Festivities

“The school is doing what?”

“A festival,” Aizawa said, “The school holds one every year.”

“Judging by how this year has gone for this school, with two different attacks by the League of Villains, doesn’t it seem irrational to hold an event where all of the students will be gathered in one place?”

“I can understand that point of view, I myself was the one who brought it up during our meeting while we were out earlier. However Nezu said that it would be better to show that the school wasn’t willing to bend to the actions of a group of Villains. Ultimately we decided that it was the most reasonable option for us to hold the event, changing everything about the school because of a few VIllains would set a bad example for the students.

“I suppose that I’ll have to be on guard duty when that happens,” Aurdel stood up.

“There shouldn’t be any Villain groups that are actively going for the school. You crushed the League in a single battle and dismantled their leadership, and while they may rise again it’s unlikely to happen. As for the Shie Hassaikai, their leaders are in prison and their small-time members are being rounded up now. I don’t think we can expect retaliation from them.”

“Complacency and misunderstanding is usually how these kinds of things happen in the first place. After all, I’m assuming that the League of Villains wasn’t on anyone’s radar until they attacked the school. Nor did the school expect the League to attack at the camp after they were thoroughly defeated during the attack on the school.”

“I didn’t say we wouldn’t be cautious. The Hero commission themselves reached out to us about the event, as they were concerned about the safety of our students as future Heroes. Even though they tried to convince us to cancel the event, we were able to negotiate keeping it going despite the risks. But they warned us and said that if something did happen, then we would be forced to shut down the event.”

“Sounds reasonable enough, what does the festival have planned?”

“I couldn’t tell you, you’d have to go around and ask each class to find out.”

“But I thought the school was the one planning the festival?”

“As a whole? It is. But the individual events are going to be decided upon and created by each class. We see it as a way for them to practice and express their creative freedom.” Aizawa raised an eyebrow, “Haven’t you ever been to a festival?”

“Several, but none were school related.”

“Sounds like a boring childhood.”

“Not a boring one, though for the wrong reasons.” Aurdel walked towards the door with a sigh, “Have the students already been told?”

“Not yet, that’s what homeroom is going to be about. They have the day off of classes to gather materials and prepare for the festival.” He raised a finger, “But we’re not supposed to help them plan the event or prepare it, not unless they come up with absolutely no ideas or choose one that’s too absurd to actually go through with.”

“Want me to do the homeroom?”

“Sure,” Aizawa pulled himself into a yellow sleeping bag and laid down, “There won’t be much to do today and I’m tired, so you can go nuts.”

“As long as you don’t mind,” Aurdel walked out of the staff room and towards the homeroom of Class 1-A. In his mind he was still playing out the events of the previous night when he’d encountered the Rabbit Hero: Mirko.

“You’ve been looking for me?” When Aurdel first became a Hero he’d made an effort to look into who some of the top pro-Heroes were, and once he had he’d committed the names to memory. Mirko was one of those names. Though while he knew the name he’d never actually bothered to look into who she was or what she did.

“I’m surprised that you didn’t hear about it, I was tearing up a mighty path to try and get your attention,” she jerked a thumb towards herself, “When I heard that you were getting into big fights and that people were calling you strong I wanted to see for myself just what you could do.

“Is that supposed to mean something? I’m just doing what I’m expected to do, stopping Villains. And frankly fighting people that are stronger than me is something I’m used to.”

“Are you kidding?” She laughed, “Everyone knows that I work alone, not with an agency or anyone else. So when I heard that someone was charging in fist first and laying the smack down on some tough guys, I was more than a little bit interested” She pointed a finger up to the chin of his helmet, unintentionally brushing the tip of her ears against his visor as a result. “And since it seems like you’re the only one that can even begin to keep up with me, I’ve decided for maybe just this once to offer you a partnership.”

He’d raised an eyebrow behind his helmet, “If you didn’t need a partner before, why do you think you’ll need one now? On top of that, what leads you to believe that I need a partner?”

“Strong Heroes need to stick together, especially ones as feral as you.” She tried to put an arm around his shoulder, but she was nowhere near tall enough to do so. “What do you say then? Do you accept it or not?”

