Even Brighter Than…

After leaving the bar, Rumi followed Aurdel back to whatever it was he wanted to show her. As it turns out it was something at UA. “So what actually is it that you intend to show me?” She cocked her head, “Cause I’ve already been here before. Not saying it’s not good to be back, but that it’s not new.”

“No, it’s not the school. I’m not so old that I’ve gotten dementia and forgotten all the times you’ve been here already. The reason we’re here is because in order to take you to the place I want to show you, I needed to get something from here.”

She raised an eyebrow, “And what would that happen to be?”

“You’ll see,” he continued to walk forward, his arms folded behind his head. As they approached the dorm building for his class he suddenly began to walk past it, confusing her even further.

“Aren’t you going inside?”

“To get what?” He looked back, “It’s not like I own a car and just need to grab the keys. The thing I have is big, and never could have fit it inside the dorm building. Not that I would want to anyways. If I had, someone would have come across it and then I would have had to hide it again,” they completely walked past the building, heading into a clearing immediately next to it. Aurdel then crouched down, putting a hand to the ground. “You might want to cover your face for a second, this is going to kick up a lot of dirt, dust and snow.”

“What are you…?” Suddenly the ground ripped open, walls of concrete parting open from side to side to unveil a large hole in the large. Once all the debris cleared she had a clear view of what was inside. But what was inside was… Well. “Alright, what the hell is this thing?”

He stood up, “That beauty you see in there is what the UNSC calls a ‘Pelican,’ a heavy dropship used for troop transport and cargo ferrying purposes.”

“So it’s a plane?”

“Yes it’s a plane, but it’s more than just that.” He hopped down into the hole, Rumi followed. “The UNSC could have invested in more helicopter transports or normal transport aircraft, they would have been cheaper and would have allowed for a better efficiency when it comes to cargo and troop capacity. Instead, they hedged their bets on this lovely brick with wings and fusion rockets strapped to it. Know why?”

“No idea.”

“Well, when you’re trying to manage an interstellar military, something you’ve got to keep in mind is the fact that every planet you come across will be different from the last. Different levels of gravity means that a ship might be able to land on the planet, but not be able to escape the atmosphere once its business is done. Different composition and density of a planet's atmosphere means that in certain cases, traditional aircraft may not be able to work at all. So in order to bridge the gap between aircraft and starships, the Pelican was made.”

“Wait a minute,” she looked at the ‘Pelican,’ pointing a finger at it. “If that thing is meant to be a combination of a plane and a spaceship, then does that mean-?”

He ran a hand across the top of it. “Can it go into space? Yes, easily too. Really the only limit of how far it can go is a matter of fuel, thrust and the amount of food you have aboard.” Aurdel turned back around, leaning on the outside of the Pelican. “You know, it’s one thing to take inspiration from stories of moon rabbits, it’s another thing to actually get the chance to be one.”

“Are you saying that you can-“

“Take you to the moon and back? Sure can. I’ve stopped enough boosters and made enough modifications that I can do a round trip to the moon in around six hours. Granted it’s not exactly the smoothest or safest ride, but I don’t think most things would be fun if they were absolutely guaranteed to be safe.”

“Wait, wait, you’ve got to be joking,” she shook her head. “There’s no way this thing can get into space. Can it?”

“How do you think I got here?”

“You said that you took a spaceship.”

“Well, yes, I did. But that was so I could jump using slipspace to get from one system to another. Once I actually breached Earth’s atmosphere I ditched the ship into the deep pacific. It isn’t easy to hide something that’s around five hundred meters long and two hundred meters wide, especially not on land. So I took this Pelican. Granted, it didn’t have all this crap bolted on at the time.”

“Then you’re being completely serious. You can actually go… to the moon?”

“Yes.” His reply was completely deadpan.

She shoved him, “Well of course I’m going to say yes! What kind of questions is that? Nobody would say no when given the chance to go to the moon.”

“Then come on!” He took her by the hand, pulling her towards the back of the Pelican. “You’re going to need to get changed before we go up, don’t want the Gs to knock you out on the way up.” As they entered through the rear he suddenly let go, running over to what looked like a large metal closet next to the front of the ship.

“Then what am I supposed to put on?”

