"Someone from the school made this for you?"

"She is a student from Support Department."

Hisashi hummed as he examined the goggles his son's new friend gave him. At first, he was quite sceptical of the gift. He didn't suspect any foul play from a Support Department student. But she was still a student. A first-year, no less.

He heard quite a few stories about the students being far too eager to test out their equipment. So eager that they ended up injuring themselves or their classmates. He even had to write up reports on a few incidents like this himself.

That was not the case with Hatsume.

Some might dismiss the invention. Say that the girl was just using the research she was supplied with. But Hisashi could tell that she didn't simply rely on the existing designs and blueprints. She studied them, incorporated them and improved every single thing that Hisashi and his colleagues had found.

Calling this design just impressive would be a disservice.

The girl was a genius.

"This is such a wonderful gift," Inko smiled. "I hope you thanked her properly for it."

"I signed a contract to act as her living test dummy. Does that count?"

Hisashi snorted while his wife could only stare dumbfounded at their son.

"I was thinking of something different," she said with a small teasing grin. "How about you invite her over after school? I could prepare something special as thanks for her help."

"I could ask her after the trip to USJ," Izuku said after a few moments of consideration. "Though I am not sure if she will agree. She is kind of buried in her work."

Hisashi recognised the look from his wife immediately. If there was one thing she could relate to, it was making plans with a workaholic.

"It doesn't hurt to ask, though," Inko insisted with a smile. Then she looked to him for support. "You could introduce the girl's work to some of your friends, perhaps? I am sure she would like it."

It was an interesting idea. Maybe he could even see if any of his contacts were looking for an intern to hire.

"She definitely will agree to that. She said that she wants to start her own support equipment line as soon as she graduates. She will probably bring some of her inventions to the house, though… We might need to get a few fire extinguishers just in case."

"Oh please," Hisashi chuckled. Given the quality of her work, he doubted her inventions would be that dangerous. "I am sure we will be fine without those."

Really, how much damage could one student do?

-I-

Izuku groaned as he felt himself sink just a bit deeper into the ground. The apartment building on his shoulders was heavy but he could deal with its weight just fine.

Its structural damage was another story, however.

Even if he was strong enough to hold it in place, the building was falling apart under its own weight. Whatever power he had that didn't have him just cut through the building was not enough to prevent the cracks spreading through stone and the structure becoming more and more brittle.

"Is everyone out yet?"

"Almost!" Tsuyu said as she hopped out of the window. "Mineta-kun is carrying out the last two!"

On cue, the smaller boy rushed past Izuku as he dragged their civilians out by their ankles. They were probably going to lose points for this but it was better than failing altogether.

Izuku watched Tsuyu extend her tongue and pick Mineta up before she carried them both away from the building. He sighed in relief before letting entire structure collapse all over him, brick and stone breaking around and on him like they were sand and dust.

"Ten out of twelve? Not bad."

"Wait, twelve?" Tsuyu asked. "I thought there were only ten people in there."

"There were!" Mineta presented their instructor with the card for the exercise. "We found and rescued all ten civilians listed on this card. Where did the other come from?"

"They were always in the building. We simply didn't mention them on the cards," Thirteen explained. "You will not always have all information available during ongoing disasters. In fact, in most scenarios you will have almost zero information and will need to rely entirely on your own observations."

Izuku stepped out of the rubble, coincidentally setting his foot right on the head of one of their civilians. The mannequin's featureless face somehow looked back at him with judgement and disappointment.

"While many people will follow the evacuation protocol, just as many if not more will panic and hide. Sometimes in the worst places possible, too."

Red Rush pulled the second mannequin from the ruins, its plastic head crushed and torn up.

The trio sighed and made a note to keep that in mind. It was frustrating but none of them could argue with neither of the teachers. They couldn't rely only on what they heard and needed to check all areas for themselves.

The subsequent teams did about as good as them. The team combinations were far from perfect. Sometimes they lacked the power necessary to hold up or stabilise the building long enough to rescue everyone. And a few teams didn't have anyone that could help with locating the civilians.

Perhaps there was some lesson in that, too.

"What could possibly be the lesson?" Kirishima groaned. His team managed to save everyone but they made the mistake of staying too close to the building when it collapsed onto them. "That we will not always win?"

"Maybe? But if that's the lesson of today, then it sucks!" Kaminari dusted off his jacket. "Obviously we know we are not going to always save everyone. No need to crush us like that on our first rescue training."

