Izuku stood on the roof of a building within Training Ground Beta as he nervously counted the seconds until their first heroics training lesson began. Glancing over at his partner the Divine Divider was glad to see that he wasn't the only one as Itsuka was doing some breathing exercises. Their objective in this exercise was simple: they were the heroes who had to break into a building housing a 'bomb' held by a pair of villains. All they had to do was either touch the bomb or capture both villains before the time ran out. Easy…at least on paper that is. They were going up against Tokage and Kuroiro. Not only that, but they were going to be the first group to do this exercise. With the entire class, plus All Might himself, watching them. Judging them.

"We got this," came the voice of the Big Fist user.

Izuku blinked, not realizing that Itsuka had closed the distance between them to place a hand on his shoulder while giving him a warm smile. Seeing this helped him to relax a bit as well, though he blushed a bit as couldn't help but notice how heroic and alluring she looked in her hero costume. Looking down and placing a hand on his chest, he too began to feel a little more heroic at this moment. After what his orange-haired friend had told him almost a year ago about making his smile his own, the teen had workshopped his old hero costume to remove All Might's influence. Now he wore the finished product: a green suit, its color a lighter shade than what he originally wanted so as to not clash with his wings, with white markings on the side along the sides. On both legs, he wore white knee pads that went up to his thighs. The teen had removed the hood that held the hair bangs from his original design as well as the mouth guard that looked like All Might's smile, much to the delight of Albion and Itsuka. Though Pony did sulk a little as she had thought that it looked really funny. In its place, now hanging around his neck, was a respirator shaped like a dragon's jaw.

Now he looked more like his own hero instead of a fanboy playing dress up.

"Yeah," agreed Izuku with a nod. "We got this."

As Izuku said that, All Might announced the beginning of the match. Wasting no time, the green-haired teen activated his quirk, the large wings appearing on his back before he blushingly picked up his friend to carry her bridal style. With his friend in his arms, Izuku flew across the street aiming toward one of the windows in the middle of the building while one of Itsuka's fists grew to its maximum size. Once they arrived at their destination, Kendo wasted no time smashing the glass into thousands of pieces with a single punch. However, rather than going inside, Izuku flew upwards at the highest speed he felt comfortable at before landing on the roof.

As Kendo used her enlarged fists to rip the roof access door off its hinges, Izuku deactivated his wings so that he could properly fit through the door. Their first plan had been simple: have Izuku fly around the building looking for the bomb and then the two of them could just crash through that window. However, both agreed that that sort of plan would have worked better had he not shown everyone at the dodgeball game that he could fly. No doubt they would expect something like that. The same would go for the roof. So, instead, their plan was to try and divide their opponents. Hopefully, after hearing that crash, one of the villains would go to investigate leaving the other to guard the bomb or the roof.

As the pair moved through the top floor they began to notice just how dark it was, the lights being turned off while all the doors were kept shut. It was so dark that the two had to move a bit slower while keeping a hand pressed against the wall. The two strained their ears as they listened for the slightest noise of their enemies approaching. As the two turned a corner they were met by…a floating eyeball? The two heroes stared at it, wide eye thinking that their own eyes were playing tricks on them.

That is until the eyeball blinked causing both hero hopefuls to scream.

As the pair backed away from what was the beginning of a horror movie, Izuku felt someone wrapping their arms around his neck. The fear of being taken by surprise filled the teen, his mind going numb as he looked to the side to see the haunting face of Kuroiro grinning at him while showing off all his teeth.

"Izuku!" As Itsuka yelled out his name, several small objects began to fly toward her. Quickly they combined to form a pair of hands that swiftly grabbed the Big Fist girl by the wrists. Kendo soon found herself being dragged and pressed against the wall by the severed hands across from the struggling Izuku. Then, several larger masses flew down the hallways along with a mouth that floated underneath the eye.

"Nice try with that distraction," said Setsuna's mouth. "Good thing I left an eye over here while the rest of me went to search the building."

Struggling to get a full breath of air, Izuku reached up his hands to pry off the arms denying him precious oxygen. Yet when he tried Kuroiro simply began to tighten his chokehold. To make matters worse, Izuku got a front-row seat to the fate that befell his partner. He watched as Itsuka struggled to push forward, to remove herself from the wall, to lower her arms so she could rip off Tokage's hands. However, much to the green-haired teen's mounting horror at the situation, the extra lumps of flesh began launching right into Kendo's gut. Itsuka like all the air from her lungs had been knocked out from the first attack, barely able to take another breath before the next piece of Setsuna stuck her. Over and over, these pieces struck before pulling back in a seemingly never-ending series of rapid-fire punches.

"It's over hero," said Kuroiro said as Izuku felt one of the arms let go. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw it reach into the darkness where the rest of his enemy's body was most likely to be. Then, when he saw it next, in the dark villain's hand was the capture tape!

