The plane shuttered slightly from turbulence as it started to descend. It was a large passenger airline with two decks, rare as passenger aircraft go, and it had four large turbine engines, and throughout the entire flight, she was trying to figure out what kind of turbines they were.

They were abnormally quiet, doubly so because each was the size of a bus and seemed to have a faint glow. She wouldn't be surprised if these engines were designed and made on I-island and, as such, were closely guarded secrets.

She asked Nicky what her thoughts were; Nicky had huffed and fumed, only saying ["inferior pieces of trash"] and occasionally muttered ["intellectual theft."]

They finally landed, and after some coaxing, she got Jonathan to release his death grip on the armrest. They retrieved their luggage and were greeted by a robot while deboarding the aircraft. The robot wheeled forward, a large bin attached to the back full of their gear. It wasn't like they needed their equipment for any actual work, but they'd brought it to "show off" the tech Nicky had created.

Nicky had also brought along a few of her own personal gadgets and gizmos, mostly just small handheld devices, but there was one larger case she'd brought but refused to reveal what was inside it.

Then they were stuffed into a bus and taken to "hotel row." The entire street was lined with grand hotels; some had intricate designs made of marble with shining gold designs. Some looked more like art projects than buildings with large curved sections or offset blocks. One of the more eccentric hotels had a section that looped through part of the building. Outside, the sign read ["The Infinity."]

Their hotel was rather plain in comparison but was far more lavish than anything she'd ever stayed in before. It looked more like a mansion than a hotel. The staff were even dressed in very formal attire.

["Uhhh is, is this the right place?"] asked Jonathan as he craned his neck to look at the ornate stone carvings the building had.

["I think so?"] replied Claire. She checked her email confirmation, and sure enough, they were in the right place.

["Didn't realize we opted for the slightly more expensive package,"] said Jonathan.

Claire shook her head ["We didn't, we got one of the cheapest ones."]

Nicky shrugged and headed inside; Jonathan and Claire followed her lead. If they thought the outside was magnificent, the inside was downright luxurious. Giant crystal chandeliers, thick red woolen carpet, and a grand wooden staircase with a massive oil painting at the top. In fact, the painting was so large she couldn't even see past the bottom half of it.

They approached possibly the most magnificently carved desk Claire had ever seen. Large swirls with bits of gold, silver, and jewelry were embedded on the front. The Clerk manning the desk was garbed in an opulent snow-white suit with silk gloves. The Clerk had a polite smile on their face as they greeted them, checked them in, and pointed them in the direction of their rooms.

Jonathan and Claire entered their room, which was larger than either of their apartments combined. The bed alone would have taken up most or all of her apartment's floor space. The closet next to the bed had enough room for ten times the clothes they'd brought with them. And the bathroom was, well, huge. And while the tub alone took up almost half of the space, there was still more than enough room for the toilet, a large double sink counter, the large shower with a changing area just before entering it, and stuffed in the corner was a little circular robot. It was the size of a platter, and she suspected it was a cleaning robot.

["When I-island makes something, they apparently go all out."] muttered Jonathan as he examined the tub. ["This thing has a balcony setting? What the hell does balcony setting even mean?"] Jonathan pressed the button, and once he did, the outside wall slid back, and the tub started to slide out of the room. It stopped halfway outside the building and turned the bathtub into a balcony.

Once it all stopped moving, Claire and Jonathan looked at each other Jonathan's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, and she muttered, ["Now that's some real rich people shit right there."]

They finished unpacking, changed into their hero outfits, and after figuring out how to 'retract' the tub back into the bathroom, they headed downstairs; Claire was holding a pamphlet of the events and expositions that would be set up around the Island.

They met up with Nicky and boarded the shuttle that would take them to the central area of I-island. During the ride, several people kept pointing at them and whispered excitedly to each other. Apparently, in the center, a unique device was being shown off. But looking at the map, all that was there was a park.

She was more excited about the aerospace section. She'd heard a few rumors that a model of the new Mars rover was on display there, along with a mockup of the Ares mission base and a few of the devices they were using.

Claire assumed that Jonathan was giddy about getting his hands on, or at the very least seeing a demonstration of, the new line of weapons by Kole industries. Not that he could ever afford to buy anything they made. She doubted that even if he put all his money into buying a Kole industries gun, he'd still not have enough to buy their cheapest model.

While Nicky just seemed more bored than anything. Here they were, in an inventor's playground, and so far, all she's done was sulk and talk about 'intellectual piracy.' Claire hoped she'd either stop sulking or start to actually find something interesting.

