Izuku sighed as he stared at the items he had bought the night before. Mei swore that this would guarantee him a day off from school, but he had his doubts. He was curious how these two completely random items could make him skip school and how Mei knew that they would work.
He just didn't know how soap and crackers would cause him to skip school.
He remembered what Mei told him what to buy and what to do after he bought them. Saying that in the morning he had to eat the soap and crackers as if they were cheese and crackers. He didn't know how she came up with the weird combination but he wasn't going to argue with her.
Izuku looked at the clock and saw that it was thirty minutes past the time he was usually up to help Miss Azumi. He knew she would come and check up on him at any minute. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to fake an illness in such a short time, Izuku caved in and chose to do Mei's idea.
He cut off a moderate piece of soap and placed it on a cracker. He looked at it for a few seconds before sighing.
"Bottoms up."
Izuku shoved the "treat" into his mouth and quickly started to chew. It tasted awful and wasn't anywhere close to tasting like the fruit that was on the package. He felt his whole body and brain screaming at him to spit it out but he persisted and made sure that he didn't spit anything out. After a few agonizing seconds, he swallowed the "treat" and placed his head on his desk.
He spent the next few seconds dry-heaving and praying that Mei's plan worked because there was no way in hell he was going to do that again. A couple more seconds passed and nothing was happening. He started to worry because their whole plan relied on him missing school today and he really didn't want to eat another soap cracker.
Then by some miracle, Izuku felt something coming up his throat. Not wasting a second, he threw the evidence into his closet, burst through his bedroom door, and rushed to the bathroom. He didn't care about how much noise he was making or who he woke up because he needed this to sound believable.
He luckily made it to the bathroom in time to release the contents of his stomach into the toilet. He pretty much screamed as he puked to make sure Miss Azumi heard him.
Not even a minute passed by when he heard someone knock on the bathroom door.
"Izuku, are you alright?" He heard Miss Azumi's concerned voice through the door.
"No…" Izuku choked out.
He weakly opened the door, allowing Miss Azumi in. He heard her gasp and then felt her rub his back.
"It's ok. Are you feeling better?"
"No."
Honestly, he was feeling a lot better, but he needed to make Miss Azumi think otherwise. He heard her hum before the sound of running water entered his ears.
"Ok, hop in the shower and clean yourself up. I'll come back with a clean pair of pajamas in a few minutes, and don't worry about your morning duties or school. I'll let them know you aren't feeling well."
Miss Azumi left and Izuku did a quiet celebration. The plan worked, so now he needed to wait to hear from Mei.
After a refreshing shower, Izuku returned to his room in clean pajamas and waited for Mei to text him. When he heard someone heading toward his room he quickly got underneath his covers and positioned himself as if he were dying.
Miss Azumi walked in carrying a tray of food. She set the tray down on his nightstand and ran her fingers through his hair.
"I brought you a bowl of rice, toast, and some water for your stomach. Let me know if your stomach still hurts and I'll bring you some ginger ale. Make sure you get plenty of rest and I'll come check up on you after I drop the kids off at school."
She kissed his forehead and left.
Izuku ate his breakfast and checked his phone. Still no messages from Mei and he began to wonder if he was supposed to contact her first.
It worked
I don't have to go to school today
How did you know that would make me sick?
It didn't take long for Mei to respond.
I can't believe you actually did that!
I thought you would've done the thermometer under the lamp trick!
Izuku groaned. He should've known it was a trick but he couldn't complain about the results. He checked back onto his phone and saw that he had a few more messages from Mei.
Anyway things are set up over here
I replenished your pellets and even repaired any damage on your staff
But you should probably hurry
There are a lot of suspicious people starting to show up around here
Luckily no one came into our warehouse yet
Izuku finished his breakfast and quickly typed in his response.
Everyone will be here for another hour
And it will take a while to get there without Sora
Last night, they had a conversation about Sora. They both decided that Sora would be useless for today because it would look suspicious if someone saw him riding a drone in broad daylight and also it would be pointless to fly a drone indoors.
Well get here when you can
I haven't set up any base defenses yet and it's been proven that Home Alone traps
don't work in real life outside of a select few
With their conversation over, Izuku lay back on his bed. The gravity of the situation finally hit him. He was going to break into UA property to fight villains that might have a way to defeat All Might.
Izuku scoffed at the idea. Multiple villains believed they had a way to beat All Might and they always lost, but he still felt anxious about going against villains that are confident enough to attack UA head-on, to attack its students.
