June 16, 2019: Chapter 1 has been rewritten heavily, but otherwise the story continues exactly the same.
Note: The MHA characters are somewhere before the provisional license exam arc and after the Bakugou rescue mission. It follows the anime adaptation for what it's worth. The LWA characters meanwhile are in the OVA timeline and all it entails, specifically a few months after the events of the Enchanted Parade.)
"And we will be approaching our first destination shortly, so we kindly request that the three foreign exchange students calm down." blazed the intercoms of the airplane.
"He's talking about you two," muttered Todoroki, gazing outside the plane's window.
"How am I supposed to keep quiet when Deku won't stop running his stupid little mouth!" yelled Bakugou, angry at the fact that he had to sit between the window and aisle while also having to travel alongside Deku for an extended period of time.
"I'm sorry!" squealed Midoriya, otherwise known as Deku, shaking his head back and forth in a typical fanboy manner.
Deku tried to string his words together. "It's just that, we're almost gonna be training with the Special Air Service for a whole month! They're Britain's greatest soldiers and they have the best training program for operators with quirks! And we get to join them in by actually doing a para jump! Can you believe it? We're only in high school and they..."
"I got it the first time! Shut up already!" roared Bakugou. "And besides, these special forces guys are just walking corpses! Shit from the past"
Bakugou was immediately shot a dozen angry glares. The plane him and his classmates were on belonged to Britain's air force, and was full of Commonwealth nation soldiers ready to go on another exercise in Scotland that required their own para-drop. Until then, they had to endure the pain of listening to the young heroes argue, on a flight that that had lasted hours since their departure from Canada.
"You didn't have to come along you know," noted Todoroki.
It was almost as if Bakugou's pupils suddenly vanished as he grabbed Todoroki by the arm. "Hey! If these assholes are only looking for the best then I gotta show them they made a mistake by thinking I'm on Deku's level!"
"Quiet down kid!" yelled a Commonwealth soldier, who looked awfully tempted to throw his maroon beret at Bakugou, but didn't wish to risk getting the plane blown up by his quirk.
Deku gulped, not wanting to spark an international incident, realizing he was only being left off easy since the SAS had plans for him. Throughout their flight, Deku would drone on about something he learned about Britain's forces, which caused Bakugou to yell back at him, which in turn forced Todoroki to defuse the situation, only to anger Bakugou further. The three had been repeating this cycle for quite a while, to say the least much to the discontent of the soldiers and pilots on the plane.
"I'm sure we're gonna have a great time," added Deku with a nervous smile. "We get to go train at Hereford Base for a whole month! I heard they've got operators who can turn their fists into mallets, shoot out toxic smoke and disable all things electric with the blink of an eye."
"Good thing Kaminari isn't coming then." mused Todoroki.
Bakugou just hissed, which made the army men of various Commonwealth nations sigh in relief. Deku and Todoroki knew that Bakugou would have probably preferred to stay in Japan rather than in Britain, but he just had to prove himself better than his classmates if he had been put on the same footing as them by another observer.
Deku focused his attention back to his history book on the SAS, from their activation in 1941 to the modern day dilemma of heroes versus traditional armies. The special forces in every nation had adopted the easiest to the changing times and were now almost entirely made up of those who had extraordinary quirks. Japan meanwhile, had all but gotten rid of their conventional SDF, and their military alliance with America had long become a thing of the past.
Thus, when the heroes had to learn how to do an airborne jump to train with Britain's elite, they were shipped over to Toronto for a week in order to receive a crash course on the subject. Although their sharp minds and bodies allowed them to pass quickly, it had earned them the envy and resentment of the Canadian soldiers, a good number of whom made up the Commonwealth soldiers on the plane.
Whereas they were used to a life of conventional militarism and bureaucratic obstruction with quirks as an afterthought, three young heroes who had yet to even do a day of basic military qualification had been given the spots to do a prestigious para-jump course. It didn't exactly improve their morale.
Just as a few minutes of golden silence ensued, a sudden shock disturbed the plane.
"Sorry about that passengers, we seem to have hit a little surprise turbulence, but nothing serious. " noted the pilot on the intercom.
A few more seconds passed of Bakugou glaring, Deku reading, and Todoroki brooding, before the pilot's voice blazed once again.
