BUZZZZZ BUZZZZZ BUZZZZZZZ

In the dark, Jun began to stir at the sound of his phone going off. In his youth the former hero had been much more of a morning person, easily able shot out of bed at a moment's notice, awake and aware. The year's since his forced retirement had made that habit harder and harder with each passing day. Slowly, the silver-haired man sat up in his king-sized bed, holding his head as he opened his eyes. As was his habit, he glanced to the empty right side of the bed before reaching for his phone, realizing it was Principal Nezu calling.

A bit of worry settling in his stomach, Jun touched answer before answering "Good Morning Principal, to what do I owe the honor of a 5:30 wake up call?"

The voice that answered was far more grave than Jun was use to "Good morning, Luminaire-san. I wish I could be calling under less dire circumstances. I received word over night that our first-year students were attacked while at their summer training camp last evening."

That was chilling to hear. The whole point to taking those kids out to a remote location was to help avoid just this after they had been attacked while training earlier in the year. That would be for later, however, for now there was the obvious question "That's terrible, but how are they? Is anyone hurt?"

There was a pause on the other line, never a good sign. Jun knew all of those kids, stepping in for one teacher or another when they were out sick or away for a mission and the thought that something had happened to them sent all to familiar twinges of anger and sadness down his spine. "Several are injured I am afraid and one has been kidnapped, Luminaire-san. I've called all faculty to an emergency meeting, please head into the UA campus as soon as you can." Came Nezu's answer finally, with a reluctance Jun was not used to hearing from the small mammal.

"Yes, of course Principal. I can be there in half an hour. Thank you." With that, Nezu ended the call. Jun set the phone in his lap as he looked up at the ceiling, closing his eyes. Before rushing off to get dressed and out the door, Jun gave himself just a moment to think about as many of those students as possible. So many faces and so much potential among those first years. Vlad never missed a chance to brag about his class but even Aizawa, a man very hard to please, privately had expressed how impressed he was with his kids.

They may not be his students but they were still the future of this country, this world. They were still people. The last thing he wanted was for any of them to suffer for their choice to fight for a better that future. Powerless as he was, all Jun could do was hope for their safety.

Slapping his face lightly with both hands, Jun slide out of bed and began rushing to leave for the meeting.

(X)

As expected, the mood for the meeting had been grim. Given the short notice of the meeting only a handful of the teachers were actually present, each siting at a large "U" shaped wooden desk. Nezu relayed the details that a portion of the League of Villains that had attacked their USJ training facility looking to kill All Might was behind the attack. Their goal was to secure the winner of the UA Sports Festival first year division, Katsuki Bakugo. Snipe, dressed in his stylized cowboy outfit with elongated gas mask that hid his face suggested the boy's extremely brash and aggressive behavior was what drew them to Bakugo. No one disagreed with the sentiment though none believed he could be turned. His will to be the best was far too strong for that.

Suggestions were made that this was also an attempt to further undermine hero society, an idea that Jun found pretty ridiculous and arrogant. Would this undermine the school? Absolutely but UA is just one of many hero schools across the country and the idea that an attack on UA was an attack on the whole pillar on which our society is build was insane to Jun. Still, as a substitute teacher and head of a group that was little more than a burden to the school, he kept his mouth shut.

Present Mic, a rather slender man in a black leather outfit, a large modified microphone attached to his neck, yellow sunglasses along with a thin blonde mustache to go along with his ridiculously tall tuft of blonde hair kept spiked, brought back up the idea of a traitor among the staff. This didn't sit well with anyone but without any evidence as to who it could be, it was agreed that pointless accusing of others would only destroy the school.

To bring things back to focus, Nezu had addressed Jun and the lighters. Give the circumstances, the Prinical asked Power Loader to assist the contractors to get the rooms ready as quickly as possible. In the meantime, Jun would retrieve his new students and inform Vlad King and Eraserhead of the meeting. Given the circumstances, Jun asked for a pro escort, which Nezu agreed to and would contact an agency once the meeting was over.

Nezu then kept the focus on the lighters, saying how successful it had been having them leave on campus as he was about to pull open a folder he had in front of him when the meeting was interrupted by All Might's phone ringing. With some grumbling and apologies, the number one hero took his call outside.

In the meantime Nezu mentioned that he asked Hitomi to journey out to check on the state of the students. Then Midnight, a voluptuous women with black-blue hair all the way down her back and a simple red mask outlining her eyes to go with her dominatrix inspired tan leotard/black corset combo pointed out the crush of media at the front door and noted they couldn't go long before having a press conference.

The question was when and debate on that subject was on going when All Might, enlarged to his full form and determination burned into his face stepped back in. The great hero had just been on the phone with Detective Naomasa who after interviewing Vlad and Eraserhead connected the dots from reports investigating the league a couple of weeks earlier.

