Sam the Dog was already regretting Merle's decision to come to this school.

Of course, Sam was more than happy to be in a place other than the tiny village baking underneath the endless Texas sky. Merle was quiet apprehensive to leave the known confines of his town and flying out to a big northern city. However, after the incident that lead to the Governor's recommendation to the new school, he felt that he has little choice in the matter.

The day they left, Sam had to drag Merle out of bed over the wooden floor to the pickup truck that his dad drove them in to the airport hours away. In fact, he had to do all of the packing by throwing all of Merle's clothes into the suitcase. He was fortunate that the plane ride was fine with Merle quite nervous the entire way. When they landed, it did not help that the hustle and bustle of the airport made Merle dizzy.

Yes, the stoic teenager would likely be a train wreck if it weren't for Sam. So much so, Sam was concerned with just being away from Merle for longer than a few minutes. And his fears were proven correct due to this strange person dognapping him on his very first day in Detroit.

Sam sat perched upward due to the metal restraints that hugged snug around his middle. His paws were pinned to his side with his nose pointed straight at a computer monitor that blinked blue code running over the screen. The rest of the room was dark with the only light being the stark white bulb swinging above the chrome platform Sam was imprisoned atop. Two lasers with scarlet points were attached to metal arms bolted into the ceiling of the strange circular room. They faced each beady eye that Sam raked around the area. A stack of processing units hummed with rubber tubes running over the floor like obsidian snakes writhing on the ivory tile.

Clap.

Clap. Clap.

"Look at this," A mischievous voice said. "You're such a good boy, I didn't even have to tell you to sit."

From the shadows, the girl in the skin-tight pink body suit clapped before Sam. Her wild blue eyes gleamed under the light with a green tint painting her cheek from the blinking lights on the processors.

"You're probably wondering why you are here," the girl said. She crouched down to plug one of the hoses into the processing tower. The socket clicked, and the tube vibrated in place.

"You see, Mister Dog," the girl walked to Sam. "You have a very important piece of information. Info I need to get what I want. And you're going to help me get it."

Sam tilted his head in confusion.

"You see," She said and turned back to her computer monitor. "Something very special is being hidden in this area. In fact, it may be in your school. So I need you to tell me if it's there or not," she typed away on her keyboard.

The two pointers illuminated with a red glow. Sam's eyes reflected the light and the metal started to hum with electricity running through the circuit.

"I know you've done some exploring on your own. You're a nosy canine, aren't you?"

Click. The girl pressed a button which caused the lights to pop and lock into place right at Sam's eyes. She turned around with a grin and hurried over to the chair Sam was restrained. She grabbed the metal lasers and lowered them just inches from Sam's eyes.

"Don't worry," The girl said. "It will all make sense very soon. And thanks. You're a good boy."

The noise grew louder. The code raced through the screen. The chair started to shake as the lasers glowed to a blinding volume.

Sam, immobile to the chair, could only bark.

Ayumu was having a stressful day.

The girl, leaning on Melanie's shoulders, had her head in the crook of the taller girl's neck. Her eyes dimmed with her vision blurring from the lack of focus. Her thin legs shook with fatigue while the hot sunbeams above soothed her skin as the group stood in front of the bank steps.

The earpiece dug into her lobes, but the girl was far too exhausted to complain. The trip from Japan had been far too taxing on her limbs, and her arms dangled at her side like she was an inanimate rag doll. Her eyelids started to sink with her breathing shallow.

Buzz.

"Team Two," a voice shouted in her ear. "Team two! Are you ready!"

Ayumu yelped and fell onto her side. She crashed onto the scalding concrete and splayed out on her back. She tried to bounce back up to her feet, but she was far too exhausted to do anything else than stay on the floor. She slumped her head back on the rough street and closed her eyes. Within a second, she was sound asleep.

"We are completely ready," Melanie announced with a salute towards the building behind her where the class congregated. "I will ensure that our group is successful, Mister Deku."

Beep! A loud buzzer emmitted in their ears. The countdown began.

"Watch out," Ivan smirked with one of his eyes pointed back towards a strange apparition that drifted from Ayumu's body. "Ayumu just rose up from the ground."

"Ah, yes," Melanie turned around. "You are awake!"

