Ch. 14: Heartbeat
Nezu stood at the now ruined front gate alone, still waiting for the rest of the facility. He had sent them to ensure that all the students were safe and accounted for while he inspected the damage. It looked like the gate had melted into two piles of rubble. He pulled a laser thermometer and pointed it at the rubble. "84 degrees so that rules out fire. So, what caused this?" He placed a paw on one of the two mounds of steel and noticed it was all fused together still but strangely weak as well as it crumbled in his paw. "Couldn't have been by impact or there would have been more debris. It's almost as if it was somehow melted and then instantly cooled but it's far too brittle for that. Did we remember to put cameras facing the gate?" Nezu looked around and found that they had… and that it was now missing. The camera that was supposed to be watching the gate had been sliced off with the cleanest cut Nezu had seen in quite some time. "That camera was held up by reinforced steel to prevent it from breaking in case of storms. A quirk must have done this. Wouldn't you agree, Yagi?"
"Good afternoon to you as well sir," Yagi remarked as he walked down the street towards the gate, dressed in a t-shirt and baggy pants to not arouse any suspicion, "I heard about what happened."
"Well, it's a shame you weren't here since all of them came for you," Nezu remarked with a smile as he resumed his investigation.
"I can't leave for a couple hours to visit Nana without the whole world going to hell?" Yagi then took a look at the rubble himself. "Did you figure anything out?"
"I'm still unsure as to the reason behind it but…" Nezu stood up to face Yagi with a serious look on his face, a rare sight for the Number One Hero, "I have a hunch that I know who did this," Nezu replied as he started walking towards the main building.
"Really?" Yagi reacted with surprise but considering it was Nezu who was talking, he really shouldn't have been.
"Yes. Gather the facility at the conference room. We'll need to discuss this immediately." As Nezu walked away, Yagi couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy.
Izuku was standing on the front lawn of his class's dorm going through his aikido routine to take his mind off the nagging feeling he had. He was thankful class had been cancelled because he was almost certain he wouldn't have been able to concentrate. Ever since he felt that threat in the main building, even if it was just for a split second, he just couldn't relax. The thought that someone dangerous had broken into the school was filling him with dread and he could almost recognize who it was but it was just too brief of a feeling to really lock onto. It was so bad; he didn't even realize that Ojiro and Kirishima were watching him practice.
"Hey, Midoriya!" Kirishima cried out as the two walked over. Izuku stopped dead and checked to make sure his heart didn't. He really hated being caught off-guard, even more so when it was completely his fault for not paying attention. "Heh, sorry to scare you there," Kirishima chuckled as Izuku straightened up and gave the two a friendly smile.
"No, it's on me. I was just lost in thought,"
"Thoughts about the break in?" Ojiro asked.
"Something like that. I just can't shake the feeling that something's wrong…" Izuku explained as he scratched the back of his head.
"Eh, I'm not worried!" Kirishima replied with a wide smile, flashing his sharp teeth, "We've got the teachers and All Might to keep us safe as well as the other pros hanging around campus! If anything bad happened, they've got this!"
"It would be best to leave things to them," Ojiro agreed, "By the way, Midoriya, I didn't know you practiced aikido," Izuku looked at Ojiro with a small look of surprise before smiling.
"Yeah, good eye. Though I'm probably nothing special."
"Whoa, you knew exactly what martial art he uses from just watching him?!"
"Well, I'm a martial artist myself and have been studying a variety of different disciplines. I just happened to recognize it." Ojiro said with a sheepish grin, "How far along are you?"
"Officially, fourth kyu." Ojiro raised an eyebrow at the answer.
"How good is that?" Kirishima asked, being completely unfamiliar with the terminology.
"Depends. Aikido doesn't really have a uniform system," Ojiro began, though Midoriya continued for him.
"The ranking my master was using started from sixth kyu so I'm still technically a beginner."
"Huh, I would have thought it'd be higher with all those moves of yours. Must not have been at it for that long."
"Five, almost six years now."
"Okay, what?" Ojiro said with a disbelieving chuckle, "You're still a beginner?" Izuku just shrugged.
