Howdy, folks, how's it going?

Hope you guys have been keeping safe.

As always, shout out to Chaos for his aid.

I own neither WH40K nor BNHA. If I did, more Primarchs would've returned by now in the former and Pony would've been part of class 1-A in the latter for an equal spread of recommendation and foreign students in both classes.

And now, on with the show.

/

The next day saw an actual beginning to the school activities of class 1-A, which was to say, classes. And besides the fact that all of their teachers were licensed heroes, the first half of the day felt to the hopeful heroes-in-training surprisingly… mundane. English with Present Mic, modern literature with Cementoss, pretty much everything that could remind them that for all the flash and glamour, U.A. was still a school, and they were still expected to pay attention, take notes, study, and get good grades.

Honestly, only two interesting things happened so far, in the "weird and unusual occurrence" kind of way. The first had been right at the beginning of the day, as the students had been arriving, when Iida took issue with Midoriya taking a screwdriver and some sort of contraption out of nowhere and tried to get the other boy to cease and desist with his breaches of the academy's dress code and proper class behaviour. He was promptly ignored until in his ever-increasing frustration he tried to reach towards the offending items… only to be frozen in place by a withering glare from the shorter boy.

"Touch dah goggles and I'z breakin' yer arm."

Iida wisely decided to leave well enough alone after that.

The second one, perhaps unsurprisingly also involving Midoriya, had been the aghast look of horror and betrayal on his face when Ectoplasm arrived to begin the math lesson, followed by slamming his face into his desk with a groan that dripped despair and mutters that sounded suspiciously like "Thot I wuz free…".

That earned a few confused blinks.

Now though, it was time for the afternoon classes, and the mood around the classroom was quite electric, as the students chattered away about what was soon to come. The only ones who did not seem to share in the eager mood were Bakugou, who looked somewhere between grumpy and constipated, Todoroki, who looked pretty apathetic and, surprisingly enough, Midoriya, who seemed to consider whatever it was that he was fiddling with infinitely more interesting than the rampant speculation.

"So, you guys really think All Might's gonna be the one teaching us?" Sero, a plain faced boy with oddly shaped elbows, inquired to no one in particular.

"Hell yeah!" Kirishima replied with a wide grin of shark-like teeth, "I'm so psyched about it. It's gonna be manly as hell!"

"I dunno, man." Kaminari commented, shaking his blond-haired head sceptically. "I mean, yeah, he's a teacher here now, but you'd think he'd probably focus more on the third years, ya know, the more experienced students?"

"…Uh, yeah, I suppose that would make sense." The redhead reluctantly agreed to the point, his excited demeanour dimmer.

"Shows what you gits know." Another voice interjected, surprising the three boys and a fair chunk of the students listening in when they realized it had been Midoriya that talked. It was the accent, or lack thereof. It threw them off.

"Uuuh, what do you mean?"

"All Moigt's gonna be here soon." The boy who already had a fairly strong reputation as the class' oddball said, without really looking up from his work. "No point in guessing 'bout what's gonna happen."

"Dude, how are you so certain?" Kaminari couldn't help but ask with a raised eyebrow.

This time the green-haired boy did look up, eyes covered by his bright green goggles as he answered with a wide grin, before turning his attention back to his work, all while Iida looked like he was eating a lemon. Before anything else could be said, however…

"I AM…"

The excited chatter that had been going on died as every single head in the room turned to the entrance.

"…COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"

Right on time to see the Symbol of Peace himself bustle through the entrance in a way that no sane person would consider normal, in all his red, white, blue, and golden glory. Needless to say, the chatter immediately returned with a vengeance.

"Wow, it really is All Might!"

"Holy crap, he's really gonna be teaching us!"

"Uh, that's the Silver Age costume, very retro-"

"AH!"

The loud shout startled just about the entire class, as everyone present turned to the source. Midoriya again (and they were starting to see the pattern here), pointing at the number 1 hero with a triumphant grin on his face.

"Ya hear dat, All Moigt?" The boy stated, sounding supremely pleased even as the hero in question chuckled bemusedly. "Dey'z recognized da outfit. Ya lost dah bet!"

…

More than one student blinked at that, not really sure what to make of what was being said. Their confusion was not diminished in the slightest when All Might replied easily.

