Chapter Text
Pouring himself his third cup of tea, Nezu hummed in delight as he downloaded the security footage for 1A’s third simulation exercise.
“Well, that was quite an exciting training exercise to witness. Wouldn’t you say, Toshinori?”
Sitting on the opposite side of Nezu’s desk, the currently deflated All Might stared back at the footage with hardly an expression at all.
“Forgive me, Nezu, but I’d find these simulations the young students are going through to be more efficient if they faced challenges they could actually overcome,” Toshinori stated, “Constantly failing may only lead to the students into doubting their capabilities on the field. Especially with the Sports Festival coming soon.”
Taking a sip of his beverage, Nezu stayed silent for a few moments before returning a response.
“Perhaps you are right, old friend. Perhaps Mr. Todd is taking these training sessions far too serious this early on in the school year. He only wishes to show the students just how difficult this line of work is.”
“So you agree that-“
“Be that as it may,” Nezu interrupted him, “in the small amount of time that he has been here, I know Mr. Todd does what he can to train the students as best as he can. And I do not say that because he has had no experience as an educator, but also because he must rely on alternative methods of training than what he had endured with his own mentor.”
“What makes you so certain of that?” All Might questioned.
“Toshinori, what was the time period in which you trained Mr. Midoriya?”
Slightly confused by the change of subject, the pro hero gave a moment of thought before sharing his answer.
“Ten months, if I’m not mistaken. I recall Young Midoriya bringing some homework along to complete as he trained,” the pro hero answered.
“Yes, nearly a year. As for Mr. Todd, I have my suspicions that with the highly impressive skills he possesses, the young man was put through far more intense training with his own mentor. Most likely in a shorter time frame compared to Mr. Midoriya. Whatever training methods his mentor had put him through, Mr. Todd could have easily made all the students endure the same training if he wanted to.”
“But you denied him that when he proposed it?” All Might asked.
The principal shook his head, “I never gave an answer. Nor do I need to, the reason being that I can already see that Mr. Todd is training the students in their own separate paces. If any of the students would want to train some more, it is for them to speak with Mr. Todd or any other staff member for that. I can go into more details about this whole thing with you, Toshinori, but for now I would like to resume viewing 1A’s training simulations.”
-:-
Back with Sero and his team at their training exercise, the teens watched carefully as their newly revealed opponent casually walked around on screen.
“I am relieved you heroes have finally arrived,” the villain said, “The thought of you missing out on what I have planned had me…afraid.”
“Whatever you have planned, it won’t work,” Sero replied, “My team and I will beat you!”
The villain made no immediate response. Instead, he simply stood in one spot and stared at the screen for a few minutes before beginning to chuckle.
“Such bravado. I suppose that is to be expected of naïve heroes like yourselves. We all know this brave act is not real. You are just hiding what you’re truly feeling.”
“Oh yeah? And what the hell do you think we’re really feeling?”
The villain took steps closer to the screen. Even though he wore a mask, the students somehow got the sense that he was smiling at them.
“You’re all truly feeling terrified. You children believe you can stop me. But your fear holds you back! Just ask your companion, Ms. Uraraka. She was exposed to my latest batch of fear toxin not too long ago. A small dosage, of course, but I am certain some damage was done.”
Hagakure quickly turned to her teammate, “Ochako! Are you really okay? Is that orange gas stuff still bugging you?”
“No, I feel fine. I don’t know what he’s talking about,” Uraraka responded, “Don’t worry about me. We gotta stop that creepy villain.”
“You’re welcome to try, young heroes. The end result for your heroic efforts may succumb to…a terrifying end for you all,” the villain maliciously chuckled, “Your lives are in the hands of Doctor Jonathan Crane…the Scarecrow!”
-:-
“Hm, fitting name for this guy considering his appearance,” Aizawa commented, “So what’s his story?”
“Oh, same old same old. Ex-psychiatrist taking his love in the field of work to the next level to spread terror on anything with a pulse. All with the help of his fear toxin,” Jason explained.
Aizawa raised an eyebrow at the mention of the toxin, recalling one of the groups dealing with another simulated villain that utilized toxins.
“Is this fear toxin lethal?”
“At high enough doses, yeah. It’s a dangerous hallucinogen that causes those exposed to it to envision their greatest fears. I’ve calibrated the simulation just enough that the simulated toxins won’t leave long-lasting damage to the kids.”
“Will the simulation also show us what each of the students will be seeing?” Aizawa asked, “I don’t expect all of them to share similar fears.”
“We won’t be able to. There is a way to, but we’d need some really unique equipment for that to happen,” the outlaw explained to his colleague, “Most we’ll be able to see are their reactions. Their screams and body language could still give us some kind of idea as to whatever it is they’re seeing. As dark and grim as that may sound.”
Listening to their teachers share information, the rest of the students grew worried for their friends as they learned about the opponent they are facing.
“Damn, this isn’t good. Who knows what kinda scary crap Sero and the others might deal with,” Kaminari stated, the teen now awake and at a near full recovery after his match.
Beside him, Tokoyami nodded his head, “To achieve their task, our four companions must venture into the darkness of their subconscious mind. Confront whatever it may be that haunts their dreams.”
“Well, that’s one way to put it,” Jiro replied, even with the exaggerated input her classmate had put, “Glad I’m not part of that team at least.”
-:-
Back at the simulation, Sero’s team gathered by the doorway leading to the stairwell. No one was sure what to really expect from their foe or what other traps may be hidden.
One thing’s for certain: none of them plan on splitting up for the entire combat simulation.
“Okay, I don’t think this Scarecrow guy really has any kind of quirk. He might be just quirkless. Like Jason,” Sero stated to his teammates, “There are three more levels in the building so we should get moving. I got a feeling we’re being timed to stop him from…whatever he’s planning.”
“Yeah, good idea,” Uraraka replied, Koda rapidly nodding his head in agreement.
The team made their way up the stairs. Reaching the next floor, the team came across a doorway leading into a hallway that stretched out to the opposite side of the building. Throughout the hallway though, the students could see that there were a few doors. Some sealed up with wooden planks blocking them while others were not.
“Soooooo…who wants to go first?” Sero asked his team, a failed attempt at making light of the situation.
With everyone trading looks to one another, it was finally Sero who moved into the hallway first.
Arms raised in a defensive stance as if he’s expecting an attack of some kind, the teen carefully moved closer to the nearest door. With his teammates following right behind him, the young hero cautiously reached for the door handle, pausing as he held on to it.
Turning the handle down, Sero barely pushed the door open before hitting something on the other side.
“I think something’s blocking the door. Koda, can you help me push on the door?”
Giving his teammate a nod, Koda lined himself up next to Sero and the two began to push. A few seconds of pushing against the door and the team could hear a large piece of furniture of some kind being pushed across the floor. Moving it a bit more, the door suddenly became stuck again, leaving only a small gap of space into the room.
“Damn, still getting stuck,” Sero stated, trying and failing to fit through the gap, “Hey Hagakure, think you can squeeze through and see what’s on the other side?”
“Uh, okay. Hang on.”
Letting the others move away from the door first, the invisible teen moved next to the small opening. Seeing that she could fit, the girl squeezed into the room.
“What do you see in there, Hagakure?” Uraraka called out to her friend.
