Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There was something about the infamous ‘Squads’ of class 1-A that no one could quite put their finger on. The easy way they interacted and worked together, their way of communicating during a battle or rescue simulation where they just knew what the plan was. The oddest part about it was, the squads themselves didn’t seem to realize it. 

At first, it wasn’t very noticeable. All the students were meeting each other for the first time, save for a few, like Bakugo and Midoriya, Kirishima and Ashido, and all the students from the hero families, like Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, and Iida. It took a few life threatening encounters together and the unique experience of seeing your classmate downing glasses of water in the dorm kitchen at 3 in the morning before the class started to catch on.

For example, the latest team training exercise. Midoriya was set to lead a team of four others in a rescue operation at the USJ. The boy had paused at the edge of the scene, his intelligent eyes quickly flicking over the situation, taking it all in. Then he had turned to his team, consisting, in an odd stroke of fate, the entire Dekusquad.

“Uravity, you’re on-” She nodded and took off before he even completed his sentence. Normally, this would be bad, but he didn’t seem concerned in the slightest. With only a single glance between them, Todoroki had headed off after her. 

“Ingenium, Froppy, with me.” Midoriya stated resolutely. Without a spoken word between any of them after that, the three had begun a sort of rescue chain, with Izuku pulling the dummies from the rubble Uraraka was lifting and the collapsing buildings Shouto was reinforcing, before passing them off to Iida who sped them to Tsuyu for medical attention.

And when, as a surprise, Midnight entered the zone and began to pose as a villain, the team flawlessly switched roles, barely even glancing at their team leader for cues. It was almost unnatural.

Afterwards, the group had laughed in surprise at how well they had clicked together.

“It takes a lot of experience for a group to work together so flawlessly. It’s why hero teams are fairly uncommon. What’s your takeaway from this experience?” Aizawa asked them once they were back in the classroom.

“I’m not sure, Sensei,” Uraraka started.

“Maybe we’re really just that close!” Midoriya stated cheerfully, although there was an undertone in his voice. It was hard to catch, but it seemed he thought otherwise.

“It felt familiar, kero.” Tsuyu stated. “So it was easy to fall into the same patterns I remembered.” 

“What patterns are those?” Aizawa pushed. Tsuyu looked vaguely uncomfortable for a moment, then shrugged. 

“I’m not sure, Sensei. Maybe-”
“Well, whatever it is, it was successful! We make a good team.” Iida uncharacteristically interrupted.

“Yeah, right! Deku was just too much of a coward to actually lead!” Bakugo scowled. And with that, the topic was forgotten… for now.

><><><><><><

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Pikachu?” Bakugo scowled from across the room when he glanced up for a moment. Kaminari was currently balancing on one leg on top of the couch, a fork held in his mouth and a pitcher of water on the table in front and below him.

“Ahm tryin’ to shee ihf I can dihrect mmah lightningh ihnto the wahter, to wohrk ohn cohntrohl through mmah mmouth.” Was his jumbled reply. 

“But on one leg?” Ashido asked from the floor, where she was sprawled. Sero caught notice of the commotion and took out his earbuds.

“Mmuhltitasking!” Kaminari pronounced, then narrowed his eyes and focused.

“Should we stop him? I feel like he’s going to hurt himself.” Kirishima frowned from where he was seated next to Bakugo on the other couch.

“Let him, for all I care. Maybe he’ll electrocute himself so hard it’ll scramble his brains enough for him to stop trying shit like this.” Bakugo scoffed and went back to his book.

“I don’t know, bro, doesn’t seem very manly to let a friend hurt himself on purpose…” 

“Oh, come on, Kiri! Don’t spoil our fun! This is prime entertainment!” Sero called from his chair. Ashido had pulled out her phone and was filming.

A loud snap of electricity and the scent of ozone filled the air, and the room was plunged into darkness.

“Too late!” Sero proclaimed gleefully. After a moment of quiet, Ashido shrieked in surprise. 

“Shit, his hair is on fire!” Sure enough, Kaminari’s hair was flickering with a few small flames from where he collapsed, half-conscious and half off of the couch.

Bakugo instantly stood up, book forgotten and placed on the armrest of the couch.

“Shitty Hair, extinguisher. Soy Sauce, get Aizawa. Raccoon Eyes, lights.” They moved to do what Bakugo said without even thinking about it. Sero sprinted out of the room and towards the teacher dorms, his phone already in hand. Kirishima was in and out of the kitchen where the extinguisher was located in just a few seconds. In one practiced movement, the pin was pulled. With careful aim, the Kaminari’s hair was extinguished, without a single fleck of chemical getting into his eyes, nose, or mouth. Ashido sprinted off to the breaker located in the entry hall. As soon as he got the all clear from Kirishima, Bakugo did a quick injury scan on Kaminari.

A moment later, the lights flickered back on, and a few seconds after that, Aizawa burst into the room.

“He’s got some bruising on his head and side from the fall, but no concussion, and he didn’t short himself out, although it was a close call.” Bakugo informed without any prompting. Aizawa briskly nodded. 

“Good, but next time don’t approach him until the fire is out. With your sweat, getting near the sparks could be dangerous.” 

“You think I don’t know that? I’m not fucking stupid, I’ve dealt with this enough times before. Why do you think I didn’t go to reset the shitty breaker? I waited until Shitty Hair dealt with the fire before approaching the dumbass, as usual.”

Aizawa frowned but nodded.

“Well, good response time. I didn’t realize Kaminari hurt himself so frequently. We’ve only been in the dorms for a few months.” 

“Well, obviously not just these past few months, Sensei.” Ashido added as she returned. “Kaminari has always done stupid stuff like this. Just be glad it was now, when the fire extinguisher is only a few feet away, and not out on the streets somewhere.” She shook her head in fond exasperation.

“I thought only you and Kirishima knew each other from middle school, I didn’t realize you knew Kaminari, as well.” 