"Indeed, my boy. It seems like I underestimated the enthusiasm of the newest generation of heroes. Should've known better." He said, rubbing the back of his neck in an awkward gesture the likes of which none of the students had ever seen in the hero.

"Ye wore dat hardware fer a third of yer career, 'course even gits like uz woulda known about it. Mah lunch fer dah next week is on ya now!" Midoriya replied, his expression downright smug at this point.

"Now, now, Young Midoriya, you know that gloating is unbecoming of a proper hero." All Might chastised, with no real bite behind an amused grin.

"You'z dah bezt zoggin' Hero in dah world. I'z gun take mah wins where I can get'em." Midoriya retorted without missing a beat.

And the other students could only watch the back and forth, looking increasingly more lost and confused as they did. Eventually, it fell upon the frog-like Tsuyu, more collected than her peers, to voice what all of them were thinking.

"…Do you two know each other?"

"Uh? Oh yeah." Midoriya started, looking at her as if only now realizing there were more people in the room. "All Moigt and I'z budz. He thought dat wearing dat costume would "take dah sting off his presence" a bit. I told him dere'z no way at least one'a you'ze wouldn't have known about it, so we'z bet on it." He turned his almost too wide grin towards Kaminari. "Thanks fer dah week of free lunches."

…

…

…

No one in the class knew what to make of that. Bakugou least of all, going by the way his jaw was working up and down and his eyes were bulging to the point they threatened to pop out of their sockets in a textbook expression of stunned disbelief.

All Might and fucking Deku, friends? When in the everliving FUCK had that happened?

He had just begun opening his mouth to scream the thought when All Might's trademark laugh cut through the awed silence like a knife.

"It's true." The number 1 hero confirmed easily. "Young Midoriya and I have known each other for a while. However, don't you think this means I'm giving you preferential treatment, my boy. As a teacher I must be fully impartial."

"I'd be insulted if ya did. I mean, where'd be the fun in dat?" The green-haired boy replied, sounding genuinely confused.

"Outstanding! However, I think we've strayed a bit." All Might cleared his throat, then gave one of trademark grins, so pristine you could see a twinkle in his pearly white teeth ("Magnifique!", muttered one flamboyant blond student). "Welcome, children, to Basic Hero Training! Today we are starting things off with a bang!"

"Zog yeah!"

"Not literally, Young Midoriya."

"Awwww…"

"As I was saying, today we are starting things off with this!" He pulled a card from somewhere and held it before the class, a big bold red "Combat Training" plain for all to see. "So stand up and get ready to head towards Ground Beta. Oh, and I almost forgot…"

A press of a button later had a series of hidden compartments on the wall opening up, revealing a series of suitcases.

"These are the costumes that have been provided for you in accordance to your quirk registry and your submitted request forms." His gaze swept across the room, taking in the growing excitement in the students as they quickly connected the dots. "Pick them up, ladies and gentlemen. Go get dressed and then meet up over in the training ground."

A series of whoops and cheers were the hero's reward, but then someone noticed something off.

"Uh, All Might-sensei?" Ochaco voiced timidly. "Why are there only 19 suitcases?"

The man, and a good chunk of the class at that, did a double take at that, only now realizing that indeed, there was an empty spot there.

…

…

"Young Midoriya." The number 1 hero called out. "You never submitted the form, did you?"

"Nope." The boy confirmed, sounding like he didn't see much of an issue. "Ya knowz I make me own stuff."

"Of course you do…" Was the weary reply, All Might's trademark grin turning into a more neutral, and perhaps a bit nervous, smile. "Did you at least take care of all the paperwork for that?"

"Mah did, yeah."

"And you've got nothing lethal on hand, I hope?"

"Cuz dat worked out so well last time with dah scrappy gits, didnit?" Midoriya retorted sarcastically, throwing the number 1 hero a deadpan stare.

"Young Midoriya…"

"Yeah, yeah, I swear yer worse than mah… I ain't packin' anythin' killy."

"Good." The hero then turned to the rest of the class, grinning again. "Well, time's a 'wasting, Ladies and Gentlemen. Off you go!"

And so the class did, their overall excitement just slightly numbed by some confusion regarding that interaction.

This was gonna become a regular thing, wasn't it?

