The Hero & The Demon

Chapter Twenty-One

Kage Sekai was very familiar with this moment. He knew that there was nothing to worry about – Bakugou would break the wall of the building, but Izuku wouldn't take any serious damage. At worst, his arm would be a little burnt, but he would be fine. The only real damage he would take in this fight would come from his use of One For All.

He knew very well that Bakugou was showing surprising restraint and was being careful not to kill Izuku. He may have wanted maximum suffering, but he wasn't truly as villainous as he appeared. Izuku was only really hit by the side of the blast, not a direct hit. Despite the serious damage to the wall and the shaking of the observation room, he was keenly aware that Bakugou knew what he was doing and Izuku would be fine.

Despite all of these certainties, Ojiro had to physically hold him back after he saw the blast and screamed in panic. His instinctive response to save his friend and stop someone from dying briefly overrode any and all rational thought.

"Dude, are you okay?" Ojiro asked as Kage took a few deep breaths and tried to force himself to calm down. "I know that was a shock, but-"

"I'm fine." Kage cut him off quickly. It wasn't very convincing. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to panic like that. I just…I don't know, I got worried. It looked like someone was going to die." He felt stupid just for saying it. He knew that wasn't going to happen, and he still lost his composure like that.

He really wasn't very good at this whole hero thing. A real hero kept their cool at all times. Kage lost it the second things looked dire, even if he wasn't directly involved. He needed to work on that.

"DON'T WORRY, YOUNG KAGE." All-Might said, his expression still fixed on the screen in front of them. "NO ONE IS AT RISK OF DEATH. I INTEND TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE MAKES IT THROUGH THIS EXERCISE AS WELL AS POSSIBLE." Kage nodded, though he wasn't sure if All-Might saw the gesture.

"Understood, sir." He said. "Still, surely that should come with some kind of punishment, right? I mean, just look at the wall!"

"What wall?" Ojiro added, which was almost enough to make Kage laugh.

"INDEED." All-Might agreed. He raised a small microphone to his mouth and spoke firmly into it. "BAKUGOU, IF YOU ATTEMPT TO USE THAT MOVE AGAIN, THE MATCH WILL BE DECLARED OVER AND YOU WILL LOSE. SUCH A MOVE ONLY SERVES TO DESTROY THE STRONGHOLD YOU SHOULD BE PROTECTING AND PUT YOUR ENTIRE OPERATION AT RISK! IT'S AN UNACCEPTABLE TACTIC, AND ONE SURE TO LOSE YOU POINTS."

Personally, Kage felt that coming close to collapsing a building on your opponent perhaps warranted more than a verbal slap on the wrist, but he didn't think it wise to press All-Might on the subject. Besides, this removed the danger. There was no reason to complain further just because he didn't like Bakugou wand wanted him to face worse punishment.

Uraraka had made another attempt at the bomb in the chaos, demonstrating her ability to float her own body and surprising Iida, but his speed meant it was all for naught. There was little she could do until the end.

Izuku and Bakugou engaged in some more action, but Bakugou's relentlessness and quick-thinking meant that Izuku could barely keep up. Bakugou was every bit as skilled as he was frustrating, proving that his ego was hardly unearned with how he was able to brutally dismantle every attempt Izuku made to counter and deal with his attacks.

Even knowing exactly how it would all play out, Kage found it hard to watch.

"He doesn't look like it, but he's very strategic." Kage turned to see Yaoyorozu commenting on the battle. He reminded himself that she was making a neutral observation and that praising Bakugou was not in fact a crime, wiping an involuntary scowl off his face. "Those were some skilful moves."

"A shame they're so brutal." Sora added. "It really takes the fun out of everything. He could just use the capture tape and win by now, right? What's taking him so long?"

"He doesn't care about winning the exercise." Kage explained, confusing some of his classmates around him. He crossed his arms. "For Bakugou, this is all about his ego. He and Izuku have had issues with each other since middle school. Bakugou wants to prove he's so much better than Izuku, and Izuku just wants to prove to himself that he's strong. This fight is the part that's actually important to either of them."