Izuku looked at his phone again.
He knew of the possibility that it was his friends' class they were attacking and it made him sick. He couldn't directly warn them about the upcoming attack without sounding suspicious, so he needed to be discreet.
I'm sick today so don't wait up for me
Be safe today
His phone lit up with comforting and supportive messages from his friends. He hoped that they'll be fine after today.
"It sucks that Izuku is sick. I'll stop by his school and see if they'll let me pick up his work."
Fumikage and Tsuyu solemnly walked to school, but they knew they would manage. It wasn't the first time someone from their trio missed school because of an illness and they knew it wouldn't be the last.
"I'll make him some soup after school. My siblings always feel better whenever they eat it, ribbit."
The duo came up to the school and noticed the heavily clad men at the front gate. After the press broke in, UA didn't hold back on maintaining its security. They hired sidekicks from nearby hero agencies as security until they get the security door fixed, even then there were rumors of it being a permanent change even when the door is fixed depending on how well the sidekicks do.
Fumikage and Tsu flashed them their student IDs and were let in with no hassle.
"I gotta say, UA doesn't cut corners when it comes to student safety, ribbit."
"This is the top hero school in the world, they should have money to spend on this level of security."
"Even then, who would be dumb enough to attack the number one hero school that employs the number one hero?"
Fumikage would agree with his quirk if it wasn't for yesterday. What happened yesterday told him that even the sanest people would do something dumb to get a chance to meet All Might. Why would he doubt that a villain wouldn't try the same thing with a more sinister attempt?
They made it to their class and went to their seats. Yesterday, they were told they were doing something special today for Heroics and that they wouldn't have any other classes outside of lunch. They all wondered what the lesson would be about and how serious it would be if they had to block out the whole school day for it.
They got their answer when Mr. Aizawa slithered in after the morning bell rang.
"Today's lesson will be overseen by three instructors, me, All Might, and another faculty member will be keeping tabs on all of you."
Fumikage noticed that Mr. Aizawa's eyes lingered on Bakugo when he said that last part. Bakugo glared back at him and clicked his tongue. Before things could escalate, a boy with weird elbows, Sero, spoke up.
"Sir, what will we be doing today?"
Mr. Aizawa tiredly rubbed his eyes before showing them all a card that read "RESCUE." Before the class could cheer, Mr. Aizawa raised his hand to silence them.
"You will be put through countless simulations to see how you'll act under pressure. You'll go through natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, landslides, and accidents such as shipwrecks and fires."
Mr. Aizawa used a remote to open the wall that held the cases of their costumes.
"You are allowed to wear your costumes, but remember, you aren't used to them yet and they might handicap your abilities in today's lesson. That is all, get dressed and meet me down by the courtyard in 15 minutes."
Mr. Aizawa slithered out of the room and everyone quickly grabbed their cases. Fumikage and Tsu hung back, allowing everyone to get their cases first.
"I bet you're excited about today's lesson."
"Yes, I finally get to show off how good I am in water, ribbit."
"You're late, hurry up and get changed! We don't know when they'll leave!"
Mei tossed Izuku his costume and he quickly ran into the bathroom to change. He would've gotten here a little sooner but some of the kids lingered around the orphanage for a while and Miss Azumi wanted to check up on him one more time before she left. He also had to set up his bed to make it look like he was sleeping so that Miss Azumi wouldn't think he snuck out.
He also had to go through the back roads to make sure that neither Miss Azumi nor any of the other caretakers saw him and that was a hassle in and of itself.
He finished changing and when he stepped out of the bathroom, Mei tossed him his staff and belt.
"Ok, everything is set and repaired, but I have one last thing to give you."
She handed him a pin, similar to the one he gave to Hayami.
"Since we won't be able to use Sora, I made another pin so I could see what's going on. You still have the earpiece right?"
He gave her a thumbs up and she sighed with some relief.
"I guess that's everything, but before you go I want to remind you that we don't know how many villains there are, so don't burst in guns blazing. Just go in and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike."
She gave him a supportive pat on the back and sent him out the door.
Jack Rabbit stayed in the shadows as he moved from building to building. It was the first time he wore his costume during the day and he didn't want to get caught.
He remembered that the mist figure said that they would meet up at the warehouse furthest from the beach. Since his and Echo's base was the closest to the beach, he had a long way to go before he reached his destination.
He reached his destination in a few minutes, but before he went in, he placed his ear against the door. He could hear a large group inside, letting him know that he stood no chance if he burst in. He walked through the door but stayed in the back away from everyone else.
