Forgot to mention this last time, I am going to try keeping the length of the subsequent chapters about half of the prologue to make things easier for me and more digestible for you guys, so about 5-6K words.

Borderlands is owned by Gearbox and 2KGames and My Hero Academia is owned by Kohei Horikoshi and Funimation. Please support the official release.

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"This means someone is talking."

'This means someone is thinking to themselves.'

This means it's a flashback.

This means it's a sound effect!*

Angel in a Gilded Cage

Angel was a patient person. For most of her life she had been in a perpetual state of sitting in one place and waiting for things to happen. She had grown to enjoy the quiet moments, they were usually when nothing stressful or bad was happening.

That being said, she was definitely not enjoying her down time. It had been a week since the entrance exam and still no word from Yūei.

Thinking back she remembered what happened afterwards. She had awoken on a hospital bed in a matching sterilized nurse's office. Her head was pounding from overusing her quirk, but aside from some serious fatigue, she felt a lot healthier than she thought she'd be.

That's when she met Yūei's very own school nurse and medical hero; Recovery Girl. A sweet elderly doctor who had used her healing quirk on her while she was unconscious, boosting her body's natural restorative abilities at the cost of her stamina. Apparently she had been suffering from a concussion on top of the broken leg and a cut on her head, making her glad that she had slept through most of it. She had also suffered second degree burns on her back from where her wings had melted through her jacket, an unfortunate side effect that Lilith had failed to mention.

After a quick checkup the kind lady gave her some sugar tablets to help keep her awake and her phone so she could call for a ride. A quick drive back to Moxxi's flat she was almost too tired to eat the pizza she had made as a reward.

Almost. There was no way she was going to miss Moxxi's slices of heaven!

Once she was finished, she practically collapsed onto her bed and despite her worrying about her performance she had the most peaceful dream in her life. A dream where she relived the sensation, the euphoric experience that was flying. After that was a suspenseful week of waiting around and killing time.

"Ouch!" She hissed, pulling her finger out from the dishwater where she had jabbed herself with a fork. A quick inspection revealed no injury, so she continued washing as she thought back on that moment during the exam.

It had been everything she had imagined, watching Lilith in action all those months ago. The free-flowing current of power making her feel lighter than air, the sensation of the wind beneath her wings and washing over her skin. All of it leading up to the peak instant at the end of her climb, the few seconds before gravity would reclaim its grasp and she bore witness to the world stretching out below her. Right then she experienced another feeling, one she had never felt in her life that filled her soul. She knew right there and then what it was.

Freedom. For the briefest of moments she was free. Free to do whatever she desired.

And she wanted to return the favor to the boy who had saved her life and inadvertently, gave the push she needed. This in turn resulted in a realization.

Her powers could be used to save others. That had been the best part, that instead of risking someone's life, she had preserved it. The following morning, she could feel years of guilt fall off her shoulders.

'I'm making up for what I have done.' She concluded.

"Angel!"

Angel jolted at the sudden call, glancing back in time to see Moxxi race into the room.

"It's here!" She announced, bringing attention to the envelope in her hand, the seal and address making her stomach churn.

It was from Yūei.

Sitting on the couch with Moxxi at her side, Angel held the letter in her grasp, running her thumb over the red wax seal. Her sixth sense picked up a small buzzing from within, meaning there was a device inside. She had already ruled out a bomb or anything implying foul play, it was probably some kind of tracker from the school to make sure the message was delivered she reasoned.

This was it, the final hurdle. All of the work, endeavours and her hopes and dreams, their fate would be decided by the contents of this innocuous, crisp envelope.

She flinched at the hand on her shoulder, before realizing it was Moxxi's. Looking over, Moxxi was wearing a comforting smile. Nervously, Angel returned it.

Taking a shaky breath, she pried off the seal and reached inside.

Only to retrieve a small, coaster sized disk.

"What the-?"

"I AM HERE! AS A HOLOGRAM!" A loud, boisterous and familiar voice hollered in English, making Angel shriek as she dropped the device on the table as it came to life, projecting an image in the air!

"All-Might?!" Moxxi gasped.

Sure enough, suspended above the table dressed in a golden pinstriped suit was the number one hero himself!