"It is what it is. So, what brings you two out here?" Kirishima's face lit up as he suddenly remembered.
"Right, I was gonna ask you something. Do you think you can help me train so I can beat that Tetsutetsu guy?"
"You want to beat him… how?"
"Well, our quirks are so similar that it's impossible for me to stand out! We even fight the same way! I need to find some way of showing that I'm different from him and the best way to do that is to find a way to beat him! Mineta said you were studying quirks so I figured you'd be the guy to ask!" Izuku smiled before his notebook popped into his hand.
"Let's see, 'Tetsutetsu'…" Izuku found his page and read it to himself. "Okay, I've got an idea," Izuku took a few steps back from Kirishima and assumed a battle stance, "Okay, come at me!"
"You want to fight?" Ojiro asked.
"I wouldn't call it a fight, per se. More like a demonstration. Just activate Hardening and throw a punch at me."
"Hey, man, I don't want to hurt you."
"Don't worry about me, I'm tougher than I look," Izuku gave a reassuring smile which helped Kirishima feel better. "Besides, I doubt you'll even land one punch."
"Oh, it's on now!" Kirishima's quirk activated as he threw a wide hook at Izuku, who grabbed the arm, kicked out his front leg and shoved him to the ground. Before Kirishima could move to recover, Izuku locked his right arm between his legs and grabbed his left arm with both hands, preventing Kirishima from using them, rolling over, standing, or… much of anything really.
"Ah crap, I can't get out! How strong are you?!" Kirishima struggled but alas, Izuku's grip on him was too strong to wiggle out of.
"Pretty strong but if you're asking me, I still think a quarter of the class benches more than I can," Izuku quipped, "Now, you're probably wondering why I've got you tied up like this." Kirishima stopped struggling for a minute to listen. "This is just a theory but I'm almost certain that your quirk and Tetsutetsu's quirk are only skin deep and don't affect your muscles or your tendons. So, if I wrench a little like this…" Izuku pulled Kirishima's left arm a little towards him, causing it to stretch back farther than it was meant to.
"Ow! That hurts, Midoriya!" Izuku warped himself off of Kirishima, finally letting him go.
"And there you go. You now know how to beat Tetsutetsu." Izuku stood up from the ground and patted himself off.
"Ah, I see what you're trying to teach him," Ojiro remarked as he helped up Kirishima.
"Well, I don't! All he did was try and rip my arm off!"
"It hurt, right? But your quirk is supposed to be about defense." Kirishima calmed down and immediately started to realize what Izuku was trying to tell him.
"Just because your skin is hard, doesn't mean I can't attack your muscles, bones, and tendons while also preventing you from doing anything."
"Oh, I get what you're saying now! Awesome! Now I know exactly how to beat that guy! I'm gonna look up some videos to see if I can learn some more moves!" Kirishima excitedly shouted as he ran into the dorm, nearly punting Minoru as he did.
"Watch it, dude! I'm not a football!"
"Sorry!" Izuku and Ojiro couldn't help but chuckle at the exchange. Ochako and Tsuyu followed out after their now annoyed friend.
"Where are you guys going?"
"Well, one of the teachers called for us," Ochako explained, her face curious, "Said that it wasn't urgent or anything but that they wanted to talk with us." Izuku felt compelled to ask which teacher but decided not to say anything with Ojiro nearby.
"I'll head back inside then. Midoriya, I'd like to spar with you sometime!"
"I'll have to check my schedule but I might be able to fit you in somewhere," Izuku joked as Ojiro walked back into the dorm, leaving the four alone.
"Nice to see you making friends, Izu, ribbit," Tsuyu said with a smile, "Now if only Minoru could get the picture…"
"What did I do?" he asked, confused.
"It's more what you don't do."
"Okay, I think that's enough, you two," Ochako suggested, a bit exasperated by the squabbling, "Besides, we shouldn't keep All Might waiting,"
"Why does All Might want to see us?"
"He didn't say," She answered anxiously, "Just texted me a moment ago and said to bring you, Tsu and Minoru with me."
"Basically, something's gone horribly wrong and he just doesn't want to say it over text," Minoru surmised as the group started walking towards the main building.
