OVERKILL

"To get you back into routine," Aizawa said, "I've arranged a simple training exercise. Villains have taken civilians hostage in an apartment building. Subdue the villains and rescue the hostages."

Before he could explain anything else, Class 1-A, sans Izuku, sprinted for the apartment. Robot sentries raised their guns until they saw who led the pack.

"It is the great destroyer!" a robot shrieked. "Run away!"

The robots dropped their weapons and scrambled away as Bakugo, snarling and foaming at the mouth, bolted after them like a rabid mutt. The other eighteen students crashed into the apartment, from walls, windows, or from underneath the foundations. The robots inside had already fled, leaving mannequins lying on the floor or huddled in corners.

"Ambush!" Ojiro screamed. "Every man for himself!"

Momo passed out knives, machetes, and other sharp implements. Kaminari tackled a mannequin, slit its throat, then shocked it for good measure. Sero bound three mannequins together with tape and squeezed until they cracked. Shoto filled them with ice until they exploded, Mineta smothered a bunch with his spheres, and Jiro made one vibrate until it burst into a dust cloud.

Aizawa opened the door. His eyes stopped every Quirk, and his scarf stopped the twenty-six knives hurled at him.

"Would any of you care to explain what you are doing?"

"It's all a logical ruse, is it not?" Iida asked. "Clearly these 'civilians' are waiting until our backs are turned! Playing the helpless victim, all the while hiding daggers behind their backs."

Sato punched a mannequin until his hands bled. Aizawa bound his hands and asked, "What about that one? Is that one dangerous?"

"It has a balloon!" Sato shrieked. "It must be cleansed!"

"That is a child."

"That's what it wants you to think. I know a clown when I see one!"

Aizawa sighed. "Well, you all failed the test. Forty-six civilians dead, and another twenty-seven so thoroughly injured that they will spend the rest of their lives in a hospital. Now, let's go check on Midoriya."

Izuku stood in front of an empty apartment. Aizawa asked, "Where are the civilians?"

"They are all saved."

"Good. Where?"

"In the C Drive, under the Civilians folder."

"And how, exactly, did you save them there?"

"I disintegrated the civilians, analyzed their molecular composition and structure, and printed the results onto a word document. They may be refabricated at any time."

Bakugo's maniacal laughter as he slaughtered robotic villains echoed as Aizawa exhaustedly examined his class.

"Somehow, you did an even worse job than everyone else."

"Oh. Should I have saved them in .png format?"

"Why don't we take a look at Class 1-B? Clearly, you all need a refresher on how to behave like heroes."

Aizawa brought up 1-B's surveillance footage. Bakugo chased the robots in the background, while the civilian mannequins clubbed the students over the heads, bound them up, and started making demands in thickly accented Russian.

Iida raised a hand. "Does this mean we pass?"

496

I only now just realized that I accidentally referenced two Doctor Who episodes