The next day, and the day after that, and the day after that were all the same. It felt like they were on house arrest, unable to leave at all while the investigation was ongoing and the shield was being engineered deep in the ground in the middle of campus so nobody could get to it easily. Rain could get through, but nothing else. Not even birds. They'd be trapped in or trapped out at night.
Hopefully they got used to the shield quickly and they wouldn't get fried. So when the shield was finally complete, the students got to watch it go up. It arced over the campus in a blue light before the shield went clear, only a slight waver of the stars above.
For showing how powerful it is, a cannon was shot and when the cannonball hit the ceiling of the shield, there was a bright light and what remembered a fly buzzer destroyed the cannon into dust.
"Holy crap," Kaminari said. "That's scary." The others around nodded. Iida pointed out that it should definitely keep them safe from outsiders. There had been no large media bursts like after the training camp debacle. They had to wonder if the school was hiding what happened from the general public.
Or maybe to keep the League of Villains from knowing what happened to their nomu. The one that must have been expensive before killed by a 15 year old.
That's right. Sometimes, Ace and Luffy forgot they were 15. It was obvious sometimes, like when they were terrified and crying about the approaching death of the nomu, or when Ace fell apart and lost control after losing Luffy. But other moments, like when they were on the missions to save Eri, they didn't feel 15. It was… uncomfortable. And both of them felt that way. They were so ahead for their age, sometimes they just forgot. Then when it came back to them, it was always a little shocking.
A bad thing about this force field was that it interfered with cell phone connection. They couldn't talk on the phone with anybody outside of the bubble. Messaging on the computer or skyping worked, but phone calls were impossible. But it was a small price to pay for that kind of protection.
Ace canceled his counseling sessions. Luffy felt he should still go, but he wasn't one to talk as he'd refused to see counselors after his torturing even when Ace wished he would. They were both stubborn to accept help from others like that.
After another week of campus-arrest, the higher ups were talking about restarting hero work studies, but for everyone this time. Ace and Luffy were excited until they were blatantly told by Aizawa that they wouldn't be participating. They were furious and upset. "What do you mean?! Why can everyone else go but we can't?!" Ace demanded angrily when the teacher gave them the news.
"It's not just U.A.'s choice. The police have said this as well. It's too dangerous when we have no idea why the nomu attack happened." Why now, where the League was or what their plan was. Everybody in their class would be doing it but them. "I'm not happy with it either, I understand your frustration."
Ace demanded what they'd be doing when everybody else was gone. "Practicing your new haki. Nezu, the teachers and police think you need to work on that power to be safe off campus and with other heroes. After that's perfected, then you will be allowed to go on trial leaves, surrounded by guards. We don't want to make a misstep and have you two pay the price."
They were both surprised with this choice. "How are you going to get animals? We don't even know how it happened." Aizawa said that was what the practice was for. And he said they would be working on teachers and not animals. There was no way for them to practice against the nomus again. And they had no real way to get large beasts on campus without drawing too much attention. "We don't want the public learning about these developments."
Ace and Luffy deflated. "What if we hurt them?"
"We'll have Recovery Girl on standby," Aizawa explained. Ace and Luffy were grateful they'd be trained on this, but they wouldn't be able to get off campus at all while everyone went off on their work studies. They were both upset about it. Feeling terrible and lonely. They would be the only ones who weren't out. It wasn't like you could do work studies on your own from home like an office job.
He told them they'd start the next day, as students were already filling out paperwork besides those who were going to the same ones as before. But Midoriya wasn't going back to Nighteye's. He was going with Todoroki and Bakugo to Endeavor's agency.
They moped all night, the others feeling sorry for them. "Hey, maybe when you master if you'll get to go, too." Luffy complained that everyone else would be having fun and growing strong while they were stuck there all alone.
"Stupid League of Villains. Why us? Why do they still hold a stupid grudge?" Ace grumbled angrily. "Are they afraid of us or something? In that case, then we should get to go out, too! Maybe we could do something about it!"
Uraraka reminded him that he'd get in trouble if Aizawa heard him say something like that. Ace deflated. There was nothing they could do at the moment.
The next day, those two were the picture of miserable and pitiful as they sat in the classroom completely alone, everybody out at their work studies. Ace and Luffy did the most important part of the shie Hassaikai, why were they the ones kept out? "I know this must be frustrating for you, and I understand why you are upset, but there's nothing we can do about it. Channel that anger and frustration into power.
"We're going now," he said. They were already in their hero outfits, masks back and replaced since they lost both of theres when they were rescuing Eri. They couldn't even get anywhere near her. Hopefully Mirio got to see her. If he wasn't at his own work studies. Nighteye had connected them the night before, expressing his sympathy for the two, but also saying it was the right choice for now.