"We don't know if anything bad happened."
"When is getting called to the teacher's office ever a goodthing?!" The group didn't seem to notice Todoroki watching them from his room's balcony, having heard everything while he was sitting in a chair reading.
The group quietly walked up to All Might's teacher room with a mixture of curiosity and anticipation. Whatever was so important that All Might had to call them in was concerning to say the least. As they entered the room, All Might was sitting at a table with Detective Tsukauchi and Nezu, an unwelcome surprise for Izuku who immediately went on alert. The detective merely smiled warmly to the group as he stood up.
"Well, Yagi, Nezu, I thank you for the information. I'll relay it to my superiors and we'll work to come up with a plan," Tsukauchi put his hat on his head and walked towards the door.
"Good afternoon, Midoriya," Tsukauchi greeted, allowing the group to calm down and lower their guard somewhat, "I hope school's been going well for you."
"It's pretty hard but I'm enjoying myself."
"Good, good. Don't be afraid to ask the teachers if you need help. You must be his friends, right?"
"Yes, sir," Ochako replied, "I'm Ochako Uraraka," Tsukauchi's eyes widened slightly as he finally got to meet All Might's heir.
"Tsuyu Asui."
"Minoru Mineta."
"You all seem like nice friends to have. Keep his nose clean for me, will you?"
"Oh, you just leave him to us. He'll be back on the straight and narrow before you know it," Minoru replied with pride.
"Glad to hear it. If you'll excuse me then," Tsukauchi opened the door and stepped out, leaving the four with their principal and the top hero.
"Surprised you, didn't it?" Nezu remarked with a mischievous smile.
"Yeah, I thought for a second you called us in because of me," Izuku sighed as he and his friends sat down at the table.
"Well, yes and no, but Tsukauchi wasn't here for you but for the break in," Yagi clarified with a friendly grin, "You all just happened to be earlier than we expected."
"So, are we in trouble or…?" Minoru asked, unsure of what was going on.
"Oh, no trouble at all," Nezu quickly explained, "There are just a few things I need to ask you four and you can be on your way."
"Firstly," All Might leaned closer in his chair, "How are you four holding up since yesterday?" The group suddenly realized what he was asking about.
"I'm surprised you're not asking everyone at once," Izuku remarked. "It wasn't just us that went through it."
"Well, you four know about my condition so this allows me to talk without having to suck in my gut for it," Yagi reminded them, "We'll just start with you and talk with the others later." The four were silent for a bit before speaking.
"Well... I'm fine, honestly," Minoru replied with a melancholic shrug, "And while I'm glad no one was hurt, I can't help but feel what happened was my fault since it was my idea and Monoma went ahead and did it."
"But it was my quirk that did it though so I should be blamed for what happened too." Attention shifted to Izuku and Tsuyu.
"I'm just glad everything worked out in the end but… I won't lie and say I didn't have a nightmare last night about what could have happened to not only myself but all of my friends," Tsuyu's voice was as calm as ever but carried the weight of deep fear of what might have been.
"I know I screwed up and should have ended the match so much sooner but that's honestly the least of my worries right now," Everyone in the room turned to Izuku with equal parts intrigue and looming dread.
"Oh?" Izuku began to explain what happened during the evacuation, making sure to mention the threat that he sensed in the main building. After a few moments of solemn silence, Nezu began to speak, no longer smiling, "I see… Thank you, Midoriya for telling us this."
"So, it was a villain that broke the gate," Yagi grimly spoke as he leaned back into his chair.
"I sure I don't need to tell you four that this does not leave this room." The four nodded, with unease running through them. Minoru though, looked ready to run away as fast as possible.
"S-so there was an actual villain in the school…?" Minoru muttered quietly as he shook with fear.
"Well, if Young Midoriya's quirk was tripped by them, we can only assume that to be the truth right now."
"Perhaps we should have asked Tsukauchi to stay a little longer…" Nezu lamented before addressing the students, "While we can't be sure of the motives, I must ask that you place your faith in us to keep you all safe from any villains."
