Chapter 10 - Chapter 10

Yes, yes, I know it's been a while. All I can say is that I'm sorry I took so long to get back to this fic after starting a different one. If anyone here's into either Marvel or Devil May Cry, check out 'Marvel's Legacy of Sparda', my crossover between the two series! It has three chapters so far, so please give it a look if you want to see how I tackle those series'!

Anyway, back to this fic, one might consider this simply a recap of Chapters 8 and 9, and while that is certainly... part of it, I'd say there's a decent bit of development and setup for future development here too, so hope you enjoy that as you go through what's EASILY the longest chapter so far. What is this word count, did I start writing OA&A again by mistake?

No, wait, I'm bringing that to an end after this goes up.

Here's the chapterly transformation-counter, as of the end of Chapter 9:

Jetray: 3

Four Arms: 2

Humungousaur, Spider-Monkey, Diamondhead, Upgrade, Swampfire, Grey Matter, Big Chill, Ball Weevil, XLR8: 1

Anyway, I've waffled on long enough. Once you're done with this chapter, hope you have it in you to tell me your thoughts, or if you want to chat with me (about the fic, Ben 10 or MHA in general, or something else entirely), drop me a PM or look me up on Discord (name for it is on my profile). Any of those methods works out just fine for me, and I hope to chat with you soon!

Now, for the first time in a while, IT'S CHAPTER TIME!

----- -----

Somewhere not that far away from U.A. High, in a long-since abandoned bar in Kamino that no-one would have ever looked twice at, that smelled of stale alcohol, dust and slightly-decayed garbage, a spiral of purple-black mist tore itself open and spat Tomura Shigaraki out.

The wounded villain hit the ground hard, one knee slamming onto the warped floorboards, his good hand catching himself before his face could follow. He barely registered the impact sending a jolt up his arm, so occupied was he with the pain shooting up his other arm, the source being his… not-so-good hand.

It, or what was left of it, trembled slightly as blood pattered against the wood beneath him. As he pulled himself to his feet, he glanced down at the half-stump that remained of his left hand, clenching his teeth as the portal behind him pulled inward, tightened, shaped into something vaguely resembling a person.

"Tomura Shigaraki." Kurogiri, as if they hadn't just retreated from a complete failure of an operation, spoke as calm and even as ever. "We must address your injuries, immediately."

Shigaraki was already moving, though. He staggered towards the bar counter, dragged himself behind it. The cabinets behind the counter all hung open, most of them either empty, rotted through or both. But within one of them- on the far side of the counter from where Shigaraki had stumbled into the space behind it- he grabbed an old medical kit with his good hand.

The case was dusty. Its contents were probably expired, but it was better than nothing. Yanking it out of the cabinet and slamming it against the counter, he yanked it open and dropped onto a stool.

Kurogiri approached, the mist that took the place of limbs stretching out towards Shigaraki.

"Allow me to-"

"I've got it!" Shigaraki cut across him, barely-contained anger in every syllable. Kurogiri retreated as he yanked out gauze, antiseptic, something that might once have been tape from inside the case. Unscrewing the bottle of antiseptic first and dumping a portion of it onto his half-hand, hissing as the liquid made contact with exposed flesh, he next went for the gauze.

His one good hand worked fast- too fast- as he attempted to wrap the gauze around what remained of his hand- where healthy middle/index fingers and a thumb had been earlier- his teeth clenching so tightly that they might crack and shatter as the fabric brushed against his wound.

He persevered for a couple of seconds, before realising that the gauze- already stained red- was wrapped too tight before ripping it back off. Blood dripped off both the gauze and his stump of a hand, onto the counter, down what was left of his palm and onto his wrist, across everything.

Kurogiri didn't move from his spot, but after Shigaraki's first failed attempt, he spoke up again.

"Your condition is deteriorating." he said, in that same calm tone he always spoke with. "You are not in a state to perform proper first aid on yourself, Tomura Shigaraki. If you would permit me-"

"I SAID- I'VE. GOT. IT!"

Shigaraki reached with his good hand for an empty bottle on the counter and wound it back, with intention to hurl it somewhere in order to let out SOME of his rapidly-boiling frustration, but before he could send it across the bar, the neck crumbled to dust in his grip. The rest of the bottle dropped to the floor and shattered.

A tense, heavy silence followed as Shigaraki's attention was- briefly- drawn away from his hand by the sound of shattered glass. As he felt blood continuing to drip from his left hand, though, he turned back around and tried again, going a little slower this time. Somewhat closer to the way the doctor had shown him. Clenching one end of the gauze in his teeth and grabbing the other with a couple of fingers of his right so there was at least some tension there, he wrapped the gauze around his left hand a couple of times, pulled to tighten it-

It slipped. Brushed against exposed flesh again. Shigaraki let out a gasp of pain as the gauze came loose again, stained red almost immediately.

His shoulders shook- not from pain… okay, there was a good bit of pain- mostly from rage, that began to properly boil over for the first time since he'd first been wounded.

"They were just… students…" his voice trembled as he muttered to himself. "Kids, NPCs, they weren't-"

He clenched one end of the gauze in his hand, crumbling it to dust in his lack of self-control.

"They weren't supposed to-!"

His breath hitched, images of the attack flashing behind his eyes. His forces being dragged from the various USJ zones to the central plaza by… whatever it was that had dashed in and out so quickly. The Nomu- HIS Nomu- being blown away by… All Might, his overwhelming power, his insufferable grin.

And when he'd lunged for that ugly toad girl. He'd seen the flash of pink behind him an instant before HER mana-bolt struck his hand and blew it apart. He'd seen her standing somewhere she shouldn't… fighting something that she had no right…

The stool screeched against the floor as he leaned forward, got back to his feet, his breaths coming out harder and faster now.

"She… that girl…"

The words came out quieter, but also sharper. Like the same broken glass that occupied the floor behind the counter, courtesy of the bottle that Shigaraki had partly decayed.

Kurogiri tried, for a fourth time, to speak up.

"We can review the details of what happened once you are stabilised. Right now, our priority must be-"

"Shut up. Just… shut up."

Kurogiri silenced, as for a moment- just a moment, Shigaraki's breathing began to slow. His shoulders began to lower as he attempted- for the first time that day- to contain himself for a brief moment. Soothe himself, as muscle memory compelled him to lift his left hand to his neck and attempt to scratch himself.

Operative word being attempt. There was no pressure, no contact on the left side of his neck from fingers and a thumb that were no longer attached.

Shigaraki froze, blinking a couple of times before looking down to his left, his eyes widening again as they took in the sight of the half-stump that remained, and that moment flashed through his mind once again. At what SHE had taken a few minutes ago.

He twitched. Twitched again. A small sound escaped his throat as his breathing quickened again, breathing quickening, shoulders tightening as the anger he'd tried to contain moments ago returned in force.

"…no… no, no, no, no- DAMN IT!"

His right hand shot up instead, nails digging into his neck hard enough to draw blood as he scratched, scratched, scratched- shot to his feet and kicked the stool aside. He stepped over the broken glass behind the counter and out into the main bar, pacing- no, stalking- back and forth across the room.

"They were NOTHING!" he snapped to himself, his voice rising by the second, almost cracking in his rage. "A bunch of useless, worthless, KIDS! AND THEY-"

His ruined left hand lifted again, shaking violently as he stared at it.

"AND SHE-"

A soft hum cut through the air. Shigaraki stopped mid-rant as he saw a faint light from behind him, turned to face an old television that DEFINITELY hadn't been switched on seconds ago, crackling to life. Static danced across its surface before the image came through.

A figure. Seated. Silhouetted. Watching what was going on.

Kurogiri turned as well, lightly inclining his head but not speaking. A few seconds of silence passed before the figure- from the TV- spoke, his voice calm and measured. Moreso than even Kurogiri.

"Tomura… what happened?"

The temporary dam that had been erected by the presence of Shigaraki's master shattered immediately, as the briefly-restrained rage came out again in a scream.

"THEY WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO WIN!"

He lunged forward, crossing the room in a couple of steps to the counter that the TV had been set up on. He slammed his right hand down on the counter, shaking the screen slightly.

"They were STUDENTS! They were meant to be WEAK! They were meant to be FODDER! I brought the Nomu- YOU SAID IT WOULD BE ENOUGH! BUT YOU WERE WRONG- THEY BEAT THEM- THEY BEAT EVERYONE! And right at the end- something- something moved through them- I-I couldn't even SEE it- All of them, all…"

His voice dropped as he took a shaky breath, face red and almost incoherent as everything spilled out at once.

"All Might…" he hissed. "The Nomu… he beat it like it was nothing! And that girl…"

Pain spiked through his left hand as he involuntarily laid it against the counter, and with it his anger returned, tenfold. Raising it up and shoving it towards the screen, as if his master could see it-

"THIS!"

Blood flicked off of his hand onto the TV screen.