When the shuttle came to a stop, they all got off and were greeted by a man in a lab coat. ["Greetings, everyone! I am Dr. David Shield! Welcome to I-island!"] He spread his arms out. Behind him was a massive building which was at least fifty stories tall. ["This is my laboratory, and this,"] he gestured to the park ["Is quite possibly my greatest work."]

Nicky grunted and muttered, ["I could probably shit in my hand, and it would be a better invention than anything Shield could make."] Claire rolled her eyes but didn't comment.

Dr. Shield put his hands on his hips ["And I am talking about the park. Not the state-of-the-art laboratory behind me."] Claire was skeptical about this one; how could a park be his greatest invention?

As if on cue, Dr. Shield walked briskly to the playground and said, ["Let me explain. This looks like a normal park, right? There's normal grass, a few trees, and even a merry-go-round"] he pushed on the merry-go-round causing it to creakily spin.

["You would think for his magnum opus he'd at least oil the damn thing."] said, Nicky.

["But."] Dr. Shield pulled out a device with a button, ["This park doesn't technically exist."]

Nicky grinned and said, ["Yup, he's finally snapped, gone senile, just a few kittens short of a petting zoo."]

Dr. Shield pushed the button, and the park started to disappear; the grass fizzled out of existence, followed by the trees and, finally, the playground. All that was left was Dr. Shield standing in an empty flat concrete area.

This time, Nicky didn't say anything; it seemed that her curiosity outweighed her dislike of anything involving David Shield.

["This is what we call photonic matter. Essentially what happens is there is a series of light projectors that create not only a hologram, but they bombard the area with enough photons to create matter."] Dr. Shield's explanation went way over Claire's head.

Nicky seemed to be enthralled by the technology on display. ["Of course, this isn't portable just yet; it takes an enormous amount of power to run. Currently, we have two plasma reactors dedicated to just this project. In fact, to run the projectors for ten minutes, we needed to generate as much electricity that the state of New York uses in a month."]

At this point, Nicky was in a sort of trance; she was running through some kind of calculations about something, then, after a moment, she stopped and said ["yes, that could work."] Nicky then pushed through the excitedly chattering crowd.

["Hey! Shield!"] Nicky called out as she almost ran up to Dr. Shield.

Dr. Shield flinched and took a step back as Nicky approached. Usually, she yelled insults and picked apart all the flaws in whatever device he was presenting. Claire distinctly remembered one time, while Dr. Shield was in the middle of a presentation, she got up on stage and hit him hard enough to knock him out cold.

There was a reason, of course, Shield or someone within his company had somehow managed to steal some of her tech that was in development and was trying to pass it off as his own. But it seems that either he actually thought this up on his own or someone much smarter than either Nicky or Shield had. The latter being the most likely of the two. Claire would bet that it was someone within Shields' company who came up with the idea. And since Dr. Shield was so insanely wealthy, he threw enough money at it to essentially 'own the tech.'

Nicky was apparently more than willing to set aside her grudges for the sake of science. And Dr. Shield, seeing an opportunity for someone to solve the problem for him, was more than willing to let her work her magic. He flattened his hair, cleared his throat, and cheerfully said ["Nicky! So good to see you! Come, let's talk in my office."] Claire could hear the nervousness in Dr. Shields's voice. Nicky explained some theory she had cooked up as they headed to the large building. Dr. Shield was nodding, most likely only understanding some of what she was describing.

["Well, I guess she's gonna be talking his ear off for the next week. She better get a lawyer this time. Otherwise, Shield's gonna steal her tech again."] Jonathan grinned a little.

Claire shook her head, ["I don't think he's gonna try that again; he's too afraid of her. Plus, if he does, she'll just knock em cold"]

["True, she can throw hands with the best of us."] Jonathan shrugged, then said ["Shield doesn't stand a chance."]

Izuku had to almost peel himself off the glass case of some gauntlet being displayed by a vendor. The gauntlet in question was said to augment the user's grip strength, and the demonstrator was able to crumple a steel bar like it was paper. The next display was even more extraordinary, rocket boots lined up along shelves, ["Hey kid, wanna give it a try?"] asked the man running the display.

Izuku could hardly believe the words the man said, ["Really!?"]

["Yeah, I can tell your an up-and-coming, aren't ya?"] It took a moment for Izuku to decipher what the man said, not used to his heavily accented English. The man said ["You okay, kid?"]

["Sorry, English is my, err, how to say, not normal language,"] said Izuku. ["But yes, I would, um, love to try."]

The man smiled and nodded, ["Excellent,"] he chose a pair of red boots from the display and beckoned for Izuku to follow. He placed the boots in a relatively empty area and waited for Izuku to come over. ["Just put them on, and click the heels together to turn them on."]

