36

Chapter 36

Chapter Text

"Haaa man, this week has been aching my brain…" Kirishima groaned. Peter chuckled a bit as he walked alongside the red-haired boy from the bus drop off lot. School was going slow on Saturday, as it was a study period and most of the General Studies students were at home. But for those in the Hero Course, they had access to the facilities to train for the Practical Final Exam. For this exam, Peter and Kirishima had agreed to have their studying times at Momo's house in order to practice and stretch their legs, as it were.

Speaking of which, Peter had been floored upon seeing Momo's estate before the rest of the gang had arrived. Momo was there waiting for him and the two hashed out a proper schedule going with two study periods, a break in-between, and a movie night!

"Least those movies we saw last night were rad in their own right! That Ripley was one helluva man...ly woman!"

"Yeah, Ripley is darn cool. Hagakure was in front of me, but I could hear her squeaking a lot during the two movies. Alien and Aliens were awesome." Peter replied. He was glad that Mina's selection for movie night won out via a raffle Momo had made since he was able to see their reactions. Hagakure, Kaminari and Sero clearly weren't into horror flicks as much as Ashido was.

"Wonder why it was two we saw…" The redhead mused as he crossed his arms. "I mean, I wanna know what happens next! I heard there was a good nine other movies in the Alien franchise and-"

"You don't wanna know." Peter cut him off, making his companion turn around.

"But, Ripley and Newt and Hicks. They were on the ship and-"

"You don't. Wanna know." Peter said with a curt grin.

"...Oh."

"Moving on to more important things, hit me with the pairs in the DNA Code." Kirishima's face fell.

"Oh come on Ace, you can't pull that on me! I just got the theorem stuff down!" He whined.

"Our science test is Monday. Gotta be prepared." Peter patted him on the shoulder as the two got up to the main level and began to walk through U.A.'s halls towards the locker rooms. They could hear the bustle upstairs of the Juniors and Seniors taking early Exams.

"Oh! Yaomomo!" Kirishima gawked in surprise as Momo was standing at the door of her locker room, and in her hero costume as well. Guess she was here for some training too! "Here for some training?"

"I am. And I see that Parker is teaching you on the basics of molecular sciences? I could have sworn I heard something about DNA down the hall." Momo mused.

"Y-Yeah," Peter said, gingerly scratching the back of his head, "I was about to teach him about the DNA strands again. You know, elementary biology stuff."

"Elementary for you maybe! I'm still trying to memorize their names!" The redhead wailed. "Like, there's Adidas-"

"Adenine." Peter corrected.

"Thymoose."

"Thymine." Followed by Momo.

"Cytosis."

"Cytosine." Peter again.

"And Guacamole!"

"Guanine." Finished up the black-haired beauty, and Kirishime blushed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Relax dude." Peter patted him on the back. "We're here to help." He turned to Momo. "You going to Battle Center Beta?"

"I am. Although, I was hoping to find someone from Class A here, and thankfully you two are the first ones I've met. If you can hang on for just a moment." Momo went back into the girls' locker room, and was back out in several moments with a foil-wrapped item in both hands.

"Oh?" Peter blinked.

"Open it up!" Momo exclaimed happily, beaming as she handed them over to Peter and Kirishima. The red-haired youth and the American complied and perked up.

"A rice ball?" Peter asked, seeing… a fried egg of sorts. Or what could be a fried egg? Inside the seaweed wrap was something that was egg-shaped. It had the whites and the yellow yolk and everything!

"Yes, my family cook helped me make them!" Peter and Kirishima looked back at each other.

Hopefully her cooking skills weren't like her mom's… or she got a lot of help.

The redhead seemed to have the same thought going through his head as well.

The two of them took a bite, and their eyes lit up.

"Momo-san, these are great!" The girl blushed at the praise, looking to the side.

"Yeah!" Kirishima exclaimed as he chomped away at it. "Props to the cook!"

"T-Thank you. I was nervous on how my first foray into cooking would turn out, but I'm glad you like it so much! Trust me." She laughed. "I remember how bad my Mother's cooking was. I hope this makes up for that gaffe!"

Peter and Kirishima as one gave a thumbs-up. "All's forgiven." Kirishima said with a full mouth as he finished scarfing it down.

"You're good." Peter swallowed before he spoke. "Thanks for the breakfast."

"Well, we can go to the Battle Center together." Momo beamed. "After I put away some of the onigiri. If I see the others, I'll be sure to hand them over today, as I know they will want to be here either to study or train."

"I can hit them up in the group text." Peter raised a hand. "Tell 'em you got breakfast. And it's not shepherd's pie with…"

Momo winced, but nodded. "Yes… with fried egg, vinegar, sardines and Mahi…" She then shook her head. "W-Well, don't let me keep you waiting."

"Yeah, let's get dressed and onto training Ace!" Kirishima grinned as he walked into the locker room.

"Already sent the message." Karen spoke in Peter's ear as the brown-haired boy nodded before following his red haired friend inside to get changed.

(X)

Several years ago, Tenya had read an expression.

When a man changed, familiar sights were subsequently seen through different eyes.

He always appreciated it when it came to works of fiction, but it was another feeling entirely when he felt it in person.

Never before had these hallowed halls felt as they did now. Even with no one in the hallways, all of the students confined to their homeroom classes for the morning, it felt different... more peaceful. And Tenya has always been on who was studious and preferred the rigid and familiar. The comfort of protocol.

Tenya didn't know why, but he was thankful for the feeling of something different, as nebulous as it was.

He arrived at Principal Nezu's door, the Mousy Principal's face carefully blank as Tenya entered.

"Thank you for having me on such short notice, sir," The blue-haired boy said, bowing deeply.

"Of course Iida- kun."

He paused.

"I trust you've reached your decision?"

Tenya felt something heavier settle in his chest. That feeling of doubt needling away at him as it had for the last few days. Except, with that doubt, came a few memories.

Yaoyorozu talking with him, the mouse before him giving him a second chance. On top of that… after things had cooled down.

He had talked with his brother again.

Things weren't perfect, and Tenya feared they never would be. But at the very least, they managed to talk.

And because of that, the doubt still remained. No matter the feeling that he could get from Yaoyorozu, even stepping into this room still felt like an insult to someone else. Someone he didn't know, but knew that was more deserving.

"I am… willing to try," Tenya said, his voice cautious.

The tone alone made that feeling of guilt grow in his chest. Where was the conviction? The energy and the promise that came with the Plus Ultra saying?

He didn't have it.

He said exactly what he was thinking, but even that felt insignificant.

Nezu nodded once.

"I see, that answer isn't exactly what I hoped to hear, but I am thankful to hear it nonetheless."

Tenya nodded, and the Principal leaned forward on his desk, a kind smile on his face.

"Give it time," Nezu said, "The battle within will rage for some time, but I know that you've taken a step towards victory."

"Yes sir," Tenya said.

"Now," the principal said, leaning back into his perky tone, "I believe that you have an exam that you best get to."

"Yes sir," Tenya repeated, bowing once more.

Turning around, pushing open the principal's door felt easy. A relief, given that the next obstacle would be much more daunting.

His feet guided him through the halls till he stood in front of the doors of classroom 1-A.

He took a deep breath. Whatever he felt when he opened these doors, he would get through this test, and others like it.

He could do that much.

Pushing aside the doors, Tenya felt himself immediately become the center of attention. At his desk, Mr. Aizawa raised a single curious brow, even while the rest of his features screamed of annoyance.

He wasn't the sight that stole the show for Tenya.

Izuku and Ochako turned positively radiant upon seeing him again.

And Yaoyorozu looked exceedingly happy as well.

So he smiled, and it felt natural. The action was cut off when Aizawa-sensei cleared his throat.

"Iida," Aizawa said in a matter-of-fact tone, "You're late."

"Forgive me Sensei, I needed to configure several matters with the Principal-"

"That's nice," Aizawa said, waving his sentence off, "Your test is set up on your desk, you don't get extra time for being late, so get to it."

He paused halfway through the motion of stepping into his sleeping bag.

"That goes double for everyone else, you should be a quarter of the way done by this point."

That statement got several curious eyes to slam back to their test. Though, Tenya did manage to catch Midoriya waving at him, and even Parker gave him a small nod as he crossed over to his desk. Yaoyorozu smiled, nodding as he got to his seat.

