Numerous members of 1-A and 1-B could be seen entering UA's main building in the dead of night. Not one could be seen entering within 10 minutes of the last student but all in all, there should've been sixteen students in total.
Upon arriving at the faculty lounge room, the students were greeted by their advisers, Principal Nezu, All Might, and their soon-to-be teammates in their upcoming joint training exercise.
"Good evening, students." Nezu greeted them from on top of Aizawa's head, "I'm glad that you were all able to come to the villain team's first meeting. We apologize if we had to call you in at the middle of the night. We had to keep this a secret from your classmates."
"Now then, we will be going through the excercise's--" Nezu tried to begin the meeting, but stopped when a certain greenet raised his hand from behind all of his fellow heroes-in-training.
The rest of the faculty present all looked at the greenet that managed to capture their attention, prompting the students to follow and look behind them and at Izuku who was wearing a dark midnight blue hoodie.
"Excuse me, but may I be allowed to volunteer my own battle plan?" Izuku asked in with somewhat sickly sweet smile.
---
"We apologize for keeping this a secret from all of you, but this is the most adequate way there was in order to make this exercise similar to the real scenario." Nezu explained to the hero team, "It isn't often that we learn about the plans of villains exactly as they make their move."
"We will now explain the mechanics of today's exercise further." Nezu told them.
All Might stepped up and began explaining, but occasionally looking back at a bunch of reading prompts in his hand, "A week ago, we'd left messages for your classmates informing them of their villain role, this will be understood as the villains coming up with their plot."
The smaller monitors in the room then switched on, showing the criminal headshots of the villain team.
"The selection was random and any one of you could've also been in their team. In total, there are 16 of them, and 24 of you, signifying how most operations often have more heroes to deal with villains." All Might continued.
"For today, the incident is a hostage situation." He informed the students.
"The hostages were 'confirmed' to be located at the very end of Ground Gamma. As the walls of the grounds are incredibly thick and near impermeable, an attack from the rear would not be possible, so all advances must be straight on." Aizawa then said as he pushed a few buttons to change the picture on the huge monitor from the paused video of the villains to a picture of the general layout of Ground Gamma, the location of the hostages especially highlighted.
"Your missions will be to, one," Aizawa raised a finger, "Rescue and secure the hostages. And two," Aizawa raised another finger, "Defeat and-or capture every member of the villain team."
"Although, if you manage to figure out the plans of the villains before the exercise ends, then you'll personally get high regards from me." Aizawa unexpectedly added, painting confusion on the faces of both students and his coworkers alike.
"Though it's just an if." Aizawa reminded.
Before the students could ponder on his statements however, Nezu decided to speak once again, "Please do bear in mind that these objectives were also included in the message that was left for the villain team, and as should be expected, will be doing everything in their power to prevent you, the hero team, from winning."
The teachers went quiet after that to let the students murmur quietly between each another and talk about the exercise at hand. Some were also studying the criminal headshots of their classmates displayed on the multiple smaller monitors in the room. It was obvious that they were told to make a villain-like expression.
Some of them utterly failed at the task, only coming off as comedic and slightly hilarious at best. A number, who already had a scary appearance beforehand, didn't need to do much to look 'villain-like', a slight grimace on their face and they ended looking like the part. In the end, most of the villain team just put on a standard frown to get the job done.
One of these members was Izuku.
Izuku's teeth were slightly bared in annoyance, and he was wearing a scowl on his face.
Most people probably would've just swiftly brushed it off, there's an exercise ongoing at hand, after all, but in Katsuki's eyes, the look on Izuku's face reminded him of something more sinister from their past.
The look in Izuku's eyes in that photo is the same look that hasn't stopped haunting him in his dreams since that day at the park five years ago. A look that sent pure killing intent his way, a look that threatened him with death for stepping out of line and hurting his little brother.
He was already past the age back then for him to be running behind his mother in fear and for protection, but he still did it regardless because every instinct he has was screaming at him, "The person in front of you will kill you at the first chance he gets."
And even as he hid behind his mother, he was still scared. Scared for his life, scared for the other kids' lives, even scared for the nearby adults' lives. He was even more scared for his mother's life as she was loudly berating that kid in black, oblivious to the meaning behind that kid's gaze, because even though he was only a kid in comparison to his mother, Katsuki didn't doubt that the thought of killing her right then and there had passed his mind.
The only saving grace about that kid in black is the fact that he's Quirkless so he probably wouldn't have been able to actually do anything at that moment.
Katsuki still hasn't forgotten that look, however. He will never forget that look.
And now... Izuku-- the same little brother that he'd hurt all those years ago-- he's displaying the same malicious eyes right in front of him. A feat that Katsuki didn't think the greenet would be able to do until two months ago, when he felt the same death-beholding aura as that villain.
Ah, not to forget who their father really is.
Just what kind of people are in this family? There's no way they could just be human.
Katsuki's so afraid of them.