“We… don’t. We met here at UA.” Ashido said, brow furrowing in confusion.

“Then, when did you experience Kaminari doing something like that in public? Which is illegal quirk use, by the way.” Aizawa crossed his arms, eyes tired and expelling a ‘I’m done with this shit’ kind of aura.

“I… don’t know, Sensei. But bro, that’s weird.” Kirishima said. 

“Mm, sorry, Rust…” Kaminari muttered from the ground, coming back into awareness.

“What was that, shitty Pikachu?” Bakugo snarled.

“Calm down man, he’s still out of it.” Sero reassured. Bakugo just huffed and crossed his arms. 

“I’m going to bed. Pikachu better be fine, or I’ll be pissed.” He stomped off. Ashido shook her head. 

“Man, Bakugo never changes. It’s nice to know he cares though, in his own way.” She said, watching him go. She looked down at Kaminari, still on the ground. “Alright, Kami. Let’s get you to Recovery Girl, so you can actually try to learn something in class tomorrow.” Kirishima wordlessly came over, and in a practiced move, she hauled Kaminari into his arms.

Aizawa sighed again and rubbed his eyes. He wasn’t paid enough for this.

><><><><><><

Izuku’s sigh turned into a large yawn as he settled down in his seat. He had spent way too much time last night analyzing a big fight between Pro Hero Wash and an upstart villain with a water manipulation quirk, and he hadn’t gotten nearly as much sleep as he should have. As a result he was still half asleep.

“Midoriya, kero, you didn’t sleep enough last night.” Tsuyu stated. He slowly turned his glazed eyes towards her. 

“You don’t say?” He snarked back. Tsuyu blinked in surprise. “Ugh, sorry.” Izuku almost instantly said. “When I don’t get enough sleep I lose my filter and my snarkiness goes up by roughly 60%.” 

“I thought it was 75%.” Uraraka commented. Iida silently passed Izuku an energy bar, which he accepted with a nod of gratitude.

“No, that’s only when Query is there to bounce off of. He’s not in this class yet.” Izuku answered after he swallowed a bite of the energy bar.

“Oh, right. Wait- ...what?” Uraraka froze, her big eyes growing even wider.

“Oh shit, right, my bad, sorry again. I forgot we aren’t talking about it.” Izuku casually took another bite of energy bar. “Thanks for the bar, how’d you know these are my favorite?”

Iida blinked down at the bar, then shook his head. He tood up and began chopping his hand.

“You are avoiding the topic at hand!! I’m sure none of us know what you’re talking about, Midoriya!” He said defensively.

“Oh my gosh, Tangerine, chill out. It’s too early for this.” Izuku paused with the bar halfway in his mouth. “I forgot again. I’m just gonna stop talking now. Ignore me.” He jammed a huge bite of bar in his mouth. The group stood around his desk in silence for a few moments.

“Well, that explains things, kero. I was wondering why you all felt so familiar, especially in a work setting.”

“Um, I’m still confused, ahah, hahaha…” Uraraka trailed off, suddenly blushing. Iida shoved his glasses farther up his nose. 

“I am as well. No matter, we should head back to our seats! Class will begin soon.”

None of them deemed it important to point out they still had 15 minutes before homeroom began. They all sat in nervous silence, until they were interrupted by the usual last minute stragglers.

“Kaminari, your hair has become a nest of chaos and destruction. I approve.” Tokoyami stated solemnly as the boy in question stumbled into homeroom a minute before class began. Every student turned to observe the frizzled and mismatched locks, and the faint scent of burnt hair that was impossible to dispel. 

“Heh. Reminds me of that time in Eadu.” Midoriya interjected from the other side of the room, still half asleep.

“Hey! That was Immolate’s fault, not mine!” Kaminari was quick to defend himself, before pausing and blinking a couple times. 

“Excuse me, shitty Pikachu? I’m not the one who decided to balance on the electrical wires.” Kacchan growled. 

“Yeah,” Kaminari frowned, shrugging off his momentary confusion. “But you’re the one who- wait. Bakugo, what… and Midoriya? You shouldn’t know about Eadu…” Kaminari furrowed his brows before falling into his seat and slamming his head into the desk. “My brain is still too fried for this.” 

“Guys, um… did Bakugo just admit to being the infamous vigilante Immolate?” Hagakure spoke up, her uniform twisting to indicate she was turning in her seat to look back at Bakugo. 

“Oh, wait, are we talking about this now?” Izuku stood up and walked across the front of the class “After almost a year? Finally, I hated being so weirdly secretive about it.” He casually threw his energy bar wrapper into the trash. The entire class watched him do so in dead silence.

“Um, I really don’t think we should be accusing each other of vigilantism, considering it’s illegal…” Uraraka chuckled and eyed her classmates. 

“What the hell are you talking about, Infinity ?” Izuku countered, blearily staring down at her from where he stood in front of her desk. “We’ve fucking worked together for years, I thought that was why you decided to become friends with me in the first place.” He moved on and sat back down. 

Uraraka blushed bright red and squeaked, but she also looked confused. 

“Wha- what, Deku? I- I don’t-”

“What a mad banquet of darkness.” Tokoyami said softly. 

“Oh, my god . It all makes sense now. I cannot believe I didn’t see it before.” Jirou spoke up from where she had been watching the proceedings with wide eyes. “That’s why the Dekusquad and Bakusquad just work . Damn, I’m blind.” She whistled and shook her head. 

“Care to explain for those who are still confused?” Oshiro asked. “Something about vigilantes? I never really followed that side of the news.”

“Blitz and Fortune, of course, Jirou.” Yaoyorozu spoke up from the back, ignoring Oshiro’s comment. “I knew I couldn’t put my finger on something about them.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Jirou? Who’s Blitz?” Ashido asked nervously from her own seat.

“Okay, now that it’s all out there, I don’t want to go back to hiding it. Class reps, please explain to the class?” Izuku put his head down and closed his eyes. 