"I’ll give it some thought. So far I haven’t seen the need for partnerships, I’ve been working just fine on my own. The last thing that I need is someone that I have to drag along wherever I go.”

“Me? Dragged along?” She remarked with a bit of snark, “The only time I’ll need to be dragged along is when I’m dead, and even then it’ll take a lot more than some dumb Villain to put this rabbit down.” Hearing that, he shook his head.

When he pushed open the door he found the class in a somewhat rowdy state. “Sit down everyone, class is bound to begin soon!” Ida said in his usual stiff but energetic manner, waving his hands around.

“You’re the only one still standing class rep,” Kirishima said idly, frustrating Ida who wanted to both lead and set an example but also follow the same rules that he preached. Aurdel cleared his throat, signaling that he was going to start the class.

“Mr. Aurdel? Where’s Mr. Aizawa?” Ashido asked.

“He was too tired, so I offered to take over the class for him today.” He stood behind the main desk, “There won’t exactly be a lot of schoolwork to do today though, so it’s not like it makes a big difference.”

“Why do you say that sir?” Ida asked.

“Your usual classes have all been canceled for the day, as to give you and every other class and course in the school time to plan and begin making preparations for the UA School Festival.”

“A completely normal high school event!” The class shouted, surprisingly. Or unsurprisingly, he wasn’t sure which one it was. After all, he had never actually attended a high school. So whatever these kids knew to do would be completely foreign to them.

“It’s going to be up to you guys to create and set up your own event. The only reason for I or Mr. Aizawa may intervene is if the event is too dangerous or if it’s horribly inappropriate. The people who may have had their suggestions targeted by that criteria know who they are, and I won’t listen to their complaints because I’m not budging on this issue.” Bakgo and Mineta both grumbled. Bakugo probably wanted to set up a tournament to the death so he could come out on top, while Mineta wanted… Well, it was probably safer not to imagine what Mienta wanted. “Otherwise any event is up for grabs, it just comes down to what ideas you’re able to come up with and what you’re physically capable of completing.”

“Sir,” Ida stood up, “I think that I and Yaoyaorozu as class reps should be the ones to help the class brainstorm and organize ideas.”

“Of course, I was just about to say that. The floor is yours.” Aurdel stepped away from the front desk and allowed the two students to take the lead.

“Alright! Anyone who has an idea, please raise your hand so that-“ Before Ida could even finish his sentence almost every hand in the class was raised, with the students shouting to be picked first.. “Such enthusiasm, Kaminari!”

“I say we do a maid cafe! And if you already thought of that idea, rethink it but as twice as good and with stuff that I like!”

“Not bad, we’d be providing the other classes with a valuable service! Uraraka!”

“A Mochi stand! My family has a recipe that’s to die for!”

“Sweets certainly fit well with a festival! Kirishima!”

“An arm wrestling competition, Tetsutetsu has been bugging me about having a rematch!”

“Intense and with personal honor to be won, a thrilling premise! Koda!”

“A-A petting zoo!”

“Animals do always help to soothe people! Tokoyami!”

“A banquet for the disciples of darkness.”

“A banquet with such an edgy theme would certainly be interesting! Aoyama!”

“My own sparkling show!”

“I don’t know what that is but you are certainly enthusiastic! Hagakure!”

“A fun house!”

“I also have no idea what that is but I’m sure it would be interesting! Sato!”

“A crepe stall!”

“Perfect for eating on the go! Ashido!”

“A dance!”

“Energetic and dazzling! Midoriya!”

“A Hero quiz!”

“I don’t think there’s anything else you could have answered with that wouldn’t be more like you! Asui!”

“We could sing a round of the Frog Song!”

“Very appropriate! Todoroki!”

“Handmade soba.”

“After all it is your favorite! Bakugo!”

“A deathmatch!”

“A disallowed option rears its head!”

“We could do a kind of skit,” Jirou said, without having to be called on.

