[Chapter 3]

Izuku felt as though the world had slowed to a crawl, everything grinding to a halt as if time itself had turned to tar. She could hear everything, see everything, yet she couldn't believe what was right in front of her.

Hovering before her was a sparkling, purple Magical Girl, her lips peeled back in an innocent, childlike grin.

"Sup, Deku. Still up for that sandwich?"

Izuku connected the dots almost instantly. Besides Bakugo and her class, only one other person knew that dreadful, hated name. Her thoughts flashed back to that night on the bridge, the incident that blessed her with a power she could call her own. Back then, there was that other boy on the bridge…

"Matsuda-san?" Izuku whispered under her breath.

The other girl tilted her chin upwards, looking pleased as punch. She knew exactly who Izuku was.

"Both of you, freeze! Hands in the air!"

The two Magical Girls whirled around to find that they were surrounded by heroes on all sides, some capable of flying to match their elevation while the others targeted them from the ground. Izuku and Matsuda drew closer and put their backs against each other, knowing the other was the only ally they had in this situation.

"U-um, wait!" Izuku tried, but Matsuda held up both fists.

"The happy reunion can wait since there's no use talking to these punks." she hissed, fuchsia light spilling between her fingers. "Come on, we're shooting our way out!"

"Wha—no!" Izuku exclaimed, appalled. "No one's shooting anyone!"

"They'd beg to differ." Matsuda's features twisted into a grimace.

A jumbled cacophony of orders was directed at them when all the heroes started shouting, all at once. The red-faced men and icy-faced women all but demanded their immediate surrender.

"Get down on the ground and put your hands behind your head, slowly!" one of the heroes called out, aiming his arm-cannon at them. "Under the anti-vigilantism act, we are authorized to use lethal force if necessary! Stand down, now!"

"We aren't even doing anything!" Izuku cried out, trying to defuse the situation. "Wait, please!"

"This is your third and final warning! Stand down, or we will—"

"You ain't doing shit." Matsuda grabbed Izuku's hand.

The girl let out a scream of surprise when she was suddenly yanked into the air alongside her new comrade. Both of them rose like rockets, instantly accelerating from zero to sixty and outspeeding the heroes in the blink of an eye. Some of them opened fire, Quirk effects and projectiles from support items crisscrossing when the two bobbed and weaved through the barrage.

"How fast can you fly?"

"Um, Mach 1!"

"Then let's do this!"

The speed limit became more of a speed suggestion when the two girls became streaks of green and purple. A pair of news choppers filming the battle with the Angel started to give chase but were instantly rebuffed when Izuku and Matsuda hurtled past them with vapor cones wrapping around their small bodies. The helicopter pilots peeled away, bracing for the inevitable—

Kaboom.

The sonic boom they caused rattled windows and walls, everyone in the nearby vicinity looking skywards. Behind them the pursuing heroes were left in shock while the two girls made their escape, parting clouds with their sheer speed. Moments later they were gone, their sparkling trails leading into the horizon dissipating like smoke on the wind.

Matsuda was laughing, overjoyed as they flew higher and higher. Izuku began to laugh too, both from exhilaration and the adrenaline surging through her veins. This was true freedom and power… but they needed to be responsible with it.

Izuku slowed once they breached the stratosphere, far above Japan. The air in the Mesosphere was still somehow breathable to her, even if it was a little thin. Matsuda slowed to match her pace, then turned around to greet Izuku with that big smile still plastered on her face.

To her surprise the purple-clad girl gave her a tight hug, Izuku hugging her back awkwardly. Soft. Very soft.

"Matsuda-san!" Izuku gasped, pulling away and coming back to her senses. "You're okay!"

"Oh, I'm better than okay." Matsuda grinned, twirling about to show off her new body. "I feel incredible. Invincible! Glad to see that you're the same."

"A-ah, this?" Izuku mumbled. "Um, this Magical Girl Quirk… you got it too!"

"All thanks to that girl on the bridge. Somehow, her powers were transferred to us." Matsuda looked down at Japan. "Come on, we've lost them. Let's talk while we get something to eat, Midoriya-san."

"Sure! But, um, where would we go?" Izuku stammered. "Every hero in the city's probably on the lookout for us."

Matsuda's grin grew even bigger.

"Who said we had to go back to Musutafu?"

Izuku followed her fellow Magical Girl all the way to the outskirts of Japan, to the north of the country in Hokkaido. It was colder and windier than Musutafu would ever be, but to the girls the freezing wind might as well have been a pleasant breeze for their superhuman bodies. They descended together, powering down into their female civilian forms.