“But Midoriya! We can’t just go on and admit to criminal offenses to our classmates!” Iida protested.

“Tangerine, Aizawa-sensei walked into the classroom two minutes ago. I’m sure if he was going to say anything, he would have done something by now.” The whole class froze and glanced towards the front of the class, where, sure enough, a distinctive yellow sleeping bag was slumped behind the teacher’s desk. 

“Observant as always, Karma.” Aizawa glared from inside the bag. “I didn’t even realize you were him until just now. You separate your personas well.” He begrudgingly complimented.

“Oh, I suppose. I don’t really think about it anymore.” Izuku shrugged.

“Wait, Karma?” Uraraka spun around in her seat. “No way! I worked with him for years, and he said he was quirkless! Yours is super flashy!” She scowled.

“Mmm, haven’t I explained already I was a late bloomer when it came to my quirk? Obviously I didn’t have my quirk when I was still active as Karma.” Izuku squinted at Uraraka’s still blurry form.

“Can someone please explain what’s going on?!” Oshiro snapped, tail lashing. Aizawa sighed.

“Fine, here’s the abbreviated version, or you’ll be late to your next class. Blitz, a powerful vigilante group formed two years ago, consisting of Voltage, Rust, Tart, Ligature, and the leader, Immolate. They mysteriously dissolved activity a few months before the UA entrance exam.

“Fortune, another infamous group formed a year or so before Blitz, made up of Infinity, Tangerine, Query, Floe, Lunge, and their leader, Karma. They halted activity at a similar time. Both groups were notorious for their surprisingly fluid communication and effectiveness at both rescue and confrontation. All of the vigilantes were known before they decided to team together, and on occasion they have split to smaller missions with solo vigilantes. Like Monitor, or Forge.” Aizawa glanced at Jiro and Yaoyorozu respectively, the latter whose composure broke in an embarrassed blush. Jirou owned it, and simply shrugged off the surprised stares she received.

“Of course, I was never allowed to officially investigate these vigilantes, and since many of them have stopped their activities, we can assume they’re no longer active and will never be caught , as long as they’re careful .

“Now, homeroom is over. Go to class, miscreants.” Aizawa shooed them out the door. They all sat and continued to stare for a few moments, besides Izuku and Kacchan, who stood like nothing happened.

><><><><><><

Izuku was halfway to the next class when Todoroki caught up to him. 

“Um, I…” He started, hands twitching minutely on the strap of his bag. Izuku cut him off with a raised hand.

“Relax, Todoroki. We’ve been a team for how long? You know I would never reveal anything to your shit father.” 

This didn’t make Todoroki any more calm.

“You, um, you could tell? That it was me?” He asked in a small voice. Izuku stopped, recognizing the seriousness of the question. He pulled Todoroki into a side hallway. 

“I mean, it took longer than it did for realizing the others, but yeah, I knew. But, I don’t think anyone else will make the connection. Besides the rest of Fortune, maybe, but you can trust them, obviously.” Izuku gave his friend a reassuring smile. “Come on Elsa, you know we love you no matter what. Let’s get to class.” He gave a beaming smile and turned away. If he felt a flicker of heat on his back as Todoroki lost his composure for a moment, he didn’t didn’t say anything.

Chapter Text

Izuku stared in trepidation at the large red door that was the entrance to his new classroom. It was daunting, to say the least. Plus, he was late- he had spent a little extra time that morning looking up how to tie a tie properly, with limited success, and now he was sure he was going to be one of the last ones in the classroom. Izuku was positive as soon as he stepped inside, every eye would turn and stare, and they’d know what a Deku he was, or even worse they wouldn’t notice him at all and-

No, stop spiraling. It’ll be fine. Just open the door.

Izuku reached out and turned the knob, took a deep breath, and stepped inside the room. 

Oh. Well, this wasn’t what he expected, that was for sure.

“Hello again, Deku!” Uraraka called out in welcome. Izuku was pleasantly surprised. He hadn’t seen Infinity since the entrance exam, although he was keeping up with her activity.

“Hey, long time no see! I saw you hit Dandoran a few days ago, how’d that go?” He smiled. Maybe he would have things to talk about!

“Um… what?” Uraraka shifted in her seat. Izuku frowned, wondering what her issue was. 

“Oh! You’re in class, you don’t want to talk about. That’s fine, I guess you wouldn’t know. But we’re all friends here, right, Voltage?” Izuku shot a charming smile at the yellow haired boy.

“...Yes? ...Do I know you?” Voltage glanced at Uraraka, who shrugged. 

“I came over here to apologize for my words at the entrance exam, and to introduce myself! But if you’re continuing to harass our classmates, perhaps I was not wrong!” 

“Oh, I’m not harassing them Tangerine, no need to get so protective. I was just saying ‘Hi’ to these guys, we haven’t had any missions together in a while. Same with you, Tangerine. I guess we’ve all been so busy with preparation for the entrance exam we haven’t had time. I haven’t even seen Critter out recently, and he’s one of the most consistent vigilantes I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.” 

By now, the entire class had stilled and was staring at Izuku. Oh no, had he said something wrong? 

“Um, guys? I… why are you all staring at me? I, uh, I’m looking forward to getting to know you all as civilians…” Izuku rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Deku, what the fuck are you doing?” Kacchan spat in a low tone from where he had his feet propped up on his desk. Izuku jumped and turned to him.

“Oh, I didn’t notice you were here, Kacchan, sorry. I got distracted by everyone else.”

“You got distracted ? So you didn’t see me? You fucking with me, nerd?” Izuku huffed. He refused to get pushed around by Kacchan anymore.

“Yeah, sorry you can’t be the center of attention all the time, Immolate . I mean, 90% of the class is a current or former vigilante! I was worried I was going to have to start friendships from scratch and it was going to be like middle school!” Izuku sassed back. 

“I find that difficult to believe, Midoriya. Please do explain.” A gruff voice sounded behind him.