Nodding to Jun, All Might relayed that thanks to officers under Naomasa and two underground heroes and lighters, they thought they knew where the leagues hideout was. After discussing the press conference a bit more, the meeting concluded so All Might could begin working on the raid to get their student back and the rest to their own responsibilities.

Midnight had suggested taking a quick break for coffee before everyone really got going with Snipe and Present Mic taking her up on the offer. Jun, on the other hand had an abiding hatred of the stuff and wanted to get to police headquarters as soon as possible anyway. So, despite how bad it may have looked after all the talk of traitors, Jun begged off the invitation and headed for his car.

(X)

Getting out of UA would have been very difficult if Jun had tried to leave out the front, with its constant mob of reporters. Luckily the service entrance in back was much more difficult for the public to access and that, combined with it now being later in the morning meant traffic was lighter and the trip to police headquarters was quick and smooth.

Upon arriving, the former hero sought out the two teachers in charge of the first years, Eraserhead and Vlad King to relay all that had transpired at the meeting. Once done, the three parted ways as the two left and Jun headed down to the minimum-security wing to gather his new charges.

The guard on duty was talking to his replacement when Jun arrived, offering a wave to the two officers as he past. However, when the silver-haired man reached the two cells he left the lighters he found the cells decidedly empty. The officer who was being relieved noticed the panicked look on Jun's face as he looked about the hallway and called out "You looking for our guests?"

Turning, an incredulous look on his face Jun barked out "Yes, of course! Who else would I be here to see?"

Unfazed, the officer, decidedly ready to go home and running out of shits to give, simply pointed backward over his shoulder with his thumb as he spoke "Yeah, they said they needed some fresh air so I sent them up on the roof."

"Oh goddamnit"

(X)

For such a boring looking building from the ground, Michiru thought its roof view of the city was excellent. With no skyscrapers neighboring the building, one could get a clear view of the city as it had come to life with the rising of the sun. The breeze was nice to, as the brushed across her fur, Michiru could help but think back to her rooftop home at the Anima City Co-op and the view it had.

Before she could fall back into thinking about what she had lost, Michiru had her attention pulled back to the present when Zelgadis, in apparent awe, asked "Just how many people do you think live here? This city is massive…"

Michiru puzzled for a moment, stepping away from the fence that ran the perimeter of the roof before answering "You think so? It seems like any major city to me. If its anything like my world, Tokyo would be much larger than this and there are many cities like Tokyo all over the world."

The chimera turned t look at the tanuki girl, eyes wide in surprise "Seriously? How many people were in your word?"

Shrugging, Michiru answered matter-of-factly "I dunno, five or six billion? Hard to tell with beastmen in hiding a lot of the time."

Zelgadis rather dramatically fell forward, catching himself on the fence "Five or six billion! That's almost inconceivable…"

Choosing to ignore how surprised the rock-encrusted man was, Michiru turned to the ever quiet Emeralda, who had been simply watching the cars go by below, and asked "What about you, Kasim-san? Does that surprise you?"

Emeralda had been listening, even if she made a show of ignoring her two, now much more cordial to each other, companions. While continuing to watch the world below, she answered evenly "That is a lot of people. Unlike Greywards-san though, I have been to large cities, some even in the sky. By the time I was brought here though, I don't know if there was enough people left to fill even one city."

Well that had taken a somber turn. Not wanting to dive deeper into the clean implications of Emeralda's answer, Michiru could only say "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that…" as an awkward silence quickly settled in and after a few moments Michiru crossed her arms and wondered aloud "Where the hell is Xellos with our coffee, anyway?"

The mere mention of the purple-haired mazuku was enough to annoy the blue chimera. Almost on instinct he greeted his teeth but after a moment took a deep breath. Michiru didn't mean anything by it, she didn't know the trickster as he did after all. Still, she was right, Xellos shouldn't have taken this long. Turning, Zelgadis called out to the officer assigned to keep watch over them, standing on guard at the door back downstairs "Hey! You think you could use that-" Oh, what did Michiru call it? "Your radio to ask after the other one of us?"

The officer, a rather plain looking thirty-something with short black hair and a brow seemingly permanently affixed in a scowl didn't appear to be listening o the chimera. Instead, he was focusing on the very radio he was being asked to use. After a moment, the officer realized he had been spoken to and responded "What? I'm sorry, I was trying to make sense to the garbled transmissions I'm getting, what did you-" WHACK!

The door to the roof access flew open, smashing the poor officer in the face and knocking him flat on his back, unconscious. Three men rushed through the door, stopping when the realized they weren't alone on the roof. The sound of the door bursting open had alerted the three lighters to something wrong and had turned to see what the noise was. The two trios stood, each frozen by confusion before Michiru called out "What the hell is going on! Who are you?"

The man in front, burly with short brown hair, a wild and full beard and featuring forearms that each looked like they had pistons sticking out of his elbows retorted, clearly frustrated "Us? None of your dan business! What are you supposed to be, some third tier sidekicks waiting for your boss? Get out of the way, we don't have time this!"

