"I'm Misaka Mikoto," the slender brunette held out her hand, and tried to suppress a dubious and annoyed look.
"I am Shimooka Hikari," the other member of Hero Team C shook Mikoto-chan's hand and bowed slightly.
Shimooka-san was taller than Mikoto-chan, probably only a centimeter or two shorter than Yaoyorozu-san. Her hair was long, straight, jet-black, and ran down to the small of her back. Her eyes were also nearly black, and larger than average. The rest of her face was a near ideal blend of cute and beautiful. And she was slender in the waist and limbs, but had a bountiful bust and hips. This was blatantly obvious, as her black and white costume was not only skin tight, but also of a much thinner material than anyone in my class or anyone I had seen from class 1-B so far. And Hagakure-san didn't count.
"Well," Mikoto-chan tried (and mostly failed) to not sound too judgemental as she looked her partner over, "My Quirk is called Electromaster. My body naturally generates electricity, though I can also extract and store it from other sources. I can control my electricity and also magnetism, and do a variety of things with it. I usually prefer the magnetic side, because it is more efficient than lightning bolts. That's why I have these discs as ammo, and carry around some iron sand. I can even manipulate electronics, though that is bit tougher. What about you?"
"I named my Quirk 'Photon Halo'," Shimooka-san held out her right hand. A ball of light floated above her palm, and a glowing ring appeared around her wrist, "Because whenever I use it, these rings appear around my wrists. Though my little sister calls them Brighter Rings. My power is a form of photokinesis, I can control light. From a soft light like this, to a bright strobe to blind someone, a focused ray of super hot light, and even a short ranged beam of coherent light. I pull light into my eyes naturally, giving me superhuman vision. When I need to, I can use my power to enhance my vision further. I can also surround myself in armor of light, both solid and heated. That is part of why I don't need an armored costume. But the main reason is my final power. I can connect myself to the light, and make a 'Photon Jump', basically moving to a place I can see, at nearly light speed. But it only works through gases, and the lighter I am the better. A heavy or bulky costume would mean fewer or shorter jumps. Even then, I still tend to be cautious making jumps. Hitting anything solid or liquid could seriously injure or even kill me. "
"Okay, that makes sense," Mikoto-chan said, though I thought she still seemed a bit jealous. Then she blinked and forced it away, "So, about our opponents... Wait, what exactly does your super vision cover?"
Todoroki-san had always seemed cool. To me at least, he was even harder to read than Tsu had been when I first met her. But now, the look of confusion on his face was pretty obvious.
His new teammate was about average height and build. His costume was a black bodysuit, with a chestplate, greaves, and bracers than looked like old-fashion ink bottles. He also had a tan leather belt with a variety of pouches.
But what made him stand out was his head. Or apparent lack thereof. Floating above where his neck should have been was a word bubble, like out of a manga. It didn't appear to be connected to his body. Even more oddly, there was what looked like a panel template from a manga floating in front of the bubble. Four rectangular cells, all empty, on what seemed to be normal paper. I couldn't tell if either or both of the page and bubble were part of him or part of his costume.
"Hello, I'm Fukidashi Manga," he told Todoroki-san cheerfully, "Nice to meet you, please take care of me."
"Of course," Todoroki-san said stiffly, "I am Todoroki Shoto. A pleasure to meet you."
"Thanks," Fukidashi-san said, "Oh, I guess I should probably take my mask of, to be fair."
He reached up and peeled the panel paper away.
"That was a mask?" Todoroki asked, frowning.
"Yeah, I know," Fukidashi-san chuckled, "How many bubble headed people are out there, that I need to conceal my identity? I should just go for a full hood. But it's not for that. You see, what I say or think can show on my face. Literally."
As he said the last word, the matching kanji appear in the speech bubble for a few seconds.
"And sometimes it happens even if I don't want it to," he sighed, "I'm still working on controlling it, especially when I am stressed. Let me tell you, it makes lying to my parents a huge pain in the neck. So, until I can fully master it, this mask makes it harder for my enemies to know what I am thinking."
"I see," Todoroki-san said simply.
"Right, so about my Quirk. It's called Comic, because it kind of makes my life like manga. See, when I say an onomatopoeia, the katakana appear in mid air, and the matching effect manifests."
"What's 'on a pizza'?" Ashido-san pursed her lips. Ami and I glanced at each other, and I inclined my head to her.