/

As he looked upon a prospective new generation of heroes walking towards him, and the notion that he was supposed to teach them and nurture their development finally and truly sank in, it suddenly dawned on All Might that he really had no idea what he was doing. I mean, sure, he understood the necessity of it, he was trying to both justify his ever decreasing number of appearances and his search for a worthy successor, but still what had Nezu been thinking letting him take the roll of a teacher when he had literally zero experience at it?!

…Ah who was he kidding, the principal was probably thinking it was going to be funny as hell, and he'd been too desperate at the time to realize it.

But what's done is done, now he had to survive this class.

He was the number 1 hero, how bad could it be?

"Looking good, ladies and gentlemen!" He called out to the assembled students. "Image is a very important part of the job, and you all are certainly looking the part! Now, we just need to start shaping you to fit the part!" He did a quick head count then… "Before we can begin, seems like we're still missing someone."

"I'z here." An easily recognizable voice replied, as Midoriya finally arrived from the locker rooms.

There were a few moments of silence as everyone stopped to consider the late arrival, more than one eyebrow being raised at his choice of costume. In some ways, it was fairly mundane, a brownish green tank top, which revealed a surprisingly well-developed musculature for so short a kid, camo pants, steel-toed boots, with thick, brown leather gloves, belt and apron of all things making up the base ensemble.

But then on top of that, there was a plate of steel that could charitably be called a cuirass strapped to his chest, the dark grey metal clearly dented from being hammered into shape, and held in place partly by the large strips of metal doubling as shoulderpads, painted with a checkered black and white pattern for some reason, and strapped to his back was something that at first glance could be mistaken for a backpack, but actually was some sort of red-painted device, what appeared to be a motor boat engine welded into a rectangular toolbox with a radio antenna popping out of the top.

Finishing the ensemble his goggles were still strapped to his forehead, and twin streaks of motor oil had been painted across his cheeks.

Overall, more than a hero, he looked like some odd combination of a soldier, a blacksmith and a post-apocalyptic movie character.

"Sorry I'z late," The boy said as he stepped into place alongside the others. "Had a couple'o gizmos needin' sum last minute tunin'."

"Just don't make a habit of it, my boy. Now then, we can begin the class." The number 1 hero addressed the students, hands to his hips in a heroic pose that almost seemed to set beacons of light flowing from behind him. "And we are gonna kick things off with some indoors combat training!"

It took a few seconds for his words to sink in, and as All Might was preparing to elaborate-

"What will be the exact nature of the exercise?"

"How will we be evaluated?"

"Shouldn't we start put with the basics first?"

"Is there risk of expulsion if we don't do well enough…?"

"Is it gonna be robots again?"

"Isn't-"

"Whoah, whoah, whoah, please, slow down there, children! There's only one me here!" The symbol of peace cried out, a nervous bead of sweat trailing down his face as he faced the deluge of doubts and questions that he had just been completely blindsided by. Kids hadn't been this inquisitive in his time!

Ok, All Might, don't panic, just think of this like dealing with reporters, and deflect like your life depends on it. Quick, the notes!

Pulling out the piece of paper where he had more or less desperately tried to cram all of the teaching advice and scheduling and just about everything else he could think of that he'd need, the man just straight up ignored most of the questions in favor of explaining the exercise. In one of the buildings in the training ground, a bomb had been planted by villains. The students would be paired up, and on team would work as the heroes trying to retrieve the bomb, and the other as the villains trying to defend it. Easy enough!

He almost let out a sigh of relief as his explanation seemed to satisfy most of the children.

"Alright then. Now, to determine who the teams are going to be…" Out of nowhere the hero pulled out a box. "We'll be drawing lots! Gather' round, children."

One by one, the students did just that, and as soon as everyone had their turn, their teacher reached for yet another two boxes nobody was quite sure where they'd come from, one black and one white.

"All right then, for the first round…" All Might started as he drew. "We have team A as the heroes, and team G as the villains! Who's on the hero side?"

"I'm team A." Bakugou announced, smirking smugly at the thought of playing the hero right from the start.

"Je suis team A as well." Aoyama followed with a flamboyant twirl of his cape.

"Fantastic! And the villains?"

"I think that'd be me, All Might-sensei." Yaoyoruzu replied, a contemplative look on her face.