As if to further answer Michiru's question, an alarm started sounding from a speaker on the roof and from in the stairwell. That told Michiru all she needed to know. "A jailbreak? Seriously? We have the absolute worst luck…"

"More than you know" piston-man answered as he turned to the man on his right, a lanky fellow with green skin, a long lizard-like tail and what looked like large skin-flaps connecting his arms with his torso. Lizard man was also sporting a pistol, likely grabbed in their escape and when piston-man nodded, he aimed and fired at the tanuki girl.

Michiru didn't have time to react, caught up thinking what she should shift into to avoid being hit. Luckily for her, Zelgadis had been standing just beside her and was able to get in front of her, the bullet impacting with his rock-like body before losing almost all momentum and lightly bouncing off. Panicked, the lizard-man fired multiple more shots, until he had unloaded his lone clip of bullets.

Zelgadis grimaced , knowing those bullets were going to leave nasty bruises, a rare experience for the rock skinned chimera. Before he could turn to ask if Michiru was alright, the tanuki girl asked after him "Thanks, you alright?"

"Yes, just going to be sore in the morning" was all Zelgadis could get out as Emeralda charged past them, arms shifting into large hammers and a steely glint in her eye.

She didn't get far though because the third member of the escaping trio, himself a much more average looking young man with wild and unkept short blue hair, stepped up and took a deep breath before blowing as hard as he could.

The resulting gale stopped the charging greenette in her tracks, leaning forward and shifting her right arm into a large shield to buffet her from the heavy wind. Michiru and Zelgadis we're as lucky, both losing their footing and carried toward the fence. With her shield up, Emeralda couldn't see piston man raise an arm, holding his hand outstretched. With an self-satisfied laugh, the escapee's piston fired, sending out a pulse that blow a hole in the fence as Michiru and Zelgadis fell through it and begun plunging to their deaths over the side of the building.

Emeralda stood watching in horror, powerless to do anything but watch as her companions fell from her sight. Her mouth stretched to a thin line and her eyes filling with rage, the now lone girl was still pinned with the gale still raging around her. Without a second thought, her left hand shifted into a spike which she then plunged into the roof below her. Moments later, that same spike emerged in front of the escaped villain at an angle, extending until in pieced his chest.

Instantly, the winds stopped as the man producing them fell to his knees in pain, blood dripping on the ground in front of him. The other two looked on in shock as Emeralda shifted her limbs back to normal and rose again to her full height, her scarf whipping around her from the residual gusts of wind from the now wounded villain. She stood, saying nothing. Her eyes alone spoke, and the message was clear, they would pay.

The apparent leader of this little band with the piston arms unconsciously took a step back. Somehow, managing to kill two heroes didn't seem like such an accomplishment and he began to wonder if he was better off running back downstairs and turning himself in. It was only momentarily, however. If they wanted to get away, this was now their only route. They had already killed the other two, they just needed to kill one more and they'd be scott free. Steeling himself, he called out to the other two "Come on, pull yourselves together! We can take her!"

That resolve began to melt away at the sound of flapping and bickering began to be heard. "See? Now we're even!" Michiru exclaimed, her arms wings and Zelgadis carried in her talons below her.

Despite being held by his shoulders in the tanuki girl's talons, the blue chimera still seemed entirely nonchalant, his arms crossed and looking completely calm as he retorted sarcastically "You know I can fly, right?"

After a moment, the two were back on solid ground and as Michiru shifted back to normal, she caught the relief in Emeralda's eyes. The blue-haired tanuki smiled before catching the wounded villain across from them and whistled before saying "Well, you didn't waste any time, huh, Emmy?"

Looking away in embarrassment, Emeralda whispered "I…was angry. I should have known you two would be fine…" then catching the last thing Michiru said, she whipped her head back over to the tanuki girl "Wait, did you just call me Emmy?"

Letting out a short laugh and putting her arm over and behind her head, Michiru responded "Yeah! I hope you don't mind…sorry if that was too informal."

"Guys? Sorry to interrupt but we still have these three to deal with." Zelgadis pointed out, his arm moving to draw the sword he was still missing on instinct. Feeling the absence of his blade, the blue-skinned man brought his arms up, ready to cast.

Pounding her fist into the open palm of her hand, Michiru agreed, a smile creeping onto her face "That's right! Lets do this!"

With that, the battle was joined once more with Zelgadis summoning a fireball and hurling it toward _. To the chimera's surprise, the piston man countered with another piston-powered blast from his hand, which managed to dissipate his spell.

With the air blower unable to stand up, Emeralda was free to charge in at the leader of the group, hoping to take advantage of the fact that he as focused on Zelgadis' fireball. Charging in, she lept, hoping to get a clean shot at his head to knock him out but the giant man was able to react, his arm already out from countering Zelgadis, allowing him to quickly swat at the greenette. The massive forearm caught her in the shoulder, sending her flying back. Able to get her feet under her, Emeralda landed on her feet not far from Zelgadis.