“It’s a pretty big room but it’s mostly empty in here,” Toru replied, pausing her steps when she noticed something off about one of the walls.
“One of the walls just has a giant glass. Like one big mirror on the whole wall.”
“That’s…weird,” Sero stated, “Anything you can do about the door though?”
“Oh! Yeah, okay so, it looks like the door is getting blocked by one of those office cabinets,” Toru explained to the others. Moving closer to it, she grabbed one side and gave it a nudge.
“It’s not too heavy, but when you guys were pushing it, it was hitting this chair right next to it. Maybe if I move it, the door can open more?”
“Yeah, good idea. Let us know when you’re done,” Sero told his teammate, waiting by the door.
Over with Uraraka, the young hero gazed around the empty hallway when suddenly, she felt a strange feeling. It wasn’t like how she would always get after overusing her quirk, but a strange sense of dizziness. Her vision slowly grew blurry as her surroundings started to move as well. Hand on her head, the teen groaned in pain as the headache she was suffering from grew more and more irritating.
Feeling something on her shoulder, the teen gave out a gasp at what she saw. Grabbing her shoulder, Uraraka saw that it was large hand, jagged spikes all around it and running down to the fingers, each one having sharp edges at the end. Though the jagged hand appeared solid, the arm attached to it had a misty appearance. The gaseous look carried all the way up to the torso, which appeared solid instead and with jagged spikes all around the chest and shoulders. As for the remaining piece of the upper body, the head had a solid form as well, spikes erupting from the top. Where a nose should be lied a sharp, curved horn over a mouth filled with sharp rocks making up the teeth. Though the eyes were hollow, Uraraka could feel their stare piercing through her.
“What’s the matter?” The disturbing figure spoke, inching closer to her, “Scared?”
“Stop it!” Uraraka cried out, swatting the arm off her and turning her back to the monster.
“Uraraka! What’s wrong?!”
Recognizing Hagakure’s voice calling her, the teen turned her head to see her teammates looking over her.
“Hagakure? What…what happened?” Uraraka asked.
“We’re…not really sure,” Sero replied, “Koda was the one that noticed you first. You were looking like you were about to pass out or something. He was trying to check on you, but you suddenly yelled and knocked his arm away.”
‘Knocked his…,’ Uraraka realized what Sero was talking about. For whatever reason, when that painful headache suddenly happened, it really messed up her senses and changed Koda’s appearance when she saw him. It was her teammate that she yelled at and swatted his arm away.
“Koda, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know that was you. I don’t…I don’t know what even happened,” Uraraka explained, picking herself up to be eye level with everyone else, “One moment everything was okay and then the next, my head started to hurt like crazy.”
“I-I-It’s okay,” Koda replied, giving her a shy smile to help as well as a thumbs up.
Over with Sero, the team leader scanned around the hallway, trying to see if there was any sign of a threat.
“You might still be experiencing some of the effects from that gas trap earlier,” Sero pointed out, “You sure you’re good? Jason and Aizawa-san might allow you to forfeit if you can’t keep going.”
The brunette shook her head in response, “I’m good, honestly. Besides, I doubt they’d let me leave.”
“Heh, yeah. That sounds about right,” Sero sighed, “C’mon, let’s see if there’s any clues in the room Hagakure got open.”
“Oh! Right! C’mon!” Hagakure gave an eager hop before taking a small jog back into the room.
Moving at their own paces, the rest of her team would’ve followed inside as well…had the door not slam shut all of a sudden.
“What the hell?!” Sero rushed to the door. Grabbing the handle, the teen realized he couldn’t move the handle at all. Hand on the handle still, he attempted to hit his shoulder against it.
“Guys?! What the hell just happened?” Toru’s voice could be heard through the door, along with her banging against it, “Why can’t I open the door? Please tell me you guys are just messing with me!”
“It’s not us! The door just closed on its own!” Uraraka shouted back, pushing the door with Sero as well.
“It’s not budging! We need to try something else,” Sero stated. No doubt this is part of some trap their opponent has set up.
Looking around for options, an idea came to Uraraka when she glanced at something above.
“Wait! The vents! Maybe there’s an opening in the rooms and we can get Toru out,” Uraraka explained, pointing at how the ventilation shaft connects to the rooms.
Wasting no time, the three heroes rushed to the room next door. Inside the room, they saw that there were more file cabinets spread around and some desks too. But what really caught their attention was that one of the walls was just completely glass like Hagakure had mentioned in the other room.
Instead of being a mirror though, the team could clearly see the room next door to them. Along with a panicked Hagakure.
“Hagakure/Toru!!” Sero and Uraraka yelled, almost in unison.
“Guys?! Where are you?” Toru searched around.
“We’re in the room next to you! We can see you through the glass!” Uraraka replied.
“I can’t see you guys though! Why can’t I see any of you?!”
The entire team confused by the layout of the rooms, it didn’t take long until Sero figured out what they were dealing with.
“It’s a one-way mirror!” Sero realized, “That’s why she can’t see us. Her side doesn’t let her.”
“Okay, but why would this even be here? What’s the whole point?” Uraraka asked, the teen growing more confused with the rooms’ layouts.
“Is it not obvious?” The team flinched as they heard their foe speaking to them, “You are standing in an observation room. Your friend, on the other hand…,”
“What? What about Hagakure? What are you up to?!” Uraraka demanded.
“Observe.”
On cue, the team began to hear the sound of some kind of machine starting up. On Hagakure’s side, the pipes on the ceiling slowly began to shake.
“Guys? What the hell is happening?” Hagakure questioned, the poor teen growing more and more frightened by the sudden sounds.
Over her head, small sections of the ceiling opened as small nozzles appeared and released orange gas. The very same strange gas that Uraraka encountered from the trap back on the ground floor.
“Oh no…Toru! Look out! Don’t breathe in the gas!” Uraraka yelled to her teammate, “Find a rag or something to cover yourself!”
Alarmed by the current threat, Hagakure searched around the room for anything to help her. Her glove over her invisible face, Hagakure’s desperate attempt to save herself showed no chance of succeeding as she found nothing to aid her.
“There is no point searching the room, young hero,” Scarecrow spoke through the speakers again, “My fear toxin has already taken effect in your nervous system.”
True to his words, Hagakure could feel herself breathing rapidly, a cold chill lingering around her spine. Her heart pounding so hard that it might burst out of her chest, the invisible teen felt helpless as the room began to rotate, forcing her to move in a stumbling motion.
“By now, my toxin has taken over the girl’s senses. Her surrounding environment changing before her very eyes,” Scarecrow stated, obviously sharing this information with the rest of the students, “Watch carefully now, heroes. Watch closely as your companion submits to her darkest fears.”
“Hagakure! Don’t listen to him! You can fight it!” Sero yelled to his teammate, banging his fist against the glass.
“Listen to our voices, Toru! You can fight it!” Uraraka joined in, trying to save her friend.
Unfortunately for the team, their shouts were ignored as Hagakure fell deeper into her hallucinations. Stumbling around the room, the teen eventually fell to the floor as she felt her feet suddenly sinking in.
The frightened teen tried to pick herself up but when she looked down, she saw that her ankles were held down by hands that emerged from the floor. As more hands burst out of the ground to grab her arms too, Hagakure quickly realized what was attached to these rotten appendages.