Izuku took off his shoes, stepped into the rocket boots, which were very uncomfortable and extremely awkward to walk in, and clicked the heels together. The boots whined, sputtered, and shut off.

["Damn it. I just checked these too. Sorry kid looks like there's a bit of an issue."] Izuku suddenly felt very nervous about having these strapped to his feet.

["No problem, I'll just come back later."] He quickly unstrapped himself from the potential bombs and slipped his shoes back on. He promptly walked back onto the avenue where the other vendors were. The man running the rocket boot display came after him, asking him to wait.

He wouldn't wait to see if the boots would even fire up.

Izuku checked his phone; he still had almost an hour till he was going to meet up with Uraraka. His mom had given him a bit of spending money, but he was saving it for later. He continued to look around at the various booths and marveled at the different items on display.

One booth caught his attention; it drew his eyes like a magnet, the reds, blues, and yellows mixed together, somewhat obscuring what the stand was. But he had an idea, at least.

He walked over to the stand, and he was right.

It was an homage to All Might, comics, coasters, plates, posters, plushies, action figures, phone cases, t-shirts, hoodies, you name it, they had it. The booth was crowded with people barging with each other and the vendor for the paraphernalia. In the past, Izuku would have been part of them, desperately trying to push his way through to get some limited-edition items.

But now, he felt like buying something like this would be wrong in some way. Yes, he idolized All Might, and even now, he respected and admired him more than any other hero. After his ordeal, though, he started questioning whether his buying merchandise was purely out of admiration or just an obsession.

["I don't get all this hero worship that goes on in Japan"] Rangers' words from back during his ordeal echoed in the back of his mind. ["I mean, I get why everyone loves pro-heroes, but what's with the merch? Are they catching bad guys and protecting the public, or are they cashing in a publicity check?"] Something about those words kept gnawing at him; it was similar to what Stain had said about how there weren't any true heroes left. It was uncomfortable to admit that Stain may have had a valid point and that he wasn't entirely insane. Izuku sighed and turned away from the booth and the veracious crowd.

Izuku weaved through the crowded street, moving quickly between large and small groups. He took little interest in the stalls and booths lining the road; he'd make sure to head back this way with Uraraka. As he walked, a flash of silver in the corner of his eye drew his full attention when he realized what it was.

The man was dressed in European medieval-styled plate armor, carrying around a sword that was easily as tall as the man and easily a meter wide at its base. The sword looked plain from a distance, but he could tell there was some engraving on both the blade and the hilt, although he couldn't see any details. Similarly, the armor was also very simple in design, the only decoration being a white cloth covering the breastplate with a red cross. He had a full metal helmet tucked under an arm, letting his shoulder-length blond hair wave in the cool salty breeze.

The biggest shock to Izuku was that he had no idea who this was, and if he had to guess, this was a Pro-hero from somewhere in Europe. The man seemed friendly enough as he was talking with a few other visitors who had noticed him standing there. Izuku, curious about a pro-hero he had no knowledge of, joined the small group surrounding the man.

The man spoke in English; he had a deep rumbling voice, one that held power but also held a deep kindness. He couldn't pinpoint the accent, but it was similar enough to Rangers that he guessed the man came from the United States. ["Yes, I have been traveling this path for as long as I can remember. I know from the moment I was told my abilities that God had called me to protect his flock."]

Izuku briefly wondered what the man's quirk was, probably something sword-related or some strength quirk. He'd have to be strong to wield a sword like that, but before he could ask the man, someone else beat him to it ["Sir? What's your power?"]

The pro-hero smiled and chuckled, ["My friend, I have no power,"] Izuku couldn't believe what he heard. This hero didn't have a quirk? Was that even possible? But then the man said, ["Neigh, as long as I have faith in the lord my god, I will have the strength to best all those who wish to harm his faithful servants."]

This man made no sense. Apparently, the rest of the crowd also thought the same thing, and someone asked, ["So, what's your name?"]

["I am Chuck, First Son of Terrence and Bethany, although many just call me Paladin,"] the man boomed with pride. Oh yeah, this man was one of those heroes. The ones that took themselves way too seriously and took their hero persona to the extreme. Izuku had run into a few of them in the past; they usually only stayed heroes for a couple of years before quitting. Occasionally a few would prove themselves to be capable heroes, but for the most part, these types of people were the worst kind of heroes.

Izuku, now thoroughly disinterested in the pro-hero named "Paladin," moved down the path. He wandered, occasionally stopping at a stall or display and listening to the brief presentation or demonstration of a tech or concept.

