So... uh... this is awkward. Yeah, you're not wrong, this chapter is a week late isn't it? Sorry about that, but my life's been a bit of a rollercoaster. First my two jobs both gave me extra work last week, then I had to help some family matters to deal with. Unfortunately, the latter ended with the passing of a close relative, so I wasn't in the best mood to write for a while. I trust you all understand.

In anycase, I have finally reached a verdict on the review interaction thing, I am going to reply to reviews privately, apparently that's what most people do, lol.

Now, with that out of the way, here's the latest chapter, enjoy!

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

A grim mood set over the entire class after Tokoyami's and Hagakure's swift defeat. Any notions that their teachers were going to hold anything back had evaporated after those quick five minutes. Now, all of them were focused on preparing for their own matches, planning in meeting rooms, calming their nerves under the trees outside, or watching the current test in progress to get some ideas.

Said test was taking place in a clear dirt field, bereft of any landmarks aside from some freshly made pits.

*BOOM!* A sudden tremor and there was another one opening right on the heels of two girls, running as fast as they could.

"Holy crap! I thought Powerloader was just the support teacher! This is nuts!" Ashido screamed, just barely keeping ahead of the destruction behind them by skating on a thin layer of acid.

"Just keep running, kero!" Tsuyu told her, making long leaps as she did so.

It had been only a few minutes since the match had started and Powerloader had kept the duo on the run the entire time, having used his steam shovels hollow out the underground like a worm filled apple. It only took one wrong step to set off a chain reaction and cause a landslide, not giving the panicked students a chance to breathe and keeping them far from the teacher and the exit gate.

"What are we going to do?!" Ashido cried, ducking under a flying rock.

Tsuyu looked across the large chasm drawn down the middle of the field, then spotted Powerloader standing on the other side in front of the exit gate, watching their every move. Then she glanced down at her partner's lubricated feet and perked up.

"I've got it! Grab on, kero!" She said and spat her tongue over to her partner. Rather than ask questions, the pink girl immediately gripped the appendage, only grimacing a little at the smooth, slimy feeling.

"Ok! What now?"

"Ever watch the hammer throw at the Olympics Mina-chan?!"

The pink girl blinked at her. "Huh? Yeah? Why?"

"You'll figure it out! Just hold on tight, kero!" Tsuyu told her and landed in a squat, gripping the ground with her wide fingers and toes.

"Woah!" Ashido yelped as she slid forward under her tether pulled taught, coming to an abrupt halt.

"Kero!" Tsuyu croaked and whipped her head back, making a circular motion and pulling Ashido around.

"What are those two up to?" Powerloader muttered as he watched the odd maneuver unfold.

Tsuyu kept craning her head around, pulling Ashido along as she swung in a wide arc. She began to pick up speed, the smooth acid gushing from the holes in her soles making her glide on the ground.

It was about the second rotation that a light went off in Ashido's head and she grinned. "Ohhhhh! I get it! Let's do this!"

"On three!" Tsuyu mumbled over her tongue. "One!" She spun. "Two!" She did it again. "Three!"

With a crack of wind, she snapped her head around one last time and released the ground, slingshotting her partner into the air and getting pulled along with her!

"What?!" Powerloader gasped as the two girls soared over the chasm like a pink and green missile!

"WOOOOOHOOOOO!" Ashido hollered as she made a superman pose, aiming her fist right for the teacher's face!

"Oh crap!" He yelped and ducked, feeling the rush of air as they passed over his head. He turned around just in time to see them smoothly land on their feet, the residual momentum carrying them right through the exit gate!

"Team Asui and Ashido have reached the exit. The examinees have passed! Trial end!" The announcer echoed out, the Nezu shaped sign on the arch giving a big thumbs up.

"Huh, well I'll be damned!" Powerloader smiled under his helmet. "That was pretty clever!"

"Yeah! We made it!" Ashido jumped in childish glee, then reached out for a high five from her partner. "Great plan Tsu-chan! You got us through!"

Tsuyu smiled and slapped her hand. "It only worked because I had you as my partner Mina-chan, kero kero!" She croaked happily.

"We're both awesome! And you know the best part?" Ashido asked, her voice barely containing her excitement. "We're going to the lodge! Lodge, lodge, lodge, lodge!" She chanted, dancing on the spot and punching the air. "Come on! Sing with me!"

"Lodge, lodge, lodge, lodge, lodge!" The two girls cheered in tandem, marching down the path back to the viewing center.

"Wow, Asui-san is really inventive with how she uses her quirk, huh?" Midoriya said as they watched the two girls dancing on screen.