"It is a self-describing sound word," Mizuno explained. That didn't appear to clear it up for the pink colored girl, so Ami-chan continued, "Like 'nya' or 'wan'; they are the sounds a cat and dog make, but the words themselves also sound like the respective vocalizations."
"Oh, like 'bang' or 'woosh' or 'pika'," Ashido-san got it.
"The matching effect manifests?" Todoroki-san parroted.
"Umm, it would be easier to show you," Fukidashi-san admitted, "If I had a piece of paper..."
Todoroki-san pointed his right hand at the table, and a thin sheet of ice appeared standing on it.
"Oh. Okay, that works. So, for example, SHING!" The matching characters appeared in mid-air, and the ice fell, sliced cleanly in half.
"Or THUNK!" The piece of the ice still standing shattered as if hit.
"Or FWOOSH!" In addition to the letters, a small flame appeared, melting some of the ice.
"Interesting," Todoroki-san commented.
"It's versatile," Fukidashi-san admitted, "But not that powerful. If that ice had been a couple of centimeters thicker, I couldn't have cut through it. And if I use my power too much, I get a sore throat."
"Do you know onomatopoeia for mist forming?" Todoroki-san asked, "Or for something freezing?"
"I can swing both of those," Fukidashi-san nodded, "Why?"
"Half of my Quirk allows me to create ice. It is easier if there is more water in the air. So it you can make a mist, I can freeze it. Also, you can use your power to make my ice harder. And in turn, the condensation around the ice should make it easier to have a dense mist."
"Yeah, that sounds good," Fukidashi-san agreed.
Even though All Might fetched Mikoto-chan and Shimooka-san, that two young ladies didn't really need him to show them the way. The Villain Team's building was wrapped from street to spire in a barrier of ice. From what I could tell, it was at least one meter thick, maybe closer to one and a half meters.
"Hmm, well," All Might-sensei looked at the building thoughtfully, "The villains holed up in here have captured the control module for an old Russian defense satellite. It will take them about 15 minutes to decode it, after which they will have access to 12 ballistic missiles, two of them nuclear."
"Weren't those all decommissioned a century ago?" Ochako asked nervously.
"Officially," Yaoyorozu-san said carefully.
"So it doesn't matter if we destroy it, right?" Mikoto grinned.
"Sure," All Might smiled broadly, "Just so long as you find it acceptable that the failsafe will cause the satellite fire at the last location the module transmitted from."
The electrokinetic frowned.
"Just because I am giving you a scenario like what you might encounter in the real world," All Might told them brightly, "That does not change the rules of the exercise."
"We understand," Shimooka-san bowed slightly.
"Alright!" All Might gave them a thumbs up, "Then let's get started."
It only took All Might a few seconds to return to the monitor room after hitting the button to start the timer.
"What are they doing?" he asked us after he returned.
"Nothing," Shishida-san noted, adjusting his glasses, "The Villain team is guarding the bomb and waiting for the Heroes to make their move. And the Heroes are just staring at the building."
"Not even staring," Yaoyorozu-san added, "Shimooka appears to be using her powers, as her eyes are glowing. But Mikoto-chan's eyes are closed."
"Oh!" I suddenly realized, and every turned to look at me.
"What is it, young Midoriya?" All Might asked.
"She's searching for the bomb, with her power," I explained, "She can detect and to a degree control electronics, right? And from what I've seen, that building is like the one we had and the others. So there isn't anything electrical in there except the wires and the lights. Oh, and the cameras, I guess. So if she can filter out them, she will know exactly where the timer is."
I didn't blush, but only because of Gamer's Mind. I felt the weight of their stares and added weakly, "Or at least that's what I would try, based on what she's said about her powers and what I've seen."
Ami and Yaoyorozu both nodded, and Shishida-san looked thoughtful.
"I suspect Hikari-san is doing something similar," the beastly boy added, "She can draw in photons, to see at greater distances and even partly around corners. This building's layout is fairly open, and the ice does not look terribly opaque, so she may be able to see them."
Everyone else looked at the monitors. The floors currently showing were empty except, for the elevator and stairs. Todoroki-san and Fukidashi-san were on the fourth floor, fairly close to one of the front windows, so they could use their powers. THe bomb was between and slightly behind them, on a folding table.
"So are they trying to figure out where to go first?" Kirishima prompted.
"No, I don't think so," I said, "That doesn't seem like Mikoto-san's style."