He opened the closet door, putting his hands inside. “Give me just one… Here.” When he turned back around, he was holding something that looked like a black and green space suit.

“Is that really going to fit on me?” She gave it a quick look over, then looked at herself.

“I mean it should, though I really only have an eyeball estimate for your measurements and that’s after consuming an absurd amount of grain liquor.” He tossed the suit to her.

She stretched it in her hands, “Am I supposed to put this-” As she looked back up, she saw Aurdel pull off his shirt and start pulling down his pants. “Woah!”

“What?” He turned his head, stopping. “You can’t put vacuum suits on top of clothing. It’s supposed to have right skin contact, since it needs to trap in your body heat and keep your blood pumping at the correct pace.” He pulled down his pants stepping into the suit, “You can keep any underwear on though, since that stuff is a lot more thin than normal clothes. Though I have known a number of people who go completely commando.”

“R-really…?” Her cheeks felt a little flushed, watching him change and then walk over to the front of the ship. She felt a little embarrassed seeing him like this, even though she originally thought they were going to be doing something a little more… intimate. She’d even somewhat prepared her for that, not putting on-

“Is something wrong?” He looked back for a moment, seeing her with somewhat rosy cheeks and somewhat flustered.

“N-no I’ve got it, just set up what you need to. I’ll be done in a second.” He turned back around, and Rumi quickly took that chance to undress herself and change into the vacuum suit. Once she had finally changed she walked over to the front of the ship, “So what now?”

“Now? We fly.” Aurdel sat down in the seat on the left, Rumi sat down in the seat on the right and buckled herself in. Then, she suddenly became somewhat nervous.

“Actually, should you really be flying in your current state? We did just come back from doing some pretty heavy drinking and-“

“Of course I shouldn’t, but that isn’t going to stop me.” He flipped a few switches and then pressed a button, she could hear the sound of the engines roaring to life. The doors in the back closed. “Alright, here we go!”

There was a rumbling sound as the Pelican lifted off the ground, Rumi watched through the canopy as they rose out of the hole and into the air. She was then pressed against her seat as they suddenly accelerated, the Pelican angling forwards and upwards towards the sky. “Why are we going so fast?!”

He laughed, “Because we need to go fast enough to escape the atmosphere! Now hold on, because we’re about to go even faster!”

“How much fast-?!” She was pressed into her seat again as the large thrusters strapped to the side of the Pelican suddenly flared on, adding an immense amount of speed. “You’re crazy, you’re not even wearing any restraints!”

“It’s not like I need them,” he looked over to her, practical indifference to the fact that they were hurtling upwards out of the planet on his face. “After everything I’ve been through… A kidnapping, brutal training, scarring medical procedures, self-mutilation, gunshot and shrapnel wounds, the burns and shocks of explosions, extreme heat of plasma, incredible cold of space. Even falling from orbit and hitting the ground at terminal velocity. When compared to all of that, the things that you feel when attempting to leave the planet.”

“I didn’t mean to-“

He interrupted her, “That’s not to say I don’t understand what you’re feeling, everyone feels it the first time they try to leave orbit. It’s just that when I do something like this, instead of feeling fear or worry I try to look at the beauty of it. So, look.”

Look? She turned her head back towards the see-through glass, having looked away. Then she saw it. “It’s so…”

“Blue?”

She was at a loss for words, “I guess, I’m really not sure how to describe it.

“It’s what most people say once they get this high up. There’s not enough particles here to scatter the light like there is closer to the surface. So up here, you can see the true sky. Unfiltered.”

She was still stunned. “It’s just… Amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“Most people will never see anything like it, especially not on this Earth. The international space station was decommissioned around forty years ago, and the only launches that governments around the world perform are to launch more satellites and hide weapons in orbit.” He released the controls as the forces on the ship relaxed, and the ship leveled out as they finally exited the atmosphere. “Granted, there probably will be a great many going to space in the future. They’re going to prepare for the future I told them about when I first came here. But even then, most people will never get to see it.”

She slumped in the chair a little, “It’s a shame.”

“I guess that’s part of why I wanted you to see it. So that there could be someone else who was a witness.” He leaned back, stretching his arms. “Anyways, if you want to then you can head into the back and lay down for a little. It’ll be a few hours before we get to the moon. There should be a few space blankets in that storage cabinet I took the vacuum suits from. You can also look through the window in the back hatch if you want, it’ll give you a good view of the Earth.”