“That could work!” As Ida diligently picked on members of the class, Momo wrote down the ideas on the board. In the end nineteen ideas total were put up on the board, as any idea that Mineta tried to propose was duly and correctly ignored. Sero had suggested an Asian cafe, Ojiro a dance performance, Shoji a takoyaki stall, Ida a presentation on local history and Yaoyorozu a study session. The list was a comprehensive one, and it gave him some manner of insight into what high school students actually thought and did. However…

“You have a few redundant items on your list,” Aurdel said, looking it over. “Two different cafes, several stalls and stands. There’s generally a lot of stuff about food, but you also have two different ideas for dances. If you're going to come up with ideas then you need to narrow your focus, come up with a theme to follow..”

“A theme?”

“Yes, a theme. When you do something with a purpose it’s usually because you’re trying to express something or deliver on something in specific. Say with the maid cafe idea, you commented that it was a good thing to serve others. You need a theme like that.”

“Others…” Midoriya murmured, “Maybe… We could do something for the other courses and classes?”

“We don’t need to do anything for those extras,” Bakugo said, seemingly grumpy that his idea wasn’t permitted. “If we do anything, it should be to show off our strength.”

“Kacchan, I’m sure you know that the other classes aren’t exactly happy with us,” he sounded both cautious and nervous pointing it out. “There was the attack at the USJ by Villains while we were in there, then when we had the sports festival you made a pretty rude declaration to everyone else and our class ended up dominating the main event. There was also the attack at the training camp, where the Villains were mainly targeting us to try and kidnap us. After that we had to be saved from their hideout by the Heroes. To them it probably looks like we’re getting and hogging all the attention.”

“If they don’t get the attention then it means they don’t deserve it,” he proclaimed. “That first thing wasn’t our fault, and only after that they started holding a damn petty grudge. Everything after that only happened just because we were better than them, that’s all there is to it.”

“You might be right to say that they’re holding a petty grudge, but we still have to let them know that we acknowledge their frustration,” Kirishima countered, Bakugo scoffed.

“Then perhaps we can do something to ease that frustration?” Momo suggested, “Something to break the ice between our classes.”

“Sure, but one of your study sessions isn’t going to do that. They’re nice and all but I don’t think that anyone really wants to think of their schoolwork when they’re at a festival,” Kaminari said.

Yaoyorozu looked a little hurt, “I just wanted to help others out.”

“I didn’t mean it as a personal attack!”

“Help out… Maybe we should do something around that then? Something to boost spirits!” Uraraka said, getting an idea.

“It’s a good idea,” Sero said, “It would just be a matter of picking something that can do it. Music would be good, or a skit like Jirou suggested.”

“Maybe we could combine ideas?” Ashido suggested, “If you’re just playing music there’s not much interaction to it, same with a skit. But maybe if we combine music and dancing, it’ll be a winning combination!”

“Just remember,” Aurdel reminded them, “Pick something that you can do, it wouldn’t make sense to work towards something you can’t achieve.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I can easily teach them all how to dance!” Ashido exclaimed proudly. “And for the music, Jirou can teach us what to do!”

“Huh?! W-Where is that coming from?!” She sounded embarrassed

“That’s right!” Hagakure said, “Your room is amazing, and you looked so happy when you were teaching us how to play!”

“Knock it off, I’m not that good.”

“Are you kidding me? Your room is like a full on music store! I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many instruments all in one place, you can even play all of them!”

“Well just the basics…”

“Now hold on!” Mineta shouted, “If we’re going to have music we need some awesome vocals, and let me tell you I’m a real lady killer!”

“Really? I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a manly voice that’s perfect for singing,” Kirishima jerked a thumb to himself.

“It depends on the kind of the music played, but moi truly has the kind of voice that goes with anything.” Aoyama and the others demonstrated their singing ability. Or rather Kirishima and Aoyama had, Mineta had done little more than making barking noises. None of them sounded like they had a suitable voice for what was probably envisioned. But before they could finish deciding the school bell rang, Aurdel walked towards the classroom door.

“You have the rest of the day off to figure things out for the event, hopefully in that time you can choose who does what.”

“Aren’t you going to be staying with us while we decide?”

“No. If I thought that you were going to kill each other over something as small as deciding what to do for a festival, then I would. At the very least the angry pomeranian isn’t as viscous today, which means if something does happen it won’t be severe.”

“Who are you calling an angry pomeranian?!” Bakugo shouted, standing up from his desk.