"I mentioned how this exercise came to be how it is just a moment ago, to make it more like the real scenario, however, there is one more reason." Principal Nezu suddenly spoke up, snapping Katsuki out of his spiral of fear, and gathering the attention of all the students.
"Instead of having the two classes face off against each other, we thought it best to have your classes team up instead." Nezu told the students before looking over to Vlad King.
Sekijiro (Vlad) let out a sigh as he slightly rolled his eyes then he told the students while seeming to refer more to his own, "A healthy rivalry between your classes can help with the growth of each other, the desire to surpass a rival is strong, after all."
The eyes of the 1-B students glisten at the words of their honorable adviser, but they were brought back to the present with one word.
"However," Vlad said in a stern voice, "The time to be comparing and competing with 1-A isn't right now."
"With how the country is going right now, after All Might's retirement, after the appearance of All for One and the League of Villains, the time to be divided is not now. You will all have to cooperate with each other in a future mission, you will need to set aside your rivalry in the name of fulfilling your duties. We do not need you to be competing right now, we need you undivided."
---
On the other side of the battlefield, at the location where the hostages were being held, members of the villain team were placing the robot mannequins at the room that Momo had reinforced at their leader's command. Said robot mannequins will be the acting as the hostages for the exercise.
A number of the villain team were talking with their teammates and squad mates, talking about possible super move combos, and how to deal with certain students if they encounter them. Meanwhile a number were doing a few stretches to prepare and pump themselves up for the exercise.
The whole room went quiet however, when they heard an old heavy metal door loudly scrape the floor as it was pushed open to the side.
Their leader had finally walked out of the room where he'd been staying since they arrived there for the exercise. Their leader was the first one to get to the location. They only knew that he was already there because he'd given orders from inside the room earlier, but he hasn't come out until then.
His teammates' were taken aback and were surprised to see their leader wearing a different set of clothes than his hero costume when almost all of them were wearing their winter hero costumes.
Izuku was wearing a lime green dress shirt, a contrast to his hero costume's dark green. His pants were a dark grass green color, just a shade darker than his own hair and eyes. In his right hand, he held a black dress suit which he shortly hung on his shoulders like a sort of cape.
Everyone was frozen in place by their leader's wardrobe choice as they watched Izuku begin to walk past them and head towards the exit.
Before anyone could point out and ask about his clothes, however, Izuku began putting out orders, "Everyone, form your squads! Squads 3 and 4, prepare to head to your positions and wait for any further directions. Squads 0 and 2 will hold the area as planned."
"Shiozaki, Kuroiro, let's go." Izuku called for his own squad members, to which the Vine and Black users promptly went to their leader's side.
Izuku stopped in front of the huge industrial doors, and with one hand tucked inside his pocket, he lifted the huge doors open, revealing their hideout to be a few stories above and slightly overlooking a majority of the grounds.
A sweetly cruel smile formed on Izuku's lips as he looked down at their eventual battlefield.
"Let's do a great job, everyone."
---
HERO TEAM
1-A
Shouto Todoroki (Half Cold Half Hot)
Katsuki Bakugo (Explosion)
Kyoka Jiro (Earphone Jack)
Denki Kaminari (Electrification)
Hitoshi Shinso (Brainwash)
Ochaco Uraraka (Zero Gravity)
Tenya Iida (Engine)
Toru Hagakure (Invisibility)
Mezo Shoji (Dupli-Arms)
Fumikage Tokoyami (Dark Shadow)
Mina Ashido (Acid)
Eijiro Kirishima (Hardening)
1-B
Hiryu Rin (Scales)
Kinoko Komori (Mushroom)
Yosetsu Awase (Weld)
Juzo Honenuki (Softening)
Jurota Shishida (Beast)
Pony Tsunotori (Horn Cannon)
Togaru Kamakiri (Razor Sharp)
Setsuna Tokage (Lizard Tail Splitter)
Sen Kaibara (Gyrate)
Kosei Tsuburaba (Solid Air)
Kojiro Bondo (Cemedine)
Manga Fukidashi (Comic)
VILLAIN TEAM
1-A
Izuku Midoriya (All for One)
Momo Yaoyorozu (Creation)
Yuga Aoyama (Navel Laser)
Hanta Sero (Tape)
Koji Koda (Anivoice)
Rikido Sato (Sugar Rush)
Tsuyu Asui (Frog)
Mashirao Ojiro (Tail)
1-B
Ibara Shiozaki (Vine)
Neito Monoma (Copy)
Reiko Kanagi (Poltergeist)
Shihai Kuroiro (Black)
Yui Kodai (Size)
Nirengeki Shoda (Twin Impact)
Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu (Steel)
Itsuka Kendo (Big Fist)
---
NOTES: The illustration included at the beginning is technically not finished yet but I wanted to include it when I update. I'll change it once I'm actually done. :>
On another note, my new display tablet just arrived so I should be able to start redoing the cover for this second book! \(^0^)/
I hope everyone is enjoying this arc! Because I sure am. >¦]