Izuku was dressed in a thick All Might hoodie while Matsuda was in a simple jacket and jeans, the two of them touching down next to a large structure shaped like an inverted 'V'. This was a monument Izuku had saw pictures of online, but now she got to see it with her own two eyes. A black plaque was placed at its base, a single sentence describing both the monument and where they were.

'The Northernmost Point In Japan'.

"Wow…" Izuku whispered, jolting when she heard the snap of a camera behind her.

Matsuda was busy taking selfies, making 'peace' signs towards her phone while framing the monument in the background. She tilted her head for Izuku to join in and the other girl did so shyly, not very used to taking any photos at all. The two of them posed for several more photos, laughing and giggling to themselves as they did. To passerbys it just looked as if they were tourists enjoying their vacation, though some of them did raise an eyebrow at how lightly they were dressed compared to the locals who were suited up in multiple layers.

Soon the girls wandered into the quiet town of Wakkanai, settling down in a warm and comfy little restaurant at the center of it. Unfortunately there weren't any sandwiches on the menu, but they did order a bowl of ramen each for themselves.

Izuku took the opportunity to study Matsuda's civilian form. She was a brunette, her hair a shade of light purple arranged in a neat braid compared to Izuku's blonde bob cut. The biggest difference between Matsuda's male and female forms was her face; the girl's eyes a pair of golden jewels with slitted pupils. A single sharp fang protruded from the left side of her mouth, giving her an almost feline grin when she smiled.

Even Matsuda's movements were catlike, with slow, lazy motions that could turn lightning fast in the blink of an eye. She was playing with a 500 yen coin while they waited for their orders to arrive; tossing the small object from side to side then rolling it across her fingers, followed by spinning it atop her fingertip on its edge. Those movements should have been near impossible, but she made it look easy with her enhanced dexterity.

"So, Midoriya-kun. How have you been?" Matsuda laughed, flicking the coin at her. "Having fun? Saw you on the news, by the way."

"You did?" Izuku blinked, her hand catching the tiny projectile with a soft thwap.

"Magical Girl Miracle." Matsuda fished out her phone, showing a social media feed that featured Izuku's alternate form front and center. "It's been all over Qwoter since yesterday."

Indeed it was. The posts with pictures of Miracle had reached thousands of re-qwotes at the very minimum, Izuku's eyes widening with shock at the amount of positive feedback she was getting. She expected hate and vitriol about how lame and girly she was, not… this. There were even multiple hashtags dedicated to her.

A quick analysis made Izuku understand most of the good reception. It was mostly nostalgia. Miracle was like a TV character leaping out of the screen, reminding everyone of the simple times of their childhood. Before the stresses of work and adulthood. Before the daily threat of villainy and annual economic crises. Miracle, or rather, the idea of the Magical Girl she represented, was a callback to a better time for all of Japan.

People actually liked her! She hadn't felt liked in… years. Izuku couldn't help it and began to cry.

"Uwaa…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Matsuda reeled back, wincing. "Dude, stop! Boys don't cry."

"B-but I'm a girl now so it should be okay, right?" Izuku sniffled before quickly wiping away her tears, knowing she was making a scene. "S-sorry."

"Miss, are you alright?" A nearby waitress rushed over, concerned. "Do you need any help?"

"It's f-fine." Izuku blubbered, still sniffing a little. "I'm just happy, that's all."

"I see. If you need anything, don't hesitate to tell us!"

The waitress went back to work after leaving Izuku with a bunch of tissues, and Matsuda sighed with relief. Izuku on the other hand felt that it was strange that someone even cared. Whenever she was crying or looked even remotely saddened as her male form everyone just ignored her, gave her a wide berth, or even gave her disgusted looks. Having someone besides her mother actually care for once felt different.

"You alright?" Matsuda tried.

"I'm… okay. I'm okay." Izuku blew her nose into a tissue. "Sorry."

"You sure do apologize a lot, don't you." Matsuda held out a hand before Izuku could say it again. "Ah-ah-ah! You're a Magical Girl now. Smile, be confident!"

"I-I'll try. Yeah, heroes have to smile." Izuku mumbled, glancing at the phone once more.

'Magical Girl Miracle to the rescue!' read the caption below the images, showing multiple scenes of Izuku saving the crowd from being squished and defeating the Hand Angel from yesterday.

Miracle had a big, wobbly smile in the photo, all sweet and innocent. Unlike those tropes in anime and manga where a Magical Girl's features would be blurred or obscured by magic, her face was caught in 16K high definition by the news cameras. She gulped, thanking her lucky stars that she had a civilian form.