"I see." Ojiro said. "A matter of pride, then. That explains a lot. Still, he's taking it real far." Kage shrugged in response.

"Restraint isn't a word Bakugou uses much." He said. "For him, there's no point doing anything less than your best to dominate the competition. If it didn't manifest as beating the shit out of my friend, I'd almost respect it."

"I suppose that makes sense." Ojiro replied. "It doesn't look like Midoriya wants to go easy on him, either. They both seem really worked up about all this. Are hero battles always this intense?" Kage considered how to answer that question. As he did so, he looked to the screens and saw that Bakugou and Izuku were about to launch their final attacks of the match. He smirked.

"Nah," He said. All-Might raised his microphone to his mouth once more.

"Both of you, time to sto-!" He began, before cutting himself off as Izuku yelled his instruction Uraraka. In a moment, the roof of the building exploded and everywhere shook once again.

"Sometimes they get exciting." Kage finished. Everyone watched the match's conclusion in absolute awe. Izuku's attack created the perfect opening for Uraraka to exploit, allowing her to distract Iida with a flurry of rubble and dash her way over to the bomb. She leapt and grabbed onto it, securing the win.

There was a pause as everyone looked to the screens with awestruck eyes, their mouths hanging open. All except Kage, who simply grinned widely. Everything had worked out in the end, just as he was sure it would. He noticed Sora briefly shoot a glance in his direction. Seeing his smile seemed to help her relax. She was no doubt worried about the condition the hero team, and especially Izuku, were in.

Kage would admit to feeling his stomach lurch as the smoke cleared and revealed just how damaged Izuku's arm had become in its final attack, but he was able to relax himself almost immediately. He'd seen this before. Unlike the explosion, there was no window of uncertainty that left him terrified that things had gone horribly wrong somehow.

As Izuku collapsed onto the stone floor, All-Might yelled into his microphone.

"THE HERO TEAM…WINNNNNNS!"

Sora Kinzoku almost felt like All-Might was being sarcastic in calling the heroes the victors of the match. The villains had come out of the match entirely unscathed, whilst both heroes were on the ground. Uraraka was vomiting and Deku had been totally knocked unconscious with the pain of the damage he had taken.

"Nothing Recovery Girl can't fix…" She whispered to herself, recalling Kage's brief description of what was to occur. Clearly, she and him had very different ideas on what kind of damage it was acceptable to leave out of a conversation. Even with the knowledge that Izuku would be fine by the next day, it was still unpleasant to see.

He had to be carried off to the nurse's office by a pair of small robots that wheeled him around on a stretcher. She wondered if the school had those machines stationed all around or if there were only a few of them. If other people got injured during their fights, would they all be carried away like that?

Was there a limit? If she got hurt like that, would she be left out there?

She couldn't afford to dwell on those thoughts right now. Everything would be fine from here on. That was what Kage had said, and so she decided to trust him. She took a deep breath and steadied herself.

All-Might turned the lights on in the observation room and walked out, clearly going to usher in the two teams. Or at least those that could be present. If there was anything more to learn from this battle, and likely from the future ones, Izuku would probably miss it.

"Glad I'm not fighting that team." Sora said jokingly in an attempt to ease the tension in the room. Yaoyorozu looked at her and nodded in agreement, though she didn't look amused.

"Indeed. Bakugou would make for a terrible first opponent, as would Iida. The hero team's victory is impressive." She placed a hand on her chin thoughtfully and looked down. Sora raised an eyebrow.

"You don't sound all that impressed." She said. Yaoyorozu jumped a little, Sora's words pulling her out of her thoughts. "What's bugging you?"

"Oh, my apologies." She said. "I don't mean to be judgemental."

"Judge away, it's all good." Sora said with a relaxed smile. "We're here to learn from each other. You don't have to hold back. Besides, if it's criticism to Bakugou, I wanna hear it." She rubbed her hands together deviously. Yaoyorozu held back a laugh.