"ATTENTION. We have entered SAS airspace much earlier than expected! All nonhero personnel are to remain seated while they perform their jump over Hereford!"
"Wait, what?" frowned Deku. He could have sworn the journey would have taken longer based on the time.
"Let's do this shit!" rose an undeterred Bakugou as he began adjusting his parachute as instructed in Toronto.
"Good fucking luck lads!" sarcastically yelled a Commonwealth soldier with a thick Scottish accent. "Heard you gomerils are gonna have some fucking task the second you land or even before that!"
"Oh, maybe they'll be chased by flying robot monkies!" guessed another soldier.
"That's brilliant! Or maybe a ton of fighter drones!" added a third one.
Todoroki ignored the condescending army men and glanced at Deku. "I think we're way too early. The flight should have taken another twenty minutes."
"Get up now!" yelled a British Army captain. "You remember what to do?"
"Fuck yeah I do sir!" Bakugou motioned his classmates to get moving. "Let's go dipshits, I have to prove a fuck ton of people wrong!"
Deku realized there was no point in arguing with a foreign military that was allowed to control his life for a month, as did Todoroki. The heroes headed to the opening door, where the officer in charge of their jump first unloaded their suitcases tied to a parachute, which they were taught how to retrieve once they landed.
Bakugou smirked as he got to go first and bailed out of the plane, a confused Todoroki and Deku behind him. In an instant, all three heroes had performed their airborne jump, suited to their quirk based needs, as they descended to what they thought was Hereford base.
The voice of the pilot blared on the intercom once more. " Ladies and gentlemen I am pleased to announce that the three annoyances are out of the plane and are the problem of the British Special Forces now."
The soldiers on the plane cheered in delight, before quieting down to enjoy a flight without Deku or Bakugou yelling at each other and Todoroki accidentally making it worse.
All the while, Deku's eyes watered as his parachute activated after four seconds of falling. He had jumped from extreme heights before but he knew that practically anything could have been coming for him in the air based on what he was told about the program. The rush of events made him think something was incredibly wrong, however.
There at least wasn't anyone in danger of falling to their deaths. The heroes knew how to do the jump, had reserve chutes, and if those failed, they could rely on quirks. Bakugou knew how to orient himself in the air with his explosions. Even if the wind wiped all of his sweat, Todoroki could similarly use his flames or ice powers to ease their way down. Deku himself could also use the force from his One for All Quirk to propel himself up in the air before hitting the ground.
As for any obstacles in the sky, Deku reasoned the SAS wouldn't let them die early and that parachuting from a plane was designed to be the least troublesome activity they would accomplish during their time at Hereford.
And speaking of Hereford, Deku took a good look and what was below. Rather than a high tech military base with airplanes, tanks or helicopters lying about, he was looking at what appeared to be a castle, which he knew Britain was full of, but didn't look like a training facility.
"GUYS!" yelled Deku to his parachuting friends.
"What is it now pipsqueak!" roared Bakugou, staring down at the landing zone.
"I didn't hear anything about a castle at Hereford! I don't think this is right!" screamed Deku, fighting back the tears in his eyes from shock.
Todoroki himself glanced down. "I'm with Deku on this one, that castle down below doesn't scream military to me,"
"You idiots!" growled Bakugou. "British special forces dorks probably think they're royalty! Of course these assholes get castle!"
Deku doubted it, but it did make sense that a group as elite as the SAS would probably have a castle of some sort for quirk based students. It just screamed British. Or maybe it was just a mock-up given that the three were apparently supposed to complete a test while parachuting or landing. Perhaps the real base was a short walk away.
"So what's the plan from here?" asked Deku, finally calming down.
"I don't know," said Todoroki, trying to get a good view of what was under his feet. "Try not to die on the first step?"
"All we gotta do is find out what those special forces assholes want to challenge us with and get over it," muttered Bakugou.
"What do you think that could be?" asked Deku.
"It's probably an obstacle course. I figure that's what castle is for. I wouldn't be surprised if they used live bullets and working machines though." guessed Todoroki.
That answer made sense to the three heroes. Para-dropping unprepared and surviving in hostile territory sounded like a cliche elite operator set up. Their whole drop from a military airlift also sounded like it was out of a movie the more Deku thought about it.