… His desk.

No words could describe the feeling that overcame him when he saw that it was exactly the same as it once was. The only difference was a test set atop it, which would be a challenge to complete.

But sitting down, with a pencil in his hand, the familiar motions of writing out the math equations and the scientific theories came back to him. He wrote and wrote, like everyone else around him.

And eventually, that guilt started to lessen.

(X)

The next few days consisted of nothing but exams.

For Peter, the math and science exams were a breeze, and he was able to leave early. He would have fine-tuned his suit with Mei, but she had her own exam in the Support Department. Peter fully believed that the mad inventor would pass, so long as she remembered that she had an exam in the first place…

He spent his time largely studying with Karen and going over History and Japanese, and the subjects made Peter grind his teeth. Karen had no problem iterating history lessons and synopsis she could find on the web, but it was up to Peter to retain them. He was never really a history buff, but to learn centuries of history that he still hadn't even reached the tip of was aggravating. As well as the intricacies of Katakana, Hiragana and Kanji in Japanese. Yu helped, giving a fresh perspective, but he had to stay for the entirety of the exam period to complete them both.

English was simple. It was his native tongue and he had no issue with it.

Of course, Karen herself would not help Peter on any of the exams, citing a 'Academic Safeguard' installed in her system so that the wall crawler wouldn't have an AI cheating for him.

Before long it was Thursday, and Peter was leaving the locker room dressed in his Spider-Man suit. "Web Cartridges set?" He asked.

"All clear." The displays of his web ammunition were at full. All systems green. Vitals good. Peter grinned as he walked out, seeing the other students walking on ahead.

"On the bus." Aizawa said while leading his students out of the hallway, and before them was a bus. "We're going to the Testing Center now." Peter nodded as all of his fellow classmates lined up.

"Maaaan… Why can't they post the grades yet, the suspense is killing meeeee~" Ashido whined as they began to get on the bus.

"Don't you feel confident that you passed?" Kirishima asked. He flexed, grinning. "I feel great! I gave it my all!"

"I know I did too! I learned a lot under Yaomomo and Parker, but I wanna know ASAP so I can get on with it and think of the camp!" Ashido implored.

"If I were you," Aizawa mentioned. "I'd focus more on the Practical Exam than your written exams right now. Move along." The black-haired man mused as the pinkette perked up.

"I'm sure you did great Ashido." Peter called out as they got on the bus and he took his seat by the window. "Keep your head up." The girl dressed in the tie-dye purple and green outfit turned his way and nodded.

"Thanks, Parker. I learned a lot under you and Yaomomo over the last week. You two are natural teachers!" Peter blushed under his mask.

"Well.. I just imparted on you what I know is all." He said, looking to the side, feeling someone sit beside him. "H-Had some good teachers in my life."

"And help from yours truly." Karen whispered, taking in some pride.

"Of course. You too." Peter whispered.

"Who are you talking to?" Came a voice and the young hero turned, finding Izuku right next to him with a curious glance.

…

Did he just hear Karen?

"Umm, come again?" Peter asked, his eyes a little wider than usual.

"I could have sworn I heard a feminine voice speak in English, and you just did so too." Izuku mentioned as he sat with his hands in his lap.

He did! Cripes!

The other students were filing in, game faces on many as they were ready for the Practical Final.

"I-Uhhh…" Peter stammered. "J-Just talking to myself," He said in Japanese. "I mean, I'm sure Ashido had some good teachers too! Hehe!" 'I made no sense right there. Fudge.' He thought to himself.

Words appeared over Peter's HUD. 'I'll be quiet for now.'

Izuku titled his head. "If you say so…" The green-haired boy replied.

Soon the last student filed in, as Peter could see Momo sitting beside Jirou up front and Aizawa took his place by the driver's seat. The automated bus started up and they were on the road, most of the class sitting in silence outside of a few whispers.

Peter leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes. 'I wonder what the Practical will be… Has to be Hero stuff if we're in our costumes.' He mused to himself. He then heard muttering beside him as he opened an eye, seeing Izuku whisper to himself and using a finger to write on his gloved palm.

"Will our exam be fighting the teachers, or battling ourselves? Or will there be additional robots? The possibility of bringing in alumni from U.A. too is not off the table so what would Aizawa be planning?" Izuku wondered to himself as Peter let off a small chuckle.

"Could be anything. Just got to keep an open mind Midori." Peter spoke, earning Izuku's gaze.

"Oh, well...that is true, but I'm trying to wonder what we may face. Anything from Robot Villains to fighting teachers or even ourselves and what not."

"Best thing we can do is just deal with it." Peter shrugged.

"Yeah, guess we're gonna have to think this up on the fly." Izuku uttered to himself.

"Oh, there's the entrance to the Battle Center!"

Whispers were more hushed as the bus came to a stop.

"We're here." Aizawa stated.

"Alright everyone, first rows out front. Single file. Let's do this quick." Momo said as she stood up, taking on her role as Class Representative well. Each student left the bus one by one before they were deposited before the entrance gate into Battle Center Beta.

Before them stood the teachers who had taught them throughout the year. Aizawa walked over to join the row of Snipe, Cementoss, Midnight, Thirteen, Ectoplasm, Power Loader and Present Mic. Above them was a giant electronic billboard of sorts as well with U.A.'s logo on it.

"Now then, your Practical Exam will begin shortly." Aizawa declared as Class 1-A stood at attention. "The grading criteria of this exam will be different from most, with a pass or fail requirement. And, if some of you did your homework, I bet you asked your upperclassmen on what past Final Exams had entailed, right?"

… Didn't think of that. Peter shrugged.

"It's gonna be a Robot Rumble! Like facing an army of Zero Pointers!" Kaminari declared confidently.

"A free for all fight to the finish?" Sato inquired.

"Not quite my dear students!" A voice spoke out, and from behind Cementoss was Principal Nezu! "You see, Aizawa here has decided to change the Exams from past years! In other words, something completely different!"

A groaning sound came from the Electric User. So much for getting his hopes up.

"I must say Eraserhead, Class 1-A here has been forcing you to be quite creative haven't they? You were the one who made the War of the Flags event for the Festival after all." The mousebear said as he looked up to the shaggy-haired man who gave the slightest of shrugs.

Aizawa turned his attention onto the students. "Due to the growth you all have had here in U.A. and at your internships, combined with the external factors, I felt it appropriate to change the exam's formatting in this case." He tapped his watch, and the billboard flashed, displaying three lines with text in them.

HOSTAGE CRISIS.

VILLAIN CHASE.

DISASTER CRISIS.

"Our Practical today will be three seperate simulations, all of which will be emulating events you all will encounter in your careers as Pros." Aizawa stated as the class buzzed with questions.

"Hostages? Disaster?" Sero said aloud.

"Bring on the villains! I can take 'em!" Kirishima declared.

"Of course, the teachers you see before you will be taking part in this simulation. Some of whom will be playing certain roles. They may aid you, or may fight against you or something else entirely different." Aizawa then smirked. "Plus, let's say that we have a little surprise or a dozen in each scenario."

"Hang on," Izuku spoke aloud. "People taking part in… a hostage situation and a disaster? Not robots?"

"Who will they be?" Uraraka asked, while Aizawa let off a soft, almost sadistic chuckle.

"That's for me to know and you to find out. Now, I myself won't be taking part in each exam, as I will be on the ground with you being your Proctor. How you pass will be up to me. If you meet my standards and go beyond, and fulfill the objectives of each simulation, you'll pass. If not, you'll fail. I trust I don't need to elaborate further?" No questions, save for a raised hand from… "Bakugo."

"We have twenty people in our class." The blonde bomber spoke out as Peter didn't look his way. "And three simulations. I take it we aren't going to be dividing this up evenly?"

"Correctomundo! For each simulation you'll be part of a team!" Present Mic spoke out. "As for which team, well they've already been decided by us!" He raised a hand. "Now let's see those teams! And-"

Snap.

Peter coughed, looking away as he grit his teeth under his mask, his body tightening up.

"heeeere are your teams and teachers!" Present Mic declared as the names were now on display besides the exam criteria.

