Being in the hero course at UA meant that one had to be as physically fit as they could if possible. Midoriya, under All Might's training, had made sure that he reached a peak physique. As the most physically active of his friends, it was only natural for Midoriya and Iida to be at the front of the pack as they ran up the emergency stairs. The rest of the class were already starting to tire by the time they reached the thirtieth floor.
"We have to climb that much?!" Kaminari complained, groaning from near the back of the group. That earned a slap to the back of the head from Jirou. Midoriya flinched, just barely.
"Would you prefer fighting all of the villains instead?" Jirou gave him a sharp glare before grabbing his wrist and helping Kaminari up a few more stairs with Ashido just in front of them.
They were near the fiftieth floor when Melissa started to slow down, until she threw off her expensive heels and started running up the stairs even faster. They reached floor sixty and seventy soon after, even though it felt like an eternity running up each step. Midoriya felt fine, especially after the physical conditioning training he had under All Might, cleaning up the beach. Iida, who was a few steps ahead of him, suddenly stopped in his tracks when he rounded the corner to head up the next flight of stairs.
"A shutter? We're blocked off!" Iida narrowed his eyes as the others soon caught up to the two of them.
"Should we break past it?" Todoroki panted in between his breaths. His forehead and the back of his neck was covered in sweat. That's right, aside from Midoriya using One-For-All, Todoroki's quirk gave him the most firepower.
"No! If you do that you'll trigger the alarm system and the villains will find out that we're here." Melissa shouted from the back of the crowd.
"Or we could use this door." Kaminari pointed at the side door that would lead them onto the floor they were currently on. He grabbed the switch and pulled it down, opening the door.
"No!" Melissa shouted again, her warning came too late. "We need to keep running, the security system would be alerted to any doors opening and closing."
"Let's get out of here before they find us." Jirou said loudly, everyone else seemed to be in agreement. It was a solid plan for now, at least until they found a way to secure the security room.
Midoriya had a feeling that it was going to be harder than expected.
Time seemed to have slowed down while Weiss remained a captive. There wasn't much she could do, not with all of the hostages around. She could've continued her conversation with Yu, but then that would've earned them too much attention, attention they didn't need.
"Activate the barriers on the eightiest floor, we'll box them in." The lead Villain with the wild red hair grumbled. He motioned towards several of his gunmen, who immediately obeyed his orders and left through one of the side doors. "Don't let those kids escape."
Kids? Weiss' eyes slowly widened, her head whipping around to shoot the Villain a sharp glare. What did he mean by kids? Oh no, was he talking about Kyouka, Mina, Momo and the others? Of course! They weren't stuck in here, so they must've been trying to do something to fight back. She hoped they were okay.
Weiss really wished she could've been with them.
"Is there another way to go up?" Todoroki askes while swinging his arms. Everyone was back to running, but this time they managed their pace to ensure nobody was left behind, which was reassuring to Midoriya. His friends were truly future heroes.
"Yeah! Just at the end of the hall, there should be another entrance to the emergency stairs-" Melissa gasped when the gates in front and behind them started to close.
"The gates!" Midoriya exclaimed, his hands balled into fist.
"There! That door!" Iida pointed at a set of double doors just beyond a set of closing gates. "Todoroki!"
"On it." Said classmate jumped forward and pressed down his right leg on the ground, which shot forward a glacier of ice which jammed the gate, the ice preventing it from closing.
Iida was already on the move at the same time as Todoroki, using his speed to jump in between the gap made by Todoroki.
"Hyah!" Iida activated the engines in his legs, tearing the pants of his suits to shreds as he kicked the door open. He was left with ripped shorts. "Everyone through here!"
Everyone followed as quickly as they could, with Midoriya helping Melissa over the gap by lifting her into Ochako's waiting arms. He was sure his face was as red as a tomato, and looked away once she was over him to not accidentally be a peeping Tom. Not even a minute later, everyone was in the room full of plants. Room was generous, the floor was huge!
"What is this place?" Midoriya asked, with Melissa by his side, this would be his best chance to ask. Ochako ran a few paces behind them.
"It's a plant factory." Melissa explained, keeping her gaze aimed forward. She was so cool! And smart too. Midoriya wished he had the time to geek out over everything, but this emergency came first. "Here we test how different quirks affect fauna."
"Hold on!" Jirou jumped ahead of them, pointing at the elevator they were running towards. "The elevators coming up!"
She was right, Midoriya squinted his eyes. The elevator was climbing from below them, and would soon reach the floor.
"The villains have found us, we must prepare for battle." Mineta said seriously as he reached to grab a ball on his head.
Midoriya shook his head. "We don't know what they're capable of, we should hide and wait for them to pass."
Not even a few seconds later they were hidden in the bushes, hopefully unseen by whoever was arriving.