“No! No! No! Zombies! Get them off!!” Hagakure cried out, violently shaking her arms and legs to free herself. Her attempts to free herself only failed as more undead arms held her tightly.
On the other side of the observation glass, Sero and his teammates tried to save their teammate, their punches failing to damage the glass.
“Uraraka! Use your quirk on this cabinet!” Sero ordered his teammate, moving to the object of interest, “Koda and I will use it to try and break the glass! Grab one of those desks too.”
“Got it!” Uraraka rushed to her ally and placed her hand on the cabinet, nullifying its gravity and allowing Koda and Sero to carry it with ease and use as a ramming weapon.
Leaving them to do their part, the brunette ran over to the closest desk and nullified the gravity on it as well. Lifting up the desk with ease, the teen rushed back to the large mirror to aid her teammates. Putting all her strength into swinging the makeshift weapon, the attack barely left a scratch on the glass.
“Dammit, c’mon!” Sero exclaimed as he and Koda charged at the glass for the fourth time, their battering ram also failing as well.
“There has to be some way to help her!” Uraraka stated, abandoning the desk as she frantically searching for a new solution in the room.
“There truly is nothing you can do, young heroes,” Scarecrow spoke through the speakers once more, “Your friend is far beyond saving. She has fallen prey to her fears.”
“Hagakure! Hang in there! You gotta-“
SHUNK!!
The team was caught off guard as metallic shutters suddenly appeared in front of the glass, blinding the teens from their trapped teammate.
“No! No! No! Toru! Can you hear me?” Uraraka tried calling to her friend.
“Guys! Help me! They’re all over!!” Hagakure cried out.
“Hagakure, listen to me! The gas is messing with your mind. Whatever you are seeing it’s all fake!” Sero tried to explain, “There aren’t any real zombies!”
In the other room, the invisible teen failed to hear her teammate’s words as she continued trying to shake off the undead arms that have a hold on her. Though every time she thinks she’s freed herself from one of them, another would easily take its place.
Feeling the ground becoming softer than before, the teen realized she was no longer at the school training grounds. Instead, she was now fighting for her survival within a graveyard, slowly becoming surrounded by more of the undead as they crawled out of their graves.
“No, get away! Get away from me!” Hagakure continued to cry out, feeling herself sink into the dirt as the rotting appendages pulled her down. The ground closing itself back up as her invisible hand tried reaching out for some kind of savior.
“Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!”
“Toru Hagakure has been eliminated.”
-:-
Back in the monitoring room, Aizawa slowly moved his bandaged hands to rewind and rewatch the whole section of Hagakure’s exposure to the fear toxin. Putting together what he can to understand this foe the students are facing, there was still something puzzling about the whole thing.
“Something wrong, Aizawa?” The pro hero heard his name being called out. The one calling him being none other than Jason.
“Just trying to understand something,” Aizawa responded, eyes still on the monitor as he watched Hagakure drop to the floor and swing her arms and legs at the air.
“I’m able to understand how the earlier training exercises worked for the other teams in terms of physical combat, but this current one has me a little confused. Especially since what we’re seeing here is more of a psychological battle with this villain.”
“And you want to understand how exactly a simulation is able to pull this off?” Jason questioned, receiving a nod from the pro hero.
“It’s because of these,” Jason showed him an image of small devices on his tablet, “Nanites programmed into the training system. These in particular are coded to replicate the fear toxin. Once they make contact with a target, they make their way into the nervous system and carry out the effects. As if the target was exposed to the real thing.”
“Anything I need to be concerned about these though?” Aizawa questioned, “I understand you know what you’re doing, but I just need to be sure.”
The outlaw shook his head, “No, it’s fine. I made sure there weren’t going to be any issues and that the effects last no longer than ten minutes with each exposure. After the ten minutes are up, the nanites release a serum to counteract the toxin, giving those exposed a faster recovery. Once all that is done, the nanites within the host will move towards the digestive system and dissolve themselves to exit out the body the natural way. My old man put a lot of thought into designing these things so I’m confident it’s safe.”
Nodding his head, the Erasure hero was a little impressed with everything Jason had explained to him. And if the vigilante has had experience with these and say the students will be fine, then he’ll take his word for it.
Over with the class, the students watched with concern and fear over what Sero’s team was dealing with.
“Poor Toru,” Mina stated, “Do you think she’s okay?”
“Doubt it, honestly. Who knows what she saw with all that creepy gas,” Jiro answered.
“Really unmanly the way this guy is attacking, if you ask me,” Kirishima shared with his classmates, “Bro should be going at them head on instead of hiding!”
“Perhaps a direct approach would only have ill results,” Tokoyami replied, the avian teen slowly understanding the villain’s methods of action, “He lacks the skills in combat to take on the team all together. Therefore, he is picking them off individually through psychological tactics.”
Listening to the students’ conversations, the outlaw smirked as Tokoyami was able to piece together Scarecrow’s tactics. He’ll have to remember o give the kid some credit when he gives the team their post-match review.
For now, he’ll just continue monitoring Sero and the others, keeping an eye on everyone’s vitals. Even if the toxins programmed aren’t meant to be as strong as the real stuff, he’ll still have to be ready to stop the simulation if anything happens. Not that he expects something will, but he will just have to be ready to step in should anything go wrong.
-:-
“Hagakure! Hagakure! Say something!” Sero banged his fist against the shutter, waiting for some kind of response from his teammate.
“I believe I can answer for Ms Hagakure when I say she is no longer available,” Scarecrow answered through the speakers, a sinister chuckle following closely.
“Come out and face us, asshole!” Sero shot back, angered over the loss of a teammate.
The villain chuckled some more, no doubt amused by the young hero’s emotional reaction, “Such a temper. No doubt hiding your fear. Perhaps a direct injection of my toxin will help bring it out.”
“What are you talking about?” Uraraka called out.
The team waited for a response. When nothing happened after a few minutes, Sero finally gave out a sigh as he turned and walked towards the door leading out of the observation room.
“Come on, guys. We still have a job to do.”
Exiting the room and reaching the stairwell, the team proceeded to head up the stairs. As they reached the end of the stairwell, which also led to the next floor, Sero spotted a camera overlooking the stairwell and the hallway. Wasting no time upon seeing it, the teen shot up a line of tape at the camera and pulled the camera down.
“Creep is definitely watching us,” Sero told his teammates, “Just be careful about any more traps.”
“Okay, got it,” Uraraka replied, Koda giving a thumbs up as his own response.
Entering the hallway, the team noticed a few doors on either side of them. Recalling the schematics of the building when they were allowed a glimpse of them before, Sero noticed the hallway was obstructed thanks to part of the ceiling having collapsed.
“Oh no, is this a dead end?” Uraraka asked as the team moved closer to the obstructed path, “Maybe there’s a different way up somewhere?”
“Not sure, but…,” Sero trailed off as he tried looking through the cracks, “I think there’s a way through. Let’s check in here.”
Taking lead once more, Sero turned the handle of a door and stepped into the room. Examining the room, the team found that it was practically empty with only some crates scattered around and a few tarps hanging on the walls. Near the other end of the room, the team spotted another door, no doubt looping around the broken piece of ceiling.
Before the teens could exit the room, however, the speakers turned on once more.