Jack Rabbit studied everyone in the room.
He couldn't see the mist guy anywhere but he assumed that he'd show up later. Multiple villains had mutation quirks while others were huge and muscular, but he knew that none of them would be able to stand up to All Might.
Before the accident, he was a huge fan of All Might. He would ask his mom for every single piece of All Might merchandise and memorabilia and watch every All Might clip he could find online at least a hundred times. After being placed in the orphanage, he pulled back on his All Might addiction because they didn't have the funds to buy every toy that came out, but he would watch any new All Might video that came out, and from what he's seen none of these guys stand a chance against the number one hero.
He's seen villains bigger and stronger than the villains here get taken out with one punch, villains with intelligence quirks get outsmarted by him, and villains with speed quirks get outran by him. Even if everyone here teamed up it wouldn't take long for All Might to take them all out, but that's not who he was worried about.
He was more worried about the class they would be attacking. They'll be attacking inexperienced kids who are starting to understand the capabilities of their quirks and their teacher. While yes, their teacher is a pro hero and they have taken out villains before, but they'll be going up against an army and he knew only a select few heroes could beat an army of this magnitude.
He just hoped that he could help in holding off this horde until reinforcements arrived.
"It looks like we made it just in time. Now we wait until things get kicked off, for who knows how long."
Jack Rabbit assumed that they wouldn't have to wait long. The mist guy said that his associate stole a class schedule so he knew that they would start the meeting before that class began.
"Just be patient, I have a feeling it will start soon."
Jack Rabbit could hear Echo move around in her chair indicating that she was bored.
"Do you think that this could be one big sting operation? If it is, then it's extremely effective if they're able to arrest everyone here."
If he was being honest, it was an extremely successful way to get a bunch of villains in one place, but it was also a very convoluted way to do it too. Another thing that told him that this wasn't a sting operation was because of UAs involvement. Why would they get involved with something to arrest a bunch of street-level thugs?
Jack Rabbit looked around the room again and didn't see any villain that stood out. He and Echo would sometimes look at the Most Wanted list and he didn't see anyone that was on it.
"I'll be careful if anything happens."
A couple of minutes passed before something happened. A vortex similar to the one he saw last night opened in front of everyone and came out the mist guy, but he wasn't alone he was followed by two people. One was a hulking dark bird creature with its brain exposed and the other was a boy dressed in black with light blue hair, but what stood out the most were the hands that were latched onto his arms, shoulders, and face. He was extremely unnerving.
"I'm guessing the big guy is the one they think could beat All Might."
Jack Rabbit silently agreed with his partner. They were huge and appeared to be extremely strong based on their muscles, but he wasn't worried. All Might could take care of them in a few punches.
He watched the blue-haired boy scan the crowd before turning to the mist guy. He couldn't hear him but he could tell that the boy was upset about something with how he was acting while the mist guy was trying to calm him down. After a while, the mist guy stepped forward while the boy sulked behind him.
"I would like to thank you all for coming. Before we begin I would like to introduce you all to my associate, Tomura Shigaraki."
Shigaraki didn't move, just scoffed at the crowd in front of him. Any chance of him making a good first impression went out the window as everyone started to form their own opinion about him.
"Really, that's the guy!?"
"What a major letdown. I expected someone more intimidating."
"You expect me to believe that this kid was the one to infiltrate UA?"
"Are we sure that the mist guy wasn't the one to do it and he's just taking the credit?"
Shigaraki growled as he scratched his neck.
If he wasn't a villain, Jack Rabbit would feel bad for him. He supposedly did something amazing and nobody's showing him respect because he's just a kid.
The mist guy looked a little worried before getting everyone back on track.
"Shigaraki will now debrief you all about what's going to happen."
The mist guy started to urge Shigaraki to step forward and talk to everyone, but he wouldn't budge. An argument broke out between the two, and Jack Rabbit couldn't make out most of what they were saying except for the mist guy's name, Kurogiri. After a few more seconds of arguing, Kurogiri forced Shigaraki to stand in front of everyone.
Shigaraki stood awkwardly in front of everyone as tensions rose. He already made a bad first impression and no one had any respect for him. Whatever he was going to say it had to be inspiring to get everyone behind him.
"All of you are just NPCs to the plan. I could care less about what could happen to you."
Or unify everyone against him.
"What did you call us?!"
"We're not just some background characters for you to mess with!"