"Could we use the elevator to get to the top floor once they're gone?" Kaminari whispered loudly. He was behind a large rose bush.
"No, only authorized people can use it, and it's one of the most secure spots on the island, so we can't break in even if we try." Melissa shot down that plan.
The elevator dinged, and opened to reveal a tall man in a black bullet-proof vest with a weird beard, and a much shorter bald man in a matching outfit. Midoriya immediately covered his mouth with his hands, in case a noise escaped him.
"Stupid kids, choosing a big floor to hide on." One of them sighed. Midoriya could hear their footsteps draw closer, which made the rest of his friends anxious, himself included. "You know we can see you right?"
Midoriya felt his heart drop and his lips dry up. What were they going to do now? Were they going to have to fight? He was taken out of his thoughts by a familiar voice responding.
"What did you just say, you stupid ugly bastard?" Katsuki growled. What was he doing here? How did they even get here? Midoriya's eyes shot upwards. Sure enough, there stood the angry blood boy wearing a black vest with pants, red shirt and black tie. Kirishima stood by his side in a gray suit, black shirt and red tie, with a sheepish smile on his face.
"Shuddit, let me handle this." The red haired boy said, taking a step in front of Katsuki.
"What are you two doing here?" The short bald villain asked, his voice low and aggressive.
"Hey guys, we just got kinda lost on our way to the party." Kirishima scratched the back of his head. "Could you guys point us in the right direction? We would really appreciate it."
"How did they make it to the eightiest floor looking for the reception?!" Jirou complained with a soft whisper.
The taller villain's right hand started to morph, forming a webbing in between his fingers. "Don't lie to me or you'll regret it!" The taller villain threw his hand forward, as if he was throwing a baseball, sending a shockwave in Kirishima's direction.
"Kirishima watch out!" Midoriya jumped out of the bushes, when suddenly a wall of ice formed in between the shockwave and the red haired boy. Everyone else left their hiding spots, now separated from the villains due to the wall of ice.
"Todoroki? What are you doing here?" Kirishima looked confused while Katsuki huffed.
The red and white haired boy ignored them, instead touching the ground with his right hand. "The three of us can hold them off, you all hurry and find a way to get to the top!" He formed a pillar of ice underneath their feet, sending them into the air.
"Todoroki!" Midoriya shouted, looking down over the edge.
"Go! I'll be right behind you once I'm done cleaning up their mess." Todoroki continued, extending the pillar high.
"Right." Yaoyorozu mumbled under her breath. She looked disappointed for some reason. The pillar of ice soon stopped beside a pathway high in the air, which everyone jumped onto, running to the next set of doors. Iida destroyed it, with another burst of speed.
"This way is blocked as well." Iida was serious, looking in both directions. The same kind of gates from before prevented them from leaving.
"Damn it! We're stuck like princesses in a tower." Kaminari groaned, grabbing his head. That made Ashido laugh, which earned her a pinch in the side from Jirou.
Yaoyorozu scanned their section of the hallway, her dark eyes looking for any details until they came to a stop near the roof. "What about the vent? Where does that lead to?"
"I think that runs under the maintenance room for the sunlight system controls, but I'm not completely sure." Melissa walked to Yaoyorozu's side.
"And there's probably an emergency ladder in the maintenance room." Midoriya added, his hand on his chin.
"Yeah, but it's a manual release so someone will have to be inside for us to release it." Melissa sighed. With a cover like that, it would be hard to open the vent.
"One moment." Yaoyorozu placed one of her hands close to hee cleavage, her skin lightened up as she created some sort of contraption. She threw it without another word, having the newly created machine explode the moment it touched the vent's hatch.
"Great throw Momo!" Ashido grinned, giving the dark haired girl a thumbs up.
Yaoyorozu gave her a small smile in return. "Someone could climb through the vent and use the exterior wall, can make it into the maintenance room and pull down the ladder!"
"Yeah! And there must be another vent on the outside so they could get in that way." Ochako added with a large smile on her face.
But who would be small enough to fit through the vent? And then be strong enough to climb the outer wall without falling? Everyone instantly turned their head to stare at Mineta, who made a loud audible gulp and took a step back. He stared back for a few seconds before sighing, sweat already forming on his forehead. "If it means saving my Lady, then I'll do it."
Ashido gave him a thumbs up, something she had been doing pretty often recently. "You're so manly, Minoru."
"I don't need your compliments."
At least they had a volunteer!
A/N
Chapters should be released more often, to quickly end this arc as soon as possible. It's dragged on for too long I feel. I'm sorry I'm not as consistent as I used to be during my prime, but if you do enjoy my stories, feel free to check out A Song Of Weiss And Fire, a volume 8 Weisskai that has best girl as a Lannister of Lannisport in the world of Game of Thrones.
Till next time on Schnee: Hero or Huntress!