"W-well, I suppose I do have some concerns about the match in general." She admitted. Sora nodded her head encouragingly. Yaoyorozu took a breath. "Iida seemed to be the only one taking the whole thing seriously. Uraraka was caught off-guard and her ultimate plan at the end would never have worked against a real bomb."

"Holy crap, I totally missed that." Sora admitted, her eyes wide as the realisation hit her. "I was so caught up in the excitement that I somehow missed how throwing rocks at a nuke would be a terrible plan. Do you think that'll cost them points?"

"It should, but it's not like she was the only one to make such an error." Yaoyorozu said, a little more confidently. "Midoriya and Bakugou were both far too personally motivated and almost completely lost focus on the real match. Both of them unleashed attacks that would never have been acceptable had the situation been real. The hero team was only able to win because they knew things were all fake, and they treated it as such."

"And Iida didn't?" Sora asked. "He did pick up and carry the bomb that one time when Uraraka leapt for it. Is that okay?" She had a feeling that a real nuclear weapon wasn't something you should pick up and move around at high speeds. Yaoyorozu paused for a moment before responding.

"Whilst that is true, he also never did anything that would seriously endanger his teammates or the weapon." She explained. "His plan was simple but well thought out, taking away any advantage his opponent could have had without at any point compromising himself. He committed himself properly to his role." Sora supposed that was true. Moving the bomb fast was the closest he came to putting it in any danger, whereas everyone else caused significant damage.

"All good stuff to keep in mind." Sora said. "Do you think there's anything we can learn from that for our own match? Besides don't blow up buildings, I guess." She laughed a little, and Yaoyorozu smiled as well. She didn't have much of a chance to respond before All-Might returned with the three remaining members of the last match.

All-Might seemed to agree with Yaoyorozu's assessment, naming Iida the MVP of the match. Sora wasn't really sure what that meant, but Iida seemed to take it as a compliment. Yaoyorozu was given the chance to share her analysis of the match and the plans employed by each member by All-Might, who had little to add himself besides Iida apparently having been "too stiff".

He seemed to mean it as a criticism, but Sora felt it was just mean given that Iida seemed like that both in and out of battle. It felt targeted more at his personality than his behaviour in the fight.

The next match was much shorter than the previous one. All-Might switched the cameras over to a different building, as the one they had been using was far from usable at this point. It wasn't going to collapse – at least, Sora hoped it wouldn't – but there was no way it would make for a good villain hideout with how exposed it now was. Windows were already a problem in terms of entry, but those could hardly be avoided.

Who would choose to set up their base of operations in a pile of ruins and wreckage?

Flashes of tunnels flickered into her head. She knew the answer, but she wasn't about to announce it. Besides, the answer certainly wasn't 'villains with a nuclear bomb'.

The match was Team B versus Team E. Sora was briefly worried that Team E was missing someone, but it was quickly apparent that Hagakure just left little to the imagination for her costume. Sora blushed furiously for a moment, before it passed when she realised that in the case of someone who was invisible, clothes were arguably more revealing.

She didn't recognise the others, but Yaoyorozu was able to helpfully fill in the blanks on names – her teammate was Yuga Aoyama. He seemed rather flamboyant, but Sora liked his style. His costume had a very traditional knight vibe to it, which was neat. Their opponents were Mezo Shoji and Shoto Todoroki. The former wore a mask to cover his face and had many different arms. His costume wasn't anything too special, but the colours were neat.

Shoto Todoroki was a good-looking young man who Sora could only think to describe as having oddly sad eyes. There was something painful underlining his expression. Then again, maybe he was just coming off as cold because of the layer of ice he seemed to wear on one half of his body. The asymmetry didn't seem to suit him well and she couldn't imagine it was comfortable.

The reasoning for the design quickly became clear. Shoji seemed to scout the inside of the building briefly and speak to his partner. His other arms seemed able to morph into other body parts, which was both impressive and mildly off-putting. Then again, Sora had seen stranger Quirks. His ability didn't seem particularly relevant to Todoroki, who simply encased the whole building in a layer of ice.