“I wonder what it is that drives you all into continuing on. Courage like many heroes attempt to have. Or is it truly the fear of failing?” Scarecrow questioned.
“Ignore him, guys. He’s just trying to get under our skins,” Sero told his teammates, “Guy likes to act scary, but he’s too afraid to face us.”
“Is that what you think, Mr. Sero? Then perhaps I should provide you all with something to fear.”
“Get ready, he might be planning something.” Uraraka stated, the brunette trying to stay calm.
Looking around for any clues of an upcoming attack, Sero’s thoughts were interrupted as the ceiling lights began to flicker on and off. A loud thud was heard as the teens searched for the source of the noise, only to find that it was one of the crates knocked over. The lights continued to flicker as another crate fell and a loud sound of glass shattering was heard from outside the room.
‘C’mon, where the hell are you?’ Sero searched around the room, his team keeping close together as their backs faced each other.
With no other warning, the lights finally gave out, the bulbs suddenly popping and frightening some of the teens. With the room slightly darker than before, the villain made his move on the students.
Rushing at the students, the villain targeted Uraraka first, arm extended to strike her across the face. The impact not only knocking the teen to the floor but also knocked her helmet off too. Something Crane was hoping for as he snatched it off the ground and moved back into the shadows to prep his next attack.
“Shit! Uraraka! Are you- Oomph!”
Sero attempted to check on his teammate, but was interrupted as Scarecrow struck him next with a heavy punch to the stomach and a smack to the back of his head with Uraraka’s helmet, dropping it to the floor afterwards. With two of the students temporarily out for the moment, the villain moved on to his next target: Koji Koda.
“And what goes bump in the night for you, little hero?” Scarecrow asked, slowly approaching the teen.
Too frightened to try and fight, Koda attempted to back away from the villain. As he did though, the teen felt a strike from behind on his lower legs, forcing him to fall backwards. Caught off guard, the young hero only became more frightened and confused as he saw the attack from behind was done by another Scarecrow!
Not realizing he was already exposed to the fear toxin, Koda could do nothing as he stayed in a frozen and frightened state. All while Scarecrow continued walking closer to him, his double moving to stand beside him.
“Ah, of course. Entomophobia.” The twin Scarecrows stated simultaneously, “How fitting for a hero with a love for animals to be deathly terrified of insects!”
Leaning closer to Koda, the two Scarecrows released a stream of fear gas at the hero. The teen gave out a cry of fear as he felt a chill down his spine, his vision being blurry as he could feel the skin on his arms and legs itch.
His vision slightly coming back, Koda was able to see that the cause of the itchy feeling was from all kinds of bugs crawling all over him!
Eyes wide at the horrific discovery, Koda began breathing rapidly as he tried and tried to swipe the bugs off of him.
“Koda!” Uraraka called out to her teammate, the brunette fully recovered after the surprise attack. Despite having the villain’s back exposed to her, the teen chose to ignore him and instead aid Koda.
“Koda! It’s okay! You’re safe, Koda!” Uraraka tried to help him.
The brunette’s words were only ignored as Koda continued patting and swiping at his arms and legs, trying and failing to free himself from the swarm of insects.
“Try as hard as you want, but the boy will not listen,” Scarecrow stated, the needles of his syringe glove clicking against each other as he watched, “By now the boy should have enough adrenaline for the second effect of toxin to take over. Perhaps you would like to join him?”
“Like hell, asshole.” A new voice answered. The villain turned his head to see Sero had also regained consciousness, the hero-in-training back on his feet and at a battle stance.
“Patience, Mr. Sero. I have enough toxin for all of you,” Crane chuckled, lifting up his hand with the syringe glove and prepping it with his fear toxin.
“Not interested.” Sero replied, raising his arm up to shoot a stream of tape at the villain.
The villain shifted to his left to avoid the attack, moving back to the right as Sero tried to hit him with another line of tape. Avoiding the two attacks, Crane darted around the room to make his way to the door the team had originally came in from.
“No! Shit!” Sero realized the villain’s plan and attempted to shoot another line of tape at him. Not hitting him a third time, the teen changed tactics and began sprinting after Scarecrow.
Looking over his shoulder, Crane was nearly out the door before he suddenly stopped and reached into his torn coat and pulled out a handgun. Aiming it towards Sero, the villain fired a few shots all around him rather than trying to hit him. The tactic worked as it made the teen stop in his tracks and raise his arms to defend himself. Realizing he wasn’t hit at all, Sero failed to attack again as he witnessed Scarecrow moving out the room and sealing the door as well.
“A valiant attempt, young man, but we will face each other another time. For now, you have other pressing matters to worry about,” Scarecrow chuckled, leaving the teens behind.
“Dammit!” Sero exclaimed, trying and failing to unlock the door. Giving the door a few kicks and shoulder bashes, the teen quickly abandoned that action as he finally turned to help Uraraka with Koda. The teen recalled overhearing Scarecrow mentioning something about a second effect that was supposed to happen soon.
Question is: What the hell was he talking about?
“Come on, Koda! You can fight it!” Uraraka continued to try and aid her teammate, the large teen no longer swiping his arms and now curled on the ground.
Violently shaking out of fear, the teen slowly lifted his head to look up. However, instead of seeing his teammates, he saw something truly horrifying.
Kneeling close to him was a disturbing figure, their ragged clothes covered in dirt and dry blood. Long and razor-sharp nails at the ends of their hands and blood-soaked talons at their feet. Their head, though round, appeared as though it was some kind of sack and carried a face with hollowed out eyes and a mouth that appeared sewn yet can still open to speak, black liquid of some kind oozing out as bugs crawled in and out.
Near this horrific figure was another, slimmer creature standing in place. Though the creature had matching apparel as its companion, it had a few different physical features of its own. Small, jagged bones stuck out all around its arms while the left arm had one extra larger piece of bone extended out of its elbow. While the other arm lacked that, it made up for it by having a pair of large centipedes wrapped around all the way to its wrist, their fangs dripping with venom. The creature’s face also featured hollowed eyes and devil horns protruding from its forehead.
Seeing these terrifying monsters in front of him, Koda could feel his heart racing as he scrambled up from the ground. Legs trembling and one hand on his rapidly beating chest, the large teen barely managed to start backing away from the creatures standing before him. As the horrific creatures took slow steps towards him as well, the teen felt himself finally backed into a wall, trapping himself with his new opponents.
Nowhere left to go, it was time for Koda to take a new approach to free himself from the nightmare.
“Koda? Are you…are you okay?” Uraraka asked once again, her tone lower as she moved closer to him. Raising her hand, the brunette was only a step away from placing her hand on Koda’s shoulder…when the larger teen swatted it away and swung his fist at her.
“Whoa!” Uraraka cried out, barely dodging the attack. Before she could process what had just happened, Uraraka had to move back some more to avoid another swing from Koda.
“Koda, stop! It’s me!” Uraraka attempted to call out to him, turning to Sero next with a confused look on her face, “Why is he attacking me?”
“It has to be because of that gas stuff; it’s messing with him!” Sero explained, side-stepping to avoid a punch from Koda. Sero realized that talking to him won’t make him snap out of it, his best option now was to wrap him up with his tape. It was bad enough that he’s losing another teammate, but now he has to take Koda out before he could hurt him or Uraraka.
‘Dammit! Sorry about this, Koda.’