He was listening to someone explaining how their "super tethers" functioned, similar to his black whip quirk. The tethers were housed in a gauntlet and could be shot out through a hole in the palm of the hand. When it did shoot out, it shot out at an impressive speed. They were also somewhat sticky, like tape, and would wrap around the target, effectively capturing and immobilizing them.

"Hot damn, that gives me an idea," someone whispered. Izuku was caught a little off guard because while on I-island, most people spoke English. He turned to the voice and was momentarily stunned when he saw a familiar face. A girl with pink hair, a crazy grin that stretched from ear to ear, and a pair of intense yellow eyes. She wore a pair of goggles and a gray mechanics jumpsuit. Tools jangled and rattled on a tool belt, and she was feverishly writing notes in a notebook. Her name was Hatsume, right?

She noticed him and locked eyes, "Hey, creepy, stop staring at me."

"O-oh, sorry. I was just trying to remember your name," said Izuku.

She blinked, then said, "Well, it's not written on me, and I don't know you, so shove off, creepy."

"O-okay, sorry for bothering you," he turned and left the girl to her feverous scribbling. Once the "super tethers" presentation was finished, he and the crowd dispersed and continued on their way, save for Hatsume, who started badgering the presenter.

"Deku!" the unmistakable voice of Uraraka called out from somewhere to his left, and it took him a moment to spot her in the crowd. But soon enough, he saw her. She wore a cute buttoned shirt and had a grin that could light up even the darkest of rooms.

"H-hey Uraraka," Izuku raised a hand in greeting and made his way over to her.

"It's good to see you; I'm glad I managed to find you in this insane crowd," said Uraraka.

"Yeah, there's a lot more people than I expected there to be," replied Izuku.

"But there's bound to be a bunch of cool things; I heard that this year there's going to be some special demonstration tomorrow," said Uraraka.

"What about?" asked Izuku.

Uraraka put a finger to her chin and said, "I think it was some demonstration involving pro-heroes. Something about showing off tech that a few companies had made."

"That'll be awesome to see!" said Izuku. "I actually met a pro-hero earlier; he was kinda odd, though."

"Were they dressed up like a knight?" asked Uraraka.

So, she'd run across him too. Izuku nodded, "Yeah, he was."

"Yup, he's definitely an odd duck. He called me a fair maiden." He couldn't tell if she disliked being called that.

"I-I guess that's an apt description." Izuku rubbed the back of his neck, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Uraraka grin slightly.

"So I'm a fair maiden now? Hmmm?" asked Uraraka.

"I-I guess, yeah." It was the closest he'd gotten to complementing any girl before. And he had no idea if he was doing any of this right. But going off Uraraka's small smile, he guessed he was at least going in the right direction.

They walked silently for a bit, then Uraraka pointed to a stall with some wrist devices and said, "Ohhhhh look at that!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the booth.

He felt his face flush as she pulled him, and even though he tried to focus on the presentation, the only thing he could focus on now was Uraraka's hand in his. Everything else faded away in a blur. He didn't remember any of the inventions; the only thing he remembered was Uraraka pulling him along and her infectious energy.

["Five minutes until we make our drop."] The man spoke in a gruff tone to Wolfrum, who nodded in return.

So far, the plan seems to be working. How could he tell? Simple, they were still airborne. ["Alright, listen up, ladies, when we hit the ground, we need to hit the ground running. Group A, you're with me. Group B, you watch our six. Groups C, D, and E cause as much havoc as you can."] There was a cry of yes Sir from his troops as they stood up and did last-minute checks on their gear.

They'd gone all out for this mission, and he even managed to procure some old Armored Personnel Carriers used by the Russians. His contact, some disgruntled Colonel, was more than happy to give him an excellent deal on the armored vehicles. He even gave them all of the ammo, including anti-tank missiles.

He didn't know if that was because of his benefactor, but Wolfrum didn't care. As long as he got the equipment, he was a happy merc. He just hoped that the Colonel wasn't expecting him to return them.

The huge loading ramp of the cargo aircraft opened, the rushing wind roared through the cargo area. Far below there it was, the Jewel of the Pacific, I-Island. Its plunder was as good as theirs; he was just worried they wouldn't have enough space for it all.

There was a buzzer sound, and the light overhead turned red, signaling it was time to move out. Before the men jumped, the three APCs were shot along the rail and sent hurtling into the night sky; with any luck, they'd all land on the Island, and their crew would land nearby.

Next, the men who would crew the APCs jumped, their chutes deploying when they were far enough from the aircraft. They were followed by groups C, D, and E.

Wolfrum waddled up to the edge of the ramp, groups A and B waddling behind him. Then taking a deep breath, he jumped off the edge of the cargo ramp; a few seconds later, his chute deployed, yanking his harness up. "Goddamn, this harness is too damn tight."