"'N me too." Midoriya finished, grinning cheerily. All Might had little doubt the boy was ecstatic at the thought of having the first fight. A grin that only widened as he stared directly at the now glaring Bakugou. And that, that made the number 1 hero nervous.

There was some history between these two, he knew that much, but for how much Izuku referred to the explosive boy as a friend, from what little he'd seen the feeling was far from mutual. To be honest, he had the sinking feeling that letting the match go on was a bad idea, but sadly, he'd been caught in his own trap. He couldn't change the match ups now without looking like he was breaking his supposed impartiality. So, with a somewhat forced grin, the hero pushed on regardless of his misgivings.

Maybe he was overthinking it.

"Alright then! The villains will have 5 minutes to work out a strategy, get the lay of the building and set up the bomb as they wish, then the heroes will enter, and the match will begin. The rest of us will be watching from the control room. Yaoyoruzu, you're playing a villain, so try to get into the proper mindset and don't hold back. Midoriya… don't get too into it. I'll stop things from going too far, but I'd rather not deal with massive property damage on the first day. Any questions?"

Most of the students seemed to be too confused about his last statement to be asking questions, but he did notice a single hand raising.

"No, Midoriya." He immediately pre-empted. "The bomb is not real."

"Well, dat'z disappointin'." The green-haired boy said, and good lord did he look like a kicked puppy at that… "But wot I wuz gun ask wuz wot'z stoppin' buildy girl'n me from blowin' up dah bomb if it seems like we'z not winnin'."

"…Uh, that's actually a fair point." The hero conceded, honestly mildly surprised, as he brought a hand to his chin in contemplation. "In a real case scenario, villains could certainly resort to such extreme methods to reach their goal. But for the purposes of this exercise, let's just assume that the villains, meaning you two, value your lives more than the objective. Trying to damage the bomb will result in your loss."

Midoriya blinked at that, looking even more confused by the answer. "…But we'z in dah buildin' watching a tickin' bomb and tryin' tah make sure it goes boom. I mean, dat makes sense tah me, but dat'z usually a sign dat people would queshtoon it…"

"Midoriya, just accept the parameters of the exercise and get going, please." It took a valiant effort from the symbol of peace not to facepalm in front of everyone. Of all the times for the kid to choose to be self-aware…

"Aight…" The source of his headaches shrugged, before heading towards the appointed building, his teammate snapping out of her confusion at the interaction and picking up the pace to catch up.

As they went, the hero team followed, and the rest of the class followed him towards the command room, All Might couldn't help but hope he wasn't making too big of a mistake.

/

"What's bothering you, mon amie?" Aoyama took the time in between flamboyant poses to inquire from his partner as the hero duo stood by the building's entrance.

"Shut up, you damn extra." Katsuki retorted with an angry growl. Truth be told, he was pretty much always angry, but today a variety of factors had conspired to make him feel particularly aggravated. The least of all said factors being his partnership with this sparkly jackass.

"My, how rude." The other boy continued talking, having the nerve to look appalled at Katsuki's indignation with the bastard wasting his time. "I was just enquiring because we should be discussing a most brilliant strategy to apprehend the villains, non?"

And that brought to mind the most ever-present factor of them all. Fucking Deku. A thorn on his side ever since they were kids, when the damn nerd had had the gal of looking down on him despite all the ample evidence that it should be the other way around. And then it turned out he'd been a late bloomer rather than a quirkless freak. If pure biology didn't disprove the notion, Katsuki would've thought he did that on purpose just to mock him.

And with his quirk, that teary-eyed cry-baby suddenly grew a spine. All of a sudden, the fucker thought they were at the same level. All of a sudden it was fucking Deku picking the fights because he thought they were "fun". All of a sudden as fast as Katsuki would knock his ass flat he was up and raring for "another go".

And despite Katsuki's best efforts to teach him his place, Deku didn't stop, did not give up. And just to add further insult, throughout the years since, gradually, so slowly Katsuki hadn't realized it until it was too late, Deku had stopped losing. Too often in recent times had the bastard had some trick or insane stunt at the ready to give him the upper hand, to beat him, him, who had been the top dog all his life, always with that cheerful, friendly grin on his face like they were the best of buds.