She stood up, carefully watching her step as she adjusted to the slightly floaty gravity in the ship. “What about you?”

“Well, someone needs to fly this thing. And only one of us has a relatively good grasp of orbital mechanics and transfer orbits.”

“Hey, I’m sure I could learn if you gave me the chance.”

“I don’t doubt that you could, but I’m not willing to test that hunch while this dropship is literally the only way back and forth between Earth and the moon.”

“Guess you’ll just have to deal with me up here then,” she leaned forward towards the front console. “Does this thing have a radio?”

“Sure it does, and right now you’ll get some of the best reception you’ll ever find.” He pushed a button, and the radio came on. He turned up the volume.

“I don’t want a lot for-“

He pushed the button, turning the radio back off. “Why in God’s name is that song still playing?! It’s mid-January!”

Aoyama, Hagakure and Ashido were all sat on a couch in the waiting room of Yoroi Musha’s office. It was a small, cramped room, one with clinical looking wallpaper that was peeling off. The lights were oppressive, the carpeting was drab and the air felt stale. It all felt like it was over half a century old. Probably because that was about how old the man running this agency was. “Man!” Ashido threw up her arms, flopping back onto the couch out of pure boredom. “Just how long are we going to be spending waiting here? We’re supposed to be going outside and getting experience in order to become better Heroes, how are we supposed to do that if all we do is sit inside of a stuffy office all day?!”

“Yeah!” Hagakure said, agreeing with her. “Normally I would appreciate taking a break and relaxing. But we’re trying to be enthusiastic about our future work, so why aren’t you letting us do anything?!”

Aoyama raised a finger, “Moi would say that the reason we’re staying here is because of the inherent danger presented to us as work study students. Since Uraraka and Asui were attacked and put in the hospital by Villains, it’s very possible that the same thing could happen to us if we’re not careful.”

“But we were doing this even before that happened!” Ashido jumped up, “And I’m not trying to say that what happened to them doesn’t matter, but we can’t abandon everything just because of one incident!”

Yoroi Musha, who was sitting across from them, held up a hand, then they fell silent. “You’re correct in your assumption that the incident involving your friends isn’t the reason that I am slow to deploy you, because it’s not. The reason that we are acting so slow is because I am trying to teach you an important virtue that all Heroes must possess. Patience.”

“Patience?!” Ashido echoed, flabbergasted. “We know how to be patient. And even if we didn’t, what are we waiting so patiently for? I’ve heard the phone ring dozens of times ever since we’ve gotten here, and each one of them was a valid incident that we could have responded to!”

“It is impossible for a Hero to be everywhere at once. A top Hero cannot handle each and every mundane task by himself, that is what sidekicks are for.”

“Then which ones are you actually going to respond to?!”

“That is something only I will know. You too will know when the time comes.”

“So frustrating!” Ashido said, kicking her legs. “Well it better happen soon, because I think I’m going to go crazy if I sit in this room any longer.”

“A warrior who prepares for battle should hope for peace. Not war.”

“Especially if we’re going to keep hearing all these proverbs!”

Aoyama gave a chuckle, “Personally I believe that proverbs are a fantastic way to teach an important-” He was cut off, as something in the bag at his side began to buzz. It was his phone. He felt his heart quicken as he recognized the phone number that stretched it the screen, he tried to keep himself composed. “Ah, I’m afraid I need to take this. It’s a very important call.”

“You can take it, just step out into the hall so we won’t cause you any disturbance.” Yoroi Musha gestured towards the door, Aoyama nodded silently.

After leaving the room and shutting the door behind him, he took the phone. Then he answered. “Hello?”

“Hello ‘cousin,’ how have you been? It’s been a while since we last spoke.” A pang of fear went through him, recognizing the voice. It truly was one of All For One’s assistants. Every time he had to speak with one of them, he couldn’t help but feel completely ashamed of himself. Of

The situation that he and his family had been placed in. He lowered his head, trembling a little

“I have been busy with my schoolwork, though not all of it has been all that tough. Recently we started our work studies, and I’m working with a few of my friends under the number ten Hero.”