Angel nodded. "Mmhmm… and as carefree as Ashido-san tends to be, she just works so well with other people, if you give her a little direction I mean."

She glanced at Uraraka on her right. "You think we could try something like that? Using our quirks together to traverse really fast?"

Her partner only gave her a halfhearted shrug. "Maybe." She uttered quietly and just went back to studying the screen.

Angel pursed her lips at her friend's terse response. Even after their little chat in the hallway, Uraraka was still being uncharacteristically cold towards her, a complete inverse to the warm, sunny girl she had come to know and love. Was her nerves getting to her that badly?

'Or did I do something wrong?' Angel bit her lip in worry, looking back on all of their recent interactions. She couldn't think of anything off the top of her head, but she was still relatively new to this whole "socializing" thing. For all she knew, she had said or did something that flew under her radar. But then again, she had only started acting like this after Nezu explained the details of the exam.

'Ugh…' She mentally groaned, running her hand over her hair, letting it drift down until it began to nervously fiddle with her visor. 'Why does being a friend have to be so difficult?' She wondered, bringing her attention back up to the screen.

It looked like in her contemplation, the next exam had already gone underway. On the feed, she could see Kirishima and poor Koda running through a flat quarry environment, away from the dense cloud of pink vapor leaking off Midnight's body. Koda in particular appeared especially distressed, torn between panicking over what to do versus his shame of looking at their risque teacher, making Angel's heart weep for the poor, shy boy.

She wished him and Kirishima the best of luck, but she had her own problems.

'Only three tests before ours… only three more tests to try and figure this out.' She thought, catching another small glance at her abruptly distant friend.

Koji pumped his legs as hard as he could muster, desperately trying not to trip over any loose stones as he ran alongside Kirishima. Behind them, the cloud of sedative mist slowly crawled after them while continuously expanding, completely covering it's source and the exit gate.

"Keep running Koda-bro! We need to get a chance to breathe!" Kirishima shouted, jumping just in time to avoid the whip lashing at his feet!

"Yoohoo~c'mere boys~! Don't be shy~! I just wanna play~!" Midnight called out in her usual seductive tone, which was now laced with a horrifying, sadistic tinge that sent chills up Koda's spine.

"Over here! " Kirishima pointed and they lept behind an outcropping.

"Oh God… hoo! Man, I wish I didn't skip cardio!" The muscular boy wheezed, wiping sweat from his brow. "I think we've bought ourselves a minute. It'll take a bit for that cloud to get over here, but we need to come up with something fast!"

All of this fell on deaf ears, or at least covered ones, as Koji rocked himself back and forth with his hands over his head.

What was he thinking, trying to be a hero?! A hero was big, strong and courageous! Everything that he wasn't. Now here he was, huddled in a ditch while his very scary teacher (in more ways than one) chased them down cracking her whip.

All of it just made Koji want to curl up into a ball and cry.

And his mother had been so proud of him when they received his acceptance letter, god, that had to be the part that stung the most. He was going to fail this test because he couldn't step up and he was never going to be a hero.

"Hey!"

He was shaken out of his depressing thoughts by a strong hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see Kirishima's concerned face.

"Koda, man, you okay?"

He rapidly shook his head.

"Well I need you to try and snap out of it dude! I'm not going to lie, we're in a bad spot. I can't get close enough to Midnight-sensei to do anything without getting knocked out by her gas. You talk to animals right? Couldn't you do something with that?"

Again, Koji only shook his head frantically while waving his hands. Him?! Face Midnight?! HIM?! He'd be like a mouse standing against a hungry panther, right down to her licking her lips in cruel anticipation.

Kirishima paused and crouched down to his level. "What's wrong? You scared?"

Koji's gaze hit the ground and he softly nodded, shame filling every fiber of his being. He had always been like this, terrified of everything to the point of becoming a mute. Heck, everyone in kindergarten leading up to middle school had just assumed he was born without the ability to speak. Naturally, lacking the ability to properly vocalize made it difficult to make friends. Thus, only the wild animals and his pet rabbit Yuwai-chan kept him company. Sure, he was on somewhat good terms with Tokoyami, but that had been forged out of an alliance of necessity when they had been stranded together at USJ. He couldn't call that a real friendship, right?

"Look Koda…" He glanced back up at Kirishima. "It's okay to be scared, but we really need you to step up right now! Otherwise we're gonna fail and miss out on the training camp! You don't want that do you?!"

He shook his head no.