They were not friends. Katsuki hated the fucking nerd, he was a walking contradiction of everything the ashen blond believed in, a pitiful pebble that somehow became a fucking mountain standing in the way of his rightful place at the top. Katsuki did not understand Deku, and perhaps the worst insult of all, was that deep, deep down inside, in that small, weak part of him he always smothered and ignored, Katsuki would, sometimes, entertain the notion that Deku scared him.

And as if all of that wasn't bad enough, someway, somehow, All Might, the idol that Katsuki has admired all his life, the goal he has dedicated body, mind and soul to surpass, somehow met fucking Deku, and acknowledged him as friend?!

That thought alone was enough to drive him to new levels of rage, the teeth-grinding sneer of fury blooming on his face making his "teammate" take a few steps back with sudden nervousness.

"Here's the plan, Sparkles." Katsuki growled. "I am gonna go in, find Deku and blow his ass to kingdom come. You are gonna make yourself useful, find Ponytail and the bomb, and keep her busy' till I get there to kick her ass too. Got it?"

Aoyama kind of wanted to ask who this "Deku" was, but even he realized that was probably a bad idea, so he just nodded nervously. Satisfied that his point had been made, Katsuki went back to stewing in his anger, waiting for the match to start, eager for a chance to vent his frustrations on the fucker that caused them.

/

"Well," Momo stated, staring up the fake bomb smack dab in the middle of the large chamber. "That's certainly conspicuous."

The girl took a moment to evaluate her options. The position somewhere in the middle floors of the building was actually pretty defensible. The door and the window made for the only two entry points, and she could easily block the latter, just in case their opponents had any ideas, though far as she knew neither Bakugou nor Aoyama had the ability of self-powered flight. And she had a few minutes to make the most of her quirk to increase the defence, so how-

"So, I'z gun get goin' now."

Momo nearly jumped at the unexpected words from her teammate, turning to the still-cheerily grinning boy. He'd been in such an oddly good mood he'd all but skipped the entire way here, but he hadn't said a word yet and she had honestly felt too awkward to talk to him.

"Excuse me?" She voiced out when his words finally sank in.

"I'z gun get goin'." The boy repeated. "Dah heroes gun' be enterin' our hideout soon. I'z gun be dere tah say hi."

"…Midoriya-san, if I may," She eventually replied, frowning slightly at her teammate's recklessness. "That seems needlessly risky. I believe the best approach would be to bunker down here. We don't need to beat them, just to outlast them."

She was mildly surprised when he nodded along to her words.

"See, between yer quirk and mine we'z culd turn this place into a roigt'n proppah fort, an' dat'd prolly work fer just about anyun else in dah class. But we'z up against ol'Katsu. He'z a ded tuff git. He'z not gun be cautious and he'z not gun let sumthin' like traps'n barricades slow'im down." He explained with a smirk that looked genuinely fond.

"If I may ask," Momo ventured hesitantly, her curiosity getting the better of her. "What's going on between the two of you? You clearly know each other."

"Katsu'n I'z been budz since we wuz wee lil'gits." Midoriya grinned.

"The way he reacted to seeing you in class didn't seem very friendly…" The girl replied dubiously. She may have some troubles with social interaction herself, but even she could tell the aggression Bakugou had been hurling at Midoriya was anything but normal.

"Oh, dat'z just Katsu bein' Katsu. Always had a temper, dat one." The boy explained dismissively. "Dah point iz, tho, dat if we let'im come anywhere near dah bomb, thingz' gun get tricky. But knowin' Katsu, he'z gun be rushin' in tah have a go against me, and I'z happy tah oblige. So I'z gun go meet him halfway, and keep'im busy with a gud scrap. Meanwhile, ya can take care o'dah sparkly boy, and we do dat till time's up. Divide'n conquer n'all dat."

Momo sort of wanted to call the boy out on just wanting to have a needless fight with his "friend", but be that as it may, she couldn't deny there was a certain logic to his plan. Bakugou was the other team's powerhouse, one she wasn't particularly looking forward to facing, and having him occupied would indeed be a viable strategy…

"Very well, Midoriya-san, I suppose we can try it your way." She relented. "I will trust you to keep Bakugou-san occupied. Meanwhile, I can rig this place to counter Aoyama-san." She could already imagine a few ways to go about it.