Despite the observation room not being connected to the current building of battle, everyone in the area shook and shivered with the cold that had manifested itself in moments. Sora felt particularly bad for Yaoyorozu, whose costume was very clearly not built for such temperatures. She took off her coat and offered it to her.

"H-here." She said. "It's not much, but it'll help. I c-can manage okay." It would hardly be the first time she had dealt with cold weather. A few shivers were hardly going to cause any problems for her. Yaoyorozu hesitated before taking the coat and putting it on. It was a good look on her, Sora decided. Probably not something she could add to her costume for the future, but it suited her here.

"Thank you." She said gratefully. Sora just nodded in response, not trusting herself to be able to speak without stammering from the cold. Looking back at the screen, she saw that Todoroki had walked his way up to the fourth floor, where his opponents both stood frozen.

Aoyama attempted to fire off some laser blasts, which almost seemed to take Todoroki off-guard for a moment. He didn't seem to expect any further attacks after his big display. Unfortunately for the villain team, he was able to dodge the first blast and throw up and icy barrier to block future attacks. He then slid forth on an elevated path made of ice and managed to wrap Aoyama in some capture tape before successfully securing the bomb.

The whole thing was over in less than three minutes, and most of that was spent with Todoroki just walking up to the enemy. They did their best, but he was on a whole other level.

Sora found her fears of future events greatly lessening just watching the fight. If her classmates were able to take down bad guys as efficiently as Todoroki or use as much force as Bakugou and Deku, what did she really have to be worried about? It seemed increasingly clear that all she really had to do was stay out of the way.

Then again, Kage knew their capabilities even better than she did, and he had let her in on his plans. That meant that, on some level, he had to be lacking the same confidence that their powers would be enough. It stood to reason that the villains would have some counters to whatever force they could muster up.

They were going after a school where All-Might was a teacher. Some first-year students couldn't be a real threat to them.

Still, it was easy to think that, but would they actually be prepared for things like this? Even All-Might seemed impressed with how Todoroki had taken down the villains and secured the weapon so fast, without at any point risking his partner. The only negative feedback was that he was too quick to assume victory and should have brought Shoji along for safety. Aoyama was praised for quick-thinking in response to the situation, but it was mentioned that instead of just trying to blast Todoroki, he should have at least considered trying to aim carefully and free his partner, as that might have offered them the edge they needed to take him by surprise.

Shoji was complimented for his aid in locating the enemy quickly. There really wasn't anything else to add to his performance, as he hadn't been able to do much else. Similarly, there was no real feedback to offer to Hagakure. Her plan to ambush the enemy was sound, she had just come up against one of the worst possible opponents for her to run against. It was hard to tell since her face couldn't be seen, but she seemed distinctly displeased by the outcome.

Sora couldn't blame her. She hated being restrained under any circumstances, let alone the idea of being taken down so fast and unable to act. Even if she couldn't manage much inside, the lack of ability to do much of anything would surely drive her mad.

Todoroki had re-heated the building and thawed out his opponents when they were declared victorious, but the building was now frankly too damp to be used. Even the bomb had wilted somewhat from the sudden increase in water. Apparently, it was made of papier-mâché, and as such it didn't last very long when wet. Fortunately, All-Might was able to grab a spare and move on to a third building.

"WELL, AT LEAST YOU'LL ALL GET A SENSE FOR WORKING IN DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS!" All-Might said. He almost sounded a little nervous and uncertain as he said it, but Sora was sure she was just projecting at that point. "IF ONLY ALL VILLAINOUS SCHEMES COULD BE BESTED BY SOME RAIN, WE'D HAVE SO MUCH MORE FREE TIME!" He laughed boisterously. It wasn't a particularly funny joke, but his laugh was infectious and everyone got a good chuckle out of it.

"NOW THEN, TIME FOR OUR THIRD MATCH!" He announced, pulling out the HERO and VILLAIN boxes once more. Sora crossed her fingers behind her back and prayed it wouldn't be her turn. It was unfair to Yaoyorozu, but she really didn't want to embarrass herself in front of the rest of the class, especially when the last matches had been so impressive.