Watching Uraraka dodge another of Koda’s punches, Sero raised one of his arms up and fired a stream at Koda, catching him on the arm as he tried another attack. Grabbing the tape with his other arm, the teen used all his strength to hold Koda’s arm back, slightly caught off guard by how much strength the larger teen has.
Over with Koda, his fears only worsened as he watched the slim creature’s centipedes reach out and coil around his arm. Their legs digging into his skin, Koda felt helpless as the bugs’ heads were nearly close to his own, mandibles open to devour him.
“Nice one, Sero! I’m gonna help him!” Uraraka called out to her teammate, darting towards Koda.
“No! Wait!” Sero called back, realizing the danger she was putting herself in.
Though he tried, his warning failed to reach Uraraka in time. Seeing the other creature making its way to him, arms raised and claws at the ready to strike, Koda managed to turn the odds to his favor and land a push kick at Uraraka’s stomach and force her back.
“Shit! Urara- whoa!”
The sudden attack allowed Koda the opportunity to pull his taped arm towards himself, pulling along a distracted Sero as well. Falling forward, Sero acted quickly to disconnect the tape from his elbow and save himself from hitting the floor. Recovering from that, the teen planned to repeat his actions from before against Koda but failed to as the larger teen charged at him.
Managing to tackle one of the nightmarish creatures to the ground, Koda began swinging his fists at them, not giving himself a break at all during the onslaught. His own arms raised to defend himself, Sero struggled to keep his guard up and find an opening to counter his classmate.
“Koda! Stop!” Sero attempted to snap his teammate out of his hallucinated state.
Raising his arms over his head to prepare a crushing blow on Sero, Koda’s attack failed as a recovered Uraraka attacked him from behind. Hitting him with one of the large crates that was in the room, Uraraka swung it once more at her teammate.
Watching Koda get knocked back to one knee, Sero jumped in to assist and fire streams of tape from both of his arms. Making the connection onto his teammate, Sero continued to wrap him in tape as he circled around him.
While the others felt like they were helping him, poor Koda would only disagree. Trapped and stuck on the floor, Koda’s heart continued to beat rapidly as he felt himself become more and more constricted by the large centipedes.
Though Sero made sure to not to tape all the way up his classmate’s head, things were different within Koda’s hallucinated mind. Through his eyes, the monstrous centipedes continued to wrap themselves past his neck and around his head. Trying and failing to break free from his coiled nightmare, Koda could fight no more as the centipedes squeezed their hold on him, forcing the teen to faint and thus be removed from the match.
“Koji Koda has been eliminated.”
Seeing their teammate no longer moving, the two remaining teens moved up to check on their unconscious friend.
“Is he okay?” Uraraka asked her team leader, the latter checking his pulse over his neck.
“He’s fine,” Sero answered, “I think all the adrenaline finally got to him. I don’t want to leave him like this though. Help me out.”
Moving to assist with her quirk, Uraraka helped place their unconscious companion in a resting position against the wall. Picking up a piece of plastic off the ground, Sero used the jagged end of it to cut through the tape and pull them off of Koda.
“C’mon, he should be okay like this. We still need to try and get that Scarecrow creep,” Sero told his teammate. Watching Uraraka retrieve her helmet from the floor, Sero paused as he recalled a key moment during their encounter with the villain.
“Wait! Hold on a second! Check your helmet.”
“Huh? Why? What’s wrong, Sero?” Uraraka asked.
“That villain snagged it when he attacked us earlier,” Sero explained to her, “I got a bad feeling he might’ve rigged it with some of his gas.”
Looking inside the helmet, Uraraka attempted to carefully check every part of the interior to see anything that may have seemed out of place, even checking the exterior side of it too. Noticing nothing but some scratches on the visor, Uraraka took it as a sign that everything was fine.
“I’m not seeing anything wrong, Sero. But I’ll let you know if anything weird happens,” Uraraka told her classmate, “Thanks for the warning though.”
Moving out of the room, the two remaining teens continued to press forward to the stairs leading to the final floor. Much like before on the previous stairway, Sero caught sight of a camera and shot a line of tape to take it down.
Stepping onto the top floor, the teens came across an open area with a singular door straight ahead from the stairwell. Moving closer to the door, Sero attempted to turn the handle, only to see that the door was locked. To the right of the door, a small intercom system that was built into the wall switched on.
“Greetings young heroes. One moment please. Doctor Crane will see you in a moment.”
Hearing some mechanical clicking coming from the door, the heroes-in-training took it as a sign that the door was now unlocked. Their assumption was confirmed as the door slowly opened itself, inward to the now available room.
Taking a breath to ready himself, Sero entered the room with Uraraka closely behind him. Upon entering, the two realized the room’s layout appeared the same as the one from the second room. The room in which they were separated from Hagakure earlier.
As the teens moved closer to the large wall of glass that split the room, the door they stepped through suddenly closed behind them, the locking mechanism shifting to trap them. On the other side of the glass wall, lights suddenly switched on, revealing their villain staring back at them.
“Ah, at last. The remaining bunch of my pediatric patients,” Scarecrow stated, the villain standing in front of a large desk with several small crt tvs stacked on each other, all of which were currently off. Leaning against the desk and within arm's reach was a large scythe, dried blood coating the end of the blade.
“This ends now, you sick bastard.” Sero told the villain. The team leader was tired of the sick and twisted mind games the villain was pulling, all for his own amusement as he tortured the teen’s friends.
“You got nowhere left to run! We’re taking you down!”
“Yeah! Sero’s right!” Uraraka joined in, “You’re gonna pay for hurting Hagakure and Koda!”
The villain gave a low chuckle, his syringe glove raised up below his chin as he reached into his coat to pull out a small remote.
“Foolish children. To say that I was the one to hurt your friends. When in truth…,” the villain clicked the remote, “It was you who had overpowered your ally.”
A projector soon activated, planted on the ceiling on the teens’ side and playing its footage on the wall behind them. Examining the content, the teens saw that it was displaying the moment they were engaged in combat against Koda.
“Dammit…,” Sero stated under his breath, turning back to further confront Scarecrow, “That was your doing! You attacked our friend!”
“And you continued on with assaulting poor Koda. The poor boy was already trapped within his nightmare, one can only imagine how much more frightened he was when his allies betrayed him,” Scarecrow told the teens, “Or perhaps you two just did not care at all. Your fears outweighed his own.”
“What…what are you talking about?” Uraraka questioned. Whatever this creep was going on about just made no sense. They did what they had to, to help their friend. Before anything bad could have happened to all of them. Koda had to have understood that!
Right?
“You feared failing to save the day. To defeat me. Your fears drove you to attack the boy,” the villain clicked the remote once more, another projector turning on and displaying footage of Hagakure being trapped, “Drove you to abandon little Toru within her nightmares when she needed you all. Is this what heroes do now? Ignore the cries of the helpless and prey on the weak?”
Too shocked to make any response, Uraraka felt a sickness in her stomach as her opponent’s sunk into her. He was right. Her friends needed saving, but she chose to do nothing about it. She couldn’t free Hagakure and she couldn’t save Koda. What kind of rescue hero was she if she couldn’t do any rescuing at all?
“Ah, it would appear that my toxin is taking a while to kick in on Ms Uraraka,” Scarecrow took a few steps towards the glass wall, scythe now in hand as he did so.