"Kinda," Ayumu, slightly translucent, giggled and floated in front of Melanie. By her feet, the corporeal Ayumu lay passed out on the floor.

AYUMU KIMURA: her quirk: Dream Self. She can cast a translucent version of herself into the work while asleep!

"Alright," Melanie said. "So now we need to enact the plan. But what do we do with Ayumu?"

"Whaddya mean? I'm right here!" Ayumu laughed and did a front flip in the air while floating inches above the ground.

"Here," Ivan grabbed Ayumu's real body in his thin arms. "I'll get rid of Ayumu so no one will see her."

"Great idea," Ayumu said. "There's a dumpster right in the alleyway."

Ivan carried Ayumu's lifeless and frail body to the dumpster by the alleyway. He threw her body into the receptacle and brushed his hands together. "Great. Now what?"

"Now," Melanie pointed at the door. "A distraction!"

Inside the bank, the lobby was abuzz with patrons signing papers and walking over the golden tiles of the flooring. A few of the employees stamped some documents behind the counter. Janice, the woman at the center teller section, drummed her fingers on the oak wood.

Then, the door opened. A bright ray of sunshine funneled into the room. Between the light, the shadow of a pink-haired girl strolled into the room. She sashayed her hips and strode up to the main counter where the middle-aged rotund woman sneered with her head propped in a hand.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

Melanie cleared her throat. "Greetings! I was wondering if I could make a withdrawal!"

"Withdrawal slips are on the counter," she pointed at a stack of small white slips in front of Melanie.

"Yes, but I was inquiring about a very large withdrawal." Melanie said.

"How much?" Janice said.

"How much is in this bank?" Melanie asked.

"A lot."

"Okay, can I please withdraw that amount?" Melanie asked.

"Do you have ID?"

"Not with me, no."

"Then I can't help you."

"Well…I believe you can!" Melanie shouted. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a paper bag with an object inside and obscured. The object was in the shape of a pistol with her hand stuck inside the bag.

"What are you doing?" Janice asked with a monotone voice.

"I want all the money in the bag!" Melanie shouted with a gleam of anger shining from her eyes that had warmed from pink to a bright scarlet along with her flowing hair.

Janice, with an uninterested gaze, sighed. "With what bag?"

Melanie blinked. "Huh?"

"With what bag?" She asked. "You're using the only bag you have."

Melanie lowered the bag in her hand. She looked around and noticed a man with a suitcase in line at the next teller. She leaned towards him and let out a small tick of her tongue.

"Excuse me," Melanie whispered.

The businessman in a tight suit glanced at the girl. His eyes locked onto hers. He had a scruffed shadow of facial hair along with bloodshot eyes and a strange scarf tightened around his neck. The way he stood pin straight gave off a refined, but prepared stance as of the man had been in thousands of hold ups like these.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"Could I borrow your suitcase?" Melanie asked. "I don't have the proper currency stealing receptacle with me."

"Why would I help you?" He asked.

Melanie bit her lip. "Please, mister! I have a very compelling reason. My family…they aren't the most wealthy. And…they starve! Like all the time. We don't have enough money for food or any of those things."

"Uh huh," the man said.

"Right, and in my country," Melanie said. "We hibernate, so if we don't have enough food for winter, we all wither away and die!"

"So why don't you steal food instead of money?" He said.

Melanie cleared her throat. She had clearly not thought of that. "I don't want to steal from grocery stores! I may be a criminal, but I'm not mean."

"Then I can't help you," Aizawa said. "I apologize."

Melanie huffed and plastered a hardened sneer on her face. "Very well. Then, you will be shot. In the face!"

Melanie lifted up the bag and pointed it towards the man. He sighed and grabbed the paper bag.

Snatch! He pulled the bag away to reveal Melanie's short fingers positioned in the shape of a gun. She pointed at him with her eyes widened in shock. However, she seethed and grit her teeth in exasperation.

"That's it," Melanie shouted. Her eye color morphed into a darker scarlet with her hair matching the obfuscated tint. "You will know face my wrath as a bank robber. Prepare to be injured, citizen!"

Melanie Wicker: her quirk: Feeling! Her hair and eye color change based off her emotions which signal what power she possesses!

