Chapter 11: Creation vs Destruction

Izuku had rarely been more relieved than when All Might announced which teams were going first. He was sure fate would have played a trick on him and thrown him up against Bakugo, but he was lucky. But that luck immediately twisted back on him as he looked at the Yaoyorozu and Mineta. As much as he didn't want to face Bakugo, it might have been better if he had. At the very least he knew what to expect, they were going in blind. In a split second he made a decision, standing still as the rest of the class turned to leave. He had to warn them.

He couldn't be subtle about it. Yaoyorozu and Mineta were on the opposite side of the crowd. He'd walked in the wrong direction, confusing Uraraka and alerting most of the class in the process. He cringed to think of what All Might thought of the display. But he had managed to walk in front of Yaoyorozu, drawing a confused look out his classmate which only intensified as he looked up and babbled out an apology, which only drew even more unwanted attention, but he couldn't just give them nothing.

Bakugo was glaring daggers at him, teeth bared, and it was enough to make him shiver. He shook his head, apologized again and walked around her, offering her the only warning he could. "Watch out for Bakugo." Mineta caught it, a confused look on his face before he turned to look at their furious opponent, and he was hopeful that Yaoyorozu's second of stillness as she watched him was her way of reacting. The entire march back to the observation deck he'd prayed they'd taken his warning seriously.

Watching Iida and Bakugo make the entrance, Izuku felt the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

"All right!" All Might's voice bellowed, "Let's begin the indoor combat training! Team C, Team D your time starts now!"

"Finally." Bakugo's scowl faded into a grin and he stuffed the map in his pocket as he headed for the doorway. Glasses had tried to talk to him about the importance of hunting down the bomb as if that was the only way to win the exercise. It pissed him off, since the real objective here would be to defeat the villains. He wasn't about to end it before he showed them exactly how inferior they were to him.

Iida followed behind, stony faced. He had waning confidence in his partner's ability. His arrogance in particular was worrisome, and his insistence that the real objective of this challenge was to defeat their classmates troubled him more than he would like to admit, but there was little that could be done about that right now. If it came down to it, he would simply grab the bomb and be done with the exercise, in the end protecting the civilian populace from the bomb was the higher priority; the entrance exam had shown him that. If this were a real scenario they would be able to catch the villains after. Any conflicts that arose from him grabbing the bomb could be mediated by All Might.

The pair entered the darkened hallway of the building, doors lining the path forward. It was unlikely that their opponents were really set up on the ground floor, but Iida checked the first door just in case. The handle turned, but the door refused to budge. "Over here." He announced, grabbing his angry partner's attention, "This room is blocked from the inside."

"You idiot," Bakugo sneered, "they wouldn't be in there. Stop wasting my time."

Iida frowned. He wasn't going to be receiving much help at all it seemed. He turned back to the door and kicked it, the plywood cracking, and then he powered his engine on the second kick, shredding it like it was paper. Darkness greeted him. Warily he pulled out a light and shined it into the room. Nothing. His frown deepened and he stuck his head through the opening. A purple ball was just behind the door handle, resting right at the lip of the door and the doorframe. They looked like their shorter opponent's hair. He'd bounced between them during the quirk assessment, could they be holding the door? He reached out, but stopped himself; he had no clue what the small boy's quirk did. It was better to be safe than sorry. At the very least it would be wise to alert his partner.

"Bakugo, come take a look at this." Iida pulled his head out of the hole and looked to his teammate, but found nothing but an empty hallway. "Bakugo?" His brow knit together in exasperation. His teammate was acting like nothing of the sort. They he had no clue what to expect from the villains of this exercise, and yet his teammate had left him alone at the entrance. He looked at the T intersection ahead and balled his hands into fists as he raced down the hall to try and find his teammate.

Toshinori had rested in the private monitoring room as he watched both teams prepare. Tracking young Yayorozu and Mineta had been interesting, to say the least. She'd certainly taken her role seriously, as if the questions she'd asked before entering weren't proof enough of that then the way they went about booby-trapping their base was. She had spent her time wisely, taking the initiative and control in short order. Young Mineta had followed her, both literally and metaphorically, placing down sticky balls wherever she told him to until his head began to bleed. Yaoyorozu had created a cloth and bandage for him, giving him a chance to rest while continuing to set her own traps until he was recovered enough to resume.