The slender brunette raised her hand. From what I could tell, she was pointing right at the bomb. A tracing shot out from her hand marking the ice.
"I concur," Shimooka-san agreed. She pointed her palm at the ice, and a projection appeared on it. Two human outlines in red, and a blue box at the same point Mikoto-chan had indicated.
"Great," the electrokinetic's eyes snapped open, and she grinned triumphantly.
Mikoto snapped one of the discs off her bandoleer.
"Hey, Todoroki! Didn't your mom ever tell you not to underestimate a Tokiwadai girl?"
She flipped the coin into the air. Lightning crackled down her arm. The coin dropped in front of her waiting thumb. She flicked it. Straight at the bomb.
The building shook, for a moment from the sound of the sonic boom. Then from a hole, the size of a car, shattered in the ice. A smaller gap appeared in the brick face. Then the ceiling. Then the next floor's ceiling and the ice above it.
She had aimed for the projection of the bomb on the outside of the building, so the railgun passed above it.
Todoroki-san looked surprised. And a pair of exclamation points appeared on Fukidashi's face.
"You didn't say she was that strong!" the speech bubble mimicked his words.
"She hasn't shown that power," Todoroki explained, even was he raised his hand and filled in the damaged barricade.
"Wasn't he paying attention in the Quirk assessment?" Yaoyorozu prompted.
"We didn't actually see what happened to the softball," Ami offered.
"Most of us were more worried about what we were going to do, how we were going to survive," Tsu said.
"Izuku wasn't," Ochako smiled at me.
"Well, I have always been a bit obsessed with Quirks and how they work," I waved it off.
Boom!
Mikoto punched through the ice again, this time aiming just to the right of Todoroki-san's head. Both boys flinched. He quickly restored the barrier, and this time made it thicker.
"Do you really think that is going to work?" Mikoto grabbed a third fake coin.
Klang!
This time the railgun bounced off with the sound of metal striking metal. And the actual word 'klang' appeared next to where she hit.
"Nice," she grinned, "A team defense. Maybe I can stop holding back."
More than one person in the room shuddered. I didn't, but only because I knew her a bit better.
But Mikoto glanced quickly over at Shimooka-san, her expression more serious. The other girl nodded, almost imperceptibly. It was only then that I realized the photokinetic's back was glowing, visible to the cameras but not to the building. And the rings she described were barely visible around her wrists, due to the bright sun glinting off the ice.
"Try this."
Mikoto took three of the discs off her left sleeve. She flipped them all into the air. And as they came down, she flicked each one in rapid succession with her first three fingers.
I know it was more about her power than actual coordination or dexterity, but it still looked pretty cool.
"Gatling Railgun!"
Klang! Crick.
The first one was met with another onomatopoeia. Only this time, the ice still cracked slightly, despite Fukidashi-san's reinforcement. And there was barely any time to notice that, before the second and third shots hit. Not enough the time for Fukidashi-san to shout again. The second punched a slightly larger hole through the ice than the first few attacks had. The third widened the breach further.
Then, Shimooka-san was gone. A blink later, she was standing right in front of the bomb. She tapped the button. She turned back around. And she vanished in a flash, reappearing next to Mikoto-chan.
"Hero team wins," All Might proclaimed.
"Was it a ploy from the beginning?" Todoroki-san asked Mikoto flatly, once the four of them had joined us.
"Don't get me wrong," Mikoto-chan scowled, "I am more than a little ticked at how badly you looked down on us. Thinking that wall would stop me or Hikari-chan. And only using half of your power."
"At the very least, you could have created a smoke screen to block my vision," Shimooka suggested evenly.
"But yeah," Mikoto grinned, "The plan was always for me to give Hikari-chan a straight shot to the bomb. And to buy her time to build up for the jump."
"That does make it less exhausting to slowly gather a sufficient mass of photons, so to speak," Shimooka-san inclined her head to Mikoto-chan, "rather than pulling them in immediately."
"And it was a good plan, young Misaka," All Might proclaimed, "Making you the MVP for this match."
As he turned back to the boxes, Todoroki-san continued to stare at Mikoto-chan.
"Do you have an issue with me?" he finally asked.
"You mean aside from how cold and smug you are?" she barked. He didn't respond. She closed her eyes, tilted her head down, splayed her fingers of her left hand across her forehead, and sighed.
"Look, I guess I shouldn't hold what your parents did against you," she admitted, "Especially when I don't have all the facts."
