Vlad King led Toga into the classroom and wordlessly gestured to the empty desk in the front row. With her head ducked, she scurried over and dropped into it, letting her backpack rest on the ground against her leg.

"This is Himiko Toga. Be nice," Vlad snapped, his eyes scanning the room and pausing on the blonde haired boy who had spoken up at the announcement at the 1-A dorms. The boy sniffed hautly but said nothing.

The class started fairly normal. Vlad gave a lecture on Hero Law and on the basics of rescuing civilians and the students diligently took notes. Toga tried to keep up, but more than once, she would miss something he said and just skip down the page, leaving blank space for her to write in later. She lived with the guy, so she figured she could just ask him about the parts she missed later.

"Now, in a situation where there are hostages and the villain is in the same room as them, how do you ensure the safety of the hostages while also working to capture the villain? Yes, Monoma?"

The blonde haired boy lowered his hand as he spoke. "You can lead the villain away so that the hostages are not caught in the crossfire."

"Correct, that is one method."

The girl next to Toga, the one with red hair pulled into a side ponytail, raised her hand. "Sir, would this work if there is more than one villain?"

Vlad King nodded. "It can, as long as all the villains follow. It is possible that they won't. In that case, you would need to capture the ones that did follow and go back to fight the one who didn't. Any other questions?"

Without thinking, Toga raised her hand. Vlad blinked at her in surprise, a murmur going up in the room behind her. He gave her a nod, gesturing for her to ask.

"How do you tell the difference between a hostage and a villain?" she asked, her voice coming out high and squeaky from nerves.

The blonde boy, Monoma, scoffed. "Have you been so warped that you can't tell the difference between a civilian and one of your type?"

"Dude, not cool," said the silver haired boy on Toga's other side. This boy sat just in front of Monoma and turned in his seat to frown at the other teen.

Toga glared at Monoma. "That's not what I meant."

Vlad King cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention. "Toga, why don't you explain so I can better answer for you?"

She nodded. "What I meant is that villains will sometimes have someone planted in with the hostages. It's one of their own members mixed in so that there is always someone keeping an eye on the hostages. The plant goes in to mingle with the people before the rest of the team shows up so that no one who was there would question where they came from. I'm just wondering how heroes can pick out which of the hostages is a plant."

A hush fell over the class. Finally, the orange haired girl spoke up.

"Villains actually do that?" she asked in a small voice.

Toga nodded. "The plant always looks super normal and boring too. But I've heard about heroes being able to pick out the plant so I wanted to know how they did it."

"Oh, so you can call your villain friends to give them tips?"

"Monoma, quiet," Vlad King snapped. "That is not how we treat our classmates. She is asking a valid question. Now, plants in a hostage situation is a more advanced topic that you will all cover in detail later, but the basics of it is watching how the plant reacts to heroes and other hostages, especially during the aftermath when emergency services are on scene. That is usually when the plants are figured out."

From there, he continued his lecture.

Toga didn't raise her hand again, even when she got confused.

--

"Nezu, you wanted to see me," Aizawa said, stepping into the principal's office. Classes were over for the day and Vlad had already taken Toga and Deku back to his dorm. The rest of the students were off studying or doing extra training together. Nezu had sent Aizawa a text asking him to come to his office before he picked Eri up from Recovery Girl's clinic.

"Yes, there was an incident at Tartarus today that I felt you needed to be made aware of."

Aizawa straightened, his already serious expression turning stony. Nezu continued.

"Overhaul, the man who held and abused Eri, was killed. Another prisoner slipped past some guards and killed Overhaul in his cell. It was… a gruesome event. Neither man has ever met before, so we are unsure on why the prisoner murdered Overhaul."

"And he won't say why?"

"No, he has remained silent since the event."

Sighing, Aizawa sat down in the chair opposite Nezu. "It was probably the League. They must have paid off the prisoner to take out Overhaul. From what the kids said, Shigaraki really hates the guy."

"Yes, for insinuating that he would be a better leader of the underworld than Shigaraki and his Sensei. Along with the murder of Magne, Shigaraki must have felt that Overhaul was waging war," Nezu said. He brought his paws together and steepled them at his chest as he thought. "We will need to take care in protecting Midoriya and Toga. It is possible that Shigaraki may attempt to have someone attack the two. How were they in the afternoon classes?"

Aizawa shook his head. "It didn't go well with Midoriya. He has seen things no kid should ever see. I'm sure Toga has too."

"Your other students have faced difficulties as well."

"Yeah, but none of them have been propositioned by a quirk trafficker."

Nezu flinched at that. "No, I would say none of them have experienced that. I am guessing he acted up in class then?"