The situation outside couldn't have been more different. Young Iida had tried valiantly, and failed utterly, to engage with his teammate. Bakugo blew him off entirely, ignoring him and refusing to speak, spending his preparatory time studying the map. Iida wasted almost half of his allotted time trying to form strategy before finally giving up and, ironically, imitating his teammate by spending his remaining time studying his map in sullen silence. Entering the building had not improved their teamwork, though that was no fault of Iida's. While it would seem naïve to check the first door, it was no reason to be left behind. Neither of the young heroes in training knew where their opposition was, and it rankled to see Bakugo going off alone. He would have to set up team building exercises for the boy, or at least make the suggestion to Eraserhead.

Still, he did see some hope as Bakugo reached the booby-trapped stairwell and came to a stop.

"There you are." Iida fumed as he caught sight of his teammate crouched down at the foot of a stairwell. "Why did you wander off and leave me alone back there? Either one of us could have been ambushed!"

Bakugo rolled his eyes in disgust, "I told you, you were wasting time. They weren't going to be in the first room." Iida's fists squeezed even tighter as Bakugo shook his head, "Now come over here. They trapped the stairwell."

"Fine." Iida huffed, stomping over and staring. The stairwell was a mess, purple balls were dotted across each stair in something close to a pattern, and where they weren't there was a thin layer of greenish liquid. He hesitated, and then glared down at the person he had been partnered with, "I saw the balls lining the door I burst through. I think they were what sealed it shut."

Bakugo grunted and pulled one of the grenades off his costume, gently pushing it against one of the purple blobs and then trying to pull it away. It resisted, eliciting a growl and another few tugs before the blonde huffed and gave up on it. "They set them up to catch anyone who tripped. I'd bet that that fluid is slippery."

Iida opened his mouth, but then shut it with a click. It made sense. "Then how are we going to get upstairs? I doubt they would do all this to only one of the stairwells."

"We need to make an entrance to the next floor." Bakugo rose to his feet, and began fiddling with his gauntlet.

Iida arched an eyebrow, perplexed, "What?"

Bakugo smirked and raised his hand towards the ceiling, "You're gonna wanna step back."

"What do you think he meant by it?"

Yaoyorozu blinked and looked away from the door, her game face falling away, "Hmm?"

Mineta shrugged, "Midoriya. He tried to warn us about Bakugo. What do you think he meant?"

Yaoyorozu's lips tightened into a firm line. One of the drawbacks of her strategy was that until they heard the all clear from All Might or the door was breached they had nothing but time. It wasn't conducive to maintaining a state of constant readiness. "They obviously know each other; they must have gone to school together. After the way Bakugo acted after our assessment yesterday, they must have some history of bad blood."

"Yeah but-" Mineta's argument was lost as the building shook. Yaoyorozu's eyes widened and she braced herself against a wall. Behind her, Mineta staggered and fell back against one of the legs of the bomb with a cry.

"Are you insane?!" Iida shouted as he staggered back, avoiding falling debris. If anything, the look on Bakugo's face made him even more disturbed. For the first time since he'd met him, Bakugo was smiling, looking practically giddy amidst the destruction.

"These are awesome!" His teammate giggled in a way that bothered Iida more than he would like to admit, "They're working exactly like I thought they would." He seemed lost in his own little world, ignorant of the rubble raining down the hole he'd created.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Iida hissed, "You could have brought the entire building down."

Bakugo came back down to earth, snorting at him in derision, "Hardly, There aren't any support beams above us here in this hallway. Now come on, we need to check the other floors and find them."

A hush descended in the monitoring room as they took stock of the destruction. Midoriya felt the air tightening in his throat at the sight of it. The blast had blasted through a hole in the roof. Bakugo couldn't do that. His blasts had never been that powerful. He couldn't produce that much sweat. His eyes widened in understanding. The gauntlets, they were storage tanks. It was genius compensation to Bakugo's limitation, and it was utterly terrifying.