"At least you had a great introduction." Matsuda grumbled and fiddled with her phone. "I sure as hell didn't."

She flipped it back towards Izuku, the screen now displaying Matsuda as her Magical Girl form. Whoever had taken the photo got an amazing shot of her in combat, the girl's face frozen in a nasty snarl as she landed an uppercut on what looked like an octopus made of black cables. A few other photos showed her attempting to strangle it with its own tentacles.

'Magical Girl Mustard on the job!' The caption read in neat bold letters.

"You look absolutely amazing." Izuku said. "But, um, 'Mustard'?"

"I know what you're thinking and no, I wasn't hungry." Matsuda held her head high, confident in her choice. "It's a name I've been holding on to since I was a kid."

"So you had dreams of being a hero too? Huh."

"Ha ha ha. A hero, yeah." Matsuda laughed mirthlessly, looking away. "Let's go with that. Pity you picked your own name before I found you. We could have been 'Lettuce' and 'Mustard'."

"Why the food theme?"

"Well, I thought you liked sandwiches."

"That was one time!" Izuku sputtered, blushing. "Why 'Mustard' anyway, if you don't mind me asking. You're purple."

"Mustard, like the gas." Matsuda explained, opening her palm atop the table. "See?"

A wisp of thick purple gas escaped from her skin, wafting into the air and burning up into nothing. Matsuda flexed her fingers, letting out a quiet hum of contemplation.

"Oh." Izuku said and nodded in understanding. "It's your original Quirk!"

"Not exactly. Whatever happened to us that night gave us this Magical Girl power…" She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I think it also boosted my Quirk. I can't make my regular knockout gas when I'm like this; it's superheated now."

"Turning it into plasma?" Izuku whispered back excitedly. "Wow!"

"I know, right? My Quirk, it's different when I'm a girl." Matsuda grinned. "It's like I've got so much energy in me… The original can't even hold a candle to it now."

Izuku didn't miss how her pupils seemed to glimmer with an otherworldly purple light for a moment, a deep, resonating hunger in those eyes. She knew it well—a desire for power when one had been powerless all their life.

"Was it really just knockout gas?" Izuku ventured, trying to remind the other girl not to forget about her original self. "I'm sure it was a good Quirk."

"It really wasn't." Matsuda shook her head. "I wasn't immune to it, you see. Any time I'd try to use it and defend myself… well."

Izuku imagined it in her head and winced.

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. It's all in the past now." Matsuda suddenly brightened, ribbons of purple plasma swirling between her fingers. "With this power… heh. The future belongs to us, baby. I mean, look at us! We're so damn pretty even without makeup. No need for any foundation or concealer at all!"

"Huh." Izuku ran a finger down her own smooth cheek. "Wait, how do you know how to use that girl stuff?"

"None of your beeswax." Matsuda huffed. "Either way, it's awesome."

A young waiter brought their two bowls of chashu ramen, blushing like an idiot after the two thanked him happily. Izuku had no idea what that was about, shrugging it off once she realized the other girl was squinting suspiciously at her.

"W-what is it? Do I have something on my face?"

"How are you bigger than me?" Matsuda pouted, blatantly staring at Izuku's chest. "Wait a minute..."

"Eh?" Izuku blinked, not quite sure what she was talking about.

Matsuda reached across the table and gave Izuku a light smack on her ample bosom. The blonde let out an embarrassed yelp, clutching at her chest protectively.

"W-w-what was that for?!" Izuku wailed, cheeks flushed.

"We're both girls, so it's fine." Matsuda lowered her voice to an urgent whisper. "Why aren't you wearing a bra?"

Warmth crept up Izuku's cheeks like a house on fire, her petite hands squeezing shut atop her lap.

"Well, um… I don't know how to put one on." she mumbled. "And I don't have any."

"That's no excuse! Second thing I did after I woke up like this was to buy clothes and underwear online." Matsuda said.

"What was the first thing?"

"Freaked out and jumped through the window."

"That's exactly what I did!"

"But I digress." The purple-haired brunette cleared her throat in distaste. "Tell you what, let's go do some shopping after this. The only reason you can walk around dressed in such a tacky outfit is cuz you're cute. It wouldn't work when you're a guy. I mean, what are those?"

"My sneakers?" Izuku's gaze shot downward and she wiggled her signature red footwear from side to side. "I don't think they're tacky…"

"Fine, I guess they can stay. But they have to match with the rest of your outfit!" Matsuda sniffed, turning her pert little nose upwards. "There's this thing called color theory, and you look like you just picked whatever was lying around and got dressed with your eyes closed—"

Izuku looked away, cheeks bright pink as Matsuda trailed off in slow realization.