"SHE DID THIS! RIGHT AS I WAS ABOUT TO WIN!" he snapped. "One of them- she- and then she stood against the Nomu! One of the KIDS!"

Apart from Shigaraki's heavy breathing as he took half a step back from the TV, silence reigned in the bar. His arm slowly lowered, as the figure on the screen remained still. Remained silent.

The blue-haired villain's body trembled as he waited for… anything, from his master. Anger, disappointment, stern words, anything would be better than the nothing that was coming. Silence was just making it worse.

And worse. And worse… until Shigaraki couldn't take it anymore.

"…I'll kill her."

His bone-dry lips peeled up into some disturbing mixture of a grin and a snarl, as he took another half-step back.

"That girl… THAT GIRL…!" he snapped, beginning to pace in tight circles in front of the TV. "Tennyson… Gwen Tennyson- yeah, that was it-!"

He resisted the urge to gag as the image of the girl that had blasted half of his hand off flashed up in his eyes, again.

"When I get my hands on her, I'll make her WISH she was dead!" he hissed. "That little toad kid she saved before- everyone in that class- I'll kill them all and make her watch! I'll make her see how it feels, to lose…" his left hand tensed up, clenched into something vaguely resembling a fist considering there were only two fingers left on it. "…everything."

There was no response from the other end of the TV. After a second, Shigaraki's pacing slowed, confusion flickering behind his rage as he turned to face the screen.

He'd opened his mouth to ask if his master was going to say anything, but before more words could leave his throat, he got his wish.

"I see."

Shigaraki stilled completely, as his master continued, his tone almost thoughtful rather than outwardly critical.

"All of that is definitely… noteworthy."

Shigaraki blinked.

"Noteworthy?" he repeated. "She-!"

Another voice cut in from the TV's speakers, one slightly tighter and higher-pitched than that of Shigaraki's master.

"Speaking of the Nomu, where is it? Why is he not with you?"

Kurogiri stepped forward.

"He was blown out of the USJ by All Might, after he intervened." He replied, evenly. "We didn't have time to search for him and bring him back, without costing ourselves as well."

There was an audible intake of breath from the other end.

"After everything we went through to make him as strong as All Might?! If the police were to ascertain Nomu's true nature, then-"

"I suppose, it can't be helped."

Shigaraki's master cut through the doctor's rambling, silencing him just as easily as he had Shigaraki.

"What was lost today can easily be replaced by what you gained, Tomura." He continued, from the other side of the TV. "A direct assault, through brute strength and force of numbers alone, was an inefficient approach when it comes to the task of striking at the heart of heroic society. You know this now, and revealed your present limitations. Not just to your enemies, but to yourself."

Shigaraki's shoulders tensed, his teeth clenching slightly as it almost looked like he might explode again… but held it in.

"And it cost you." The voice of his master continued. "More than just your pride. You understand, Tomura, the different approach you must take so you're more successful next time."

The villain's ruined left hand twitched again, clenched into something vaguely resembling a fist again.

"Yeah…" he replied, his left fist still oozing blood. "So I can make the Symbol of Peace crumble to dust… and make that girl pay for what she did to me…!"

"Indeed." His master replied. "Take all the time you need to gather the villainous elite, so the next time you strike, you become a symbol of your own that the world WILL be afraid of. One stronger than anyone that stands in your way, whether it be this girl you speak of, or All Might himself."

Shigaraki's mouth split into another twisted smile, but he didn't respond. He didn't need to.

"Kurogiri."

The mist-user straightened as Shigaraki's master addressed him.

"Yes."

"Bring Tomura here, to the Doctor. He'll need patching up, after what he's been through today."

Kurogiri inclined his head as the TV switched off, and raised a hand to open a portal while looking over at Shigaraki, who looked over at him for a second.

"Yeah." He spoke, more to himself than anything as he shuffled through the portal, tracking his blood across the floor of the bar as he went.

----- -----

The staff conference room, back at U.A. High a few hours after the chaos of the USJ incident had died down, was quieter than it had any right to be. Especially with how many people were currently sat inside.

Nezu, at the head of the table, brushed something off one of his paws with the other. All Might, in his unmuscled state, sat at his right, a light bandage on his cheek being the only sign that he had even been affected by his battle with the Nomu earlier.

And going around the room, Vlad King was a couple of seats down, his arms crossed and entire posture rigid, not really looking at anything or anyone. Present Mic was much the same, his silence more noticeable than the others.

Midnight had temporarily removed her eye-mask, to rub at the bridge of her nose for a couple of seconds. Cementoss remained as still as his blocky appearance would suggest he was good at being.

Snipe had his hat pulled low, one of his hands fiddling around the handle of his revolver. Ectoplasm was impassive under his mask, staring at the door and waiting for the only teacher not among them to show up through it.

Power Loader had laid his helmet down on the floor just by his chair. Hound Dog was hunched over the desk slightly, teeth clenched tightly as he stared at the desk.

And when the door finally opened, everyone seemed to look up as one as Aizawa stepped inside. He immediately made for the free chair between All Might and Vlad King, looking and walking as normally as he usually did- that was to say it was more a tired shuffle than anything else- though the only thing about him that was out of the ordinary OTHER than that was his shirt, and his left arm beneath it.

The shirt's left sleeve was torn off at his upper arm, and his left elbow was tightly bandaged.

"Glad you could join us, Eraser Head." Nezu greeted the dishevelled hero, as Aizawa took his seat. "We've been waiting for you."

"Was on the phone with Shuzenji." Aizawa replied, to the room at large. "She made it to Korushant General soon after Thirteen did, and she's stable. Bad- VERY bad- but they're confident she'll pull through. She's gonna stay there and do what she can to help, for the time being."

The tension in the room eased a little at the good news. Midnight let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding up until that moment, All Might briefly closed his eyes, relief flickering across his face.

"Good." Vlad King muttered, looking up as Aizawa adjusted himself in his seat. "That's good."

Nezu nodded, before steepling his paws as he looked over to Aizawa.

"That's good to hear." He spoke. "But, to business: you mentioned when you phoned ahead, that along with everything else that occurred at the USJ today, there were events within it that warranted immediate attention. Concerning a particular student, I believe your exact words were."

Reaching under the table, the mouse/dog/bear/principal produced a small remote, and slid it across the table towards Aizawa. He also span his chair around as a large screen descended from the ceiling, for everyone to see.

"We've got the footage recovered and loaded up, from every camera." Nezu continued. "I must remember to thank Thirteen once she gets out of hospital, for thinking ahead to install that backup battery supply."

Aizawa didn't reply as he took the remote from Nezu, and powered the screen on. As the lights in the conference room automatically dimmed, Present Mic leaned back in his chair a little.

"This has gotta be good." He remarked, his voice quieter than usual but still with the attempt to remain his usual excited self. "If you, of all people, are flagging one of your kids as noteworthy, Shota."

Aizawa didn't react as he navigated to the beginning of the footage in question, from a camera that was focused in quite clearly on the central plaza, at the moment that Kurogiri had transported the League of Villains inside and cut the mains power. He then flicked it over to a camera that showed the entrance, where he, Thirteen and the twenty students of Class 1-A were stood reacting to it.

The footage replayed what had happened a few hours ago: Thirteen placing herself between the students and the villains at the central plaza, Aizawa stepping forward while pulling his goggles over his eyes, and nineteen of the twenty students frozen in mixed confusion and fear over what was going on.

And one of them stepping forward, pink mana forming around her hands, but before she could even get past Thirteen, Aizawa had span around to order her back, his hair standing on-end as it did so.

"Young Tennyson." All Might murmured, as he watched Gwen stepping back, the mana around her hands disappearing in response to Aizawa flashing his Quirk at her in the footage, before looking over at Aizawa.

"She's the one." Midnight remarked, voicing everyone's collective suspicions at once. "Isn't she?"

Aizawa nodded.

"Kid's got guts." Snipe remarked. "Ready to throw hands against real villains that quickly, when they actually pull up. This early in hero course, that ain't normal."

"Or she didn't understand the threat that they posed?" Hound Dog spoke up. "There's guts, and then there's arrogance."

"Arrogance would be her not listening to Shota when he told her to back up." Present Mic countered, before turning to Aizawa. "You did tell her to, right?"

"I did." Aizawa replied. "Even erased her Quirk at that moment. She got the message."

All Might adjusted himself in his seat a little, as he looked from the footage on screen to Hound Dog.

"Mic's right, Inui. I'd call it more confidence than arrogance, personally."

"More confidence than your usual first-year should have." Hound Dog retorted, traces of a growl in his voice. "How long has she been here, again? Three days, with a grand total of one combat-training class under her belt?"

Nezu raised a paw. The room quietened.

"Continue, please, Eraser." He spoke. "I suspect if this was all that happened with Ms. Tennyson, we wouldn't be discussing her right now."

The footage continued.