"Yaoyorozu's team had done alright," Izuku brought their attention to the only team that managed to clear the exercise with no comments from either of the teacher. "Her Quirk is really powerful, isn't it? I am almost envious of it."

"Says the resident powerhouse!"

With the last team completing the Ruins Zone, it was time to move onto the next one. This was just the beginning of today's training. They had five more zones to test themselves in.

And he had no intention of failing like this again.

"What's the next zone, teacher?"

"Conflagration Zone."

Their teams were broken up and reformed. Red Rush wanted them to stay on their toes and adapt to the new circumstances presented by crisis at hand. The fastest hero on the planet disappeared for a few moments before returning, looking just a bit winded.

"This portion of the city has been set on fire by a villain during his escape. You are the heroes that arrived on the scene and are now responsible for putting the fires out. Every building in this area has a number of civilians," he held up a mannequin with some kind of meter attached to its chest. "These will show you the degree of their burns and injuries. Try to make sure none of them go into black."

"These mannequins are designed to show the progress of the victims. So rescuing them from the building is only part of the exercise. How you handle and treat them after will also affect their state. So be careful."

"Sir?" Iida raised his hand. "How should we proceed with this exercise? I don't see any fires around."

Almost immediately, several buildings were lit up. Most of them had the flames roaring on top of the building. But a few of them also had fires burning inside.

"There are now."

The class scrambled while cursing out their teachers. There was no warning or preparation for this and now they were in the middle of a burning city. What's worse, none of them had the chance to discuss the plans for this exercise.

Then there were the flames.

Izuku knew that he couldn't be hurt by fire. But what about his teammates? He could tell that while Tokoyami wasn't afraid of them, his Shadow seemed to stay clear of the bright flames.

"What should we do?" Hagakure was more obvious with her nervousness and discomfort even if her face was invisible to the two. "I could set up an area for the victims but I don't think I would be of much use in a burning building."

She did have a point there.

"We should get all civilians in one area," Izuku reasoned. "We can go inside the buildings while you get the other teams to bring all their civilians here. Maybe see if Yaoyorozu-san can produce the medical supplies."

The girl ran off to find the other teams and relay the plan. Meanwhile, he and Tokoyami hit their first building. There were no screams or cries for help. The only sound came from the flames, which further complicated their situation.

"I found one," his classmate said as he fished out a mannequin from under the like of puncture. "Its life is in yellow."

And it was steadily going into red.

"You can take it outside," Izuku suggested. "You will last longer if you don't have your Quirk affected by the flames so much. You can rejoin me in a few minutes."

Tokoyami looked like he wanted to protest but ultimately had no real counter to his argument. His Dark Shadow was growing weaker the longer he stayed so close to the light of flames.

And so they set up a routine where Izuku would find the victims and leave them for Tokoyami to pick up and carry out to safety. The other boy's Quirk was perfect for safely transporting up to five or seven people at the same time. And Izuku could focus on inspecting every nook and cranny of the building.

"There is no on left there," he said as he rushed towards the impromptu camp. "But this one is in the red."

"I got this," Yaoyorozu jumped in with the first-aid kid. "I can take care of this. You should continue with the exercise. The fires are spreading and I don't think the teacher put mannequins only in the immediate area."

If the scenario was about a villain trying to cover his tracks with fire, it only made sense. They focused too much on saving the immediate victims while ignoring the possibility of flames spreading through the city.

"Midoriya, where you are going?"

"Up into the air. I won't be long."

He took to the sky, from where he watched the fires spread. Just as Yaoyorozu predicted. He could see his classmates rescue the civilians but there was little they could do against the fires themselves. The only one who could and did anything was Todoroki.

And he was just one person.

He could ask Yaoyorozu to create some fire extinguishers or fabrics to smother out the flames. But she was already spending her reserves on the medical supplies for the injured civilians. And they had no idea how many of those they were going to need.

"Midoriya!" A voice called out from below. He saw Uraraka waving her arms around to catch his attention. Sero and Mineta stood by her side with uncertain but hopeful faces. "There are water tanks on the buildings!"

Grabbing all three off the street, he carried them around from one building to another.

A single touch from Uraraka made the heavy tanks lighter than air. Sero and Mineta then used their own tape and sticky balls to secure the tanks together into a chain that he could carry without the fear of dropping or breaking them before the right moment.

They collected every tank they could find, forming one chain after another until the shadows of them covered the ground. Sero secured the last chain with his tape before collapsing on his back. Uraraka was giving her all to keep these chains in the air.

