Shegio Wright took off his ascot and balled it up in his grasp. The thin, wiry man unbuttoned the top part of his white dress shirt and smoothed out the silk navy blazer he donned on a regular basis. He let out a deep breath before turning into the conference room.

Just a floor below the control area for Class 1-A, the room was enclosed in the center of the building with only a circular wooden table with a white tablecloth pinned by a golden vase in the center. Only the tungsten chandelier and the auburn tint of the antique lamps tucked in the corners of the room illuminated the white walls of the sparse room.

Inside, Izuku sat next to Hawks with a few other members of the Board Of Trustees. He dribbled his fingers on the tablecloth and scanned Shegio when the man strut into the room with his eyes swishing around each member of the table.

"Thank you for convening so quickly," Shegio said. "I understand class is still in session, and I believe the final team goes on in a few, correct?"

Izuku nodded. "The last of the day. I was going to dismiss them early after this."

"Well, considering half of your class is in the hospital, and the other half is missing, I'd say that's a good call."

"We are very close to finding Ivan," Izuku said. "Also, we know Ayumu is asleep at the landfill. She'll be fine once she receives a bath."

"The class looks a mess," Shegio said. "The press will eat it up."

"They're kids," Izuku said in a low voice. "Nobody is perfect on their first day. Most of them have never used their quirk in a combative setting until now."

"I understand," Shegio took out a cigar and flicked a lighter. He lit up the tip and placed it in his mouth. Smoke puffed out between his lips with the tobacco scent wafting through the room. "I will say, Leon did a good job. Even if he was saddled with that poor girl and that drama queen."

"He wouldn't have succeeded if it weren't for them," Izuku said. "They were a team."

"Be that as it may," Shegio puffed out another breath of air. A secretary handed him a piece of paper and examined the graph on the page. It had a dotted line after that day's date with a projection leading upward to the very top and right of the table.

"The signal's getting faster," Shegio said. "It's at least daily at this point."

"But why just daily?" One of the board members said. "Can't they just keep doing this over and over?"

"Well, the quirk manipulation tech from Void only created. It didn't take away. So these people repurposed the tech. Whatever encoding platform their using takes a long time to process and upload the electronic footprint of the quirk."

"So are they targeting specific people?" Hawks asked. Izuku looked over and felt his spine stiffen at the thought.

"I'd be surprised," Shegio said. "It's tough enough to target and take a quirk from anyone. To point it to a specific person, that sounds too elaborate."

"But how is that even possible?" Izuku asked. "How can a quirk be remotely taken away by some electric signal?"

"Every quirk acts different from the person's body," one of the board members stated from the side of the table. "When that comet came, it encoded something into each person. Something that, maybe, could be quantified."

"Quantified into what?" Izuku said. "Like a number? A coding language? Python? C?"

"We don't know, otherwise we would replicate whatever mode they use and we might have an advantage," Shegio said. "It may not even be electric. Could be radiation. Could be a biological weapon."

"Biological? So they're transferring a quirk-killing illness over some radio waves or microwaves?"

"Perhaps," Shegio said. "Regardless, we're way behind them."

"They did it for All-For-One," Hawks said. "Someone took that quirk from Shigaraki. And I've always thought that it was on purpose. No way was that random."

"Maybe it was," Another board member said. "Maybe they got lucky?"

"Lucky?" Shegio said. "Lucky that someone or something was able to siphon away the quirk of one of the most dangerous people on earth and then put it into a being not even from this universe?"

"Allegedly not from this universe," Keigo said. "As far as the public knows, that Leonhardt bloke is from England. Not some different dimension. Although in England's case, it's the same thing, honestly."

"As far as the public knows," Shegio smothered out his cigar on a silver ashtray. "I've spent fifty million dollars to hire two washed-up Ex-Heroes to run the biggest dump called a high school in America."

"Hey, my license is still valid," Keigo said. "Inactive, but valid."

"They are using the same technology from Void Industries to capture maybe encode people's quirks into a line of readable numbers and data," Shegio spat through his teeth. "And then, they're erasing it from those people. You had three years to find them, and instead, more people are losing their quirks!"

"The Syndicate kept me on a tight leash," Keigo said. "If it were up to me-."