"Hope you don't mind me speaking in English young lady! When I saw that one of our applicants was from America, I couldn't pass up the chance to flex my linguistic muscles, ha ha!" He laughed as he flexed one of his massive biceps unabashed.

Getting over her initial shock, Angel stuttered. "All-Might?! Why are you in my letter from-!"

"I apologize if you are asking questions right now, this is a recording!" The pro hero unintentionally interrupted.

"Oh…"

"Although if I had to guess, you are probably wondering why I'm speaking to you right now! It was decided that it'd be fitting for me to announce the exam results to the applicants, my first responsibility as the latest member of the Yūei faculty!"

"All-Might's a teacher?!" She sputtered.

"Now let's get down to business." He cut her off again. "You aced the written exam, nice work using that noggin young lady!" He complimented, making her blush from the praise. "For the practical exam you managed to bag fifty-four villain points! You showed great skill in the use of your quirk, sensing and controlling the robots to get points quickly! Not too shabby! This places you in the top fifty of our applicants!"

'But where in those fifty am I? The hero course can only fit forty students!'

"BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!" All-Might announced, pointing to a screen behind him. On it was a slideshow of still images, Angel destroying her mounted robot to avoid running over the cheek girl, warning and pulling her away moments before the Zero-pointer surfaced and pushing her out of the way of falling debris. "Heroics isn't only about fighting villainy and neither is the exam! Your actions in saving your fellow applicants inspired their own acts of self-sacrifice, you went above and beyond!" The slideshow ended with a picture of herself holding the green haired boy's body to her own as she used her wings to slow his fall. "The grading board shared my sentiment and awarded you with forty-five rescue points!"

"Forty-five?!" She gasped.

"Can you guess what that means?" The giant man asked in a teasing tone.

"COME ON YA BIG, BLONDE BASTARD! ENOUGH WITH THE DAMN FOREPLAY!" Moxxi all but screamed, unaware she had slipped back into her personally loathed southern accent!

"BEHOLD!" With the press of a remote the slideshow behind him was replaced with a scoreboard. Her eyes frantically searched for her name.

Then they widened.

There in bright orange, at the top of the board;

\Hodunk, Angel Villain:54-Rescue:45/

"With a total of ninety-nine points… you, Angel Hodunk... EARNED FIRST PLACE! CONGRATULATIONS! WELCOME TO YUEI!" All-Might declared giving her a thumbs up, then the image faded and the disk shut off.

"HELL YES! Angel ya did it! Ya did it, you beautiful girl you!" Moxxi cheered, crushing Angel into a hug as the girl just stared in disbelief.

She couldn't believe it. She came first in the exam! She was going to Yūei!

A smile stretched across her face as tears furiously poured from her eyes and she returned the hug.

"Angel come on! You wanted to arrive early right?! Get your rear in gear!" Moxxi yelled.

"I know, I know! I'll be there in a minute!" Angel replied as she finished brushing her hair and looked at herself in her new uniform. A white, button-up shirt paired with a tie, covered by the grey jacket with dark green accents on the collar and sleeves. She fussed with the matching green skirt. It was her first time wearing one, her mind constantly worrying that it was too short.

"Did you remember to get your lunch?"

"Where is it?"

"Fridge, top shelf!"

Running back into the kitchen she opened the fridge and grabbed her store bought lunch, stuffing it into her bag and zipping it up.

In contrast to waiting for her acceptance letter, the days leading up to the beginning of the school year went by quick. Between buying her school supplies, getting her uniform and otherwise preparing herself, it was like a blur.

"You got everything? We need to leave now if we're going to beat traffic!" Moxxi called from the door.

"Coming!" She answered, rounding the corner to the front door where Moxxi waited, dressed in a dark purple business suit and skirt, which despite the professionalism the wardrobe demands, she still managed to pull off in a salacious fashion with how it hugged her voluptuous curves.

"I don't know how you can stand skirts." Angel complained as she pulled on her shoes and fastened the laces. "I feel so exposed!"

"You'll get used to it Honey." Moxxi laughed, shouldering her purse and donning a pair of sunglasses.