HOSTAGE CRISIS. Bakugo Katsuki, Todoroki Shoto, Kaminari Denki, Asui Tsuyu, Hagakure Toru, Sato Rikido, Koji Koda. Teachers: Cementoss, Midnight and Present Mic

VILLAIN CHASE. Peter Parker, Sero Hanta, Ashido Mina, Shoji Mezo, Uraraka Ochako, Kirishima Eijirou. Teachers: Snipe, Ectoplasm, and Nezu

DISASTER CRISIS. Midoriya Izuku, Yaoyorozu Momo, Jirou Kyoka, Aoyama Yuga, Mashirao Ojiro, Tokoyami Fumikage, Iida Tenya. Teachers: All Might, Thirteen, and Power Loader

"As you can see, Battle Center Beta is our main Test Center for the first two simulations, with the U.S.J.," Aizawa stated. "Hosting the last exam. As stated earlier, the teachers will be playing certain roles within the simulation. What they entail will not be revealed until the exam begins."

Chasing after a bad guy? Should be easy, although the teachers involved would be Snipe, Ectoplasm and Principal Nezu himself. Snipe supposedly could shoot any projectile and never miss, while Ectoplasm could make clones. Nezu was, according to his profile page, the smartest creature in the world.

"Hostage Team, make your way into the Battle Center's main square. I'll be joining you shortly." Aizawa ordered. "Teachers, get to your positions and notify our volunteers helping us in this exam." He said. "Rest of Class A, go to the same room you watched the Battle Trials in when you first arrived. You'll find Recovery Girl there."

"Roger that!" Mic saluted, grinning.

Cementoss took a deep breath. "I hope I am up for this… I'll give it my all to ensure your students get the best experience possible."

"Nervous?" Midnight smirked as she looked up at the Cement Man. Peter didn't hear them as they made small talk going on ahead. Bakugo, Todoroki and the others went on ahead as well.

"Good luck Asui!" Izuku called out.

"Thanks, and call me Tsu!" The frog girl replied as she hopped along with Hagakure and Koji.

Okay, feeling better now.

"Peter-san, the group?" Momo said, and Peter perked up, seeing the rest of the class going on ahead. She and Izuku were close by.

"Oh, yeah. Spaced out." He shook his head. "Sorry."

(X)

Shoto walked with the group as they followed the arrows leading deeper into Battle Center Beta, his peers talking amongst themselves.

"So we get to save hostages huh? Sounds exciting!" Hagakure chirped as the floating pair of gloves spoke with Asui.

"Knowing the teachers, I bet they're gonna have to come up with some way for us to think super hard." Kaminari complained, walking beside Sato.

"Let's not focus on thinking super hard for a while. My head is still hurting after all those exams."

"Penny for your thoughts, Todoroki? Got any ideas on what kinda situation we will be placed in to save hostages?" Hagakure asked, the dual-haired boy feeling her eyes on him.

"Yeah, you're pretty smart and have a big know-how on hero stuff considering your family. What do you think?" Kaminari inquired. Shoto was quiet, his brain searching for an answer.

"At this point, a hostage situation can be anything from a stickup to a heist. So it's best not to dwell on that, and…" He remembered that the teachers themselves would be taking part as well. That's right, they may be foes in this exam. "Focus on who might be the villains." He noticed Bakugo look back at him from the front.

"Good point… If it's Midnight we're in serious trouble, considering her Quirk." Sato said. "Can't she knock anyone out with her pink mist stuff?"

"And worst yet, it has a more immediate effect on boys. And they're the majority here, no offense." Asui added.

"None taken," Shoto replied. "Present Mic's Quirk is called Voice, which allows him to raise his vocal pitch to high levels. That means if we face him in a frontal assault, we'll get caught up in his soundwaves."

"Ribbit… I remember going to a concert once with my Dad when I was young." Asui grimaced as she rubbed her ears. "He took us to the front row and the rock band was so loud…"

"Mic will make that sound like a whisper. Better be ready to lose your eardrums." Bakugo spoke unsympathetically. "Aizawa said that Recovery Girl is nearby, so breaking some bones may be par for the course here."

"Yeah, don't giant stereos fire out the audio in a cone or something? Ohhh, I wish Jirou was hereeee…" Hagakure added.

"She would be able to counter Mic with her own Earphone Jack." Kaminari had his hands behind his head. "Knowing Aizawa, he probably had that in mind, didn't ya teach?" He turned his head, seeing Aizawa follow behind and not even giving a word. "Why so serious?" He uttered, rolling his eyes as he focused back in front.

"That means our best bet is Cementoss!" Sato smashed his fist into his hand. "With my Sugar Rush, I can take out his stone walls!"

"That's right!" Hagakure chimed in. "And Bakugo, with your Explosions combined with Todoroki's fire and ice, we can handle Cemen-"

"Don't be stupid." Bakugo cut off the invisible girl as he looked back, his ruby-red eyes glaring. "Knowing Aizawa back there." Shoto turned, seeing Aizawa follow the group in silence. "Regardless of any teacher he throws at us, he's going to counter each and every one of us. And I'm guessing it's right up there." Bakugo rounded the corner as Shoto followed, and true enough, down the street within the Battle Center was a collection of people, mostly Ectoplasm clones with big blue vests over their trench coats. Police Uniforms?

"Hey we have some Ectoplasm clones to help!" Kaminari said gleefully before his face fell. "Who's that guy?" He asked, noting a man walking through the crowd of clones. He was in a beige trenchcoat of sorts.

"Yes, I asked the police station to supply me with some help for this exam. The police chief there was kind enough to assist me himself this morning for this specific exercise." Aizawa spoke up as he was just behind the group. The group of people were in front of what seemed to be a bank, which proved that this would indeed be a Heist-turned-Hostage Crisis.

"Thankfully this will be just under an hour of my time." Said the average looking man as he finished Aizawa's thoughts. "These the students?" He asked, eyes looking over the students before he coughed. "Pardon me, heroes?"

"In training." Aizawa finished for him. "And yes. Now, students." He ordered, and everyone turned around. "Here is your prompt for this exam. As you can see, this bank has been seized by villains, with hostages inside." He stood with his hands in his pockets as his red eyes looked over each of the students. "Your mission is simple: find a way to save all of the hostages, and neutralize the villains. Depending on how you fulfill this objective will result in passing or failing this exam. Some of you have taken part in situations where civilians were in danger." Shoto shifted uncomfortably. "And all of you have confronted villains during your time here at U.A., for better or for worse. Use what you know, share with your comrades and adapt on the fly. You cannot ask me for advice, I will simply ignore you. However," He gestured. "Police Chief Fukuda Botan here will be happy to assist you."

"Indeed." Fukuda spoke with a confident grin. "We're happy to see you all have arrived on the scene, Heroes. We have a situation and-"

Suddenly there was an outburst of loud boisterous laughter that interrupted him, and the students turned towards the Electronic Billboard above the bank as it frizzled in and out. Shoto's heart tightened. Wait, it sounded similar… could it be All Might?!

"FOOOOOOOLS!" Came a voice as the screen flickered to life and there on the screen was… Cementoss wearing groucho glasses and a top hat. "I SEE THAT YOU HAVE COME TO THWART ME AND MY MINION'S PLANS! NOT TODAY, FOR I-"

Kaminari burst out laughing while Hagakure stifled laughter, the rest of the students gaping at the ridiculous disguise Cementoss had donned. "He just put that on and that's it!" Kaminari bent over in raucous laughter. Chief Fukada gave their teacher a sideways glance that made Aizawa roll his eyes.

"I… wait, what was my line again…" He looked to the side. "Oh, that!" He coughed into his hands. "FOR I! ROCKMASTER, WILL ESCAPE THIS VAULT WITH ALL OF ITS RICHES!"

"So it's Cementoss, huh? Bring it on!" Sato pulled out his sugar shaker, thumb ready to remove the top.

"OHHH?! HEROES HAVE COME! DRAT! CURSES! BUT, WE HAVE THE UPPER HAND!" The camera panned over, and there on the floor against the bank counter was…

Present Mic in casual attire… Midnight in a scandalous looking business formal outfit… which zoomed away, blurring… more people? "No no no go pan over them all! Slowly!" Cementoss' voice said.

"But her attire is so… I can't bear to watch…" Came a meek voice over the other end. It was male of sorts, young too, but not one who Shoto recognized.