"You didn't."

"It feels wrong to look…"

"You did!" Matsuda exclaimed in disbelief. "Come on, dude! It's your body now, don't be ashamed. What, did you shower with your eyes closed too?"

"Um, yeah?" Izuku admitted, causing the brunette to let out a hearty laugh. "B-but Matsuda-san, I don't think I can look because I still like girls even when I'm like this."

"Same here, straight as an arrow." Matsuda shrugged. "Browsed through a Herogals magazine this morning and still found the girls smoking hot. The latest edition has a pin-up of Midnight in a bunnysuit."

"Really?" Izuku perked up with interest, then quickly shook her head to refocus. "Wait, t-that's not the point! How did you manage to, um, y'know."

"Look at myself? Just think of it as your own body, and not someone else's." Matsuda said. "Trust me, you'll get used to it. You'd better, or you won't be able to take care of that body properly."

"Urgh." Izuku winced. "Okay, I'll try."

Their chatter came to a stop when the two girls began to dig into their ramen, thoroughly enjoying themselves. It was absolutely delicious, and Izuku couldn't remember the last time she ate a meal with someone other than her mother. Then she got another look at the monster Matsuda had been fighting after looking at her phone.

"Did you feel it too? That pull in your head." Izuku tapped on the device's screen. "There was this hand creature yesterday, and that glass snake thing from earlier… I felt drawn to them somehow. As if I had to confront them or something."

"Those monsters? Yeah. It's like some sort of compulsion or urge to intervene, but strangely enough it doesn't work on villain attacks." Matsuda slurped her ramen hungrily. "Maybe those freaks have something to do with this weird power?"

"Well, um, I've been calling them 'Angels'..."

"Angels it is, then. Whatever they are, they seem dead-set on causing a scene wherever they go." Matsuda huffed. "While you were fighting that hand monster yesterday I was trying to catch this weird-ass octopus thingy. At first I thought it was some kind of villain, but this thing…"

"It behaved more like an animal, didn't it?" Izuku said quietly.

"Exactly! Funny thing was, it had a Quirk. A real powerful one! It kept thrashing around and causing chaos, always teleporting whenever someone screamed." Matsuda pounded the table and leaned in closer. "Get this: it had sonokinesis. It could turn itself into sound and travel along other soundwaves, including the screams of human beings! Ain't that something. Finally beat it when it got tired after a while."

"The one I fought had a Quirk too. At least, it looked like one." Izuku muttered. "It could summon these hands whenever it stomped the ground… no, it was somehow manipulating and reshaping the environment itself. What the heck are these things?"

"Monsters-of-the-week, that's what."

"Then it's our job to stop them."

"Pffft. As if! Let the heroes handle it, I only fought that one 'cause I was nearby. I just came looking for you so I helped with the snake, but I'm not about to bust my ass fighting more monsters." Matsuda scoffed. "I've got better things to do."

"W-what? Wait, you can't do that. As Magical Girls, it's our duty!" Izuku protested.

"To kick ass and take names? Yes. To risk our lives for no damn reason? Hell no." Matsuda slurped her ramen again. "Look man, what's in it for us? We don't even get paid. In fact, what we just did is called vigilantism. Unlicensed Quirk usage, serious crime, clause 558, minimum of 2 years in prison. Ring a bell?"

"Ugh. B-but…" Izuku took a moment to have some more of her own ramen before it got cold. "I just can't help it. When I see somebody about to get hurt, it's like my body just moves on its own."

"Ain't you a goody-two-shoes… These hero pricks are professionals, dude. Trained for battle. We're just two girls in frilly dresses. It's their job to deal with monsters, villain attacks, whatever. Taxpayer dollars at work."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking at first." Izuku admitted. "But did you see the heroes try to fight an Angel? It's like they're barely hurting them. For some reason, we're the only ones who can take them down quickly."

"Of course we are." Matsuda sighed. "Why us?"

"I… I don't know. But I know these Angels…" Izuku gulped down more ramen. "I don't think they wanna hurt anyone. Not unless they get attacked first."

"Really." Matsuda looked dubious, tapping at her phone. "Then how do you explain that?"

Izuku leaned in for a closer look and the blood drained from her face. Matsuda's phone was tuned in to a livestream of an ongoing battle in the middle of a city, two monstrous creatures roaring to the skies while surrounded by a multitude of cops and heroes.