As he drifted down, he spotted the large spire that was his target; he grinned and started guiding his chute in that general direction. He saw two APCs land on the Island while one plunged into the cold pacific sea. Ah well, two out of three ain't bad.

A few moments later, he landed in the center of a square in front of the spire. There were dozens of civilians gawking at him and his men landing in the square. As he struggled out of his parachute harness, a couple of pro-heroes and a dozen guards were running up, ["Hey! You can't land here! Stop where you are!"]

Wolfrum finished shrugging off his harness and raised a hand in greeting, ["Sorry guys, we didn't mean to land in the plaza."]

The pro-heroes, a man in a red spandex suit and a woman in an Eskimo-styled outfit, stopped a few meters away, and the man shouted ["I said stop where you are!"]

["I get it, now, will you just shut the fuck up?"] in a smooth motion, he pulled his pistol out, took aim, and shot the two pro-heroes center mass. His men raised their weapons and quickly dispatched the guards before they realized what was happening.

Wolfum walked over to make sure the two pro-heroes were dead, and to his surprise, the woman was still alive; her expression of pain morphed to fear as she saw him approach her. He saw her trying to crawl away from him, desperate to live. ["Sorry, but I'm getting a bonus for every hero we kill, so you gotta die."]

As he took aim, she began begging in a language he didn't know, ["Nothing personal, just good business."] He pulled the trigger, and she stopped moving. The surrounding crowd were now screaming and running in terror; God, he hated when an audience got too loud.

["Alright, move in!"] ordered Wolfrum, and his men moved towards the spire.

Jonathan and Claire were running late; they'd gotten distracted by a virtual reality exhibit and lost track of time. They'd rushed back to their hotel room, quickly changed into the fanciest clothes they had, which probably weren't nearly as fancy as some of the other guests would be wearing. And they were booking it to the spire where the party was supposed to start in just a few minutes. It was obvious they'd be late.

But all of a sudden, the lights went out, and alarms started blaring.

["Emergency. Emergency. All guests are asked to stay indoors and wait for emergency services to give instructions."]

["What the hell?"] asked Claire.

["Maybe some invention went out of control?"] suggested Jonathan.

Claire shrugged, ["Who knows, come on, let's get inside."] She pointed to what seemed to be some sort of boutique. A few shoppers were inside; most looked on the verge of a panic attack while the rest were yelling.

As they stepped inside, a store clerk asked them, ["Hey, do you know what's going on?"]

Jonathan shook his head, ["No idea, but I'm sure security is handling it."]

The Clerk nervously nodded, ["I'm sure your right."]

There was a scuffling noise and a yell of frustration. Suddenly, a man pushed another man into one of the display dummies. Acting almost immediately, Jonathan intervened, ["Hey! What the hell is going on?"]

The man pointed to the guy he'd pushed, ["That jackass was pulling on me, kept going on about how we were in danger or something. So I pushed him."]

Jonathan looked to someone else who nodded, ["Alright, everyone, calm down. I-island has top-of-the-line security systems, and I'm positive this was just some accident with a bit of experimental tech. We're all going to be fine."]

The customers seemed to calm down a little, then, in the brief silence, Claire swore she heard a boom in the distance. Jonathan must have heard it, too, because he slightly turned his head to the side.

["What was that?"] asked a customer.

["Probably just emergency services, nothing to be alarmed at folks,"] said Jonathan. He turned and gave Claire a look that said otherwise. A bit of fear bubbled up, but she did a good job of keeping her expression neutral.

Claire pulled out her phone and called Nicky; after a couple of rings, she picked up ["Where are you two?"].

["A little boutique store somewhere between the hotel and plaza,"] replied Claire calmly.

["Well, it's bedlam here at the spire. Some group of terrorists managed to land on the Island, and they're making their way up the spire. I doubt their alone."] Nicky spoke quickly. ["I'm heading to the control center now to see if I can't help figure out why the security systems are acting up."]

Claire had to fight to keep the fear from showing or being heard, ["Okay, we think it's just some sort of invention gone haywire, and we heard some sort of boom, so that's probably what it was."]

Nicky seemed to catch on that Claire couldn't openly talk about potentially panic-inducing topics like an invasion of terrorists and said, ["Crap, there are more out there? This is bad. You two need to get back to the hotel and gear up. I'm guessing security is being overrun. I'll know more when I get to the control center. When I do, I'll patch you two into the Islands comms, and we'll go from there."]

["Alright, we'll see you then,"] said Claire, and she hung up. She walked over to a more secluded section of the store and beckoned Jonathan to follow. She explained the situation to him as quietly as possible.