Locking the door behind them, they walked down the stairs to Moxxi's car and were rolling down the street soon enough. Early morning traffic was just starting to converge, meaning it was a relatively quick drive to Yūei from Moxxi's neighbouring flat.

Eventually the tall concrete wall of the "Yūei Barrier" loomed over. Moxxi slowed and parked at the sidewalk, then turned over to her passenger.

"You have everything?"

"Yep!"

"ID card?"

"Yep!"

"Phone?"

"Yep!"

"Lunch?"

"Yep!"

"Books?"

"Yep!"

"Alright. I'll be here to pick you up around three-thirty."

Angel nodded and turned to step out of the car. She paused as the tall skyscraper-esque buildings shone in the morning sun. For so long she had watched other kids her age go to school. Stories from books and shows made it out to be a place where they'd go to learn, make friends, but most importantly, find a place where they belonged.

It was something she had always wanted, but had long convinced herself to be an impossible dream.

"This is really happening, isn't it?" She stated anxiously, afraid that she was going to wake up and be back "home".

She felt Moxxi affectionately squeeze her shoulder, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

"It's all real Angel." She assured her, her usual seductive tone replaced with a caring warmth.

Angel wringed her hands. "But… what if something goes wrong? What if I screw up? What if I'm not cut out to be a hero?"

"Angel, look at me." Which she did, watching Moxxi pull off her glasses and look her in the eye.

"You are capable of great things and anyone would be lucky to know you. What you have gone through has made you a smart, kind and strong girl and any other person would have broken a long time ago."

"So many bad things happen because of me. People get hurt. I'm not strong." Angel argued numbly.

"Roland, Lilith, Brick and Mordy would disagree. It took a strong person to do what you did."

"Really..?" She mumbled.

Moxxi gave her shoulder another squeeze. "Without a doubt. I won't lie and tell you that it'll be easy from here on out. But you've worked hard to get here and if anyone deserves this chance, it's you. Don't let it slip through your fingers. So go to class. Make friends. Make mistakes and learn from them. Become who you want to be."

Moxxi's kind words made her sniffle and she wiped away a couple tears that began to spill out as she smiled.

"I really am a big baby aren't I?

Moxxi giggled. "A little bit, yeah. Have fun today Sugar. Remember if there are ANY problems, talk to Principal Nezu, okay?"

"Okay and thank you Moxxi… for everything."

"Just get going. I'm going to be late for work." She waved her off playfully.

Taking a deep breath, Angel opened the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. Closing it behind her, she started walking to the gate.

"Hey Angel!" She turned her head to see Moxxi holding her phone in her hand. "Smile!"

Catching on, Angel made a peace sign with one hand and gave the camera the biggest grin she could muster. It clicked and Moxxi started her car.

"Good luck!" She yelled then drove off.

Angel watched her go for a second before turning back to the school. She was still nervous, but her caretaker's uplifting words had replaced her dread with excitement. She was actually feeling giddy!

'Lets go!' She thought and started to run.

Angel was humble enough to admit that she had gotten a little bit lost. The main school building was quite massive with multiple classrooms on each of its many floors. She was not above asking for help of course, getting directions from a passing janitor.

Soon enough, she was standing in front of her designated classroom, 1-A. Seemingly following the trend for the campus architecture, the door itself was super tall and wide, probably accommodating students of unusual size.

Doorway dimensions aside, now that she was standing there, her trepidation started to return.

'Beyond this door… will be the hero course homeroom. My… homeroom.' She pondered, processing the concept in her head. The place that she would sit for class, take tests and interact with her classmates. People her age who she doesn't know and vice versa. A fresh start.

She began to sweat.

Soon she would meet people who would judge her based on who she was as a person, not her past. They would have to coexist and cooperate for the next three years.

'And maybe… they will be my friends?' She thought hopefully, before she calmed down.

'Baby steps Angel, baby steps. You will need to introduce yourself first. First impressions are everything, if you screw it up, they won't bother getting to know you.'

She smiled as she gripped the handle.

'Good thing I came here early! Now I can wait for people to arrive while I prepare myself alone!'