"If it were up to you, you'd be snorting cocaine of some hooker's asscheeks in Hollywood," Shegio shouted. "This graph projects the exponential increase in quirk loss from this signal. Look at this."

Shegio smack his finger onto the edge of the paper.

"By the new year," Shegio said. "Everyone on earth will have lost their quirk at the rate of this signal. Unless something stops it."

The room remained silent. Shegio sighed and set the paper down. Izuku, despite being apprehensive to speak up since he still knew little of what was being used.

"I got a call from Kirishima just a few moments ago," Izuku said. "He lost his quirk."

Everyone turned to Izuku. Some with faces of horror. Keigo tilted his head witn an inquisitive frown. Shegio sighed and ran a hand through his thin hair.

"Then maybe they are targeting," Shegio said. "That's two people you know, right?"

"It is," Izuku said. "But even if it does have something to do with me…it doesn't change the fact that…"

Izuku paused. He stared at the paper by Shegio's arm. The very end of the graph reached the top of the chart; the number at approximately eight billion. The worlds population.

"This doesn't change the fact that," Izuku said. "Whoever these people are…they're coming for everyone."

Aiden smirked to himself and watched Mai conversing with Tao on the steps of the bank. His arm hanging off the railing of the marble stairs, he took in the hot sun beating down on the concrete landscape.

Truth be told, Detroit was much hotter than his hometown of Sheboygan. He was never one for the heat, and yet he felt just fine standing there watching that hot Japanese girl with the strange pink hair. He bit the corner of his lip and placed a hand in his beige pants pocket. He thought this heist was going to be easy in no small part to himself and his own quirk. He was a tall boy, just a few inches above Mai. While not particularly muscular or strong, he had a decent amount of stamina from his days quarterbacking in his middle school back home. Worse case scenario, he could always run away and grab a few bucks to hopefully win the competition. After all, it didn't matter if his whole team made it out altogether as far as he remembered the rules.

In his earpiece, Aiden twitched at the static noise as the microphone came to life back in the control room.

"Can you hear me?" Deku's voice asked.

"We do, Professor," Mai chirped.

"Good. Sorry about the delay," Izuku said. "Just a quick meeting. You're time starts now."

A bell rang through their ears. The group convened in front of the steps and faced each other. Tao scowled with his arms crossed while Mae clasped her hands together in front of her.

"Alright," Mae said. "I think we have our plan together, correct?"

"Yes," Tao said. "But we'll only have one shot. I don't want to deal with whatever Pro-Hero they have up against us."

Tao flipped himself over the railing of the stairs on the side. He rushed around the corner and down the street to the alleyway.

"You first," Aiden said. He gestured for Mai to go in front of him.

Mai strolled past him and opened the door. Aiden looked at her like a hungry wolf and followed her inside.

As the doors closed, Tao approached silver double doors by an empty dumpster in the alleyway. He looked around and found a security camera pointed at the doors.

Tao closed his eyes. He clenched his right fist and felt a warmth vibrate over his body. In his black gaze, he saw a strange white light wave into view. The energy fumbled over his skin until the light engulfed his body.

Then, the light shrunk into his frame with a loud whoosh. Out of the silence, a wind swished out and kicked up the dead leaves and rippled the dirty puddles in the alley. From the wind, a white orb illuminated in his hand. With a quick gasp, Tao held out his arm, and the orb elongated into a bright slice of ivory luminescence that sharpened into the shape of a saber.

Tao Hitoshi! His quirk: Hardlight Projection! He can manifest a part of his soul into tangible energy that he can shape and morph.

Tao took two sharp steps forward. He jabbed the light down into the ground. The ray cracked in the concrete and propelled Tao into the air. He whipped the light up and shortened the ray into a sharp axe. He sailed to the camera, and with a yell, slashed right at the face of the lens.

In the lobby, Aiden and Mai strolled up to the counter. One of the tellers typed away on his computer. Mai got up to the counter and rang one of the bells on the desk.

The teller smacked the bell with his hand to stop the ring. The sound muffled under his skin.

"Whaddya want," the grumpy young man said.

"Yes," Mae said. "We're here for the job interview."

"Job interview?" He said. He clicked on his computer and scrolled through a calendar on the screen. "We don't have any job interviews today."

"Oh, it's just for the janitorial staff," Mae said. "They said the interview was in the office in the back."