"You alright?" Zelgadis asked, glancing to his right while continuing to face the villain.

Emeralda briefly rubbed her shoulder but nodded, lowering her stance, ready to charge forward again. She didn't get the chance as the piston-armed villain raised both his arms and with ear-piercing smashing, both his pistons fired. Instead of being thrown off her feet though, Emeralda watched as a gale coming from Zelgadis' hands seemed to counter the blast. For a moment, the girl wondered if this was the same wind spell he had cast the day before.

Whether the counter gale was the same as yesterday or not didn't matter, what did was that Emeralda saw another opening, charging forward again. The villain still had his arms outstretched and was confident whichever way she came in, he counter. He wasn't prepared when, several feet before she ever reached him, she lowered her body and whipped her head. Her hair extended forward, forming into a thick metal bar and swinging in an arc along with the motion of her head. The bar impacted hard with his lower legs, sweeping them out from under him, the large man falling hard on his back and the wind knocked out of his lungs.

The villain down, Zelgadis called out "Freeze Arrow" as a frozen projectile formed in front of him and took flight. On hitting _, instead of piecing him, he began to freeze over himself, up to his neck, trapping him.

Too cold to protect, the piston-armed man lay his head on the ground, a defeated sigh escaping his lips. Having watching the man freeze over, Emeralda turned and gave Zelgadis a grateful nod, which he returned in kind. With the leader taken care of, the two then looked over to see Michiru had just upper-cutted the lizard-man with her one of her massive gorilla forearms, knocking him up in the air a few feet before landing in a heap on the ground.

Turning, Michiru saw she had a audience and n shrinking her limbs back to normal, flashed a victory sign along with a cheeky grin. Zelgadis rolled his eyes and Emeralda offered the slightest of smiles as the three came together.

Once the trio were at arm's length Michiru asked "What the hell was that all about? How the hell did they get out?"

Neither of her companions had a good answer, though Zelgadis shrugged and offered "Wrong place and the wrong time would be my guess. Kind of our luck so far, I'd say."

Just then the sound of more footsteps could be heard rushing up the stairwell through the still open door. The three turned, ready to face more escaped villains. Instead, they were greeted with an extremely worried Jun, who was followed by a couple of officers and a rather tall and round gentleman in an orange jacket that seemed to wrap around not just his body but his ovate head that featured a black mask over his eyes.

The three lighters dropped their guard seeing Jun in the lead but the former hero himself came to a sudden stop once he was able to take in the surroundings. After being told his new charges were on the roof he had begun making his way in that direction, a nagging fear at the back of his mind. That tiny voice exploded into a screaming siren of worry when captured villains burst into the main hall from the cells, an apparent escape attempt in progress.

Being quirkless, Jun had to rely on his martial arts training from one of the previous lighters and the officers to try and fend off the villains. Things hadn't been looking good until the hero Principal Nezu had sent as an escort, Fat Gum and his intern _ turned the tide. Having witnessed several villains making their way until the stairwell, from that point forward, all Jun could do was worry.

Now, seeing the Michiru, Zelgadis and Emeralda safe, with three incapacitated villains and a chunk of the perimeter fence destroyed, Jun felt relief wash over him, his shoulders slumping as he weakly asked "You three OK?"

Zelgadis scoffed as he kicked the discarded gun on the ground, causing it to slide toward the new group as he said "if you call getting blown off a roof and shot at a few times OK, then yes, we're fine."

Michiru, standing to the chimera's left, lightly punched him hurting her hand and shaking it to relieve the pain as she added "Really, we're fine, Sanada-san. Don't let the grump here give you the wrong impression."

Having stopped the sliding gun with his foot, Jun nodded at Michiru's reassurance, suddenly feeling very tired "If you say so." Then, noticing that Emeralda was looking down at the villain who appeared to be gaping for air and also afraid to ask, the former hero reluctantly asked "Emeralda, is…is he ok? Are you ok?."

Without acknowledging Jun, the green-haired girl softly answered "I punctured his lung, he will need medical attention."

Jun turned and nodded to one of the officers, who turned and left to get a gurney. Looking back over at the taciturn young woman, the former hero noted she hadn't answered his other question and pressed "And what about you? I know its not always easy to hurt someone else, but he attacked you, didn't he?

Emeralda nodded "He did. He also tried to kill Kagemori-san and Greywards-san. I was so angry that I missed."

Missed? Does that mean she had intended to-

Jun was brought back from his thoughts when a gloved hand came down on his shoulder, giving the silver-haired man a friendly pat as he stepped forward "I'm impressed! You three took these villains down?" the pro hero Fat Gum asked, his voice jovial, clearly tiring to lighten the mood.

"They got the jump on us, but once we got our bearings, it was fine. Honestly, with the look in Emeralda's eye when we got back to the roof, I think she could have taken all of them herself." Zelgadis answered coolly, as if what had just transpired had been no big deal.