"Who is that?" Bakugo growled, eyes narrowed as Shoto stepped up.

"A surprise Aizawa placed in there no doubt." He deduced. Which meant an unknown enemy, with an unknown quirk.

"Still… Cementoss looks so stupid pfftahahaah!" Kaminari added as he pointed at the concerned stone man. Shoto heard a snort and turned, seeing the police chief stifling laughter.

Aizawa saw Fukuda smirking up a storm. "You're not helping."

"Sorry, you should have picked better Eraser." He smiled with a shrug, causing the black-haired man to sigh hard through his nose as he pinched the bridge of it. "Oh, I needed this break. Thanks."

"You're not welcome."

The camera's focus returned to a snickering Midnight, who perked and then slumped, groaning and was… writhing very eagerly. The moans coming from her...

"Oh jeez..." Sato added, pink on his cheeks..

"Oh yes~" Kaminari giggled with a grin.

"Pervs." Hagakure huffed.

"I think I hear Tokoyami screaming." Asui added.

"You do? I don't-" Kaminari was cut off as the sound of an indignant roar came through, it was light and muted, but it was there.

"Yeah I hear it."

"What the hell!" Bakugo yelled out, gaining everyone's attention as the camera panned over and…

(X)

In the Observation Room, Peter Parker felt something.

Spider senses ting-

"IS THAT MY MOM/DAD!?"

The screams of pure horror made his ears ring, and he was certain some inner ear function had ruptured or something because holy hell, the pair of lungs on his classmates could have been a quirk in and of itself.

He leaned away, turning one eye towards Jirou and Midoriya who were both staring at the screen with open-mouthed horror.

(X)

There was a short plump woman with green hair? "Midoriya?!" Bakugo gawked. Midoriya… Wait, that's Midoriya's mother? There was another man too, one with shaggy blonde hair and punk rock clothing.

"Whoa, that's Jirou's Dad!" Kaminari's humor was gone, pointing at the screen in shock. Hmmm.. Yeah, the punk clothing did look familiar...

"Hey Aizawa!" Bakugo turned, eyes wide with anger. "What's the big idea!?"

"We needed some volunteers." Aizawa replied before he smirked. "I figured that in order to make this more of an intimate experience, I sent out a little survey to your parents' emails or gave them phone calls asking if they wanted to take part in helping their children become heroes. I say over half of them obliged." He put his hands in his pockets.

"I trust you'll be taking this far more seriously." He turned, and the dual-haired boy saw Hagakure and Kaminari shiver under his glare.

"R-Right!" Hagakure stuttered. Kaminari patted his cheeks and shook his head.

Cementoss coughed with an 'Ahem'. "AS YOU CAN SEE! I HAVE HOSTAGES THAT I WILL NOT HESITATE TO KILL UNLESS MY DEMANDS ARE MET HEROES! LET ME DEMONSTRATE TO YOU HOW SERIOUS I AM! KAIJU!"

And suddenly, tentacles lurched out, attacking the Ectoplasm clone while eliciting a fascinated look from Midoriya's mother. The tentacles looked like they belonged to a squid as they constricted him! Then they tightened… and the clone dissolved into wisps of smoke, clearly 'dead'.

"NOW!" Rockmaster yelled as he knelt down, pressing his hands against the ground as stone spears surrounded the hostages. Midoriya's mother jumped a little in surprise, but Shoto could just make out Midnight's hand holding her own for a moment. "IF MY DEMANDS ARE NOT MET WITHIN THIRTY MINUTES' TIME, I WILL KILL ALL OF THE HOSTAGES HERE! IF YOU SO DARE TRY TO ATTACK ME AND MY POWERFUL MINION KAIJU, I WILL KILL THEM ALL! I HAVE THE UPPER HAND HERE HEROES, YOU DO NOT! BWAHAHAHAHAHA-" Cementoss broke off in a coughing fit after. "Ooph… My throat. I am not good at yelli-Oh. THIRTY MINUTES! OR ELSEEEEEE!"

"Now then." Aizawa cut in, and the students turned towards him. "Your objective: Save the remaining hostages and defeat the villains, without causing any harm to the hostages or major collateral damage to the bank. You have your time limit. Your Final Exam begins now." He stepped back, hands in his pockets as the heroes in training turned towards the bank while the police officers took cover behind their cars, hands on guns as they pointed at the villains.

"Crap, he said if we go in right away he'd kill them!" Kaminari uttered. "So much for me trying to Paralyze them too, they're too close to the hostages!!"

"You had a plan?" Bakugo asked.

"Well, yeah, it was forming in my head before Cement-I mean, Rockmaster made his demands. Asui, remember the U.S.J.?"

"How can I not, ribbit?"

"Well, I was about to suggest you throw me at the bank full throttle, then I use my Quirk to stun them like we did with the villains at the Shipwreck Zone!!" Kaminari sighed. "But that's out the window…"

"That plan is fucking stupid." Bakugo growled.

"It woulda worked!"

"Maybe to give you more brain damage."

"Speaking of Kaiju, did he have some kind of Octopus Quirk or something?" Hagakure chirped up. Koda nodded. "He must be some kinda Pro Hero here to help!"

"And we don't have the time to bitch and moan." Bakugo cut him off, stepping up as he glared at the group, even rounding on him. "We got thirty minutes. So let's focus on passing this shit."

"Anyone got any ideas?" Kaminari asked, looking around. Koda shook his head before turning towards Sato.

"I have one." Shoto spoke out before the muscular boy could answer. The young man turned towards Fukuda, who was standing a distance away and watching with intrigue. "Chief, we need your help." The man perked up, his smile dropping as he got serious, obviously getting into character.

"What do you need heroes?"

"We need a map of the bank and the buildings surrounding it." Shoto pointed all around the area, pointing at the skyscrapers around the bank office. "We have to know the layout of the place, particularly any backdoors." He turned towards Asui and Hagakure.

"Which we can use to sneak in!" Hagakure said, gloves clenched as she seemed to bounce on the balls of her feet.

"I had a feeling you'd say that the moment you said map, ribbit." Asui nodded. "So me and Hagakure gotta sneak in behind the villains using the layout of the building!"

"But we need to distract them. They may be focused on us, but they will have eyes in the back of their heads, assuming they know the bank has any emergency exits or vents." Bakugo added as he stepped up. "Hey, Chief. Got a loudspeaker?" He growled, looking up at him. "And how come there's no yellow tape?" He turned his head around, looking down and then up the street past the array of cars and Ectoplasm clones.

"We don't have enough men to form a perimeter too…" Fukuda uttered. "My men are spread thin as it is."

"My gosh Toru-hime-chaaaaaan~!" Beside what seemed to be some random adults was a floating business suit and a pair of sunglasses. "Do your beeeeest!" He waved with his own pair of gloves. Shoto watched as the invisible girl promptly covered what was presumably her face.

"Oh my god, Daaaaaaad go awaaaaaaay~" She whined.

"Civilians?! Here?" Kaminari squaked.

"I mean, civilians usually gather when something is going down right?" Sato mused. Koda nodded in agreement.

Shoto bit his lip, of course there would be civilians wanting to see an exchange between heroes and villains.

"Now's not the time, dumbass." Bakugo hissed, and the group focused back on him. "Ignore the parents, right now we have a mission to do. Icy-Hot." Shoto turned towards the blonde as his heterochromatic eyes met Bakugo's intense red ones. "Make an ice wall around the area. Make a perimeter, and don't cause too much damage."

"On it," Shoto nodded as he turned towards the other boys. "Kaminari, Sato. Negotiate. Learn what our villains want and stall them. Talk to them." The blond boy perked up, looking nervous.

"Wait, you want us to negotiate?! Hey Chief Fukuda, don't you have a negotiator around here?" The officer shrugged.

"He's caught in rush hour traffic I'm afraid." He said looking at his phone. Shoto turned, seeing Aizawa still leaning against the wall, hands in pockets, eyes evaluating them all like a hawk. This was still an exam, yet this exam was designed to emulate a true situation they might have to face as heroes someday.

An Ectoplasm 'cop' clone arrived with several papers that contained blueprints, handing them to the Grenade Gauntlet-wearing hero. Bakugo knelt down and began to spread out the prints, seeing the layout of the three buildings. The two skyscrapers sandwiching the bank, and the bank itself. "Hey you. Dinosaur."