Seeing the tape brought a moment of clarity to Izuku's mind, the desperate need for air forgotten. Once that capture tape was wrapped around him, he would lose. He would have to lie there, unable to participate in the rest of the exercise leaving Itsuka to fend for herself again the two villains. Well, not if he could help it!

So, with gritted teeth, Izuku tightened his grip on Kuroiro arm that was around his neck. An action that surprised the dark teen. Then…

"Divide!" shouted Izuku as he activated his quirk, his wings extended to cancel out as much of the darkness in the hallway as possible. With no darkness for Kuroiro to sink back into, it was like he was being pushed out of the wall. Midoriya used this, adding his own strength to add to the momentum while spinning the darkly clad teen and tossing him to the ground. A second later, Kuroiro's body hit the ground with enough force that it actually bounced. But before he could land on the ground a second time, Izuku was around in motion to continue his attack. The Divine Divider had spun around, lifting his leg high into the air as he did so before sending his heel right into the gut of his attacker.

At the same time, Kendo was turning the tables on Setsuna. The orange-haired girl, despite the pain she had endured, began to push herself off the wall while growing her fists to their full size once more. With a fierce battle cry, she then began to swing both of her enlarged hands around creating waves of wind that knocked Tokage's body parts around while irritating the lone eye. Then SMACK! Ituska's hand came done, swatting several of the pieces in one go as though they were nothing more than a couple of annoying flies. Shrinking her hands, Kendo then ripped off the severed hands that still clung to her wrists before flinging them against the wall.

At that point, Setsuna's eye and mouth were the only parts of her still afloat. Seeing that there was nothing else they could do, they tried to make a break for it only to discover that Izuku was blocking their path as he had somehow gotten behind them. Tokage hesitated and, at that moment, Itsuka had enlarged her hands once more to swat the last of the villain's pieces.

With the fight over, Izuku looked over to see Itsuka holding her stomach with her once more normal-sized hands with a strained grin on her face. As she gave him a thumbs up, showing she was ready to continue, Izuku instantly returned the gesture.

From there, the rest of the exercise was pretty easy. They found the bomb along with literally half of Setsuna, looking like various chunks of her body were missing. She tried to put up a fight, pieces of her body flying out at the two heroes in a vain attempt to keep them from the bomb. However, both Kendo and Midoriya were easily able to avoid the attacks thanks to all the parkour training they had done, touching the bomb with five minutes to spare.

Once the match was over, all four were brought back to where the rest of the class was waiting for them. There All Might heaped praise on all four of them for a splendid job as both heroes and villains had good plans while also making good use of their quirks. And while he did criticize Izuku for hesitating as long as he did when Kuroiro got the drop on him, he was overall glad that he overcame this. As for Izuku, he just nodded as basked in the glow of his own achievement. That he had been able to save himself, unlike what had happened with Bakugo.

From there, the rest of the matches continued. Everyone in Class 1-B gave Izuku a look as he pulled out a notebook from…somewhere as he began taking notes on all the various quirks of his classmates and how they used them. The one that had impressed him the most was Pony who had attached the capture tape to her horns before launching them into the air, guiding them to her target like a guided missile. Not only that, but when the ground had been covered by her opponent's glue she had gotten over it by jumping on her floating horns and riding them over the obstacle.

All in all, it had been a good day despite All Might racing away once the class was over.

-x-

The next day, the students of 1-B found themselves back in Training Ground Beta. Dressed in their hero costumes, they followed their homeroom teacher as he led them down the deserted streets. With their footsteps seeming to echo all around them the place gave off a bit of a spooky vibe.

"Alright, class," said Vlad King as he led his class through the empty city. "Today, while 1-A is doing rescue training at the USJ, you will be learning how to deal with large-scale ambushes."

Izuku flinched when Vlad King brought up the USJ. They had all heard about the Unforeseen Simulation Joint yesterday after All Might's lesson from their homeroom teacher. A place that was designed to simulate entire disaster environments in a controlled setting for training purposes. When they heard this, the entire class had grown excited though less so when the blood-themed hero said that he was trying to get a joint class training going with 1-A. No doubt wanting to smooth tensions out between the two heroic classes. Well, obviously it didn't work out and Izuku couldn't help but feel like it was his fault. He could still remember the way Mr. Aizawa had spoken to him, making his feelings for the green-haired youth crystal clear. That, along with the fact that Bakugo was back from his suspension, his presence heard loud and clear, were the more likely reasons for 1-A's homeroom teacher to reject the idea.

"Hey," came Itsuka's whisper right into Izuku's ear, both the suddenness and the feeling of her warm breath almost causing him to jump. "Don't worry about it. We'll go to the USJ another time."