Melanie shouted out with her hands balled into fists. Her right fist launched forward at the speed of a cracked whip. Even Janice was surprised at the violent thrust as her fist screamed right at the taller man's face.

The man turned towards Melanie. His bloodshot eyes bore into hers. Suddenly, the energy in her limbs disappeared. The ruby tint on her hair and eyes melted away to the regular pink. She emitted a gasp and felt her arm slow to a crawl of a turtle.

Boop! Her knuckles bopped the muscled chest of the man. She stared at him with her fist still pressed into his body.

Melanie let out a nervous giggle and pulled back her hand. She tried to punch him again and activate her quirk. Boop. Boop. Boop.

"Is this hurting you?" Melanie asked with a shaky chuckle. "This usually hurts when I do it."

"Perhaps you're just tired," the man said.

"I think maybe it's jet lag," Melanie said while punching the man. "Although isn't Toronto in the same time zone as Detroit? Am I an hour ahead? Or behind?"

"I think you need some sleep."

Then, the scarf around the man came to life. It snapped towards Melanie and wrapped itself around her middle. Melanie let out a scream, but it was cut off by the sleek fabric that squeezed over her mouth and throat. Her limbs glued to her side, she fell backwards entombed by the scarf that was still attached to the man's neck.

Which Melanie immobile, the man known as Shouta Aizawa brushed his hand off one another and looked at the front doors of the bank.

"That's better," Aizawa said. "Now…where are the others?"

In the sewer, Ivan clawed over the slime-coated brick walls the outlines the sewer system underneath Detroit. Ayumu floated next to him and twirled around like a ballerina in the air.

"I can see you back there," Ivan said. "You stuck your tongue out at me."

"I was just seeing if you could really see everything behind you," Ayumu said.

"Not everything." Ivan demurred. "Just what all of my eyes can see. Which is everything."

He stopped at the corner. One of his tendrils from his head slid forward and rounded the corner. It extended three feet and pointed across the tunnel of dark water racing past. On the other side of the sewer river, a yellow ladder stood with a security guard perched before it like a statue of a knight. In a alabaster uniform, he held a mock rifle in hand with the black cap over his head pulled tight down above his bushy black eyebrows.

"Allow me," Ayumu said. She flew forward with a quiet squeak and zoomed over the tunnel towards the man. She was quite excited to see the response that this man had to her dream body.

Past a dripping drainage pipe, Ayumu sink into the concrete platform the man stood upon. Ivan kept one of his tendrils around the corner. The girl had disappeared into the ground, and Ivan narrowed his gaze wondering what the odd girl would do.

The guard coughed and took off his glasses. He rubbed a piece of cloth on the lenses and huffed on the glass. He rubbed them again and examined them to ensure they were clean. The man placed his glasses on and stared forward.

"Ooga Booga!"

Ayumu shot out from the ground with her hands flailing in the air.

The man screamed and fell backwards. He dropped his rifle which clattered to the ground with a clang. It fell and rolled into the river and churned down the tunnel. He spun around and pulled himself up the ladder like a mouse scurrying away from a ravenous cat.

"What's the matter," Ayumu floated next to the man upward to the closed latch int he ceiling. "Seen a ghost?"

The man screamed again and punched open the latch. He clambered up into the room above and sprinted away like a chicken without a head.

Ayumu turned back to the corner. Ivan slid around it and had all of his tendrils pointed at her. Ayumu had a pleased grin on her face and twirled with the grace of a ballerina next to the ladder.

"Not bad," Ivan said. "So, how am I gonna get across?"

Ayumu blinked.

"Across? Can't you just jump?"

"That's a ten foot gap," Ivan tapped his foot on the edge of the platform across Ayumu. "Can't you fly me over there or something?"

"Oh, yeah," Ayumu said in a sweet voice. "Let me try that. You jump and I'll catch you."

Ivan stroked his chin. His tendrils waved around the top of his head and pointed at multiple areas within the tunnel. The images from all these points of view collided within his head. The corner of the platform. Ayumu sashaying in the air. The water running in the sewer tunnel.

"Are you sure you can hold me up?" Ivan said in an soft snake of a tone. "I'm pretty skinny, but I'm quite taller."

"Don't worry about it," Ayumu said. "Just jump so we can win!"

