Chapter 8

Momo frowned intensely into the distance.

"Uh-oh," Sero said, "you look like Bakugou. What's up that's got you so scowl-y?"

"The pole. There has to be some kind of trick to it."

Bakugou snorted. "Don't break your head over it. Half-and-half set that challenge to mess with us."

"I don't think so. He said that all the training we're doing has a purpose."

Kirishima shrugged. "It's probably a test of strength and by the end of our training all of us will be strong enough to do it."

"If it was just a matter of brute strength Sato would have been able to do it on the first day already."

"Maybe it's about endurance then. No one manages to make it all the way up because they get too tired."

"If it was endurance, you would be able to do it right now. And if it was about raw quirk power then Bakugou would have done it weeks ago. I think it's something else."

She frowned again. Then her mouth opened and her expression cleared.

"What is it?"

"It's the weights. They make the task impossible. Without that any of us could retrieve the arrow."

"Yeah, no kidding," Bakugou said, "but what's your point?"

"You remember that speech the Captain gave us about strategy? About twisting your opponent's advantage to become yours?"

Bakugou's eyes suddenly lit up as well.

"You might be on to something, Deku."

[Since Momo uses the name Midoriya as her alias, Bakugou calls her Deku]

Momo stood up and walked over to the pole. The others gathered around her. Looking up at the arrow, she suddenly felt less sure of her plan.

"Maybe you should do it, Bakugou. You're more likely to succeed than I am."

She held out the weights to her friend, but he scowled and pushed them aside.

"No way. This is your idea. You should be the first one to get it right. Don't worry, once you're done you can fire the arrow again and I'll show you how to do it better."

"You can do this," Kirishima said and Sero gave her a thumbs up.

"All right then. Well… here I go."

Momo twisted the cords of the weights around each other on the opposite side of the pole. She couldn't fully knot it, but the immense weight kept her twist in place as she started to climb up the pole.

Now that she had a proper handhold the climb was much easier than she had expected. Still challenging, but nothing compared to the training she had been doing for the past month.

When she finally reached the top she heard the others cheering for her below. She smiled and climbed back down, leaving the arrow there for the next person to retrieve.

Bakugou went next. He chose a slightly different method. Instead of climbing he kicked off his shoes and used his explosions to launch himself into the air. The weights looped around the pole kept him from flying into a random direction and he reached the top in no time.

"Told you I'd do it better!" he called down to them. Momo and the other two laughed.

Next was Kirishima's turn. He used the same method as Momo. When he reached the top he whooped and slid back down, activating his quirk to keep from shattering his legs.

Sero clapped politely.

"That was very impressive. But none of you have managed to retrieve the arrow. Now, all this talk about turning things your advantage have got me thinking, 'why leave the ground at all when you can just bring the arrow to you?'"

Sero shot a stream of tape up at the arrow and reeled it back in.

Momo, Kirishima and even Bakugou lay on the grass laughing.

"You're a filthy cheat, Soy sauce," Bakugou wheezed.

"Why thank you," Sero said, taking a bow.

"So you figured it out."

They all jumped at the sound of their captain's voice. Shoto walked over to the group and nodded at the arrow in Sero's hand.

"Well done," he said.

"Oh no - no, you've got it all wrong. I didn't retrieve the arrow. Or I did, but-"

Bakugou interrupted since Sero was talking a mile a minute and making no sense. "What he means is that it was actually Midoriya's idea."

Shoto turned to Momo, looking surprised.

"Well… that was unexpected."

Bakugou scowled.

"What do you mean? De - I mean, Midoriya is the smartest recruit we have."

"And to think," Sero said, catching on to what Bakugou was doing, "you would have lost our best mind if you had sent him home."

Momo blushed furiously, but Shoto just looked at her friends with faint bemusement.

Finally, he turned to her and nodded. Her eyes widened so much she was surprised that they didn't just fall out of her head.

"You get your wish. You can stay. You might not be the strongest or the fastest or have the best quirk, but I believe that you'll keep your friends alive. And at the end of the day, that's the most important quality of a soldier."

Endeavour knew there was no way that he could win this battle. The best he had been able to accomplish was to evacuate the village before the Huns arrived. But that didn't mean that he was ready to lose yet.

They were vastly outnumbered though. He hated to admit it, but they had underestimated the Huns, both in numbers and tenacity. The only hope his troops had now was for reinforments to arrive before they were wiped out completely.

Endeavour had been fighting for hours now, but no matter how many Huns he defeated they were replaced just as quickly. It seemed that one of them had a multiplying quirk that allowed them to replenish their troops when his men were dwindling.

"Hawks!"

His second in command swooped down next to him, standing at his back to allow him to focus on the enemies in front of him.

"You need to leave. Now!"

"What? And let you win the battle single-handedly and take all the glory? Not a chance, Endeavour-san."

Despite the dire situation his tone carried the same note of mockery that it always did. The day Hawks was completely serious was the day that hell froze over and Shoto actually forgave him.

"You need to get word to my son. Tell him to bring his troops here."

Hawks didn't respond immediately. He thought about it.