The strange cowlick on the side of Mae's hair twitched. Aiden frowned and saw the pink hair bounce like an electric pulse.

"I…I didn't hear about one," he said. "Let me call the janitorial supervisor-."

"We are quite late," Mai said as the teller reached for the phone. His hand froze in mid-air as he looked over at Mai. "It would be much better for all of us if you just took us over to him."

The curled strand of hair twitched again. The man's brown eyes seemed to glaze over. He looked at the phone, then back at the girl.

"Well, I suppose if you're already late," he said. "I can just take you over."

"Excellent," Mai clapped her hands together. "Thank you so much."

Aiden smirked as he followed Mai behind the counter. The Teller opened up the door and allowed the two of them in. Mai waltzed across the threshold onto the golden tile with Aiden in tow. They head over to the steel door and wait for the Teller to press in a code. Aiden looks over at Mai who still holds a cheerful smile.

"Hey," Aiden whispered. "How'd you do that?"

Mai Karanashi! Her quirk: Ahoge! She can effect people's moods through electrical impulses through a cowlick on her head.

"Every person has their secrets, Aiden," Mai said with a light giggle.

"Maybe you could tell me some later," Aiden smirked. "You can trust me."

"Can I?" Mai asked in a soft whisper. "We are bank robbers after all."

The Teller unlocked the door. It slid open, and the three went inside. Into the white hallway, Aiden squinted with the flourescent light beaming over his red hair. He strolled next to the man as they turned the corner. At the end of the walkway, the vault stood shining and inviting in all of its platinum glory.

"Alright," The Teller said. "The janitor's office is right on the side here."

The Teller brought them closer to the vault. Then, he planted himself at the wooden door just across the walkway from the break room. To the right, the vault entrance was just feet away.

"I'll just wait here with you all," the Teller said. "She said she would arrive in a few moments."

"I think we can wait ourselves," Aiden said. "It's not like we can go anywhere."

"Sorry. I can't leave civilians unattended."

"Well, we hope to not be civilians soon," Mai said. "We would hate for you to miss out on work just because you waited here with us."

Mai's ahoge twitched again. The Teller huffed. His face tensed, and he palmed the side of his head. Then, he shook it like he was swatting away a disgruntled fly.

"No, I don't think I can," he said. "Besides, it will just be a second."

"But maybe we don't have a second," Aiden said. He stepped forward with a tight smirk and crossed his arms. "Maybe I want you to leave, bro."

"That would be against the rules," The Teller said. However, he grunted and held his head again. Mai frowned and turned to Aiden, whose azure eyes quivered with a strange glint burning towards the shorter man.

"How about this," Aiden said. "You leave, and I won't make this worse for you."

Mai gasped when The Teller collapsed to his knees. He flailed out his arms and hit his knees on the tile. A harsh grunt stabbed from his mouth, and he blinked and shifted his head upward. His eyes darted to each side, and he searched around for what appeared to be a semblance of light.

"What?" The Teller said. "I can't see anything! What happened?"

"Oh, you can't see anything?" Aiden chuckled. "Then, I guess there isn't anything worth seeing for you."

Aiden Oliver! His quirk: Redolence. He can make people see images that aren't real due to pheromones targeted to the individual.

The man waved his arms around and tried to grab for Aiden. However, Aiden simply stepped out of the way and laughed when the man fell onto his front over the white tile.

"Aiden," Mai said. "What are you doing?"

"You wanna see again?" Aiden asked. "Unlock the vault, and then I'll let you see."

"I…can't!" The man yelled.

Aiden grabbed the man's purple hair. He dragged him down the hallway to the vault. He clawed at the tile, but Aiden pulled him violently with the man kicking his heels into the ground to stop the momentum.

"Aiden, this is not the right way." Mai said. "I had it under control with my quirk."

"You attract flies with honey, babe," Aiden bashed the man's head into the vault door. "But you get the honey by digging your hands into the hive. Right, Mister Teller."

"Please! I can't see!"

"Tell me the code on this keypad," Aiden said. He kneeled down right to the man's face. His blank eyes shifted around to find some light in his dark world to no avail.

"I don't even know it!"

"Tell me," Aiden said.

"Aiden, stop!" Mai grabbed at his arm only to have the boy brush her off. "This isn't how we should do this!"