“Number ten Hero, huh? You and your parents must be proud about that.” Aoyama grit his teeth a little at the comment, simply taking the insult. “I’m not really interested in that though, we can always talk about that another time. What I wanted to talk about was something that I wanted you to help me with.”

“You need help?” He could barely hide his nervousness.

“Yes, I do. See I bought myself a new phone recently, but the problem is that I bought the wrong service package from the company. Now for some reason they don’t let me make international calls, nor does it let me share my location with anyone else. It’s been causing me a lot of problems since there are some friends I want to meet up with, and I can’t show them exactly where I am.” He shifted a little, swallowing. “Now I heard that you got something new that could do that, I wanted to see if you could share it with me for a few days so I could show the phone company and get them to give me what I need.”

The way the Villain on the other side of the phone tried to obfuscate the conversation was confusing, and it wasn’t exactly clear what he was asking for. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Are you sure?” The one was inquisitive, and harsh. “I heard that it’s popular with Hero students these days, I’m sure that everyone in your class has one. Right?”

Given a moment to think again, he knew what he was asking for now. He was talking about the transmitters that Mr. Aurdel had given them for emergencies. Another pang of fear shot through him. “A-Ah, right.”

“So it’s agreed then? You’ll let me borrow it?”

“When would I have to lend it to you?”

“Just the next time we meet, it’ll be very soon.”

“How will I know-?”

“Trust me, you’ll know when we’re meeting again.” The person on the other side of the phone hung up. Aoyama’s hand dropped to his side, still clutched around the phone.

This was all his fault. All those years ago, he had complained to his parents over the fact that he was quirkless. And because they loved him, they’d made a deal with a devil to give the thing that he wanted most. They had indebted themselves to All For One, all because of him. Now they were left to reap the consequences.

He slid the phone back into his bag, rubbing his face to make sure that there were no tears. When All Might had defeated All For One at Kamino, he’d hoped that the nightmare had come to an end. But he was naive to think that. Even after Kamino All For One and his associates found ways to coerce him and his family, and even now he was still doing his bidding. But he truly wished that he didn’t have to. Even if it meant having his quirk taken away or sacrificing himself to do so, he wanted to set things right. Because now, the effects of his actions were just too far reaching. Before he was able to do it without too much weight being put on his conscience, but that was only because back then he didn’t know his classmates. He didn’t know all the memories he would make with them, all the ups and downs. And now he would be betraying Mr. Aurdel, someone who valued trust above almost everything else and placed his complete trust in his students. He would do anything to protect his students, and Aoyama was going to put him at risk.

He clenched his fist, there wasn’t any other choice for him to make. He was just in too deep. Aoyama walked back over to the door, and stepped back into the waiting room. “Who called?” Ashido asked, curious.

“Just some family calling, to find out how things are going.”

“Don’t they know that you’re still technically in school right now?” Hagakure pointed out.

“Oui, but after what happened with Uraraka and Asui they had me tell them what we were doing and when.”

“I see…” Aoyama eventually returned to where he was on the couch, settling back in.

Another twenty minutes would pass, each of them trying to keep themselves calm as they did nothing. But eventually something would break the silence. “Hello?” Another call would come in, this time to Yoroi Musha’s phone. He remained in the room, sitting on the couch across from them. It was silent as he listened to the conversation on the phone, Aoyama and the others unable to make out just exactly what was being said. But eventually he saw the old Hero’s eyes widen at something. “We’ll be there in a moment, tell the officers to hold their positions until we get there.” He hung up.

“Are we finally going to get to do something?!” Ashido hopped up, excited.

“Yes, you’ll get your experience. Make sure to grab all of your gear and prepare for battle. I’ll be relying on your help to resolve this case.”

Without even knowing the details, Aoyama knew who they would be fighting.

Over the Moon

Rumi sat with her eyes closed, breathing slowly as she sat in the seat next to Aurdel covered with one of the space blankets. Leaning on his shoulder. She was practically asleep when she felt something gently nudge her shoulder, “Hey, we’re here.”

Slowly she opened her eyes, a little tired. But as soon as the light her eyes, and she saw the view outside the cockpit window…“Woah”

“Welcome to the big white pearl in the night sky. People haven’t gone back here for over a century, and nothing has been disturbed here by probes for a number of decades.”

