51 - ||

(X)

Peter looked up, he and his team standing close by in a concourse before their assigned stadium. He looked around, seeing a good… thirty or so people present.

"Any sign of any of our classmates?" He asked, whispering to Izuku.

"No… Oh, I can see some of Class B though." He said, pointing over to a group of kids. Peter's HUD in his mask zoomed in, and he spotted Kamakiri and Kodai standing in a group of sorts.

The big screen flickered to life as Peter looked around, seeing various HPSC officials in suits all around the concourse. That sleepy looking guy, Mera, appeared on screen.

"Now then, seeing as all applicants have arrived in your chosen areas. Let us see who chose correctly, and who did not." Mera said. "Look at your tags. Green if you pass. Red, if you fail." Peter looked at the tag he carried, and the white object glowed green.

He let out a sigh of relief, and he heard the shouts of indignation and confusion all around them.

"That's a lot of red…" Monoma murmured aloud, seeing students yelling at the screen. He was right… he saw a LOT of red.

"I'm sorry, but you had two and half days to investigate. If there is anyone to blame, it is only yourself for not researching the material hard enough." Mera replied, ignoring one student firing a jet of confetti at the screen. "For those who passed, remain where you are. Those who did not, please exit the confines of the Fujitome District. Your teachers are awaiting you."

The security officials walked on over, going to some angry students. Peter even saw one of them put her hands on another and had to be physically dragged away. But most of them walked out, shoulders slumped, dejected and depressed.

And more… and more…

"Okay, did most of them just choose this because of Gang Orca?" Shindo asked with a worried tone. "I mean, it was pretty telling of a name. Well, that and the Entei Yakuza being totally Endeavor."

"Might be…" Elle mused as she looked about, the concourse becoming more empty by the second.

Peter felt a pit grow in his stomach, and looking around, he could see most of his classmates had the same reaction. More of them were leaving, while Peter and his group were not.

Before long, the only ones remaining in the concourse of the stadium was Peter's group.

"Ummm…" Izuku raised his hands towards a glasses-wearing HPSC suit. "Is there a mistake? We can't be the only ones here right?" He asked. The suit shrugged, and gestured to the screen.

"Well, it seems like of the groups intended to come here, we only had one of the two. And a bunch of layabouts." Mera mused from the screen. "Well, congratulations Agency White-4. You have passed the preliminary portion of the Provisional Exam. Now, your mission?"

"One of two huh… guess we have no backup after all…" Shoji muttered to himself as he stepped up, looking up at the screen. Bakugo scoffed to the side, muttering "told you so" under his breath. "We are an agency going in to intercept the villain group, the House of Black and White at Apollo Tower. Our objectives as heroes are simple- To defeat the villains, and save the civilians present."

"Do you have a theory on what weapon the villains will be using at the Tower?" Mera asked on the spot.

Shoji narrowed his eyes and Peter felt himself stiffen. Looking around, he saw Shindo bite his lip, Elle looked to the side and Camie tilted her head.

Nope… they hadn't discussed what kind of weapon they'd used.

General theory to attack a place like this was a bomb so they'd gone with that assumption.

But they'd never confirmed it, just assumed.

"Bomb." Shoji answered firmly.

"Hmmm." The sleepy proctor shrugged. "Alright then. Best of luck Agency White-4."

Then the screen winked out.

After a brief moment of quiet panic that they'd failed- a voice called out

"This way to your starting gate." A female official said, her big fluffy squirrel tail behind her contrasting her cold professionalism and black sunglasses. Peter saw words come across the screen on the eyeholes of his mask.

'Normally I would help in combat and logistics, as this will be a combat simulation. But this is still an academic test so,' Karen said. 'I cannot help you here.'

"That's fine." Peter muttered under his breath.

'Alright. I'll be grabbing some popcorn ;). Your suit's functions are at maximum efficiency. Best of luck.' Peter nodded and took a deep breath as he and his team made their march into one of the tunnels, silent shade reigned upon the group.

It wasn't a long walk, stepping towards a closed steel gate.

"Okay. The plan is simple." Shoji said as he turned towards the group. "Due to us not having any communicators, we need to be within sight of each other ideally. But, we have our team setup."