Ivan ran forward. With no hesitation, he leapt off the platform and flew forward with his arms spread apart. Drifting in the air like an eagle, he stretched his body out and sailed towards Ayumu's outstretched pale hand.

The tips of his fingers reached out to hers. The edges of his nails kissed the very end of Ayumu's grasp. The wind rushed through Ivan's tendrils with Ayumu's grinning face just feet away.

Then, his hand met Ayumu's.

And promptly went right through it.

Ivan's arms clawed at the air. His limbs went right through Ayumu's body with specks of white light morphing through the impact points.

Splash!

Ivan plunged into the water. His body tumbled into the rapids and spun over like a dislodged barrel. Ivan gurgled and gagged with his thin and pale body lumbering over the raging rapids as a broke buoy in a typhoon. He clawed at the waves, but they pushed him farther down the tunnel.

Ivan's eye tendrils whipped around looking for some kind of recourse. However, the sewage water obscured his vision, and soon his world became inundated with the lurid green river that whipped him around the corner.

He disappeared around the bend. Ayumu floated alone above the rapids with the gurgling noise of Ivan disintegrating into the constant dripping of the pipes and the sloshing waves below. She stood in a demurred silence and looked down at her translucent hand.

"Oh, right," Ayumu said. "I can't actually grab anything in this state. Oops."

Ayumu, with a soft shrug, flipped around and zoomed towards the entrance. She flew through the floor and entered the bank.

The sensation of flying through objects was quite enticing to Ayumu. She would feel a strange draft rush down her back while passing through the pipes and ceramics that made up the building. Other than a cold sensation that chilled her spine, little else caused any effect. In fact, most sensations seemed to evaporate from her conscious except for the glee of sliding through air. In her normal body, she was lower on energy than a koala. Here, she could twist and turn with the emphatic embrace of a soaring eagle.

She stopped in the center of the hallway. Then, she turned towards the right and saw a sleeping security guard seated outside of a steel-plated door with a spinning triple time lock. Sensing that this was the vault, Ayumu phased through the door and slipped inside.

Back in the lobby, Melanie struggled against the restrains that were Aizawa's scarf. She wriggled her body and her chest to go over one of the binds, but all it did was cause her to tip over and fall to her side like a depressed sheep.

"You won't get away with this," Melanie screamed.

"What am I getting away with? You're the villain," Aizawa said while he patrolled around the room. "Besides, it appears no one is even trying to get in. No alarms are going off."

"Because my team is so prepared and organized!" Melanie said. "I have no doubt that they are already depleting the funds of this bank as we speak."

Aizawa sighed. He took out a radio and clicked the button. "Hey, Paralyzer. Any sign of an intrusion in the vault?"

Inside the vault, a muscular, blonde man wearing a black tight jumpsuit with white piping on the sides flicked on the radio. He had a tired, almost lethargic face of resignation on his smooth, young face with his green eyes sashaying around the room. His built arms crossed in front of his taut chest, he tapped his boots on the steel floor of the cool vault. On each forearm, a row of white spikes sparkled under the flourescent hot light with the soft hum emanating down to the racks of gold bars and dollar bills resting on steel palettes.

Rubbing his large hands on the fringe of his undercut hair, Austin Bordette sighed into the radio.

"No, ain't no one here," he said.

Just as he clicked off the radio, a sudden gust of wind blew over his neck. He gasped and spun his stocky frame behind himself towards the vault door.

"Surprise!"

Austin threw the radio backwards in surprise. He stumbled back and fell onto a stack of gold bars. The metal dug into his back, and he forced air back into his deflated lungs.

From the floor protruded Ayumu who spun around like a drunk ballerina just feet before him.

"Hope you weren't too busy," Ayumu said. "I think I made it in the nick of time!"

Austin blushed at the embarrassing tumble and shot back to his feet. He bounced on his toes and balled up his fists prepared for action.

"And who might you be?"

"I am here to steal all your money!" Ayumu said. "But the problem is that I can't really grab onto any of it."

Austin lowered his arms. He unclenched his fists and stared up at the translucent figure that was this strange student floating in mid-air.

"Huh?"

"Well," Ayumu twirled a strand of her hair. "I kinda can't touch anything in this form. You can see me, but I'm basically like a ghost."