“You can go back to your dorms if you need something from there to help with your brainstorming.”

“Wait then, where are you going?” One of them asked.

He looked back, “Where do you think? To do my job.”

Double Oh Nine

“Alright, what’s this about another Villain group being ready to target the school?” Aurdel said, folding his arms as he walked into Nighteye’s office.

Nighteye placed the tips of his fingers together, “Compared to what the League of Villains did in the past, or the operations of the Shie Hassaikai, they’re a relatively small Villain group. The Creature Rejection Clan. Like the Yakuza they’re somewhat ancient, the group appearing around the same time that quirks had and actually gained someone of a large base. Initially they only protested against those who they saw as ‘unnatural,’ those who were mutated by their quirks. But eventually they turned to violence and became a notorious group of Villains, something that caused them to lose a lot of their support and cause splits even among their most supportive base. As of recently they’re more akin to a religious cult that takes part in rituals that attack those with mutant quirks.”

“And you think they’re going to target the school?”

“I have my suspicions. Despite the large increases in security that have begun since the first incidents at UA, Villains have not been deterred. And with all the attention that Villains have been getting as of recent with the larger groups being taken down, it’s possible they view this as a chance to also get their time in the limelight once again.”

“I haven’t heard of any attacks connected to them, nor in my research did I come across any outstanding warrants the police may have for their members or properties.”

“Nothing recent, no. However the police just yesterday were able to connect a relatively cold case to the Creature Rejection Clan, and since the statute of limitations hasn’t run out yet they acquired a warrant to raid their main base of operations. The connection was somewhat light though, so unless you manage to find something damning then there may be legal repercussions.”

He shut his eyes, “I know that it’s ironic coming from me, but this sounds like it’s stretching what’s legally allowed for a warrant.”

“A fair analysis, but for now we will simply have to allow it to work in our favor.”

“Alright then. Will there be anyone going in with me as backup?”

“No, it’ll just be you. A police unit has been arranged to take away the Villains once you’ve secured them all.”

“Sounds like this will be cut and dry. What’s their facility like? The more information I get the better.”

“Their main headquarters is an old mansion, and surrounding it is a standard red brick wall topped with barbed wire. The main entrance is secured by an electronic gate with an intercom, though I doubt you’d have any trouble getting through. Outside of the gate they have two armed members, and within the walls are normally around four guards patrolling the main yard.. As for how many people they actually have in the mansion, we don’t know. However a generous guess would place them around two dozen members including their leader”

“Who is?”

“Currently we don’t know. You’ll have to find that out once you’ve made your way in.”

He quickly ran through everything again. “Alright. I’m breaking into a secure mansion in order to capture a group of extremist cultists who are likely planning an attack on a high school and need to locate evidence for a longtime cold case,” he shook his head, “Are there any priority capture targets? If they’re cultists I don’t think they’ll simply let themselves be taken away.”

Nighteye sighed, “Ideally you’ll take all of them in. But if that’s not possible, then at the very least you need to capture their leader.”

Aurdel had another thought, “By the way, I’m going to need help with some additional paperwork.”

“Bubble Girl can handle that for you.”

“Very well.”

Aurdel loaded the magazine of stun rounds into his beretta, surveying the mansion. Just like Nighteye had said there were two guards outside of the walls armed with automatic rifles. He screwed the silencer onto the barrel of his gun, then put it back at his side. After that he walked over to the two men. Once he got close to the gate the two men saw him. “Halt, state your business here Hero.” They didn’t raise their weapons at him yet, but they were still cautious.

“Who, me?” He walked over to the man on the left, getting uncomfortably close to him to make sure there wasn’t enough room for him to raise his rifle. “Well, you could say that I have a warrant.” The man on the right suddenly sprung into action, but Aurdel was quicker on the draw and shot him in the head with his beretta while holding a paper copy of the warrant in the same hand.

