

'Sorry Izuku,' She materialized two glyphs on her feet, and pulled out Myrtenaster, 'But no time for strategy this time.'

An instant later, she was in the air, and diving across the room. She could hear Izuku gasp, taken out of his thinking, and she pushed herself further, hoping to maintain the surprise.

"WEISS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

'Dammit,' Weiss cursed as she could see all those below her suddenly look up in surprise, 'Only got one shot at this.'

A glyph emerged at the end of Myrtenaster, and in a second, a shot of ice emerged from it, directly at the sneaking thug. He had been so entranced in the thought of taking Shoto out, that he only just looked up after the glyph had activated, and only saw it for a second.

"What the f-"

And then he was delivered a body blow, one that sent him careening off several yards away until he landed in a wall. Weiss, caught herself on her feet, and aimed her blade at the remaining goons. She saw some still in complete shock from her actions, a few even backing away. But she also saw the few Faunus in the crowd reach a dawning comprehension, and their murderous eyes narrowed further. Those thugs moved forward, raising their weapons.

'Great. More Schnee haters.'

"Weiss?"

She recognized the voice, though she hadn't actually heard it address her since for a couple of weeks. Without turning back, she replied.

"We'll talk later, right now, we can finish these guys off."

"...Right."


E/N: Ending us off we have something that was written by Wind, don't know what it's titled, and I'm not going to check.

-Shovern

It is called Weiss takes Initiative. It was something I wrote spur of the moment when I read the part just when they arrived near Shoto. I thought it would help complement the arc that Weiss and Shoto had going.

-Wind-Waker