"Yeah, we make a line between the civilians at the conference and their families, and the villains." Shindo spoke. "Me and Elle can handle things inside the tower. Question is, who's gonna be out-" He was cut off as he felt rumbling beneath his feet. Peter looked about, as did everyone else. It felt familiar.

"Must be changing the field again." Shoji's arms were made into ears. "Same kind of noises… Something big is coming up to replace the trailers."

"It has to be Apollo Tower." Izuku mused. "After all, the documents we investigated and found correctly focused entirely on the Tower itself. Not outside of it."

"Indoor combat then." Elle said, arms crossed.

"This will be tough… my Quirk is gonna cause some collateral damage here…" Shindo winced, looking down at his hands.

"Buildings can be rebuilt, lives cannot." Ibara said softly. "As much as it would dismay me to cause damage to the tower, but against villains, property should be secondary."

"More or less." The tall multi-armed boy nodded. "Now then, let's go over our team ups. We will split into three teams. Villain Attack Team, Support Team and Civilian Defense and Evacuation Team." Shoji said as he stood before the group. "Now, once we're inside the tower, we need to be in control of two locations. The first floor and the second floor terrace. The Attack Team will be in the First Floor to neutralize the villains, since according to the codes, they plan to attack from the side or underground. The House of Black and White like to make their attacks showy, so they always make some kind of an entrance."

"Team White-4." Said a voice interrupting the taller boy as they turned, seeing a camera and a microphone attached to it. "Your objective is as follows. You are a hero agency coming in to intercept the House of Black and White. There are two completion requirements for this portion of the Provisional Exam." It was female, professional and stoic. "The first is the neutralization and capture of the villains. The second is the complete evacuation of the civilians attending the Apollo Tower Energy Conference. Completion of either of these two will finish this exam, as there is no time limit."

"Got a question," Bakugo stepped forth, glaring at the camera as Peter looked his way. "Did you guys get actual civilians in this, or are they robots?"

"The civilians are a part of the Help Us Company, a company where its members practice playing victim for various hero examinations across the country. They will be playing the role of civilians, but they are quite experienced. They, along with the proctors monitoring your exam, will be keeping a close eye on how you act as heroes in this situation." Peter let out a sigh of relief.

"What are our passing requirements too? What determines if we pass or fail?" Izuku added.

"Before completion of the Preliminary Examination, all examinees are at one-hundred points. Your conduct and acts during the Provisional Examination will have an effect on those points, decreasing your point score given your actions and the ultimate results causant of them." The camera replied.

It bobbed in the air for a moment. "The pass-fail threshold is forty points. Number of Civilians captured or killed will add or detract from your score. Usually it is fifty, but due to the failure of the other agency arriving, your agency will be given a slight mulligan. And rest assured we are taking into account the other team's failure to arrive in the stadium to help you in this score as well. You are not responsible for the other agency's failure but the number of villains you're expected to face will not diminish. Take note."

"Bad guys don't care if half the team is out sick." Petter mumbled, though it seems the proctor heard him.

"Indeed. Once the examination is complete, the HUC volunteers and proctors will tally the deductions for your score. If at the end of the day your score is above forty you pass, thus earning your Provisional Hero License."

"Where is the evacuation site? If we are in a tower, we need to know if we are using the safe rooms present, or the outdoor area." Shindo inquired.

"It will be outside, and is marked for your convenience. You will have to find it though."

"Thank you." Shoji nodded. "Okay, we stick to the plan at first. Defense and Evacuation Team, Shiozaki and Shindo, you'll be on the second floor. Attack Team; Midoriya, Parker, Elle, Bakugo. First floor. Support team will be myself, Utsushimi and Monoma. We'll be on the second floor terrace between the two of you. We'll move between attack and defense/evac as needed."

"When I get to the second floor, I will focus on finding the Evacuation zone." Ibara stepped up.

"You can move fast?" Elle asked.

"Oh she can." Peter said with a nod.

"Indeed! Shiozaki is our class ace!" Monoma preened as he gestured towards her. "In an open area, she can roll the opposition like a bowling ball! Within closed quarters, she can use her vines to pull herself down hallways and rooms at great speeds! And best of all she's more even-keeled than any of Class-"

"Yeah we get it." Shindo cut him off. "We're in your hands to find that evacuation zone Shiozaki-san."