“Crap…” The other guard muttered as Aurdel pulled his weapon away,

“Now, why don’t you hand over the keycard to open the gate so I don’t have to bust my way in?” The man’s hands trembled as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a keycard, handing it to Aurdel. “Good man.” He then pistol whipped the guard, knocking him unconscious. After that he restrained the two men and left the two men propped up against the brick wall. After that he opened the gate using the keycard

Theoretically he could have climbed over the wall or broken down the gate, but given the idea he had he didn’t want to cause any unnecessary damage to the estate. Quietly he stepped through into the main yard of the mansion, the area overgrown with uncut grass and a number of bushes scattered around. Upon surveying the area he found the four men who were said to be guarding the inside perimeter. He was about to line up a shot with his pistol when his motion tracker picked up that two of the men on the patrol turned around and were heading his way. So rather than be spotted and turn this into a full on firefight, he ducked into a set of bushes and stayed out of view. With the green of his armor blending in well with the bush, the two men walked by oblivious before regrouping with the two other guards. “Hey, you guys see anything?”

“Nope, ain’t been nothing. I don’t know why the boss has us patrolling up here when we could be taking part in that ritual. No one is gonna attack us.”

“You sure?” One of the others said, “I think he’s right to be cautious. If people manage to get an idea of what we’re planning, then there’s gonna be a whole whirlwind of shit coming our way.”

“Nobody is gonna find out what we’re planning. Besides, they shouldn’t be against us. They should be against the real enemy, those damn mutants. And if they want to stand with those freaks then I want them to try and come take us down.”

“Man, I think you’re just getting stir crazy from standing out here in the sun for so long. Go inside, we’ll cover your area.” One of the men from the patrol left to go inside the mansion, while the other two who’d initially just been standing guard took the group's place and began their patrol. Evidently, it sounded like they were up to something. Aurdel charged out from the bush and grabbed the two men who were on patrol by the throats, slamming them face first into the ground at a high enough speed to injure them and render them unconscious. The third man saw him.

“Who the hell-? It’s you-!” Before he could get out his warning Aurdel fired two, sending the man down in a slump onto his rifle. After tying them up and hiding them in the bushes the inside perimeter of the mansion was now secure, he just had to move into the mansion itself. He crept around to one of the back windows and peered inside. No one was there, and with all the dust and cobwebs the room looked to be in complete disuse. So carefully he pried the window open from the outside, being careful to not shatter it by accident. He then climbed through and shut the window behind him. The room was a guest bedroom, with one door leading to a bathroom and the other leading out into the main hallway. He put his head up to the latter and listened closely, the sound of idle conversation could be heard as two men walked by. One of them was the man who’d come in from outside. Once they’d passed he watched them walk down the hallway, taking notice of a creaky floorboard that one of them had stepped on. He then took one step out the door and-

Snap. The first floorboard that he stepped on cracked and collapsed, he shut his eyes in a moment of frustration as the sound echoed around the relatively empty and quiet mansion. He brought out his pistol as the two men who were walking turned around to look at him, putting them down. Well, so much for stealth. Now he did things the way he knew best. He holstered the pistol and pulled the shotgun loaded with bean bag rounds off of his back, stepping out of the hole in the floorboards. With bean bag rounds in his shotgun he stepped out of the hole in the floorboards and walked down the hallway. The sound of furniture being flipped to make hasty preparations could be heard all the way from over here. “How the hell did someone manage to get this far in?”

“I don’t know, maybe he killed those guys stationed outside.”

“That asshole! He’s going to pay for messing with us!” He stopped in the middle of the hallway, having heard the two voices come from a nearby room. He crept closer and stood next to the door, his motion tracker picking up five targets in the room. He-

Damnit, a creaky floorboard. “There he is, behind the wall!” A third man shouted, small arms fired aimed at him blasted through the wall and plinked off of his shield. He quickly spun around and kicked the door in, firing six shots into the room as he charged in. Two of the shots missed but the rest hit their mark, and four of the men went down holding their guts as the painful beanbags hit them. The fifth man with a fabric skull mask and a pitchfork charged towards him, but he was no problem to deal with. Aurdel kicked with his leg and the pitchfork went flying from the man’s hands and into the ceiling, dislocating his shoulder in the process. He then jammed the barrel end of the shotgun into the man's lower chest, knocking the wind out of him and breaking a few ribs in the process. He then used the stock to butt him down to the ground

He reloaded his shotgun with a live slug this time, and pointed it at the man’s face. “Tell me what your boss is planning.”