She stood up, “Just seeing this… It still doesn’t feel completely real. It’s like I’m in a dream.”

“Well, you know what they say. Seeing is believing, but feeling is the truth.”

“What?” She turned her head.

“I’m just screwing with you. Here, you’re going to need this.” He pulled a helmet out from underneath the console and handed it to her., “You’re gonna have to fold your ears a little to make it fit, I didn’t have enough material to make something sturdy that could fit all the way around.”

She grabbed the helmet, “Anything else?”

“Nah, just head over to the tray and make sure your suit is sealed. There’s a few things I need to finish up here.”

Rumi walked out of the cockpit and into the back, putting on the helmet. Once on and properly sealed, all the sounds around her became incredibly muffled. “Hey, can you hear me with this thing on?” He turned around, looking back towards the cockpit. She didn’t seem to get any answer. “Hello?” Not seeing Aurdel poke his head out of the cockpit, she figured. In that case… “You know, when you said that you wanted to go out for a few drinks I thought you were asking me out on a date.” She leaned against the wall of the ship, watching the cockpit door. “You said all that really personal stuff and it felt like you were opening up a lot to me. Then when you said that there was something you wanted to show me….” She smirked behind the helmet, “Well, normally people make jokes about women only being able to give mixed signals. But I think you’re more unpredictable than I could ever be. After all, I thought we were going to do something a lot more intimate.” As she saw a hand reach around the cockpit door, she quieted. Then she watched Aurdel walk out, helmet on. There was a mumbling sound. “Huh?” He then turned his head a little, tapping a specific part on the helmet. Thinking he wanted her to do the same thing, she copied the motions on her helmet and-

As she pushed a button, the sound became much clearer. “Noise canceling, off.”

Her heart skipped a beat, “Sorry, I tapped the button on the side while I was handing you the helmet. You should be good now. You’ll also want to press the button below it to turn on the radio so we can actually talk once we get outside.”

“R-Right.” She tapped the other button, “Did you hear…?”

“Hear what?” She could see him raise an eyebrow behind, “We’re on the moon, there’s nothing up here except for us.”

“Right… Must have just been my imagination then.” She let out a sigh of relief. As much as she tried to give signs of her interest, saying something so blatantly like that would have just been embarrassing.

“Okay then… Well, are you ready to go?”

“All set.”

“Good, then I’m going to start the depressurization. It’ll take a moment.” He walked over to a panel, pushing a few buttons. She could hear the air begin to hiss out of the bay and into the internal tanks, then there was silence. The doors dropped open.

She looked out into the surface, the visor of her helmet polarizing to the new source of light. “What now?”

He held out a hand, offering towards her. “The only thing you can do. Take the first step.” She took his hand, and he led her towards the way out. Then they stood at the edge.

“Aren’t you going to go first?”

“I want you to go first, it wouldn’t be right for me to be the first person to set foot on the moon in so long.” He then gestured forward. Hesitantly, she took that step. Setting foot on solid ground… it felt like any other time that she’d walked. But a rush surged through her body, one that she couldn’t explain. “So? How does it feel?”

“It feels…” She laughed a little as she tried to come up with the words, somewhat overcome by the feeling. “I don’t know… I just like I’m free up here!”

“Then no reason to hold back!” After that, the two of them practically charged out onto the lunar surface. Rumi kicked with her legs, using the amplified strength from her quirk to launch herself upward. She soared across the sky.

“Woah!” At first it was hard to keep herself stable in the air, but eventually she managed to get a hold of it. Soon enough she was bounding across the moon like it was natural for her to be here. A grin stretched across her face.

“Wait up!” She looked back, seeing that Aurdel was some distance away. Normally the two of them were able to keep up with each other pretty well, but it seemed that without his usual gear and methods of travel she was easily able to outpace him. Eventually she stopped in her tracks to let him catch up, floating back down. “Man. Normally it takes at least a few days for people to learn how to properly walk in low gravity, even longer for any advanced maneuverability. But you’re a complete natural.”

“What can I say? I’m a quick learner.” She thought for a moment, “You know what? I’ve got an idea.”

“What’s your-“ Before he could finish his sentence, she grabbed him. Then she leapt up. “Woah!”