Koji jumped at being called on. "What's your name?" Bakugo demanded.

"You don't know his name?" Kaminari asked.

"Never bothered to remember."

"Okay theeere's a little bit of the old Bakugo we know." Hagakure muttered. "Was getting a little worried there."

"Preach," Kaminari added.

"Shut it dumbasses," Bakugo snarled through grit teeth before turning his attention to Koji.

The tall stocky lizard looking boy looked nervous before he made hand gestures…

"Okay, don't talk then Dinosaur." Bakugo growled as Shoto trotted away and conjured up his ice surge, sliding in front of the citizens. He ran from the back as Bakugo, Kaminari and Asui were talking and pointing at the blueprint map. He made another barricade of ice and turned back, returning to the group.

"Have a plan?" He asked. Bakugo turned back, and without a word he gave a dangerous looking affirmative smirk.

(X)

"So… is no one going to say it?" Peter asked.

The rest of his class gave him a sideways glance. Well, other than Midoryia and Jirou, the two of them hadn't so much as blinked since they saw their parents. They could have been chiseled out of stone.

"Say what Ace?" Kirishima asked, hands behind his head as he looked back at the red-and-blue suited Wall Crawler.

"Well, we got the classic villain setup. The over the top villain, the ticking clock, the race to save the people," Peter said, adding a flourish with a finger wiggle, "I'm just wondering where the theme music is."

Shoji's four arm eyes blinked at the American's suggestion.

"Are we supposed to have a theme song in these situations?" The multi-armed boy asked.

"Like some sentei theme?" Uraraka asked.

"Yes!" Peter exclaimed, "A believer in these heathen lands!" He had at least studied up on the fact that Power Rangers did indeed come from Japan, and it was called Sentai too! An entire genre of Sentai!

"You're very… enthused about the prospect, Parker-san," Momo commented.

He shrugged, "I'm kinda not, I'm just trying to see how loud I can get before Jirou and Midoriya snap out of it."

As one the rest of the class looked at the two in question. One of them was pinker than the highlights on her face, while Midoryia had been mumbling something under his breath since they got in the audience booth, he was even palm-writing.

"Is it bad that I kinda want to see how long he can go for?" Ashido asked with a half-smirk.

"Yes," Momo sighed.

(X)

Shouta kept a close eye on each of his students. His dry eye itched like crazy, but he ignored it as best he could. Blinking helped temporarily, and he was running low on eye drops already.

These were the tests that largely allowed students to pass in U.A, their actions on said field that spoke about their quality as heroes.

If accountants could be heroes, then mathematicians would be the greatest defence the world had ever seen.

So it was the basic plan coming to fruition before him that made Shouta mark a few things on his mental board. It wasn't the best plan, but having one that utilized everyone in the team to at least give some measure of support to the overall mission was something to be commended.

Such as step one, distracting the villains with two of the largest targets in the group. Kaminari and Sato practically walked up the steps to the front door of the 'bank' with a megaphone in hand. Neither was the most dangerous, that title going to Todoroki and Bakugo, but their bright colors and loud, seemingly simple personalities made for good 'negotiators.'

"Hey! Rockmaster!" Kaminari shouted into the microphone.

"YES!?" he asked, only to cough, "This voice is rather taxing, ahem, WHAT IS IT!? HAVE YOU COME TO KNEEL TO MY DEMANDS!?!"

"Pretty much yeah!" Kaminari said, Sato nodding next to him.

"HUH?! I NEVER TOLD YOU MY DEMANDS!"

"Well, you can have 'em!" Kaminari waved it off. "I mean, you want the money right? I mean, bank is right behind ya."

"MAYBE SO BUT I WANT MORE YOU FOOL! I-Oh yeah I never gave them my demands. How silly of me. Ahem." Rockmaster coughed. "I WANT ONE BILLION YEN IN CASH AT THE DOOR! AND A HELICOPTER FOR ME AND KAIJU TO ESC-" Another coughing fit broke out. "Goodness gracious… Phew… TO ESCAPE IN!"

"Well, that can be arranged! As long as the hostages aren't hurt, you're getting a chopper!" Kaminari said with a smile and thumbs-up.

"You getting all that Chief?" Sato yelled as he looked back at the crowd of Ectoplasm clones and Fukuda, who nodded as he had a phone out.

"Way ahead of you," the chief said, smirking up a storm.

Shouta blinked reflexively at the sight before him.

He… he had no words.

Apparently, neither did Cementoss, his sidekick or the hostages. A quick check of his phone and the cameras inside of the bank showed most of the occupants sharing a single confused look with one another. Midnight seemed to be whispering something into Inko's ear as well, whether it was assurance or explaining what was happening he didn't know.

"You want the riches, you can have them!" Kaminari said, his helper Sato continuing to nod along.

"...Okay?" Rockmaster said in a confused tone.

"Just give it a bit and we'll have the whole block's vault numbers ready and yours, so long as you keep the hostages safe," Kaminari yelled into the loudspeaker.

Shouta's attention snapped to Fukuda, who simply shrugged when the dry-eyed man leveled his gaze upon him.

Yeah, obviously this was total bullshit. No Chief had the authority to give that kind of information out, no matter the number of hostages involved.

How about everyone else, they still had positions to fill in this test.

At the edge of the circle, Todoroki was building ice barricades to keep the 'civilians' out of the way while things progressed, along with making them higher to prevent escape should Rockmaster and Kaiju aim to get out from the front. Bakugo was around too, shouting out obscenities that would have no sane person approaching this street. For the villains, the duo would be the biggest threats if anything went wrong for them.

Yet there they were, standing around at the edge, Bakugo from the right, Todoroki from the left. Far enough away to make it seem like they weren't involved, but close enough for either of them to launch a ranged attack on anyone or anything that got out of the bank. Not the best plan, but a workable one if nothing else.

Moving on from there, Koji was standing around aimlessly, apparently like they hadn't found a good method for him to use his quirk. Shortsighted.

That left only Hagakure and Asui.

A quick look around gave him a small green blur that landed on the roof of the bank. At the same time, there was an opening in the side that wasn't there before, and Shouta hadn't seen anyone do anything even remotely close to that end of the building.

The only problem was that they were on a timer, and with the distraction team in front, they'd put themselves on an even smaller clock. As soon as the distraction started to fail, the hostages would be in even more danger.

(X)

"Dun dun dundun dun dun dundun…" Hagakure sang a spy tune to herself as she snuck into the building. Todoroki was kind enough to make a tunnel within the ice wall for her to sneak out while abandoning her gloves and shoes. It was super cold being out in the buff! But she made do, after all she was used to it.

The invisible girl went up the stairs leading into the skyscraper next door to the bank and remembered the route in her head. "Up into the building…" She opened the door and slunk on through, running across the silent hallway of what looked like a financial corporate building's lobby. "Go to the back behind the desk…" She jogged, her feet making soft slaps along the marble tile floor as she went behind the desk, and into the employees section. "Find the backdoor through the break room…" She ran through the area once again, going through the door, but doing so carefully as she peeked her head out. No traps in the break room.

"Head out the door and into the side exit from the bank." She was not out in the open in a tight alleyway. She could see the ice from Todoroki's barrier at the other end, covering for her as she saw the door leading into the bank. "Okay!" Toru hyped herself up as she trotted over and opened the door by a crack, peeking inside.

No sound, but she took a thorough look around… seeing a tripwire with soda cans from a busted up vending machine at the entrance to the door. She stepped over it.

She tip-toed through the side room down the carpet hallway, happy to no longer hear her footsteps as she kept an eye on the ground. As she passed by an open door she peeked her head through and noticed a bunch of lasers at ground level. There were several of them, so even if she spread her legs out she'd get caught and trigger an alarm!

Only choice was to do a long jump over it! She backed away and took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. If she screwed this up, Rockmaster would kill the hostages, and the exam would be over via failure. Physical actions may not be her speciality, but… "Time to go Plus Ultra!" She whispered to hype herself up as she broke out into a sprint, jumping over the lasers and landing on the other side as quietly as she could by planting with the ball of her foot and rolling her weight onto her heel. The thump of her landing was loud in her ears but after a moment she heard nothing and breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes." She whispered under her breath.