"This should be an enough," Mineta groaned, his scalp bleeding from the overuse of his Quirk. "Won't stop the fires inside the buildings but it should stop the spread!"

"Make it rain, Midoriya!"

He didn't need to be told that twice.

The first thing he did was pour the water over the latest fire spread, cutting it off from claiming more territory. Then he lined up the chains of water tanks over the still burning city… and flew through them like a bullet.

Metal caved and tore beneath his fists. The water tanks exploded upon impact, letting their content pour down on the burning buildings and their classmates like an actual rain. Soon enough, the flames started dying out and they only had indoor fires to deal with.

Izuku went inside one of such buildings, ready to rescue everyone without worrying about the fires raging on and spreading through the city. He found another mannequin quite quickly. Its health meter was in the black, however.

Someone crushed its head.

"That was quite impressive, kid. You will make a fine test dummy."

Izuku's world exploded in pain as someone shot a missile in his face.

-I-

"You got some really good students this year. My friends would be impressed by them."

When Josef was invited to help out with Disaster Response training, he was intimidated by the idea. He was never much of a student himself, preferring to get into trouble and mischief in his school days. And even now, he often doubted if he could actually teach anyone anything.

But Olga reassured him that he would do fine. Even though she knew about his less than impressive record, she trusted him to do his best for these kids.

He wondered how she would react to him setting fires around them.

"Is this all perfectly safe, though?" He asked Thirteen. He could run in and take all of them outside at any moment. "I wouldn't want any of the kids actually getting hurt."

"Don't worry, Red Rush. All buildings are equipped with the specialised filtration system to prevent any smoke inhalation. Plus, every corner of the city has cameras and the fire prevention measures that will kick in the moment a student is in actual danger."

That called his nerves a little. It was still hard to just stand and watch as these kids ran into burning buildings and tried to save as many 'civilians' as possible. He was glad that these models were silent. He wouldn't want to traumatise the kids with mannequins screaming in pain.

Still, it was so hard to stand still.

Ever since his he gained his powers, Josef saw the world in in slow motion.

Whenever he ran or used his powers, his perception sped up to match his movement. But when he stood still? It was like the entire world was slowed down a crawl while he remained as he was.

When his country tried to replicate his powers, they found many of their soldiers driven mad by this. He didn't blame those poor men, knowing all too well just how hard it was to live in a world that almost felt frozen in time.

But sometimes, it was nice to just enjoy the moment. Especially when he got to see the bright heroes of tomorrow.

"They decided to put out the fires like that, huh. That's some out-of-box thinking right there."

The fires were put out by makeshift rain. What's more important, the other kids were quick to capitalise on that to double or even triple their efforts in getting the civilians out and providing the first aid on them. According to their monitors, there was only one fatality.

If this were a real disaster, this would be a miracle.

There was an explosion at one of the buildings. Red Rush looked to his colleague with concern, "I don't think the kids need to put out any more fires."

"That wasn't me."

The two of them, and the rest of the class, watched as Midoriya was thrown out of the building by the blast. Red Rush raced to catch him before he hit the ground. He was bruised, burned and bleeding.

He was alive but semi-conscious.

"Kids, this is not part of your training!" Thirteen announced into the mic. "Red Rush, get ever-"

Josef didn't stay to listen to the end of her sentence, rushing through the city replica as fast as he could. There was no time for explanations. Something was wrong and the kids were in danger.

In a matter of seconds, the entire class was gathered in one place. They stood quietly, trying to make sense of what just happened and why. Midoriya's friends were trying to get him to speak.

"A hammer…" He muttered. "It was someone with a giant red hammer."

"Lyuba…"

All eyes turned to Josef. He couldn't quite look them back in the eyes. It was his fault that one of them was hurt. It was all his fault.

"She is one of my villains. Therefore, she is my responsibility," he explained. "Thirteen, I need you to-"

He didn't get to finish as another attack came. This time, however, it was from one of the kids. Bakugou blasted Thirteen in the head, his strike shattering the heroine's helmet and throwing her away from the group.

"Bakugou!"

"The hell is wrong with you?"

"You just attacked the teacher!"

"Assholes, I just saved the speedy's life over here!" He hissed back at his classmates. "Or did you fuckers not see the fake was reaching for a weapon?"

Thirteen - or rather, an impostor of the heroine - stood back up. The helmet fell away, exposing steel and wires underneath it. It wasn't a person but a machine.