She opened the door and stepped inside. A podium stood in front of a blackboard. Across were orderly rows of immaculate white desks and chairs. Small lockers were in the back for stowing belongings during class. In the far back corner on the right she saw her assigned seat, waiting for her.

"It's better than I imagined!" She cheered happily.

"Now!" She turned her head. "Time to…" She froze.

Sitting on the far left row four seats down was another student. It was the bespectacled boy with the engine quirk from the entrance exam!

'WHY IS SOMEONE ALREADY HEREEEE?!' She screamed internally! It was about forty five minutes until the start of the school day!

In the time it took Angel to make this observation, the boy had already left his seat and started to approach.

"Ah! I recognize you! The girl who grew wings during the exam! Hello! I am Iida Tenya from Soumei Junior Academy!" He declared with a loud and proud voice while he made very animated hand gestures like some kind of robot!

"I must say your performance during the entrance exam was truly inspiring! Your quirk is a wonder to behold! It is also very uplifting to see someone else as early to class as I am." He continued enthusiastically!

Unbeknownst to Iida, his exuberant energy was only serving to scramble Angel's mind. There was a boy in her face waving his hands around wildly while speaking at an overwhelming pace which did not help her social anxiety!

'BOY! TOO CLOSE! TALKING! LOUD!'

The only thing she knew at that moment was that she needed to do something!

She spoke the first thing that entered her mind.

"HELLO, IT'S NICE TO MEET YOU!" She yelled and bowed dramatically!

Iida jumped back at her sudden proclamation. "Wait, English?"

Her blood ran cold as she let out a squeak. When had she switched to English?! Things went from bad to worse! She was like a cornered animal, pressed into a situation that triggered her fight or flight instincts. It was predictable which she chose.

Angel snapped out of her bow, ran to the opposite wall of the class room, jumped into her desk and laid her head on its table!

'I wanna die…' She groused with embarrassment. Hopefully this Iida person will get the hint that she doesn't want to talk.

Hearing movement, she glanced up to see him returning to his seat. She sighed with relief.

'Alright. First introduction; complete failure. But now I can get ready for the next one. I can't handle too many though. Maybe… just my desk neighbours? Yeah, I'll do that.' She decided.

After placing her bag in one of the lockers she waited in silence, the only noise coming from the ticking clock on the wall. Iida was seated at his desk, remaining completely silent with his back straight and making no movements, only supporting Angel's theory that he was a robot in disguise.

After about twenty minutes, the door opened, startling Angel out of her stupor. In walked a tall girl with a fairly mature physique, not holding a candle to Moxxi, but she was definitely what Angel knew people found attractive. She had long, spiky black hair tied into a ponytail with a particularly large bang hanging over the right side of her face, complimenting her onyx coloured eyes.

Iida noticed her entry as well, standing up to make the same introduction Angel presumed.

Turning her attention away, she quickly started fixing her appearance, making sure she didn't look disheveled after her earlier altercation and straightened her back.

She finished just as Iida and the new girl had done their greetings. The new girl looked at her, making Angel swallow nervously as she struggled to keep a straight face. Seeming to have recognized where to sit, the girl started walking to the back row, towards her. She came to a stop and pointed to the seat to Angel's front.

"No one is seated here correct?"

She shook her head.

The girl then deposited her bags and set herself down in her seat. Turning to face her, the girl held out a hand.

"Yaoyorozu Momo, a pleasure to meet you." She greeted.

Angel inhaled and as naturally as she could muster: "I am Hodunk Angel, a pleasure to meet you too. I… hope we can get along."

The newly minted Yaoyorozu gave a smile and a nod then returned to her own business.

Sighing with relief, Angel felt elation at her success as she memorized Yaoyorozu's name and face so she wouldn't awkwardly forget later.

Taking another glance around the room, she noticed that during their conversation, more students had entered and claimed their seats. The room was gradually becoming more and more diverse and colourful, the students themselves a variety of different physiques, features and mannerisms. They were all unique individuals and Angel couldn't wait to be a part of their shared school experience.

Glancing at the clock it read 8:12. Time was flying by.

'Not much longer now.' She flexed her fingers in excitement. Her first day of actual school would soon start.

A small creak of wood to her right. Glancing to the side, she jolted.

