Hello crazy, beautiful world, it's Story Sunday, or whatever, I dunno. I am super excited for this upcoming chapter it's a bit longer than usual, hope you enjoy!

Btw, 18K views, not bad! Can we hit 20k before July? Here's hoping!

Reviews: Engineer4Ever and Draedon's Forge, thank you so much for your kind words, but even more thanks for the feedback! Your words help me become a better writer. I kept your words in mind while writing this chapter, hopefully you like it and hopefully I fixed everything in the last one!

Now with that done, let's dive in!

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

Please rate and review!

"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!*

{This means I'm speaking in a different language!}

Angel in a Gilded Cage

*Boom!*

The air echoed from the sound of the far off explosion, bouncing through the hall. It reverberated through Angel's head, matching the dull throbbing already inside. She grimaced, rubbing the side of her head and took a swig from her water bottle, the cold hydration soothing her dry throat.

It had been a little while since the end of her fight with Shiozaki. Since leaving the field, she had stopped by the refreshment stand to get a drink to alleviate her thirst and hopefully her headache as well. In the distance, she could hear Kirishima's fight against that Tina girl, the sound from the latter's explosions reaching her, even from here, along with the "oohs" and "aws" of the crowd.

They did little to distract her from anxious thoughts running rampant in her head, as they had a habit of doing lately. She was down to two at the moment.

First, she wasn't going to be able to focus one more second on the tournament until she knew that Midoriya was okay. She wouldn't stop thinking back to how grisly his injuries were. She knew that Recovery Girl knew what she was doing, but there were limits to what even she could fix.

Then, there was her upcoming match against Todoroki, the seemingly invincible prodigy. Where to even start with him? How about the glimpses of him whenever he looked at his face? The mystery surrounding his bizarre refusal to use his fire power, amplified by his father's ominous behaviour? Or perhaps how even without his pyrokinesis, he was still a formidable opponent?

It seemed prudent to try and devote more time to that last one and up until this point, she had. For the entire day, she had been studying Todoroki very carefully, looking for weaknesses and trying to work out a counter strategy. Just like whenever she would provide reconnaissance for the Raiders on the various missions she sent them on, poring over blueprints, schedules and other valuable intel. While it wasn't the same as digital corporate espionage (she had enough of that) she had picked up on some minute details and she started drawing up a plan. It had some holes in it and even then it didn't guarantee victory, but a plan nonetheless.

Either way, Todoroki was going to be a tough fight. The only consolation was that he was less likely to unintentionally beat her half to death, unlike Bakugou, who she would likely face in the finals if she won.

She shuddered at the thought.

'One super scary, teenage powerhouse at a time Angel.' She told herself, dragging her palms along her face.

She took another deep sip from her water, turned the corner and stepped out onto the bleachers once more.

"OOO! A CRUSHING BLOW FROM BAKUGOU! TOKOYAMI IS BEING BACKED INTO A CORNER! HIS OPPONENT IS JUST TOO RELENTLESS!" She was immediately buffeted with Torgue's boisterous voice like a wall of sound!

Looks like Kirishima's fight had ended while she was in the hall. In the ring, she could spy the brooding birdboy and his shadow, the latter trying his best to fend off Bakugou's explosive onslaught! Unfortunately for them, with each burst of nitroglycerin he became smaller and slower.

'Looks like the light from Bakugou's explosions is weakening Dark Shadow. Doesn't look good for Tokoyami-kun.' Angel noted grimly.

She then turned her head to her and her friend's row, her eyes widening as she spotted a familiar green head!

"Guys!" She called out, drawing their attention as she urgently rushed down the stairs.

Uraraka and Iida brightly smiled as she approached.

"Hey Angel-chan! Iida-kun and I just made it to watch your fight! That was SO cool!" The brunette cheered!

"That was some clever thinking using Shiozaki's own tactic and quirk against her. If only I had employed such a mindset versus Baha." Iida lamented.

Angel flushed under their praise as usual, still unused to positive feedback like this, then turned to Midoriya.

He was wearing his jacket over his shoulders due to the fact that his left arm was in a cast and his right in a sling. His entire torso was wrapped in bandages and some gauze was taped onto his cheek. He looked exhausted and roughed up, but yet he still had a calm smile on his face.