"Is this what you'll do in a real mission," Aiden turned back to Mai. "When we become heroes, we'll have an objective. And we have to get what we want by any means necessary. So, either help me, or get out."

"No," Mai said. "You won't treat a civilian like this. I don't care if you're a hero or not."

"Well, it's a good thing we aren't in this exercise," Aiden bared his sharp teeth in a tight smirk. "Cause we're villains."

He whipped back around to the man. "Now, enter the code."

The man hyperventilated. His vision remained opaque, and he could only feel the cold tile under his hands and the warm air from Aiden's nose brushing over him. He swallowed hard. Then, he locked eyes with Aiden. He closed his both and paused his breath.

"Actually, I think you should disengage your quirk on me."

The man opened his eyes. Aiden felt his arms drop down to his side. His mind disintegrated into a draining fog that erased his conscious will. His mouth dangled open, and his gaze blurred into a wash of lavender and chrome.

"I…I will disengage," Aiden said.

The tall boy rose to his feet. His shoulders rested low with his voice delving into a low, robotic tremor.

"Now, leave this bank."

"I will leave this bank."

Aiden turned around. With a leisure pace, he strode last Mai and headed for the exit. Mai stepped back as his arm almost brushed her chest, and the boy rounded the corner to exit the hallway.

Mai looked back at the man. He brushed his pants and stretched out his neck. He rose to his feet with the strength of a Pro-Hero and lowered his collar to reveal strips of a white scarf around his neck.

"I guess those acting lessons paid off," he said. He pressed his hand to an earpiece. "Lagniappe. I'm ready for you."

Shinso Hitoshi! His quirk: Brainwashing! He can control the mind of people that speak to him!

Mai gasped and covered her mouth. She recognized this hero from Japan. How did she not notice him earlier from the color of his eyes? Yes, he put on a higher, more nasally voice, but that was no excuse for the error in not noticing him. She had seen Shinsou in action multiple times on television back home.

"Now, how about you just surrender so I can go home," Shinsuo said.

Mai knew about Shinso's quirk. He could only control on person at a time, so she could forgive herself for exchanging words to him at first. Aiden had taken the fall, but how would her quirk measure up against a brainwashing expert? Not only that, but the binding cloth around his neck would ensnare her for sure.

Mai's ahoge twitched. She tried with all her might to make Shinso fatigued. However, she was only met with Shinso flicking his head and letting out small snort.

"You really think that will be enough," Shinso stepped towards her. Mai clutched her hands together and backed up. She had an inclination to run, but her feet would only move at a snail's pace. She was sure that, the moment she turned around, the wraps would suffocate her.

Bang! Bang!

A flume of smoke blew around the corner behind her. Mai closed her eyes with smoke billowing past and rushing for Shinso. He shut his eyes and lowered his head. The smoke had a light dew scent to it, but the translucent fog flowed over the flourescent lights and blurred the entire hallway. Despite this, the smoke was thin when breathed in by Mai, and she waved away a flume from her face to see what was behind her.

From the dark hall, a beam of light rushed out of the walkway at the end of the hall. She could see a small, dark shape with neck-length black hair wielding the sword-shaped ray.

"Tao," Mae shouted.

"Yes, it's me," Tao said. He ran over at the speed of a pouncing cheetah towards Mai. "Who do we have in our midst?"

"Don't speak to him," Mai said. "His quirk is brainwashing but only if you speak to him."

"Where did this fog come from?"

Bam! The lights flickered, and the door facing the lobby of the bank slammed shut. The dark figure of Shinso disappeared with another flicker, and the smoke became thicker. The dew grew more obtuse, and Mai stepped right next to Hitoshi who narrowed his eyes.

The hallway grew darker. Soon, the light great morphed into a deep graphite. It was as if walls had shrunk down and encapsulated the two.

Bam! Another crash occurred just feet away. They both spun towards the source. They saw nothing.

Creek.

Footsteps. Louder. Louder.

Mai cries out. Tao thrusted out the light beam and crosses it over his face. His small, angular cheeks had shadows draped over with his eyes locking in on the abyss drowning the two.

The footsteps devolved in sound. Erased from the hallway. Now, the hall was silent save for the heartbeats of the two students.