“Oh, hi Eraserhead,” Izuku commented as the man shuffled into the room. “And gladly. Let’s see… let’s go through the class by number.” He started to walk down the aisles between the desk, pausing briefly at each student. The first was a face he hadn’t seen in a long time. 

“ Rayon , who isn’t currently active. He didn’t make appearances for long periods of time anyways, since he can be reckless in his posturing and has had several close calls. Calling card was a rose on top of every defeated criminal.” Izuku winked at the violet-eyed boy, who put a hand to his chest with a soft gasp. Izuku smiled and moved on.

“Tart, currently part of the vigilante group Blitz but formerly a solo vigilante for about three years. Lunge, of my own vigilante group Fortune. Good to see you, by the way, hope your leg healed up fine from that nasty burn in Iego a few weeks ago.” The girl blinked in surprise, her hand reaching down subconsciously to rub at her left leg.

“Tangerine and Infinity here are also from Fortune.” He gave a beaming smile to Uraraka and the navy haired boy who was so insistent on scolding him. “Wait, is the whole team here?” He paused to take a quick glance around the room, his eyes settling on Todoroki for a moment. “Oh, there’s Floe, but I don’t see Query. Shame.

“Anyways, we have… oh, I don’t recognize you. You’re not a vigilante, you don’t have the right vibe of it”. He studied the blonde boy, who swished his thick tail in nervousness. “Uh, then we’ve got Voltage, who I already mentioned.” The blonde twitched, causing a spark of electricity to fly into the air. “He’s a part of Blitz, obviously, along with Rust back here behind him.” He pointed to the student with a shock of bright crimson hair. “Then Critter, Glucose, then… oh, you’re not a vigilante either, huh.” The boy in question looked up at him, impossible to read behind his pale blue mask. “Anyways, then Monitor, thanks for the help on that sting operation in Jedha last year, you ran off before I got to thank you.” The girl just nodded and continued to twirl her earphone jack around her finger.

“Um, okay. Another one of Blitz, this one is Ligature. We’ve actually never worked together personally, but his elbows are unmistakable.” Izuku moved on. “You’re not a vigilante, bird guy, but I am digging your style. Hey, Floe!” He moved on and gave a beaming smile at Shouto. “Been a bit, your dad giving you hell as usual?” Izuku stopped dead, horror dawning. “Oh, damn, that means your dad is Endeavor . Ugh, that’s worse than I thought. Hey, let’s meet after class we can talk about it later.” He patted Shouto on the shoulder.

“Okay, sorry Eraserhead, I got off topic.” Izuku smiled at the teacher, who just stared at him in response. After a moment of tense silence, Izuku chuckled nervously and moved on to the next desk, which seemed to contain a floating uniform. “This lovely lady here I’m fairly certain had a few one off acts, but not enough to get a name for herself or anything. That was a few years ago, anyways.” The girl gasped in surprise, but Izuku had already moved on to Kacchan, who was glaring up at him. “Kacchan is Immolate, as I mentioned earlier.” He met the blonde’s eyes evenly, caught in a staring match. When the silence stretched on and Aizawa cleared his throat, Kacchan was the one to break contact, turning away with a huff. Izuku briefly reveled in this victory, then moved on.

“Okay, so here’s my desk… oh, no, you’re definitely not a vigilante.” He stopped at a short boy’s desk. “Actually, I think I stopped you from groping a girl once, you piece of garbage.” He glared down at Mineta, who stared up at him, slack jawed. Izuku moved on with a final glance of disgust. 

“Finally, we have the lovely Forge here. I appreciate that commission to this day, you know. Best bo staff I’ve ever used.”

“You’re welcome… carbon nanotubes.” Yaoyorozu responded in shock. 

After a moment of silence, Aizawa grunted again.

“Seems accurate to me, Midoriya. Thanks for the breakdown, I only recognized about three fourths of the students. Some of you are quite good at hiding your identities- that’s a good skill to have as a hero. Good work, even if there was excessive rambling involved. Mineta, you’re expelled.” The class proceeded to completely ignore the small boy’s protests.

“You’re welcome, Eraserhead! Hey, why did you never tell me you worked at UA?”

“Why the hell would I tell you that, Problem Child?” Eraserhead glared down at Izuku, who shrugged.

“Yeah, that’s fair. Still, I thought I was your favorite… you bring me lemon candies.” Izuku turned his pleading eyes onto his teacher, who scoffed and moved to the front of the classroom, not deigning Izuku worthy of a response. “Well, consider putting Query into our new open class spot? Now that I think about it, he implied he got into General Studies.” 

“I put in the request the moment I saw his profile a week ago, so relax. Now, you all have ten minutes to work that out before I’m giving you your gym uniforms and we go outside.” Aizawa crawled back into his bag and fell to the floor. Izuku sighed and sat down in his seat.

“Hey, Deku.” Kacchan spoke up in a deceptively calm voice. 

“Yes, Kacchan?” He responded in a similar tone.

“What the fuck - 

Chapter Text

“The purpose of this assignment is to get you used to working in large groups, and making contingencies for when something inevitably goes wrong. Here’s the premise, you have the next two class periods to work on it as one group. I’ll check back in when your time is up and judge what operation you came up with. Also, Shinsou is joining you for this one.” Aizawa tilted his head towards where Shinsou lounged against the doorway, then collapsed onto the ground and rolled into the corner.

The class quickly condensed around the center of the room, pushing desks together until they had a large area to work around. Some stayed seated, while others stood, looking over their classmate’s shoulders.

“Oh, a raid! That’s fun, we haven’t really worked with that sort of hero work before.” Kaminari commented. “What’s the prompt?”

Yaoyorozu reached over and grabbed the papers, scanning them quickly.

“Alright, looks like an established group of villains is defending a special package of unknown properties, and they’re holed up in a building. We’ve been given blueprints, and villain profiles for the ‘known’ villains. They aren’t very thorough, though, and it says here that an unknown number of other lower level villains could also be there as grunts, so we need to be prepared for that.” 