"M-Midoriya-kun are you okay? I was really worried for you after seeing you get carted out earlier." She asked, to which he gave her a soft, embarrassed chuckle.

"Y-Yeah, I'm doing alright. I'm just sad that I missed out on watching your fight, thanks to the surgery and all."

"SURGERY?!" She yelled in shock!

"Told ya she'd do that too." Uraraka giggled, nudging Iida in the side.

"Uh-huh." Midoriya nodded ruefully. "Turns out I've been using my quirk too recklessly lately. Recovery Girl did her best, but… it's going to leave some scars."

"Does… does it still hurt?" She glanced down at his broken limbs.

"Quite a bit, yeah. Recovery Girl gave me some painkillers though, so I'll be good to watch the rest of the tourney. The worst part is that I can't take notes like this." He lifted his casted arm. "I'm going to forget so much before I write them down. " He moaned miserably, making Angel laugh in relief.

It looked like he was going to be okay. He was still his plucky, earnest self, taking a weight off her back.

"That's great to hear. I'm happy you're alive. Like seriously, I thought you were going to die!"

"That would suck." Uraraka remarked.

*BOOM!*

All four of them jolted as a large explosion engulfed the ring in a black cloud of smoke!

"Woah, and a huge blast from Bakugou! But what's happening in there?!" Mic wondered aloud!

The smoke eventually cleared to reveal Tokoyami on his back, Bakugou looming over him! He held the other boy by his beak, a series of small fiery pops emanating from his other hand illuminated the scene, keeping Dark Shadow puny and docile.

The stadium was silent with the exception of the miniscule explosions, letting the entire stadium hear what begrudgingly Tokoyami said next.

"I yield."

"Tokoyami surrenders! Bakugou Katsuki wins!" Midnight declared as the blonde extinguished his palm and released his captive.

The crowd cheered once more and students around Angel and her friends began to chatter.

But none of it registered to her.

This was it. The time had come.

"Hah… looks like I arrived just in time to start making my way back down…" She sighed.

She looked down at her friends, who all looked back to her with worry, but not pity. After the debacle with Uraraka's fight against Bakugou, she couldn't stand to be pitied here. That would imply she didn't have a chance and that hurts more coming from someone else.

"Well… time for me to put on a show, huh?"

"Do you have a plan?" Midoriya suddenly asked.

"Something like that." She answered honestly, to which he gave her an encouraging grin.

"Then you're going to be great."

"Yeah! Do your best!" Uraraka cheered, giving her a thumbs up

"We'll be supporting you, as expected." Iida added with a nod.

Angel smiled back. "Thanks! Just make sure you're all watching closely! " She pointed at them. "You're going to find out that Iida-kun wasn't the only one with a new trick!" She said with a hint of bravado and started climbing the stairs, leaving her friends to glance at each other in intrigue.

The sound of running shoes dragging against linoleum invertebrates of the walls of the hallway as their owner made their way towards the stadium. Their owner's mismatched eyes faced forward, not betraying the conflux of thoughts swirling behind them.

It has been a long, confusing and emotional day for Shoto. It seemed so simple at the beginning. Win the Sports Festival with only his mother's ice power and not his father's fire. All to prove a point to that bastard and himself that he would surpass him without his power, effectively ruining the goal he had been chasing relentlessly for the entirety of Shoto's life and the purpose for his very existence.

He had imagined that it wouldn't be too hard, as he had complete faith in the strength of his mother's quirk and as much as he despised his father, he had trained him well.

None of that could prepare him for the constant irregularity that was Midoriya Izuku. Time and time again he left that unassuming verdet in the dust only for him to jump back into view! He actually beat him in the obstacle race, he put up a great fight in the cavalry battle and managed to meet the cutoff even after Shoto had stolen all of his points!

It was his capability, his determination that led to Shoto explaining the reason behind his challenge before the first event and even regaling him with his past. The incident, his father's plans and his desire to defy him.

It all led up to their showdown in the ring, where he planned on making true on his promise

But once again, Midoriya had to prove that he was anything but logical. He spent the entire fight goading him, furiously demanding him to stop "fooling around" and fight him with everything he had!

Then he said those words.

It's your power.

Who knew that three small words would have such an effect. At that moment, he felt free. For the first time in his life, he felt the burning hate he had for his father leave him. He still despised him, don't get it wrong, but now it was like he could think clearly, more than he ever had before.