With its disguise ruined, the robot chose to abandon all pretended and rushed ay them with a blade. Bakugou intercepted it blasted its head clean off. A few of his classmates probably wondered if he would have done the same even if it wasn't a robot.

"I don't know this 'Lyuba' person is but she should stop wasting my damn time!" Bakugou roared. "Well? Come on out, you bitch! I have better things to do than dealing with this shit!"

He had heard enough.

"Enough," Josef put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Your bravery is commendable but misplaced. This is my fight and you kids have no place in it. You need to get out of here right now and contact your school. I will hold them off until then."

"You almost got killed by a fake, asshole. And who are 'they', anyway?"

"I believe I can answer that."

A woman stepped out of the building from which Midoriya was thrown out a few minutes ago. She wore a bright red armor suit and carried a steel hammer of the same shade as her suit. Her cold blue eyes looked at the kids with little emotion.

But when she looked at him?

Her gaze was almost hotter than the flames that raged through the streets just a moment ago. It was a far too familiar look of hatred between the two.

"Good day to you all," she said calmly. Almost dismissively. "My name is Lyubov Groznaya. You may refer to me as Crimson Crusher."

She struck the ground with the pommel of her hammer. On this command, several dozen of men marched onto the streets, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. All of them wore the same bright red armour and stood in silence, awaiting their leader's next order.

In a matter of seconds, they found themselves surrounded.

"And these are my Red Hands. Some of you may know about me and my group's work in maintaining the balance of powers across the war-torn regions of Europe. Well, those of you who could afford our services, at least."

"Enough of this, Lyuba," Josef stepped between her mercenaries and his students. "You came here for me, did you not? Let the kids leave and I will come with you."

"Tempting. However, we both know how it would go. You would come along, then figure a way out of my cuffs and make me chase you. We've done this dance way too many times and it is getting exhausting. So I decided to change my strategy for this special occasion."

Her men raised their weapons.

They were aiming at the kids.

"If you run away, we will kill these students of yours. That much is obvious. Which means that you can only stay and fight us. But can you do that and also keep the kids safe?" Her smiled turned cruel. Hungry. "Let's find out!"

Josef's word slowed down to a crawl and yet it was all a blur at the same time. He knew that he couldn't punch through the armor suits of Lyuba or her soldiers. Their weapons also had failsafes to prevent anyone tampering with them.

The only thing he could do was take the kids out of this mess. He took as many kids as he possibly could and dragged them out of the line of fire to the other end of the block. He did it again and again, burning through his energy reserves.

Lyuba and her men would catch up soon. But at least they got a few minutes to run.

"Oh my God… Where's Hagakure?"

Josef was gone before the horror truly dawned on him. He left the poor girl alone with those killers. All because he was in a rush. Because he didn't bother to count the kids he had with him.

When he arrived, he saw multiple energy blasts crawling their way towards the pair of gloves and their invisible owner. He could get her out anymore. She was trapped. She was going to die.

All because of him.

"No!"

He threw himself in the path of the blasts, shielding the girl with his own body. His muscles seized and screamed in pain as the energy burned its way through him. Suddenly, it felt heavy and the man collapsed onto his knees.

"Go…" he whispered to the invisible girl. "Run… to safety…"

With him taken down, there was no reason for Lyuba to chase after the girl or her classmates. He could rest well knowing that much.

"If your target is too fast to shoot, then make it take the bullet of its own volition," Lyuba stood over him with a smile. A cold and cruel smile that promised him years of torture. "I knew you would be stupid enough to sacrifice yourself."

"Hey, red bitch! Step away from the substitute!"

"He is a guest lecturer, Bakugou."

"I don't care!"

No… What were they doing here?

"I told you guys to get away," Josef groaned. "This is not your fight!"

"Maybe it's not," Midoriya said as he floated in the air. "But isn't it a hero's job to stick their nose where it doesn't belong?"

Midoriya dove right towards them, crashing into the ground between him and the villain. Using the moment of distraction, Iida picked Josef up and helped the hero to his feet.

"Little hero… I have fought men much bigger and stronger than you. I crushed their skulls and bodies. Made them weep like children and beg for death. Do you think you are different from them?"

Crimson Crusher smirked as the helmet formed around her head. It was good to hide her face but not her cold hateful eyes.

"Do you think you are invincible?"

Izuku stared right back in her eyes.

"Come and see for yourself."