Arcing streaks of lightning swelled and exploded, positively dazzling against the crystal sheet of ice covering the sand below. Kaminari straightened and flashed Kimi a grin. "How's that?"

She grinned back. "Brilliant."

/~/

The USJ was a gorgeous scene of catastrophe.

The different sections- shipwreck, fire, landslide; they were all a perfect recreation of a true scene of disaster, somehow managing to capture the feeling of destructive horror. Each scene had a different atmosphere, and the juxtaposition of it all wove a perfect picture of controlled disaster.

Kimi's team was positioned in the mountain district, their opponents in the fire section. Kimi gently lay their carton of eggs on a smooth patch of ground and opened it up.

"Six eggs," she murmured. "We should split them among us; the phrase 'don't keep your eggs in one basket' applies quite literally here, no?"

They had to protect these eggs, which represented the civilians, and also had to retrieve the eggs guarded by the other team, which represented hostages. The other team would be trying to do the same in turn, leading to a capture-the-flag style test.

"How should we split them?" asked Uraraka. "One of us will have to take two."

Kimi shook her head. "We shouldn't give everybody one. Kaminari's quirk comes from his body, and would probably break it by accident." She glanced at him. "No offense or anything."

"Heh, true enough." He smirked.

"Uraraka should take two and Mineta one, as they'll be playing defensive, supportive roles," Kimi suggested. "And Todoroki can take the last two as he'll be attacking from a distance."

"Hey, why do I only get one!" Mineta complained.

"Your pouch can only fit one."

"Oh. Yeah."

Kimi picked up the carton. "I'll take this as a ruse and play the role of decoy. Now move out!"

/~/

"Aah!"

Kimi whirled, seeing a blur of red rocket into Mineta and slam him into the ground. Kirishima thrust his arm into the air with a triumphant shout, a small spherical shape clutched within his fingers.

"Damn it," Todoroki swore, frost sweeping out from around him in a single, crashing wave. Shoji vaulted into it, both fists taking a chunk out of the ice. Kimi tried to make her way around them when hard metal hit her chest, knocking the breath from her body.

Momo flashed her a grin, swinging her staff over her shoulder. "Hey Kimi."

She managed an uneasy smile back, the wish for the knife on the tip of her tongue. Thirteen's voice drifted into her mind.

"Your powers are not meant to inflict harm. I hope that you leave here today with the understanding that you're meant to help people."

A shield materialized in her hands instead, its existence fueled by the blinding reminder of her promise to protect. The pole whizzed towards her and Kimi threw it up to meet it with a resounding clang. The two's eyes met for a moment, and she became acutely aware of Todoroki fighting Shoji at her back, and Momo's hyper focus on them.

She wants his egg; she figured out my carton's empty somehow.

"You're not getting through me," Kimi promised.

Momo cocked her head. "I don't have to."

That was what cemented it; Momo had figured out that Kimi was a decoy and was merely distracting her, preventing her from playing a supporting role.

Kimi backed away from the length of the staff, catching sight of Kirishima sprinting towards Todoroki who summoned a wall of ice, right before a brilliant burst of electricity roared into existence.

Then the world exploded.

Bang- the ring of lights around them shattered, casting darkness across the USJ. The air seemed to sparkle with the light of reflected glass. A pervasive malevolent force swept through the area, something swirling and purple opening up for people to clamber through, tumbling over one another.

"I don't think this is part of the test," murmured Uraraka.

Kaminari snorted. "Really."

"W-what's going on?" Mineta stammered, slowly backing away. "Who are these people?"

With a sick feeling in her stomach, Kimi said, "Those are villains."

They all turned back to stare at the waves and waves of them, slowly but surely making their way forwards. The ten of them hadn't been noticed yet, protected from view by the terrain, but it was only a matter of time.

Uraraka let loose a shaky breath. "No…"

Something in Kimi was breaking, her house-of-cards façade of calm falling, collapsing in on itself. This was a familiar situation; too familiar, memories of horror slick and icy cold as they washed down her back.

"Yes," Momo replied grimly. "We have to go, now."