In the end, he still won, but now he was filled with a myriad of different emotions. Gratitude to Midoriya, for squandering his chance of winning the festival to help him, just because he wanted to ease his pain. Hope for a brighter and (now that he was admittedly in a better state of mind) healthier future.

But amidst all of these positive(and foreign) feelings, there was one last thing that troubled him.

Hodunk Angel.

While she hadn't been as prevalent of a concern for him as Midoriya had been, she had still proven to be a decent competitor. She had also beaten him during the race and was the crux of her team's strategy in the cavalry battle. Her quirk was both versatile and powerful and she seemed to have a keen mind. If he wasn't careful, he could see her beating him.

But that wasn't why she invaded his thoughts.

Since the beginning of the semester, she had stuck out from the rest of the class. It wasn't some kind of attraction, he didn't care about such things. The problem was whenever she looked at him, her face would immediately twist into an expression of fear for but a brief moment.

He had tried to ignore it, but for whatever reason it struck a chord. Why did she falter whenever she saw him? He didn't think he did anything to intimidate her. Sure, he interrogated those villains back at USJ, but it looked like she had been fully onboard with his plan, calling his bluff and demanding answers herself.

No, there was something deeper than that. It was like she saw another person in his place whenever she would look at him.

And that is what bothered him the most. It gave him the most ominous feeling of deja vu. He didn't know why, but he definitely didn't like it.

He was dreading it by the time he stepped into the sunlight and walked up the steps of the ring. A moment later, she came into view and turned his way.

The instant their eyes met, hers automatically widened and trembled, her lips pursed and she swallowed dryly.

His brow furrowed in agitation and his fists clenched.

'Stop it. Stop looking at me like that.' He silently begged her.

Regardless of whether she heard his plea or not, she seemed to collect herself, taking a second to breath. When she looked at him next, she now wore a mask of determination, the fear in her eyes replaced by resolve, reminding him of his last opponent.

'Looks like I'm not the only one Midoriya seems to have influenced.' He thought, thankful that even with whatever problem she had with him, she was going to give him the best fight she could.

He could only hope that he would return the favour.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are drawing closer to the end with the beginning of the semi-finals! To start us off, a match between two of our most standout competitors, who have both pushed themselves to the limit further and further with each event!"

"I COULDN'T AGREE MORE MIC! TODOROKI HAS PROVEN THAT HE IS INDEED ENDEAVOUR'S SON WITH HIS OVERWHELMING FIREPOWER! PUNS MOTHERF***ER!"

"But on the other hand, Hodunk has surprised us time and time again with her ability to come up with out of the box solutions, using her army knife of a quirk to its fullest!"

"WILL THE RED AND WHITE TITAN'S EARTHSHAKING MIGHT PROVE TOO MUCH FOR THE ANGEL ON EARTH?! OR WILL HE FINALLY FALL?! IT'S TIME WE FOUND OUT!" The two caster's voices were almost too much for the television to handle!

"So who do you think's going to win this one?" The man asked, popping open a fresh can of beer.

"Always bet on red... and white!" His companion answered through a mouthful of chips, crumbs getting caught in his short beard.

"What about you Zee?"

"The gamble I want… is the dance of life and death… so no, I will not."

"You could have just said no. Don't have to get all philosophical on me."

"Way to kill the mood amigo."

The three men continued to bicker, not noticing the woman sitting with them staring intently at the screen, silver eyes locked onto the girl in deep fascination.

With each step, Angel's heart thumped faster. She clenched and unclenched her fists in anxious anticipation of what she was about to do.

It was just past noon, the sun looming over the stadium like a giant spotlight.

'All eyes on me.' She thought.

Indeed, they were. All around she saw people watching her with excitement and awe. It seemed like the crowd had learned its lesson since Uraraka and Bakugou's fight as that was all that was in their eyes. They were not pitying her for going up against one of the strongest contestants in the festival, they knew that she could hold her own, some may even think she'll win.

She was starting to believe that too.

Speaking of her opponent, she could spy the red and white out of the corner of her eye. She knew what was coming and she didn't like it at all. Nonetheless, she turned her head and met those mismatched eyes.

She saw his face. She shook a little and swallowed the fear pushing up her throat, but she did not look away this time, she refused to.

She blinked and he was gone.