“Now this way, we’ll be able to keep up with each other.” She laughed a little.

He shook his head in amusement, “It really is like I said, you’re just too willful.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No, it’s not.” Together, the two of them went leaps and bounds across the moon. They hopped over massive craters, fields of scattered debris, the locations of past landing sites and small monuments to the various missions. And all that was nice, but what she really enjoyed was…

“Uh oh.” All of a sudden she ended up misjudging one of her jumps. Instead of her foot pushing off the ground, it ended up sliding across and caused her to trip. She then tried to quickly correct herself.

“You’re adjusting too much! We’re gonna-“ As she moved, it ended up tripping Aurdel too. They then fell in the opposite direction, with Aurdel falling first and Rumi falling on top of him. “-fall.”

He let out a sigh, she giggled. “Guess I still have some work to do.” For a moment she started to get up, but then she realized something. She quickly got back down.

“Aren’t you going to get up?”

“Nah, I think I like being like this.” Rumi stayed as she was on top of him, laying her head on his chest. Even with the suit on she could still feel the subtle movements of his breathing, his chest slowly rising up before going back down. At the same time she could hear the soft sound of his breathing over the radio, something she normally wouldn’t be able to pick up on since he almost always wore his helmet. For once it actually felt like he was… relaxed. And knowing that made her feel relaxed too.

Aurdel put an arm over her, holding her to him. For a moment they just sat there, and everything felt right. There were no Villains that they needed to track down and fight, there was no worry about the commission or the government interfering and there was no larger problem to face. Up here, it was just them. “Is this more in line with what you were expecting?”

“So you did hear what I said earlier!”

“You never finished asking the question, so I didn’t tell you at the time. After that I decided to get in a little bit of my own teasing.”

Sheepishly she moved her head a little bit, trying to obscure the embarrassment on her face. “Yeah, it is.” Quietly, she still clung to him. In a way she was thankful that he’d heard what she’d said, it meant that now he openly knew how she felt. “No matter what happens with that interview, you know that I’ve got your back.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Ashido clutched the case she used to store her costume, having taken it with her as she and the others deployed to deal with whatever job it was that their work study teacher was taking them to. Herself, Hagakure and Aoyama were all crammed into the back of a rather cramped white SUV, one that looked about as old as it smelled. Aoayama looked towards her, “Ashido, why are you carrying your costume case with you?”

“I don’t really have anywhere on my costume to keep the transmitter that Mr. Aurdel gave us, so I’m keeping it inside my case.”

“You took it with you?” Hagakure asked.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Ashido raised an eyebrow, “You heard how important it was for us to have this when he gave it to us, not to mention after what happened I don’t think it would hurt to have a way to call up for backup incase we need it.”

Aoyama seemed to ponder the idea for a moment, then muttered. “I wish I’d thought of that.”

“A warrior who relies upon others shall fall upon his own blade, for once they are gone there will be no one left to carry,” Yoroi Musha made a deadpan comment.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Working with others is the quickest way to ensure your own death. When you work with someone else, more often than not it’s for the purpose of using them to cover for your own lack of skills in a certain area. But by working with someone else you remove the need to learn those same skills, and thus never do so. Then when you try to do work by yourself, you’re killed.”

“That’s a harsh way of looking at things… But wait, don’t you work with others? You have a bunch of sidekicks.”

“There is a very well defined difference between working with someone, and having someone work underneath you.” Hearing that, Ashido couldn’t help but become less confident in whatever they were supposed to be learning at this work study. When they’d first started she’d initially drawn comparisons between Yoroi Musha and Mr. Aurdel, both being older Heroes with strong senses of right and wrong. She’d also initially thought that their ideas of what Heroes were supposed to be were similar, being that Heroes aren’t omnipotent and can’t be there to solve every problem. But the difference had become crystal clear when they hadn’t gone out for a single fight, or even just to help civilians. Mr. Aurdel meanwhile… Sometimes you had to actively keep him from trying to intervene in something. He’d even run out in the middle of a class just to fight a powerful Villain that was mopping the floor with officers and other Heroes, before coming back to finishing teaching once it was defeated. The difference between them was as clear as night and day. “We’re here.” The car stopped, they were outside what looked like a campground on the edge of a forest.