"All right then. Don't die before I get back though," he joked.

"Hawks." Endeavour wasn't ready to lose yet, but he knew that fate might have other plans that even he couldn't stand in the way of. And if this was his last chance-

"Tell my son - tell him that I'm sorry. And I… I lo- just tell him that."

Hawks nodded, for once not making a parting quip. He took off like an arrow from a bowstring and vanished over the mountain. Endeavour watched him disappear with the sinking feeling that he would be back too late.

Sero wasn't as good at scouting as Shoji was, but there was no way that he was going to fall asleep on look out duty. No matter how boring it was. Or how much his eyelids drooped. Or - wait a minute…

He nudged Kirishima next to him.

"Is it just me or is that a really weird looking bird?"

Kirishima squinted at the approaching shape he had indicated.

"I don't know."

Bakugou joined them.

"That's not a bird, you idiots. It's a person."

"Wha-"

Before he could say anything else the bird/person practically crashed into the camp. Bakugou was ready to attack it, but Momo put a hand on his arm.

"Wait! He's wearing an imperial uniform."

"That's just a ruse to get past our defenses," Bakugou raised his hand again.

"Maybe, but let's gather more information before we attack, okay?"

"Fine," he growled.

"Sero, go fetch Iida and the captain. Kirishima, the healer. He needs medical attention."

"I can take him directly to Hagakure," Kirishima offered.

"We shouldn't move him until we know whether he's injured his neck or head."

Bakugou whacked Kirishima over the back of the head.

"Weren't you paying attention during first aid, Weird Hair?"

"Oh… sorry."

"Healer. Now," he growled at his friend.

As Kirishima left to fetch Hagakure, Bakugou knelt down next to Momo who was assessing the man's injuries.

"What do you want me to do, Deku?"

"At the moment there's not much you can do. There's not much I can do. If it does turn out that he's an enemy, that's when you'll be needed."

"Got it."

Apart from a few shallow cuts the man seemed to be all right, but Momo suspected that he had hit his head when he crashed. Either that or he was just absolutely exhausted.

"Sir, can you hear me?" she asked, remembering her grandmother's lessons about not letting concussion victims sleep.

"Endeavour's son… Shoto…" the man murmerred, "I need to tell him…"

"What?"

"The Huns - they made it through the pass."

While Shoto and Iida were busy talking to Hawks, the rest of the recruits gathered around to wait nervously. The mood under their group's tree was tense. Even Kirishima was somber.

Eventually Sero broke the silence.

"So… you guys think this is it? We're getting called up?"

"Finally," Bakugou said. Despite what he said he didn't sound as eager as Momo had expected.

"Hey… why did you guys join up?" she asked, "other than the conscription notice."

"Well, for me it was mostly because of the conscription," Sero said, looking up at the branches overhead, "if not for the emperor's decree I don't think I would have ever joined the army."

"What would you have done?"

Sero smiled, twirling a stick in the dirt.

"Interior design maybe."

Bakugou snorted, before Kirishima elbowed him.

"That's so manly, bro!"

"I'm sure you would have been very good at it," Momo added.

"You will be good at it. When we make it out of this war."

Silence descended. Momo turned to Kirishima to try and alleviate the tension.

"What about you?" she asked.

"Oh I would have joined the army either way. All the men in my family have been in the military. My dad, Crimson Riot, he was a captain."

Kirishima smiled as he talked about his dad, but his expression soon became serious.

"My mom wasn't happy about it though. She's afraid that I won't come back. Like my dad," he gave a half-hearted laugh as he tried to change the mood, "my sister, Mina, was mostly peeved that she couldn't come with me."

Kirishima looked at Bakugou.

"And you?"

Bakugou grunted.

"My mom's not one for soppy speeches or teary fairwells. When I was conscripted she just said, 'Great, it'll be good for you. Try not to kill the other recruits.'"

He was quiet so Momo assumed that he had finished speaking, but then he said, "She did tell me not to die as I left though."

Momo studied the bark of the tree next to her and was surprised to find that everyone was staring at her.

"Oh… well, I guess you all know that I'm not supposed to be here. I left in the middle of the night so there were no fairwells - teary or otherwise," she drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, "my parents are probably ashamed of me."

Kirishima started to say something comforting, but Bakugou stopped him.

"Why do you think that?"

"I - I keep making trouble for them. I do my best not to, but… even when I try to make things right I just mess them up more. I tried to protect my father. Now I realise that I just made more problems for him. If I'm discovered, my family will be shamed and lose any social standing we might have had. If I'm killed -"

Bakugou put a hand on her shoulder.

"You won't be."

"You can't guarantee that."

"Yes, I can, Deku. You're going to make it because I've got your back."

"And me!" Kirishima said, throwing his arms around both Bakugou and Momo, "I've got both your backs."

Sero joined the group hug. "I've grown weirdly fond of you guys so I guess I'll try to keep you alive."

"Yeah, yeah, okay," Bakugou grumbled, "we get the idea. We're all going to protect each other. Yada, yada… so if any of you morons die you can bet your whole pay that I'll resurrect you just so that I can personally send you back to the grave."