Izuku walked over and leaned over the blueprints, giving them a quick scan.

“Geez, this is a difficult mission. We have to take into a consideration a ton of different possibilities for the size and fragility of the package, and there’s so many unknown variables it would be impossible to make a foolproof plan. Instead, we have to look over everyone’s full skill sets and how they can be combined.” He paused for a moment. “Yaoyorozu, can you make a copier? So we have more copies of these to be passed around.”

“That’s not necessary! I’ll just take these to the school copier and be back in a moment!” Iida said, grabbing the papers and running out the door. They watched him go in silence. 

“Yeah, I suppose that makes sense.” Izuku sighed. “Sometimes I get so in my own head I forget about some simple solutions.” 

“It’s okay, man. Happens to all of us.” Jirou gave him a slap on the shoulder. Izuku shot her a grateful smile. 

“While we wait, kero, we could make individual sheets of our skill sets, so we can see who would do best where, and who might be a bad matchup against some of the villains.” Tsuyu suggested. 

“Oh, that’s a great idea! We probably should already have sheets like that anyways. It’s not a great idea to have all your strengths and weaknesses written down because villains could get a hold of it, but being able to quickly size up our own abilities is incredibly important for a hero to be able to do, especially when facing off against an unknown adversary! I suppose we do have lists like that, it’s just in our minds…”
“I think that’s just you, Deku. Besides, aren’t you being a little hypocritical, with those notebooks of yours?” Uraraka frowned from her seat across the room. Izuku smiled and shook his head, withdrawing one of his notebooks. This one wasn’t numbered like his others.

“Oh, that’s true, but I’ve been writing them all in a personal code. I suppose it’s technically still breakable, but I run the code through several different layers, so in the end it’s really more trouble than it’s worth. Take this one for example, which is my Class 1-A notebook. There’s at least four layers of code on this one, since I really want to protect my friends.” He smiled innocently. The class stared at him in disbelief.

“I sense we should have become accustomed to the turbulence Midoriya offers our circle, and yet we are blindsided by his arcane prowess anew.” Tokoyami stated, closing his eyes as he spoke. 

“Yeah, what Tokoyami said.” Hagakure easily agreed. “Damn Midoriya, somehow you never fail to surprise us. That’s dedication right there, even if it is a little creepy you have profiles on all of us.” She picked up the notebook and flipped through the heavily inked pages. “How’d you develop them so fast? This is almost completely filled!” 

“Oh, haha, well, obviously that’s got your old information in there, too. It’s not like I put all that together just in the past few months!” Izuku laughed and accepted the notebook back.

“Wait, old information? What-” Oshiro started to say, but was interrupted by Iida loudly returning with a stack of papers.

“Let us begin, fellow students!” Iida passed the papers out. Izuku gracefully accepted his copies. He started to put the notebook back into his bag, but paused. 

“Okay, sorry in advance, but I’m gonna go check out in the corner for an hour, sorry again. Just warning you because it’s inevitable.” Izuku suddenly announced. The class glanced at him in concern, besides Kacchan, who huffed and snatched his copies out of Iida’s hand.

“Relax, the shit will be fine. He does bullshit like that sometimes. Let’s get actual work done because I have better things to do then fake-plan a battle I don’t even get to actually fucking fight.”

Izuku was vaguely aware of a few of his classmates giving him lingering glances, but then he was completely lost in his work.

><><><><><><

“Okay!” Izuku proclaimed, standing up hard enough that his chair skidded backwards. “Sorry again, but I think I have a plan. I know you all have your own plan too, though, so let’s compare them and meld some things together, yeah?” He walked over to the main group, where Yaoyorozu was chewing on the end of a pencil and the rest of the class looked exhausted.

“Sounds good, Midori.” Izuku smiled at Ashido’s nickname for him. Her voice was muffled from where she was planted headfirst in her own balled up blazer jacket. “We’re kind of brain-fried at this point. This exercise is way harder than we thought; any ideas you have would be welcome.”

When the rest of the class voiced mumbled agreements, Izuku flipped open a small pocket notebook none of his classmates recognized. 

“Alright, I wrote down the plan here, although it isn’t really a plan at all. Like I said earlier, it’s hard to come up with any sort of concrete plan, and when you try you either end up working in circles or just giving up. I suspect Aizawa-sensei gave us this assignment to teach us a lesson on going with the flow and thinking about contingencies. Another logical ruse.

“So, this is a basic premise for how to tackle the building, and what combinations of our classmates would be best in certain scenarios.” Izuku concluded. 

“It makes sense.” Shoji spoke up, his expression hard to read from behind his blue mask. “In a real operation, we should never expect our first plan to work, and with so many different variables it makes sense that we should instead prepare for the inevitable and look over how we can work together, instead. It’s a lesson that’s applicable to operations like these, but also villain battles and rescue missions. It’s exactly something Aizawa-sensei would do.”

The rest of the class nodded, agreeing with Shoji’s sensible explanation.

“Alright, Deku, what do you have for us?” Uraraka asked, sidling closer to get a look at the notebook. 

“Alright, so in the end securing the package is more important than capturing the villains. In the best case scenario, we do both, but we need to have our priorities straight from the get go if we want to have any chance of success.”

“Why is the package more important?” Sero asked curiously. The classmates who had fought in the Eight Precepts Raid shared glances.

“Because the package could be a person.” Kirishima stated simply. It was quiet for a long moment before Izuku continued with a clap of his hands.

“Alright, so that said, I think covering our entrances, and thus their exits, is the most important thing. The most obvious ones are these four,” Izuku paused to tap on four spots on the blueprints, “But any of the villains could just break through a wall or fly away. None of the villain profiles have a quirk that could do that, but we’ve already stated we need to plan for that variable.” 

“So, establish a police perimeter, right?”