Kirishima recovered first, "Did that just happen?"

"That was nuts." Kaminari murmured.

The quiet descended once more as Bakugo blasted his way up to the second floor. Midoriya wasn't the only one feeling unease, he could see it on the faces of everyone around him. Asui looked around fitfully, her body stooped deeper than it had been at the start of the exam, "What if they had been above him?"

Midoriya paled. "All Might, he can't fire off another shot like that at them. He'll kill them."

Alone in his private room Toshinori balked at the damage his student had caused and called on One for All, "Bakugo. Use that stored up power again and I'll stop this fight. Your team will lose." The boy shouted out in disbelief, but All Might shook his head to himself, "Using such a strong attack indoors could have easily detonated the bomb you are trying to recover, and without the awareness of where others are could have cause unintended injury of the innocent."

The boy looked defiant for a moment, then bit his lip and looked down at his gauntlets in frustration. All Might hesitated. It had been his first time firing that weapon, and no one had been harmed. It wouldn't do to deny him such equipment in the long run, "There may be a time and place for such equipment, but it isn't this exam, do I make myself clear?" There was a beep as Yaoyorozu tried to contact him, but he held the line open. "Bakugo, do I make myself clear?"

"Yeah." Bakugo ground out, but didn't offer any more arguments.

Another beep came through and the screen and audio swapped to that in the villain team's stronghold. Mineta was visibly shaking, and came through even before Yaoyorozu. "I don't want to die in here! Maybe we should just give up."

Yaoyorozu was looking uncertain herself, but she wasn't panicking, at least not visibly. Still, there was an edge of fear in her voice, "All Might, sir, please come in? Is everything okay?"

A single button press and he patched through to both of their earpieces, "Fear not!" He announced in his trademark entrance, "For I am here!" Yaoyorozu visibly relaxed while Mineta looked like he was going to cry from relief.

"Sir, what happened?" Yaoyorozu was concise, but still wary, "Should we evacuate the building?"

"Bakugo used a new piece of his support equipment for the first time. I have warned him against using it again during this match." Perhaps it was unfair to young Bakugo to let them know all things considered but leaving them both in fear for their lives wouldn't lead to a fair assessment of them as students.

He tapped a button opening everyone's coms, "Because of the delays explaining the situation, I'm going to grant the hero team some extra time." Perhaps that would salve Bakugo's ego?

Bakugo growled at All Might's final addition. Bad enough he couldn't use his gauntlets, now he was being given charity time, as if he wouldn't be able to find and destroy the villain team without it. He blasted in another door, the wood exploding into flinders, and checked inside. There was nothing of note inside except a few of the purple balls on the doorframe, two instead of three. They must have been running low on time or the little purple squirt had overused his quirk. His lip curled in a smirk, either way that meant he was getting closer.

He turned back, watching his teammate finally pull himself over the lip of entrance he'd made for himself, armor scratched by the rebar that had stuck out of the edges of the hole. "Finally decided to join me, huh?" He sneered as the larger boy panted.

"I was calling out for help!"

Bakugo rolled his eyes as the extra started rambling in protest, "Don't cry to me about it." He approached the final door and blasted it open. Again, nothing. He tsked, and started heading back to his entryway, "They ain't on this floor either." He marched past his teammate, who was still recovering, "See you upstairs."

Iida's eyes widened as he realized was about to be left behind again, "Wait!" He reached out to grab his teammate but Bakugo was already blasting his way into the air and onto the next level.

Yaoyorozu closed her eyes as she focused. It was difficult hearing through the stone, even with the stethoscope, but it was better than putting her ear to the floor. Mineta watched her anxiously, "What's going on? Are they underneath us?"

She hesitated, but then shook her head, "I can't tell, but I don't think so. The explosions got close and then stopped. I think he's been blowing the doors open to see what's inside." It made the most sense at least. "They're likely making their way to this floor now."