The rotund hero let out a laugh as he turned to Jun "You hear that! And here you were worried for nothing Jun! Seems like combat won't be something you'll need to teach this bunch."

Jun rolled his eyes at the pro hero's dismissal of his perfectly legitimate concerns. Speaking of worrying "Fat Gum, shouldn't that intern of yours be here by now? Xellos was only a few rooms down wasn't he?"

"Indeed I was!"

All eyes turned to see the narrow-eyed mazuku carrying a cup holder, four coffees filling all the sots and a big smile on his face. Behind him came a young man wrapped in a white cloak, gold markings adoring the top of the hood. Just visible were portions of dark blue hair and a face featuring a light purple mask over the eyes. The open portion of his cloak revealed a multitude of purple pockets strapped to his midsection. Most notably, the young man looked miserable, though whether that was because of his current company or so other reason, none of the lighters could tell.

Fat Gum, towering over the two new arrivals, asked "Suneater! What took so long? Any more escaped villains slow you down?"

Wincing, Suneater, or Amajiki Tamaki, refused to look up at his mentor as he answered, clearly afraid of having to explain "No…no villains. Its just that, its just that this man insisted on finishing the coffee. I'm sorry, sir."

Despite, or perhaps because of, the looks ranging from disbelief to disgust, Xellos' demeanor only seemed to brighten as he clarified "I promised I would bring coffee, didn't I? I wasn't about to let any roaming bad guys stop me, even if I had to hide in a closet for awhile!"

Barely able to keep himself upright, so stunned was Jun that he looked like a stiff wind may blow him over. Not missing a beat, Xellos stepped up the older looking man "Here, you look like you could use one. You can have Zelgadis'!"

"Hey!" the chimera indigently called out.

Without giving it a second thought, Jun took one of the cups and took a sip of the bitter fluid. Remembering why he hated the stuff, Jun immediately spit it out, nearly hitting Xellos' foot and causing the mazuku to fall back and spill the remaining three cups. Michiru groaned at the sight while Zelgadis stood stone-faced, glancing between the spilt coffee and his "teacher."

Now Jun was left with the awful aftertaste that refused to leave his mouth and shame. One thing was sure, the former hero did perk back up. Noting the odd looks and the death stare from Zelgadis, the silver-haired man tried to regain some of his dignity, standing at his full height, keeping his head up as he spoke "My apologies, I'll buy you all something on the way to UA."

A smile returning to Michiru's face, the tanuki girl asked, "Does that mean our rooms are finished, Sanada-san?"

Jun shook his head "No, but we are hoping they will be done by the evening. Its just that things have changed since last night."

Still angry at having lost his coffee, Zelgadis kept his arms crossed as he raised an eyebrow "Oh? Have anything to do with the fun we just had?"

"No, actually. The jail break appears to have been some bad luck. Actually, we got word that our first years were attacked while on a training camp. I've been asked to bring you back as soon as possible." Gesturing to Fat Gum and Suneater, Jun continued "Fat Gum here and his intern are here to be our escorts back and just so happened to arrive just as the jail break got going. The two were extremely helpful in re-securing the headquarters."

To that, Fat Gum gave a thumbs up and a toothy grin. Suneater, for the first time, took a good look at the other three lighters he was to assist in escorting. As he nodded at the trio, he couldn't help but linger on the green-haired girl. There was something different about her that seemed to captivate him. After a moment, said girl glanced his way, her amber orbs briefly meeting his and he quickly glanced away, ashamed at having been caught starring. For her part, Emeralda paid it no mind, turning and following the rest as they left the roof, the villains being attended to.

(X)

When the four lighters got back to the large main rom that had been a constant buzz of controlled chaos the day before they were greeted with what looked more like a battlefield. Computers destroyed, papers and equipment strown about the floor and staff being tended to by emergency medical personnel. It was an unsettling sight for Michiru, who for al that she could say for the last twenty-four hours had at least felt safe in this place. The thought occurred to her that even the peaceful city they had traveled thru to get here wasn't immune to the darker side of humanity.

Jun had picked up on the subdued mood of the group as they passed by all the damaged the escaped villains had caused. As quickly as he could, he got directed them to a transport vehicle they had been given. It was a large, boxy truck that allowed them all to sit facing each other in the large back section and was both more comfortable and yet still quite stifling for the group, not the least of which because Fat Gum took up more than his fair share of space.

Thus they were finally on their way to this UA that Jun had promised would be their home away from home.

However, its was long before the friendly and outgoing Fat Gum attempted to strike up conversation, turning t the green-haired young woman in his care, a toothy grin plastered on his round face "So…Emeralda-san was it? Were you a hero where you're from? Whatever your quirk is, you seem to be pretty good at it and you didn't seem the least bit phased by defending yourself against those villains."