Austin took a step forward. He flashed his thorns and twisted his forearm to face Ayumu's ankle. He slashed them towards the image, but the thorns simply went through her with the lightest kiss of a chill tickling his skin.

"That's really interesting," Austin said. "Kinda reminds me of this one kid in my class."

"Oh, that's great," Ayumu said. "What was he like?"

"He tried to end the universe."

"Oof. That's not good."

"Yeah, he was really annoying," Austin said. "And worse. He was British."

Ayumu nodded at him. Then, the two just stopped and looked around the room. With no ability to manipulate items, Ayumu had no plan beyond floating in the vault. Since Austin could not grab her and make the venom in his thorns paralyze her, he had no other recourse either.

Then, a strange static film ran over Ayumu's image. She gasped and clutched her forehead as of something had thumped her.

"Ow!"

A flicker of light.

Ayumu's body disappeared. Austin stood alone yet again in the vault.

"Why did I decide to do this again?" He asked himself.

Ayumu awoke in the alleyway. Her body scrounged above a layer of garbage in the dumpster, she opened her eyes and looked up to the blue sky obscured by a dark head of black hair.

Thump! Another apple core smacked Ayumu's forehead.

"So this was your plan?" Aizawa asked looking down at the frail girl. "You could have been the surveillance person or the lookout along with Ivan. And Melanie could have used her strength, if she has any, to burst through the vault."

"Thinking…isn't my strong suit," Ayumu said before starting to doze off. The world evaporated from her gaze as she snuggled up to an old, soggy pizza box that lay next to her in the heap of garbage. Unconcerned with the smell, she went back to sleep.

Aizawa sighed. He grabbed the lid of the dumpster and slammed it shut to leave Ayumu within. He grabbed his radio and turned to a nother channel.

"Midoriya," Aizawa said. "I think we're done here."

Group B: Fail.

In the control room, Izuku rubbed his forehead in exasperation. He was hoping that calling in his old teacher and student would produce interesting results. However, the trio had crumbled faster than a melted cookie in the desert. He already called police to find Ivan who was likely drowning in the Detroit sewer system. Now, he's have to fetch Ayumu from a dumpster and Melanie who was still shouting in her binds that Aizawa tied to her.

He looked back at the remaining two groups.

"So," he said. "What was the thing that this group did wrong?"

"What did they do right?" Aiden asked with a haughty laugh.

"They didn't really have a plan," Mai said. "Plus, they didn't utilize each others strengths well."

"How so?" Izuku asked.

"It's simple," Sigi raised her hand but continued to speak. "The route of the sweet was correct, but Ayumu should have remembered her limitations. Melanie shouldn't have been the one to confront them. In fact, stealth would have been their best strength. Have Ayumu sneak in and get a layout of the security functions, Ivan can go in with Melanie behind him. Then, they can sneak in and Melanie can dispatch any of the security guards. Meanwhile, Ayumu could act as a distraction to the spiky-arm guy or to the folks in the lobby. Then, Melanie breaks through the vault, Ivan remains lookout, and they run out of there preferably the way they came."

"Wow."

Sigi whipped around to Riley. She sneered upwards towards the taller boy.

"Why? You have a problem with that plan?"

"No," Riley said with a blush forming over his face. "Just…that's what I was thinking. You're…smart."

He scratched the back of his head. Already, he shivered at the awkwardness of his words. However, he looked down at Sigi who still held a serious expression. Her vivid pink eyes examined him as if they were dissecting his every fiber of being.

"So you thought I was dumb or something?"

"What?" Riley coughed. "No. I'm just saying."

"Calm down. It was a joke," Sigi said.

"It wasn't funny," Aiden said with a smart-ass smirk on his face.

"It was a German joke."

Izuku blew out a deep breath. "I'm going to see how Group A is recovering. Group C, I hope you do a lot better than that. Come up with a real plan, and use each others strengths. I've dealt with Pro-heroes who thought they could only work alone and…it never goes well," Izuku said.

He put his hands in his pockets and looked over to the exit of the room. "The only way to be a good hero is to be able to work with others."

"Or a good villain," Aiden said.

The class turned towards him. He chuckled.

"I mean, that's what this test it about. Right?"