"Then try and come up with an idea, man!" He urged him, gripping Koji's shoulders and bringing his face way closer than he was comfortable with, making him break into a sweat.

They sat there for a moment in silence aside from the sound of Midnight's heels clicking off the stone.

"Do you have anything yet?"

He shook his head again.

"Damn it!" Kirishima cursed and released him, running a hand through his spiky hair and while his face screwed up in thought. Then he blinked and looked at him again. "Wait a sec… you're friends with Angel-chan right?"

Koji nodded hesitantly, not sure where he was going with this.

"Well, why don't you ask yourself what she would do?"

Koji's eyes widened. A feeling of admiration bubbled up from under the layers of fear and self loathing at the thought of the raven haired girl. Since the first day he had met her, Angel Hodunk had been an enigma to him. From his first impression made back on that lunch break under the tree, he had painted her for someone who could almost match him in terms of social anxiety/awkwardness. Yet as time had passed, she had pushed herself, overcoming those insecurities and whatever odds had been stacked against her. She had, in essence, lived up to the school motto, Plus Ultra.

Maybe if she could do it… so could he?

That begged the question; what would Hodunk do in this situation?

He jolted. That's when it hit him.

Wings!

Mustering up as much bravery as he had ever felt in his entire life, Koji gave Kirishima a resolute, if nervous nod and turned to the forests on all sides of the enclosure. He sucked in a deep breath and cupped his hands together in front of his mouth.

"FEATHERED FRIENDS OF THE FOREST! PLEASE! HEAR MY PLEA AND COME TO OUR AID!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, his shrill voice echoing through the air.

"Holy crap, that's your voice?! It's way higher than I thought!" Kirishima gawked.

Moments later, the air was filled with the rustling of leaves followed by a cacophony of flapping wings, cawing, whistling and tweeting as birds of all kinds rose from the forest and converged on the two boy's location in a multicolored flock. As they got within sight of him, Koji pointed at Midnight nearby, then made a circular waving motion with his arms.

"Hmm?" Midnight regarded the flock approaching her. "Birds, Koda-kun? It's true Somnambulist doesn't work on animals, but it's going to take a lot more than your adorable pals to get past me!" She declared, brandishing her whip and readying herself.

But as they got closer, she frowned. Instead of dive bombing her like she expected, the avians were giving her a wide berth, flying around in a circular formation overhead.

"NOW! FASTER!" Koji instructed them and at his beck and call, they began flying faster and faster.

Midnight tilted her head in confusion.

"Huh?" She blinked when she felt a light tugging on her long hair and looked back to see it starting to get pulled by a sudden breeze. One that was growing stronger by the second.

She glanced about, confused. The vapor from her quirk was beginning to swirl in a perfect circle around her.

She jolted in realization and looked to the sky at the birds flying in formation, her pink gas getting sucked into the air! The birds had made a wind tunnel of sorts, funneling her quirk straight into the sky!

"Now, Kirishima-kun!" Koji cried!

"RAAAAAH!" Kirishima roared, leaping over the outcropping and closing the distance between him and their teacher, who turned back to him just in time to see him barrel down on her. She raised her whip over her head, but it was too late, as the boy tackled her to the ground and slapped the capture cuffs around her wrists next to the smaller ones that were part of her costume!

"Oh yeah! Villain captured!" He shouted for joy, then gave Koji a thumbs up and a toothy grin. "Nice one Koda! That was sick!"

Koji let out a relieved laugh and smiled. He had done it!

'Thank you so much Kirishima-kun, for believing in me! And you too Angel-chan!' He said in his head. He wasn't far enough for that quite just yet.

"Oof!" Midnight grunted with her face to the dirt, though it didn't detract from the proud smile on her face, her glasses askew. "Great work you two! You both pass with flying colors! Oh, and Kirishima-kun? Try to be a little less forceful with your arrests in the future? Not everyone likes it rough like I do."

"GAH!" Kirishima jumped off his captive in shock, both he and Koji going red in the face.

Midnight giggled innocently. "What~?"

For obvious reasons, Shoto wasn't much of a social boy. Up until recently, he hadn't had much reason to interact with other people his age and even now he felt more than comfortable with the few that he had made. Hodunk, Midoriya and by extension, Uraraka and Iida, all within a few weeks.

For that reason, he felt that he had maxed out his quota for a while and hadn't bothered to get to know anyone else, let alone his current partner, Kaminari. Despite being a part of his team in the Calvary Battle, he could only pick up on the most obvious details of his personality.

He was rash, lackadaisical and rarely took anything seriously, if being at the very bottom of the class's academic standings was anything to go by.