"The villains already broke in! How-" *Slap*
"Minoru, calm down," Tsuyu ordered as her tongue returned to her mouth, catching everyone in the room off guard at the sudden slap, "Crying about it isn't going to help anyone, especially when we get back and have to act like nothing's wrong."
"Right, we should leave this to the teachers since they can handle it better then we can right now,"
"Look, if something goes wrong, I'll just send you back home and you can wait there till it's all over." Minoru could tell that he was probably overreacting but it didn't change the fact that villains got in.
"In any case, I also called you four because I was looking for an opportunity to meet Young Asui and Young Mineta since they're also guarding my secret. While I'm sure that Young Asui will keep my secret safe… I'm a little concerned about Young Mineta. He seems very loose lipped and easily scared."
"Ouch, man. All Might just stabbed me through the heart…" Minoru winced, earning a chuckle from the others.
"It's just a flesh wound. You'll be fine."
"Oh, and before I forget again, may I see your notebook, Young Midoriya?" Izuku looked at Yagi curiously as he handed over his notebook. All Might flipped over to his page and saw a nice open space and started to write in it briefly before handing it back. "I was told that you'd want this." Izuku quickly opened the book again and found in big letters "ALL MIGHT", the Symbol of Peace's autograph was now in Izuku's hero notebook. The boy stared at the page with wide-eyed shock and awe.
"Whoa, so cool! Can I get one?!" Minoru asked, getting one himself. Yagi gave his autograph to each of the four, earning smiles from the teens. Well, most of them.
"Izu, are you okay?" Izuku hadn't moved or said anything. He just stared at the page with his mouth hanging open.
"Oh boy, he's not moving, is he?" Tsuyu asked, only earning a sigh from Minoru.
"Ochako, make him lighter. Looks like we've got to carry him back."
Bakugou stood outside of the so-called counselor's office with a look of disgust. He shouldn't need to be doing this since there was nothing wrong with him but the rat-bear said he was doing it or else. Bakugou didn't want to but figured standing outside and delaying the inevitable would be cutting into his training time and he'd need every second if he was going to crush Deku into the floor for making him have to go through this shit. He knocked on the door aggressively and waited for a response that swiftly came.
"Come in," a gruff voice called out. Bakugou opened the door to see Hound Dog sitting in a chair reading a book. "Ah, Bakugou, I take it?" Bakugou looked at the man before him. A hulking dog-man with a wild mane of blond hair and a muzzle over his snout. The teen didn't say a word but did sit down in the closest chair to him.
"So, let's talk about Midoriya," Hound Dog began, before being cut off by Bakugou.
"I've got nothing to say about that dweeb of a human," Bakugou snarled.
"Well, let's start with that then. Why do you hate Midoriya? Is it because he was kidnapped by villains?"
"Nothing about his story makes any sense," Bakugou began, anger flooding over, "A quirkless four-year-old is captured by some villain that can give quirks and then he just… shows up out of nowhere like nothing happened and is immediately allowed to enter a hero school because of shit I don't know about and that is shady as hell. How is it that I'm the only one that finds that even the least bit suspicious? How do we know he hasn't been brainwashed and he's some sleeper agent or some shit like that? And don't think I didn't see that other quirk he's hiding!" Bakugou began to shout, "He freaking rushed me down and was way stronger than before and there was nothing I could do about it! He's allowed to hold back every single day and our teacher, who supposedly demands the best of us or he'll expel us, just lets that shit slide like it isn't hypocritical that he gets to be the special snowflake just because some villain pumped quirk juice into his useless ass!" Hound Dog kept quiet, listening to Bakugou's rant with a passive look in his eyes as he continued, "And then, he has the balls to look down on me and believed he could hold back and still beat me."
"Could he?" Hound Dog replied, but it only seemed to anger Bakugou further.
"Hell no!"
"But I watched the fight myself and I saw exactly what Midoriya didn't do." Bakugou sneered at the counselor's words as he remembered. The lack of glue trap, the lack of tag on his gauntlets, the fact that during the entire fight, Midoriya didn't try to land a single punch at him, only running away and only half committing to attacking to draw him in. "Bakugou, why do you want to be a hero in the first place?"