“I… I ain’t telling you shit!” Aurdel stomped his foot down onto the man’s right hand, pulverizing it into what looked like hamburger meat. “GAH!” He recoiled back in back and shock, holding what was left of his destroyed hand

“You’ve got two hands and two feet, I can make this as painful as I need it to be.”

“F-Fuck you!” The man shouted, spitting at him. Aurdel stomped down again, this time onto his right foot. “GAAAAAAAH!”

“Talk.”

“ALRIGHT ALRIGHT!” The man grit through his teeth, crying and biting his lip so hard that it bled. “The others are downstairs in the basement doing the rites for our attack, it was supposed to be for good luck!” He let out a painful squeal, “They're all down there, we were just supposed to guard the mansion and keep anyone else from finding out!”

“You traitor!” One of the men that he’d shot with the beanbags earlier pulled out a knife and lunged at the man he was interrogating, stabbing him in the throat. Aurdel backhanded the man across the face with enough force to shatter his jaw, then fired the slug he had loaded in directly into his chest. He was dead.

The man he was interrogating was dead too now, but there was nothing he could do about it now. To make sure that the others stayed down he made sure to pump them with the stun rounds he was using, before pulling his shotgun back out and loading it with heavier beanbags. With a map of the mansion on his HUD he found the basement and kicked the door off of its hinges, slamming into two men who were waiting for him at the bottom of the stairwell. He then slid down the stairs and pumped a beanbag round into another man with a pitchfork waiting for ihm at the bottom. Upon standing back up he found that there were a half a dozen armed cultists ready to attack him, along with a mutant woman strapped to a table presumably to be used as a sacrifice for their ritual. “Kill the sanctum intruder!” The man who stood at the head of the group shouted an order. One of the men raised his hand and extended his fingers towards Aurdel, shooting off projectiles from the tips of his fingers that he avoided. They didn’t look like they did that much damage to the wall behind him, but he didn’t plan to test it himself. Another man scooped his hand through the air like he was grabbing it, a ball of ice then floating above his hand.

“Kill him!” His armor’s systems alarms suddenly screamed as the ball flew by, as the ball of ice was apparently recognized as having been at absolute zero. Such a low temperature shut off his shields, and they all continued to fight. Recognizing the biggest threat in the room as the man who could probably kill him with a single ice ball, he pumped two of the heavy bean bags into his chest and head. His head snapped back as he toppled down, not dead but paralyzed from the neck down. Aurdel then used the shotgun as a bracer as another man with a pitchfork came charging at him, breaking the pointed tips along its edge before whipping it around like a baseball bat to crack it against his skull. This one was dead, skin, flesh and bone being flayed from his head as he collapsed. The three of the remaining four members then charged at him.

The one firing projectiles form his fingers closed in, a bad idea for someone with ranged attacks. With a swift move Aurdel was able to put both arms behind his back, twisting them out of their sockets and tossing him to the ground. The two others both had pitchforks and attacked from both sights, though neither were able to muster enough force to puncture his undersuit or his armor’s plating. As they then pulled out to use more strength to try and gut him, Aurdel stepped out of their path and allowed them to fall upon each others’ weapons. The two cultists dropped to the ground, pitchforks embedded into their stomachs. “You have no idea what you have caused, you will pay for all of your transgression on this day!” The cult leader shouted at the top of his lungs, pulling off his mask. His face was scarred beyond belief, probably from years of getting into extremely violent fights with the people they kidnapped and killed. Aurdel simply drew his beretta and fired the remaining stun rounds into him, putting him down.

“Yeah, well, I'll keep the padded cell warm.” He walked over to the table, tearing up the restraints that held the woman down. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, but they drew all this weird crap all over me,” he helped her up.

“It looks like they used permanent marker, so it should come off with a few days of washing.” He activated his comms, “This is pro-Hero Spartan to the police unit stationed outside the mansion. There are several Villain casualties and a number of injured, the latter will need immediate hospitalization. I also found a civilian in the basement and released them, I’m letting her walk out now.”

“Copy that, we’ll call for additional transport and make our way in.”