Jun raised an eyebrow. The general public and indeed most heroes were only aware that lighters were just displaced from somewhere else in the world, not from another world entirely. Based on what Naomasa said last night after everyone had been given their cells, he got the impression Emeralda specifically may not be well suited to hiding her origins.

Under normal circumstances Jun or Hitomi or one of the UA faculty in the know would help escort a new lighter to their new home. With last nights attack, that wasn't an option and Fat Gum was available. So now he was stuck hoping that Naomasa was wrong and that Emeralda wouldn't make the rest of this ride a lot more awkward.

Michiru and Tamaki both turned to hear Emeralda's answer while Zelgadis kept his head down, arms crossed and hood once again up. Xellos kept his usual smile up but didn't turn to witness the answer, instead choosing to observe the others.

After a long moment, Emeralda spoke, soft but serious "No one has ever called me a hero before but I do have a great deal of combat experience."

"I'd say!" Fat Gum agreed, slapping his leg "you'd have to to be able to precisely hit that guys lung like that!"

Without missing a beat and just as serious as before, Emeralda volunteered "You are mistaken. I had not been aiming for his lung. I was going for his heart and if I hadn't been so angry, I would have."

Outside of Zelgadis and Xellos, the rest of the vehicle's occupants were taken aback by such a brazen admission. Michiru recovered first, blurting out "Are you serious? How could you even think that? Why would you try to kill him?"

Fat Gum narrowed his eyes, his jovial demeanor evaporating as he echoed the tanuki girl "Agreed. Killing should never be taken likely, young lady."

Emeralda grew worried at the reaction she was getting, clearly evident on her face as she whispered a response "Be…because I, I thought he had killed you two, Kagemori-san. I couldn't, I couldn't let them get away and do it again. And…they attacked us and meant to kill us."

There was logic to her words but to hear it , especially from someone so young, Fat Gum was as much saddened as shocked to hear it, glancing at his own intern to see his own appalled expression and glad he seemed to share in his distress.

Michiru, again was quick to reply "Even so, there was another way, you proved it when you missed! You should have-"

"Clearly, there is much to discuss and to teach, Kagemori-san. Rest assured this is something we'll address at UA." Jun cut in, raising his hand to draw attention to himself. Michiru slumped her shoulders and nodded and while everyone's attention was on him, the former hero continued "While we're on the subject, has anyone else found themselves having to act as Emeralda did?"

Xellos cheerily raised his hand as high as he could before speaking, quite eagerly "I've fought in a war!"

From the opposite corner of the vehicle Zelgadis huffed "That's putting it mildly. To this day he is respected and feared among the dragons for the scores he killed."

Lowering his arm to rest behind his head, Xellos let out a mild laugh as he confirmed the claim "Well, I was following orders, after all but I suppose I do have a bit of a reputation back home."

With an eyebrow raised, Jun took note that this purple-haired…man was apparently some great warrior and yet in two encounters since arriving hadn't lifted so much as a finger in either fight. Very concerning indeed and something to be addressed sooner rather than later. As for now though, he turned back to Zelgadis "And what about you, Greywards-san? You were quick to talk about your fellow lighter but what of yourself?"

With his arms still crossed, all eyes turned to the chimera. After a moment, he sighed and rolled his eyes as he turned to face the doors to his right before answering "Yes, I have had to kill before. I can't speak for the rest of you but where Xellos and I are from, sometimes you have to do what you have to do to survive."

"Oh ho! Is that what you told that bandit leader as you took his prized possession and cut his down?" Xellos accusatorily asked.

"WHAT?!" Michiru blurted out as the pervious inquisitive stares turned to shock and display.

A rare look of panic spread across the rock-encrusted young man's face as he frantically waved his hands in front of him "No no, I didn't mean to kill him, you know that Xellos! I struck him with the back of my sword to knock him out!"

Not missing a beat and completely dead pan, Emeralda spoke up "Is not your sword double-edged?"

Slumping in defeat and shame, his head now hanging low, Zelgadis grumbled out "...yes, it is. I, I forgot, ok!" Raising his head again, a fire in his eyes as he tried to defend himself "He raped and pillaged, ok! We're not talking about a nice guy here, you know! If I hadn't, Line probably would have done it anyway. Even you have to admit that, Xellos!"

Sitting back, clearly pleased with himself, said mazuku simply replied "That is true, she most certainly would have!"

Luckily for Jun, the rest of the trip passed in relative silence. This group was already showing that this was going to be the greatest challenge of his career, all while in the mist of the greatest crisis that UA has ever faced.

(X)

Luckily for the vehicle's occupants, their police transport lacked windows because otherwise, they would have been treated to the sight of the front gates to UA absolutely flooded with reporters desperate to get in and ask questions of its administration and faculty for the disaster at the summer camp the night before.