"So, I can beat up villains and be the strongest around,"
"...That's it?" Hound Dog asked with a raised eyebrow, "You're not concerned with helping save lives or stopping disasters that wipe out entire cities?" Bakugou just looked at him blankly, "You do know that fighting villains is only about forty percent of the job, right?" Bakugou just looked away with a quiet "tsk", "But at the very least, I feel like we at least know where to start with you."
"Oh, for your 'brainwashing me into a good boy'?"
"Well, more like, "encourage you not to make stupid decisions that could get people killed', but hey, whatever helps you." Bakugou leaned back into his chair with a scowl, clearly unamused, "Why don't we start with that second part. That you want to be the strongest. Are you the strongest in your class right now?"
"..." He couldn't bring himself to say it but he knew he'd be lying to himself if he said he was.
"I'll take that as a 'no' then. Who do you believe you have to surpass to become the best?"
"There's Frosty the snow bastard, that spoiled bimbo of a class deputy, the round-faced gravity ditz and then once I've proven I'm better than all of them, I'm going to show Deku that he isn't better than me."
"Hmm, and then what?"
"I'll become the Number One Hero, even stronger than All Might!"
"That's quite the claim. Even Endeavor, who's been at it for years now hasn't been able to come close."
"If I don't strive to be the absolute best, then I have no reason to be here!"
"And that gives you the right to act the way you do? You talk about Midoriya looking down on you but you do the same to him as well," Hound Dog pointed out calmly. "You talk about things being hypocritical in how he's allowed more privileges compared to others but you also fit the bill of a hypocrite yourself.
"What?" Bakugou's voice was low as if he was angry at the accusation.
"Do you believe Midoriya is strong?"
"He's not strong, his quirks are strong and they aren't even his! Everything about him is borrowed and it was borrowed from villains!"
"But your strength comes from your quirk too,"
"But it's my quirk! I was born with it! It's mine and only mine! Not something I got from some kidnapper. He was born with nothing! I had to work my ass off every day to get here, making sure I had the best grades, the best physique, the best training I could get and what did he do to get power? He got fed another quirk to make himself stronger! I refuseto say someone like him is stronger than me, regardless of how 'powerful' he is."
"And yet, you still lost to him."
"I won't let it happen a second time. I'm going to train until my god damn legs give out if that's what it takes to beat him…" Bakugou stood up and threw open the door and left without another word. 'Hypocrite? Me? My power is the real deal. His was just handed to him by criminal trash. Deku can't be better than me!' But what if he was, Bakugou asked himself.
Meanwhile back in the counseling office, Hound Dog was left with his thoughts as he began to formulate how to work with Bakugou.
'Why are the brightest stars so troublesome? I'm going to need to work extra hard with this one if we're going to pull out his full potential as a hero.'
As Wednesday turned to Thursday, Thursday turned to Friday and it would seem to all the students that the rest of the week would pass without incident. Lunch came and went and it was time for Fundamental Hero Studies, only instead of All Might greeting them, it was Aizawa.
"Today, you'll be doing a special lesson with All Might, myself, and a few other pro heroes." Aizawa said as he lazily held up a card reading "RESCUE" on it. "Today we'll be focusing on rescue training." The class started to celebrate before being immediately silenced with a quirk-powered glare from Aizawa. "You can choose to either wear your hero costume or your gym clothes if you're still uncomfortable with your costume." Aizawa pressed the button for the costumes to appear from the wall. "You have fifteen minutes. Afterwards, meet me out back by the bus so we can get moving. We'll explain in more detail when we arrive. Midoriya, Yaoyorozu, I want you to make sure everyone's on time. We've all got a lot to teach you today and I'd like to be as efficient as possible with this. Rescue work is one of the most important facets of the job. Consider this your most important class yet."
"Yes, sir!" Aizawa left the room and waited for his students at the meeting point. On his way, he couldn't help but think about what he was being asked to do by Nezu.
"You do realize that this could put the students in danger, right?"
"Considering what we know, are they ever not in some kind of danger? Of course, I have. But our options are extremely limited right now. We could shut down the school temporarily but that would raise too many questions and we still don't know why they broke in to begin with so we don't even know if that would help. They've already shown they can get in and the next step would obviously be an attack of some sort, whether that's to spread fear or just kill as many of us as possible."