At that, Pony chimed in as she leaned close to whisper as well.

"Yeah!" she said, a little louder than Itsuka. "And we won't be keeping an eye out for that jerk!"

Glancing around, Midoriya saw that while they had been quiet the rest of the class seemed to have heard this. Many of them were either nodding in agreement or just giving the Divine Divider a reassuring smile. Seeing that made Izuku relax a little. Maybe he was just thinking about this too hard. Perhaps the reason the idea was rejected was that there weren't enough teachers to watch over them.

Vlad King, meanwhile, continued talking as if he had not overheard anything. "This type of thing can be one of the most terrifying aspects of the job. I'm sure that many of you noticed it in the entrance exam, examinees freezing or panicking when one of the robots suddenly appeared before them. It is that fear that you will be learning to overcome, to not hesitate when faced with danger."

"So are we going to be fighting the robots from the exam again?" asked Kuroiro. "No offense Mr. Vlad but we already know we can take them."

Vlad turned his head to look at his student, a sadistic smile briefly appearing on his face. "Yes, you did. But when you last fought them, you were in a group with the robots targeting whoever they first came across. This time, however, you will be facing a dozen or so robots alone that can appear at any time. Furthermore, we will be making those robots a bit tougher. All thanks to the Support Department."

As if on cue, a three-pointer robot came racing down the street towards them at a speed much greater than they had shown during the entrance exam. What's more, there seemed to be someone riding on top of it! It was a girl with pink dreadlock-styled hair, her jacket tied around her waist to show off her tank top, and her arms raised high into the air. Drawing closer, Izuku took note of the homemade steampunk-like goggles on her forehead along with the various blotches of oil on her skin. Eventually, the robot came to a halt right in front of the group which nearly caused the girl to go flying off.

"Class, allow me to introduce one of Power Loader's best first-year students in the Support Department: Mei Hatsume," announced Vlad King as he gestured to the girl who was now laughing her head off. "She's here to make sure that the robots pack a bit more of a punch than what they did during the entrance exam."

Mei suddenly stopped laughing, head snapping to look at the hero in red before blinking at that though her insane grin never left her face.

"Really?" asked Hatsume in a weird, cheerful tone. "Power Loader really said that about me? I thought he just wanted me out of the classroom after I blew it up for the eighteenth time."

Pony, as well as the majority of the class, blinked at that. "But we've only been at school for-"

"Not that I mind of course!" exclaimed Mei, waving a hand around while interrupting the American girl. "This is far more interesting than listening to another boring safety lecture. Now, if only I were allowed to really cut loose I could show all of U.A. the pure genius of Mei Hatsume!"

As she said this last part, Mei threw her head back to let out an insane laugh. One that sent shivers down all the students. And while the girl continued to laugh, Vlad King cleared his throat with a little cough.

"By the looks of it, I take it that you finished what I asked you to?" asked the teacher.

Hatsume stopped her laughing so fast that it nearly gave Izuku whiplash, and turned her head to look at the 1-B homeroom teacher while giving him a thumbs up.

"Just about done," said the Support Course teen. "Though I do want to go over some other improvements to make these babies a bit tougher to deal with. I can tell you all about it while you sign a permission form to allow me to use the Support Department's rocket fuel!"

"No." As Vlad King said this, his face went flat as it lost all the humor it had and was replaced with a more stony expression. If that bothered Hatsume, she didn't show it at all. All she did was jump off the back of the three-pointer robot while still grinning like a mad woman. Vlad just shook his head, turning to look at his students.

"Well then, while Hatsume finishes her job, I want to go over how this exercise will work. One of you will-" Vlad King got no further as the man's ringtone went off. Grumbling, he pulled his phone out while giving the device a nasty look. Yet that look quickly morphed into one of abject horror so powerful that his phone nearly slipped out of his hands. After catching it, he looked up at his students who all stared at the man who was growing pale.

"I…I have to go," he said, already on the move. "There has been an emergency on campus. All of you are to help Hatsume put everything away and then head back to class. Then, wait there till I return. That's final!"

And without another word, the man dashed off quickly disappearing from sight.

Once he was gone, Kendo quickly took the lead as she clapped her large hands together to get everyone's attention. Thankfully for the orange-haired girl, she received no pushback or outright refusal. They had all seen the look on the pro hero's face, recognizing that something serious had to have happened for him to act like that. The only one who proved difficult was the lone Support Student who spent the next five or so minutes fighting with Kendo as she did not want to undo all the hard work she had done.

Eventually, Itsuka wore the pink-haired mechanic down. As one the students began to move through the faux city to where Hatsume had stored the robots that she had tinkered with. And while on the move, the class began to speculate on what could have happened. Pony thought that an accident might have occurred at the USJ, one that needed all heroes on deck.