The twin Angels looked nothing alike but moved like a team, covering for each other's weaknesses while bolstering their strengths. The one that drew the most attention looked vaguely like a gorilla, if a gorilla was blue and had three faces and six of each limb. It was a brutish, grotesque figure that rampaged mindlessly, bursts of air pressure from its hands tossing away the nearby police cars like children's toys.

The second Angel was the one that made Izuku do a double-take. This one looked… human. It was a glowing, yellow-white curvaceous female figure, the entity's legs ending in jagged lightning bolts. It, or rather, she, had the power to control electricity, drawing power from the surroundings and causing lights and screens all around the two to flicker. The camera feed stuttered when she looked directly at the viewfinder and smiled.

She had no eyes, three empty holes in the middle of her face staring right at everyone watching the video.

"Where is this?" Izuku whispered.

"Hutta City." Matsuda clicked her tongue. "About fifteen klicks away from here?"

"We have to help!"

"No we don't. Let's see how this plays out first." Matsuda sprawled out across the table lazily, already finished with her ramen. "Let's see if our taxpayer dollars are being put to good use."

Izuku reluctantly obliged, wanting to see if the heroes could handle it themselves too. The pair watched as multiple heroes leapt into battle, only to be defeated within seconds by the two Angels. Their Quirks seemed to do minimal to no damage at all to the entities, only aggravating them.

Both of them winced when the Lightning Angel pointed upwards and called down a thunderbolt to strike an unlucky hero, zapping him with a horrifying crack when he just stood still incompetently. He fell like a sack of bricks, armor charred and smoking. Strangely enough the hero wasn't dead, the flashy attack simply rendering him unconscious. They could still see him breathing when the cameras zoomed in.

"Well, I know which party I'm voting for next year." Matsuda grumbled. "Useless fucks."

"We're underage. We can't even vote yet!" Izuku pointed out.

"Oh yeah."

The only upside was that she did notice a pattern that was playing out as the Angels fought. As she suspected, they never attacked anyone unless they were attacked first. The Angels instead targeted buildings, vehicles, and the environment around, seeming to have the goal of causing as much damage as possible without actually hurting anyone. As absurd as it sounded, they really did behave like the 'bad guy monsters' in a Saturday morning cartoon or anime.

Why? Izuku thought, trying to understand the strange beings. Why would they do this?

The Wind Angel roared, all six hands clenched into fists and beating against its muscular chest. Its partner seemed to laugh silently atop its back, cupping her hand against her mouth in the imitation of a giggling, sophisticated woman. Izuku's eyes widened when she realized they were purposely waiting for the panicking civilians to clear the area before they started their next attack, conjuring a whirlwind filled with lightning that began to tear up the street like a giant spinning top.

Wind and Lightning. An act of God.

"I've seen enough." Izuku declared, rising from her seat. "Let's go."

"I can't stop you, can I? Fine, fine. Lead the way, little miss hero." Matsuda sighed, rolling her eyes. "Here we go again."

After paying the two girls sprinted out into the street and down an alley, their Magical Girl regalia manifesting atop their bodies with a thought. Hair lengthened and darkened, flowing dresses overlapping casual wear. Miracle and Mustard leapt into the sky, headed straight for Hutta City.

[x]

The situation was worse than they thought. In the scant few minutes they'd taken to travel there the whirlwind had grown to become a miniature hurricane, streaks of brilliant yellow lightning cutting through the roiling dark clouds like glowing knives. It was a spectacle that drew the eyes of everyone around, news choppers and emergency vehicles surrounding the disaster's perimeter.

"When we land, do a pose." Matsuda told her as they hurtled downward into the street.

"What?" Izuku asked. "Why?"

"Just do it! You're a Mahou Shoujo, you have to pose."

The two Magical Girls landed right in the path of the hurricane, and Izuku struck the coolest pose she could think of. Matsuda followed suit and a menacing aura seemed to radiate from them, stunning both the nearby rescue workers and heroes who were trying to figure out what to do. A news crew who'd been reporting the incident quickly focused its sole camera on them.

"I should have said cute. A cute pose, not this!" Matsuda hissed.

"Well, it got their attention." Izuku argued back.

Indeed it did. The hurricane suddenly stopped spinning, impossibly coming to a halt and dissipating into nothingness. The two Angels emerged from the strewn debris, looking more curious than enraged. That soon changed when Mustard charged forward, one hand already pulled back and coated in her signature purple plasma.

"I'll take the big guy, you take the sparky lady!"

"Wait, I wanted to—"

Matsuda's plasma knuckle duster connected with one of the Wind Angel's faces and it let out a warbling cry of fury, bringing all six of its fists down onto where she stood only a split second before. The battle had begun.