The faculty all watched Kurogiri descending on the students, watched Gwen- along with Kirishima and Bakugo- attack the misty figure without comment, watched the majority of Class 1-A be enveloped by the villain's portal and cast to all areas of the USJ. Right after that, Aizawa switched the footage over to some that was playing from a different camera, one that captured footage of the bottom of the Mountain Zone. Where a different student to Gwen was getting to his feet… and rapidly backing himself up against the wall as three villains approached him.

Even though everyone knew Koda had gotten out of the facility completely uninjured, they had all seen him coming out along with everyone else, some among the faculty's number couldn't help but feel for the kid as they watched him freezing up…

Before a bolt of mana streaked in from above, struck one of the villains in the chest and sent her flying backwards. One of the remaining two standing villains- holding a sword and shield in his hands- looked up at where the mana-bolt had come from and thrust the sword forward, elongating it upward for a couple of seconds before the sword shattered in his hand, and he dropped it in surprise.

And at that second, Gwen dropped from above between Koda and the villains. The one now only holding a shield attempted to swing it at her, but was easily sidestepped and sweep-kicked with enough force to send him rolling over the ground. And as the third villain- the largest of the lot- swung a fist at her, Gwen raised a hand in his direction to form a mana-shield that blocked the punch, while wrapping a mana-rope around the villain with the shield to lift him up and swing him into the remaining villain with enough force to knock them both out.

The fight, if one could call it that, had started and finished in less than ten seconds.

Power Loader let out a low whistle.

"Damn."

Aizawa let the footage continue, as the teachers watched Gwen and Koda conversing with each other, saw them both glancing away from the villains that the former had dropped as they spoke. Saw Gwen picking up the shield that the villain had dropped before handing it over to Koda. The conversation between the two continued, and appeared to end with Koda raising the shield and sticking close to Gwen as the pair of them made their way out of the Mountain Zone.

"She's good with grounding people after a crisis, but I'm not sure if that's how I would've done what came after." Cementoss mused, his eyes narrowing slightly. "I would've held down position in the Mountain Zone, let any villains that wanted to fight come to me rather than risk running into them."

"Must be that confidence talking." Midnight remarked, glancing over at All Might as he remained silent. "It'd be odder if she didn't have that, considering where she placed in the practical."

"Third, right?" Ectoplasm spoke up. "Seventy-six points. One point behind Bakugo, and-"

"And behind her record-breaking cousin." Vlad continued, flatly. "By twenty-four points."

The implication hung in the air without any of the faculty needing to speak it into existence. They all instead elected to continue watching the footage, as Aizawa continued to change the cameras to ones that best captured Gwen and Koda's journey around the edge of the USJ's central plaza. Whenever a villain even came close to them from Gwen's front, she would down them within a couple of hits, while if they came at her from the side or behind, Koda would either visibly call out or shield himself from their attempted attack, before Gwen- again- put them down.

"Whatever she said to him back in the Mountain Zone, it must've got put a spring back into Koda's step." Present Mic remarked. "This is great to see and all, Sho, but-"

"Hold on." Aizawa replied. "It's coming up."

Seemingly on cue, Gwen and Koda slowed, halted, before Gwen turned around, pushing Koda in front of her in the direction of the stairs. Unheard words were exchanged between the pair of them before Koda- clutching the shield to himself like a lifeline- broke out into a sprint for the stairs leading up to the USJ's exit, while Gwen turned and took a couple of steps towards the centre of the central plaza… where Aizawa was shown still facing off against the League of Villains thugs.

As Shigaraki joined the fight, took an elbow to the stomach from Aizawa before grabbing his elbow and beginning to decay it, the faculty could do little more than let out a collective gasp before Gwen threw out a mana-rope that wrapped around Aizawa's torso, and pulled him out of Shigaraki's grasp.

And seconds later, the pair of them were set upon by the rest of the standing thugs, forcing them to face off as a twosome against them.

"Tennyson, what are you-?" Vlad half-gasped half-growled in the direction of the screen, before turning to Aizawa. "Please tell me you-"

"I did." Aizawa replied. "Twice, after she thought fit to join the fight. And she stayed both times."

The footage continued, of Gwen and Aizawa facing off against the thugs. Of Aizawa doing his best to stay on his feet with one arm partially injured, of Gwen dancing around one villain before firing a mana-bolt straight into his groin, and then dropping him with a karate-chop to the neck.

"Oof… low blow, Gwen." Present Mic whispered, as all in the room with the exceptions of Nezu and Midnight winced at where Gwen had aimed that mana-bolt.

"Practical." Snipe offered, as an alternative.

"I'm sure she thought getting involved with Eraser and disobeying direct orders to save herself were practical, too." Cementoss remarked.

Midnight narrowed her eyes slightly, not taking her eyes off the screen.

"Staying after Shota told her to leave is one thing, but saving him before that was quite another." She spoke, gesturing to Aizawa's elbow, before glancing up at him. "If she hadn't done THAT at least, then who knows how bad things could have gotten? You might be in the hospital right now along with Thirteen," she remarked, almost directly to Aizawa "…Or worse."

There was a brief, uncomfortable silence around the room. Aizawa didn't respond. Present Mic briefly glared at the dominatrix-dressed woman from behind his shades, but returned his eyes to the footage almost immediately after, where the giant brain-exposed creature next to Shigaraki joined the fight against Aizawa and Gwen. The silence stretched out as Aizawa attempted to erase the Nomu's power with his Quirk, achieved precisely jack-shit, and was dragged off his feet by it before a mana-blade, courtesy of Gwen, half-severed one of its arms just before it could send him to an early grave.

"Yeah. Definitely worse." All Might mused, as Aizawa in the footage barely manoeuvred himself out of harm's way. "Young Tennyson's clearly a natural when it comes to this kind of thing. Probably the most in her class."

The footage displaying Gwen spinning around the Nomu's flank, temporarily binding it to the ground with a pair of strong mana-ropes and then cutting the tendons behind its knees to stop it from moving seemed to underline the point, as Aizawa paused the footage.

"More than Bakugo?" he replied. "More than Todoroki or Yaoyorozu?"

"It's possible." All Might gestured to the screen as he spoke. "And it's more than likely she knows it full-well. It would definitely explain her profound confidence in her own abilities, to the point that she'd see fit to override orders from her teachers."

"That doesn't make it acceptable." Ectoplasm countered. "You'd probably be singing a different tune if that confidence of hers had led to a student dying, or something."

"He's not saying it is." Midnight replied. "But whether she was right or wrong, she's committing to action. That's more than a good starting-off point for a student here."

Beside Shigaraki at that moment, Kurogiri reformed, and there was a lull in the fighting for a moment.

"What're they saying to each other?" Ectoplasm asked.

"Kurogiri was telling Shigaraki here that one of the students had gotten outside." Aizawa replied. "I believe Iida was the one to do it."

All Might straightened up slightly, turning his attention from the screen to Aizawa.

"Yeah." He replied. "I was heading to the USJ myself at the time, only to almost-literally run into Young Iida as he was heading back to campus. He alerted me to what was going on."

"And you contacted the faculty immediately after." Cementoss remarked. "And we all arrived around the time you had finished with the Nomu."

All Might nodded.

"Kid did good." Present Mic muttered, adjusting his shades on his nose.

"Very." Snipe agreed.

On-screen, Shigaraki froze for a couple of seconds before beginning to violently scratch at his neck, his entire body shaking with anger for a few seconds.

As Aizawa switched to a more zoomed-out camera that showed the entire central plaza, Shigaraki relaxed… and turned towards the Flood Zone, where Midoriya, Asui and Mineta were coming out of.

And two seconds later, any unasked questions of why Aizawa had suddenly changed the camera angle were answered, as within the span of two seconds, Shigaraki dashed towards at Asui with his left hand outstretched- coming within inches of her face- only for two of his fingers, his thumb and half of his palm to be uncleanly blasted off of his body by an explosive bolt of pink mana.

As Mineta, having taken the majority of the ensuing blood-splatter straight to the face, collapsed backwards, Aizawa paused the footage, giving the faculty a moment to take in what just happened.

Present Mic removed his shades, rubbed at his eyes for a second and put them back on, as if he couldn't believe what he just witnessed. Midnight went almost entirely still, her eyes locked on the screen.

Snipe's grip on the arms of his chair tightened slightly.

"Hell of a shot, that." He said, barely loud enough for anyone to hear.

"Yeah." Cementoss replied, his voice also low. "That was… perfect."

Ectoplasm and Power Loader were having similar reactions to Midnight, simply staring at what they'd just seen as if not blinking would somehow make it make more sense.

A slightly growl escaped Hound Dog as his teeth bared for a moment, but he didn't speak. And neither did All Might, who was having multiple emotions running through him at once, just like most- if not all- of the other teachers.

Pride at seeing a first-year acting that quickly. Surprise for the same reason. Relief at seeing one student acting to save another.

"Eraser, could you rewind that? And slow it down to 20% when you replay it, please."