"What did my parents do?" Todoroki sounded interested, and maybe a little worried.
"They got married," Mikoto frowned at him, "Your mom had a great career as Hero ahead of her. Then, after not even a year, she up and married your dad, and basically just disappeared."
"Mikoto-chan," I intervened, "What you said before..."
That was deliberately ambiguous on my part.
"... was Todoroki-san's mother one of the Tokiwadai recommendation recipients?"
"Yup," she nodded.
"I see," Todoroki-san said. And Tsuyu frowned, remembering our conversation at the arcade.
"So, yeah, I shouldn't take it out on you," Mikoto sighed again, "I mean, for all I know they were legitimately in love."
Todoroki-san flinched slightly at that. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but no-one called him on it.
The next match was fairly short, and fairly quick.
Team L was the Hero Team. It consisting of Ojiro-san, and a member of class 1-B named, ironically, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu. Tetsutetsu-san was wearing a short sleeved chainmail shirt and pants, but his arms and feet were uncovered. He had the power to turn into iron. His armor had an arrow like symbol on the chest and sleeves. Ashido-san thought was the 'male' symbol, but Ami-chan explained was the alchemic symbol for iron.
All Might gave them the task of stopping a pair of Villains, before they could upload stolen weapon plans onto the internet.
The Villain team was Team E. It consisted of Cassandra, and a girl from 1-B named Komori Kinoko. Cassandra-chan's partner was dressed like a mushroom witch, and that was her power, the ability to make mushrooms grow places.
The majority of the match was simply Cassandra, sparring with the two guys with some difficulty. She probably could have handled Ojiro-san alone. She didn't appear to be able to hurt Tetsutetsu-san, but he wasn't a match for her in speed or skill. Together, they were slowly overwhelming her.
Ultimately, Cassandra-chan was just holding them off. Komori-san covered them was enough mushrooms that they couldn't move. Then they moved in and taped the boys' wrists. Komori-san said that the fungi would disappear after a few hours, but Recovery Girl insisted on taking them to the nurse's office, in case they were allergic.
All Might awarded Komori-san the MVP, and went into the box again.
"This time, the Heroes will be Team N," he announced, "And the Villains will be Team T."
Aoyama-san clomped into the Heroes' meeting room. He was joined a moment later by another blonde boy with bright blue eyes. The class 1-B student was a little taller than Aoyama-san, and wearing a tuxedo with long tails, and a bright blue necktie and kerchief in the breast pocket. There three small clocks on his belt. The other boy appraised Aoyama dubiously.
"Hello," the other boy said haughtily, "I am Monoma Neito, class 1-B, seat 4. My Quirk is Copy. I can copy the Quirks of Emitter and Transform types, but not most Mutation types. I can copy up to three Quirks at once, but can only use one at a time. And after using a Quirk for about five minutes, it runs out. Right now I only have Tsuburaba's Solid Air in reserve, so I will need to copy your Quirk. If you don't mind, I suppose."
"Of course," Aoyama-san declared grandly, "My glorious Navel Laser will be that much more magnificent in tandem. Together, we shall easily crush them."
"A laser Quirk? Yes, that might be useful," Monoma-san nodded slightly.
"Bwahahaha!" Momona-san crowed. He thrust his stomach forward, having unbuttoned his shirt and jacket. The beam shot out exploding the doors off their hinges.
"This power is amazing!" he turned the side, carving a furrow in the concrete facade and then shattering a window.
"If you Villains don't come out," he taunted, "we will blast the building down around you!"
"Come on!" Momona-san yelled at Aoyama.
"Haha," my classmate echoed, uncertainly, "Yes."
He fired at a window on the third floor. Aoyama-san used short, controlled bursts, rather than a sustained blast like Momona-san. But with each shot his discomfort grew. And not just mentally.
"Come on, Kendo-chan," Momona-san shouted, "are you..."
The beam cut off as he suddenly clenched his cheeks. His eyes widened in surprise and dismay.
"Excuse me," he squeaked softly, and waddled away from the building.
After both Monoma-san and Aoyama-san fled the battlefield for the bathroom, Team T was declared the winners. Koda-san seemed relieved. His partner, an orangette name Kendo Itsuka in a blue Chinese dress, was not. Her Quirk allowed her to expand and strengthen her hands. She seemed annoyed that they didn't get to do anything. And exasperated with her classmate.