Another student had sat down in the right hand seat, this time it was a boy. Sitting perfectly straight, making no movements or sound, he seemed to be about the same height as Iida. Staring straight forward, the only feature Angel could see was his crimson hair. He made no move to acknowledge her existence despite taking the seat next to her.

'Why doesn't he want to introduce himself? Maybe… he's shy too?' She wondered. It was plausible and the thought of another person in her new class having difficulty socializing was strangely uplifting, it'd mean they'd have something in common!

'If he isn't going to speak maybe I should introduce myself?' She thought, then nodded to herself. Pulling on a nervous smile she extended her arm out in welcome.

'Here goes nothing!'

"H-Hello, my name is Hodunk Angel. What's your name?" She asked, tripping over her tongue only once.

The boy didn't answer for a moment, then turned his head.

Her heart stopped.

She saw his face, but it was his face. The mismatched coloured eyes, their cold, pitiless gaze piercing her soul, despite the darker ravaged scarred portion of his skin. He opened his mouth to speak.

"My name?" But a different voice came out.

Angel blinked and he was gone, replaced with a face that while it bore a few similarities to his, was completely different. A handsome visage, but in a stoic and sincere way. His appearance was a duality instead of perfect symmetry, his hair colour evenly split down the middle, crimson on his left side and snow white on his right. His right eye was a dark shade of grey while his left was turquoise, encompassed by a red scar that covered his head down to the middle of his cheek.

Currently, he was studying her with an unreadable expression as if waiting for an answer to his inquiry about her inquiry.

All she could muster was a quick, shaky nod.

He stared for a moment longer.

"Shoto." He spoke in a deadpan tone, then turned back to the front, not bothering to shake her hand.

Pulling her arm back, she cradled herself as she breathed shakily. She needed to calm down, she didn't want to have another panic attack, not on the first day.

'Breath in, breath out. He doesn't know where you are. He can't hurt you. Breath in...' She reminded herself, not noticing the boy giving her a sideways glance.

Shoto wasn't a sociable person, such concerns were not part of who he was. All of his life he had little time or care about other people or what they wanted or thought of him.

Yet... there was something unnerving about how the strange girl had gone from welcoming to terrified as soon as she saw his face. His first guess as to why was that she had an aversion to the sight of his scar, it happened all the time. But it felt deeper than that and he didn't know why, but…

It was as if she saw something that haunted her, following her. It was… familiar.

Glancing away, Shoto pushed his thoughts of the girl out of his mind. She was another student, a future hero candidate, therefore she was an obstacle to his goal, a rival and nothing more. He didn't have time to worry about that, he needed to be ready for the trials ahead.

Meanwhile, Angel was finally calming herself down. Now she felt embarrassed of how she acted towards Shoto, freezing up and staring at him.

'Then again, he doesn't seem that sociable, so maybe no harm done.'

In the meantime, more students had arrived and seated themselves, the class was almost full. The clock read 8:18. Almost time for the day to start. Soon there would be plenty of opportunities to introduce herself to the others later.

'It's going to be alright.' She told herself. 'You're getting better at talking to people. A couple of slip ups, but not as bad as it could be! No one seems too unpleasant yet and there's only a few seats left. Everything is going to be fine.'

As if fate was conspiring against her, the classroom door slammed open, causing Angel and some of the other students to jump at the noise.

A VERY familiar blonde stepped in, a murderous glare on his face.

'Oh no…'

"WHERE THE FUCK IS HODUNK?!" Katsuki roared with unbridled rage! He had worked his ass off to ace the entrance exam and after how many robots he killed in the practical, he considered first place a guarantee. A week later the self-satisfaction he felt from getting accepted and the surprise from learning that his idol; All-Might, was going to be one of his teachers was quickly overshadowed by the results on the scoreboard. Some upstart by the name of Angel Hodunk had stolen his glory! Combined with that bastard Deku finally growing a spine after somehow passing as well, stating that Katsuki was in a bad mood was an understatement.