“Allow me to assist speeding up the process.”
Without warning, the room suddenly went black. The villain’s laughter echoing throughout the room, the teens placed their backs against each other and steeled themselves for whatever was to come.
“Uraraka, tell me you’re feeling okay?” Sero asked his teammate.
“I’m fine…I think,” Uraraka replied, removing her helmet and tossing it to the floor. Whatever the villain was implying when he spoke about her, it had to do something with her helmet like Sero warned her before. Her own damn fault for still wearing it after originally losing it.
“But let me say sorry in advance if I start seeing things and attack you.”
“Yeah, same here,” Sero replied, the team leader worried he was gonna have to not only deal with a hallucinated Uraraka but also the villain as well.
Scanning the room on her side, Uraraka concentrated as hard as she can to make out a silhouette moving in the darkness.
“Over here! I got him!”
Charging at the young heroes, Scarecrow struck first, a downward slash with his scythe at a diagonal angle. Dodging the attack in time, Uraraka rushed at the villain and readied a right hook. The villain sidestepped to his left to avoid contact and spun his weapon to strike the girl’s back with the wooden end.
Readying his next attack on Uraraka, the villain was stopped as Sero shot a line of tape to his right leg. Watching his for swing his scythe down to slice off the tape, Sero anticipated this as he kept his footing while using his other arm to fire off another line of tape at Scarecrow’s arm that held the grip. Pulling his arm back, the teen managed to pull Scarecrow forward as well, leaving himself open to allow Sero to attack with a lunging punch.
Making contact with Crane’s chest, Sero watched as his foe stumbled backwards and drop to one knee, using his scythe as temporary support. Shooting streams of tape from both of his arms, Sero had planned to tie up Scarecrow, only the attack made no connection as Crane rolled to side.
Back on his feet, the villain rushed at Sero and raised his scythe to attack. Swinging downward, the villain used the momentum of the attack to follow up with two more swings, the second aimed at Sero’s waist and the final at leg level. Though Sero was able to react quickly to dodge the first two, the teen failed to dodge the third and was knocked off his feet by the villain’s blade.
Back with Uraraka, the brunette finally recovered and readied herself to assist Sero. The villain’s back exposed to her, the teen charged at her opponent, hands open and ready to use her quirk. However, just as she was within reach, the villain spun around to face her, his face suddenly replaced with a frightening appearance. Recognizing it as the haunting face she had seen from the very beginning of the match, Uraraka froze in place as she started to take steps backward.
“There we go, the adrenaline has allowed the substance to finally take action. What do you see, child? Are you feeling…frightened?”
Unable to respond, Uraraka could feel an ice-cold chill running down her spine, her breath becoming short and rapid like it had before. Hand against her chest, the brunette tried and failed to recollect herself, dropping forward and onto her knee. Things only became worse for her as she tried to get up…only for her to realize she was no longer on the ground.
‘Crap! Is my quirk going haywire? Release!’ Uraraka placed her hands together to turn off the effects of her quirk. Only to see that it somehow didn’t work and she continued to float upwards, the speed at which she was suddenly increasing as well.
‘No no no no! What’s happening?!’ Uraraka repeated the action a few more times, all of which continued to fail. She had no clue what was happening. She didn’t know why her quirk was not working. She no longer thought about the match, she just needed to find a way to get back down safely!
“Come on! Work! Release! Release!” Uraraka cried out, eyes shut tight as she slammed her hands together once more. It was no use though. Her eyes remained closed but she could feel herself being elevated higher and higher.
“How fitting,” Uraraka could hear Scarecrow speaking, “A hero of your skills to have some level of barophobia. Open your eyes, hero. Accept your fears.”
Slowly opening her eyes, Uraraka gave out a loud gasp as she discovered she could no longer see the ground…nor anything else as there was nothing but the clouds in the dark sky. Panic filled her mind as she could do nothing to save herself from her elevated state.
“Tell me child, what is it that drives that fear in you?” Uraraka could hear the disembodied voice of Scarecrow speaking to her, “Is it the fear of drifting away? Or is it the fall?”
Without warning, Uraraka suddenly felt a shift in her gravity. No longer floating, the teen began to fall straight down. Whatever panic she was feeling before was now tripled as she tried using her quirk to save herself.
“No no no! Stop! Please!!” Uraraka yelled out, trying and failing to get her quirk to work to save herself. No other option available to save herself from the fall, Uraraka closed her eyes and shielded her face with her arms, deeply praying for some kind of miracle to save her.
Unfortunately for her, no miracles of any kind happened.
“Ochaco Uraraka has been eliminated.”
“Get the hell away from her!” Sero yelled out as he launched another line of tape.
Holding onto the brunette by the back of her head, Scarecrow tossed the unconscious teen to the floor as he dodged Sero’s attack. Closing some distance, the villain swung his scythe once more at an upward angle before twisting the weapon to slam the blade back downward.
Rolling to his left to avoid the attacks, Sero quickly positioned himself to a kneeling stance and launch two lines of tape at Scarecrow. Successfully hitting the villain’s weapon, the lone student tugged on the lines of tape and pulled the bladed pole out of his opponent’s hands. With his last action also making Crane stumble forward, Sero took the opportunity to close in to try and land a few hits. Aiming for the villain’s jaw, the teen attempted a left hook but failed as Crane reacted in time and used his syringe glove to swat the boy’s arm away. His attack foiled, Sero used the momentum to spin in place and attack with a backhand swing. His follow-up attack only failed as Scarecrow easily grabbed it with his left arm, followed by striking the boy in the gut.
“Gah!” Sero grunted as he looked down at where he was struck, a shocked expression on his face as he saw the needles of the villain’s syringe gauntlet piercing his costume.
“I must admit, I am impressed you had designed your helmet to filter out foreign substances. Let us see though how well you fair against a more direct consumption,” Scarecrow told the teen, activating the syringes and pumping their contents into the hero-in-training.
Pushing the teen away, Scarecrow stood his ground as he watched the effects of his toxin take effect on the boy. His body temperature suddenly rising, Sero could feel his breathing becoming rapid as he tried to remove his helmet. Failing to get the headpiece off of himself, the teen clicked on the side of his helmet to pop the large visor off instead. Unfortunately for him, that action made no improvement in his current situation as he could feel his condition worsen. Repeatedly pulling on the neck of his costume as it tightened around his neck, Sero fell to his knees as he watched the floor begin to spin around him.
Before the boy could make any attempt to gather his thoughts, a blur of orange and brown suddenly struck him. His helmet hitting the concrete, Sero tried to get up but the same blur returned to attack him from behind. Scrambling on the floor, Sero frantically scanned the room for his attacker but could find no clues at all.
“What’s the matter? Scared?”
Turning to his left to where the mysterious voice was coming from, Sero nearly jumped as he saw who, or rather what, was speaking to him. Crawling to him on all fours was a nightmarish creature whose appearance was a mix of a skeletal corpse and a scarecrow. A few other notable appearances about itself was that its mouth and eyes had a bright orange glow and a loose hangman’s noose hung around its neck.
“You don’t look so good, boy.” The monster stated, the teen recognizing its voice as Scarecrow’s.