She glanced around and saw Kage was making little constructs of drums and tapping them as All-Might reached for the next teams. She rolled her eyes.

"TEAM G WILL BE THE HEROES, AND TEAM C WILL BE THE VILLAINS!" All-Might announced. Team C was Sora and Yaoyorozu. Team G consisted of Kyoka Jiro, who would almost certainly hear whatever plans they tried to make through her earphone jacks, and a boy she only vaguely recognised. She had seen him during the entrance exam, right at the end. He had electricity powers, though she didn't know anything specific about them. It wasn't like she had seen more than sparks in his hands at the time, and there had been a lot going on at the time.

Still, his power was electricity. Hers was making metal wings come out of her body.

She was completely and utterly screwed.

Momo Yaoyorozu wasn't much of a fighter. She and her partner certainly shared that in common. She was, however, a fairly skilled tactician. She had to be in order to make the best use of her Quirk. It allowed her to create just about anything from her body, so long as she understood its molecular structure. That made it incredibly versatile.

She could never rely on force like some of her classmates were able to. Not unless she had the time to prepare several cannons, and that would likely stretch her body to its limits. She had made sure to eat a lot today in preparation for this training, but she still had to be careful how she utilised what she had.

Placing the bomb at the top floor of the building was a solid start. Their opponents lacked any ability to increase their mobility, so the first logical step was to increase how much time it too for them to reach their goal. Yaoyorozu took the bomb up, where Sora was already waiting for her. She had a set of large, silver wings out. Somehow, they didn't seem to tear her jacket in the slightest. She must have had her costume modified for them.

"I took a quick look around," Sora said. She looked nervous, like she was expecting Yaoyorozu to tell her off for scouting. Had she been overly harsh with her criticism of the others before? "And this room seems like our best bet. There are only two entrances, so it should be easy enough for us to guard them. What's our next step?"

"Can we lock the doors?" She asked, stepping further into the room. It was reasonably large, offering plenty of freedom of movement. The bomb had been positioned in the back of the room, with Sora standing in front of it. She shook her head.

"Doesn't look like it." She replied. "We could try barricading the doors, but there's not a whole lot of stuff to use." She placed her hands on her hips and looked around the room. Yaoyorozu similarly looked around. There were a few boxes in the area, some planks of wood, but nothing that their enemy wouldn't be able to break through with just a good shove.

She looked at Sora's wings. A plan was beginning to take shape in her mind.

"How does your Quirk work?" She asked. "The more information we have on each other's capabilities, the more we'll have to work with. I can make objects from my body by transmuting my fat cells, so long as I understand their molecular structure. The larger the object, the more time it takes." Sora paused to think for a moment.

"So, you can make anything?"

"As long as it's non-living." She said. "If you think we need any specific equipment, let me know and I should be able to make it work. What about you?" Sora looked at her wings. One of them extended out and then pulled back, matching her stretching out an arm.

"I call it Sharp Wing." She said. Yaoyorozu took note of how she phrased that. "I use the iron in my blood to generate these wings. I don't think they're actually made of iron, but I've never really checked. They let me fly and they can cut through things. They need a constant supply of metal to keep up, though. I can absorb and transmute stuff nearby, otherwise it just keeps pulling from me. I can't keep them going for longer than a few minutes at a time." Yaoyorozu nodded in understanding. Sora's nervousness made more sense now. The ceiling of the building was decently tall, but it didn't offer much for aerial manoeuvrability.

"What happens when you can't maintain the wings?" She asked. Sora paused for a moment, then shrugged.

"It honestly depends on how exhausted I am, I think." She said. "If I de-summon them myself, they sort of disintegrate into gas and flow into me. At least, that's what it looks like. If it's just because I've burnt out, then they just disassemble and collapse onto the floor. Not the best thing to crash on, let me tell you." Sora joked and gave a smirk. Yaoyorozu smiled a little at the effort.

"I think I have an idea, but I've got another question first." She said. "Can you leave your wings disassembled on your own, or do they always dissipate?" Sora opened her mouth to answer, then closed it and raised a hand to her chin.