"WELL?! SHOW YOURSELF YOU DAMN BITCH!" He demanded, sweeping his gaze back and forth, looking at the female students angrily while all the other students watched him with looks of irritation, fear and confusion. Eventually he landed on a familiar face in the back corner who immediately wilted under his scrutiny. It was the girl that he pushed past on the day of the exam. He dismissed any notion that she was the one, she was a cowardly extra, there was no way she had won first place.

When no one stood out or answered, he snarled, threw his bag into a locker and dumped himself in his seat.

At the same time, Angel was sweating buckets. Did the universe just hate her? Everything was going so well, her class was filled with lots of interesting looking and potentially nice people. Of course the scary guy from the exam made it in and of course this violent, cursing person had a bone to pick with her! She couldn't fathom why!

She sighed as she slumped onto her desk. 'Is it too much to ask that nothing goes wrong?' She asked herself as she watched Iida berate the hostile boy for laying his feet on his desk. Being reminded of the biggest sour note of the exam got her thinking about the other people she had met back then. The bird-headed guy had made it in apparently, he was a couple seats to her right, but the ones she was most curious about were the people she had both saved and was saved by, the rosy cheeked girl and the kind, green haired boy.

Absently smiling, they occupied her thoughts. They both seemed like nice people and if there was anyone she had hoped would be in her class, it was them. Sadly, she had never gotten their names. All she could do was hope that they passed the exam, they deserved it.

Once again, as if some higher power was listening to her thoughts the door opened once more, this time presenting her with a more pleasant surprise.

Angel jerked straight out of her slump.

'It's him!'

Sure enough, the kind individual who had been responsible for pushing her quirk beyond her preconceived limits stepped into HER classroom! He seemed as nervous as she was, intimidated by the argument between Iida and the ill tempered boy in front of him. Turning his head to take in the classroom at large, their eyes met and his green orbs widened with recognition.

Iida noticed the new arrival and drew his attention into a conversation as Angel balled her fists in excitement. "Greetings! I am Iida Tenya from-"

"Y-Yeah, no problem, I heard. I-I'm Midoriya Izuku." The boy stated.

Angel was filled with joy as she stopped eavesdropping on their talk. One of her best possible friend candidates was in her class! And she knows his name! This day couldn't get better!

Then it got better.

"Oh hey! It's you!" Another familiar voice called. Looking outside the room, she saw the cheek girl too!

'Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes! Whoever is listening right now, thank you so much!' She thanked whatever deity was clearly watching her right now, hoping that they were appeased and wouldn't interfere any longer.

"Thank goodness, Present Mic was right, you did make it in! You were so awesome with that super-mega punch you threw, saving me and that Angel girl, then she grew wings and saved you! What a rush! You two were so cool!" She cheerfully rambled as she stepped inside, causing Midoriya to stammer and blush from the praise.

'She called me cooooool!' Angel squee'd at the compliment.

"Hey! You! Round face!" Unfortunately, the loud boy had to remind everyone he existed, getting to his feet pointing at the new girl. "You know the Angel chick?!" He demanded, making her jump back nervously at the sudden confrontation and making Angel freeze with fear!

'Crap, he's going to find out who I am!'

"Hey…" A low, irritated voice groaned, shattering the tension in the room. "You can go around making friends on your own time, you're wasting mine."

Everyone diverted their attention outside the door. Lying on the ground was some kind of weird yellow caterpillar lifeform with an extremely tired looking human head with long, black, shaggy hair, its pupils black and dead like a fish.

"Welcome to the Hero Course." The head announced, taking a suck on a nutrient pack.

'What… is that..?' Angel watched along with the rest of the class as the creature revealed itself as a very disheveled man inside a yellow sleeping bag, standing up and taking off his outer layer. At his full height he stood tall over the entirety of the students, dressed in a uniform consisting of a black long sleeve shirt and pants, the latter tucked into his boots. An extremely long grey scarf was wrapped around his neck.

"Took you long enough to quiet down, completely illogical. My name is Aizawa Shota, nice to meet you, I guess. I'm your homeroom teacher." He declared completely unenthusiastically.

'This… is our teacher..?' Angel gaped in disbelief.

Reaching into his sleeping bag, he retrieved what she recognized as the school's gym uniform.

"Put these on, then meet me out on the P.E field." He ordered. "It's time for a little exercise."

To be Continued...