"Now we'z talkin'!" Her teammate cheered, clapping Momo on the back and nearly sending the taller girl tumbling forward from the unexpected contact. "And about dat, I fink I got sumthin' that can help…"

As he reached into the pouch in his apron, Momo couldn't help but feel apprehensive at the way he was grinning…

/

Back in the command room, eyes widened, and shocked gasps were given.

"Young Midoriya…" All Might spoke into the comm system, sounding less surprised and more exasperated. "This does fall into the non-lethal category, I trust?"

"Oh, git'off me back, will ya?!" came the aggravated reply. "It's just rubbah rounds, and not even a lot'o dem! It'll bruise at worst!"

…

…

The symbol of peace let loose a long-suffering sigh. What had he been expecting, really?

"Very well, then," He conceded, then opened all four individual channels. "Ladies and gentlemen, let's get this show on the road. Match, start!"

/

"…Match, start!"

"Alright, Sparkles, we're going in. Stay behind me." Katsuki demanded as he made his way to the entrance. The other blond reluctantly followed, and with a slowness he honestly hadn't been expecting, the duo begun a careful search through the building.

"I must say, Monsieur." The ambiguously French boy ventured. "For how… eager you were earlier, you are acting quite cautious."

"Of course I am, dumbass." Katsuki replied in a hissed whisper, as he carefully peeked his head around a corner. "Fucking Deku had five minutes in this building with Ponytail's quirk and his own insanity. He'd probably riddled the place with fucking traps."

"…Isn't that a little paranoid? What could really be done in five minutes?" Aoyama inquired confusedly. The only answer was being locked at in a way that told him his teammate didn't have much regard for his intelligence, but the explosive boy didn't say anything else.

And so the duo went, with a quiet approach that'd ironically actually be quite fitting if this had been a real situation-

KAAAABBOOOOM!

-And then the wall behind them in the large hallway they'd just crossed exploded inwards. Aoyama nearly lost his balance from the blast wave and then he did land on his ass when his partner turned and pushed him back to place himself between him and the smoking hole in the concrete, gauntleted arms raised in a combat stance.

As the dust began to settle, a figure appeared, casually walking through the debris.

"HHHEEEERRRREE'ZZZZ IZUKU!" The boy in question bellowed, grinning wildly as he looked upon the hero team. One hand was covered in his power claw, the other was holding a Stop sign of all things as a makeshift mace.

"Sparkles, get going!" Katsuki gruffly called out. "Find the bomb! Deku's mine."

"Lovin' dah enthusiasm, 'Splody boy!" Izuku grinned as he turned to stare at the sprawled boy. "I'd listen if I wuz you, Sparkly boy. Diz' gun get ruff."

Needing little further prompting, the flamboyant blond rushed away without a word, leaving the duo to their scuffle as he rushed up the stairs to the floor above.

"Finally." Izuku commented, casually clenching and unclenching his claws to ensure everything was working properly. "Been' lookin' forward tah dis, Ol'Katsu. Been a while since we'z had a scrap."

"Shut the fuck up, Deku." Katsuki growled out with vitriol. "You really think your hot shit, don't you, you damn nerd? Well, I'm gonna show you you're not, once and for all."

"Ladiez first." The green-haired boy replied cheekily, making a "come here" motion with his talons.

"DDDDEEEEEEKKKUUU!" Katsuki lunged forward with an enraged below.

"WWWWWAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!" Izuku happily bellow back as he rushed to meet the charge.

The ashen blond started his assault with a vicious right hook, and seconds before impact he let off a blast, obscuring Deku's form in a cloud of fire and smoke. The brief satisfaction of landing a blow was swiftly smothered as something came swinging at him from said cloud, the Stop sign missing his face by a hair's breadth as his opponent broke through the smokescreen, claw reaching to grab him, only to strike air as Katsuki ducked under the blow and unleashed an uppercut blast. Deku staggered backwards, but as the Katsuki tried to press the advantage the nerd recovered faster than he'd expected and lashed out with a headbutt that had the explosive blond seeing stars. Next thing Katsuki knew, steel talons had clamped around his arm, and he found himself being tossed off his feet and across the hall, landing in a rough tumble.

"Dat all' ya got, 'Splody boy?" The fucking nerd had the gal to taunt him, that infuriatingly jolly grin on his face. "Yer getting' predictable."