They ended up at the gym they always practiced in with Cementos raising the floor to make stages. There were five teachers in there, they had no students to teach, since even class 1-B was gone off on their own. They felt lonely, but there was nothing they could do about it.
They were handed photos of the nomus remains as a reminder. As if they'd forget what happened only a couple days ago. They'd never forget that. Any part of it. The fear or the confusion or the relief. Especially the fear. Gunhead worried about them, but he couldn't see them at all now.
"We don't need these," Ace said and burnt them. "Neither of us will get that night even burnt out of our memories." The teachers said to pretend they were nomu. That really wouldn't work, but looking back, they remember a burst coming off of them. Like a wave of heat, only it wasn't heat, but some sort of invisible...thing.
Luffy quietly said, "Let's get this the first time so we can go to the work studies like everybody else." Ace nodded. The teachers ran at them, and they channeled the determination to succeed, the fear of not being able to protect themselves next time, the anger of being isolated, and scrunched their eyes closed.
This time they said nothing, and their eyes snapped open wide, and they felt a much stronger force come off of them. They weren't expecting the teachers to freeze, have their eyes roll back and start foaming at the mouth before dropping unconscious.
It took a total of 3 milliseconds before Ace and Luffy started freaking out. "Ahhh! We killed them! Get help!" they screeched, and Ace zoomed to the main building with Luffy on his back. "Help!" they shouted, looking for anybody. Where was Recovery Girl?! She hadn't been around like she was supposed to be!
They came across completely knocked out kids everywhere, whole classrooms full of unconscious students. They continued to scream. "We killed everybody!" Luffy screeched, until Ace finally approached one of the bodies. He could feel their presences, but they were dim. He checked their pulse.
"They're alive!" Ace shouted.
Luffy cheered. "They're alive!" he shouted. "But… The burst reached the school. Everybody is unconscious. Couldn't this be dangerous? What if someone hit their heads?!" Ace grit his teeth. They didn't know how to wake anyone up. So they hurried off to try and find anybody strong enough to be awake or maybe having missed the wave.
They found All Might looking panicked. "All Might! You're awake!" they cheered. "We didn't know it would happen, we didn't mean to!" He calmed them down and asked what had happened.
"I thought you were supposed to be training with Aizawa and the others?"
"We were! We tried to do that power we used against the nomu, but everyone passed out! We came running for help but the people here are unconscious as well. We don't know how to wake them up, or if they're okay. We didn't think this would happen." All Might looked shocked. He asked where they'd been practicing. "At the gym we always work at."
He said, "You mean your ability reached this far into campus?" They both nodded. "Why don't we try waking the adults up?" The brothers nodded again. Were they really this powerful? But also, this out of control? They hadn't been aiming for it to reach all the way here. Or for it to work on everybody.
Slowly, though, people were coming to. Looking dazed but not injured. "Are you okay?" Luffy asked the nearest student. He nodded, and asked what had happened. They were working when all of the sudden, he was unconscious and now he was waking up. "Were you in pain?" he asked. The kid shook his head, saying he only passed out. "Well, we don't know what happened," the younger twin lied.
They hurried back to the epicenter and found the teachers awake but looking confused. "You're awake! We were so worried. We didn't know it would be like that," Ace said with a relieved sigh. Midnight asked them what had happened. "We tried the burst thing, but it just knocked everybody out in an instant. We went to get help but everyone inside the main building was asleep, too. Except for All Might. God, we were so worried."
Luffy commented, "It was like our burst of heat waves that destroyed the entire battle ground during the exam. We have no control." He looked at his hands. "But how do we get control of that without risking knocking everybody out again?" The teachers told them to slow down.
They did seem shocked, but also amazed. "Was that the same technique you used on the nomu?" Ectoplasm asked.
Ace and Luffy said that was what they were aiming for. But nobody froze, they just passed out. They didn't give orders or even have time to do so before everyone was asleep. "Well, we can see that it isn't the same thing for humans. We'll check and see if everybody is alright and then we'll move to a further away area from the general students. We can't use them as guinea pigs as well," Aizawa said.
Midnight said that they might as well train other things while the others check everybody else's safety. So, they were told to go all out on the teachers, all of them at once. They were happy to do so, fighting with everything they had, omitting the way too dangerous one that burned All Might and wiped out a large swath of land.
It was so surprising they were beaten up. Fighting against students was easy and they usually won. But these were pro-heroes. By the end, Luffy was bruised and both of them were tired. They trained for six hours. By the time Cementos announced their training for that day over, they were dead on their feet.