"Or we take out all the villains." Bakugo added. "That's another pass requirement."

"For now, let's focus on the plan. Shindo, provide defense. Shiozaki, find the Evacuation zone and return to us promptly to assist in defense. The civilians are the priority." Shoji commanded, and the green-haired girl nodded. "Everyone else know their roles?" Everyone else nodded or gave a thumbs-up.

"Got it." Peter said, as he looked to Izuku who nodded back. He turned towards Elle. "Hey Elle, what's your quirk do anyway? You didn't mention it back in our meetings." Shoji quirked an eyebrow, and Elle looked to the side as she felt eyes on her.

She let out a sigh of frustration. "Bone manipulation. I'm capable of combat, don't worry."

"Just don't get in my way," Bakugo growled. "And don't fuck up either, I ain't gonna save your ass if you get yourself in trouble."

Peter felt his teeth grinding.

"Bakugo." Shoji glared at him. "Enough."

Bakugo scoffed, looking away from the group. Elle looked at him, nodding lightly in gratitude.

"Typical Class A, fighting amongst them-"

"Monoma." Ibara spoke out, interrupting the tuxedo blonde's rant. "Quiet please." She turned, looking at him with steel in her eyes. The boy blinked in surprise at the normally passive girl being more aggressive before shrinking under her stare.

"Proceed now." The voice said, and the banter among the group died down.

They began marching into the designated building, which was only a stone's throw away, about ten yards from the starting gate. For a 'tower' it was a squat thing, more like the foundation of a tower rather than a full-on tower itself. Made sense, not like they could just stuff a skyscraper into the arena.

Making their way inside, Peter noticed the interior, the first floor being wide and open with some chairs, statues of All Might, and tables all making for a nice and scenic lobby for a convention center. Up ahead, he could see the stairs and escalators leading towards the second floor terrace. He saw a clerk behind the front desk, and a few of those fake civilians mosing about on the first floor, checking their phones.

This scenery… felt familiar.

Way too familiar.

"Yo, Midoriya." Peter spoke out. "This is…"

"Yeah," Izuku replied. "I recognize it too… this is like I-Tower's first floor…"

"Why'd ya say that?" Camie asked.

"I heard there were some kids involved in that incident…" Shindo paused, eyes widening as he gazed at Izuku and Peter. "No way, you two were-"

"Okay everyone, get into pos-" Shoji's hand whipped out, stopping the team in their tracks as they were about to pass him.

"What is it?" Monoma asked.

"Movement," Shoji said, one of the ears on his arms twitching, "A lot of it."

"I can feel it too." Peter added, feeling the rumblings under his feet, as if the entire tower was shaking.

"Already?" Camie started. "But, like, we haven't gotten into position yet! We just walked in!"

"Don't think they care-" Elle muttered, glaring. "Where are they?" She looked about. The windows and walls of the tower lobby were made with some kind of screensaver to imitate an outside view of sorts. Even if ten meters beyond the windows was the stadium wall and seats.

Peter strained, not hearing anything other than the low rumble of machinery that seemed ever present in these spaces.

Then, his senses flared.

"Look out!"

Instantly, everyone tensed, just as a portion of the floor exploded close by. The shockwave alone was enough to push the entire group back, all of them landing hard on the ground.

Izuku, Bakugo and Peter all recovered well; Bakugo's hands popping with sparks as he landed, and lightning arcing off Izuku's form, Peter landing on his feet and one hand.

Peter heard Shoji groan, but he was stumbling to his feet a moment later.

From the smoke and dust, a massive drill was now visible as a giant barrel-like tank seemed to be burrowing out as many of the civilians scrambled away in fear. The tank opened, and the first person to come out wore a thick black trenchcoat, almost looking like a cape. The towering villain walked forwards, with a confidence that none of the students felt as he stood upon debris.

"So then, these are the heroes in our way. Not as many as I expected."

With a sweep of his massive hand, Gang Orca revealed himself. Dozens of people poured out of the hole, all donned in a black-and-white uniform with splotches. All of them had some kind of scuba-board thing attached to their wrists, Peter identifying it as the trademark Gang Orca agency foam-pellet guns.

Gang Orca smirked darkly, his red eyes glaring down on the White-4 Agency.

"Now... let's begin."