"In self defense, mostly. Vlad told me that some of his kids were pretty harsh towards Toga, but they settled quickly. It's going to take some time before they are accepted by the classes. I just hope they can hold out until then."

"They are strong, evident by their resilience in the face of the things they encountered before coming here. With the right support, I am sure they will do fine."

--

A light was shining from beneath Toga's bedroom door. Checking the time again, Vlad saw that it was late, later than the two kids should be up. Knocking gently at the door, he waited for either of them to answer. When he heard nothing, he cracked the door open and peered inside.

Toga was sitting at her desk, her head down next to her notebook. Her eyes were closed, leaving her long lashes fanned out across the tops of her cheeks. She took even breaths as she slept and looked peaceful for once. Deku was on the floor on the futon, his back resting against the bed. His head was hanging down, his chin tucked to his chest. Spread across his lap were a multitude of books, papers, and notebooks.

They looked like two normal kids who fell asleep studying.

Vlad smiled slightly before pulling out his phone and snapping a quick picture. He sent it off in the teacher's group chat, which was filled mostly with heroics teachers and a handful of others.

' Working hard to catch up, ' he typed, giving context to the photo.

' Aw, they're so cute! ' Midnight texted back straight away.

Cementos followed up. ' Yeah, when they aren't trying to kill anyone. '

' Shut up and give the kids a chance, ' Aizawa fired back. The group chat went quiet after that.

Stepping lightly, Vlad moved further into the room and peered at Toga's notebook. It was the same that she had been writing in during his lecture that day, but he noticed that a portion of it was written in pencil while the rest was in pen. She had been using a pencil in class, so that would have been what she had written earlier, but the portion in pen was fresher, filling in blanks and adding comments and definitions in the margins. It hit Vlad: she hadn't understood some of the things he had said, so she had waited until she got back to her room to use the textbooks and Deku for help.

"Smart," he whispered under his breath. Carefully, he reached out and nudged her shoulder. "Hey, kid."

Toga's eyes flew open and her lips curled, her fangs barred as she hissed and shot up from her seat. Vlad raised his hands, showing her that he was unarmed. When she saw who it was, her lips fell and she relaxed ever so slightly.

"You looked uncomfortable sleeping on your desk. Thought maybe you would want to go to bed," Vlad said.

With a small yawn, she nodded and made her way across the room. When she got to her bed, she poked Deku, startling him awake. Blinking, he saw Vlad standing by the door.

Yawning, Deku stretched his arms above his head. "Are you here for my punishment?"

Vlad frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Got in an argument with Kacchan. Cursed in class. Kacchan got detention and Aizawa said I'd get a different punishment later, since detention wouldn't do much to me."

"Oh, uh, alright. Then, you have to clean the kitchen and dishes tomorrow night."

Both Toga and Deku continued to stare up at him, expectantly. Vlad shifted uncomfortably, unsure of what they were waiting on.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm waiting for the rest," Deku said, stifling another yawn.

"That's it, kid."

Toga frowned. "So he only has to skip dinner to do the dishes and wipe counters? Doesn't seem like much."

"What? No, he's not skipping dinner. He'll eat dinner with us and then he'll do the dishes after. It's comparable to what Bakugou will be doing, which is cleaning the classroom."

Deku and Toga looked at him with thinly veiled skepticism, but didn't push. They settled themselves down and burrowed beneath their blankets. Vlad told them goodnight, which he got no response to, and turned the light off as he shut the door behind him.

Back in his own room, Vlad pulled his phone out and opened the text conversation he had between himself and Aizawa.

' Check over Midoriya's notes sometimes. I don't think the kids feel comfortable admitting when they don't understand something. '

' What makes you say that? '

' Apparently, Midoriya and Toga have spent the entire night reviewing their notes and textbooks. I think he was helping her more than she helped him. '

' From the results of the tests that they took this morning, it doesn't surprise me. Midoriya is a certified genius. He's fluent in English, so Nezu is pulling him from that period and doing private lessons on analysis. Looks like Toga will be an average student once she catches up on the core subjects. Nezu is setting up private tutoring sessions after classes for her. '

' Got it, thanks for the heads up. Also, the kids don't understand what a normal punishment is. Midoriya asked me about his punishment for acting up in class and when I told him he had to clean the kitchen tomorrow night, both he and Toga assumed that meant he had to skip dinner to do that. They thought that wasn't enough and were waiting for the rest of it. I'm kind of worried about what they thought the punishment would be. '

' Well shit. That's concerning. We'll need to be more clear with them in the future about that kind of stuff. Will probably need to do the same with Eri. '

'How is she? Settling in okay? '

' Stressed. She barely speaks and flinches every time someone gets near her. I think she'll feel better once Midoriya is moved in. '

' Fingers crossed. Have a good night. '

--

"Overhaul is dead," Shigaraki said, his red eyes staring into the depths of his drink.