All that physical training she took with Shoji was paying off! She trotted silently down the hall, noticing no doors or obvious traps as she got to the door, and looked through the window.

Ack! Kaiju was only a few feet away in his white cape as Cementoss responded to the distraction out front. If she opened the door, Kaiju would hear her!

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Asui peeking in from the glass roof, looking in her general direction. Since Kaiju wasn't looking at the door, Toru raised her finger and used the sun's rays. She signalled her with two faint light blinks.

Asui nodded. It was time to move! All she had to do was wait for Kaiju to be distracted and for Bakugo to make his move!

"Come on guys… let's do this!"

(X)

"WHAT IS THE DELAY!?!" Rockmaster screamed.

"Hey, you think getting safe numbers is like ordering takeout?" Sparky screamed back, "They've got to go through protocols and… stuff."

Sparky's confident smirk died a little, and there was silence on the field.

Bakugo gritted his teeth.

Idiot.

"STUFF!? WHAT KIND OF FOOL DO YOU TAKE ME FOR!?!"

There was no sound, no shift before a wave of concrete erupted out of the ground. Sugar threw a cube of sugar into his mouth as he threw Sparky clear of the wave. With a single punch, the first wave of concrete was smashed into nothing.

But it was only the first.

Suddenly, half a dozen waves crashed into the yellow boy. Sato was knocked back, but in his stupid state, the idiot didn't feel the pain that he should have when it came to half a ton of stone hitting him like a truck.

Bakugo aimed his gauntlets and fired off a few blasts. The explosions turned that concrete into fucking dust, but the waves kept coming! He needed to up the ant-wait, shit Icy-Hot was going in!

The monochrome boy slid in and unleashed a wall of ice to slow down the surge. A temporary solution, but one that let Bakugo get a sweat going.

He roared, unleashing a flurry of explosions that landed on the wall of cement like a carpet bombing. The initial wave was reduced to nothing, but unlike Katsuki, Rockmaster seemed utterly incapable of slowing down his assault.

"We need to get to him! They're gonna get the hostages!" Sparky yelled. Bakugo smirked as he took flight, loud blasts emitting from his palms. He rose up, and in those precious few seconds he got a lay of the land, even seeing the windows of the bank.

Rockmaster was up front, hands to the floor as the cement oozed under his control. Behind him, Kaiju stood in his white cape and black and white tunic. All eyes were on him. He noticed the door leading behind the bank being open…

He lifted his gauntlets up and charged, but not too fast as he stopped and aimed his hands, cupping them together..

Rockmaster looked up in surprise. Katsuki noticed the hostages behind them looking at him in awe… Midnight turned away and covered Midoriya's eyes, as did Present Mic and his fellow hostage.

"STUN GRENADE!" Bakugo yelled, and bright light emitted from his palms.

Rockmaster was caught in the flash, yelling in surprise as he stood up in shock. "Kaiju! Kill them!" Bakugo noticed Kaiju turn around, and saw his hands morph into giant lobster claws…

He smirked.

"Light Refraction!" Bakugo turned away, and the light that Bakugo gave Invisigirl was absorbed and redoubled back onto Kaiju and a recovering Cementoss, blinding them further as it seared their eyes.

"GAAAAH MY EYES"! Rockmaster yelled in agony, hands covering them as he staggered.

And leaping down with her long tongue as she broke through the glass roof, Frog swooped straight for Kaiju. With a powerful kick, she knocked him down. As Katsuki fell to the ground, he saw her burst through the window arms-first to cover her head. "Come on!" She yelled, waving her glass-riddled arm. She was covered in shards as all the hostages began running, Midoriya being led by Midnight hand in hand followed by the other dude and Present Mic.

"Gnnh… They're getting away!" Kaiju yelled.

"No you!" Invisigirl declared as she let out another burst of light in his direction, and Kaiju grunted as he swung. Invisigirl yelped as Frog's tongue grabbed Invisigirl and got her out of the way as the giant claw crashed into the desk. He sprouted more Octopi Tentacles as he fired out randomly due to his blindness. Invisigirl was pulled away as Frog hopped away with her. Even Cementoss was struck by the tentacles.

"Ouch!"

"Ack! S-Sorry Sensei."

"It's boss! And it's okay!"

"Gaaah I'm useless! S-Sorry boss!"

Had to give her credit, she came through even as she landed over by the police cars. The villains were flummoxed. Time to take them down! Rockmaster turned, glare on his disguise-laden face.

"Enouuuugh!" Rockmaster yelled, slamming his fist into the ground as cement spikes roared outside the bank towards him and the cars!

Only for a glacier of ice to appear, blocking the flow as Katsuki saw Icy-Hot off to the side slam his hand to the ground and flash-freeze it in ice…

Only for more tentacles courtesy of Kaiju to smash into the ice, shattering it and freeing Rockmaster and Kaiju.

"I'LL DESTROY THIS WHOLE CITY IF I HAVE TO!" Rockmaster declared as Bakugo landed on the ground, Icy-Hot beside him as he heard yelling. He noticed Sugar run up too, the idiot popping several sugar cubes into his mouth.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see was Sparky tending to the hostages and to… Froggy? Her arms were riddled with cuts before Katsuki focused back on the villains.

The first wave of stone rushed towards them… and Sugar roared as he let out a flurry of punches, destroying them without pause as he kept charging, Icy-Hot sliding in around him as Katsuki flew by. Kaiju's tentacle snapped to the ready, only to get slapped aside as a bird ran straight into his face.

"A bird?" Kaiju asked, slightly confused.

Suddenly, there was a flock of them, little black birds, pigeons and others squawking, chirping and flapping their wings in Kaiju and Rockmaster's faces.

"Now!" Katsuki charged, Icy-Hot sliding alongside him as Sugar charged up.

"You're miiiine!" Katsuki roared, blasting forth and rushing Kaiju.

"Waaaaaaaagh!" Sato yelled like a berserker as they broke through the door.

Kaiju was surprised for all of a heartbeat before a tentacle lashed out. Katsuki pivoted in midair with a blast, catching a surprised Kaiju off guard as he tackled him with a gauntlet bash to the head. He got on top, palms to his opponent's face.

He heard Cementoss grunt as his first wave was stopped by Sugar, with Icy-Hot taking a stance between the subdued villains, ice and fire on his arms as he was ready to attack.

"You're under arrest." Icy-Hot declared coldly. Rockmaster winced, but growled with gritted teeth.

"Don't try anything stupid, or I'll blast your face off." Katsuki grinned, palm warm as Kaiju winced. Looking at him he… he did look young. About several years older in fact with his youthful face and narrow eyes.

There was a pinging sound that echoed over the entire battle center.

"The exam is over." Said an automated female voice as everyone perked up.

"Finally." Said a voice as Katsuki turned, seeing Cementoss sigh while his voice was hoarse. Gone was the glare, and in its place, was a warm and pleased smile. "Well done students! Although, Sato… can you stop hugging me please?" He asked before coughing. "Ugh… I need water stat… and air!"

"Oh. Sowwy." Sugar slurred before he let go of the stone man and rose up. He offered a hand which the stone man graciously accepted.

"You can get off now." Said a voice as Katsuki looked down, and the nervous man's eyes narrowed… and he felt shivers down his spine.

Looking down, the boy had a hand pointed at Katsuki's chest. Did this guy let him win?

"Tch, fine. Whatever." Katsuki looked away as he got off of his opponent. The boy casually got up, dusting off his suit, as if the entire situation was just another day on the job.

Who was this guy?

"Alright then." Said a voice over the loudspeaker. "Bakugo, Todoroki, Koda, Sato, Hagakure come on down. You're going to get your grade." Aizawa stated as Katsuki stood up.

"Excellent work I say kids." Cementoss stated as he rose up, brushing himself off. "A job well done!"

Dinosaur perked up and seemed to mutter under his breath.

"Great distraction Koda." Icy-Hot said as the two walked down the steps. Kaiju put his hood over his head as he and Cementoss followed them.

"Great job acting like villains you guys!" Mic yelled as he stood with the clones and the other civilians. "Gotta say Ishiyama, you make for a fun villain!"