"Oh man, we're gonna have to fight him aren't we?" Mineta was still shaking a little, "He made the entire building shake, how are we gonna beat him?"

"He can't do that again." She reminded him, not for the first time, "Remember our plan and what All Might said." She heard another blast, this one closer, "Get ready."

The screen, briefly condensed to two during the brief moment Iida and Bakugo were together, split back into three as Bakugo once again abandoned his partner. Midoriya said nothing, but he could hear his classmates grumbling as Iida slumped. He was giving this his all, he didn't deserve the partner he was given. But it didn't ease the burn in Midoriya's stomach as he watched Iida resignedly run down the hall so he would have time to build up the momentum he'd need to be able to make the jump to the next floor. It had been bad enough on the first floor, watching him miss and slam into the wall the first time, but this time if he missed he might fall all the way back down to the first floor.

Beside him Uraraka watched anxiously. "He can do it," She said to herself, "He can do it."

"Come on Iida," Midoriya's mouth was dry, his eyes fixed on the screen, "You did it once, you can do it again!" It didn't matter that he couldn't hear them, or any of the other classmates cheering him on, even if he didn't know it he had the entire class rooting for him.

It seemed the entire class held their breath as Iida leapt, the engines in his legs shooting out flames to push him forward. His arms stretched out, just over the concrete as his breastplate connected with staggering force. Someone gasped as he started to slip, hands grasping at the hard flat ground, gravity pulled at his body, as he frantically sought a grip. The color drained from Uraraka's face as she watched him slipping, the entire class was panicking, watching as he slid further from the edge. His arms were slamming onto the floor, frantic, fingers clawed at flat ground, desperately seeking purchase. He was falling when his fingers dug into cracked and crumbling concrete inches from the edge. They dug in, catching rebar and his body hung in air, trembling for a second before he started to pull himself back up.

Uraraka latched onto his shoulder, tugging him back and forth as she joined the class in erupting into cheers. He was too relieved to panic that she was touching him, and they all watched as Iida finally pushed himself over the lip and flopped onto the floor before rolling over to catch his breath and recover.

"He didn't even turn around." The voice was monotone, almost contemplative, and it caught Midoriya's attention. He turned, looking at the boy with ice covering half of his body.

"What?"

The boy, Todoroki, Midoriya thought his name was, didn't turn to look at him "Bakugo. He didn't even turn around."

Toshinori's lips drew into a tight line as Iida rested making sure they boy was safe before looking back at Bakugo. He could feel anger welling up in his chest, at himself and at his student. He should have told Bakugo to help his teammate, but he shouldn't have needed to tell Bakugo to help his teammate. This was an evaluation; he was here to learn about his students, to see their capabilities, their strengths and weaknesses. He hadn't intended to interfere outside of the extreme circumstances, and now he was second guessing that decision. At that height, if Iida hadn't been able to recover he could have easily broken bones, if he had landed at the wrong angle, it could have been significantly worse.

He would have to talk to both of them. Iida would need reinforcement, and assurance that not all partnerships would wind up like this one. It was telling that Iida hadn't so much as called out for help as he struggled to keep himself for falling. He couldn't fault him either. Bakugo was not acting like a teammate. The boy was dismissive, reckless and self-assured to the point of arrogance. He clearly wanted to defeat the villains alone. It was likely he didn't think he needed a teammate, and it was possible that he was right. The industry was rife with lone wolf heroes, some of them reaching lofty heights, but even they had to come to understand that the safety of others was paramount. Capturing villains was only part of the job, protecting people be they civilians or fellow heroes was just as important if not more so.

Yaoyorozu pulled off her stethoscope and tossed it aside, "They're here." She fell back to the bomb, and formed a metal staff, "Are you ready?" Mineta swallowed a hard knot and gave a tight little nod. Yaoyorozu could see through the lie, his entire body was tense, he was almost cringing. "Remember, this is just an exercise, if it goes too far All Might will stop it. He's already banned the use of Bakugo's support gear." All she got was another tight nod. It would have to do.

