As the villains, since we had a bit of a harder task, we were given a head start: just a few minutes to go ahead and scope the place out. It made sense; villains would be aware of their hideout and heroes couldn't count on such advantages. They would, however, have a certain element of surprise: we wouldn't know who we'd be facing.

"You have a plan?" I asked Bakugo as we trudged up the stairs.

"Eh? What makes you say that?"

"Well, you picked me immediately, and we're not friends yet, so you must have something in mind that my quirk helps with." He shot me an annoyed look, "What? I can tell you're not as bone-headed as you make yourself seem. I'm down to hear some strategy."

"Idiot." He said, "We can't form a strategy because we don't know who they're sending at us. Anything we prepared with one pair in mind would be useless against another." So why had he picked me?

"But since we're ruling out all the other villains, we know it'll either be Deku and Kaminari, Tsu and Ida, or Uraraka and Kirishima. All of them have enough power to smash through any physical barriers we set up, but it should slow them down anyway, right? Deku would get hurt trying to smash through anything, Ida would have to get a running start, and well, I don't know too much about Kirishima's quirk."

"The one actual useful piece of information from that junk," Bakugo retorted, "Is that they all have a power type. The hell do the others do?"

"Tsu does the frog stuff, and Uraraka does antigravity, so they're really strong support and agility. Kaminari does electricity, but that's all I know."

"So the girls are more trouble, great." We arrived at the top floor and saw the giant, shiny metal device. It was clearly useless, but they went all out on making it flashy. "Jeez and hiding the damn thing is out of the question."

"No kidding." After a pause, I poked his arm and he jumped, looking ready to rip my head off.

"WHAT?"

"We're running out of time, tell me your plan." He took a moment, then grunted,

"You're fast, right?"

"Comparatively, technically." I hedged.

"So even if we split up, you can warn me instantly if they're on you?"

"Sure."

"Alright, then you stay and defend this dumb thing." He jabbed his thumb at the device, "I'll make sure they don't make it this far. If they somehow sneak past me…"

"Let you know right away. Easy enough."

"There's one more thing." He cracked his knuckles, "If we're up against Deku, I'm going to go straight for him, screw everything else. If we lose, I'll kill you."

"You can lay off the threats, but I appreciate the transparency." It didn't take a genius to figure out the two of them didn't get along, "Which would mean I'd have to deal with Kaminari alone."

"The idiot can barely walk straight, can you handle that?"

"I'll find something rubber and tie him up." I chirped, "And I don't doubt you can at least keep Deku distracted for ten minutes."

"Distracted? If he walks in those doors, I'll murder him."

"Fair enough." We waited for a moment, "Did you really just want to pair up with me because it would help you essentially be everywhere at once?"

"You have a problem with that?" I pouted, feeling weird about asking in the first place. Usually I thought through everything before I said it aloud, but that question just slipped out.

"No, no. We might as well play into our strengths for now. Never mind."

"I'm heading down, don't let them anywhere near that thing, any one of them could destroy it."

"Okay, well try to take care of yourself."

"Oh, shut up."

He ambled away and I stared at the weapon. Any one of them could destroy that thing? I could have all the time in the world, and I might never make a dent in it.

The whistle blew. I focused.

They almost got me. I checked the windows out of boredom, really, only to see Uraraka floating up. Damn, they'd bypassed the front entirely. She pushed Kirishima in and rolled in after him. I breathed in and watched them slow to a complete stop, Uraraka still not fully standing. Man, that had been close.

I jogged back down the stairs and found Bakugo circling the concrete halls. A quick search of the junk lining the halls revealed a paint can, so I finger-painted 'THEY'RE HERE' on the wall in front of him.

Back up the stairs I went, in a rush now. I didn't want to be sleepy all day today too.

I wondered what I should do. Kirishima was coming for me, while Uraraka was going for the weapon. I put my hands on her shoulders and gently turned her 180 degrees so she'd roll in the wrong direction. I tried to push Kirishima but he was heavy.
Well, Bakugo would never get here if I stayed like this, so I stood in front of the weapon and exhaled.

Kirishima stumbled as he looked at where I was a moment ago. Uraraka yelped as she crashed into some old boxes, both disoriented.

"DAMN IT!" We heard faintly. Good, he'd gotten my message.

When they finally turned to see me, I grinned nervously.

"Hi guys." Hopefully, that was that, and the rest was up to Bakugo. We squared off as they stared at the weapon behind me.

"No matter what we do, she can get there first." Uraraka said to Kirishima, not taking her eyes off me.

"Yeah, she'll make her move the second we start moving." He confirmed. Oh, I hadn't considered that the mere possibility of my using my quirk might help me avoid using it at all. That was nice.

"And Bakugo is on his way." Uraraka said, "We have fifteen seconds before he reaches us. Go intercept, I've got this." Before I could turn to see Kirishima's strategy, Uraraka was lunging forward.

Man, I really didn't want to use my quirk again.

I ducked out of the way, grabbing a pipe from the ground and holding it up. I certainly didn't want to actually hit her with it, but if that would at least make her hesitate I could…

"Gotcha!"

I slowed it all to a stop the moment a felt the grip around my wrist. I snapped over to see Kirishima had sneaked up behind me and was now holding me in place. I swore and tried to pull my arm out. He'd even grabbed hold of the pipe with his other hand. Everything may have been still, but he was no less rock solid. I pulled and pried at his fingers but it was like fighting a statue. At this rate, Uraraka would reach the device in no time. How would she destroy it? If I could reach her…

I reached as far as I could, but there was nothing. I tried stomping on Kirishima's foot, but that just hurt. No point wasting my energy like this…

I ruffled his hair to impair his visibility and let time resume.

"Pff, hey!" He protested, yanking my arm painfully back.

"It worked!" Uraraka cheered, and I couldn't help but feel the slightest bit happy for her, even if it was at the expense of my pride.

The doorway exploded.

Yelling like a barbarian, Bakugo tore inside, just as Uraraka touched the device. Another explosion sent her flying into a wall.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST STANDING THERE?" He demanded of me.

"Oh, I'm trapped." I told him calmly, even though I was upset myself, "And watch out, Ochaco's not out yet." A lamp or something flew right at him, but he ducked. It came towards us instead and Kirishima punched it. Like, actually punched the projectile.

Broken bits of it showered back toward Bakugo.

"KNOCK IT OFF!"

"What, you think I can't fight you one handed?" Kirishima gloated, walking forward and, unfortunately, dragging me with him. I grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled. "Hey!"

The device began to float up.

"Ah! Three o'clock!" I said urgently. The device dropped and the floor cracked.

She… wouldn't.

Would she?

The fighting got confusing fast. I got yanked this way and that as Kirishima tried to fight. I did my best to make that difficult by pulling his hair and dragging my feet. I hooked my free arm against a column and held on for dear life. To be honest, it terrified me how powerless I felt against him.

The floor shook again. Bakugo's explosions certainly weren't helping.

Then, many things happened at the same time.

Kirishima yanked me away from the column and I heard a pop.

The ground moved.

The buzzer rang.