As it was, with so much commotion, going through the main gate wasn't possible, so the officer driving took them around to a service entrance in back, laving behind several curious reporters who attempted in follow the vehicle on foot as it passed by the front gate. Once inside the grounds, the vehicle came to a stop only a few feet from the gate. After a few moments, the officer got out and opened the transports back doors for its occupants.

Michiru and Zelgadis, closest to the doors, were first step out, after a moments blindness from the suddenly bright sun. Once their vision had adjusted they got their first look at the top hero academy in Japan. Before them stood a massive building with a traditional brick and mortar square shaped base on top of which stood four massive square towers. Each tower stood at least twelve stories above the base and each appeared to be made of glass, not unlike modern skyscrapers. Each tower had a connecting enclosed bridge that connected to the neighboring tower, which made the building look like a massive letter "H" if looked at head on from any cardinal direction. It was an impressive sight even for Michiru, who came from a mostly contemporary world to this one.

Zelgadis was completely taken with the academy's appearance, yet another in a long list of things new to him. Michiru began looking about the grounds, and saw just how massive the property really was, with vast open grounds, though a smaller structure not unlike a small apartment complex could be seen off to the side on the corner of the property. Out loud she wondered "This is a high school?"

Xellos and Emeralda got out and also took in the scene, though with less fanfare. As Jun emerged he answered Michiru's question as he stepped in front of the group, which now included Fat Gum and Suneater "This isn't just a high school, Kagemori-san. This is where the future of our hero society is raised. The greatest heroes of Japan come from this institution. Under less complicated circumstances, I would love to give you the tour but for now, let us head over to that smaller structure, that is the lighters residence hall, where you'll call home. With any luck your rooms will be ready and I can introduce you to your fellow lighters."

(X)

With that, the group made their way to the dormitory. As they walked, Michiru fell back to walk in line with Emeralda, who had kept to the back, clutching her sketch pad to her chest. The green-haired girl seemed caught off guard when Michiru asked "You ok?"

Briefly glancing at the tanuki girl before turning back, her face slighting down as she walked, Emeralda said "No, I don't think I am. I am still learning how and when to talk and clearly I said something wrong back in the vehicle."

Michiru couldn't deny that and she briefly cringed when Emeralda pointed out her perceived error. Still, seeing the tan girl look so down was hard to see so Michiru resolved to cheer her up "Yeah, I admit I was pretty surprised too. At the same time, we're all from different worlds and from different circumstances, right? Whats right in one may be wrong elsewhere, it just a matter of learning is all. I know you did what you thought was right and I'm glad you were so worried for me!"

A smile briefly played on the greenette's face before it sank back into a neutral expression "You are welcome, Kagemori-san. You were surprised like many of the others, maybe you can tell me why Suneater kept looking at me?"

Having caught the smile, Michiru flashed a big grin herself "Ah, no need to be formal, please just call me Michiru!"

Emeralda nodded "I can do that, and…please call me Emeralda, I'm not use to this world's customs anyway."

Michiru flashed a thumbs up before shifting into a thinking pose, her head shifted up slightly, her index finger on her chin "As for your question, I noticed him looking at you to. Did you notice him doing it before the conversation with Fat Gum?"

Emeralda nodded again "Yes, the glances were brief and every time I noticed he would turn away."

A sly grim crept onto Michiru's face had her hand returned to her side as she leaned in to make sure the hooded young man didn't hear "Well, Emeralda, I think it means he likes you."

Turning her head to face the taunki girl, Emeralda looked very concerned at this input "I…see. I was afraid that was the case."

Michiru struggled to keep her voice down as she continued to lean in close "What do you mean! Shouldn't you be happy? You're pretty hot, after all. Didn't this happen in your world?"

The greenette's neutral expression folded into a frown at her companion's question "Several in my unit have acted as he did. At first, they would be friendly, but in turn, after each saw my abilities, they would grow cold and distant, some even hostile to me."

A flash of anger played on Michiru's eyes as she pulled back to walk normally "What do you mean, hostile?"

"I…would be yelled at. Blamed for what happened to our world. Called names. That kind of thing."

"But, why? I don't understand, your clearly a badass but you seem like a quiet and caring person Emeralda."

"I'm…different. When people see my morphing ability, they think of those who brought our world to destruction. I understand why, so its ok. Besides, in a way, they aren't wrong. If I didn't exist then things wouldn't have turned out the way they did." Emeralda explained, matter of factly.

Michiru couldn't believe what she was hearing. Had this girl really just blamed herself for a whole world's destruction? That couldn't be right, besides "I may not know the details, but I think you're a great person Emeralda and neither I, nor I'm betting anyone else in this world cares about what you can do, so lets make the best of it!"

Another smile spread on to the tan girl's face, even if her eyes betrayed a continued guilt. "Thank you Michiru, I, I will try"

(X)

The dormitory was an interesting building. The first floor was white, with Greek inspired pillars lining the entire exterior. All the upper flowers were brown, though the middle of the structure only had one more level, to the right were the living quarters, four stories tall and four rooms deep, also brown. The left side was two stories shorter and wider, with far fewer windows. Above the doors, in white letters said in English "Lighters Hall" and parked in front was a large van with the name of a security services company branded across it. Several workers were loading up, as if to leave when the group walked up.