"Hey, do you guys see people on that castle?" remarked Deku as he squinted his eyes while looking down. He made out several blobs on a platform that was directly under them and where it seemed they were supposed to land.
"Can't tell from here, but it looks like it." agreed Todoroki, making out several figures.
"Looks like they're wearing blue, so those jerks think they're gonna ambush us when we land," added Bakugou.
Right when everyone thought they were in for a pre-rumble with Britain's elite the three would have their supposedly real task laid before them.
The three heroes heard a large whooshing noise coming from above. They quickly glanced up and were shocked at the sight before them.
Multiple red creatures, each with wings and horns, which could only be classified as demons. Roaring, devilish, and fierce looking demons.
And they were heading straight at them.
"What-what-what are those?" cried Deku.
"That's one tricked out quirk." gasped Todoroki, wondering if it was an unreasonable number of people with the same quirk or a sort of projection. He also thought if they were mock-up robots.
Bakugou grinned. "Now that is the kind of training I like!"
Deku gritted his teeth as the entities roared and approached them. "Kaachan! We don't even have a plan."
"Oh come on Deku! If I was running a stupid boot camp I'd put my jarheads into the grinder first thing and see what they can do without a plan!" roared Bakugou.
Todoroki wanted to make a snide comment against Bakugou, but was too busy preparing his ice powers to face the demons. He didn't know how they weren't spotted before or what was the extent of the quirk they were facing, but he wasn't about to take any risks.
Deku meanwhile was the most limited in terms of combat range. He could only helplessly watch as the demons soared towards him and charge up a part of his arm to smash them if he could. At the rate they were flying at though and with the obstruction from his parachute, it was not an ideal situation for his quirk.
Bakugou of course was preparing his explosions, but even he had to seem a bit of trouble keeping the sweat on his palms with all the wind wiping it away. Still, nothing could break his bloodthirsty smile.
As demons got closer and closer, the boys prepared to unleash everything they had. Their hearts raced with excitement at the prospect of this unique and difficult situation. This was their first chance to prove themselves to the special forces, and they weren't about to mess it up.
Right as the closest demon got into range, however, it did the unexpected. It ignored the three heroes and just flew completely straight down.
The rest followed it.
Bakugou looked below his feet to see the demons swooping down towards the castle. His mouth was agape, angry at being denied the fight that looked so promising.
"What the hell, these are the worst demons ever!" screamed Bakugou.
Deku who had sighed with relief tried to reassure him. "C'mon maybe we're supposed to face them on the ground so the SAS can watch us properly."
"I think it would have made more sense to attack us while we were parachuting since we're more vulnerable like that." inferred Todoroki.
"Uh, baby steps?" shrugged Deku.
Todoroki raised an eyebrow as he watched the demons fly down. "They seem to be heading to some sort of raised platform. I think we need to para-drop there instead of the ground."
"That's what I figured, and I think I can see our luggage heading there too," noted Deku, especially noticing how all their suitcases conveniently appeared to be heading straight for the platform too. He wondered if the people using their demon quirk were chasing their belongings, but that didn't make sense and the demons just then zoomed passed the luggage as well.
"Well I ain't letting those red freaks ignore me anyway!" declared Bakugou.
"And there's a lot of freaks," noted Todoroki, glancing at a large number of demons that were encircling a raised platform and blocking off most of the view. Getting closer didn't seem to give anyone more clarity.
"I swear they're probably just projections or androids," insisted Deku. "Never seen this many people with the same quirk at once before, especially a demon one."
"How flattering! They're either letting us in on a secret quirk or summoned Satan's spawn from hell just for us!" grinned Bakugou.
The nature of the demons aside, the landing would still be an issue. As they each thought of their own separate plans, it was just then that the boys heard what appeared to be a high pitched scream.
Deku tried to analyze what was happening, but the demons were so high in number that all he could see was red. He tried to recall the figures he saw on the platform, who didn't seem to be operators now given that they were the ones certainly screaming in a rather high pitched voice.
"Any idea what that was?" asked Todoroki.
"Oh great," winced Bakugou, impatient at the long time it was taking to land. "These dorks have a rescue mission planned for us."