The explosion came seconds later, the sound resonating through the interlaced steel slats and sticky balls that held them to the wall. Yaoyorozu braced herself, readying her staff. Another blast slammed into the steel, but it held. A frustrated growl slipped through and a third blast dented the center slat. Then… silence. Yaoyorozu took a breath, then another, and then she exchanged a confused glance with Mineta. There was no way Bakugo had given up so easily. He knew exactly where they were.

Yaoyorozu's eyes widened. He knew exactly where they were. "Get down!" She shouted, and then dove, knocking her startled teammate to the ground. The wall beside the door exploded a second later, showering them with dust and fragments of the cement. Yaoyorozu winced, arm and side peppered by the stone, and rolled off Mineta who seemed utterly stunned. Still, better that than risk being shredded by shrapnel. She knelt turning back to the newly formed entrance to see Bakugo step inside, a malicious grin on his lip.

"Are you going to surrender?" He lifted his hand which popped and crackled with small explosions, "Or do I get to have some fun?"

Yaoyorozu got to her feet, and readied her staff once more.

Bakugo's grin widened and he charged, hands at his sides ready to fire off another blast. Yaoyorozu rushed to meet him. "You think you can take me?!" He howled and fired off a burst which she had to dive to avoid, "You can't even reach me!" He followed her and fired off another burst, sending her rolling away from him before she could even rise. He laughed, watching as she came to a stop, prone on her back. "No getting away from me this time!" He moved towards her and felt something slap his back.

"G-get away from her!" Mineta shouted in a panicked whine, purple balls in his hand.

Bakugo glowered at him, "You're next. Sit down if you know what's good for you."

He felt something bump into his boot and looked back to see Yaoyorozu kneeling, a scowl on her lips. "Let's see how you like it." He looked down and saw… were those Russian nesting dolls?

Midoriya blinked as the explosives went off. They weren't nearly as powerful as Bakugo's but they were right at his feet. He was staggering, giving both of the villains an opening. Or it would have been an opening if Bakugo wasn't so good. The blond hero winced, ignoring the sticky balls striking his side and back and stepped out of Yaoyorozu's way as she tried to slam her staff into his head before lurching forward and throwing both hands forward. The explosions sent Yaoyorozu staggering backwards and she crumpled to her knees.

Midoriya's lips tightened into a line. He knew how that felt, what that blast did to people. Bakugo had done it to him and Shinsou more than once. It hurt like hell, stole the breath away from you. She needed time to recover, but he was right on top of her. He reached for the capture tape stopping only as his gauntlet brushed against one of the sticky balls on side of his back. He growled, tugging, pulling at his costume, then turned and glared at the purple haired hero who had been pelting him ineffectually. Midoriya couldn't hear what Bakugo snarled out, but Mineta faltered, and Bakugo pulled his hand free of his gauntlet and snatched the tape out of his pocket.

Midoriya's heart sank. All of their prep work, all of the defenses they'd built and none of it mattered in the face of Bakugo's brute force assault.

Bakugo snarled at the purple shit stain behind him, "I'll deal with you in a second." Mineta balked, and Bakugo resumed ignoring him. He was a distraction, an irritant. The girl in front of him was his real opponent; at least she had the balls to fight. Not well enough. He pulled his hand out of his useless gauntlet and snatched the tape out of his pocket before whatever his name was tried anything funny and reached out for her.

She was on her knees, arms clutching her stomach, head ducked down to the floor, struggling to breathe. Intentionally or not, she was making it damn difficult to find a place to wrap the tape around her. He grimaced and grabbed her arm at the elbow, trying to pull it away, but she held tight. "Stop struggling." He hissed. She was out; she just didn't want to admit it. He crouched down to get a better grip and pulled with both hands. Her arm came free from under her stomach, but her entire body came with it. She lurched into him, hitting his chest.

It was a move of desperation, a last, hopeless bid to buy herself a few more seconds. It didn't even hurt. But she was throwing him off balance. He tried to rise, but failed. The back of his pants were bunching, catching, preventing him from rising, and she was dragging him down. He let go of her, trying to reach out to push himself up, but it was too late. Gravity and Yaoyorozu's slender frame slammed him into the floor; the dozens of balls dotting his back cushioned the blow.

