We entered the final burning house - the one that seemed to have started the conflagration. Mr. Manual had run to the location, making his way through putting out the other fires.

"Arrow! How are the others?"

"Secured!"

"Ingenium?"

"Secured, sir!"

"According to the civilians, this isn't an ordinary fire. There's a villain at the center of it, in that building. They seemed pretty freaked out by them. My orders are that you two leave the villain to me and tend to the rescue. If I am in some way incapacitated, you have my permission to attack. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" we chorused.

The building was very smoky and seeing was difficult. I waved my hands and saw through the haze a rather - disturbing sight. A few civilians were crawling along the ground, at an extremely slow pace, dragging themselves towards the doors - coughing all the way, but moving almost as though something were pulling them backwards.

"Citizens!" I called to them. "Have no fear! We are here!"

"Heeeeeelllllppp...ussssss..."

It came out in a slurred manner, as if the civilians were unable to speak at normal speeds. I hurried to them and hauled as many as I could onto my shoulders. Arrow was already loading up.

"Let's go." We sped to the rendezvous, laid them on the rescue triage - very like the exam - and headed back. As we made it through the doors, we heard - Manual crying out in pain.

"Mr. Manual!" gasped Arrow. "No - no!"

We both sped through the smoke, following the sound of his voice. Then we saw it, the villain. In the center of the conflagration, waving their hands as the civilians - and Mr. Manual - on the floor around it attempted to crawl to the doors, they wore a massive dark cloak that covered their entire form, swaying around them like part of the smoke itself. Beneath the hood, however, I could see a white face mask. It was rather like the kind used in Noh theater performances, but without a mouth, and with completely closed eyes - closed and with decorative marks over them as though stitched shut.

They waved a hand towards Mr. Manual. There was a strange sound, rather like an echo, and the tiny movements Mr. Manual had been making stopped.

"No escape." It was a woman's voice, low and deep. I shivered a little. Stop it.

"Ingenium," hissed Arrow. "I take the villain. You get Mr. Manual and as many rescuees as you can."

"Understood."

Arrow took a deep breath, knelt, and muttered, "Good luck freezing me when you can't see me."

She leapt and sped around the building like a ricocheting bullet. I activated engine and seized Mr. Manual, then the five groaning civilians I could carry. Behind me I could hear the hooded villain whisper, "Bug."

"Iiiiingggggeeeeennnnnniiiiiuuuuummmm," Mr. Manual slurred out, in the time it took us to exit. "Sssshhhheeeee - sssslll -"

"Can you use your quirk?" I asked him as we exited. "Try to nod!"

He gave the tiniest inclination of the head.

"The fires!" I told him. "I'll continue rescue while Miss Arrow keeps the villain busy."

Another tiny nod. "Ddddoooon't - lllleeee-"

"I'll use caution! The rescue is priority." I turned about and sped into the building again.

I'd reached the center and saw - Arrow had been caught as well. The villain did not even seem annoyed.

There were three more civilians, plus Miss Arrow. I would need to use reciproburst to make it. Could I grab them all with the brief burst from recipro and make it to the doors?

Not much time to think about it. I at least had a filter for the smoke in my mask, but the victims and Miss Arrow did not. No time to dwell.

Recipro - burst.

I was moving at REcirpo's speed - but not quite - what it sohuld have been. I frowned. Recpro is faster than this, isn't it? I turned to my legs. They were acting oddly, stalling like an overclogged engine. What was this?

But at least teh villain hadn't seen me - time - time enough -

And then I had to move into her line of sight. The blank mask was pointed my way.

"Fast." Her hand lifted, aimed towards me as I seized Miss Arrow and reached for the last civilian. Please miss me. Please -

I could move, I could -

Fzzzt.

Recipro had clocked out of me early. How? This couldn't - this never -

But I can still -

"Time to sleep."

And my limbs - all of my limbs - turned to liquid. It was as though I had taken a very powerful tranquilizer or sleeping pill. All energy seemed to disappear from my limbs. It was a different sensation from being paralyzed by Hero Killer Stain. This wasn't paralyzing - no, it was like being put to sleep or anaesthetized.

Against every will in my body I fell to the ground. The villain was facing away from me. I could see only the wall as I attempted to move even the slightest inch.

A disembodied voice, not the cloak villain's, came over some sort of intercom.

"Sloth? Any trouble?"

"Heroes. Asleep."

"We're done here. Time to go. Fire fighters and rescue crews are here."

"Bye."

And I lost consciousness at that.

The clock in the hospital showed five hours later when I woke up. Mr. Manual and several of the civilians shared the suite with me.

"Hey, Tenya."

"Mr. Manual, I apologize."

"You did a lot, kid. Probably saved my life."

"Miss Arrow, and the others -"

"They're ok. They won't be talking much for a while, but they're not seriously injured."

"And the villains?"

"I'm afraid they got away."

I looked away from him. "I overheard some of what the villain said before I passed out. I should tell the police."

"Good thinking. Look, Ingenium. You saved plenty of lives. We did. In hero work, you don't always win the whole thing. And rescue and evacuation are always going to be higher priorities than combat."

I smiled back. It was like what I'd learned from Midoriya before.

"I'm more worried about you, actually," added Mr. Manual.

"Yes - something happened back there with my Recipro burst..."

"Apparently your quirk is malfunctioning. The doctors checked your engines out and said something was on the fritz."

"Something went wrong. I'll have to consult our family physician."

"Well, go get yourself sorted out. And once you're ready, give me a call. I'd say you more than qualified out there today."

The police were pleased with my information and gave several significant looks. I headed back to Heights Alliance, where my friends ran up to me and greeted me with very touching anxiety.

"Iida! I heard you ended up in the hospital again! Are you ok?" babbled Midoriya, running right up to me and throwing his hands back and forth.

"Oh my gosh, Iida, you scared me!" Uraraka bounded up to me and actually hugged me; I hugged back, but let go quickly, reminding myself that she was a girl and hugging her this tightly was unseemly.

"I hear you saved a lot of people. Well done," said Todoroki, quietly but no less profoundly.

"Saving people your first day on the job? That's amazing, Iida?" added Midoriya.

"Iida!" cried Yaoyorozu, smiling sweetly as she joined the crowd. "I heard you were in the hospital - I was worried..." She seemed flustered. I felt rather flattered.

"Thank you, my friends," I told them. "I'm all right, mostly. I may need to visit home tomorrow, but I will be in reasonable shape. And don't worry, I will not slack off in our training."

I travelled home the next day as promised, after a night of hectic UA paperwork. Tensei and Mother greeted me, and after some reunion chat, I asked them about what had happened with Reciproburst.

"Well," said Tensei, with a serious look that then turned playful. "It sounds like you might be due for a tune-up."