Rule #9: Never go anywhere without a knife

"I'm not getting any signal" Todoroki reported as everyone checked their own phones as soon as the lockdown had commenced, "It looks like my service is completely blocked"

"Are you serious?" Mineta worried.

"The elevators' aren't working either" Added Jiro who had been repeatedly pushing their buttons.

"What the hell is going on here?!"

"It's strange that the system would go on high alert; that's not the protocol for whenever explosives are discovered" Melissa puzzled.

"But it is the protocol for entrapping hostages when you want a ransom" Toru frowned.

"Hostages? Who would need hostages? And what for?" Midoriya questioned.

"Think about it" Kayano jumped in, "Who's caged in a secure room right now? One way in and one way out? In one of the most spectacularly secure buildings of all time?"

"…The party…" Melissa breathed.

"Exactly"

"But how did you figure that out?"

"It's standard procedure" Toru jumped in, "Classic misdirection—whatever they want is here in the building, but they need some kind of insurance that means the heroes down there won't fight back"

"So they're probably threatening to do something large—possibly attack the civilians" Rio continued.

"Mm" Kayano nodded, "Y'know, if they've somehow hacked into the island's security system then that means they have access to all other kinds of technology too, right?"

"I'd assume so" Toru shrugged.

"Melissa" Rio turned to the blonde, "What sort of things could you access if got into the island's mainframe?"

"Everything" Melissa replied wide-eyed, "Security, medical, armoury…the opportunities are endless"

"But what does that mean for us?" Mineta wailed.

"Hm" Midoriya walked forth as he made up his mind, "Iida, let's go to that party"

"For what reason?" Iida replied.

"Because that's the place we can find All Might right now"

"Wait! All Might's in there?" Ochako questioned.

"Oh thank goodness! We don't have anything to worry about then!" Mineta sighed in relief. The three Kunugigaoka alumni girls shared a look of disbelief at that.

"So Melissa, do you know of any way we can get down there without an elevator?" Midoriya asked.

"Yeah, sure" Melissa replied, "We can use the emergency stairs; that'll at least get us close"

"Right, we'll follow your lead then"

As soon as the teens arrived at the walkway overlooking the room in which the party was held, they found a scene which confirmed the girls' suspicions. All the heroes had been bound in electrical restraints and the civilians were scattered about the place—many of whom were shivering in fear. Without hesitation Midoriya and Jiro leapt into action. Leaning over the side of the railing, Midoriya used Yaoyorozu's compact mirror to angle the lights down into the hero's eyes. Once All Might's attention was nabbed, the young hero turned to Jiro who was stationed next to him, one earjack injected into the floor at her feet.

"Okay, he knows that we're here" Midoriya pocketed the compact mirror before turning to his classmate, "Jiro is your jack in place?"

"Yeah, I'm ready" Jiro nodded.

"You can talk to us—we're listening" Midoriya whispered as he made over exaggerated hand gestures. There was a pause of silence as Jiro received the information from the bound hero.

"This is bad Midoriya, really bad" Jiro worried.

The group of teens had regrouped behind the door at the top of the service stairwell in which they first emerged. Here, away from prying eyes and wandering security cameras the teens discussed what they would do next. "We've received All Might's orders loud and clear" Iida intoned once the proper information had been relayed to the others, "He's our teacher, I suggest we follow his instructions and escape this place. Otherwise we'd be going against his will"

"I'm afraid I'd have to agree with Iida" Yaoyorozu sighed, "We're still only students, we can't fight these villains if we only have our hero licenses"

"Why don't we get outta here and tell the heroes outside?" Kaminari suggested.

"It won't very easy to escape" Melissa replied, "The security system here is on the same level as that of the Tartaros prison; which is where they keep the world's most dangerous criminals"

"Then all we can do is sit and wait…" Said Kaminari.

"Are you really okay with that, Kaminari?" Jiro jumped to her feet and turned on the blonde.

"Well, what choice do we have?"

"Don't you think we should at least try and stop them?"

"Hey! C'me on! Those villains have even got All Might trapped; there's no way that we can stop them if the actual Pros are stuck!" Retorted Mineta.

"Aren't we trying to be Pros ourselves?" Todoroki questioned glancing down at his hand in contemplation.

"Well, yes" Yaoyorozu turned to the hetromattic teen, "But we're not allowed to work as heroes, you know that"

"Does that mean it's right for us to do nothing at all?" He fired back.

"Well, it's complicated"

"It's really not" Toru replied, turning slightly to face the group as Rio stood on her shoulders and using her phone, let Ritsu hack into the building's security system for the blueprints. Next to them, Kayano leant against the wall with her arms crossed as the three ex-assassins-in-training listened to the heroes-in-training bitch and moan.