Her mind was frozen in a shocked horror, but her legs moved, all on their own.

Fight your way out.

Yes. That's how it always was. Almost trance-like, Kimi lurched forwards, towards the villains.

A firm hand grabbed her shoulder before she could break into a run. "The hell do you think you're doing," Todoroki snarled. "We have to get away."

"Y-yeah. You're right."

More than anything in the world, Kimi hated the feeling of fleeing. It was having your enemy at your back, knowing just a stumble could mean your demise, that sent her heart threatening to give out with every step.

She saw nothing, only the path in front of her and how much time she was taking to get there. Fear reaped all other emotion from her body, sowing panic and leaving her blind; there was only the chase, and the ever-pressing doom that threatened to swallow her whole.

Step.

They're going to catch you.

Step.

They're going to break you.

Step.

Are you going to run forever?

Kimi stopped.

"No more," she murmured. "Never again."

Todoroki's gaze snapped to her, a warning on his tongue. "Midoriya-"

"I run towards my problems."

"You're going to die." He growled. "You're not thinking straight. If you want to go on ahead, get Aizawa."

The purpose -destroy- that had been dangling so clearly before her warped, sending her world spiraling onto its side. "Get…Aizawa?"

"Go."

The world disappeared in a flash, and Kimi reappeared beside her teacher who was rapidly exchanging words with Thirteen. He turned, surprise flickering in his eyes. "Midoriya, what-"

"The villains," she gasped. "What's going on?"

"They bypassed all the sensors," he informed her grimly. "We don't have a good read on the situation yet. What of your team?"

"I left to find you."

"You left?" he growled. "No matter. Midoriya, Teleport out of here and alert the principal."

Leave this place. Yes. She could do that; it was so easy to flee. But with that thought brought a pang of guilt and betrayal strong enough to make her stagger, and the land around her stayed exactly the same.

"I can't."

His eyes narrowed. "Control your emotions. This is what's best; you want that, don't you?"

She knew that- she did. But there was also that little part of her that rejoiced at this easy way out, and she couldn't help but feel shame and guilt for being relieved; that was a horrible, disgusting thought that she couldn't allow herself to feel. Subconsciously, she couldn't want it.

"I can't," she repeated.

"You're being selfish," he told her, and she felt something cold settle in her stomach. I know. "Go back to your team."

"W-what about you?"

"I join the fight."

"Sensei, no-"

Then he leapt off the edge and into the fray. Kimi took a sharp intake of breath, her heart skipping a beat as her teacher's form was engulfed by the sea of villains. But then he exploded from within them, tearing through the enemies and tossing them around like ragdolls. Swift. Efficient. Precise.

This is what it means to be a pro.

She watched dumbly, struck with awe, before Thirteen's voice snapped her out of it. That artificial mask swiveled to face her.

"I don't know what happened with you just now, but remember, you're here-"

Kimi sucked in a breath.

"-to protect."

And then she was gone, light searing her eyes before her feet hit unsteady rock and she skidded down a slope. Giving up on balancing, Kimi pushed off and was falling, sailing through the air towards the masses of enemies below.

The shield on her arm dissolved, ripped away by the wind, and then there was cool steel in her hands and her heart in her throat.

Kimiko landed and spun, slashing the chest of the nearest villain. She pounced without missing a beat, rendering him out-of-commission before the others could swarm her then leapt away.

And then the world was a blur, this battle a dance. The villains became nothing but whirls of colors; slow, awkward, untrained, weak; and this time she was strong- stronger than them. She rotated sharply on her heel and kicked one to the ground, smashing her hilt into his skull before throwing herself into a roll and springing up, slashing down another.

She turned in quick circles, eyes searching and scanning wildly for more but landing only on air and downed enemies. She paused, the ringing in her ears becoming more pronounced.

Silence.

The rest of her team and opposing team made their way down the hill, breathless. Then Kirishima whistled. "Well I'll be damned."

Still a little numb, Kimi swept her gaze across the group, before demanding, "Where's Todoroki?"