There Todoroki stood with an unreadable expression as she knew him to do.

She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and climbed up the steps. She strove over to her designated spot and stopped. She lowered herself into a ready position, legs coiled to spring, the warmth of her power starting to course through her veins.

"Fighters ready?!"

"THEY BETTER BE, OR THIS'LL BE OVER FAST! GO!"

The buzzer rang and two things happened.

The heat in the air plummeted as ice erupted from under Todoroki's feet.

With a flash of light, Angel shot up.

*SKAASH!* A mighty crash and a glacier appeared where she once stood! Just like before, Todoroki had opened with a huge attack in an attempt to end the fight immediately again, but Angel had anticipated that.

But it looked like he knew that quite well as another torrent of ice followed suit, angled to catch her in her new position.

It would have caught her if she hadn't guessed that he would do that as well.

Her wings flapped and she banked to the side, letting the ice pass her as she levelled her arm down at her target and fired two times!

With a flick of his hand, Todoroki erected a spire in front of him. The bolts struck the ice with a hiss of steam, burning holes into the surface.

He peered out from behind his barrier to retaliate but Angel was already gone, taking the time he used to recover to orbit around to his right side. He spotted her just as she shot two more bolts. She swerved out of view again as he protected himself again, getting behind him now and attacking again, to which he spun around just in time to raise another spire of ice.

"Whaaat?! Todoroki seems to be getting pressured! He only can defend himself from Hodunk's attacks!"

Angel paid Mic no mind, focusing on keeping herself mobile and her opponent guessing. She glided around to Todoroki's left.

This time however, she was immediately met with the flash of his blue eye, looking at her like she was a bird in his crosshairs! He stomped his foot as he unleashed another glacier which rushed up to meet her in an instant!

Angel marvelled at Todoroki's keen mind. He had deduced that Angel was going to attack from the last side he had left, thinking that if he struck first, he would catch her off guard!

It would have worked…

The corners of her mouth twitched up.

...if that had been what she had in mind.

Seconds before the frigid crystals could come into contact with her skin, Angel twisted her body and her wing's beat once. In a maneuver akin to a twirling midair hop, she spun right over the oncoming wall of ice! There she hung for a brief moment, her movements flipping her in the air until her head was pointed straight at her opponent.

With another wingbeat, she shot forward like a rocket, goosebumps prickling her skin as she whistled over the blue surface!

Eye's widening in surprise, Todoroki grit his teeth and swung his arms forth again and again, sending waves of ice in an attempt to ward her off.

But she was ready for that too. The tips of her wings curled outward and she leaned right, slipping past the first cascade, veering left to avoid the second, then evaded the subsequent ones with quick zigzagging steering. All the while she kept gaining speed, bearing down on her target like a fighter plane!

In a last act of desperation, Todoroki waved one more time and sent a spire right up the middle.

At the last moment, Angel tilted sideways so her wings were perpendicular with the ground and she passed the ice, catching a glimpse of her reflection as she flew by, arm raised and tensed.

Todoroki, who was now trapped within a circle of his ice, a cage of his own making, could only lean back as far as he could while he watched her unmarked arm fill his vision!

*SMACK!* The sound of flesh and bone colliding echoed throughout the stadium as Angel clotheslined the boy in the throat with her forearm! Todoroki's head snapped back and he let out a strangled gasp from the impact! In the next instant, the force behind the strike made his feet slip out from under him, sending him crashing onto his back! The crowd audibly winced at the sight.

"OOOH, AND A DEVASTATING BLOW FROM HODUNK! HE'S GOING TO BE FEELING THAT IN THE MORNING, HOLY S***!"

"I don't think Todoroki even knows what hit him, I sure as heck don't! When the heck did Hodunk learn to move like that?!" The announcers yelled, their's and everyone's astonishment bringing a smile to Angel's face.

After control training with Kirishima last week, she had worked on a new method on how to use her gift of flight. She had spent all the spare time she had at school in secret and afterwards with Moxxi on improving her mobility when airborne, a way to move around with great speed and using her momentum to perform fast, yet powerful strikes!

She had gotten inspiration when thinking back on one of her friends, Mordecai, emulating the movements of his closest partner.