"What do you mean, Toru?" Ochako puzzled, "We're outnumbered, outclassed…it's hopeless"

"With attitudes like that it's a wonder how you lot are becoming heroes" Kayano pushed off from the wall as Rio handed back the hairpin she had used to pry off the panel and hopped down from Toru's shoulders.

"Hey!" Kaminari glared.

"Look, if you wanna stay here and whine, fine, but we're going" Toru placed her hand on the doorknob with Kayano and Rio on her heels.

"And just what do you three plan to do?" Iida stepped forth, "You don't have your hero license" He spoke to Toru, "And you two are civilians" He turned to Kayano and Rio, "Just what makes you think you can win?"

"What? You think this the first time we've hit above our weight?" Kayano smirked wickedly "Brings back memories, eh Toru?" She turned to her friend who had already slipped through the open door.

"What's a little holiday without danger?" Toru called over her shoulder.

"It's simple—" Rio turned, slipping her shoes back on as she followed her friends out the door"—Get on board, or get out of the way"


Eighty flights of steps later, the entire group of hero wannabes and civilians found themselves faced with their next obstacle: sealed bulkhead doors. The 1-A students, having decided that the couldn't let their classmate(s) nor the civilians (inside and out) come to any harm, followed after the girls as they made their way up to the control tower. "The…route's blocked" Iida panted, slightly out of breath from the impromptu climb.

"What…should we do?" Asked Todoroki "Break through it?"

"If we…did that, I'm sure the security system would alert the villains that someone was in here" Melissa replied.

"Then why don't we go through this one?" Mineta pulled open the second bulkhead door, ignorant of his classmate's protests.

"Mineta!" Midoriya cried.

"Wait! Kayano reached for the bubble-haired boy.

"No! Don't!" Added Melissa as Mineta opened the door with a ding. Everyone tensed as the door slid smoothly open to reveal the hallway on the other side; bodies dropped into defensive positions and eyes narrowed on the space through the door .Despite their nerves, no villains were hiding on the other side and the teens were able to slip through unhinged; however they were certain that the villains now knew where they were.

Zooming down the hallway, the group was quickly introduced to their first set of villains. No more than hired thugs, the villains were dressed in black shirts and vests with dark grey cargo pants tucked into black boots. Shiny faceless masks covered their heads and pockets enveloped every inch of their clothing. Both were armed. Thankfully, there were only two this time and they seemed unprepared for the sudden arrival of the teens. Of course, the students were also surprised at their sudden arrival. Or some of the were at least.

"Whoa!" Cried Midoriya, slamming to a halt at the sudden appearance of the thugs.

"Ah! Watch out!" Added Ochako as she slammed into his back, unprepared for the sudden stop. All around him, the teens came to a halt as they tried to quickly asses the situation. Toru, however, had other plans; instead of stopping as her classmates had done, she hastened towards the men as fast as she could go.

"Toru! Wait!" Yaoyorozu shouted as the invisible girl came into close range with the men.

"Hey! Freeze!" Commanded one thug with his gun aimed at her, but Toru paid him no mind. When she was within a meter or so of the first thug, she leapt into the air and nailed him in the chest with a well placed knee.

The thug stumbled back a few paces at the sudden attack and Toru quickly pursued after him. No sooner had her feet touched the floor, did she launch herself forward again, this time sending a roundhouse kick straight for the man's head. When heel met flesh, the man dropped to the ground in an unconscious heap at her feet, carelessly tossing his firearm aside as he did so.

Spinning on her heel as she landed silently once more, the next one fell when her heel met crotch. With face scrunched up in anguish, the second thug fell to the floor in a matter of seconds. Strutting up to the groaning mess of a man who clutched onto his injured balls like a child, she delivered a quick kick to the head to ensure that he was truly out before she turned out their pockets.

"Shit Toru" Kayano praised as she and Rio approached the girl and helped to pat the two men down. Behind them, Melissa and the other UA students remained frozen in varied stages of shock and wariness. Todoroki had even gone so far as to cover his own crotch with his hands, no doubt remembering when she had done something similar to him.

"Still going for the balls I see" Rio smiled as she unhooked a pistol from its holster and checked the barrel for ammunition.

"Hey, if they're not gonna protect the low-hanging fruit, then it's not my problem" Toru shrugged, "It's like hitting the big red button—they always go down"

"Ooh!" Kayano grinned puling a small device from one of the side pockets.

"What d'ya got?" Toru asked.

"This" Kayano's eyes gleamed as she held up the taser in her hands, and pushed the button, igniting it.

"Ooh! Nice find!" Rio looked over. "I've got a couple of M1911 pistols and a Liberator. What about that one over there?" She nodded towards the large firearm that he had unconsciously discarded when he had fallen.