"We were hiding," Asui started, "but there was no space so he went to find a different place and was spotted. They chased him off somewhere else. He… didn't want to give away out cover," she finished, a little meekly.

"If we'd all revealed ourselves, we would've been overrun," Momo reasoned. "It was only logical."

Kimi exhaled. "Yeah. But still, I'll go to him just in case."

Momo smiled warmly. "Go."

I'm nearing the end of my reserves, Kimiko thought grumpily, but she teleported away nonetheless. There was the familiar swirl of light and gravity, then her foot hit the ground.

…and slipped.

Kimi flailed to balance herself, then surveyed her surroundings. Spreading out from beneath her feet was a smooth sheet of sparkling ice, parts of the shimmering sleet jutting out to encase the villains before her.

And in the middle of this kingdom of ice, perfectly poised, was Todoroki.

"You're late," he said simply.

Relieved and delighted, Kimi laughed. "I guess I am." But then her gaze darkened as she strode over to the nearest villain. "But I'm just in time to find out what the hell is going on."

"Oh, fuck you," the villain spat. "Damn kids."

She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. "Damn kid that singlehandedly beat, like, twenty of you. Now, tell me what's going on before I beat you too."

He snorted. "I'm done with this. Go to hell."

"Ah, but you're not done." Kimi made a show of looking over his frozen body. "Ice is quite brittle, you know. I could break you."

"As if you would."

Her hand curled around a bit of ice that jut out to encase his thumb. Revulsion and disgust churned within her at what she was doing, but Kimi drew up a smirk to hide it. "Wouldn't I?"

Todoroki came over to stand beside her, offering his silent support. She thanked him mentally, appreciating his presence at her side. At least she'd have a witness to her actions, as well as a judge.

A wedge of fear was driven into the villain's eyes. "I can't tell you," he hissed. "They'll kill me if they find out."

"They won't find out," Kimi crooned. "Besides, I'm a lot closer. Now, who's 'they'?"

He resisted for a moment, before breaking. "The League of Villains."

Todoroki stiffened a bit, but Kimi had to keep up the act. A touch of saccharine dripped into her smile, turning it sickly sweet. "C'mon, this is like pulling teeth. What is the League? Who sent you?"

"We're a group of organized villains; I-I don't know who leads it, only that Shigaraki sent me. Tomura Shigaraki. And-and Kurogiri- he's the one that warped us here with his quirk. That's the purple void that you saw."

"Good boy," Kimi purred, committing their names to memory. "Why are you here?"

"All Might. The plan was to kill him- no!"

Kimi's hand around his thumb gave a jerk, snapping it right off. "All Might?" she snarled. "How do you plan to kill him? Tell me!" Something inside her started screaming, roaring; disgust and horror and rage mixed into one, threatening to explode her from the inside out.

All Might was the final straw. I'll break him piece by piece if that's what it takes-

Todoroki interfered, stepping in front of her, between her and the villain. "I'll take it from here."

The red tint to her vision disappeared; Kimi hadn't even noticed it was there until it was gone. She shook her head, the adrenaline flooding from her body, leaving legs trembling. All Might. What do they want with him?

For now, she'd let Todoroki play the good cop… except he wasn't.

Beneath the calm façade, there was something equally furious and vicious lurking behind those eyes.

His fingers drifted up to cup the side of the villain's cheek, crystal frost creeping up the side of his face, over his ear. In an equally icy voice, he said, "Tell me how you plan to kill him."

"I don't know!" The ice crept a little higher. "Really, I swear- wait. There's a creature, the Noumu, I think it's called; that's all I know! Please!"

"Tomura Shigaraki," Kimi interjected, calmer this time. "What's his quirk."

"I don't know!"

She turned to Todoroki. "We're done here."

He nodded, and they strode off the frozen land of ice.

/~/

In a precious moment of respite, Kimiko let herself collapse at the edge of the Landslide Zone. After a moment, she said, "You're just going to leave them there to freeze to death?"

"I heated up the atmosphere before we left," Todoroki responded. "They'll thaw enough to survive but will be in no condition to cause trouble."