All eyes shifted to Nezu for a second, looking up at the screen with an unreadable expression on his face, before Aizawa oblidged. Rewound the footage, slowed it down as Nezu had requested, and replayed. As everyone had seen it once before, they were able to focus in on the details as three seconds became fifteen.

Shigaraki dashing over, his hand outstretched.

Asui's eyes widening in horror as her body froze.

Aizawa looking on, his hair slowly rising at Erasure activated.

But before the hair rose, clear as the clearest of clear crystals now that things were slowed down as they were… Gwen, stood a few paces' length behind her teacher, was raising her hand.

And also before the hair rose, her hand glowed as the mana-bolt left it, streaked close to Aizawa's head and flew past him as his hair began to rise.

"That… that was fast." Power Loader spoke, as the slowed-down mana-bolt struck Shigaraki's hand and blasted it apart in slow, gory motion. "That had to have been-"

"Less than a second?" Vlad offered. "Half?"

"And everything that goes into a shot like that, too." Snipe continued. "Identifying what was going on in the first place, deciding on what to do, ready- aim- fire…" he swallowed, behind his mask. "I only know one or two people who could've done something like that that fast… and none of them are… Christ…"

Hound Dog forced down a growl.

"Are we sure you didn't stick a young-looking third-year into the first-years' class by mistake, Nezu?"

"Quite sure." Nezu replied, almost absent-mindedly as he stared at the screen, gears clearly turning in his animal head.

"They're not eighteen either, Inui." Snipe remarked. "I don't know of any third-years that could've pulled that off that effectively."

"Or even many Pros, for that matter." Midnight continued. "And without hurting anyone standing right behind that villain, either."

"Unless you count Mineta fainting." Vlad remarked.

Cementoss let out a breath.

"I don't think anyone here does." He replied. "Someone else fainting at the sight of that much blood is hardly Tennyson's fault, and there's no way she could have controlled how Shigaraki's blood would have…" he trailed off, making an explosion-motion with his blocky hands.

No-one argued the point. It wasn't even close to the real focus. Vlad glanced at the sight of Shigaraki's hand exploding in slow-motion as Aizawa paused it again, at All Might, and then back at the footage.

"I don't think being a natural would completely explain Tennyson being able to do THAT." He spoke. "Doesn't account for everything that came before the shot, everything Snipe talked about."

All Might licked his dry lips before replying.

"True." He replied. "All of that- that comes with practice. Practice that she might have had prior to transferring to U.A. from the United States, perhaps? Quirk usage- particularly among those of Young Tennyson's age- is a lot less restricted than here. I wouldn't be surprised if she was self-taught to a higher degree than most of her peers over here, or received some kind of informal training."

Vlad frowned.

"Maybe." He replied. "Still, takes some training to jump to doing- that-" he gestured to Shigaraki's exploded left hand "to a fellow human being, that quickly and with that little hesitation."

"Unless she HAS done it before?"

All eyes in the room turned to Midnight. She was turning her eye-mask in her hand, looking down at the desk and looking rather uncomfortable.

"I don't like the possibility any more than anyone else does." She replied, looking over at Aizawa, who had himself stilled, before gesturing to the screen and speaking to the room at large. "But it certainly fits in with everything else we've seen of her, up to this point. Never hesitating once when it comes to fighting any villains that come her way, her decision to escort Koda to safety rather than hold down the fort, choosing to face the rest of the League alongside Shota, being just as effective as him- hell- maybe even moreso than him against that Nomu creature, and…"

She gestured, again, to the scene of Gwen blasting Shigaraki's hand, before taking a breath and speaking in a slightly lower tone.

"You don't get all that from just training." She finished.

The room remained silent, everyone- either internally or externally- as uncomfortable as Midnight and Aizawa looked for a few seconds, before the latter spoke up.

"Nemuri… might not be wrong."

The room's temperature felt like it had dropped a couple of degrees. Nezu even turned away from the screen, span on his chair towards Aizawa.

"What?"

"I don't know if the cameras catch it properly…" Aizawa replied, flicking through the feed of every camera that showed the central plaza, seemingly looking for something and switching back to the original angle when he couldn't find it. "But I looked over at Gwen when she fired that shot, saw her face."

He swallowed, as his throat had become rather dry at that moment.

"She wasn't panicking." He continued. "Wasn't guessing. Wasn't reacting on impulse." He rubbed at his eyes and let out a slow breath. "She knew exactly what she was doing."

Uncomfortable silence stretched out across the room again. All Might looked even more gaunt than he usually did in his emaciated form. Present Mic removed his shades, looking like he was internally doing his damndest to stop his hands from shaking. Midnight laid her eye-mask down, rubbing at her eyes again with her free hand. The rest of the faculty were either glancing at the paused footage, or at each other as they did their best to get their heads around what they were looking at- and the implications thereof- now.

After a few seconds of this almost-painful silence, Nezu spoke up again.

"Eraser? Resume the footage, please. At normal speed."

----- -----

It was a rarity in recent months for the Tennyson twins' apartment to be this quiet during this time of late afternoon/early evening. Usually, the pair of them were either not inside at all- at work at the Mekakohi's café- quietly studying, or simply chilling out, making use of their blessed rare moments of downtime.

But on the rare occasion that the property wasn't presently occupied by both of the twins, it was pretty quiet in there. As it was right now, with one of the twins sprawled out over the couch, eyes shut, listening to the mixed background noises of muffled voices and traffic outside, holding an icepack she'd been given hours earlier over a bruise on her back.

Gwen- who might or might not have magically switched her U.A. uniform out for a pair of pyjamas the second she stepped inside- sucked in a breath as she shifted slightly, the unpleasant sensation of that kind of cold and the pain of the bruise making themselves known in equal measure.

'Well,' she thought. 'At least it's only classes tomorrow, so I won't have to move around too much.'

As the background noise outside reached a temporary lull, Gwen found her mind casting itself back to a few hours ago, after she'd been checked out and cleared by the EMTs outside the USJ, during the bus ride back to campus along with… most, of the rest of Class 1-A.

No-one had said anything during the short trip. But she'd seen how most of them were reacting without needing to hear it verbalised.

Some- like Asui and Koda- had just stared off into space, almost disassociating from the events of the afternoon, of what had to have been their first villain encounter. Some- like Iida and Jiro- were looking at their hands, possibly reflecting on what they'd had to do so early on in their tenures as heroes-in-training. And one in particular had just slumped in his seat, barely aware of anything or anyone as he came down from frying his brain as a result of pushing his Quirk too far.

But as far as she could tell, that was pretty normal for Kaminari.

Though she'd also noticed another subject of the class' collective attention, during the journey back, one that she'd figured was going to happen as soon as she'd heard her classmates' collective conversations as they got back on the bus after being checked out… herself.

They hadn't been all that obvious or constant, to anyone that wasn't paying attention: she hadn't at first, but after long enough it had become hard not to. Pairs of eyes flicking towards her and away again, the one who had fought back-to-back with her teacher against villains, mutilated their leader when he threatened the life of one of their own, and the first to face down their biggest muscle before the Symbol of Peace had arrived to take finish the job.

Someone that- as she recalled All Might's assessment of her from the combat training they'd done earlier that week- had fought like she'd done that kind of thing before.

Unlike everyone else. They clearly hadn't expected to be confronted by villains in the manner that they had been a few hours before, and given the lives they'd lived so far- very much unlike Gwen's life- she could hardly blame them. Although…

She couldn't help but feel slightly guilty for not joining in the class' collective shock at what they'd just endured. She already felt separate enough from them, as a transfer student in a literal- universal- sense, but this was a bit more personal than that.

Though almost as soon as that guilt attempted to worm its way through her mind, she found herself casting it back to earlier memories in her life, earlier encounters with villains of her own.

"Maybe I need a new partner… someone more INTERESTING for you to battle!"

That had been the last thing she heard before waking up on the edge of the roof of Bancroft Academy, with Ben and their Grandpa Max having filled her in later on the details of what had gone down while Ghostfreak had possessed her ten-year-old self. The idea of which still gave her the shivers, to this day.

"Your energy is like nothing I've ever felt before. When it flows into me… I feel-"

Gwen couldn't help but shudder and rub at one of her arms with her free hand. Getting her energy drained through any means that weren't her own use wasn't something she was about to go through again in a hurry, least of all at Michael Morningstar's hands.

"It's your choice: YOU or THEM!"

"When I have the Omnitrix, I shall enjoy tearing you apart, Tennyson!"

Vilgax. Just… Vilgax. The few encounters she'd had with him were more than enough for a hundred lifetimes.

Honestly, part of Gwen wasn't sure how she'd made it to 15 years old, with everything she and Ben had been through over the years. After so many encounters with world-threatening bad guys that would've ended everything they held dear had she and him not come out on top… but somehow, every time, they'd found ways through.