Jonathan nodded ["Alright, we should get moving sooner rather than later."] He turned to head to the door but stopped and turned his head to the side as if listening carefully to a noise.

Claire stopped and listened too. She heard a low rumbling noise; it sounded like a diesel engine, a very large diesel engine, almost like a tractor's engine.

["Well, that can't be good,"] muttered Jontahn.

["What is it?"] asked Claire.

["Can't say for sure, definitely some sort of armored vehicle.] They peered through the store's glass window as the rumbling got closer and closer. ["Unfortunately, it's not a tank."]

["Unfortunately?"] asked Claire.

["Yeah, it's most likely an APC or AFV, something designed almost entirely around the concept of mowing down infantry."] Jonathan spoke quietly enough not to alert the civilians; they were already scared enough. If they found out some terrorists with armored vehicles were coming, they'd cause a panic.

["Sounds like a soviet model. It's loud as hell too and has a diesel engine, most likely wheeled, maybe a Morkov or a Povorot."] Jonathan was talking more to himself than to her.

There was a shudder going through the shop as the vehicle got closer and closer; the roaring became deafening, and a wheeled vehicle sped past the shop, its turret swiveling to and fro. The vehicle had sharp angles, except for the smooth rounded turret. In the turret was a long gun with some sort of box mounted to its side. On top of the turret was a set of twin machine guns with a box mounted in the center of the two.

["Oh, that is not good,"] said Jonathan. A second vehicle went by. ["And it just keeps getting better."]

["What are those things?"] asked Claire.

Jonathan spoke quickly, ["Tectors. It's a variation of the Povorot, the main difference being that the Povorot needed a crew of three, one to drive and two to work the guns. The Tector only needs a crew of one. The guns are automated and will lock on and fire at anything that isn't a friendly soldier."]

["That sounds like a blatant war crime."] said, Claire.

Jonathan nodded ["It is; these things killed indiscriminately during the Balkan Wars. Combatants, Civilians, pets, children, it didn't matter. The A.I. didn't discriminate. It's why western countries don't use AWS on anything but aircraft."]

["Why didn't it shoot at us then?"] asked Claire.

["I don't know,"] said Jonathan. '

The customers had seen the Tectors but were more puzzled than afraid. ["What were those things?"] ["They looked like tanks, but they couldn't be."] ["Was that island security?"]

["Don't worry folks, that's just emergency services, sometimes they need heavy machinery to deal with rogue inventions,"] Jonathan had dipped down in his Texan drawl as he spoke. He used it from time to time to help calm the nerves of civilians, and more often than not, it worked.

The civilians visibly relaxed, and a few nodded their heads. All save for the store clerk, who looked shaken and pale. They knew that wasn't I-island personnel, and they were starting to put together a rough idea of what was going on. Claire pulled the Clerk aside and spoke softly enough that only the Clerk would hear her ["I know you're scared, but you need to put on a brave face. Keep all these people calm and inside until the all clear is sounded. Lock the door, pull down the shutters, and get everyone out of sight. If anyone asks, it's just part of the routine procedures."] The Clerk nodded.

Claire returned to Jonathan, who was still trying to bullshit his way through various explanations about how emergency services deal with "rogue inventions." ["Alright folks, y'all need to stay here, the clerks gonna take good care of ya, we're gonna go see if we can assist I-islands first responders any way we can."]

One woman asked, ["Wait, why are you two leaving? Aren't we supposed to stay here?"]

Claire smiled and said ["We're actually specialist heroes from the U.S. I'm Raptor."]

["And I'm Riot Ranger,"] said Jonathan. ["You folks have a nice rest of your vacation on I-island."]

They turned and opened the door to the shop, Jonathan peering down either side of the street before creeping out onto the sidewalk. As they left, the employee locked the door behind them.

Izuku was waiting at the entrance to the tower for Uraraka when he heard someone very different call out to him. Kirishima, Kaminari, and Bakugo, all in very expensive-looking attire, were walking toward him. Kirishima and Kaminari waved at him, obviously intentionally coming toward him. But Bakugo was just there and was pointedly avoiding eye contact with him.

"Hey, Kirishima! What are you guys doing here?" asked Izuku.

"Isn't it obvious, Midori-bro?" grinned Kirishima.

"We couldn't pass up going to the I-island expo," said Kaminari.

Bakugo just grunted, still refusing to look him in the eye

Kirishima slung an arm around Izuku's shoulders. "So what are you doing waiting out here all on your own. Don't tell me you got a hot date lined up?"

Izuku blushed and looked away from Kirishima, "Um, well, kinda."