She took a shaky breath. "Okay."

He cast her a careful glance. "You had a… unique reaction to the villains. One day you're going to tell me what happened today."

"And one day you're going to tell me why you don't use your fire," Kimi retorted, stiffening and glaring. Then she relaxed with a sigh. "But not today."

"Not today," he agreed.

/~/

They retraced their tracks and met up with the rest of their team, who'd also been heading towards them. Momo ran up to Kimi and enveloped her in a hug, murmuring, "Oh thank god."

She let her go, and Kimi smiled. "I didn't make it for the fight. And mister perfect over here, naturally, was perfectly fine."

Todoroki nodded. "Naturally."

Kimi punched him. "An-y-ways, we did a bit of interrogating, and apparently they're, ah, going to kill All Might."

Kaminari snorted. "Good luck with that."

"No, they could actually be a threat," Momo countered. "Whoever's coordinating these villains clearly isn't stupid; they planned this. They chose a secluded area away from U.A. to attack, and found a way in without setting off the alarms. They even blocked all forms of communication; Kaminari couldn't get through to the school. Also, I think they're the ones who've been causing the teachers to disappear."

Kimi blinked. "What?"

"It makes sense," she reasoned. "They've been picking off the staff one by one, reducing our backup in case we did get through to the school. They're very thorough."

"So All Might really could be in danger," Mineta summed up, frowning.

"Wait," Todoroki interjected. "Where's Kirishima, Uraraka and Shoji?"

"They went to sneak round the back to find Bakugo's group," said Asui. "We're going to stay here to regroup."

Nodding, Kimiko spun in a circle to assess their surroundings. "There's still another group of villains near the center, but Aizawa-sensei seems to be taking care of them. But… that purple mist. That's a villain named Kurogiri."

Mineta blanched. "That's a person?"

She nodded grimly. "Yeah. He's the one who brought the villains here, and he might bring more. If anything, we should take him out."

"What? We can't do that!" he shook his head frantically. "We should leave that work to the pros."

Kimi narrowed her eyes. "They're threatening All Might. That means we do everything in our power to stop them."

"You're being reckless again," Todoroki murmured.

She whirled to face him. "No. Not this time. Not All Might."

"And the pros aren't coming," Momo added. Kimi shot her a faint smile, happy she was on her side. "If they have backup, we're going to fall eventually. Besides; there's still a couple more villains here. Add any more, and we'll be overwhelmed. But," she said, glancing at Kimi. "We should at least wait for the other teams to come here."

"Yeah," she relented. "Okay."

The other arrived within the next few minutes, led by Bakugo and the rear brought up by Tokoyami.

Bakugo swaggered up, a sneer on his lips. "So, Midoriya. Didn't get your ass kicked, huh?"

Kimi let herself smile. "Nah, but it looks like you did."

He bared his teeth. "Listen here you little shit-"

"Hey, play nice," Kirishima chided. "And Bakugo, now's not the time for one of your pissing contests."

"I don't have pissing contests-"

"Anyways," Mina broke in. "Hi guys. We sent Iida to tell the principal what's going on, but it'll be a while before he comes back. So what's the plan?"

"See?!" Mineta exclaimed. "The pro's will be coming! We should just hide."

"He just left, and it's a long way from here to U.A," she warned. "We should think of something else."

Momo cast Mineta a look. "The purple void-like substance that transported the villains here is actually the work of another villain- Kurogiri. He's that swirling mass of fog over there." She pointed into the distance. "We were worried that he'd call for reinforcements so we thought we could team up and take him out."

Asui squinted. "What about the guy next to him?"

"That's just another villain," Kirishima said casually. "We can take him, no problem."

"Don't get overconfident now," Momo warned.

"Yeah, yeah."

"You guys done?" Bakugo snapped. "I'm gonna go beat their asses."

"Wait," Uraraka said. "Aizawa-sensei's attacking them."

Mineta sighed. "Oh, good. Now we really don't have to do anything."

"No," Kimi objected. "Now we fight the rest of the villains to keep them off his back."