Waiting at the door was what appeared to be a slender young man with wild, spikey orange hair and disproportionally large hands, each finger of which was capped with a "L" shaped cap and oddly was shirtless, wearing just a pair of blue jeans. "Ah, just in time, Sanada-san! Everything appears ready, I helped where I could to speed things along like Principal Nezu asked."

Still at the head of the group, Jun bowed as he responded "Thank you Power Loader, I greatly appreciate you taking the time. With all the security upgrades Principal Neu just ordered, I am sure you will be quite busy."

The head of costume and hero tool development grinned, crossing his arms in front of him "Your right about that! But hey, its for the students, right? Just let me know if you all need anything else, alright?"

As Power Loader made his way down the steps, he offered a wave to the rest of the group. Fat Gum took that as his cue to leave as well, along with Suneater. Wishing them luck, the two departed, their escort complete. Motioning for the rest to follow him in, Jun opened the door and stepped into the dormitory.

As the rest of the group followed, Michiru got her first look of the main room along with Emeralda, being the last two to enter. It was a huge room, with a TV to the side framed by several large couches and a large table behind them. The back lead to a kitchen and to the right were doors and a stairwell leading to the rooms. There was a hall to the left as well the curved to the right. What caught Michiru's eye though were a series of photos lined high against the back wall, a total of eight of them.

Michiru could hear Jun going over what was where, but her focus remained on the photos. It only took a few moments of looking for her to recognize Terra, Sakura and Shinra's photos. Several of the others looked like normal people, if a little young but one was wearing what appeared to be a motorcycle helmet with cat ears and another was orange, had long white hair and a long protruding beak for a mouth.

Just as Jun was finishing up explaining the kitchen, Michiru raised her hand "Sanada-san, are all the people pictured up here living here?"

Everyone gathered looked up at the room of photos as Jun answered "Ah, no, Kagemori-san. Aside from yourselves, there are currently four residents here. That being said, everyone you see up there has lived here. These are all the lighters who came before you. You've met a few of them already and I imagine in a moment you'll meet two more."

Sure enough, moments later, two pairs of feet could be heard coming down the stairs. As the two reached the base, Jun offered "And here they are now, may I introduce Hina Yoshifumi and Shigeo Kageyama."

Both appeared to be teenagers about sixteen, the girl featuring dark blue hair hanging down above her shoulders, blue disinterested eyes and wearing a simple T-shirt with grey jogging pants. The boy had short bowl cut black hair and beaty black eyes, combined with a calm expression also gave the impression he couldn't care less what was happening. He too wore a blank white T-shirt, but his pants were a simple pair of black slacks. It was he who spoke first "Wow, its true, there was more than one this time. These...are kind of weird, aren't they?"

The girl, Hina, rolled her eyes "Mob, as usual, your clueless. Hello, I'm Hina though you will address me as senpai, and this odd ball here is Shigeo but you can call him Mob. It is a pleasure to meet you all."

Neither Michiru nor Zelgadis liked the sense of superiority that this Hina girl seemed to carrying herself with. Michiru outright took offense to the sempai comment, being the only one who knew what it meant, though neither got the chance to express their displeasure before Xellos chimed in "Oh, what lovely young people you are! I look forward to everything you two have to teach us!"

That seemed to satisfy Hina, though Mob shied away from the ever-social mazuku. Jun stepped in to formally introduce the newest members of the dormitory seeing how nervous Mob was getting. That done Jun talked a bit more about Hina and Mob "Yoshifumi-san has been here the longest since she was ten when she arrived. Kageyama-san was our second youngest at fourteen but since he got here four years ago he is actually the older of the two. Both are psychics, quite powerful ones too. I trust you two will give them the rest of the tour and show them to their rooms?"

Mob nodded automatically while Hina turned to stare at the group of four for a long moment before turning away "…fine, but you better bring back some fine caviar when you get back!"

"I think I can manage that." Jun said, smiling. Turning back to Michiru and company he added "I need to check in on Bradford-san but these two will take you to your rooms. Michiru, you're the moment familiar with things in this world so help out if you can, ok?"

With a mock salute, the tanuki girl confirmed "You can count on me, Sanada-san!"

(X)

My apologies if this chapter just sort of ends but I wanted to take the time to walk them through the house and since this chapter is a week late already as I feared it would be, I'm just going to leave it here. I also apologize if this chapter is a bit rougher and has more errors. To release this weekend, I had to forgo my usual editing process. No more big events until the Spring so I expect things will continue to flow normally with a monthly release schedule. If I can pull it off sooner I will but life doesn't allow me to make such promises. As always, I hope you enjoy and thank you.