"What's so special about you? You're just a kid!"
"SHUT UP!"
Shigaraki's voice echoed throughout the warehouse, silencing the crowd.
"All of you are just cannon fodder to keep the other pro heroes busy and to kill some children while Nomu here will take out All Might. I don't care about what could happen to any of you as long as that bastard is dead by the end of the day."
Jack Rabbit had to admit, when Shigaraki spoke with conviction he sounded like a competent leader, and he also got to learn their plan or lack thereof. To sum it up, they were going to try and overwhelm the pros by throwing bodies at them while Nomu fought All Might. It's a sound plan if they were dealing with anyone outside of the Top 10, let alone the number one, so there's nothing to concerning for him to deal with.
"So, how concerned are you? You wanna call it quits and enjoy your day off from school?"
"Meh, I'll go on the off chance things go sou–!"
"Hold on just a minute, asshole!"
Another voice rang through the warehouse as someone stepped up. They appeared to have some type of gorilla quirk based on their physical appearance resembling something akin to a gorilla, big muscles, black fur, and the way they walked with their long arms close to the ground.
"You expect us to blindly follow you into a fight that involves All Might after you insulted us? Don't make me laugh."
"Oh, and you think you could do better?"
The way Shigaraki responded didn't sit right with Jack Rabbit. He didn't flinch or lose his composure under someone bigger and clearly stronger than him, no, he chose to tease him. It's as if he's challenging the beast of a man.
"Anyone of us could. If it wasn't for your partner then you'd be the useless sack of shit that everyone here knows you are."
"Then how about this, if you could beat me then I'll let you lead this whole thing. I'll even let you use Kurogiri's quirk."
"Deal!"
Shigaraki's confidence should've been the first warning sign. He was toying with him the second he opened his mouth.
The fight didn't even last a second. The gorilla man shriveled into dust the moment Shigaraki placed his hand on him. Everyone was stunned.
"Anyone else have anything to say?"
No one opened their mouths, too afraid after what they just witnessed.
"Good. Kurogiri, let them know what they'll be doing, I'm done."
Shigaraki walked to the back and stood next to Nomu as Kurogiri took his place.
"Alright, we're not all going to attack head-on, we'll be moving some of you around the building to attack anyone that tries to run away and for a surprise attack. We managed to steal a map of the location so we'll be placing some of you in places where your quirk is most effective. We'll also be taking volunteers from anyone who doesn't want to be part of the frontal attack."
The bus ride to their lesson was interesting, to say the least.
To start it off, Iida was instructing everyone to pick a seating buddy for the bus ride, before crumbling with dismay when he saw the bus had open seating, making his seating buddy idea irrelevant. Then on the way down, a conversation broke out with Fumikage as the main topic when Hagakure noticed he wasn't wearing his cloak.
"Hey, Fumi, what happened to your cloak?"
"It got damaged during the last hero lesson so it's being repaired in the Support Department at UA."
Dark Shadow emerged from his body and nodded to back up his claim. He didn't need the cloak to give Dark Shadow the added boost for today's lesson but he was slightly worried that he wouldn't be as effective with it.
"I have to say, you do have a pretty interesting quirk," Kirishima commented. He then hardened his arm to make it look like a jagged rock. "It's a lot better than mine."
"Oh, come on, Kiri, don't say that. It doesn't matter how flashy or powerful someone's quirk is, it's what you do with it that matters!" An energetic pink girl said to make the redhead feel better. Fumikage remembered her saying her name was Mina.
"You're right, but I must say, the ones who have the most pro-ready quirks are Todoroki and Bakugo."
Todoroki is one of the more reclusive members of their class with his red and white hair and scar being their most noticeable features. He completed All Might's test in record time without even stepping into the building. He froze the whole place, trapping the villain team, then unfroze it when the test was over. It was obvious he had the most experience using his quirk.
"Yeah, but, Bakugo is too much of a hot-head so he'll never be too popular, ribbit."
"What was that frog face!? I'll kick your ass!"
Tsu turned to Fumikage and gave him a proud yet smug look. She holds a grudge against the blond for not only disregarding her during All Might's test, almost killing her friend during said test but also for bullying her boyfriend. Now, due to Bakugo needing to be under constant supervision, she couldn't do anything to the boy because the heroes try their best to keep everyone away from the boy, so she tries to find the perfect opportunities to annoy him.
Shortly after that whole ordeal, they arrived at their destination, a huge dome. They walked in and were met by someone in a puffy spacesuit.