"No freaking way, dude! You have a date?" asked Kaminari.

Kirishima laughed loudly, "Awww yeah! Way to go, Midori-bro! Who is it? Do we know them?"

Izuku still couldn't look at Kirishima, "Y-yeah."

"Ohhh ho ho? Really? Who?" asked Kirishima.

Izuku didn't answer.

"Come on, Midoriya, tell us! And tell us how you managed to get a girl, man!" Kaminari seemed more desperate to get an answer on the how not the who.

"W-well. Em," Izuku rubbed the back of his neck, but he stopped. A few meters away, appearing seemingly from nowhere, Uraraka emerged from the sea of people. She wore a pink dress, and her hair was done up in a bun.

Bakugo grunted and grabbed the collar of Kirishima's vest, "Come on, jackasses, I want some bacon-wrapped shrimp before they run out."

Kirishima struggled for a moment before he saw Uraraka, then he relaxed, and as he was being hauled off by Bakugo, he gave Izuku two thumbs up and said, "Way to go, Midori-bro! I'll be rooting for ya!"

Kaminari trudged after the pair, muttering about how unfair life was. Uraraka waved at him, "Hey, Deku, you're looking pretty sharp."

Izuku flushed red, "Y-you too," then he realized he implied she looked "sharp" and almost died from embarrassment. "I-I mean. You, um, you look really nice, erm, pretty."

Uraraka smiled, "Thanks."

Izuku turned to face the spire, "S-shall we go in? I hear the food is supposed to be good."

Uraraka nodded, "Alright, sounds good."

They walked for a moment in silence, and Izuku couldn't stop thinking about how cute she looked. He felt their hands brush together as they walked, and almost on instinct, he gently grabbed her hand. Out of the corner of his eye, she smiled a little wider as she reciprocated and gripped his hand a little tighter.

He felt as if he was walking on a cloud, gliding along the hallways, and before he knew it, they'd arrived in the ballroom. There weren't as many people as he thought would be here; most were pro-heroes, most of those he didn't recognize. "Whoa! Is that Bellowing Willow?" asked Uraraka. She was looking at a woman who looked more like a tree than an actual person. She had a bark-covered face and long ropy leafy green hair.

The pro-hero was speaking with another pro-hero; this one had two sharp horns poking through curly poofy black hair. The man was also built like an ox, with massively broad shoulders, and stood four or five meters taller than even Iida.

"Yes, and I believe she's speaking with the famed Buffalo Bill," speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Izuku was startled at Iida's sudden appearance behind him.

"Oh, my-" said a thoroughly startled Uraraka, "Uhh, hi, Iida. Please, don't sneak up on me like that. It's bad for my health."

"Apologies, I'll endeavor to make my presence known before approaching in the future," said Iida. "Anyways, how are the two of you enjoying tonight's festivities? I'm here with my family, mingling with some of the world's most prominent pro-heroes." He spoke with a pride that Izuku would never be able to muster.

"That's cool, Iida. Have you met any cool ones yet?" asked Izuku.

"I'd refer to them as dignified, distinguished, remarkable! Calling them merely cool is very degrading, Midoriya," Iida had emphasized each point with a slight hand chop. He saw Urarakas mouth twist as she held her laughter.

"Oh? I guess those would be more professional terms to describe them." Said Izuku.

"Very much so, yes!" said Iida. "Come, I must introduce you to Hawk Emperor and Senor Verde." Iida gestured for the two to follow him. "Hawk Emperor came all the way from China; it's said he was able to defeat forty villains in one bout! And while Senor Verde's technique may be disgusting, but it is highly effective at rendering villains immobile."

As they followed, Iida Izuku saw something in the window; it looked like someone parachuting in. They were followed by others. "What the?" Izuku headed to the window and gazed down into the plaza below.

"Deku? What's up?" asked Uraraka coming over.

"Look, some people just parachuted into the plaza," he pointed at the group below. They were a couple dozen stories up, so it was hard to make out what was going on, but he saw a group of people run over to the group that had just landed. And as the two groups met, two fell down, then the rest of the second group started falling down. The people gathered around the plaza started scattering in every direction, trying to get away from something as quickly as possible.

"What just happened?" asked Uraraka.

"I don't know, but I don't think it's good," replied Izuku.

"Oh my god, look!" said Uraraka in horror. She pointed to a plum of smoke rising in the city.

"What's going on?" asked Iida.

"Some group landed in the Plaza, and now there's a fire on the island," said Izuku.

"Hmmm, surely I-island is capable of fighting a fire. I see no need to panic," replied Iida nonchalantly. "Come, let's enjoy the rest of the night."