And that was easy to understand. The sight of Monoma-san cackling madly as he blasted away with Navel Laser... To me at least, he seemed more like a Villain or at least an unstable Vigilante than a real Hero. And the way he pressured Aoyama-san to join him in his rampage.
"Well," All Might coughed, "Well, since there wasn't really any action to the match, I suppose I can't really make anyone the MVP."
Kendo-san walked over to us.
"Hello," she said happily, "I'm Kendo Itsuka."
She extended a hand to me. And after I shook it she offered it to Tsuyu, then Cassandra. She also nodded at Ojiro-san, who flinched but returned the head bob.
"Nice to meet you, Kendo-san," I told her, "I'm Iz... Midoriya Izuku."
"Please, call me Itsuka," she said.
"I'm Asui Tsuyu, but you can call me Tsu."
"She said her name is Cain Cassandra," I offered after Cassandra-san signed a greeting.
"It's nice to meet some other martial artists," Itsuka-san said, "You two are mixing karate and gung fu, right?"
She directed that at Tsu and me.
"And Midoriya-san is the senpai," Itsuka-san kept going, and she turned to Cassandra, "But I can't get a read on your style."
\I wouldn't say that I have a style,/ Cassandra answered, though I translated, \I have had many teachers, and my main one, my father, didn't believe in sticking to a single, discreet style./
"Like Jeet Kune Do?" Itsuka-san prompted. Tsu frowned in confusion, and Ojiro-san, who was listening, looked thoughtful.
\Something like that,/ Cassandra smiled slightly.
"Well, maybe we can all get some time to practice together," Itsuka suggested.
"Do you know Ojiro-san?" I asked her.
"We've run into each other at various tournaments," she nodded.
"Next up we have Team K, Iida Tenya and Kodai Yui as the Heroes," All Might announced over all the chatting, "And Team B, Jiro Kyoka and Tokage Setsuna will be the Villains!"
"Hello!" Iida-san said loudly, and snapped down into a ninety degree bow, "My name is Iida Tenya of class 1-A. My Quirk is Engine, which allows me to run at great speed and kick with great force. It is a pleasure to meet you and I am looking forward to working with you."
Iida-san's partner was a girl, about my height. She had a bob cut to her black hair, and sky blue eyes. She was wearing a red jumpsuit with white highlights and a white skirt. She was attractive; a balanced blend of soft cuteness and sharp beauty in her face and an above average build.
"Good afternoon," the girl said, nonplussed, "I am Kodai Yui. I call my Quirk Size. Once I touch an inanimate object, I can control its size for a little while. I can make things bigger or smaller. I think I would have been better on the Villain side of this test, then I could have shrunk the bomb down to the size of a grape and hidden it."
"Or blocked all of the entrances," Iida-san agreed, "On the other hand, if you can shrink the doors, there is no way for the other team to block us."
"That is true," Kodai-san answered neutrally.
"Let us think on this, and determine how best to defeat these villains," Iida-san suggested, "You see, from 1-A, our villainous adversary is..."
"Hey," Kyoka-san waved vaguely at the other girl, "I'm Jiro Kyoka. These things are my Quirk, Earphone Jack..."
She reached up and touched one of the hanging jacks on her extended earlobes.
"They are pretty versatile," my classmate continue, "They can extend all the way down to my feet, and I can control them about as well as my arms. The jacks are hard enough to pierce wood or concrete. And I can hear and transmit sound through them. That's what my costume is for, converting that sound to a sonic attack. Though I'm nowhere near Mic-sensei's power, yet."
"Cool," her partner said. The other girl was taller than Kyoka-san, but still shorter than me. She had shoulder length green hair, and a slender build. Slender, but no so much as Kyoka-san. She was wearing tight suit of blue, lizard scale material, including a mask over her eyes.
"I'm Tokage Setsuna and my Quirk is Lizard Tail Splitter. I can split up my body and make the parts fly around. Like Buggy, but I'm not immune to sharp objects. And if one of my parts gets destroyed, I can regrow it. But that tires me out a lot, so I try to avoid it."
"Buggy?" Kyoka-san prompted.
"A character from a really old manga," Tokage-san waved it ask, "Ask your nerd friends."
I shuddered at that.
"Anyway," Tokage-san said, "I was thinking about what your classmate said about floating the bomb. What if I just detach my hands and carry the bomb up really high?"
"I don't know," Kyoka-san considered it, "Will that work against the other person from your class? It might be okay against Iida-kun, his Quirk makes him fast. Unless he can use his speed to jump really high..."