"A bit too hammy I imagine." Midnight said with her hand on her hip. "But, you were taking inspiration from All Might weren't you?" Cementoss laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"I only thought of what kind of villain All Might, heavens forbid, would be. And considering his loud nature and bravado, I hope I did my best to give these fine students a taste of what they may face down the road in their hero car-" Cementoss broke out into a coughing fit. "Oooph… And Amajiki! Splendid job of being my minion! I knew I made the right pick in choosing you!" He said with a smile, patting him on the back like a proud papa. "As expected of my honor student when you were a freshman."

"All this praise… I don't deserve it… I mean I messed up and stuff..." Amajiki said, uttering weakly, trying to lower the hood even further.

"You did a great job being villains! Well, we weren't at all roughed around, so… maybe a bad one? I'm not sure… but thank you for teaching the next generation of heroes!" Midoriya Inko added as Bakugo walked past. The green-haired woman noticed him, and her frown was evident.

Katsuki didn't look her way as he walked past, seeing Aizawa standing by with Fukuda and Frog being supported by Sparky with… a splint on her leg? To say nothing of the bandages on her arms too. He saw Midoriya leave with Midnight, the two of them talking and the teacher laughing it up. Seemed like she had fun in some manner.

"What's with you?" Katsuki asked inquisitively. "I get the arms but your ankle?"

"Landed awkwardly, no biggie. Ribbit. Ow." She winced. "Nothing a visit with Recovery Girl can't fix though."

"Thanks for offering the first aid Chief!" Sparky gave the Police Chief a thumbs-up.

"Anytime heroes." Fukuda said with a smile.

"Alright, everyone is here." Aizawa cut in, standing up as he was no longer leaning against the wall. "It's time I give you all my final grade." He said with a neutral expression. He let out a sigh and an exhale.

(X)

"As far as plans go, for the time you had, you did what you could do. While I did mention to leave the damage to a minimum, most of the major damage done was incurred by the villains. Glass windows and roofs can easily be replaced, and water damage repaired." Aizawa's eyes went over to Todoroki and Tsuyu. "The hostages were able to escape unharmed, but letting them leave with little cover was incredibly risky, even if the villains were blinded." The green-haired girl looked at her bandaged arms.

"Sorry ribbit." Tsuyu said. "I thought about wrapping them all in my tongue, but I didn't want to risk getting them hurt since they would be banging around if I moved too fast."

Aizawa nodded. "But you kept your head cool, made the right judgement, and remembered how durable civilians are." He turned, red meeting red.

"Bakugo. You came up with the plan for Hagakure and Asui to infiltrate from the side and the roof. You also collaborated with Hagakure on using her quirk to double the blinding effect on the villains. You used a non-violent method to distract and stagger them, and from there they began to fall. Good work."

"Hagakure." The invisible girl, while she couldn't be seen with her gloves and shoes, seemed to have perked up. "The same I said about Bakugo can be applied to you as well. You did put yourself in harm's way though, at the benefit of saving the hostages."

"Yeah! I knew Tsu was behind me and she had lightning-fast reflexes! So I knew I could trust her to get me out of a pickle!"

"Thanks for your faith, ribbit." Tsuyu smiled.

"I know you can't see it, but high-five!" The frog girl raised a hand, letting her peer and friend smack it with her hand. "Yay!"

"Ribbit!"

Aizawa stared blankly, but his eye twitched a little. Dry eye? Or something else? "That level of trust can help you Hagakure, but be careful on who to place it in. It can backfire. Outside of that, excellent work not triggering the traps and keeping an open eye in the side building and the hallway in the bank."

"Heheee~, I should be a super secret agent! Like Ethan Hunt!"

"The hell's he?" Bakugo asked.

"Character from a spy movie franchise that went stale decades ago." Aizawa finished for him. "Now, Asui." Tsuyu perked up. Her turn now! "You had key moments in this where you were able to distract the villains and help the hostages by making a path. On top of that, you saved a comrade and acted quick on your feet. Nice work." Tsuyu blushed, smiling. If her parents were in the crowd, maybe they saw her! Or could they be in the other exams? Tsu didn't know, but her and her family were totally gonna celebrate with teriyaki fried crickets tonight!

"Thanks sensei, ribbit." The shaggy-haired man turned his attention towards Todoroki.

"Todoroki, it was part of the plan to put up a barrier to keep the civilians away, and that was part of your role, but both you and Bakugo will be deducted points for that strategy."

"What the hell for!" Bakugo's complaint was the loudest, but the others made their dismay known as well to go along with Todoroki's surprise, the dual-haired boy's eyes widening.

"Simple. As real as we try to make our simulations, no one in this exam will be seriously injured. However, that guarantee does not exist in the field. You blocked off the civilians from danger, but you also cut off any potential line of retreat for yourself or your teammates, cut off any emergency medical aid on first responders, cut yourselves off from potential hero reinforcements, or even the police. Logistically, their escape was impossible so long as Hagakure and Asui remained combat-effective, with both being able to follow. Bakugo too. So half the benefit of preventing the villains' escape is rendered moot, and the other half of forming a perimeter could be established just as easily by having the police move their cars to blockade the streets. Too much risk for too little benefit."

Fukuda shugged. "All you had to do was ask."

The breakdown sucked the wind out of the students' collective sails and Bakugo looked like he was sick.

It'd been his plan. Given his comments, Tsuyu felt comfortable that she would pass, but man. What more could he want?

"On top of that, you didn't utilize your fire." Aizawa continued, looking at Todoroki. "I won't fault you for that given the potential danger to the hostages and the requirement to avoid collateral damage as much as possible, however simply freezing the ground won't be enough to stop villains of sufficient strength alone. You'll need to find innovative ways of using your ice going forward, as well as your fire power." Todoroki nodded. "Other than that, you cooperated and contributed with the plan and took the initiative in being far enough away as to not threaten the villains, but close enough to make a move." He then turned towards Sato.

"Sato. You didn't do much, but…" Sato blanched. "You were able to hold down Rockmaster and protect your comrades when the villains attacked. You gave your team enough time to regroup once the negotiations had failed. However, you did not apply your quirk in any way other than the obvious, simply brute-forcing your way through and without both Todoroki and Bakugo to back you up, you likely would have been overwhelmed by the villain after a point. Your stamina isn't infinite and though your quirk limits your intelligence for future events I expect to see you working to curb the impact of such a disadvantage."

"Yes Sensei" The boy said swallowing thickly in his nervousness.

Aizawa let him sweat a bit longer. "You pass. Though, it is marginal. Work on it."

"Kaminari." The electric quirk user audibly gulped.

"You fail."

The bluntness of the statement seemed to knock the wind straight out of the boy.

"The task of being a negotiator isn't enviable." Aizawa said. "It would incline me to be a bit more lenient on your scoring since it is, by definition, a support role meant to allow your other teammates to shine and the area you engaged in is disadvantageous to your quirk, since hostages could get hurt and collateral damage would almost be unavoidable, however." He stared directly at him. "it's called a 'negotiation' not a 'give the villains what they want' talk. Once you'd promised them everything they wanted, all you did was speed up the clock for everyone else. The villains would have wanted those promises fulfilled quickly, and would want more. Give them an inch, and you can bet they will take a mile and more. A negotiator needs to give them a half-inch. All you did was placate them. And the longer it took the more desperate they'd become, and the greater the risk to the hostages. And towards the end you could not even come up with a convincing enough lie to continue the farce, giving it away with your poor word choice and lack of forethought, forcing your teammates to move before they were ready and risking the hostages. That's a performance that would have severe repercussions in the field far greater than a single failed grade."

Kaminari looked downright miserable at the dressing down with Hagakure and Sato patting him on the back to try and console the teen.

"But… how else could I have contributed to save the hostages?! I mean, with my quirk I was useless and-"

"Then train to the point where your quirk won't be useless in a situation like this." Aizawa barked, cutting off Kaminari's excuse and made Tsuyu flinch. "Refine your quirk efficiency or get some kind of support gear so that you won't be a hindrance to the people you've sworn to protect and serve, your teammates, and yourself. Tell yourself this Kaminari, will book smarts save civilians? Food for thought." Kaminari sighed.

"I didn't want to-" He felt the cutting eyes and even Tsuyu bit her lip from Aizawa's glare, obviously not wanting to hear another excuse. "Yes sensei…"

Aizawa looked to Koda. Tsuyu turned with the rest of the students, and noticed Koda biting his lower lip as he kept fiddling with his fingers.