"I…don't know." She admitted. "I've never tried scrapping them like that before." She stretched her wings out. They were rather large, though fortunately they were also thin enough that there was no risk of them bumping into the bomb. There were support pillars in the room, however, and Yaoyorozu watched carefully to make sure the wings didn't do any damage. Small cuts appeared, which worried her, but it was nothing presenting an immediate danger.

"Nevermind then." Yaoyorozu said. "It will probably use up all of our time to prepare, but I think I should be able to make barricades for the doors. If they can't get in, we will have won without anyone having to fight at all." Sora smiled widely at that, seeming relieved by the thought of not having to fight against anyone.

"Sounds good to me!" She gave a thumbs up. "We'll need to make them out of a non-conductive metal, though. Lightning boy-"

"Kaminari." Yaoyorozu helpfully added.

"Thanks. Yeah, Kaminari's Quirk could still be a problem if he electrifies the doors. We need to make it so that the energy can't travel to reach us, but it also needs to be a material durable enough that they can't just break in." Sora walked over to one of the doorframes and examined it closely, as though she thought it would reveal a preference for material. After a moment, she snapped her fingers.

"How about titanium?" She said. "Highly durable and a poor conductor of electricity. We can probably make some scaffolding and slot it into the doorframe. I don't know what your limit is, but I wouldn't want you to make something too big and use up all your energy. Good to be prepared, you know?" She explained. Yaoyorozu found herself impressed, and shamefully somewhat surprised. Sora's nerves hadn't led her to think her partner would be particularly skilled in strategizing for the match, but her input proved quite useful. She had underestimated her.

She almost apologised, but there was work to be done. Any comments could hold off until she at least had the materials needed for the door barricades. Without further ado, she began producing the plates of titanium.

The metal wasn't a particularly difficult one to make, and at the size she was producing them at, she could get out plenty of it relatively quickly. The only real issue was holding it afterwards; large sheets of metal were quite heavy, after all. As soon as Sora noticed, she rushed over and tried to help in at least properly placing them down rather than letting them collapse to the floor.

"Godsdammit." Sora groaned as she managed to grab one that emerged from Yaoyorozu's stomach before almost immediately having to drop it on the ground next to her. "This was not my best idea. Maybe my worst, even. Definitely top five." Yaoyorozu tried not to laugh. It seemed rude to be so amused by her partner's struggle, but her exaggerated comments and expressions were unfortunately quite funny.

"Shouldn't that be a bottom five?" Sora glared at her, though the expression lacked any real malice. She opened her mouth to fire off a comeback, but it was drowned out by the voice of All-Might coming through the receivers.

"HERO TEAM, BEGIN!" He announced. Sora and Yaoyorozu looked at each other, then down at the ground. They had what they needed, so they began moving the titanium scaffolds over to the left entrance first. Even with the heroes now on the move, they had plenty of time before they reached them all the way at the top floor.

"How long do you think we have?" Sora asked as she and Yaoyorozu managed to get the first scaffold into place. Yaoyorozu was managing just fine, but Sora's weaker build was clearly holding her back here. "I don't know if Jiro's got a range limit on her hearing, but we're putting down a lot of metal. That's going to be loud and it'll give away our position." Yaoyorozu cursed. Somehow, that thought hadn't occurred to her. Still, it didn't mean all that much.

"We should still have enough time." She said, slotting in another scaffold. "They don't have any mobility advantages with their Quirks, at least as far as we know. They also don't have any equipment for it, so even if they run, it'll take them a few minutes to get up here. I just wish we had the chance to try trapping the lower floors…" She thought aloud. They had been so focused on fortifying their main position that they hadn't considered doing anything to keep it from being reached in the first place.

"I can help with that!" Sora declared. She took her hands off the next piece of scaffolding and started looking around the pouches on her belt. Yaoyorozu had thought those were just for aesthetic purposes, but she pulled out several small devices. "I don't think they approved my main plan, but these things can make a bright light to blind them at the very least. What if I tried rushing them from one of the windows?" That wasn't a bad idea. If done well, it might even allow Sora to capture the heroes before they even reached the barricades.