Dabi, who was sitting at the other end of the bar, looked up, blinking lazily. "That was fast."

"Sensei works quickly."

"We ever going to meet the guy?"

Shigaraki shot Dabi a deadly look. "Someone like you has no business meeting him."

"Oh, he's that special, is he?"

Shigaraki did not answer. He turned away and lifted his drink to his cracked lips. His scowl was deep set, though his eyes looked pensive. After a moment of silence, he finally spoke.

"He is. He is… different from any other man I have ever met. He is the final boss at the end of the game. At least, he is for now. He's raised me to surpass him. And one day, I will. And I will use all the power he has given me to tear down hero society; All Might with it."

"The others think of the League as a family. A bit weird that the family hasn't met your daddy."

Shigaraki growled, glaring at Dabi. "Watch it."

"Fine, whatever. Just think it's weird he won't show himself."

"He'll reveal himself when the time is right. Now, have you heard anything about the brats?"

"It's been like, one day. Give it time. Besides, I thought you were the one with all the connections."

"Yeah, in the police force. Not UA. You work with people on your end, I'll work with people on mine. We'll see who gets the kids back first," Shigaraki sneered, taking a drink from his glass. "They better be grateful for everything we are doing to get them out."

Dabi said nothing.

--

Two weeks into their stay at UA and not much had changed.

In 1-B, Kendo had made a few attempts to draw Toga into conversations, but every time that Toga started to come out of her shell, someone else in the class would say something that would scare her away. Kendo always scolded the classmate afterwards, but she never made a real attempt to defend Toga.

Shinsou and Todoroki had both tried to speak to Deku, but every time they approached him, Deku would scurry away, barely pausing to offer up a flimsy excuse. The only time that 1-A saw Deku really speak to anyone was when he moved into the 1-A dorms and Eri ran out to the common room to greet him.

He and Toga didn't really speak at lunch either. The pair would grab a table in the corner near the windows and would sit beside each other, facing out to the rest of the cafeteria. Their eyes were always up and scanning, watching to make sure no one would catch them by surprise. Deku had even stopped arguing with Bakugou. Every time the blond approached him, demanding answers about his time with the League, Deku would sit silently, staring down at his desk.

Basically, Toga and Deku had shut down.

Nezu had approached Hound Dog about this development, concerned for the pair. Hound Dog had assured Nezu that this was to be expected and to give the teens time to adjust. He had nearly daily sessions with them, trying to uncover their history so he could help them, but neither was very forthcoming. Again, Hound Dog had to assure Nezu that this was also normal and that they all needed to continue to build trust with the pair if they ever wanted them to open up.

When Nezu brought that up with the teachers during a staff meeting, some of the teachers had grumbled, saying they didn't see how they were supposed to build trust with villains.

"Well, they aren't really villains now, are they?" Mic asked, lowering his sunglasses and fixing his vibrant green eyes on the rest of the staff. "They are students. And it should be our goal as teachers to have all of our students trust us."

"They probably won't begin to trust the teachers until they have started to develop bonds with other students. They have grown up seeing adults as adversaries and abusers. When they were in need of support, they typically found solace in others closer to their age. We should be encouraging the rest of the hero course to accept them and treat them with kindness. Not only will this give them someone to turn to when they need help, but it will also show that we are willing to stand up to anyone who will bully them, including other hero course students," Nezu said, a paw rubbing under his chin thoughtfully.

"Perhaps a hero exercise will help with team building," All Might suggested, perking up. "I could design something to help bring the students together."

"Oh, like the battle trials you did at the beginning of the year? Where Recovery Girl had to treat students for burns, concussions, frostbite, and various cuts and sprains? Yeah, I don't think so," Aizawa snapped.

"I've learned since then! I was thinking about a game of capture the flag. I could do a combination of 1-A and 1-B to help foster teamwork with those they don't typically work with. It would be good for them!"

Vlad King made a slightly impressed expression. "That's not a horrible idea. Would give Aizawa and I a chance to catch up on grading while the kids are with Yagi."

"I can help All Might run it," Midnight said, raising a hand. "If any kids get out of control, I can knock them out."

Nezu nodded. "Yes, I think that would do nicely."

Aizawa continued to frown, his hands in fists on the table. Mic bumped his knee beneath the table in an attempt to comfort him.

It did little to quiet the voice in his head saying this was a bad idea.