“Where exactly is here?” There were three police cruisers in front of the SUV, their lights flashing.

“Police thought they were responding to a dispute between two groups of locals, but when they showed up it turned out to be the League of Villain.” Yoroi Musha turned off the car and stepped out, slamming the door. “Stay inside.”

“Now just hold on!” Ashido opened the door and stepped out, Hagakure followed her. “Aoyama, aren’t you going to get out too?”

“If moi has been told to stay, then moi will stay.”

“Fine, but you better not complain!” Undeterred, she followed Yoroi Musha as he approached the police cruisers. There was an officer there, leaning against one of the passenger doors. “Why would you take us to a fight with the League of Villains, but not tell us about it?”

“The League of Villains is an overblown threat, one that I intend to put away once and for all. Spartan is just using them as a means to stoke the flames of fear amongst the population and centralize power and influence towards himself.”

“How can you say that?!” She was shocked at the frankness of what was being said, not to mention somewhat offended.

“If Spartan truly was as strong as he makes himself out to be, then he would have put away the League of Villains long ago. This argument is over.” He raised a hand, silencing her further pestering. All she could do now was silently fume over the insinuation that their teacher was being called a fraud. “Officer, where is the League?”

“Thank god you’re here,” the officer said, exasperated. “They’re over there, closer to the woods. They've already killed my partner and taken the others hostage, I don’t know why they haven’t come for me yet.”

“Have they made any demands?”

“Nothing.”

“Alright, stay back. ack. I’ll drive out the Villain’s, it will be up to you to detain them.”

“Do you really think it’ll be that easy?”

“Of course it will, the League of Villains is nothing more than a paltry-”

“Aoyama!” Ashido quickly turned around as she heard Hagakure shout. A wave of blue fire ripped out from the forest, completely enveloping the car that they’d driven in on.

“Get back!” Yoroi Musha shouted, pushing Ashido and Hagakure back. “Officer, take these two and-!”

“You’re pretty full of yourself, old guy.” They were all caught off guard as the officer suddenly pulled out a knife, stabbing Yoroi Musha between the plates of his armor and dragged it down.

“Who the hell?!” He swung with his arm, throwing the officer back and forcing them to release the knife.

The ‘officer’ fell back, landing on their feet with one hand touching the ground. The uniform and skin melted off, revealing another person entirely. “I’m not sure how a fat old guy like you made it to number ten, but you sure don’t seem like a tough Hero.”

“Get back!” He pulled out a katana, charging the female Villain.

“Spinner, it’s your turn!” A lizard looking charged out with their own sword, brandishing it against Yoroi Musha and coming to clash.

“You two, make sure the boy is alright!”

“R-Right!” Ashido and Hagakure ran back to the white car, finding it completely burnt out. Her costume case had completely melted in the fire, and Aoyama was nowhere to be seen. Until… “Over there!” She pointed, seeing Aoyama being dragged away by some guy in a trench coat.

“Don’t let him get away!” The two of them quickly sprinted after them, going around the burning wreck of the car.

As they rapidly approached the guy in the trench coat turned his head. “Oh? Mustard, Magne. Hold them off.”

“You’ve got it!” Two other Villains suddenly jumped out from behind the trees. One was in a gas mask and wielding a revolver, the other looked to be in plain clothes and held what looked like a metal beam.

“Watch out!” Hagakure refracted the light around them as the one with the metal beam looked ready to swing, temporarily blinding them.

“Get away!” Ashido quickly kicked them in the chest before running back, the Villain wildly swinging and still charging forward.

“I always wanted to be like one of you cute girls, no one would accept the way that I am! But I figured out that I didn’t need to be accepted by anyone except myself!” The first few hits missed her, but eventually one connected against her side. Ashido was thrown to the ground, her left side feeling bruised. The Villain raised the beam high above their head, “Now the only thing I need to do is-!” Gunshots rang out from somewhere behind, the Villain turned their head. “Are you trying to shoot me or them you brat?!”

Ashido took her chance, spraying her acid at the hand holding the metal beam and the beam itself. “I’m not going down to a creep like you!”