"AAAAAH! OH MY GAWD!" Kaminari screamed, the powerful suction of Thirteen's Blackhole quirk threatening to tear him off the railing they were clinging to.

Oh yes, he was awfully loud too.

"You better do something heroes, otherwise I'm going to get you!" Thirteen warned as she slowly got closer, the vacuum coming from her fingers intensifying with every step.

"TODOROKI-SAAAN! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!" Kaminari begged, his eyes tearing up from the wind.

Right, maybe he shouldn't be spacing out right now.

Refocused, Shoto decided to test the waters so to speak.

Letting go of the railing with his left hand, he extended it towards his teacher and shot a blast of flames. As soon as it came to be, it was immediately picked up by the air funnel and pulled into Thirteen's finger holes, leaving her completely untouched.

'Hm. That's going to be an issue.' He noted with gritted teeth. It looked like fire was out of the question. His usual glaciers probably won't work either, likely to just suffer the same fate.

'Maybe Kaminari-san's electricity can do that job, but he can't reach her from this far.'

Then he paused. Hadn't he been in this situation before?

"Kaminari-san."

"Eh?!" The other boy looked at him.

"Remember what we did in the Calvary Battle?"

"Y-Yeah?! So?!"

"Just keep that in mind and follow my lead."

"G-Got it!"

With that, Shoto stomped his right foot and a fissure of ice right at Thirteen.

"Tsk. Is that the only trick you have Todoroki-kun?" She tutted unconcerned as she merely lifted her hand and aimed her vacuum at the oncoming attack. The ice promptly shattered and was swallowed by the gravity-well in her hand.

"I expected more from you after your performance as of late." She chided while she continued to stride towards them.

"What now?!" Kaminari wailed, but Shoto stayed calm and focused.

'Wait for it…' He thought, watching each of Thirteen's steps intently. His arms ached from holding onto the railing, worsening by the second.

But his patience paid off as Thirteen's foot finally crossed one inch too far.

"Now!"

"Huh?" Kaminari blinked, looking down at the concrete, still covered with a thin layer of ice. The layer that Thirteen's foot had now trode upon. "OH! Right! You got it!" He chuckled, sparks coursing over his body.

"Stun gun!" He yelled and planted his foot on the ice.

*ZAT!* His electricity ran down his leg, danced across the ice and ran up Thirteen's boot in an instant!

"EYOW!" She howled as her body spasmed from the shocks, the shaking closing the caps on her fingers, smothering the vacuum!

Kaminari stumbled to the ground from the sudden return of gravity but was quick to his feet. Running over (and trying not to slip), he slapped the cuff around Thirteen's wrist!

"Yeah! Woo!" He whooped, jumping and pumping his fist. "We did it! Nice job Todo-ah!" He turned and paled. "Uh oh."

Shoto's eye twitched uncontrollably from where he was standing, from the electricity or anger he didn't know. His usually tidy hair was standing on end and there was the faint smell of smoke, probably from the one strand that was smoldering.

"Ow." He coughed, reaching up with his left hand and extinguished the ember between his fingers.

"SORRY!"

Meanwhile, inside the skyscraper complex zone…

"On your left Sero-kun!" Iida's engines roared as he propelled himself into a flying dive kick at the Ectoplasm clone about to take a bite out of his classmate's arm! The clone burst in a puff of smoke and white goo upon impact, only to be replaced by another two after it.

"Thanks prez! I've got your back!" Sero said, firing a line of tape from both elbows onto a clone each, then slammed them to the ground where they also dissolved.

The boys had been on the defensive since the get go, Ectoplasm's duplicates soaring through the halls in hot pursuit. For every one they took down, two more would take their place. Thankfully they were able to keep themselves distanced as they scurried down the corridors, but they had still yet to find their teacher's real body or the exit.

"It's got to be around here somewhere!" Iida grunted as they ran, looking down each hallway just to be met with more wandering clones which they quickly dispatched. By themselves the duplicates weren't much of a threat, but they would easily overwhelm them in greater numbers. On top of that, the boy's were quickly losing stamina. They couldn't let the test go on as a war of attrition, lest they pass out from exhaustion.

"Hey! I think I see it!" Sero pointed ahead and they came out on the second floor balcony of a circular shaped lobby. And sure enough, at the bottom of the stairs on the far side of the room was a doorway with the Principle Nezu exit sign over top. Predictably, standing right in front of it was Ectoplasm, waiting in his sleeveless trench coat.

"You finally made it to the boss room, admirable work boys." He said, then fixed them with his pupiless glare. "But don't expect me to let up that easily."