"It'll be a tight squeeze with your wings, but it should at least buy me more time." Yaoyorozu nodded in approval. "Do you think you can handle it?" She could handle the barricades on her own for the most part. Sora grinned.

"I'm a Kinzoku." She said with conviction, though Yaoyorozu had no idea what that meant. "We're good at handling tight spaces." With that, she turned and leapt out of a window behind the bomb. Yaoyorozu had to stop herself from rushing to see if she was okay. She had wings, she would be fine.

They each had a role to fulfil now. She would just do her best and hope for the same from her partner.

Denki Kaminari knew exactly what he was doing, no matter what his partner thought.

"I'm telling you; we're going the wrong way." She repeated for what felt like the millionth time. They were only on the third floor of a total of five, and Jiro had revealed that the fifth floor was where they would find their opponents. Kaminari rolled his eyes.

"Relax, we've got plenty of time." He said casually. Jiro didn't seem impressed by that. "It's not like they'll be able to shut us out when we get there. Plus, don't you think it's weird that they would both just stay up at the top? We should check for traps at least. This doesn't feel right." Jiro sighed.

"I guess you've got a point." She said reluctantly. She paused to plug her earphone jack into the wall a second time. Kaminari didn't get how that was supposed to work, but he shot lightning from his entire body, so he wasn't one to dwell on mechanics.

Quirks were weird. It was pretty much why they had the name.

"Something's not right." Jiro said. She frowned and leaned in closer to the wall. Kaminari walked up and mimicked the motion, though it didn't do much for him. Jiro gave him a flat look, to which he responded with a casual grin.

"Just trying to help."

"Sure." Jiro rolled her eyes. "Anyway, there's supposed to be two of them up there right now, but I'm only hearing one over to the left side." Kaminari raised an eyebrow and looked up. It was probably safe to assume that one of them was guarding the entrance to the room, so he didn't feel too worried about them.

"Is one of 'em on their way down?" He asked. Jiro's frown deepened and her eyes narrowed with confusion.

"That's the problem – I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Kaminari asked, now a little concerned. "Isn't your whole thing being able to hear wherever they are?" She looked slightly offended, but mostly just confused.

"I-I don't get it either!" She said. "I should be able to hear anything that's going on within the building walls, so…so…" She trailed off, suddenly stepping back from the wall. Kaminari did the same, tensing up and readying himself to activate his Quirk.

"So?" He asked, now warily examining their immediate surroundings. Something tapped and bounced along the floor, and he looked down at it. Some kind of small silver cylinder that rolled just under his legs. He followed it. Jiro also glanced down.

"So that means one of them isn't in the building right now."

"Bingo."

They both turned to face a voice that announced its presence at the window behind them, but before they could see anything, the cylinder clicked and a blinding light burst forth. Kaminari stumbled back, unable to see anything. He tried holding up his arm to block the light, but it did nothing to help.

He heard Jiro duck, but before he had a chance to figure out why, he heard the shattering of glass and was shoved forth. No, he wasn't being shoved. Someone had grabbed him and was pulling him through the corridor. The light finally began to fade from his eyes and he was able to see metallic wings that tore into the walls as they flew out.

"Silver bullet!" His carrier cried out as they suddenly spun, the wings wrapping around them and Kaminari by extension. For a moment, everything was dark and sharp as the sound of shattering glass once again erupted. Then, the wing unfurled, revealing a girl lifting him into the air. He yelped when he noticed just how high they were.

"Cool move, huh?" The girl asked. It seemed vaguely familiar to Kaminari, but he was a little busy worrying about going too high up. "Now, hero, take your best shot! If you think you can, that is! Mwahahaha!" The tension in the air immediately evaporated with that laugh, and Kaminari snorted.

"Did-did you actually just do an evil laugh?" He said, grinning. His captor looked down at him. She was pretty, though she had goggles over her eyes to help with any wind resistance. She frowned at him.