Midoriya nodded at Oshiro, who had voiced the question.

“Right. That still doesn’t completely ensure no one will escape, but it’s really the best we can do. So, for the entrances. If this was a hostage situation, we would want to be careful in entering the building. But since we know for a fact the villains need their package unharmed, we can safely gamble they won’t harm whatever it is if we make a big entrance.

“So, let’s cover all the openings. Uraraka and Tsuyu can come in from the roof and slowly work their way down. Kirishima, Kaminari, Shoji, and Shinsou can take each of the bottom floor entrances. You’re all very capable in restraining and takedown, so it makes sense for you guys to secure those areas.” Izuku nodded at each of his classmates, who returned the silent gesture.

“Now, for the package itself. It’s imperative we figure out it’s location as fast as possible, so that we aren’t spending a useless amount of time just running around doing nothing. Jirou, I think I already know the answer, but your range of hearing only covers the building if you’re in one of these three floors, right?” He glanced over at the girl, who leaned over the measurements for the size of the building.

“Yeah. It’s just too big to be able to tell from the ground floor.” 

“Alright, that’s fine then. We’ll need to get you to that area as soon as possible, so let’s have Ashido do that acid wall climbing thing with you on her back. It’s a little dangerous with this many floors, but we’ll put Sero with you as well to secure you.” Izuku was about to continue, but was interrupted by Ashido holding up her hand.

“Wait, acid wall climbing? I’ve never done anything like that, I don’t know if I should be trying something so risky with someone else on my back.” 

Izuku tilted his head. 

“What? Of course you have, what’re you talking about? I’ve seen you do it at least twice… ah, I can’t remember where though, sorry. But I know you can pull it off, don’t have such little faith in yourself!

“Anyways, once Jirou is positioned and she determines the number of villains and where the package is, she’ll communicate through the comms, and we’ll start the actual attack.” Izuku flipped a few pages in his notebook.

“Sero, I loved that improvised projectile move you have with Yaoyorozu, so I think you two would be great teamed up together and covering the top floors. Yaoyorozu, if you have a parachute, would you be comfortable with that ice catapult move Todoroki can do?” 

“Deku, what’re you talking about?” Uraraka interrupted. “I know I’m not nearly as observant as you are, but I don’t think they’ve ever done the moves you’re talking about.”

Izuku furrowed his brow.

“What’re you talking about? I know that I’ve seen them do that… you know what, this is going to bother me now. Here, Iida, you read the plan, I’ll figure out what I remember this from.” Izuku unceremoniously shoved the notebook into his friend’s hands, then whipped out his phone and started furiously typing. 

“Um, okay! Continuing with Midoriya’s words, we have Koda outside the building, covering the perimeter with ‘large birds of prey like that one time in Naboo’.” Iida glanced questioningly at Koda, who shrugged and shifted in his seat.

“ Oh, that’s what it is!” Izuku slapped a hand on his desk. “Ashido, you were there in Naboo, too. Remember how you were making acid hand and foot holds in the brick and ferrying those kids out? Back to the assignment, in case there are locks on anything, you should go with the main strike team on package retrieval. Normally we could just muscle through them, but if the package is fragile we risk damaging it.” 

“Ah, Midori, I really don’t know what-”
“Right, sorry, I didn’t say yet who the main strike team was.” Izuku grabbed the book back out of Iida’s hands, his previous quest for information forgotten. “We’ll have myself, Kacchan, and Iida. We have pretty high mobility and strength, so it makes sense for us to muscle our way in and out.

“Then, we have Oshiro, Hagakure, Aoyama, and Sato. You’ll be on villain clearout. Each of you has skills that can handle these villain profiles particularly well. Tokoyami and Todoroki, you’re  incredibly versatile in your strengths, so I trust that you two together can handle most unknown villain quirks- I’ve got you on support. Sero and Yaoyorozu specialize in tying up villains, you’ve done a great job of it in the past so I have faith in your abilities.

“Everything else is up to chance and everyone remaining alert and thinking on their feet. Any questions?” 

Everyone started talking at once.

“Okay, wait, slow down. One at a time, please. Did I really do a bad job of explaining everything?” Izuku frowned. He thought he had been quite clear. He pointed at Aoyama, who was being the loudest of all of them.

“I despise admitting my own capabilities, mon ami, but are you sure I can handle this ‘Villain B’? I relish your faith in me, but I don’t believe I have the offensive capabilities to fight such a high-ranked opponent.” 

Izuku gave him a reassuring smile. 

“Don’t sell yourself short, Aoyama. Remember in Rishi a few years ago? Where you made that laser trap with the glass in the security cameras? Similar thing here- there are security cameras all throughout this area of the building. This villain requires physical contact for their quirk to work, so you can avoid actually fighting them altogether.” Izuku tapped a sentence on the Villain B profile. 

“You still haven’t explained what Todoroki’s ice move is that is apparently flinging me into the air?” Yaoyorozu had a concerned look on her face.

“Oh, I guess you wouldn’t know, I don’t think you two ever worked together. Todoroki has this move somewhat like his glacier attack, but you’re on the end of it and get launched forward.” Izuku laughed and glanced at Todoroki, who had an odd expression on his face. “It’s actually really fun, he’s done it to me a few times and it was totally worth it. That said, that move was originally invented by him violently launching villains away from him, so a bit of a warning on how forceful it can be. It’s still not completely finetuned, no offense Todoroki.” Izuku gave Todoroki another glance, this one apologetic. 

Todoroki stood up sharply and left the classroom without a word.

“Oh no, I insulted him, didn’t I? I thought he was proud of that move!” Izuku fretted. The rest of the class was a mixture of shock, nervousness, and confusion. Besides Kacchan, who was slowly turning more and more red and angry.

“Okay, Midoriya, stop. You’re breaking them. Bakugo is only a few seconds from combusting.” Aizawa suddenly spoke up from the floor. Izuku took a glance at the clock, and realized there were only fifteen more minutes of the class period.