"We don't even know if an attack is coming,"
"We don't know when an attack is coming. All we can do right now is add more security to the classes under the guise of heroes pitching in to teach the students. If it's Class 1-A, we'll just have Midoriya supply the evacuation."
"I don't like this."
"I know. Neither do I."
"You okay, Eraserhead?" Aizawa was pulled from his thoughts by a female voice as three heroes walked up. The blonde woman in front was dressed in a full icy blue jumpsuit. The sole male of the group was dressed in a black leather bodysuit with a purple star-studded mantle and a glass dome around his head and the last hero was a brown bat-mutant with goggles, a black leotard and fur over most of her body.
"He seems fine to me. Tired, irritated, rather be anywhere that isn't here. Same ol' Aizawa," Aizawa fired a glare at the silver haired boy who immediately cowered in fear, "Sorry, sorry, don't expel me!"
"You're not his student anymore, Raahil," the bat-girl reminded him with an amused smirk, causing him to immediately feel foolish.
"It's a… force of habit…" Raahil then noticed Class 1-A begin to approach them, "Here comes the young blood."
"Hmm… not the most useful looking group but we can make do," The blonde heroine mused as the group stopped in front of them, curious about the heroes.
"We'll just have to whip them into shape!"
"These three are going to be joining in to help train you today," Aizawa looked at the three heroes and motioned for them to introduce themselves.
"My name is Azurite," The blonde introduced, "This is Echobat and Paranormal. We just graduated a little while ago so we only just got our official licenses." The whole class turned to Aizawa with mixed feelings.
"I'm sure a few of you have some concerns about being taught by fresh heroes but let me say that these three were the best of their year." Aizawa reassured, causing Paranormal to snicker.
"Aw, he thinks highly of us."
"Keep talking and that'll change real fast," Echobat snarked.
Aizawa then turned to the bus, "Now that introductions are out of the way, we're leaving. Everyone on the bus," The class began to pile on the bus with the heroes watching on but one mask-wearing student just happened to walk up to them first.
"Excuse me," Izuku, almost timidly asked, notebook in hand and stars in his eyes, "Can I have your guys' autographs?" The trio were caught off guard so much that they almost didn't know how to react. A bit too slow for Aizawa's liking.
"Midoriya, G E T. O N. T H E. B U S." The three heroes quickly and nervously shoved the green-haired boy onto the bus before hopping in themselves.
On the bus to the rescue training ground, Izuku was fanboying like no one could believe as he asked Azurite, Echobat, and Paranormal about... pretty much anything about them like an adorable kid, amusing most of his classmates.
"It's kind of striking how different Midoriya acts around heroes," Mina remarked at the sight of the normal cool-headed boy being replaced by this excitable fan.
"Well, he's always been like this," Tsuyu explained, "He sees heroes, he's almost immediately part of their fan clubs, no matter how new or obscure they are."
"Honestly, it's fun to watch him in the adorably insane way he goes about it," Minoru smiled as he leaned back into his seat with a smile.
"Although, I can't help but feel his actions right now aren't very professional for a class representative," Yaoyorozu commented, earning a snicker from Hagakure.
"Ah, you're just butthurt you didn't win the election."
"I'm not 'butthurt' about anything," she insisted.
"Now girls, you're both beautiful so there's no need to fight," Ochako teased with a giggle. At the back of the bus, Bakugou had mostly drowned out everything else, still thinking about his conversation with Hound Dog while Todoroki was busy burning holes into Ochako with his cold eyes. The rest of the bus just carried on having conversations about the training they were going to have and speculating how it was going to work. As they were doing so, a red, white, and blue blur blazed by the bus.
"Whoa, what was that?!"
"Was that All Might?!"
"Dude, it totally was!"
"Why was he in such a hurry?"
"I thought he was going to meet us there but I guess he was running a little late."
As the bus pulled up to what looked like a giant stadium, the group was alive with anticipation as All Might and a spacesuit-wearing hero stood just outside the doors.