"Yeah, that's what I'm supposed to do, right?" Kaminari noticed as she spoke that they had stopped ascending. They looked to be just a little bit above the fifth floor. A terrible idea quickly formed in his head.

"Look, I'm just trying to give this a little atmosphere." She said. "I don't get how all this is supposed to work."

"You're doing great on atmosphere, babe." He said. He could swear she tilted her head, and her face even went a little red. Nice, he knew he was good at this! "In fact..." He grabbed onto her and pulled himself as close as he could. The shift in balance caused their flight to shake and go down just a little.

"I think we've got sparks flying!" He activated his Quirk. He had expected a shock that would be just enough to force her down and cause her to crash into one of the windows. What he received instead was a guttural scream of agony that tore its way through the wind.

Her wings may have been made of metal, but it occurred to Kaminari in that moment that they were still probably a part of her when they were out.

Their fall from the air was a lot less graceful than Kaminari had intended. The girl was thrashing about violently as Kaminari's electrical aura continued to shock her. He didn't want to release it until they were actually inside, but he was definitely feeling bad about his plan now.

"I-I can t-t-take it..." She said through gritted teeth, still struggling to keep the two airborne. She seemed very aware of what would happen if she allowed herself to let go of Kaminari, so she held on despite the damage. One hand remained on him at all times, even as the other seemed to turn and thrash about. "N-not as b-bad as..." She trailed off, almost seeming to lose consciousness as she collided with a window.

Fortunately, it was on the fifth floor. She and Kaminari crashed their way into the room, surprising its only occupant. Kaminari grinned, though his smile faded somewhat as he looked to his opponent. She had been cut up by the glass and clearly was still affected by the shock, even though Kaminari had finally released his aura. Her body was twitching and she seemed to be completely knocked out.

"Sorry about your friend." He said, meaning it genuinely even though it was delivered with the forced confidence of a one-liner. "But you're going down!" He tried to raise his arm and run over to his next opponent, but she simply smiled and crossed her arms.

He realised why when he discovered he couldn't move his arms properly. They had been wrapped in capture tape.

The winged girl hadn't been thrashing violently with one arm. She had been binding him in the tape! He hadn't noticed because her cries had distracted him from figuring out what she was doing! She seemed to be in too much pain, but she had been playing him. She turned around.

She still looked to be twitching erratically and was definitely not okay, but she wasn't as completely taken out as she had seemed to be.

"Got...one..." She managed, struggling to push herself up on one arm before collapsing, seemingly for real this time. Kaminari was equal parts annoyed by this defeat and impressed with how well she had managed to fake him out. He turned to the other villain, Yaoyorozu.

"You may have gotten me, but my partner's on her way up!" He declared. "Your days are numbered, villain!" The girl with wings was right – a little bit of atmosphere really enhanced the whole thing. Yaoyorozu continued to smirk at him, and even laughed a little.

"What's so funny?!"

"Oh, hero," She said with the venom of a serpent in her voice. "I'm afraid you'll find your partner won't be able to reach you at all. She can't scale sheer walls, and these doors are sealed!" She spun dramatically, pointing to the doors, which Kaminari now realised had been barricaded with some kind of metal. He heard a bang against one of the doors.

"Kaminari, are you okay?!" He heard Jiro's voice through his earpiece. "I-I can't get through! I'll try the other door, but you've got to figure something out on your end."

"About that..." Kaminari went to inform her that he had been captured, but fortunately, All-Might's voice saved him from the embarrassment.

"TIME'S UP! THIS TIME, THE VILLAIN TEAM IS THE WINNER!"

AN: Good game, everyone! I wasn't totally sure what Sora would be able to do in this fight, but I think she managed well here. In case you're wondering, Sora's "original plan" was to carry small bombs in her belt. The costume department obviously didn't like that idea too much, so they compromised on flashbangs. I think it was a good call, don't you? One more thing! We might be taking a break next week, as my usual writing space will be occupied by my sister, who needs to study for her driving test. Wish her luck! I'll see you all next time!