"Hmm, probably," Tokage-san thought about it, "Yui-chan might be able to shrink something to throw it, then expand it. But if she knocks the bomb out of my hands, who would All Might-sensei decide had broken it."
"My biggest worry," Kyoka-san said, "is that Iida-kun will just dash in and 'capture' us before we can do anything."
"You said he's fast," Tokage-san frowned, "Is he supersonic?"
"No," Kyoka-chan tapped a speaker, "no he isn't. And if you can carry the bomb with your detached parts, then the tape should be no trouble, right?"
The Villains won, fairly easily. Kyoka-chan blasted Iida-san and Kodai-san, keeping them distracted and off balance with a noise we could hear all the way over here. Tokage-san floated her ears up above the building, so it wouldn't have as much of an impact on her. Then she tied them up while they were doubled over in pain.
Oh, and All Might's story for that match was that they were part of a villain gang that split up, and they were just using a normal bomb to try to kill their former comrades. He declared Kyoka-san the MVP for the plan and use of her Quirk.
That left only four players.
"Last round," All Might proclaimed, "Hero Team Q, Penryu Modura and Honenuki Juzo versus Villain Team F, Hagakure Toru and Rin Hiryu!"
Mo-chan frowned as she walked into the Heroes' room. Her teammate was wearing what looked like a suit of sci-fi power armor. Robotic seeming orange and black plates covered him, including a helmet with some straw like hair sticking out.
"Hello," he said, "I'm Honenuki Juzo. My Quirk is Softening. Just like it sounds, I can make things softer. I can make rocks into anything from stiff clay to almost liquid, like quicksand. Oh, and my classmate, Rin-kun, he can grow armored scales, and even shoot them off his body."
"Huh," Mo-chan grinned, "A scaled-up Hiryu... I always wanted to fight a dragon. And he's even called Rin... Oh, I guess I should introduce myself, too. I'm Penryu Modura, and my Quirk's Calibur Z. It lets me control swords."
She waved her hand and three swords appeared floating in the air in front of her. In the middle was the one she had shown us earlier; a longsword with an extra wide blade at the base with red decorations and a red grip. The second was a katana with a white, cloth wrapped hilt. And the third was a shorter kukri style, Damascus blade.
"This is Clarent," she touched the largest blade with a gentle smile, "My Dad made it for me, before he died."
"This one," She pointed to the katana, "is a test blade made by an Canadian blacksmith. And the kukri was made by my Father and Aunt Rin. But neither of them are as good Clarent."
She used the English word 'Father', which caught my attention.
"Wow. So only three, or do you have others?" he asked, cocking his head to look at the floating blades, "And why just swords? Is it personal preference?"
"I can only bond with three at a time," she confirmed, "But my Father only can bond with one. Though she does have a better range and power. At least for now."
Then Mo-chan shrugged, and added, "I don't know why it is just swords. Why do so many people's Quirks not work on living things? How does the Fukidashi guy make noise words both appear and happen? There are lots of strange Quirks out there, mine and Dad's and Father's just happen to be limited to swords."
"So what do you want to do, Penr..."
"Call me Mo-chan," she said quickly and firmly. Then she frowned, and added, "Oh, and I guess I should say that Hagakure's Quirk makes her invisible. Just her, all the time, she can't control it."
"Then, Mo-chan," I could hear the frown in his voice, even though I couldn't see his face, "Do you have any ideas?"
"Well," she smirked, "It doesn't sound like the Villains have any special talents to hide the bomb, or anything. So it sounds like a straightforward dust up to me. But for a little strategy, I suppose you could soften the walls or floors, so I can cut through them and surprise them."
"Hello, young Heroes," All Might boomed as he walked into the room, "If you would please come with me?"
Mo-chan and Honenuki-san followed him outside. Down the street that was now completely soaked and had a small river rushing from the iced up building to the grate. To the last building on the block.
"We have tracked a pair of Villains to this building," he told them, "They have weaponized flu virus. It is highly contagious, has a near perfect mortality rate, and they plan to disperse it across the entire prefecture. You must stop them before their Aerosol Foginator is fully powered up. I will leave you to it, starting... Now."
They ignored the door. Instead, Honenuki-san walked over and placed his hands on the wall. The change was barely visible. When he removed his hands, the brick wobbled slightly. Then Mo-chan gestured. Clarent and the katana flashed, and a circle fell in. She deliberately angled the cuts so gravity pulled the brick plug free. They seemed ready to jump in, but paused when they saw what the rest of us had already seen.