"—talk." Izuku groaned, then straightened in alarm when the Lightning Angel was suddenly inches away from her face. It could teleport. "Um, hi?"

The Angel smiled at her.

"Take 'em down, take 'em down! Engage all targets!" one of the heroes behind them yelled. "All units, open fire!"

"What about the two in green and purple?"

"I said engage all targets!"

Izuku didn't even have time to cry out a warning when they fired, their Quirk effects and concussion rounds bouncing off her Glitter forcefield harmlessly. The same thing happened to the Angel, but instead of shielding herself like Izuku the entity shrieked, electrical arcs branching off it like a Tesla coil. It surged at the heroes, roaring a challenge.

"What the hell are you doing?!" One of the firefighters grabbed the arm of a nearby hero in an attempt to stop him. "Those girls are on our side!"

"No, they're not! They're unlicensed individuals interfering with official hero business, and so are you." the hero sneered and shoved the man back roughly. "Stay out of this, civilian."

They continued firing while the police and rescue workers could do nothing but watch helplessly, both Izuku and Matsuda now under fire from both the heroes and Angels.

A fireball sizzled past Izuku's head when she ducked, hitting the beast she was fighting instead. The female Angel growled, teleporting in a burst of static electricity and yellow light. It reappeared in the midst of the heroes with a thunderclap, eliciting cries of panic when it started attacking in a wordless rage.

The Angel's hands were defibrillators, her mere touch zapping whatever she made contact with and throwing her targets backwards. Just as she was about to crash into the commanding hero Izuku leapt forward and grabbed her hand, forcing her to stop.

"Hey—"

Apparently the Angel recognized that as a hostile action, because Izuku got a fistful of thunder for her efforts. The lightning-clad fist that cut across her cheek had enough force behind it to take a man's head off, her Glitter sparkling wildly as it tanked most of the impact. Most of it. Izuku's head snapped backward from the blow, stunned for a moment until she regained her bearings.

She knows she can hit us hard enough to kill a regular human, that we can take it. This one can think.

"Ow. Okay, not cool!" Izuku raised her arms into a defensive position.

The Angel hissed, darting at her. Twelve rapid-fire strikes lanced into her guard in the span of a second, Izuku tanking the assault while forming a fist with her right hand.

She recalled the martial art lessons she watched online, applying the techniques. Her fingertips dug themselves into the base of her palm like a steel plate, curling inwards to form a tight fist. The taste of metal filled her mouth when its hand closed around her wrist in a vice-grip, and Izuku found her body locking up involuntarily. It took a moment to realize that the Angel was electrocuting her with enough energy to power a small building.

She pushed through the pain, going beyond it. The girl's feet gripped the ground, her hips twisting, her chest and back muscles working in tandem. It all culminated in a single, devastating…

"Smash!"

Miracle's fist met the Angel's face like an eighteen-wheeler colliding with a deer on a highway. The entity was hurled backwards into an empty bus, practically folding the multi-ton vehicle in two with an enormous crash.

"Yes!" Izuku cheered, only to have the celebration cut short when the other Angel backhanded her into a building.

Her world spun when she crashed through several walls, chunks of concrete and rebar flying everywhere. The impact itself should have crushed her bones into powder and snapped her spine like a toothpick, but Izuku got up as if it was nothing serious.

She sprinted out of the rubble only to find the simian-like Wind Angel waiting for her. It was a gargantuan wall of muscle that leered at her from above, and suddenly Bakugo was standing in its place, towering over her trembling form; useless, worthless, shitty little Deku who should just kill herself, take a swan dive off the roof—

No. Izuku bit her lip, squeezing her hands shut to stop them from shaking. I'm not that person now.

Its intimidating howl turned into a pained wheeze when Izuku tackled it, driving her shoulder into its gut. The Magical Girl went for a double-leg takedown by pulling against the back of one of its knees, only for the creature's other legs to stabilize it. The attempt wouldn't have worked; it had six legs in total, spread below its waist like some sort of abstract, muscular spider-monkey.

Mustard rushed in to help her only to let out a yelp of pain when a yellow thunderbolt hit her right in the back. The Lightning Angel was rising from the wreckage of the bus, audibly charging up with a low electrical whine.

"Ow, fuck! That hurt, wait—" Mustard cursed again when a second bolt from the heavens hit her right between the shoulder blades. "Ow, what the fuck, I just got struck by lightning!"

She turned her attention to the caster, Izuku and Matsuda switching dance partners.