A strange scrunch emanated from behind them. Mai turned back with her wide eyes reflecting fear. She scanned her gaze back.

Nothing behind her.

Then-.

"Ah!"

Tao screamed at the top of his lungs. His feet fell from behind him, and two silk wraps snagged his ankles. He fell and slid backwards past Mae. Before he could go any further, he grabbed his light beam and sliced the fabric. The force cut the wraps, and Hitoshi bounced back to his feet.

However, Mae collapsed at the feeling of more binds on her ankle. These restraints were not the light tan silk of Shinso's material. Instead, they were throbbing black tendrils spiked with remnants of a ruby tint coursing through its limbs. Mae screeched when her head slammed into the ground, and the tendrils pulled her back onto the fog.

"Help me!" Mae screamed! "Someone help me!"

Tao dived for Mae's outstretched hands. His fingers, short by nature, just grazed past Mae's knuckles while her fingernails dig into the dark tile below.

She screamed with her body sliding back like a plummeting diver into an angry graphite sea. With her figure disappearing, Tao heard one last gurgle before silence permeated over him.

Tao stood back up. Now, his face was pale, and his limbs trembled. All of the training he did at home did not prepare him for something this intense. He could see nothing except the glowing slate curtains before him. He heard only his footsteps and harsh breathing. His heart palpitated and slammed like a jackhammer through his chest and reverberated off his nerves.

"Show yourself!" Two shouted.

Silence.

Tao straightened up his back. His nerves shot, he thought back to his family and the reason he was in this school. He bit his tongue, and he forced his breathing to slow by only sending air through his nose. He squeezed on the warm light encasing his hand, and he closed his eyes to concentrate.

I'm here for you, Tao thought to himself. I'm here for you. I'm here for you.

His breathing slowed to a crawl. His heartbeat plugged into a low murmur. The smoke tickled the tops of his ears, but as long as the light of his soul was by his side, he could still be victorious.

Twitch.

Tao's eyes darted open. The lightest squeak of shoes behind him!

Tao shouted and spun around. He lunged out and charged his blade forward. From the light, he saw the brief image of Shinso shocked at the speed of the boy. His blade raced right for his face.

Then, Shinso disappeared.

Or more so, he did.

Tao gagged at the black tendril wrapped around his neck. It suffocated him, and the light disappeared from his hand as another tendril squeezed his arms to his sides. The wind raced over his short jet-black hair with a harsh whistle piercing his ear lobes.

If he could have mustered a scream, he would have. However, he could only watch his body sail through the air. Then, down the hallway and dragged faster and faster-.

BLAM! His head crashed right through the door frame of the steel vault. His world danced around in a symphony of painful scarlet. He spat out blood before his body careened through the cavern of gold and money and-.

CRASH!

Tao was released but the tendrils. He flew through the air past the exterior brick wall of the bank. The hot sun cooked his clammed skin with the warmth throwing him into an oven. The air knocked out of him, Tao tumbled over the concrete of the street and rolled backwards right to the facade of a vehicle.

Smack! His head smashed through the window of a taxi cab. The other half of his body was slumped outside the car with his legs dangling outside. His knees almost kneeled on the ground with shards of glass etched into his face.

The boy, now bloodied and dehydrated, groaned and tried to stand back up. Instead, his ankle gave way, and he could only muster a dazed spin to face backwards to the bank. He fell onto his back and sat on the ground leaning behind him. His body crumpled at the base of the cab, and he planted from exhaustion. One of his eyes was already swelling, so the world was obscured with dalliances of lilac and chartreuse that dotted his vision.

Tao was no longer petrified, but he was exhausted from crashing through the building and all of the steel that encompassed it. Black invaded his gaze as he saw Mae thrown onto the ground by him. She gasped like a dying fish, but it appeared she was spared the violent thrashing his body endured and was simply taken here by the tendrils.

"Who…was that," Mae gaped.

Tao could only shake his head. His hand gripped a pebble on the road next to him in a feeble attempt to defend himself if necessary. However, he dropped it by his limp, twisted ankle.

"Whoa, what happened to you guys?"

Aiden, otherwise unharmed and awoken from Shinso's spell, ran up to the pair by the taxi cab. He looked over to the vault and saw the giant whole on the side of the building. A brick fell onto the ground with exposed wires snapping electric shocks over busted sewage pipes that spilled its contents all over the sidewalk and the broken structure of the wall.