“Oh, um, sorry sensei…” He trailed off, completely confused. Aizawa sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Problem Child, for being so observant, you can be completely clueless at times. None of your classmates have realized that most of them know each other through their less than legal middle school activities.” He stated bluntly. Izuku blushed and covered his face.

“Oh my gosh, really? I thought we just weren’t talking about it because we’re all heroes and no one was going to bring up the fact that most of us have broken the law more than once, because that’s totally awkward and no way did we want to risk that after only knowing each other for a school year, because I for one wouldn’t really know how to handle that, although that’s if I wasn’t a vigilante myself, so that’s a completely different scenario altogether, and I don’t even know if I’m making sense anymore and I completely understand that I’m rambling but I really just need to stop but I can’t-”
“Midoriya.”
“Yes, Shin-”

“Stop talking, sit down, and relax.”

Izuku blankly sat down, and his shoulders untensed. Shinsou sighed and grabbed the notebook from Izuku’s limp hand, passing it over to Aizawa. The teacher accepted it silently. After several minutes, in which the class was riddled with sudden gasps and sporadically whispered conversations as the students came to their own personal revelations. Todoroki walked back into the room and sat down just as silently as he left.

Aizawa looked up from the notebook and scanned the class, who watched him with wide eyes.

“Good plan. Dismissed.” He stated, then sat down in his chair and fell asleep. 

The room exploded in pandemonium.

Chapter Text

“Hey everyone, thanks for coming. I know this is kind of random, but I’ve been struggling with this for a while and I really needed to get it off my chest.” Uraraka fidgeted from where she was standing in the middle of the common room. Around her, the entire class was gathered.

“Hey, it’s alright, Uraraka. We’re all really thankful you-”
“Oh my god, Deku, shut the fuck up. Round Face, get on with it, some of us have better shit to do than listen to your sob story or whatever.” Bakugo crossed his arms and shot a deathly glare at Uraraka.

“Bakugo! That’s extremely unprofessional! Our classmate has worked up the courage to tell us something important to her, and you’re actively discouraging that!” Iida scolded.

“Guys, it’s fine. I’ll just say it.” Uraraka reassured. She opened her mouth to speak, then paused and shuffled her feet. “I really don’t think I can keep this sort of secret anymore, so I’ve just got to clear my conscience.” She took a deep breath, then let it out in a sigh. “I… was a vigilante. The one named Infinity, to be exact.” She took a nervous glance around the room trying to gauge the reactions. Oshiro looked the most surprised out of all of them. Oddly, no one else really reacted, or at least not openly.

“Um… you’re all okay with that?” She asked, when no one said anything. “I, uh, figured some of you would freak out about it, because it’s illegal, obviously.” 

“Bro… you’re really manly to work up the courage to tell us that. To be honest, I was a vigilante, too. My name was Rust.” Uraraka blinked in surprise at Kirishima, who blushed and scratched his hair.

“Dude, you were Rust? I totally loved working with that guy!” Ashido leaned forward so fast she almost fell out of her chair. “I looked up to him, or, you, I guess. Wait, I can’t believe we worked together!” 

Kirishima narrowed his eyes for a moment, then gasped. 

“Wait, Tart? Man, I looked up to you !” He laughed, then teared up. “Bro…” 

“Bro…” Was Ashido’s equally passionate response. 

“For the sake of full disclosure, I feel it prudent to admit that I was the vigilante Tangerine.” Iida stated, adjusting his glasses. 

“Then I cannot be forgotten! I, mes amis , was the fabulous vigilante Rayon ! My days of gracing the streets with my shining presence are behind me, but I cannot forget such a monumental time of my life!” 

“So what, losers? I thought this was actually important. All of us were vigilantes at some point, I was a vigilante, let’s just move on, I want to go to fucking bed.” 

“Okay, I definitely wasn’t a vigilante.” Oshiro spoke up. Shoji and Tokoyami nodded in quick agreement. “What’re the odds that more than a quarter of our classmates were vigilantes, though! That’s kind of insane.” 

“Well, I mean, it’s actually not that surprising. What surprises me is that almost a quarter of us aren’t vigilantes.” Midoriya admitted. “I thought maybe I just didn’t recognize some of you, but you all confirmed it.” 

“Woah, what-”

“Yeah, surprise-

“I really wasn’t going to-”
“Erm, actually-”

“Okay, stop!” Yaoyorozu raised her voice over the chatter. “Let’s settle this calmly. Raise your hands if you currently are, or ever were, a vigilante.” 

Seventeen tentative hands rose into the air. 

“Oh, my god. I wasn’t prepared to deal with today.” 

“Mood, man. I don’t think any of us were.”

Chapter Text

“Okay, everyone, order please, order!” The commanding voice of their Vice President sounded over the bunker. The subdued murmurs of the former pro heroes quieted as they turned forward. “We won’t get anything done by scabbling like children. We’ve been through some tough spots, this isn’t any different. We’ll handle this as a team in classic Class A fashion. UA trained us for that.”

“Uh, hate to say it, but this is totally different. I don’t think UA trained us for the day the government dissolves the hero industry and hero schools !” Kaminari shouted. The small sparks that flickered around his form was a clear tell to his agitation.

“Let’s think things through rationally, and look at what we know. We may not be official heroes anymore, but we’re heroes nonetheless. We can’t proceed unless we face the facts.” Kirishima reasoned. 

“The facts are this. The hero commission has replaced the hero program with their brainwashed child soldiers, and all of us are on the outs. They did it so quietly none of us really noticed until it was too late, and now we’re too busy drowning in blackmail and lawsuits to fight out of it legally. No one is defending the innocent, villains are worming their way into any position of power, and it’s only a matter of time before the Japanese government collapses beyond repair, and everything falls to complete anarchy!” Yaoyorozu pinched the bridge of her nose. Everyone sat in uncomfortable silence for a few moments.