"Yeah," agreed Tsuburaba as he let out a dark chuckle. "How much you want to bet that blonde jerk caused it? I can just see him losing his cool before exploding on everyone."

Hearing that caused most of the class to let out a nervous laugh. Given what they had seen of Bakugo's temper it was a possibility. Not one they wanted to see happen of course. As for Izuku, the teen just scratched the back of his head as he looked away.

Then, in the middle of the street just ahead of them, came a swirling dark vortex made of mist. Instantly going on high alert, Kendo ordered her fellow classmates to hide. Everyone scattered at that, moving into the nearby buildings and down alleyways to take cover. As for Izuku, he along with Shishida, Pony, Mei, and Itsuka all made their way down into an alleyway.

After a moment had passed, a lone figure walked out of the portal. It was a tall, lanky man with pale blue hair that was completely unkempt. Yet what drew everyone's attention were the multiple severed hands on his body, holding onto his arms and face. And…there was something else about this person that put Izuku on edge. Just looking at him caused the hair on the back of his neck to rise.

"This is such a drag," complained the hand man, scratching his neck as he spoke. "Such a boring level to be on. I so wanted to be there when we defeated the final boss, not doing this side quest. If Kurogiri doesn't record the moment when Nomu smashes that man's skull in, I'm going to have to kill him. Hopefully, the loot and reputation I gain from this will be worth it."

As Izuku tried his best to process what the man meant, more figures appeared from within the portal. Three of them, each with an exposed brain! The first of these monsters had huge bat-like wings and a gas mask covering its lower face. The second had four eyes along with thin, lengthy arms making it look a bit like a skinny gorilla. The final one was the most muscular of the three, dark-skinned and eyeless wearing tattered shorts.

Staring at them, Izuku felt a cold sweat cover his body as he tried his best to swallow. Thankfully he wasn't alone. Shishida's jaw had dropped, his hairy form shaking in terror at the sight. Itsuka's face could not hide the fear she felt while Pony stood there frozen in fear.

"Sir Midoriya, w-why aren't the alarms going off?" whispered Shishida.

Izuku nearly jumped at the whisper so close to his ear, but he managed to keep himself still. He did not want to do anything that would catch the attention of those monsters.

"I-I don't know," admitted Midoriya, his mind trying to piece together a theory. Right now, he only had one. "M-Maybe it has something to do with the press from yesterday? I heard that while we were in class with All Might they managed to get onto school grounds. Perhaps there were repairs needed after that and the alarm was shut off?"

"No, that's not it." Mei's voice was just barely above a whisper as she looked at the monsters herself, a hand on her chin. "Power Loader went over that system late into the night. I know because he kicked me out of the Support Studio before he left at eight. It's more likely that they bypassed the system thanks to that warp quirk they got."

"That's a pretty serious flaw!" Pony whispered/yelled.

Izuku shook his head before glancing over at Pony. "Not really. Warp quirks are very rare and each one works in a different way. I heard that in order to detect when one is being used, the security equipment needs to understand the frequency of the warper in order to detect how they are warping time and space."

"That's right!" exclaimed Mei as she slammed her open palm on Izuku's shoulder before giving him a thumb's up. "Looks like you're not just a bunch of muscles there."

Meanwhile, back with the villains, the portal had closed leaving the four standing in the middle of the street with their leader staring off into the distance toward the main campus.

"Well, while the main boss Nomu is destroying the Symbol of Peace I get to destroy his precious society," spoke the person who was clearly a villain. His tone sounded like he was trying his best to convince himself that what he was doing was worth it. And by the way his voice rose, a smile forming beneath his disturbing mask, it was working. "Oh, how their reputation will drop when the public learns that an entire school was slaughtered!"

As the lead villain began walking towards the exit, the shattering of glass filled the air. Everyone looked up to see Tetsutetsu, his body hardened by steel, first raised as he shot downwards towards the villain. The teen had screamed something that Izuku didn't quite make out, but the intention was clear as day. Sadly, he never made contact as the eyeless monster grabbed Tetsutetsu by the arm before slamming him down into the street as though he were little more than a rag doll. Blood shot out of the Steel user's mouth as he bounced off the ground.

"NO!" screamed Izuku as his wings activated, sending him flying towards the villains without ever really thinking about it. The hand villain seemed to stare at him, letting the green-haired youth touch the monster still holding his classmate to use Divine Divide upon it. As soon as he did, however, Izuku felt more power running through him than anything he had ever felt before. So much so that there was pain before his wings shattered into nothing. Falling to the ground, he looked up to see all four villains looking at him.

"How nice," said the hand villain. Now that Izuku was closer, he could see the man's smile in all of its sickening glory. "The pathetic low-level scrubs are coming out to meet us. Good. Let's kill them all."