So, yeah. Hardly her first rodeo, not by a long shot. With that in mind, she really didn't have much reason to feel all that guilty for her lack of feeling so.

Gwen shifted herself slightly, wincing just a bit as the bruise on her back reminded her it existed, as she made to ice a bit of it that she hadn't quite gotten to yet. But when she'd gotten herself comfortable again, and was icing it again, she closed her eyes and took another breath… just in time for the door to their apartment to click and swing open.

The sound of a long exhale met Gwen's ears, followed quickly by the sound of the door being kicked shut behind whoever had just stepped inside. Pulling herself up into a sitting position, she glanced over at the entrance, where her cousin had pulled his shoes off and tossed them onto the rack before moving inside, dropping his bag on the floor as he made for the kitchen area.

"Hi."

"Hey."

Without missing a beat, Ben made his way over to the fridge, pulled it open and grabbed a container box of something left over from what Gwen had made for the pair of them a couple of nights ago. Opening the microwave and tossing the container into it before setting it for a couple of minutes, he grabbed a couple of cups from the cupboard and filled them both with some water.

"News guys got to put their spin on what happened earlier." He remarked. "Saw it on the TV at work. Mekakohi's wife's hoping you're okay."

Gwen hummed in acknowledgement, accepting one of the cups from Ben and taking a gulp of it.

"Thanks." She replied. "Yeah, I saw some media vans pulling up when we were all getting out. Aizawa wouldn't let anyone try and say anything, though." she gave Ben a look. "Probably didn't want us to say anything stupid."

"No comment to that." Ben chuckled, walking around the couch and sitting down beside his cousin, who removed the icepack from her back and tossed it onto the counter behind her. "But speaking of…"

There was a short silence as Ben returned Gwen's look with one of his own, taking a gulp from his own cup. Gwen let out a snort, leaning back on the couch and nodding.

"Yeah, okay." She replied. "So we pull up and get into where you found us at, was meant to be rescue training, turned into a fight for our lives within a few minutes when a bunch of villains warp in out of nowhere- probably like sixty or seventy."

Ben let out a snort of his own, grinning.

"Training gets real when bad guys show up. Classic."

"No comment." Gwen replied, letting out a breath. "We try to get out, get blocked and scattered by the guy that warped everyone in there- Kurogiri- most of us land in the different zones- you got a look inside, right?"

"Naturally." Ben replied. "City, landslide, mountain, lake, rainstorm, fire."

"Mmhmm." Gwen hummed, nodding. "I end up in the mountain zone with this other kid, Koda: nice guy, bit timid, can control animals with his voice. He freezes up when a few of the villains that came in try to gang up on him, and I stepped in."

Ben hummed, nodding.

"Nice." He replied. "Guess the whole 'don't use your Quirks unlicenced thing goes out the window when villains are trying to kill you."

"Something like that would be rational, yeah." Gwen nodded. "After I made sure Koda was safe, I helped him get out of harm's way. Got him through, up towards the exit, then went back to help Mr. Aizawa. Most of the villains that warped in likely went to all the other zones once we got warped there, but some of them stayed in the centre along with their boss Shigaraki. Mr. Aizawa was fighting those guys-"

"And you went to help when you could." Ben finished. "Sounds about right."

"Good thing I did, too, considering Shigaraki jumped in around the time I went back to help Mr. Aizawa. I think his Quirk lets him break stuff down when he touches it, but he needs to be-" she reached up with her free hand, and laid all five of her fingers against one of the couch-cushions to demonstrate "touching it with all five fingers for that to happen."

Ben nodded. As the microwave pinged, he lifted himself off the couch and headed over to the kitchen, gesturing to Gwen that he was still listening as he grabbed a fork and made for the microwave.

"What about that big monster guy?" he asked. "I saw All Might finishing it off while I was in there, or did it show up later?"

"No, it was there from the start." Gwen replied. "Just didn't really do anything until Shigaraki told it- he called it Nomu- to. I think he was saving it for All Migh."

"Which he eventually did." Ben remarked. "Though I'm getting a hunch that you got to throw down with it for a bit before that happened, right?"

Gwen closed her eyes, letting out a breath as Ben returned, heated-up container of leftovers in one hand and fork in the other as he dropped back down onto the couch.

"I'm getting to that." She replied. "While we- Mr. Aizawa and I- were fighting in the middle of the USJ, Iida managed to get outside and rush off to get help. You met him this morning."

"Oh yeah, the stick-in-the-mud with the glasses." Ben nodded, scooping up some of the food with his fork. "He talked a lot." He added before transferring the food to his mouth and beginning to eat.

"He's always like that." Gwen replied. "Anyway, Shigaraki didn't take the idea of more Pros coming to stop whatever he was planning too well, and he lashed out. Almost killed one of the other kids- Asui- I've told you about her… the frog girl." She added, to remind him.

"Frog girl." Ben repeated, nodding along after swallowing. "You said 'almost'."

Gwen swallowed, leaning back a little.

"I did." She replied. "I stopped him."

She demonstrated, guiding one of the fingers on her right hand onto where on her left hand she'd shot Shigaraki with a mana-bolt earlier that day, then made an explosion-gesture with that same hand.

"Blew off half his hand."

Ben looked up, second forkful of food halfway to his mouth, but he briefly paused at that.

"Huh. Would've thought you'd have done something a bit more permanent than that, if a villain was about to kill your friend."

"More permanent than rendering his Quirk half-disabled for life?" Gwen remarked. "I don't know if that would've totally flown."

Ben's eyes met Gwen's for a moment, before he shrugged and continued lifting the food in his fork up to his mouth.

"Fair enough." He replied, swallowing the mouthful and gesturing for Gwen to continue.

"So, anyway, Shigaraki loses his mind and sics the Nomu on me- Mr. Aizawa and I'd been fighting it earlier- and then next thing I know I'm fighting it one-on-one."

Ben's eyes lit up. With his mouth full of food as it was, it was quite the comedic sight.

"Aw, man!" he moaned, leaning back after swallowing and raising a hand to the ceiling. "Now I really wish I ended up in your class!"

Gwen smirked faintly.

"I'm remembering that 'really', dude."

"You got to fight a regenerating tank monster and I wasn't there?" Ben continued, letting out an exaggerated exasperated sigh. "That would've been the perfect punching back for Four Arms, or Humungousaur, or something!"

Gwen rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to giggle at her cousin's performed disappointment.

"You'd probably have put it down within half a minute, tops." She replied. "And caused the pair of us no end of problems by killing something made for the strongest person in this world."

"I mean-" Ben began, before stopping himself when he realised his cousin had a point.

"And there's more." Gwen continued. "When I was fighting the Nomu- or I guess holding it off before All Might could hopefully show up and properly take care of it- I couldn't feel anything from it."

Ben blinked.

"You mean you couldn't feel it hitting you, or is it a mana thing?"

"It was a mana thing." Gwen replied. "That's… the first time I've come across something like that. All living beings produce mana, even different-feeling mana like in this universe."

"Maybe it technically wasn't alive, then?" Ben suggested, after slurping down another mouthful. "You said yourself it didn't do anything until Shigaraki told it to. Maybe it was some big flesh-robot-thing, literally programmed to follow his commands?"

"Potentially…" Gwen slowly nodded. "But even then, I…" she let out a slow breath. "Whatever, that's not important right now. Anyway, I end up fighting the… big flesh-robot-thing for about a minute. Not alone, mind you, some of the other kids jumped in to help hold it off- Todoroki, Kirishima, Bakugo-"

Ben snorted, setting the empty food container to one side as he settled on the couch.

"Can't let you have all the fun, after all." He remarked. "Then All Might showed up?"

"And All Might showed up." Gwen nodded. "And he kinda took over from there, told us all to get outside and get checked out while he fought the Nomu off. Around the time we got outside, the rest of the teachers showed up… and you."

"And me." Ben replied. "He was just finishing up with the Nomu when I got there. Was feeling helpful, so I kinda dashed through the place and rounded up all the villains you guys had knocked out earlier."

Gwen let out a low snort.

"Very helpful." She remarked, dryly. "Well, as long as you weren't seen."

"I wasn't seen." Ben repeated. "Was going fast enough to cover the entire city between class being dismissed back at school and arriving to help out. You know there's a couple of Burger Shacks around here?"

Gwen stared at her cousin for a couple of seconds, before sighing and shaking her head.

"You are unbelievable sometimes, you know that?" she muttered. "Doofus."

Ben stared back at his cousin for half a second, before bursting into suppressed laughter.

"Hahahaaa… haven't heard that one in a while!" he sniggered. Gwen didn't reply for a second, simply looking back at Ben, before she couldn't hold back and burst into giggles of her own.

The two shared a laugh for a few seconds before it faded, and Ben's expression softened a bit.

"…You okay, though?" he asked. "Like, seriously."

Gwen blinked at the change in tone, before meeting her cousin's eyes.