There were strips of capture tape everywhere. Each one was about twenty-five centimeters long. Some were just lying on the floor. Others fluttered loosely, stuck to the walls or ceiling by a tiny patch at one end.
"What is this?" he asked, "Are they hoping we would just charge in and get stuck like the frog girl did?"
Tsu frowned, both at his not remembering her name, and at the misrepresentation of what had happened.
"Hagakure-chan," Mo-chan realized.
"The invisible girl?" he looked around thoughtfully.
"Right, if she just carried around a roll of capture tape, we would see it," the swordswoman said.
"But this way, she can sneak around," he nodded, "Grab a strip from close by, and secure us."
"So what do we do?" he continued after a second of thought, "Go in back to back? Try to clear them out?"
"Just stick close," Mo-chan grinned sharply.
"No complaint there," he said softly.
They entered through the breach. Then Mo-chan set her three swords spinning around them.
The Hero pair shuffled forward, making sure not to step on the tape, on the off chance it would be counted against them. The whirling wall of death kept Hagakure at bay.
If she was even there. I had lost track of her after the Villain team finished setting out her ammunition. Probably like Hagakure-san intended.
As they crept forward, suddenly some of the hanging strips of tape rustled. Mo-chan and Honenuki-san froze. The floating kukri spun out broadwise. If there was anything there, the small blade didn't connect.
But as she pulled the shorter blade back in, one of the strips of tape rose off of the ground, and wrapped itself around Honenuki-san's left wrist. Clarent and the katana stabbed, hilts first, at the space where Hagakure should have been. But there was a slightly demented giggle, and some of the other strips on the floor scattered, right up to the stairwell. There was a deliberate stomping sound, as the invisible 'Villain' went up.
I was tempted to use Clairvoyance to try to track her. But I didn't.
"Fifty yen says the second floor is just like this," Mo-chan half sighed, half growled.
"No-one is stupid enough to take that action," the softener shook his head.
"This is taking to long," Mo-chan looked at him, "It's been almost five minutes, and we haven't even reached the second floor. If the next two are like this, and the bomb is on the fourth or fifth floor..."
"You want to split up," he said.
"Of course not," she protested, "A knight would never abandon a comrade..."
The she purely sighed, and shrugged, "Just yeah, I could move a lot faster alone. Circling my boys around me is easy. Keeping you in mind, and dodging the tape on the floor? Not so much."
"Go," he said, "Hopefully, your classmate will come after me, and you can take care of Rin."
Mo-chan considered it. Then she held up a fist. He bumped it.
She took off at a jog, her swords now varying their heights and spinning closer and faster. That swept the tape out of the way.
"For her creative way of getting around the Villain's trap, aN excellent fight against young Rin, and disarming the bomb, young Penryu is the MVP."
Mo-chan huffed, but did not correct him.
"Well done, everyone," All Might said. We had all gathered outside in the street again, meeting back up with Vlad King and Aizawa-sensei, "As I said earlier, you will be going over the results in class tomorrow. So I encourage you to think about what you did well, and what you could have done better. And with that, I will leave you with your homeroom teachers."
With that, he vanished. So fast I barely noticed. I realized he had been in his muscle form for almost three hours, so he must be getting close to his limit.
"Well done 'everyone', he says," Monoma-san complained, "But you spotlight thieves hogged all the MVP spots."
"That's not true, kero," Tsu croaked, "Shiozaki-san and Komori-san were both MVPs."
"And we might have had a third one," Itsuka-san said, stepping up beside him, "If someone hadn't disqualified himself using a Quirk he didn't fully understand."
"That's not my fault," he protested, looking a little green again, "My own teammate sabotaged me. He didn't tell me that it would have that sort of drawback."
"And yet, he followed your example and did the same thing to himself," Kendo shook her head.
"Either way, you gloryhound jerks of class 1-A better watch yourselves, next time..."
He was cut off as Itsuka knocked him out a moderately enlarged karate chop to the neck.
"Nice to meet you all," she said. And then dragged him away, as the rest of 1-B left.
"you are my destined rival," Tokoyami-san said softly, staring at Shimooka-san's back as she exited. She didn't appear to hear him, but I did. And Cassandra blinked at him.
\Their powers do seem opposed,/ I told her silently.