"Greetings Class 1-A! Welcome to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint or USJ for short. I hope you're excited for a fun day of learning!"
"Oh my gosh, it's the Space Hero: Thirteen! I am such a huge fan!" Uraraka squealed from behind everyone.
Mr. Aizawa walked up to Thirteen and took them aside. They had a short conversation which ended when Thirteen held up three fingers, causing Mr. Aizawa to sigh and mutter something under his breath before returning to the class.
"Listen up, All Might won't be here today but that doesn't mean you can slack off. Thirteen and I will keep a close eye on all of you and maintain tabs on your progress. That is all from me for now. Thirteen you may begin"
"Thank you, Aizawa. Now, before we begin I would like to say one, two, maybe five things…"
"Sheesh, you'd think they have this prepared well in advance."
Fumikage reprimanded his quirk for being disrespectful.
"Listen carefully because this is important. I'm sure you know my quirk, Black Hole. I can use it to suck up anything and turn it into dust."
"Yeah, you've rescued countless people with it!" Uraraka said, not even trying to hide her excitement.
"But, my quirk could easily be used to kill," Thirteen solemnly said and everyone froze. "Some of you also have powers that could be dangerous. In our society all quirks are certified and regulated, so we tend to forget how dangerous they could be. You need to remember that if you lose focus and make a mistake your powers can be deadly, even if you're doing something noble like rescuing someone. Thanks to Aizawa's fitness test and All Might's combat training, you have a solid idea of your quirks' potential and how dangerous they could be when used against other people. Carry those lessons over to today because you will be learning how to use those powers to save lives. This is what being a hero is all about, ensuring the safety of others. That is all I have to say."
Thirteen ended their speech with a courteous bow as the class cheered for them. They were all obviously pumped for today's lesson.
Mr. Aizawa cleared his throat to calm everyone down and to gain their attention.
"Alright, now that that's settled let's–!"
Before Aizawa could finish speaking, the lights flickered before shutting off. Fumikage could see the fountain in the center of the USJ sputter before a purple vortex opened up in front of it.
"Thirteen, protect the students!"
Aizawa covered his eyes with his goggles as he gripped his scarf. Fumikage sensed Kirishima come up beside him as he watched an army emerge from the vortex.
"Is the lesson starting? I thought we were rescuing people today?"
"Stay back! This isn't part of your lesson, those are real villains!"
Fumikage felt a huge sense of dread wash over him and the worried mummers coming from his class told him they felt the same way.
Without skipping a beat, Mr. Aizawa launched himself at the army. Fumikage couldn't see what happened to him afterward because he felt some unstoppable force pull him toward his class.
"Hurry to the exit, children!"
Thirteen ushered the children to the exit as fast as they could but before they made it halfway another vortex opened up and a mist figure stepped through it.
"Greetings, we were led to believe that All Might would be here today. Was there a change in schedule?"
"Stay back! Don't you dare touch any of these children!"
Thirteen stuck out their hand, a clear indicator that they were preparing to use their quirk. Fumikage had to do everything in his power to hold back Dark Shadow. He felt his quirk getting rambunctious since the moment the first vortex opened up.
Both Thirteen and the mist villain were at a stalemate. Thirteen didn't want to harm any students with their quirk and the mist villain didn't want to be attacked by the hero's quirk.
"DIE YOU, BASTARD!"
Out of nowhere, Bakugo and Kirishima flew at the mist villain. In a state of panic, the mist villain exploded into a big ball of black mist that swallowed Fumikage and the majority of the other students.
Fumikage groaned as he lay on the ground. After being swallowed up by the darkness he couldn't see for a few seconds. When his vision came back he quickly realized that he was wet and also nowhere close to the exit. He looked around and saw he was in a rundown city where it constantly rained.
He also realized he wasn't alone. He spotted Shinso lying next to him. He quickly shook him awake.
"Uh, what happened?"
"I think we were teleported somewhere else."
He heard something shift in the distance and saw a bunch of menacing figures walking toward them.
"And we're not alone. Dark Shadow!"
The two boys quickly shot up and stood back to back as Dark Shadow hovered over them. They each stood in a fighting stance and waited for someone to make the first move.
"RRAAAHHH!"
A giant person with four arms charged at them. Dark Shadow prepared to defend its host when someone dressed as a rabbit swooped in and kicked the villain in the head. He then landed in front of the group and pulled out a staff. He then looked surprised when he saw the group but he wasn't the only one.
"It's you!"