Without warning, the newly transformed Scarecrow suddenly dashed towards Sero and grabbed him by the neck. Lifting him into the air, the creature spun around to throw him against the wall. Not giving Sero a chance to breathe, the freakish Crane dashed once more into him, hand planted on his head and pressing it against the wall.
“Show me your true fears, hero!”
Raising Sero off the ground once more, the monster slammed him to the floor and began swinging his arms at him. The teen tried to use his arms to block the attacks, but his hallucinated state could only let him block so many before his guard finally broke. After the tenth swing, the creature lifted the boy up by both shoulders and readied itself to finish him off.
Bones cracking throughout the monstrous Crane’s body, Sero watched as muscles suddenly grew around the villain’s body as he grew taller. The exhausted teen stared in horror as the villain’s head shifted into a monstrous appearance, one he quickly recognized as the horrific bird-like villain from the USJ attack.
“Ah, there it is,” the bird-like monster spoke, using Scarecrow’s to do so, “There is that fear!”
Feeling his shoulders being crushed in the monster’s hold, Sero could do nothing as his foe opened his large mouth to reveal the rows of razor-sharp teeth, pulling the teen closer to consume him. Like any predator would to its prey.
-:-
“Hanta Sero has been eliminated. Simulation complete. All participants have been defeated.” The AI announced in the monitoring room, as well as within the building the participants were at.
“Medi-bots, escort the team to the monitoring room for debriefing. No delays unless any signs of critical injuries,” Aizawa commanded the medical response robots on the field.
“There aren’t any problems, right?” Aizawa turned to his teacher’s assistant.
“Checking their vitals, no traces of the simulated toxins lingering in their systems. So they’re good, in a way,” Jason answered, checking the team’s current whereabouts, “Gonna take a moment before they get here. Gives me some time.”
“Time for what?”
The Erasure got no reply as he watched Jason turn to the rest of the students occupying the room.
“Listen up! You all watched the match. You all saw how it went down for the team. You don’t know exactly what they dealt with and you’re gonna keep it that way. I get that they’re your friends and you care and love them and all that crap, but do not crowd them up when they get here. Do not ask them what they saw during the match. Give them some breathing room and if they wanna talk about it, that’s up them. I need verbal confirmation from all of you!”
“Yes sir!” The class simultaneously replied, the only ones to make no verbal response being Todoroki and Bakugo, the former giving a blank stare while the latter simply scoffed and rolled his eyes.
Back with Jason, the outlaw shifted his gaze to his tablet to prep the next match.
“Not bad, Jason.” The outlaw turned to Aizawa, the one giving the compliment, “I didn’t think of letting the others know like you did.”
“Just wanted to take precautions. They’re just kids after all.”
Without another word, everyone within the monitoring room watched as the members of team D enter the room. While Sero and Uraraka appeared exhausted, there was a noticeable shaky look coming from Hagakure and Koda.
“Welcome back, team. Before Aizawa and I give you all your match reviews, how are you all feeling?” Jason asked, deciding to move closer to not be yelling at them.
“If you need to be excused for the remainder of class, that’s totally allowed.”
“Um…I’m fine, I think,” Sero replied, “Just a little beat up. And tired.”
“Yeah, same here.” Uraraka joined in.
Only receiving answers from half the team, Jason made an attempt to address the other two, “Hagakure? You good?”
Hearing her name being called, the invisible girl made a small jump, one gloved hand holding the other invisible arm, “S-Sorry! Still feeling a little shaky after all that. B-But I promise I’m fine!”
Receiving a thumbs up for extra confirmation from the invisible teen, Jason returned a nod of acknowledgment. Now he just needed an answer from the final member of the team.
“Koda? You good?”
The teen flinched at the call of his name. His head facing the ground, he tried to look up at Jason and give an answer as best he could but lost all confidence when he could see all his classmates looking in his direction.
It doesn’t really take training from a vigilante dressed as a bat to understand basic body language. And for Jason, he was able to easily see the high level of discomfort he was keeping Koda in the figurative spotlight. If it were up to his coworker, Aizawa, he probably wouldn’t do a thing about it.
Thankfully, he isn’t like him.
“You wanna be excused, kid?” Jason asked Koda, “Nothing wrong if you do. We can review your match next time we have classes.”
The large teen stayed quiet for a few seconds until finally working up the courage to speak.
“M-M-M-M-May I, s-s-sir?”
The outlaw gave a half smile and nodded, “Yeah, kid. Head to the lockers and get changed out of your costume. I’ll have a bot escort you back to the dorms. Overall, good work today.”
Thanking him with a nod, Koda turned to leave and make his way to the lockers. As he watched his student leave, Aizawa made the decision to tag along.
“Jason,” Aizawa called out to his coworker, “I’m going to join Koda. Make sure he gets back to the dorms with no issues.”
“Sounds good, let him know about seeing Hound Dog if any problems come up in the future.”
Watching their homeroom teacher exit out of the room, the rest of 1A couldn’t help but voice their thoughts.
“Poor Koda, hope he’s okay.” Ashido stated.
“Yeah, I can’t imagine what he went through back there. Or the others.” Tsuyu joined in.
“Think I’ll bake some sweets for him after we’re done. Help him feel a little better.” Sato added, the sugar-powered teen now fully recovered after his match from the very beginning.
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” Ojiro told him, Shoji nodding alongside him.
Keeping to himself, Bakugo gave out a scoff as he listened to everyone. They were all just wasting their time with pitying the rock-head. He was weak. If he was too scared to handle some dumb ass-looking villain, then he shouldn’t be here. There’s no place for weaklings like him in the hero course. Same for everyone else in the class. Especially the damn nerd.
“Alright then, let’s look over how you guys did this match,” Jason resumed the debriefing for Sero and the others.
“We got our asses kicked. That’s what happened,” Sero told him, “You regularly fight that freak on your world?”
“Not all the time. But I get it, not so fun dealing with someone that’s more about messing with your minds rather than always throwing punches. Whatever the simulated gas made you guys see in there, you don’t have to tell us. Your vitals show you’re all okay, but if you have any issues later on then either let me know or Aizawa. You can also talk to Hound Dog if need be.”
“Yeah, okay. Thanks Jason,” Uraraka replied, rubbing the back of her head with her hand, “So none of you saw what we did?”
The outlaw shook his head, “Don’t have the right equipment for that. The fear toxin really taps into your nervous system and makes you deal with whatever it is you fear.”
Thinking back to the last thing she can remember during her match, another question popped into Uraraka’s head.
“So, we kinda looked a little goofy then fighting nothing huh?”
“Well, you weren’t exactly fighting ‘nothing’ in your match,” Jason responded, receiving confused looks from the team, “Here, let me show you what I mean by that.”
Pulling up footage from the ending part of the match, the whole class watched the final moments that Uraraka was a part of the match. Despite what she had dealt with due to the fear gas, the brunette could see that things were completely different through everyone else’s perspective. The teen watched the recorded version of herself drop to the floor and repeatedly slam her fingers together as if she were trying to use her quirk. Uraraka continued to watch as the Scarecrow villain move towards her weakened state and grab her by the back of her head and slam her head to the floor, thus knocking her out for the rest of the match.
“Don’t need to share what you saw, but I’m guessing it wasn’t the same as what we just watched?” Jason asked her, pausing the recording as it replayed the beginning.
“Y-Yeah, it was definitely different,” Uraraka replied.