"Yeah." She replied, gesturing to the icepack behind her. "Took a bit of a hit from the Nomu, but it's nothing that won't heal on its own. I'm fine."

Ben held her gaze for a second, before nodding and getting to his feet.

"Okay."

He picked up the container he'd set down earlier, headed over to the kitchen counter and dropped it into the sink, before turning on his heel.

"Gonna grab a shower." He declared. "Unless you wanted to go first?"

"Already been." Gwen replied, without looking his way. She'd sent out a mana-rope towards the TV remote and brought it to her hand, switching it on.

Ben nodded, and within a few seconds, had headed into the bathroom.

----- -----

As bidden, Aizawa resumed the footage, and everyone got a good look at Shigaraki- once his doubtless shock at having his hand half-blasted off had worn off- losing his mind in the USJ's central plaza. Collapsing to his knees, rolling around in agony, the embalmed hand over his face falling off of it, and even though the battery-powered cameras weren't capturing any audio of the situation, it was extremely easy to tell that he was screaming his lungs out from mixed shock and pain.

"Jeez… get that guy some chapstick or something…" Present Mic muttered under his breath, before looking embarrassed that such a remark had slipped out.

In the footage, Shigaraki pulled himself up into a kneeling position and flung his hand in the direction of the Nomu, screaming something at it. The Nomu then sprang, dashing towards Gwen with one of its gigantic fists cocked back. At the exact same instant, Aizawa- in the footage- dashed across the central plaza towards the shallows of the Flood Zone, scooping up Mineta and grabbing Asui before taking off towards the exit at full speed, with Midoriya following as fast as his legs could carry him.

But that wasn't what the teachers were all focusing on: as Aizawa and the other three students moved out of frame, Gwen dodged neatly out of the way of the Nomu's first strike, and threw up both hands to conjure a mana-shield to block the second. But that didn't do much against the creature as its punch broke through all the layers of said shield, forcing the orange-haired teen to dodge again. She conjured up a mana-rope with one hand… and threw up a barrier behind her to block one end of a familiar-looking wrap scarf flying towards her, causing it to drop limply on the ground rather than wrap around her as its thrower had intended.

All Might and Midnight's faces visibly drained of colour. Vlad, Cementoss and Ectoplasm from behind his mask took in sharp breaths. Present Mic and Hound Dog let out small cries or growls of surprise at the sight. Power Loader's eyes widened, and it could only be assumed Snipe's did as well, considering he didn't visibly react in any other way.

"Does… does she know that that thing was made to kill me?" All Might asked, his voice slightly hoarse.

Aizawa nodded.

"She was aware." He replied. "But it wasn't you. Those were her words."

"Neither is Gwen!" Midnight exclaimed, leaning forward. "Was she planning to die?"

"That's what I was thinking, Nem." Aizawa replied, rubbing his eyes with his sleeve as the footage rolled on, showing Gwen dodging the Nomu's next punch, lassoing its ankle while it was off-balance to drag it down, and jump back to put herself out of its immediate range.

"Placing the lives of others over your own is a hero's job." Ectoplasm spoke. "But-"

"But she's fifteen!" Midnight cut across him. "She shouldn't be thinking like that when she's so young!"

There was an uncomfortable quiet in the conference room for a couple of seconds, with the only real noise being Midnight taking a couple of breaths in an attempt to calm herself.

"Unless she's had to think like that already." Vlad eventually spoke up. "You said it yourself Midnight, it's almost certain that Tennyson has more experience than any of her peers."

Midnight let out a sigh, almost sinking into her seat as she initially averted her eyes from the footage of Gwen fighting the Nomu, but then forced herself to look back at it, just as Gwen pushed her mana-barrier across the plaza and out of frame.

As the Nomu returned to its feet and bent down, seemingly preparing to break into a sprint, a sheet of ice came across the floor from a different corner of the frame, quickly enveloping one of the Nomu's legs. That didn't stop it, though, as unable to stop itself from running that quickly once it began, it tore its own leg off and promptly collapsed to the ground.

Gwen, who had just fired a mana-bolt that would have connected with the Nomu's head had that not happened, glanced in the direction of the ice as the Nomu began regenerating its leg to see Todoroki dashing across the ice, very much intent on helping out.

"It seems Tennyson isn't the only student in your class that has a habit of, as the saying goes, punching above their weight class." Nezu mused to Aizawa, as a few seconds later, Kirishima flew into frame with a leap onto the Nomu's head as it got back to its feet, slamming his Hardening-enhanced fist into its head… only for it to have no effect and the Nomu to fling him aside.

Gwen immediately flung a mana-rope towards the flying redhead, grabbing him and setting him down, prompting a general sigh of relief from the faculty.

"How many people is it whose lives Gwen's saved now, after today?" Power Loader muttered. "Koda, Shota, Asui-"

"Wait, what's Shigaraki…" Cementoss cut across Mic, raising a blocky finger to point at the one-and-a-half-handed villain pulling himself to his feet and rushing into a Kurogiri-created portal, only to appear right behind Gwen with his one good hand outstretched, right as the Nomu was rushing at her from the front.

Hardly a breath escaped any of the faculty as- in the footage- Gwen dodged away from Shigaraki, sent mana-spikes out of the ground to impale the Nomu, allowing Todoroki to freeze it in place by the arm for a few seconds before it was torn off like the leg earlier. Shigaraki then disappeared into another portal, and reappeared behind Gwen again. As she span around the Nomu, on the side of its regenerating arm, Shigaraki's good hand closed around something this time… her cape.

A collective flinch went through the room as Gwen's cape began to blacken and crumble in Shigaraki's hand, but before it could get anywhere close to Gwen herself, but a quick unclasping of the garment from around her neck was all it took to free her. As the Nomu's arm continued to regenerate, Gwen span around and wrapped the decaying cape around Shigaraki's good hand, rendering it useless.

"Smart girl." Hound Dog rumbled, from his seat. "That villain's Quirk comes from his hands, makes sense to target them."

"From what I observed- and felt- during the fight," Aizawa spoke up, briefly clutching at his partly-decayed elbow. "Shigaraki needed all five fingers for his Quirk to take effect."

"Meaning Tennyson cut down his destructive potential to half with that Nagant-tier shot earlier…" Snipe continued. "Then temporarily down to zero."

And then Gwen sent Shigaraki in Kirishima's direction with a well-placed karate kick, before turning back towards the Nomu. She quickly threw up a barrier to block its next punch, but it was clearly too fast- or she too late- to properly block the attack, and was sent down to the ground as the Nomu's fist broke through her barrier, prompting a collective wince from the faculty.

Gwen rolled for a few meters before she drove a mana-pole into the ground and dragged herself back to her feet, as Shigaraki dodged a couple of attempts by Kirishima to punch him before disappearing through a portal and reappearing behind Gwen for a third time…

Only for Bakugo, with one of his forearm-worn grenadier bracers missing, to blast in from out-of-frame, reach into Kurogiri's core and driving him down to the ground in one quick motion.

As Shigaraki grabbed at his hair with his bloody half-hand, his rage visibly overflowing from him, the unheard sound of something out-of-frame attracted the attention of all- Gwen, Todoroki, Bakugo, Kirishima, Shigaraki, even the Nomu looked up- as, faster than even the cameras could pick up, All Might dashed into the central plaza and sent the Nomu flying into the Flood Zone with one uppercut.

Cementoss let out a breath.

"Good." He nodded, more to himself than anyone. In the footage, everyone could see All Might's mouth moving, and a couple of the students at the edge of the central plaza making breaks for the exit.

"Exactly as I said they should in there." All Might remarked. "You guys were on the way, along with police and EMTs. Though not everyone went immediately."

"Oh boy, I wonder who was among those that didn't go immediately…?" Midnight muttered, her eyes flicking from All Might's muscled form in the footage to Gwen, a couple of paces away.

And sure enough, as the Nomu erupted from the Flood Zone, water cascading off its dark skin as it launched itself forward towards All Might, throwing a powerful punch at the top hero that he met with a punch of his own, Gwen, Todoroki, Kirishima and Bakugo were the only ones still in frame, though they- along with Shigaraki and Kurogiri- were send skidding and stumbling backwards from the shockwave alone. Even the camera capturing the event shook a bit from the force of it.

"She offered to stay as backup." All Might explained, when a couple of the staff turned towards him with curiosity. "Honestly, the way she was looking after I told her to leave, I was a bit worried she was gonna stay anyway."

"Wouldn't have been the first time today." Present Mic remarked, side-eyeing Aizawa as the footage continued. Once Gwen, Todoroki, Kirishima and Bakugo left the frame, the room at large let out a collective sigh of relief as the Symbol of Peace went to work completely unrestrained.

Punches exchanged at lightning speed, ended with a particularly forceful one from All Might that sent the Nomu spinning and rolling across the facility. As Aizawa quickly switched camera angles, trying to keep up with the progression of the fight, All Might had pushed the Nomu off of him with enough force to send it into the air, jumped up then came down on it with enough force to send it through the ground, kicked it up again, jumped up again, then threw it back into the ground with enough force to send all cameras in the facility shaking around again.