The Wind Angel brought all six of its fists downward, Izuku catching the attack with both hands. The ground beneath her heels spiderwebbed with cracks, then ruptured upwards when the beast tried to crush her into the dirt.

Spinning to the right she pirouetted on one heel, then weaved past a barrage of fists in a perfect Dempsey Roll. This one could think too, and if it thought like a person… it could be fooled like one.

Izuku feinted left and the Angel fell for it, her overhand right lancing into its cheek. The Goliath stumbled, disoriented but still fighting. She immediately retracted her hand with an alarmed squeak when the beast's jaw snapped shut on the space it had occupied moments earlier. The damn thing had tried to bite her!

"Come on, really?!" Izuku muttered under her breath, preparing a combo. "Okay, let's do this."

One, one, one. A trio of left jabs were sent right into the Angel's flat, wide nose. Her knuckles crumpled the smooth cartilage, the beast staggering backward in pain.

Two. Her heavy right cross cut across her opponent's cheek with a wham . Izuku felt bone shattering under her fist. Behind her Matsuda landed a side kick into the Lightning Angel, its body carving a deep trench into the road. Izuku barely noticed that the heroes were still firing at all of them, several concussion rounds and a few energy projectiles bouncing off her Glitter.

Three. Izuku's left hook smashed into the Angel's temple. She'd put enough power behind that attack to crush a man's skull like a ripe melon but the Angel was far more durable, merely discombobulated from the blow.

Four! Izuku crouched down, her legs tensing until she leapt upward in a vicious uppercut, her knuckles meeting the Angel's chin with a sickening crunch. The beast was lifted a meter off the ground before falling onto its back, finally down for the count.

Matsuda was about to finish off the other Angel on her end, having wrapped her arms around the beast's waist. The small girl's back arched, lifting her taller opponent effortlessly while her heels rose from the ground.

The Magical Girl suplexed the Lightning Angel into the pavement with a snarl, ignoring the electric current surging through her body as she did. The impact was a crash of thunder, sending sparks climbing into the air and causing anything electronic to flicker momentarily.

It was over. The two girls let out simultaneous exhales of relief once the Angels started disintegrating into multicolored particles, signaling their defeat. Izuku and Matsuda regrouped, hi-fiving each other as they met.

The news cameras rolled, capturing the moment. Before the crews could roll in to ask any questions the heroes renewed their assault, interrupting what would have been a joyous celebration.

Multiple voices shouting 'get down on the ground' and surrounding them really ruined the moment. Instead of complying, the two Magical Girls performed a polite curtsy to the cameras, floating into the air shortly afterwards to get away. Izuku gave the group a small, nervous smile and waved while Matsuda stuck her tongue out and pulled down on one eyelid childishly.

Izuku and Matsuda simply flew off, away from the furious heroes and curious reporters. It was only when they'd ascended beyond the clouds did Izuku speak again.

"I can't believe we just did that." she said. "Oh man…"

"We saved the day, lighten up!" Matsuda grinned. "Tell you what, let's go shopping."

"Right now?"

"Yeah, right freakin' now. I think we deserve that at the very least."

The two girls picked a random city on their journey across the country, their flight granting them the power to travel to wherever they wanted.

They had ice cream for dessert and went shopping for clothes, Izuku's smile growing as more time passed. She'd forgotten how nice it was to hang out with a friend. 'Friend'… the word seemed alien to her. She hadn't gotten any of those since she was four years old—all the other kids were too afraid of Bakugo to even try to talk to poor little Izuku.

Trying on clothes was both fun and embarrassing. Ultimately she still got dressed with her eyes closed, refusing to let Matsuda into the changing room with her. For underwear she just got the shop assistant to help find out her size, the kind older woman simply doing so with an understanding nod and without asking any questions. It was clear she'd done this before.

Before they knew it the sun was already setting, dying the evening sky a beautiful red-orange when the pair finally walked out of the shopping mall. Izuku and Matsuda exchanged numbers, smiling and laughing as they did. The blonde thought everything turned out okay until she saw the way Matsuda seemed to wilt slightly when she had to go home.

"Hey… you okay?"

"Hm? Yeah! Yeah… I'm alright. Just didn't feel like going home."

Matsuda looked away, but Izuku didn't miss how the brunette clenched her hands into fists before relaxing.

"I had lots of fun today." Matsuda smiled, giving her a quick hug. "So, uh, thanks."

"M-me too." Izuku returned it. "See you again soon?"