Aizawa took a deep breath as he scratched his head. "Frankly Koda, I'm on the fence with you."

That... wasn't what they'd expected.

"Your shyness even with dealing in a situation like this, with your classmates, made it difficult for them to work with you. When asked you didn't explain your quirk or offer a demonstration. And while your intervention did give your teammates an opening to exploit that was the coup d'grace to the villains, unknown quirks in a combat situation can just as easily be a disadvantage if not taken into account properly. This here is a controlled environment. I know your quirk, as do the others, but what if in the field in the confusion and the chaos someone mistakes your quirk that they don't know for an attack on the hostages, or believe there's a third villain hiding in the bank? Things can go wrong quickly."

Koda seemed to shrivel in on himself, tears percolating in his eyes as he looked down and whimpered quietly.

"The benefit of your quirk helped today, but it could very easily have gone wrong, your inability to overcome your own shyness is crippling even for a Hero who wishes to specialize in disaster rescue, as you do. You have to go Plus Ultra, because one misstep, one error can lead to death or worse and then, it's on you." The older man shook his head before he let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, but with all this taken into account I don't believe I can-"

"It's my fault."

All eyes suddenly turned towards a very unexpected source.

Bakugo's lip was curled, glaring at Aizawa with ruby-red eyes. Even the shaggy-haired man was caught off guard.

"Oh?" Fukuda asked, intrigued as he listened in.

"I came up with the plan, I gave everyone their roles. If I didn't bother to learn his quirk that's on me, not him. If I didn't give him a role, that's on me, not him. He saw an opening and he took it and it helped. We know how fast Cementoss and Kaiju were. Without his birds, who's to say if something much worse wouldn't have happened." He straightened, grenade gauntlets clacking and clicking as he crossed his arms. "You wanna deduct points on anyone for not integrating his quirk into the plan, deduct mine."

"I could fail you if I deduct too much." Aizawa shot back, but had a quirked eyebrow..

Bakugo shrugged. "Like I said... It was my fuckup."

The student and the teacher eyed one another for an eternity, Koda staring with unabashed awe at Bakugo. Frankly, so was everyone else. It was the absolute last thing anyone had expected out of the blonde bomber's mouth.

Kaminari leaned towards the dumbfounded Sato.

"Dude... did Bakugo get laid or something during that internship?" He whispered.

The short fuse was lit. "Shut the fuck up you moron!!"

Aizawa took a breath, turning towards Koda. "I suppose… given the circumstances you pass then, Koda. I trust this is satisfactory?"

Koda paused, looking nervously towards Bakugo who offered a careless shrug in response as he turned away. "Take the points, ya damn Dinosaur."

Needing no further prompting, Koda nodded so fast that Asui might've wondered that his head was gonna fall off as his tears of despair turned into tears of joy.

"Atta boy Koda!" Hagakure cheered as he embraced the bigger boy. Koda's face seemed to redden on the spot as he looked dazed and bewildered in jubilation. And by Hagakure hugging her naked form on his arm.

"Yeah, those birds saved our skins Koda! You made us pass!" Sato added with a pat on the back, and the dinosaur looking boy didn't know how to react other than the pink on his cheeks.

Kaminari sighed. "Cept me…"

Tsuyu smiled as Bakugo remained frowning while facing away, although Todoroki was offering a warm smile too.

"You did well Koda-san. Take heart." He assured as the stocky boy nodded, wiping away the tears with his arm.

"Alright then, head on back to the Observation Room." Aizawa said as he looked up at the camera on a building. "Villain Chase Team, you're up, come on down to your designated area."

"That was fun." Fukuda added with his hands in his pockets. "I'll be heading back to the station now. I take it Parker is in the next exam?"

"I don't have to answer that." Aizawa muttered as his scarf covered his mouth. Fukuda smirked.

"I'll take it as a yes." Aizawa turned back towards him, giving a look before rolling his eyes and walking off. Fukuda smiled, and without a word, pocketed his hands in his jacket and walked in the opposite direction from the Erasure Hero.

Tsuyu and the others followed Bakugo as Kaminari, Sato, and Hagakure were chatting up a storm.

Koda was beside her and Todoroki as the blonde bomber walked on ahead. Koda looked relieved, even if he was fiddling with his fingers.

"Congratulations Koda-chan." Tsuyu said as the boy gave her a look and a nod, and raised his head as he looked at Bakugo.

"B-Bakugo-san!" Said a voice that made everyone pause, and even the red-eyed bomber turned, glaring at the grateful and grinning Koda. "T-Thank you for speaking up for me. No one's ever done that for me before so... " He gulped, then bowed down. "Thank you very much!"

The blond rolled his eyes and turned. "Whatever. You did your job." He growled as he marched on forward. Koda rose back up.

Did… did Koda just talk!?

"You just spoke for the first time man!" Sato said in surprise.

"That's what you sound like, huh?" Hagakure asked.

"I mean, does kinda fit the cute dinosaur vibe." Kaminari shrugged. Koda could only laugh bashfully and reply back in the same tone.

And Tsuyu couldn't help but smile with him.

Being here at U.A. was so much fun!

(X)

That was… something.

Bakugo of all people standing up for someone. Who the hell would've seen that coming?

Certainly not Peter, heck, he was still trying to wrap his head around it. Was it because he thought that his grade would be penalized if the entire team didn't pass?

That would fit, trying to get most people on his team to pass. The asshole. He felt bad for Kaminari though, being put into such a bind and being flummoxed like that… He couldn't blame him. He might have done the same thing.

"Quite the test, isn't it?" Momo commented.

"Oh, y-yeah," Peter said, scratching the back of his neck, "Makes me super excited about the next wave."

"Excited, dude I'm stoked!" Kirishima declared, slamming his hardened fists together so hard that sparks escaped between them, "This is going to be the most manly thing that any of us have ever done!"

"Some of us are girls here," Ashido pointed out.

"What's that got to do with it?" Kirishima asked.

Momo and Peter shared a look. Both of them shook their heads, neither of them were going to tell him.

"We should be moving," Shoji said from one of his many arms.

"He's right," Kirshima said, "Come on everyone."

"Good luck," Momo said.

"Thanks," Peter said, giving a quick wave to everyone in the room.

After everyone gave their cheers, the group went down to their designated area. A stairway that Bakugo and company weren't using, thankfully. Behind Peter, Kirishima rolled out his shoulders as Ashido stretched her arms. Uraraka took several breaths and did some stretches, with some swipes and a "Hya!" to psyche herself up. Sero and Shoji remained silent.

Eventually, they got to the end, and emerged to find themselves looking at a huge cityscape. Memories of initiation flew through Peter's head. A better time, before all this started to get a little crazy for his tastes.

Aizawa was already standing at the entrance, finishing applying Eye Drops. His tired eyes scanned over everyone, and when he saw everyone he checked his watch, pocketing his eye drops.

"Alright, so the situation is this," Aizawa started, "The six of you are high profile heroes. Top ten, top twenty, whatever helps you visualize it, but the fact is that several of your most well known villains have successfully robbed a bank and are currently running away with the money through the city. Your test is to keep up with the villains, while protecting the civilians that are in the street, and eventually, apprehend at least two of the four running from you. These villains know your powers well, and will be doing everything they can to stop you from taking them down. Any questions?"

"Uh, yeah," Sero said, "Who are the teachers that we're going up against again?"

Aizawa's look was flatter than paper. Sero's shoulders slumped.

"Any other questions?" he asked.

"When can we get started?" Kirishima asked, grinning.

A question that made Aizawa of all people smile in a way that made Peter's spidey sense go off.

"As soon as everyone is all set up," he said.

His hand rose and he clicked something in his ear.

"Are you ready to go?" Aizawa asked.

(X)

There was a sudden explosion in one of the buildings behind him, catching the students by surprise. From the dust cloud… a massive robot on wheels emerged.

"The money is mine! Mine! Mwahahahaah!" Nezu's voice came from the spider-like tank as it swerved and took off down the street. The students got into position, hyped up and ready to be unleashed like a drawn arrow.

"Alright then students." smirked. "Capture the villains and arrest them, and leave no one behind. Save any bystanders along the way. Fulfill these requirements and you pass. Your Final Exam begins…. now!"