"Sero-kun, get ready for more clones! We just need to get past him!" Iida stated, getting a firm nod.

"You've done well against my hordes of regular clones, but are you prepared for this?" The pro hero asked. Unhinging his jaw, he expelled a cloud of mist that grew higher and higher. Then it blackened and took shape, molding itself until it was an Ectoplasm three stories tall!

Iida and Sero gaped at the behemoth looming over them, stunned as it turned its gaze to them.

"Forced Internment, Giant Bites!" Ectoplasm declared and the giant opened its cavernous maw!

"MOVE!" Iida cried. Throwing his engines into overdrive, he shot towards his partner!

*BOOM!* Concrete crumbled and glass shattered as the clone tore a bite out of the walkway!

"With this clone out, I won't be able to make anymore. But it should suffice. Now, where did they go?" Ectoplasm muttered.

Meanwhile, the two boys hid behind a pair of pillars on the ground floor, struggling to catch their breath.

"Sero-kun, hah, are you alright?" Iida whispered, getting a shaky thumbs up.

"Just peachy. Thanks for the save." Sero answered, peeking around the corner to study the massive obstacle in their path. "So what now? There's no way we can beat that thing straight up and we can't get past it to get at Ecto-sensei. Got any bright ideas?"

Iida tilted his helmet towards the monstrosity in the middle of the room. Like Sero said, the clone was too strong to fight head on and was too wide for them to try and attack the original behind it. It was seemingly invincible.

Yet he was not fazed. Everything had a weakness. Midoriya and the Hero Killer taught him that.

"You only have a few minutes left, heroes. Either get past me, or capture me, there is no other way." Ectoplasm called out, his immense doppelganger taking a couple thundering steps to turn in its search for prey. For the briefest of moments, the edge of the clone's trench coat lifted, revealing a pair of thin, peg legs. It appeared that even this giant shared that characteristic with its brothers and creator.

He smiled cooly under his visor.

"I've got a plan."

"Oh? Let's hear it."

Through a series of whispers and hand gestures, Iida relayed his strategy to Sero. The latter's back straightened as soon as he was finished.

"That's fire-escape-Iida for ya!" He grinned, referring to when Iida had stopped the stampede in the halls by flying onto the fire escape sign, much to Iida's chagrin. "Let's do this!" He said, releasing two long strands of tape.

"Where are you..?" Ectoplasm muttered as his clone paced this way and that to give him line of sight.

"Hey!" Both heads turned to see Iida step out from behind a pillar. "You looking for me Evil-doer?! Then come and get me!"

The clone let out a ground shaking roar and lunged down, mouth wide!

*VROOOOOM!* Iida zoomed off to the side, then ran along the side of the beast. Its head followed after him, tearing up the floor as it bit at his heels!

But Iida just kept running laps around the monster. Ectoplasm started to question what he was trying to achieve until he spotted something fluttering behind the speedster.

Was that tape?

His eyes turned to plates as he put two and two together.

"Recipro burst!" Iida cried!

*DRRRROOOM!* Blue flames spewed from his exhaust ports and in the next moment, he shot between the clone's legs! The long strand of tape that had been attached to his back pulled tight and the two peglegs clicked together.

The clone let out a confused moan before it began to teeter and smashed against the wall, incapacitated!

"Blast! I need to dispel the clone!" Ectoplasm gasped, but before he could do anything-

*Thwip!* Another line of tape snagged one of his own legs and was promptly yanked out from under him, throwing him to the floor.

Sero ran out from his hiding place and clicked the cuffs shut around the hero's peg feet!

"Villain captured! Nice hustle Iida!" He shouted to his partner as he ripped the tape off his back and tiredly stepped over.

"A plan is only as good as those who see it through. I couldn't have asked for a better comrade."

"You said it pal!" Sero whooped and held out his closed hand for a fist bump. Iida awkwardly stared at the offered fist for a second, then decided to grip and give it a small shake.

Sero snorted. "That's the spirit!"

"Wow, that was a great use of Sero-sans tape!" Midoriya said, eagerly taking notes as he did.

"His strategy kind of reminds me of that really old science fiction movie. The one with the big robot dog things?" Angel asked.

"Not sure."

"Team Hodunk and Uraraka, please make your way to test zone six." The announcer called overhead.

"That's my cue!" She sighed. "Wish us luck!"

"Good luck!" Midoriya gave her a wave as she walked away, towards Uraraka.

Or at least that's what she had planned, as her friend was nowhere to be seen.