“I don’t really see any legal way out of this, guys.” Jirou broke the silence. They continued to stare at their hands, or each other. A scoff from the corner of the room drew their attention. Midoriya hadn’t sat down with the rest of them.

“It’s not like that’s stopped us before.” He looked up at them, his hair casting a dramatic shadow over his face in the harsh lights of the bunker. When he didn’t get a reaction, he rolled his eyes and pushed off the wall, walking to the head of the table. “We’ve broken the law, for much less than the complete destruction of our country and any morals we continue to hold dear.”

“Deku, I don’t think that fighting villains without explicit teacher permission back in first year counts as-”

“Don’t joke around, Ochako, I’m not in the mood. I’m talking about the still unspoken fact that more than 75% of us are former vigilantes.” Midoriya gestured at the gathered heroes. “I mean, Shouto wore a cheap Elsa cosplay he borrowed from his sister to fight crime on the weekends! And now , when all hell is breaking loose, you’re getting cold feet on legality ? What the hell, guys! We’re heroes! Vive la révolution !” 

“ Vive la révolution !” Aoyama cheered. “It has been many years since my glory days as a phantom of the night, but I for one will gladly form a resistance to the atrocities that face us!” 

It was silent for another moment, before Bakugo harshly stood., knocking his chair down with the force of the movement.

“Well, there you have it. Let’s start a fucking revolution.” 

“Are we going to address that most of us were secretly vigilantes?” Ashido mentioned after a moment. Sero shrugged.

“Guess we can do it on the way.”

“Way to where ?” Hagakure questioned.

“Well, we can’t just sit around doing nothing in this empty bunker. Anyone know a place?” Shoji reasoned.

“I do. Let’s go.” Koda of all people spoke up. The former class A glanced at him in surprise, then nodded.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

Shouta sighed as he rolled off of the couch in the teacher’s lounge. Hizashi glanced down at him, inexplicably chipper. 

“Come now, Shouta, you look like you’re about to walk to your death! It’s just your new students.”

“Exactly.” Shouta grumbled as he crawled towards the door. “At the beginning of every year, I have to deal with the fresh and naive new students. It takes a few months to break them in and train them.” 

“Haha, geez, Shouta. I thought that was more my thing.” Nemuri commented from where she was sipping a cup of coffee on the other side of the room. “But as long as you don’t expel your whole class, I’ll call it a win.”

Shouta didn’t bother to respond. Instead, he extended a single hand upwards, opened the door, then rolled out into the hallway. 

Several minutes of crawling and one bumpy ride down a staircase later, Aizawa arrived more or less safely at the door to classroom 1-A. He paused, listening to the quiet murmur of the students inside. It actually sounded surprisingly tame, for a class of excitable new hero students who hadn’t seen the worst the world had to offer yet.

Shouta really didn’t want to enter the room, but there was no use in putting off the inevitable. He pushed the door open and rolled inside, observing as almost every student in the room immediately locked onto his silent figure and quieted respectfully. The few that were still standing quickly found their seats. Shouta stood up, and gave the class a real look over.

Oh. Oh no. Nope. Shouta made a decent salary here at UA, but dealing with this class of students this year was not worth all the money in the world. His patience did not have monetary value. 

Shouta fell back on the floor and rolled out of the room. Behind him, he caught only one sentence his homeroom class said, a voice that was distinctly Problem Child .

“I didn’t expect we’d break him so soon.” 

><><><><><><

Hizashi found him at lunch, curled up in a corner of the teacher’s lounge and buried under every cushion the room had.

“Hey, Shouta, are you okay? Your students said you came into the homeroom this morning for a second and then immediately left. They’re doing fine, but… it’s not like you to completely abandon your class like this. Did something happen?” 

Shouta winced as his eyes were hit with the bright light of the lounge.

“Switch classes with me, ‘Zashi… I deal with those ones enough in the streets.” He mumbled, covering his eyes.

“Deal with them? Whaaaaaat?! Are you saying you’ve met some of them before? Are they delinquents, or something?” Hizashi’s eyes were wide behind his obnoxious triangle glasses.

“Delinquents… might as well be. Why Nedzu let them into this school is beyond me.” Aizawa sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Hizashi passed him a bento subconsciously. 

“They have a confirmed criminal record? They should have never made it into UA, then!” Hizashi looked concerned. Shouta heaved a sigh.

“No. They’re all too careful for that, the brats. Not a single one has ever been caught. And I would know.” He mechanically began to eat his lunch. Hizashi sat down in a nearby bean bag chair, intent on Shouta’s words. 

“Okay, go back. You haven’t explained things properly.” Hizashi tried to run a hand through his hair, but was stopped by the massive amount of gel his hero costume required.

Shouta thought for a moment. About the infuriating displays of Rayon , the horror that was Glucose charging full stop at a massive mutant villain like he was invincible, of Rust proving he really was invincible when he took ten bullets for Shouta during a raid gone bad. About the pure devastating power that was the vigilante group Blitz, or the effective charisma of team Fortune that had strategizing down to a delicate art form. He thought about telling Hizashi this. About explaining the guilty fondness he had for every one of them, the tug of fear in his gut whenever one got hurt, or dropped off the map for a few weeks. The swirl of pride whenever Forge mastered a new weapon, or when Floe showed up in a brand new Elsa cosplay, bright purple eyeshadow on their face and swirling ice in their palm. He considered confiding in Hizashi that these were his kids, and that he cared about them just as much as his students at UA. And now they were his students at UA.

“Yeah, no. Goodbye.” Shouta unzipped his sleeping bag and walked to the window. After double checking his capture scarf was secure, he threw the window open and began to climb out of it.

“Sh-shouta! Where are you going? Explain what’s going on!” Shouta ignored the protests and swung his legs over the sill.

“I’m going home. To nap. I’ll deal with this tomorrow.”

With that, he threw himself out the window.