\Given how he has been looking at her,/ Cassandra-chan signed, \and where, I don't think her powers are his main concern./
"Were the rest of you watching Izuku and Tsu sparring?" Mikoto asked sharply.
"It did seem more like practice than a real fight," Momo nodded, "And yet he implied they have not sparred in their training."
"It does seem like they have either been holding back, or have jumped ahead again," Ami mused.
"Cassandra, too," Kyoka added, "Remember her and Ojiro going at it in the last Lions and Gazelles? That was only last Thursday, but they seemed more evenly matched back then."
"That could have been the type of fight and the open field," Momo countered, the most well trained in martial arts of the five of them, "Her Quirk does seem advantageous in defensive combat. And today she was able to use the hallway to limit their movement somewhat."
"I have an idea," Ochako suddenly said, "What if we think about some questions, and try to find out what they are up to, when we do the review tomorrow? It would make sense to be talking about it then, right?"
Ami considered it, as did Momo. And Mikoto and Jiro grinned.
"Okay, ladies, let's get down to business," she proclaimed, strolling casually through the crowd of Villainesses, "Don't want the boys showing us up."
She was about average height for the group, despite the fact that she was Caucasian and they were mostly Japanese. The right half of her hair was red, the left half was blue. She was wearing a full body catsuit, divided into four quadrants. The bottom right and top left sections were pure black. Then upper right quadrant was dark red, but was patterned to look decayed. The bottom left was blood red, but had claw like tears out of it. The whole outfit wrapped tightly around her toned limbs and above average curves. She was carrying a sledge hammer like a cane, and had a grey tube on her belt.
She reached the front of the room, and found the other women glaring at her. In the front was a shorter, more slender girl in a sleeveless, high-neck, maroon crop top and matching shorts and boots. Her brown hair trailed all the way down to her knees. Next to her was a woman in black, except for grey and purple striped sleeves; and her hair was like snakes made of concrete. Behind them was a taller Villainess in a short purple dress and a blue mask, her Quirk giving her oversized gorilla arms.
"Who put you in charge, gaijin?" the brunette snapped. Her hair lifted and shaped into swords, spears, and even drills.
She just smiled broadly at them. Then she leaped forward. She grabbed two of the brunette's follicular spears. As she did, they dropped down, as limp as normal hair. The brunette reacted well, trying to cut her with the hair swords. Unfortunately, they also stopped moving when they touched the Caucasian.
She used the brunette's hair to pull the protester's face into her rising thigh. If she had wanted to seriously hurt the idiot, it would have been a knee to the chin or nose. The meat of her upper leg did less damage, just giving her opponent a bloody nose and mild concussion. The she tapped the stick end of her sledge against the back of the brunette's knee, forcing her to kneel. Then finally, she snatched the duct tape off her belt, and wrapped the protester's hair from just below her shoulders all the way down to the tips.
Then she casually flipped backwards. She landed with the tape spinning around the haft of her weapon, again holding it like a cane, just this time hammer head down. And she glared at them. Most flinched.
"Listen up, bitches! You want to know who put me in charge? Sensei and Mistah S. I'm number three in the League, and the only reason that smoky bartender is ranked higher is because of his Quirk."
Somehow, none of them doubted her.
"You don't want to be here? You content to be small fry? Fine. Leave. No-one is forcing you to stay. But if you want to be useful, you want to show those testosterone addled jackasses something? Then shut the FUCK up, and let's get to work!"
Then she smiled sweetly at them, and the murderous rage seemed like a bad dream, "Because there is no way I am going to look bad in front of Pu... Mistah S."
Then she rolled her eyes at the recovering brunette, who was clawing desperately at her gummed up hair.
"And someone want to get some scissors, so we can give Mindy here a trim?"
"My name's not..." the brunette started to argue weakly. The leader's smile widened, and the head of the sledge came off the floor.
"I can be Mindy," she whimpered.
Author's note: This one took a while, partly because of real life, and partly because a lot of people seemed to want this arc over, so I combined two chapters into one and trimmed down all of the matches to some degree. But mostly, it is because this arc was actually randomized. I gave each name a random number to team them up, and the teams random numbers to match them up. The only rules were 'no Izuku and Monoma team' and Izuku vs Tsu in the first match.
And again, no OCs. Three scrubs from the USJ arc, and well... Hopefully some of you can figure out who the 'new' 'number three' is. I'm guessing few readers, if any, will know Hikari without looking her up; Gamma is so underrated.
