A Wolf Among the Sheep

... before ...

Shoto Todoroki... no, just Shoto at this point, was on the run. His face barely masked fear, and his right eye had been marred with a nasty cut as well as mild bruising. As if he'd been in a fistfight. And to his credit, he had been. What his father would call... "training". He couldn't go home now. After his day of expulsion, the man had exploded, almost literally, with fury. And, to vent, he did what he always did. Beat up on Shoto and call it "training". He had to get out of there.

And so he did, with little else than the clothing on his back and a few hundred dollars worth of yen... he struck out. Alone, as night fell. His father went to have a meeting with his "teacher". Some teacher that turned out to be. He didn't actually instruct them on anything, just derided and belittled them. He didn't even try to be understanding, or help them out. That's what his sister said good teachers did, and she was one.

But... even she couldn't protect him. Not anymore. And so, he just continued through the night, just eager to get as far from the nightmare as possible.

Izuku Midoriya scanned his phone as he sat waiting for class to begin. It was disturbing, to say the least. The top part of the screen was covered with a photo of his former classmate. Impassive, staring at the camera. It was a passport photo, clearly, as the text below illustrated why it was there.

Son of Endeavour Missing Since Last Night.

Frowning slightly, he was forced to rely on his thoughts as more of his classmates arrived, and then Aizawa shortly after. "Alright, as time is short, I won't answer any questions. As the news pointed out, your former classmate is missing. Keep an eye out and call emergency services if you see him. Now, onto things more relevant to you."

Everyone (minus Bakugo, because of course he had to be different) was horrified by the flat tone of delivery. He was a hero, supposed to care... but he didn't show it at all. One could, if they were being charitable to Aizawa, that he had become desensitized to this, but the circumstances really worked against him. He had expelled him, and knew him. It was more than likely that it was his fault that he is missing, if it is found that he ran away from home. And yet... he didn't feel anything.

Continuing, the raven haired man stated: "Today we will be going to the USJ. Two of us, plus one at the USJ already, will instruct you on rescue procedures, and give you time for practical exercises. You will learn more when you arrive. You can choose to have your hero costume, but consider that they might get in the way. Just don't be late, the bus will be leaving in 10 minutes from the front of the building. Go." Everyone bolted, and Izuku went to get his armor. He already had his sword, and needed practice for heroics in it. For it would be as close to real life as possible...

Apollyon waited as Tomura hyped up his forces. He was adept at stoking this crowd, as proven before. But... their target of UA did put a sour taste in her mouth. Not because of the possibility of running into Izuku. That was guaranteed, and she steeled herself for the task, but because of the fact that there was so much that could go wrong. The kid's quirks weren't listed, and they knew nothing. In her experience, she had learned many, many things, but the most crucial was knowing who you were fighting. In Heathmoor, it boiled down to three options, with some variation on individual leaders. Oh, we're fighting Vikings. They'll be brutish and straightforward. Oh, we're fighting the Chosen, that means we'll need to watch for tricks and traps. That kind of thing. In this new world, a single person could be as variable as having the ability to decay anything or as wild as creating fire on a whim. They could not afford to take chances with this... but... the gears were already turning. The bow was pulled back, primed to fire. And the arrow would be let loose. She just hoped it was aimed true.