“At least you guys got to continue on. I was the first to lose.” Hagakure joined in, stomping a shoe in frustration.
“Any reason why you picked that guy for us? Or made us a team?” Sero questioned, “Not that I had any problems with everyone, I was just wondering.”
“It was more about teamwork honestly. And it wasn’t because it was you guys that I picked Scarecrow for you to deal with; I would’ve had him be the opponent for any of the other teams. This was just a way to show you and everyone else here that not all battles are gonna be fought with your fists or quirks. You’re gonna come across villains in the future that prefer brains over brawn.”
Sero gave out a chuckle, “Heh, damn. Got us really good then.”
“Don’t take this loss too seriously, guys. I know I said some rogues like Scarecrow like to play mind games but he’s a little different. He’s a villain who’s managed to weaponize fear. He knows how to use your fears against you, it’s what he does,” Jason reassured the students, “Overall, you did pretty good in your match. Sero, not bad leadership. Especially when it came to moving through the building and keeping an eye out for traps and security cameras. I’ll give you some credit too for being prepared with a helmet that already had filters to deal with the gas.”
“Thanks, I figured that’d be important to have when I first came up with my costume design,” Sero smiled.
“Uraraka, you didn’t do so bad either. I’ll give you some credit for trying to help Koda both times you did, valuing your teammate’s condition and all that. However, there’s also some critique there too. Can anyone besides Uraraka and her team tell me what she did wrong?”
A few seconds of waiting and Yaoyorozu was the first to raise her hand.
“Yeah?”
“Sir, she prioritized aiding Koda during their first encounter with the villain when her opponent’s back was vulnerable to her. This made the match continue longer than it should have due to not taking down the villain instead.”
“Correct. I get you wanted to help your friend, but a missed opportunity like that in real life, whether you’re in a team of heroes or not, can only make things take a turn for the worst.” Jason explained to her.
“O-Oh, I understand sir.” Uraraka nodded. Thinking back about her match, Uraraka shuddered at the hallucinated memory of herself floating upwards uncontrollably. As frightening as it was, she still managed to learn something from the experience: Submitting some forms to the support class with the idea of adding grappling lines to her suit to help anchor herself should something like this happen again.
“Finally…,” Jason paused as he gave some time to think, “Hagakure, I really don’t have any kind of critique to give. Maybe be more aware of your surroundings for traps. Same can be said for everyone else too anyways. But see me later at some point in the next few days, I wanna see if we can figure something out about your…current costume.”
“Why? What’s wrong with it?” Hagakure asked, making Jason question if she was that clueless or just teasing. Most likely the former, unfortunately.
“You’re running around butt naked, kid. There are so many problems with that.”
Putting aside the notes for the current team, Jason exchanged the tablet for the one containing the next and final team’s data.
“Alright! Final team for the day! Team E, step forward!”
Upon command of their TA, Yaoyorozu, Jiro, Tokoyami, and Midoriya stepped forward.
“Sir, who will be the team leader for this exercise?” Yaoyorozu questioned, putting away her handbook. Following the incident that nearly cost her her ability to walk, the teen switched over to having a small book holster wrapped around her waist. The new change, unbeknownst to her, will only be temporary as the outlaw has been working on some ideas to replace it.
Moving up to hand each of the students their earpieces, Jason provided an answer.
“Team leader for this match will be Midoriya.”
Midoriya froze as he heard his name. Why him? Why was he picked as the team leader? Yaoyorozu was already the class vice-rep so she’d be a better choice for team leader. Tokoyami would be a better choice too. He’s just as calm and collected as Yaoyorozu, maybe even more.
A hand resting on his shoulder brought Midoriya back to reality. Following the hand to see who it belonged to, the boy saw that it was Yaoyorozu, a look of concern on her face.
“Are you well, Midoriya?”
“Y-Yeah! I’m fine. Sorry about…about that,” Midoriya replied, giving his classmate a small smile of reassurance.
“Alright guys, time to get moving,” Jason told the team, “I’ll brief you when you reach the starting zone.”
-:-
After a short walk to the starting point at a warehouse, the team waited for their instructions.
“Alright, team E! Here’s your mission details: This warehouse is infamous for meetings between multiple parties of the criminal variety. A weapons deal is planned to take place there soon and your job is to secure the property and its illegal shipments. Intel confirms a small number of occupants including three guards plus one metahuman for extra muscle. Ahead of you, by the main door, is a jamming device. Plant the device on the shipments to disable the goods and you’ll pass the exercise. Good luck.”
Now briefed on their objective, the teen team quickly conversed to plan a strategy.
“How do you wish to proceed, Midoriya?” Yaoyorozu asked her team leader.
“Well…,” Midoriya paused to think up the perfect strategy. No doubt their opponents will be armed if the training exercise is some kind of hideout raid. Stealth would be strongly recommended in the beginning to learn their foes’ locations and wherever the shipments are hidden.
“We need to move in carefully first. We know how many villains we’re dealing with. We just don’t know where they are yet. J-Jiro-san will be the most helpful for that.”
“Glad to know I have a key role for this whole thing,” Jiro commented, twirling one of her earphone jacks around her finger as she stared up at the warehouse, “So I know Jason mentioned there’s four villains inside, but he mentioned one of them was a ‘metahuman’? Any idea what he meant by that?”
“I remember him using that word before. I believe it’s the term to describe individuals with superhuman abilities. Which means only one of our opponents has a quirk,” Yaoyorozu answered her, “I dread to think what kind of opponent is waiting for us inside.”
“R-Right, we’ll need to stay cautious. Try and learn about what kind of villain we’ll be confronting so we can strategize tactics to defeat them,” Midoriya continued, “We should get the jamming device Jason mentioned. Before we head inside.”
“Worry not, Midoriya-san. I will take the role of handling the device throughout this exercise. Dark Shadow, retrieve the device.” Tokoyami ordered his sentient quirk.
“Sure thing, Mr. Bossy Pants.” Tokoyami’s quirk did as instructed and extended from his host to take hold of the jamming device.
“Shall we embark now into our foes’ lair?” Tokoyami asked his team.
Taking a few breaths to steel his nerves, Midoriya readied himself, giving his teammate a nod of agreement as the teens ventured inside. It still didn’t sit well with how Midoriya was the team leader, there was definitely some reason behind Jason’s decision for picking him over the others. But he can’t let himself be distracted over that now. Now, he needed to stay focused and be ready for whatever threat him and his team come across.
-:-
Meanwhile, further within the warehouse, a large figure remains still in the center of a large, open center. Lifting itself from its knee, the mysterious figure extends their long arm to remove a portion of their hand. Landing with a wet splat onto the floor, the small chunk began to shift and take shape. Taking the form of a bipedal being, as tall as the average man, the small construct shifted its body to make clothes for its outer layer and moved to a nearby crate.
Arming itself with a rifle from the crate, the construct then moved to stand beside two other identical constructs like itself. Staring at the constructs they created, the large figure gave a low growl as they moved their arm to point at the door leading to the rest of the warehouse.
“Go,” the large figure commanded the constructs, “Keep watch for intruders.”
Watching the constructs leave through the door, the mysterious figure made another growl before beginning to move to the door as well, leaving behind a muddy trail with every step they took.
“Time to set the stage.”