"Yeah. See ya…"

They parted ways at last, with Matsuda flying off into the horizon. Izuku watched her go, wondering what that strange look on her face was for. Even though the other girl tried so desperately to hide it, Izuku saw a glimpse of her true feelings. When she'd mentioned going home, she seemed so… sad.

Problems at home, then. It's not my place to talk to her about it when we just met.

Izuku went home with a heavy heart, still worrying about her new friend. In the end she pushed those horrid thoughts away in favor of inspecting her new purchases.

The girl held up a matching set of bra and panties, frowning as she inspected them. They were so… lacy. Matsuda was adamant that they had to match. Why, though? It wasn't like anyone was going to see it.

Izuku sighed and put them on anyway, still keeping her eyes closed. The fabric was really smooth compared to the boxers her male form wore, strangely comfortable despite the way they hugged her hips. The bra gave her the most trouble, and it took a few minutes of fumbling around blindly before she figured out how the hooks worked.

She opened her eyes and turned bright pink. The blonde girl in Izuku's mirror was now dressed in lacy underwear, blinking back at herself with both shame and embarrassment in her eyes.

So pretty…

Thankfully she quickly got a hold of herself and got dressed, tossing on one of her male form's shirts. It didn't fit her quite as well, too loose on her more petite frame. Izuku frowned. She was still the same height, so why was it so much bigger? The t-shirt drooped past her waist, the text reading 'T-shirt' slightly warped by the curves of her chest. She shrugged and put on some shorts to complete the outfit, twirling around and admiring herself in the mirror.

It was weird. She was wearing the same outfit as boy-Izuku yet she looked so much better in his clothes. Izuku sighed, wandering into the kitchen to begin dinner preparations. As she began she wondered how she was going to keep the feminine clothes and underwear a secret from her mother. Since Inko worked the night shift most of the time Izuku reasoned that she would do the laundry for her girl-self in the morning, then have it dry and keep it under her bed in one of the 'secret' spots.

Then again, the magazines she kept under there were suspiciously clean even though she hadn't read them in ages…

Izuku huffed and got herself a cup of water, gulping it down slowly. She needed a new hiding spot for the clothes, then. Best to find it before her mother came home after midnight.

The girl was still sipping her cup when she heard footsteps behind her. Izuku froze, pure terror rooting her feet to the spot. Impossible. Someone was in her house—

She whirled around to come face-to-face with a bewildered Inko, the older woman's eyes wide with confusion. Both of them stared at each other for a moment, the silence seeming to extend for an eternity until a set of dropped keys finally hit the ground with a quiet clink.

"Who the heck are you?!" Inko screamed.

[x]

The President of the Hero Public Safety Commission gulped down her third glass of whiskey, brows furrowed as she replayed the footage on the laptop.

A pair of Magical Girls smiled and curtsied to the audience, all pretty and glittering after their victory with a duo of anomalous entities. The scene looked as if it'd come straight out of an anime, two beautiful heroes appearing to save the day and leaving without any reward directly after.

"There's no doubt about it. It's them. We knew this day would come." The President's voice was a harsh, cold statement of finality. "They're back. The monsters are back."

"Are you sure, ma'am?" her assistant, Mera Yokumiru, usually looked as if he hadn't slept in days. Now he looked like he hadn't slept in months. "It could just be some dumb kids playing vigilante."

"Look at the way they sparkle, and that hideous strength." The President pursed her lips and brought her hands to her temples. "It's too specific to be just a coincidence. You know what we have to do."

Mera gulped, eying the aged manila folder on her desk. Splotches of dried blood were still on its cover, a warning to the horror contained within.

"Contact General Nakamura. I want at least two elite JSDF battalions at the ready." The President said grimly. "Have our boys find out everything they can about these two new Magical Girls. Names, friends, families. Everything, leave no stone unturned. Do we still have the X-66 jets the Americans loaned us for that training exercise?"

"Yes, but—"

"Have them ready to sortie. Make sure they deploy with DEWS, we'll need them."

"The Americans will ask questions." Mera tried.

"So they will. Stall them." The President said. "We can't let this get out."

"With all due respect, ma'am, it's already out." Mera said. "It's on TV and the internet. Should we…?"

"No. Trying to censor them from the public would draw too much suspicion. What we need now is a surgical, precision strike."

The President pinched the bridge of her nose, already knowing she was going to regret her next move. A can of worms from the past had been dug up and opened. Once you open a can of worms, you need a bigger can to get them all back in.

"Contact Agent Intelli."

[Chapter 3 End]

Thank you for reading!

Looks like the Hero Public Safety Commission is getting involved. Uh-oh.

Who is the mysterious 'Agent Intelli'?