"Oh, that's what the mini-earthquake I felt outside was." Hound Dog mused, to no-one in particular. No-one paid the remark much mind, though, as All Might wasn't done. As the Nomu landed so hard on the ground it bounced up into the air again, unable to do anything from its position, All Might landed on the ground right in front of it, and hit the creature with such a powerful uppercut that the bioengineered thing practically EXPLODED off of his fist.

"Did you really have to go THAT hard with whatever that thing was, All Might?" Power Loader asked, almost jokingly.

"As a matter of fact, Maijima, I did." All Might replied, rubbing at one of his fists with his other hand. "Tennyson had theorized once I got down there that it could absorb the impact of physical strikes, and as I confronted it, I found her theory to be correct. So the only way to beat it…"

"Was to overwhelm that absorbing ability." Nezu finished. "Quite under…"

He trailed off, blinking at what the footage was showing now. A couple of seconds after All Might had sent the Nomu flying, the camera angle that Aizawa had most recently switched to clearly showed the entire central plaza… and all the League of Villain thugs that were deposited around the edge of it an instant later.

And that wasn't an exaggeration: first there was no-one there, and in the timespan that it would take someone to blink, they were all dumped in small piles around the edge of the central plaza, in which All Might was the only one standing now.

Present Mic removed his glasses, blinking and rubbing his eyes a couple of times as he stared at the screen.

"We… we all saw that, right?"

"We did." Nezu replied. "Eraser? Let's see it again, but slowed down to 20%."

Aizawa complied, using the control panel to drag the timeline back, set the footage to a fifth of the speed, and played it again. They didn't see whatever it was that was responsible, but they DID see the order that whatever it was that entered the USJ at that second went through the various zones, going by the order in which the villains were deposited at the edge of the central plaza.

"Ruins first, Landslide, then Mountain…" Ectoplasm murmured.

"Then Conflagration, Flood and Downpour." Midnight finished. "Shota, can we see-"

Aizawa was on it before she even finished the question, rewinding the footage again and switching to a camera that more clearly showed the Ruins Zone. From the angle shown, the teachers could clearly see six or seven villains sprawled out across the simulated destroyed street, some juddering slightly as they slipped in and out of consciousness, some with distinct burn-marks across their clothes and bodies.

Then two villains disappeared from their spots on the ground. Then a heartbeat later, two more.

"How much slower can we easily get this footage?" Vlad asked, his eyes narrowing as two more villains disappeared before his eyes.

"Down to about 5%, I think." Power Loader replied. "Eraser?"

"Yup."

Aizawa slowed the footage down still further, switching to the Landslide Zone. The three villains that had ganged up on Koda- and were subsequently knocked out by Gwen- all lay motionless on the ground at a snail's pace until two of them were picked up and taken away. But this time, with the footage slowed down this much, they were able to catch something. It wasn't much- a blue and black streak about the height of an ordinary human- but it was better than nothing.

Scrubbing through the footage of each zone yielded the same sights: a blue and black blur, they really couldn't identify it beyond that, dashing through Zones Mountain, Conflagration, Flood and finally Downpour, sweeping up each and every villain in each one before moving onto the next.

Once they'd watched… whoever this was, leaving the Downpour Zone with the final villain they could find, Aizawa switched to a wide angle of the central plaza, where the blurry being left the zone, dashed through the central plaza and left…

"Right through the entrance?" Present Mic half-spoke half-gasped. "How in the hell did that happen? Don't we all-" He gestured around the table to the group of teachers at large "come in a few seconds later?"

Aizawa resumed the footage at normal speed to reveal that- indeed- all of U.A. High's finest, with Nezu clearly seen riding on Vlad King's shoulder, appeared through the entrance to the USJ facility a few seconds after the blue-and-black streak had made his exit.

"I think one of us would've noticed something coming through the entrance the opposite way to us." Ectoplasm replied. "And yet, we didn't."

"No, none of us did." Hound Dog growled in reply. "So what the hell are we looking at, here?"

"Well…" Present Mic replied, slowly. "It's gotta be a hero, right? Or at least someone on our side?"

Power Loader scratched at an idle itch on his neck, before replying.

"Probably." He replied. "I mean, didn't touch the kids outside as it came through, didn't interfere with us, only targeted villains. They're definitely against them, at least."

"Indeed." Nezu replied, mildly. "But I wouldn't assume it's that simple. How many heroes do we know of that are capable- even theoretically- of such speed?"

…

"Not many." Hound Dog growled once again, in reply.

"And among those, how many operate in Musutafu?"

…

"I dunno… one or two, last I checked?" Snipe offered.

"And do any of them wear black and blue?"

…

"No." Aizawa finished, flatly.

Present Mic leaned back in his seat, looking up at the ceiling while running a hand through his hair.

"Could be a vigilante, maybe?" he said, to the ceiling. "Unregistered? Unknown?"

"Unlikely." Vlad replied. "Untrained. And I think a vigilante that was capable of… that," he gestured to the screen. "Would have come to our attention by now."

"Well, who else could this have been, then?" Power Loader asked. "Because it definitely wasn't a student."

"Absolutely not." Aizawa agreed. "No-one in my class is capable of such speeds, not even Iida. And even if he was, he was getting checked out at the time. I saw him get cleared with no injuries myself. Most of the class weren't injured, either." He added. "Only Kaminari fried his brain with his Quirk, Midoriya broke his fingers with his," he paused, frowning slightly for a second before continuing, "and Mineta-"

"Fainted." Midnight finished. "And that's it?"

All Might let out a breath.

"That's… incredibly relieving." He spoke. "Three days of training, and no real-world experience-"

"That we know of." Midnight interjected, sharply.

A brief pause, as All Might and Midnight's eyes met.

"That we know of." All Might repeated. "But still, they adapted, worked together, held their ground against superior numbers. And they lived to continue their training… they'll all become great heroes, I'm sure of it."

"I think that's a sentiment we can all agree on, All Might." Nezu replied, nodding. "And one of the most important takeaways from this unfortunate situation… unlike our mystery speedster."

He raised a paw to his chin, rubbing it thoughtfully as he looked at the paused footage on screen, before turning back to the other teachers.

"The question of whoever this is," he spoke "is a puzzle. One for which I do not believe we yet possess all the pieces."

He looked across the room at large as he continued to rub his chin.

"It is… tempting," he continued. "To try and force a conclusion. But premature conclusions are rarely, if ever, accurate. Whoever this is, be it hero or vigilante, clearly doesn't want to be found, so I believe the best course of action to take for the time being is to hold station. To observe. To allow any remaining pieces of the puzzle to reveal themselves in time, and revisit this mystery when they do."

There was a general murmur of ascent across the conference room, before Midnight crossed one leg over the other and cleared her throat.

"Hopefully, then, we can talk about the mystery that warrants our more immediate attention." She spoke. "And given what we've seen today, I do mean immediate."

"Indeed." Cementoss replied. "Ms. Tennyson. And the question of…"

"What do we do with her?" Midnight continued. "We can't just let, well, everything we witnessed her doing today go unnoticed."

"Absolutely not." Vlad replied. "She might have disobeyed direct orders, multiple times, but-"

"But she prevented further casualties." Ectoplasm continued. "Every time she went against Eraser's orders, you could strongly argue that lives were saved as a result."

"Including yours, Sho." Present Mic remarked as he glanced at Aizawa, who didn't respond.

Nezu cleared his throat.

"Yes, there's definitely needed context to Ms. Tennyson's actions, this afternoon." He spoke. "Unless there are any reasons for the contrary that anyone wants to raise, I don't believe that any infractions that might have been committed during the incident today warrant anything in the way of disciplinary action."

Most of the teachers in the room nodded, gave murmurs of ascent and agreement almost immediately. Only one hesitated, with the eyes of all others turning to him for a couple of seconds as Aizawa seemed to visibly mull over the situation, before after a slow breath, he spoke.

"Agreed. But Nem's right: Gwen definitely needs SOME kind of attention after this."

"You're telling me." Vlad remarked. "She's operating WAY above any of your other kids, Eraser, and who knows what'll happen if she gets stronger and better alongside the others?"

"Or if, heaven forbid, she comes into danger of snapping." Midnight replied, her voice slightly lower. "Naturally talented, experienced in real-world combat to a level beyond what I think any of us are comfortable with the idea of for someone her age, she's just as likely to be as mentally there as her peers as she is… not."

"Good point." Ectoplasm nodded. "She needs observation. Guidance. Closer and more specialised than her peers."

He looked over at Aizawa and Nezu, the latter of whom had a smile tugging at his lips.

"Yes." The chimeric principal replied, swallowing and adjusting his tie a bit. "That would certainly be appropriate, given today's revelations. Perhaps not immediately, we don't want to subvert her current development too abruptly, but in time it may become necessary."