"Why don't we get you something to eat? You guys'll be sleeping the moment you get back to your dorm. This is just the first day," Ectoplasm said. Then he added that they did well to still be able to function. "We won't be pulling punches with you. You two need to get stronger faster than everybody else if you really are targets."
Ace and Luffy grinned tirely and gave high fives. They'd get some good training here, even if it bored them. They got food from the cafeteria, not needing to pay this time, and stuffed themselves before they were walked to their dorm and they passed out on the couches.
They were dirty and still in their hero costumes, but they needed to sleep. They were still passed out by the time the others got back late. Ace was woken up when Midoroya shook him awake. Kirishima commented that they looked absolutely beat. "Should change and go to bed," he said.
Ace shook Luffy awake, and they trudged to their rooms and just took off their outfits before passing out in their underwear. Luffy was on the floor while Ace was spread out on the bed. In the morning, they saw everybody eating breakfast. They cooked for themselves that day. "Yo. How'd it go yesterday?"
Luffy yawned and said they fought Cementos, Midnight and Ectoplasm all at the same time for five hours. "What about the haki?" Tokoyami asked.
"That was not as planned. We attempted to use it, but it just knocked everyone out. Made them foam at the mouth before going unconscious! And we went looking for help, but everyone in the main building was unconscious as well," Luffy explained.
"We have zero control over how far it reaches," Ace added. He and Luffy looked up to the silent room. "What?"
Sero asked, "You knocked out the entire school?" Ace said that All Might had been awake. "You guys don't even need work studies to improve if you're battling pros all day." Luffy pointed out that it was super boring and they'd rather be doing work studies.
They had class that day, it wasn't only them. Of course, many were absent due to their conflicting schedules. Everyone was tired, but Ace and Luffy were still ahead of everyone else in homework. Everybody else was dealing with work studies and class work and make up classes at the same time. Luffy and Ace knew they wouldn't be as swamped since they had the opportunity to go to class when the others didn't. They answered every question for the others, since they were tired or just werent able to keep up.
Where some people would get annoyed, it was a sort of break for them. They didn't need to pay as close attention. After class, they had hero training with All Might. It was a day to train on their own quirks. There were a lot of those classes lately, since they were all doing most of the improvement off of campus. Ace and Luffy wanted to work on a specific move.
"Can we go away a bit, away from others?" Ace asked the teacher. All Might asked why. "We want some space in case we lose control. We've been working too much individually. Our goal is to be partners, we need to work on combo moves more." All Might gave them permission to go as far as they could while still in his line of sight.
They walked away, and Luffy said he had an idea to keep everyone safe from their nuclear bomb-like move. He'd put a half a cube behind them so it didn't go behind them and hurt anybody. The direction they were aiming in was barren. There was a rock, a large rock, that would be their target.
Both of them had pulled this off at home long ago, they knew it wouldn't decimate everything in the vicinity. They had more control than the beginning of the year. They had four months of school left that year.
Luffy put up a wall that was half way resistant. Things could get through the outside, but nothing could get behind them. They joined hands, and unlike when they were against All Might, this time they had a pair of hands pointing in the directions ahead of them. They condensed fire and air around them in a circle. It was so hot it started to burn away Luffy's gym shirt. They'd avoided their costumes today for this reason.
They both opened their eyes and forced the power to go down their arm and out of their open palms. It shot out a superheated blast, but condensed into one direction. It blew apart the rock, raining down bits pebble and dust. It vaporized most of it, but there were still some remains. Maybe they could have Cementos make them some targets. But both of them noticed their shirts were burnt away. "Damn," Luffy swore. At least their shorts were intact. They looked down and saw straight below them was charred and grassless. All Might hurried behind them.
"I told you two to never use that technique again," he said sternly. Ace said they'd made a safety net. About Luffy's air shield. And that they had aimed it just fine.
"We have to work on our pair powers. It's a necessity for us," Luffy insisted. "And nobody got hurt, just the rock we were aiming at. What if a nomu attacked us and the haki didn't work? If we're trapped here completely, at least let us make ourselves stronger." All Might sighed and said that as long as no one got hurt, and they were sure that nobody would, then they could work with their more dangerous powers, but only under supervision.
"You two might want to go get some shirts if you don't wish for anyone to see your backs," All Might said quietly. Both of them blanched. Their scars and burns were visible for anybody. They said they'd be back. But then Todoroki and Kirishima were there. Two shirts hit their backs. "Keep practicing," Todoroki said. "Just don't burn away our shirts."
They smiled and thanked them, covering their backs. They smiled at each other, glad to have made such good friends. They tried to condense their nuclear attack even more, this time making it swirl only around their arms, and then only their hands. They pointed out both of their pointer fingers and attempted to write in the ground, but it was hard and the letters were not legible. But it was an improvement on control over this devastating move.