“My hand!” The Villain clutched at their arm as the acid quickly began burning through their hand and the metal beam, “You bitch! I was willing to play, and you do this!” The Villain tried to kick her, but Ashido quickly spun back up and got her own blow in first. She kicked the Villain’s other leg and knocked them down to the ground, then quickly stood up to run for cover as a number of bullets went flying by.

Her heart was racing, she didn’t know what to do. She was able to keep calm when she was in all those training battles, and even when she’d gone out on patrol with Mr. Aurdel she was able to do the same. But now that she was in the thick of it she was anything but calm, Ashido was running purely off her fight or flight instincts now. “Get down!” An invisible hand pushed her back down to the ground as something flew over then, rolling before exploding and sending shrapnel through the air. Bits of metal tore through the fabric of her costume and pierced her skin, drawing blood. Hagakure was less lucky as bits of small metal lodged themselves in her skin, blood trickling down her invisible body.

“Are you alright?!” Before she could get an answer, the Villain charged again. “Stay away!”

As Aoyama was being carried into the woods by Dabi, he couldn’t help but feel like he was about to throw up. Not from the motion of being haphazardly dragged around like a sack of rocks, but out of shame. Shame for what he was about to do. “Alright, we’re outside of your little friends. You can stand up now.” Dabi let go of him, dropping him to the floor. Aoyama didn’t stand up. “Didn’t you hear what I said?”

“Oui, I did. But I find it hard to live with myself over what I am to do, let alone find the strength to stand.”

“Stop being a pissant little crybaby,” Dabi grabbed the hem of his cape and dragged him back up. His feet managed to stand themselves up on the ground, shaking as he tried to hold himself still. “The transmitter, hand it over.” Aoyama’s hand moved over to the bag that he kept at his side, opening the satchel. He then reached inside, his hand hovering over the transmitter. “Well?”

His hand grabbed the transmitter, clenching around it. “Before I give it to you, I want to know what it is you plan to do with it.”

Dabi scoffed, “You’re in no position to try and bargain for information.”

“And you’re in no position to kill me over it either, no?” Dabi’s mocking grin went back to a scowl.

“No, I can’t kill you for real.” He held his hand out, “I don’t know what I’ll use it for, but having anything that will allow me to know where that green bastard will be a great help.” Aoyama pulled the transmitter out of his bag, dropping it into Dabi’s outstretched hand. He then examined the device, “All this fuss, over such a small thing.”

“How do you rationalize everything?”

“Huh?” Dabi looked away from the transmitter.

“Your actions. All the killings and the destruction, how can you rationalize it all?”

Dabi thought for a moment, then shoved the transmitter into his pocket. “I don’t. The need to rationalize something implies that you’re not strong enough to believe in your own convictions, and I believe everything that I do to the fullest extent.” He raised his right hand, a small blue flame beginning to grow. “Now run back to your larping session, or else you’re going to die for real while I try to make this look good.” Aoyama was stood still for a few seconds, just absorbing what Dabi- “I said get the fuck out of here!” As Dabi shouted, Aoyama turned and ran his way back out of the forest. Fire flooded the space behind him, biting at his heels and burning away his cape as he sprinted forward. The fire melted the back of his armor, the flames further traveling up towards his head and burning his cheek. But eventually it stopped.

He sprinted past the two Villains that were fighting at the entrance to the forest, one with holes in his mask and the other clutching an arm with a stump at the end. As he finally made it out he collapsed onto the muddy dirt, all the snow having melted away from the fire. He hyperventilated as he tried to catch his breath, but found it near impossible. “The League’s escaping...” As he looked up, he saw Yoroi Musha walk over. Wounded, a knife still plunged into his shoulder and slashes all across his armor. Ashido was sitting on the ground completely motionless, one of the horns on her head snapped and a thousand yard stare immortalized on her. Hagakure meanwhile was covered with wounds, to the point that a significant part of her body was outlined in blood.

“Don’t tell anyone about what happened today, otherwise I’ll have all your work studies suspended” Yoroi Musha said, in a voice just above a murmur. “I heard what Spartan did to Ryukyu over her failure, and I don’t intend to earn his wrath.”

Aoyama turned his head, looking back at the trail of flames and smoke coming from deep in the woods. Even the pro-Heroes feared retribution from Mr. Aurdel…

And if that were that case, what was going to happen to him?