Suddenly Bakugo was standing next to Izuku, a scowl on his face, "That's not a normal fire. That's an explosion."

"And how do you know that Bakugo?" asked Iida.

Bakugo glared at Iida, "Don't forget who your talking to shit for brains. And don't you think it's odd that there are no alarms?"

Izuku nodded, "Yeah, shouldn't there be sirens or something?" asked Izuku.

"Where's the emergency services?" asked Uraraka.

She was right; no emergency services were heading to the scene. Despite how many pro-heroes were on the Island, it didn't seem like they noticed the fire. A waiter robot bumped into him from behind. It spoke in a garbled tone ["Daisy Daisy give me your answer, do"]. And suddenly, it shut down.

"Well, that wasn't creepy," said Izuku. Robots started spinning around the ballroom, running into walls, speaking random phrases in garbled tones, or just catching fire.

"What is going on?" Asked Iida. "I thought I-island was supposed to have the best robotics division in the world! It's disgraceful that they'd all malfunction like this."

"Dumbass, they're not malfunctioning. We're under attack," said Bakugo.

"And how do you know that Bakugo?" demanded Iida.

Bakguo glared at Iida, "First, there was an explosion, then some strangers parachuted into the square outside. Now all the robots have gone ballistic. It should be kinda obvious by now, four-eyed dumb bastard."

Iida scowled, "That is pure conjecture; how do you know these events are all related to one another? And don't call me a four-eyed dumb bastard, you cretin."

"I'll call you whatever I want," replied Bakguo.

Izuku saw the pro-heroes looking concerned; some were speaking with one another, others had pulled out their phones and were busy making calls. Suddenly the doors surrounding the ballroom opened, and men with black body armor and guns stormed in. Each yelling variations of "get down!" and "hands up."

A man with a pistol spoke loudly enough to silence the rest of the men, ["Alright, everyone. Sorry to crash your big party or whatever the hell you call this. But there's been a slight change to tonight's schedule."]

Alright, that's another chapter done, I planned on getting this out yesterday, but then things happened. And well, I didn't get around to this until after my test today. Which, if any of you are interested in working with maps, aerial photographs, and playing around with GPS systems, go the GIS route in college. Plus those kinds of jobs are relatively new in our modern age so everyones just kinda figuring it out as we go along. And the pay is pretty decent here in the States. I'm talking six figures easy. Also you might get to work with NASA, so that's cool I guess.

Anyways.

It's been long enough since the whole I-island movie aired that I'm just gonna yeet the original plotline into that Alaskan volcano currently going all kaboom and I'm making my own. If you don't like it, tough.

Also I don't really remember what all happened, and I don't much care to go back and watch the movie again. Once is enough. In my humble opinion the movies are, meh. I ain't gonna be making any other references to any of the other movies, mostly because I don't want to figure out how they're gonna fit into the strange web of plot lines I mapped out something like three years ago.

If you don't know, and Wattpad (yes this story is also on Wattpad) allows authors to track how many people visit/view our stories and where they come from. Well, to an extent. If you have a VPN I'm pretty sure /Wattpad can't get any info from you guys and gals, and even if they did it'd most likely be inaccurate.

But anyways, most of my readers are obviously American, with a good smattering of Canadian, Australian, and British readers. But I also see readers from other countries like Germany, France, Finland, Russia, one person from Japan, a couple from Bosnia, oddly enough the most South American readers are from Uruguay.

I just thought that was a cool feature, and it was also super cool that people from around the world are reading this weird little fanfic I wrote.

Not a lot of people compared to others, but I'm weirdly proud of myself for getting this many readers. And that my first story that I started publishing, oh god this makes me feel older than I should, almost three years ago, is still getting quite a bit of traffic. Around 400 visitors this month alone. Gee, that's awesome guys and gals. Super cool.

I know I sound like a broken record, but y'all are awesome, all of y'all. Thanks for sticking around for almost three years now. Well, to be precise, two years and five months.

Alright, onto the normal "I don't own this" stuff.

I do not own My Hero Academia and Probably never will, Rangers armor is based off the Riot Gear from Fallout New Vegas and I also do not own that.

This story is also loosely based off of other fanfictions that I have read. Any persons or events that mirror reality or another story are completely accidental. If anyone wants to see any specific quirks or have any ideas about quirks, they would like to see in the story let me know and I'll see about adding them.

If y'all want to leave a review about what you like or hate, feel free to do so, that's why the little review button is there. Feel free to Pm me as well, I'm always happy to hear criticism, suggestions, or if y'all just want to chat for a bit.

What breed of dog can jump higher than a skyscraper?

All of them!

Skyscrapers can't jump.