It had taken a lot of time and effort and she had saved it as a trump card like Iida had, but it looked like it was paying off! She had flown circles around Todoroki, keeping him pinned down with her shots and getting him to entrap himself by his own ice, setting him up for a nasty hit! Sure, the spot where his throat met her arm was stinging and would surely bruise, but it definitely didn't hurt nearly as much Todoroki's head right now!

That is if he was still conscious.

"How do you like my new fighting style Todoroki-kun?!" She called over her shoulder! "Aerial Acrobatics!" She christened her new technique with pride! She climbed several feet into the sky and finally took a moment to catch her breath. The entirety of the ring below her was ravaged by ice. The small hope that she had won right there was dashed when Todoroki pulled himself to his feet and gave her a pointed look.

Angel ignored it, instead opting to take stock of the situation as it was. Her head was throbbing from overuse, but she still had energy left in the tank. Comparatively, she considered herself in better shape than Todoroki, whose body was coated liberally in patches of frost, his breath coming out in heavy clouds as he wheezed through the neck injury.

'Good.' She thought. The first half of her plan had been to force Todoroki to use his ice as much as she could with the sole purpose of wearing him down. Now, his movements were a lot stiffer so he won't be able to evade or attack her as easily now.

There was one caveat however. The whole plan hinged on whether he would use his flames to warm himself back up and undo all of her work so far. Normally she wouldn't base her predictions solely on instincts, but her gut told her that he wouldn't unless pushed to the limit. In that case, all she had to do was beat him before he reached that point or before she exhausted herself.

'Almost time for step two.' She decided, arching her back and leaning into another dive aimed at her opponent.

Todoroki promptly created a platform underneath him which lifted him out of the ring that had trapped him before, deciding on trying his luck as a moving target rather than remain a sitting duck.

Angel fired a couple more bolts, to see how he'd react. This time, instead of blocking them, he made a burst of ice at his feet, sending him sliding along the slick ground like he was skating, the two bolts harmlessly flying over his head.

Not deterred, Angel stayed on target and met his gaze. Just as she got within a few feet of him, he fell back onto one of his hands behind his back while he raised his other out to grab her in anticipation of her incoming strike. He was going to try and catch her as she came in to attack.

But much to his surprise, she didn't reach out to hit him. Instead she pulled up at the last second, ascending away from his chilling touch, just missing her hair.

Angel let her momentum carry her upward, going up and up until she was well above the bleachers, then turned and went into another dive. Her clothes fluttered as she picked up more speed.

Todoroki had a determined look on his face as she approached. He reached out again, but in another *swish* Angel shot by him and angled back up, reaching a greater height than before.

"It looks like now that Todoroki is on his guard, Hodunk can't get in close enough to get a hit in! But she's giving it another try!" Mic observed as Angel swerved back around.

Again, she charged Todoroki head on Again, the boy endeavoured to meet her, keeping himself skating along the ice and ready to grab her. He expected her to pull up at the last second again.

He was half right.

'NOW!'

*FWOOM!* A gust of air buffeted the ring as Angel pulled up not to avoid Todoroki's grasp, but immediately at the bottom curve of her dive, sending her rocketing straight up!

"Woah! What the heck?! Where is Hodunk going?!"

"TO THE MOON?!"

The sound of the announcers washed over her ears as she ascended, using the speed gained from her increasingly steeper dives to fly higher and higher, her eyes squinted from the force! The cries of the crowd faded as she soared through the opening of the stadium, going higher than when Hatsume took her for a ride, higher than she had ever gone before!

In the quiet of the blue, cloudless sky, Angel closed her eyes, looking back on a moment from seven months ago.

The sun beat down on the rocks and sands of the Nevada desert, the heat rising off the cracked highway in waves, making it look like the air was dancing. On the side of the road was a dusty, beat up moving van, the hood lifted up as Roland let the engine cool off.

Angel was in the back, trying her best not to melt. She had never experienced such heat, being kept in a cooled chamber surrounded by network servers for most of her life.

"{Hey Angel.}" She looked up to see Lilith at the door. "{Hate to bother you, but could you walk out and get Mordy for me? I need to borrow his SAT to call Moxxi's boy to help fix the radiator.}"

"{Okay.}" She sighed, reluctantly climbing out of the van and stepping into the blazing sunlight. Stepping off the road, she started shuffling through the sand all the while imagining if this was what it is like to be a strip of bacon in a pan.