"Right, Aiden," Izuku said. "Or a good villain. Just…focus and be prepared."

Izuku headed out of the room. His shoulders slumped, he kept his eyes glued to his red shoes. As he left the class, he bit his lip and trudged towards the blue carpet of the walkway leading to the elevators. His head was already hurting from the cacophony of different voices that rang through the control room. He was no doubt going to hear about how terrible his students already were from Aizawa. He was never a fan of Izuku's teaching style even when he taught his kids at U.A. He denied having such bad habits. After all, the students did graduate. Not only that, but some were already making names for themselves.

Into the elevator, Izuku pressed the button back down to the hospital level. Group A was likely to be out of their induced slumbers, and he did want to speak to them. He imagined all of his students were in a similar boat to his own; one of loneliness in the strange city. Detroit was certainly one of the last places he envisioned teaching. However, he knew his main goal was to find the source behind this quirk-erasing signal that appeared nearby. His head throbbed from the many questions behind the cause, and yet it was still not his priority.

Then, a quick crack of his radio.

"Professor Deku?" A voice blared out. "Come in?"

Izuku took out the radio and plastered a sad smile on his face. He pressed to button to enter the conversation.

"Austin," Izuku said. "I'm so glad you could make it! Thanks for the favor."

A pause. Then, the radio crackled back to life.

"Ain't not favor. You need me somewhere, I'll be there."

Izuku nodded. "How's Synaes, by the way?"

A longer pause.

"Well…she's good. I'm still trying to convince her to become a Pro-Hero instead of that fashion business she's in."

"Well, being blind certainly has its disadvantages in that industry," Izuku thought back to the black sunglasses worn by the silver-haired Icelandic girl.

"What's worse is that rash of museum break ins around where we live. Every time I get home, she isn't around. And then, I hear over the news that a place got broken into right around where she was. Makes me nervous, man."

Izuku frowned. "Like, she happens to be out at night? Around the place of these break ins?"

"Yeah, and they always happen when I'm at home or asleep. It's like the person doing it knows when I'm not able to do something. It ain't fair."

Izuku blinked and noticed, in his stupor to listen to Austin, he had neglected to press the button for the floor he would travel. He shook his head and clicked on the right selection.

"Uh, Austin," Izuku said. "I think you need to talk to Synaes about what's happening."

"You think she's in danger?"

"Have you noticed anything different lately? Other than her going out a lot."

"No. I mean, she's been wearing some nicer jewelry lately, but that's cause her clothing line is selling, y'know?"

Izuku sighed. He clicked the radio one last time. "I'll talk to you later, Austin. Just…uh…if you need help with that, let me know. I know a thing or two about people not being what they seem."

"What?"

Click. Izuku let out a small laugh. What a crazy class he had somehow taught. And already, one of his students may be engaging in less than heroic behavior. He figured if anyone would do that, it would be James. Or that British student from another dimension. He never trusted him.

That said, he cared for all of them equally. If any had an issue, he would help them in a heartbeat. However, he now had new students that had to be his priority. Even when he dealt with much of the side effects of re-entering the real world, he had to focus on his students. In a way, Izuku thought as he ran a thumb over the scars on his right hand, this was the only way he could truly be a hero anymore.

The door opened. On the floor of the hospital area, a brown fluffball of a dog panted with his tongue sticking out at Izuku. His tail wagged in amusement at the man.

"Hello, Sam," Izuku said. "Are you doing okay?"

"Bark!" Sam The Dog said.

"Great!" Izuku said. "Are you going back up to see Merle."

Sam barked again. Izuku stepped out of the elevator and allowed Sam inside. The dog skittered inside and spun around in an excited fashion. Sam reached up and smacked the button for the highest level.

Izuku smiled at the adorable dog. "Well, I wish you and Merle luck. I know you'll do great!"

One more bark, and Sam The Dog disappeared behind the elevator doors. However, before he did, Izuku took pause at a strange glint in Sam's eyes. It may have been a trick of the lighting in the hall. Perhaps he was just seeing spots in his vision.

But, as Izuku turned and traced down the hallway to the patient rooms, he stroked his bare chin and thought back to his memories.

"Sam The Dog," Izuku said to himself. "Weren't his eyes brown before?"

Why were they now red?