"Oh my god! It's Thirteen! My favorite hero works at U.A. and is gonna teach us!" Ochako gushed at the sight of her idol, endearing herself to most of her classmates.
"She's rescued tons of people from disasters across the world!" Izuku joined in,
"Alright, everyone off the bus. We've got a schedule to keep," Aizawa ordered as he walked off, beckoning his students to follow. As the crowd walked up, All Might began to speak.
"Greetings everyone! We've been waiting patiently for you!"
"All Might, don't act like we didn't just see you blow by at Mach 1," Aizawa deadpanned.
"Well, I would have been here sooner but I was in a meeting with the principal and… well, he sure likes to talk! HAHAHAHA!" Aizawa could only facepalm at the antics of his principal.
"In any case, I'd like to show you all inside!" Thirteen began cheerfully.
"This is going to be awesome!" The class shouted together as they followed the pros inside. The building was split into seven sections, two domes, a lake, two mountainous areas, a ruined city and a large courtyard in the center connecting it all just down the stairs from the entrance.
"Whoa, it's like an amusement park in here!" Kirishima remarked with awe that was matched by his classmates.
"We have a flood, a landslide, a fire, a windstorm, etcetera!" Thirteen passionately began with pride, "This facility was created by me to prepare you all for different types of disasters! I call it the Unforeseen Simulation Joint! But you can just call it the U.S.J.!"
'Um… I'm pretty sure that's copyrighted, teach,' Izuku stated in his own head as they watched Thirteen enthusiastically point at them on one leg.
"Thirteen, think maybe we could move this along a little?" Aizawa asked, growing a bit impatient with the constant delays.
"Right! I just need to explain something, maybe two, possibly three or four or five-"
"We get it!" the class shouted in exasperation.
"As I'm sure you're aware, I have a powerful quirk called Black Hole. I can use it to suck up anything and turn it to dust in an instant."
"Yeah, you've used it to save people from all kinds of disasters before, haven't you?" Izuku replied with an impressed smile.
"Correct, but it's a double-edged sword since it can also easily be used to kill." a collective gasp ran through the class at Thirteen's words, "Some of you also have powers that can be dangerous," Ochako's mind suddenly flashed back to the Battle Trial as she watched her quirk be used against her wishes to flatten a building and nearly injure her classmate. "In our society, all quirks are certified and regulated heavily so the dangers are often overlooked. Please, don't forget that if you lose focus or make the wrong move, your powers can be very deadly, even if you're trying to do something virtuous like rescue someone. Thanks to Aizawa, you have a solid idea of your quirk's potential and thanks to All Might, you've likely experienced how dangerous your powers can be when used against other people. Today, you will carry over those lessons to this class so that you can learn how to use those quirks to save people's lives. You won't be attacking enemies or each other, only using them to help others. After all, that's what being a hero is all about: ensuring the safety of others. Thank you for listening." Thirteen finished with a bow, earning a round of applause from their students.
"All right, time to explain how we'll be-hmm?" All Might looked up as the lights around the building began to flicker before finally shutting off, catching everyone's attention.
"Look there!" Azurite shouted as she pointed towards the center fountain. The stream was being interrupted intermittently before a swirling black hole began to open up through space. The black mass quickly spread out and enveloped half the courtyard, allowing person after person to walk out, led by a hand-covered man in front.
"Stay together and don't move!" Aizawa ordered forcefully, "Thirteen, protect the students!"
"Wait, has the training started already? I thought we were rescuing people," Kirishima asked as he stepped forward to get a better look.
"Stay back!" Aizawa shouted as Ochako saw him put on gold goggles that he had hidden beneath his scarf, "This is real. Those are villains." Collective gasps ran through the class as they watched Aizawa, All Might, Azurite, Echobat, and Paranormal all began to make their way to the courtyard.
"It's time to leave now students," Thirteen Instructed, "Midoriya, I need you to-" Thirteen stopped themselves as they finally noticed Midoriya, who even with the mask on, they could still see it.
The wide, red eyes that stared down the hand villain who was flanked by four brain-exposed monsters and one black mist man in a dress shirt and vest.
*THUMP THUMP*