A few minutes of heat soaked discomfort later, she drew close to the rock formation Mordecai went to. She just barely saw his form in the shadow casted by the tall, boot shaped rock.

"{H-Hey, Mordecai? Lilith asked me to-}"

"{Shh!}" He hissed! "{Come 'ere! Quick!}" He whispered and waved.

She was amply confused, but decided to obey his words if it meant she'd get out of the sun. She jogged over and stepped into the coolness of the shadows, kneeling down next to the thin man.

"{Stay quiet. Now… look over there.}" He pointed.

Following his finger, Angel blinked at the sight of a brown haired, long eared hare about thirty feet away, chewing on a patch of dry grass.

"{It's… a hare?}" She questioned.

"{Wait for it.}" He said. They sat there in silence, leaving Angel to wonder if something was supposed to happen.

"SCREE-AAAWK!" A piercing screech cut through the air! Both Angel and the hare jolted in surprise!

*WHOMP!* In the blink of an eye and from out of nowhere, the feathered form of Mordecai's partner Bloodwing crashed down on the unsuspecting hare in a cloud of dust! The animal thrashed and screamed, but it was all in vain, being held in the taloned grasp of the large predatory bird, who began jabbing at it's flesh with her sharp beak!

"{Wha...wha… what just happened?!}" Angel gasped.

"{Pretty cool right?}" Mordecai chuckled.

"{Seriously, where the hel-heck did she come from?! One second it was just the hare, then she's just… there!}"

"{Blood is a raptor, a bird of prey. She's designed by nature to be an apex predator. Her eyes can pick out a mouse in a field from almost a mile away. This lets birds like her go waaay up in the sky right?}" He held his hand up high. "{Up there, her prey can't see her.}"

Down below, Todoroki craned his sore neck in his attempt to keep his opponent in sight. He immediately grimaced and shielded his eyes from the blinding noon day sun.

"{Then when she spots them, she tucks in and folds her wings back, giving her a streamlined form that cuts through the air.}"

Angel felt her momentum finally end, letting her hang in the air for a short moment. Then she pulled her wings and her arms as close to her body as possible, flipped end over end and immediately plummeted like a stone!

"{She dives down head first towards her target, building up speed like a beaked fighter jet. The fastest bird in the world is the peregrine falcon, who can clock in at more than three hundred kilometers per hour.}"

She fell faster, hair whipped back as the wind whistled past her ears. She opened her eyes in slits, trying to remain on target despite the tears that welled up. The stadium, the ring and the ground grew bigger by the second! She kept herself locked onto the red and white mop of hair!

"{She keeps diving, getting faster and faster...}" He whistled as his hand dipped down. "{Then at the last possible moment, she opens her wings, talons out!}"

The moment she blazed past the opening of the stadium, her wings fanned out, pulling out of her dive at an angle! She grit her teeth and extended her leg!

"{Then… Boom!}"

*POW!* Angel's foot slammed into Todoroki's stomach! His eyes bulged!

"{Wow… what's that called?}" She asked, mystified.

"{That my friend, is called the Stoop.}"

"HUWAAH!" Spittle flew out of his mouth as he was swept off his feet, the force from Angel's dive carrying him off the ground! The momentum kept them going, further and further along the ice.

'Come on, almost there!' She begged as she saw the edge of the ring get closer. They were almost a few feet away!

Then she felt a hand grip her leg and the next thing she felt was cold, biting cold!

She glanced down in time to see Todoroki, despite the foot planted in his abdomen, grabbing hold of her and spreading ice up her pant leg while at the same time, he slapped his other hand on the ground and created a handhold, removing his inertia!

"NO!" She screamed in anguish as she kicked his hand away with her other foot, separating them, but it was too late. The ice had spread all the way up past her knee!

Her wings fluttered whilst she tried to regain control of herself, steering around and back towards the ring, the weight of her newly acquired shackle pulling her back down to Earth. It hit the concrete with a clunk, the impact jarring her senses! She stumbled, but fortunately she kept straight up.

'Just got to get back in the air! Just got to get back in the air!' She told herself, frantically trying to flap her wings in spite of her frozen leg!

"Not… this time!" She heard Todoroki cough a moment before she felt ice crawl up her other leg. She kept attempting to pull back up but she was now rooted to the ground! The burning frost continued to climb, rising up her waist, her torso and finally stopping when her arms were encased.