With a thrill of horror he realized he was stuck. She slid off of him, and rolled onto the ground inches away, but he couldn't move. He was pinned. He panicked for a second, trying to move, but found at least his bare hand was still free. The other was trapped to the ground, but he could pull it out and then blast the damn balls out from under him! "The bomb!" Bakugo froze, then looked to his side as Iida staggered through his entryway.

Iida's chest burned. He could still breathe, but it was painful. Though his armor had protected him from the worst of his collisions, he was almost certain he had bruised a rib, maybe even broken one. He let out a ragged breath and bit back bitter tears. All he had needed was a hand up. What sort of person was he partnered with that couldn't even give him that?

He could hear combat in the distance, the rapidity of the explosions far different from when he was just blowing up doors. His body was urging him to stay where he was, but he refused. He couldn't do that and be a hero. Even if his partner didn't want his help, he still had to be there, he had to contribute. He swallowed the pain and pushed himself up. His chest shouted in protest, but he ignored it dashing down the hall even as the sounds of combat died away. He tried to pick up the pace, but his chest was burning in ways no long distance run ever caused.

He stumbled to the entryway and looked inside. Yaoyorozu and Bakugo were both on the ground; Mineta was several feet away, almost near the corner. And in front of him, completely open, was the bomb. He pushed his way inside and ran for it. He charged through, passing Yaoyorozu as she pushed herself onto her hands and knees, Mineta was hurling balls at him frantically, but they couldn't stop him. They were out of position and the bomb was right there. He practically fell into it, hugging it even as Mineta pelted him with a few final balls. He sighed with relief and reaching up to activate his coms. "All Might, I've captured the objective."

Silence.

"All Might?" Iida winced beneath his mask, "Please come in."

Yaoyorozu grabbed his wrist and wrapped tape around it before he even realized what she was doing. "Sorry Iida." She was frowning at him, face determined even if her voice was apologetic, and then she collapsed against the bomb and slid down to the floor, clutching her stomach. "Mineta, can you take care of Bakugo?"

Iida blinked, and turned to watch the purple haired boy nod, "What?" He turned back to Yaoyorozu, "But-but I have the bomb?"

"No, you don't." Yaoyorozu shook her head watching as Mineta pelted an outraged and shouting Bakugo with several more sticky balls for good measure before cautiously moving forward and wrapping the capture tape around their furious opponent's forehead like a bandana, "This is just the dummy I created as a decoy."

Author's Notes: Well this has certainly been a while. Feels weird not having a Shinsou scene considering he's usually the viewpoint character, but nothing really fit. Ah well, he'll be back for next chapter, which, fingers crossed, won't take as long as it took to write this one.

I hope the combat was okay. I'm not super used to writing combat scenes and I know this was far less intense than canon, even if it proved more painful for a few. You can be sure that Recovery Girl will have some choice words All Might after this. Both Yaoyorozu and Iida will both be going to the nurse's office as soon as they're out of the building. This may be the first and only class where someone in class 1A winds up with more broken bones (albeit far less severely broken) than Midoriya, at least until after he gets control of One for All.

Despite all that this particular battle will probably be very useful for those paying attention. Yaoyorozu was a very effective villain, even if a certain amount of luck factored into her victory. Bakugo was right that her shove was a move of desperation rather than something planned. Not taking a downed opponent as being out will be a lesson that stings for Bakugo (and you can bet that he'll take the wrong lesson from it). And, of course, villains use deception will be something the entire class will be more wary about in the future. Whether or not she could do that was one of the questions Yaoyorozu asked All Might off screen. The actual bomb was moved to the first floor and hidden behind paper that looked like the wall.

This will also have other repercussions for Bakugo and Iida for good and ill. You know someone fucked up when Todoroki calls someone on their bullshit. Also, it is a damn shame that Mineta is such a perv because he actually really handy to have around.