"Hey, we can still win this," Aiden said. He jogged over to the middle of the road and directed himself towards the vault. "I'm gonna get some of the money, and wel'll get out of he-."

Smack!

Aiden fell onto the ground. Another black whip snapped at his face leaving a deep violet gash in his cheek. He moaned and clutched the impact point, but not before following the whip as it snaked across the road. All the way to the main source. At the sight of the perpetrator, Aiden gasped.

Standing before him on the edge of the sidewalk and the destroyed bank facade was a familiar, famous woman. Tall and now muscled from years of training under Deku, she faced the wall of the bank in dramatic fashion. What Aiden first noticed of her outfit was the royal purple cloak with a golden fleur-de-lis emblazoned and shimmering as the silk fabric waved in the wind like cape.

When she turned, Aiden saw the familiar buckskin fringe leotard that traveled just shy of her knees. It was one-piece, skin-tight suit that was mainly ivory with royal purple piping that clung to very thin straps that ran up to and around her neck. On Her arms, tan gauntlets hung withloose straps for cosmetic purposes, giving them the appearance of fringes hanging down her arms evoking memories of the Wild West.

Aiden's eyes ran down her front, over her long legs, and right to the fringed lilac boots about ankle-high. Her Louisiana heritage is represented with a yellow fleur-de-lis engraved onto the leotard in between the two rows of fringes.

Seeing the boy gawking at her, she unlatched the thin, purple occasionally wears a purple masquerade mask draped over her deep charcoal eyes and brushed back strands of her chestnut hair that cascaded down to her hips. Her eyes sparkled with a bright smile as she placed a hand on her hips.

"I reckon y'all should stick to being heroes," the girl said in a thick Cajun accent. "Y'all couldn't be villains if the Lord himself came down and told y'all to be."

Moxie Lee! A.K.A Lagniappe! Her quirk: One For All!

Beep.

Back in the control room, Izuku sighed. There clock had just struck zero. He likely would have called the test anyway since all three of them were close to incapacitated. He had hoped his students would have put up more of a fight, but perhaps putting them up against the newest weirder of One-For-All was asking for too much.

"Alright class," Izuku turned around. "Can anyone-."

He was faced with an empty room. All of his students were either missing or still getting patched up.

Izuku slumped into a chair. His head ached from the meeting with Shegio, and now he had to face that his class was completely unprepared for what was coming their way.

"Izuku?"

The man looked up and plastered on a sheepish smile. Momo stepped inside and approached Izuku.

"Are you alright?"

"Just tired," Izuku said. "Seeing half my students beat up is exhausting."

"I swear even All Might took it easy on us at first," Momo said. "Your former students were quite intimidating."

"It could have been worse," Izuku wiped sweat from his brow. "Pretty much all of Class 1-A wanted to do this, but I had to limit myself. I thought it'd be a good lesson to all the kids about staying humble. About knowing your limitations so you could fight beyond them. Instead, we have to fish students out of the sewer and a landfill."

"Hey," Momo grabbed Izuku's chin. She lifted up his head to meet his eyes. "It's your first day. And I'll be here to help."

Izuku blushed and twitched at the touch. While he didn't know Yaoyorozu as well as some other classmates, he knew she was not one to randomly touch others in this way. However, her gentle smile betrayed no ulterior motives, and he forced a quick nod and shot to his feet.

"Right," Izuku turned to hide his flushed and hit face. "It's way too early to be focused on failing. Besides, that's the point right? To teach them."

"Exactly," Momo said. "So, are we still on for tonight."

Izuku nodded. A slight creak emanates from his throat.

"Great. I'll text you my address. See you at eight."

"Yes," Izuku clapped his hands together. "You as well."

Momo sauntered out of the room. Izuku clutched his chest and felt his heart pump with the speed of a timpani rolling off Mount Everest. He squeaked to himself, and then collapsed on the ground.

As his body gave way to unconsciousness, he noticed a strange glint of red eyes heading his way. He craned his head and saw the furry head of a golden retriever seated in his midst.

"Oh, hi Sam The Dog," Izuku huffed. "I'm just…tired…from…life."

The last thing Izuku heard was a robotic bark.