"It's an…AR-15 rifle. One of these suckers could turn your head into a Pollock painting" Toru replied, checking over the item in question once she had retrieved it. "Only a couple of rounds in it, though—see if he has anymore"

"Ah…there's a couple here for the pistols, but not for the rifle, sorry" Rio replied.

"It's fine" Toru shrugged, testing the shoulder fit and weight of it. Throughout their scavenge of the thugs, the others had remained silently watching the girls as if they vultures picking apart corpses. "Hey Momo, can we get some duct tape?" Toru turned to the girl who startled a little at the sudden attention.

"Uh—uh, of course" Yaoyorozu stammered, but quickly produced a role of packaging tape for the girl.

"Y'know these are pretty good quality" Kayano remarked, inspecting the barrel of her 3-D printed pistol "Whoever's running this must have some seriously deep pockets"

"What-what d'ya mean?" Midoriya puzzled, a little unnerved by the girls' sudden turn in attitudes.

"Plastic firearms, most likely 3-D printed—I'd say relatively recently since plastic firearms aren't exactly durable. Easy to attain, easy to use and slip by security. If this is what the hired help is wandering 'round with, it makes you wonder what the bossman is carrying, eh?"

"Y-you're taking them with you?" Ochako stammered as Rio rose to her feet and tucked the pistols away under her dress.

"Like Kay said, if these guys are runnin' 'round with this kinda gear, what makes you think the bossman won't have something worse, y'know? Better to be safe than sorry" She shrugged nonchalantly. " 'Sides you never bring a fist to a gun fight—that's how you get killed"

"Don't scare 'em, Rio; situation's bad enough" Toru lightly scolded, rejoining her classmates as she slung the rifle over her shoulder and took the tape from Yaoyorozu. "They got any knives?"

"Uh…there's a couple of daggers here" Kayano pulled out the offending weapons after flipping one of the men over, "You want 'em?"

"Oh yeah! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" Toru quickly snatched the blades from the actress and deftly spun them through her fingers, "Good weight, nicely balanced" She noted happily before slipping them into the purse that dangled from her shoulder. "Where's the end to this thing?!" She hissed as she then tried to find the end of the tape, rolling it around in her hand a few times.

"You need some help?" Rio laughed.

"No—no, I got it" Toru replied finally finding the end and peeled a length off of the roll, "Right, gimme a hand"

With practised movements, the ex-Kunugigaoka students easily bound the two men in the tape and dragged them over to the side of the hallway where they were both out of the way and in full view of the security cameras. It was a bit of a 'fuck you' to the villains, if they were honest. Once done, the girls turned to others who were still stuck in place where they had stopped. Each one sported an expression of wariness, caution, shock and surprise as they looked upon the three girls standing before them. Of course, they've never done anything like this before. Toru mused, The others don't countUSJ, Hosu and the Sports Festival have nothing on this.

"Coming?" Toru asked, tilting her head in question as her eyes roved over the group in front of her. From Midoriya's analytic gaze to Iida's slowly reddening face, to Mineta who looked like he was about to piss himself and Melissa, who didn't appear to be quite sure if this was how it was supposed to go.

"Is there another way to go up?" Todoroki asked, his attention staying focused on the Toru but his question was directed towards Melissa.

"There should be another emergency staircase down at the other end of the hallway" Melissa replied.

"Then let's hurry" Iida nodded, taking charge once more despite his increasing desire to scold the girls for what they did. They had done good work, but they had broken so many rules in doing so.

"Right" Toru nodded, before spinning on her heels and took off at a gentle jog down the hallway. She was soon joined by Rio and Kayano, followed by the students of 1-A and Melissa.

As soon as the group turned the corner, all the bulkhead doors around them began to close.

"They're on to us!" Mineta wailed as they became penned in.

"We got eyes on the wall!" Kayano called out, spotting security camera aimed at them. A quick bolt of light was fired at it, and the camera knew no more.

"We need a way out!" Toru replied as smoke billowed from the melted and sparking camera.

"There! Todoroki!" Iida called as soon as he spotted a door embedded into the wall beyond the slowly closing bulkhead door in front of them.

"I'm on it!" Todoroki replied sharply as he sent a wave of ice careening for the door. With ice wedged in between the bulkhead door and keeping it open for the time being, Iida moved first.

Toru heard more than saw the damage he did to the door as she used the gravity girl as a step ladder to scale the metal door. Sitting atop the bottom of the bulkhead door, she helped Ochako to pull everyone through the gap before it closed on them. Even as she pulled the last person through the gap, she could hear the ice cracking dangerously across from her. It wouldn't be long now. "Everyone, quick!" Iida called, his form quickly becoming clearer through the dissipating smoke. "We can cross through here!"