Aizawa nodded.

"Sounds fair enough to me. I'll keep an eye on her."

"I will as well." Vlad nodded.

"I think we all will." Midnight replied. "Though if there's any red flags-"

"Then they'll be addressed, as and when they come up." Nezu finished, accepting the control panel from Aizawa and using it to switch the screen off, send it back into the ceiling and switch the lights in the conference room back on. "But for now… to our next concern: the Sports Festival."

Present Mic let out a sound that came across as a mixture between a low whistle and a humourless laugh.

"After today… that's still happening, huh?"

----- -----

"Did you see the news last night?! It was SO COOL that we got a few seconds of screentime!"

"I doubt anyone would've noticed you though, Hagakure, considering you're just a pair of gloves and nothing else-"

"I HAVE A COSTUME, HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO FREAKING SAY IT?!"

Class 1-A's homeroom was buzzing more intensely than usual, the morning following the incident yesterday. It was kind of hard not to be, considering what they'd all been through not even 24 hours ago. Though not everyone had arrived yet, with four seats yet to be occupied.

"We're totally big deals, guys!" Kaminari gloated, leaning to one side of his desk to talk to Jiro. "Those news channels love us, we're practically celebrities at this point!"

"Oh, get over yourself." Jiro replied, rolling her eyes as she twirled one of her earjacks around her finger. "All they care about is that the course that pumps out Pros got attacked. Besides, if they're gonna care about any of the students, it's probably not gonna be the guy that fried his brain after one move."

"Still, it's kinda crazy, right?" Kirishima remarked, clapping Kaminari on the shoulder with a grin as he slumped back in his chair, grumbling. "I don't think any of us expected to be on the news so soon."

"You're telling me!" Ashido chimed in, from across the room. "My parents called me like fifty times while I was heading home when they caught the first airing!"

Jiro suppressed a smile.

"Yeah… mine did, too." She replied. "Mom was asking if I was planning on getting attacked by villains every week now."

A couple of snorts of laughter from Sero and Kirishima followed, while at the back of the room, Yaoyorozu straightened up in her seat a bit.

"I doubt the faculty are as excited about this whole situation as we are, though." She said. "Even if we all made it out and got screentime because of it, every one of us still could've died."

There was a choked whimper from Mineta, directly in front of her.

"Indeed." Tokoyami murmured, from diagonally in front and to her right. "Fame born of chaos is rarely a blessing."

"How many times did you practice that in the mirror this morning, dude?" Sato asked, from his spot a couple of places to Yaoyorozu's right.

Tokoyami did not respond… which in and of itself, was response enough.

Right then, the door flew open, and Iida came rushing in, making a beeline for the podium.

"EVERYONE, MORNING HOMEROOM IS ABOUT TO BEGIN! I MUST INSIST THAT YOU ALL-!"

As soon as he got a chance to actually look at those of his classmates that were there, he stopped mid-hand-chop.

"Uhh… you're the only one here that's standing, Rep!" Sero called out, as Iida stiffened and adjusted his glasses before glancing at the door, which slid open again.

"Ah… yes. Very good. Apologies… for…"

He trailed off as he looked over at who was standing on the other side, and as she stepped in, the rest of the class practically took a collective intake of breath.

Gwen had barely taken two steps into the classroom, making to drop her bag under her desk and sit down before-

"HEY, CLASS QUEEN!"

Ashido leapt from her chair, practically launching herself past Aoyama and skidding to a stop just short of tackling Gwen outright.

"You were INSANE yesterday!" she cried, her eyes practically sparkling. "We saw- or heard- everything, and- like-"

"HOW do you get to that level?!" Hagakure leapt to her feet with such force that her chair was sent skidding back into Bakugo's desk, prompting a yell of "WHAT THE HELL, INVISIBITCH?!" from the explosive blond that nobody paid attention to. "I've never seen anything like it!"

Gwen blinked, surprised by how quickly both girls had jumped up on her like that, but let out a breath.

"Morning." She greeted the pair of them, a little amused despite herself.

Directly behind her seat as she moved to sit down, Kaminari reached over and tugged his desk back an inch or two, to give his classmate a little more space. She heard the scrape of metal on the floor, looked up to meet his eyes. The electrical golden-blond boy swallowed, leaning back slightly in his chair in an attempt to look relaxed.

"Hey."

He gave what he probably thought was a laid-back nod, but it wasn't. Not even close.

Gwen could see the slight tension in his posture, that was more than enough to give him away.

"Hey." She returned, shifting her chair back as she looked over the room, met Midoriya's eyes. His fingers were bandaged, and he'd perked up the instant Gwen entered the room. He didn't say anything, simply offering a slightly-trembling nod, that she returned.

Right behind him, Mineta practically shrank in his chair, eyes locking onto Gwen for a fraction of a second before he deliberately averted them.

Further back and to the left, Todoroki watched her from his seat, his expression unreadable.

As Ashido and Hagakure returned to their seats, along with Iida taking his, Gwen took hers as the door slid open once again.

"Morning, class."

Just as quickly as they'd gotten up, Ashido and Hagakure dashed back to their seats as Aizawa stepped through the open door. Iida inclined his head to the homeroom teacher before returning to his seat as well.

Right behind Aizawa, Uraraka slipped into the room, her eyes flicking over to where Gwen was sat before she quickly took her seat, one behind Iida. As everyone settled down, Aizawa took to the podium, looking out across the class, his eyes flicking to the one seat in the room that remained unoccupied.

"First things first. You'll notice that Asui isn't here… she won't be, for a couple of days. Taking time at home to recover from the events of yesterday."

That settled heavily on the class. Their general impression of Asui was that she was a level-headed and collected girl, moreso than most of the heroes-in-training sat in the room. Though everyone had either heard about- or witnessed firsthand- what had almost happened to her during the events of yesterday, so her being more affected than everyone else?

Not surprising. At all.

"Which are under investigation." Aizawa continued. "You won't have to worry about that side of things… but you will be involved."

There was a collective straightening from the class.

"In place of your hero training today," he said, "You'll be filling out formal statements of your experiences during the incident yesterday, for the benefit of us staff, and the police. Ms. Midnight and I'll be walking you through it. And one more thing…"

Aizawa's tone didn't change, nor did his expression, but something in the air shifted as he looked out across the room, picking out each and every one of them with his eyes as he spoke.

"If any of you feel the need to talk about what happened, or how it affected you, then my door's always open. And if I can't make time, then Midnight and Hound Dog have also offered their services. Because…"

He exhaled softly through his nose, and rose a hand to rub at one of his eyes.

"What happened yesterday... never should've happened. No-one expects children like you to have to deal with a villain attack less than a week into starting here, and we should've been more prepared to prevent such an attack from happening. So, on behalf of the school…"

For a couple of seconds, he inclined his head to the seated students at large.

"…I'm sorry."

There was silence for the next few seconds. Some of the kids shared looks between each other, not exactly sure what to do or say in response. But before anyone could do or say anything, Aizawa straightened up and continued.

"However. There's something that, along with us staff figuring out measures to prevent this from happening again, there's something that you can also take away from this event- unfortunate as it was: despite facing death, you didn't break. Instead, you adapted. Worked alongside each other to survive against opponents with advantages in numbers AND experience. That matters."

Iida straightened a little in his seat, more than he already was.

Kirishima's grip on his desk tightened slightly.

Jiro's breath hitched slightly as she paused her jack-twirling tic.

Even Bakugo looked like he was paying serious attention to what Aizawa was saying.

"I don't say this often to a class," Aizawa continued. "So, take pride in the fact I'm proud of you- all of you- for how you conducted yourselves yesterday. Seriously. But don't take this as a free invitation to get comfortable."

Gwen let out a quiet breath. There was the proverbial other shoe, she thought to herself as she shifted a bit in her chair.

"Because now we know what you're capable of. And more importantly, you do." Aizawa spoke, his gaze sharpening. "Under pressure, in a real situation. And that means expectations change. So going forward, you can expect to be pushed harder than we already had planned for you."

The room, at large, stilled.

"No more treating this like practice. No more assuming you have time to figure things out on the fly. We're going to make sure that what you pulled off at the USJ wasn't a one-time thing. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" the room, at large, chorused back at him.

Though as they spoke, some of the class members were sneaking glances at one particular student, who it almost felt like Aizawa was subtly aiming his whole speech at.

The particular student in question- the Ashido-proclaimed 'class queen'- didn't react from her seat at the front of the class. She didn't shift, she simply looked forward as she'd been doing ever since Aizawa walked in.

But for a fraction of a second, it looked like Aizawa had shifted his gaze towards her, but it only lasted for an instant before he brought his hands together, attracting everyone's attention again.

"Good. Moving onto other matters… like the U.A. Sports Festival."

----- -----

I must admit, it is fun to see the Pro-Heroes of this dimension try to put together what we already know. You might call it dramatic irony.