Kaminari smirked. "Alright, let's go."

/~/

They'd only just cleared away the mass of villains in the center of the USJ, when the previously downed ones had recovered, and were quickly surrounding them.

Panting, Kimiko breathed, "Todoroki, ice wall please?"

He shook his head. "Out of energy."

"Damn. Kaminari?"

"He's stupid again," said Jiro.

Kimi cursed again, looking over the situation. "Alright, their ranks are thin over there; we'll exploit that. On the count of three?"

Grim nods.

"One."

"Two."

"Die!"

Bakugo soared ahead of them all in a mass of exploding light. The circle of villains swiftly turned upon him, closing in.

Kirishima leapt in after him with a roar, smacking the nearest villains to a side, each of his blows drawing blood. Gritting her teeth, Kimi followed after, Todoroki at her side.

She'd just finished off a reptilian-like villain when another immediately jumped her. Taken by surprise, Kimi was forced to backtrack, stumbling over her own feet.

"Duck!"

She did so without question, and Momo's metal staff soared over her head like a javelin and crashed into the villain, knocking him to the ground. Then Kirishima pounced on him, slamming his rock fists into his face.

Kimi straightened, breathless. "Thanks guys."

He smirked. "Anyti-" An axe to the chest promptly cut him off, and a heavily muscled villain wound it back, preparing to swing again.

Asui's tongue wrapped around Kirishima, yanking him to a side. The axe cleaved the air, hitting only earth. In the brief moment where the villain struggled to lift it back up, Kimi kicked it out of his hand.

The weapon fell towards a downed Mineta, and Kimi gave a cry, reaching forwards in vain. Uraraka lunged forwards to tap the handle; the axe stopped, floating in midair. Kimi breathed a sigh of relief and pulled Mineta to his feet.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

Kimi's answer died in her throat as the sun was suddenly blocked out. There were a series of sickening squelches, before Shoji removed his wing-like arms from over them, multiple arrows lodged in his flesh.

Her eyes widened. "Oh…oh god…"

But there wasn't time to say anything, feel anything- there were still more villains, fanning out and approaching.

Class 1-A slowly backed away in fear.

Cornered. Another familiar situation. One that Kimi promised she'd never let happen to herself and would never let happen to anyone else. It had been her promise, and she'd failed.

A growl escaped her lips. "Damn villains."

"What do we do?" Asked Uraraka. "They're coming!"

We have to slow them down. "Mineta," Kimi called sharply. "Pepper them with your balls and cover the ground between us and them as well."

"What?" He said. "Then they'll notice me! They'll single me out!"

"Sabotage," she told him roughly. "Stalling. Combat. I vouched for you!"

"I…I…"

"Now or never, Mineta," she said. "Unless you want us all to die?"

"No!" He screamed. "No, no, no!" And then he was flailing, throwing ball after ball and sowing chaos between the villains' ranks. The class breathed a collective sigh of relief, though not quite relaxing. This was their chance, and they'd do their damned best to turn the tide.

Sero's tape flashed in her vision, clearing away the first row. Then Shoji and Kirishima leapt in, followed by the resounding blasts of Bakugo's explosions. Specks of blood stained metal as Kimi slashed at flesh, again and again, Tokoyami's Dark Shadow at her back.

But it still wasn't enough.

A pair of villains rounded on Uraraka, swiftly taking her down. Rikido Sato fell afterwards, followed by Sero and Asui. They were on the verge of being completely overwhelmed before a blinding streak of ice crashed through ranks, freezing the momentum.

Kirishima reached out and caught Todoroki as he fell, patting him on the back. "Nice one."

Todoroki huffed tiredly in return.

The remaining villains approached warily, saw Todoroki out of commission, and pressed onwards with renewed confidence. Kimi swayed, managing to drop into a fighting stance. The rest of her class looked equally exhausted but determined to go down fighting.

Then a fierce wind ripped past them, followed by a triumphant cry. Kimi glanced up to see a streak of color flash through the air, hitting the ground with a crash.

All Might was here.