There she stood in the centre of the ring, a frozen statue apart from everything above her neck. The ice burned her skin and sapped the warmth from her body. Her wings finally fizzled out and her head thundered with pain.

She was trapped.

Angel shivered from the cold and fear as Todoroki stepped around to her front, his stoic expression almost mocking her. He gingerly held a hand on his stomach, his entire body covered in shimmering crystals.

She put two and two together. He had taken the blow from her stoop in order to get ahold of her, despite the damage and how close he got to the edge of the ring!

Angel choked back a sob. She had been so close! Just a couple feet more and she would have won!

"Hodunk, can you still move?" Midnight called out from ringside behind Todoroki.

At the question, Angel shook. She couldn't let it end like this, right?! Not when she had been on the brink of a hard earned victory! If she gave up now, she would have let her friends and Moxxi down!

She would break her promise to Shinso!

"N-N-No! I can still move!" She protested as she started to pull and push, trying anything to get herself out of the shell of ice!

Not convinced, Midnight narrowed her eyes. "Hodunk, you don't concede. You will be eliminated by the count of ten if you cannot move your body. Ten!"

Angel struggled with renewed desperation, struggling to move any part of her encased body an inch, hissing from the ice pulling on her freezing skin!

"Nine! Eight!" Midnight continued to count down while Todoroki watched.

'No! No, no no! Move! Come on! Anything!' She had to be something she could do! She didn't have enough time to try and melt the ice with her bolts.

"Seven! Six!"

She didn't want to lose, not when she had come so far!

Todoroki continued to observe the girl attempting to escape her prison when something caught his eye. Underneath the ice, something was glowing.

'Come on! Dig deeper!' Angel ordered herself, a familiar buzzing pushing through the cold!

"Five! Four!"

The white glow intensified, sparks beginning to dance along the outside of the shell! Todoroki unconsciously took a step back.

"Three! Two!"

Her head pounded harder. The sparks spilled out en masse!

"I'm not done!" She barked in defiance!

"On-"

"I SAID I'M NOT DONE!"

*KA-CRACK!* Fractures spiderwebbed across the ice, then there was a burst of energy and the shell exploded, sending shards flying across the ring! Todoroki leapt back, arms shielding his face from the hail. Lowering them, he beheld a shocking sight.

Angel stood, now free from her prison, her body wreathed in a radiant aura! Her very being emanated a wild, pulsing energy, a low hum filling the air. Her markings beamed like a strobe light, all originating from the symbol on her chest.

Angel held her out her glowing arm in awe, engulfed in a storm of alien sensations. Had she unlocked some kind of new facet of her quirk?

Her eyes flitted to her opponent, his body shivering and stiff from his own cold.

She was free and Todoroki was at his limit!

She could win!

An excited smile broke out on her face. She clenched her fist.

"Hey Todoroki-kun, I hope you're ready!" She challenged, the energy coursing through making her feel invincible.

She stepped forward.

"Because it's time for…"

*Badmp!* Her body stiffened, looking and feeling like she had been struck by lightning! The aura waned and disappeared.

"...round… two…" She slurred as she lost all strength in her legs and pitched forward. She barely felt a pair of arms catch her from hitting the ground before everything faded to black.

"Hodunk is unable to continue! Todoroki Shoto wins and goes on to the finals!"

"Holy shit, that was awesome!" The man laughed, nearly spilling his beer.

"Damn, now I wish she didn't get knocked out, she was about to bring a world of hurt on that guy!" The shorter man groused.

"I share his regret… the real fight was about to start… what a tragedy."

"I mean, as cool as it was, Sal still won the bet."

"Oh yeah! Hah! In your face!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't rub it in." The loser grumbled. "What do you think, Maya?" He asked, then turned his head when he didn't get a reply. "Maya?"

But her seat on the couch was vacant. Turning their heads, the three men could just catch her rushing into the office a room over. They all looked at each other and gave a knowing look.

"Well if she's going to the fax machine, there's only one conclusion…" The man smiled.

"Hell yeah!" The shorter man cheered, throwing his arms in the air, showering them in a rain of chips!

"A toast, gentlemen!" The man tossed his companions a fresh can of beer each and held his aloft. "To no paperwork!"

"No paperwork!" They tapped their beers together!