Throwing his hands behind him, the explosive boy blasted his way back into the fray, and once again his opponent eagerly joined him.

/

As he ran through the halls, it didn't take long for Aoyama to notice a large, conspicuously open door. Taking a moment to stop and catch his breath, the boy in sparkling bright armor took a moment to listen for anything suspicious…

There, there was movement inside the room. That must be mademoiselle Yaoyoruzu. That probably meant she'd been left to guard the bomb while Midoriya came to delay them.

"Monsieur Bakugou." He whispered quietly into the comm. "I believe I've found the bomb and the other villain."

"Then what the fuck are you waiting for, you sparkly shit?!" Was all his teammate said before Aoyama was forced to cut off the connection to spare himself the loud explosions going on. He tried not to be too upset at the unfortunate choice of insult.

"My word, those two are really going at it. How barbaric…" He muttered disapprovingly, as he slowly approached the door, as quietly as he could.

"Time to show how stylish a hero I can be." The teen told himself, and then he stepped out into the threshold in as stylish a pose as he could manage. "Hello there, Mademoiselle villain! I'm gonna have to ask that you surrender quietly lest we- Sacrebleu!"

He promptly dove back into cover as bullets filled every single bit of free space in between the door's threshold and the adjacent wall, courtesy of the four-barrelled gun turret that had been placed inside the room, right in front of the bomb.

'Diz' mah movement triggered flakka-dakka gun!' Midoriya had excitedly explained to a gawking Momo just as he'd pulled the contraption at least twice his size from the pouch and patted one of the barrels that seemed carved out of drainpipes lovingly. 'Sadly, ain't got dat much dakka, but at hundredz'a roundz per minute it'z gonna stop any git tryin' tah get through dah door bettah than any barricade! Should give ya a few minutes tah prepare.'

Momo had no idea how she'd been convinced to let this happen, but she had to recognize, as she watched the weapon unloading its ammo, that it certainly was working as advertised…

"I'm sorry about this!" She called out loudly, trying to make herself heard over the roaring din.

Aoyama, curled up against the wall in a state of pure terror as bullets came wheezing past him, gave no indication of having listened.

/

Katsuki was momentarily distracted by the sudden and loud noise of gunfire, and it nearly cost him as Deku took the opportunity to swing the stop sign at him, clipping him on the side of the head courtesy of a last-second dodge. He immediately retaliated with a controlled blast, knocking Deku backwards and letting the momentum create even more distance between them.

"Sparkles, the fuck's going on?" He demanded through the comm as soon as he had some breathing room to shake off the dizziness, but he got no reply. "Sparkles!"

"Eh, seems like dah sparkly git found dah liddle surprise I left fer buildy girl tah use." The green-haired bastard commented idly, as he got up from the blast, looking little worse for wear, taking his eyes off Katsuki as he looked up at the ceiling. "Glad tah see it'z workin'. Been fine-tunin' it all week." He then looked down and realized the stop sign had been wrecked by the blast, and with a disgruntled expression dropped the useless "weapon". "If only I'z could use me choppa…"

Katsuki gritted his teeth in ever mounting frustration. This was not going according to plan.

Somehow, no matter how many explosions he landed on the freak, the damage was minimal. He was left singed and smoking, sure, but it hardly fucking slowed him down. What the fuck was going on?!

And as if that weren't bad enough, the other fucking extra had proven useless and was now pinned down by whatever dirty stunt Deku had pulled.

"ATTENTION!" All Might's voice chose that moment to make itself heard through the comms. "Three more minutes until the exercise's over!"

"Eh, seemz like yer runnin' out of time, 'Splody boy." Deku stated, sounding downright cheeky as he stared at him with an eager grin. "Wotchu gun do now?"

At the blatant provocation, Katsuki bristled, his expression downright murderous… then stilled, his expression becoming more neutral, but in his eyes the fury was still plain to see. That's it, he was through being mocked. He was through being looked down on by this bastard.

"You think you're fucking funny, Deku?" Katsuki growled lowly. "Think you can look down on me? That your dirty tricks and stupid gadgets make you so much better than me?! Well, guess what? You're not the only one with tricks up their sleeves."

The incensed teen lifted his arm, his gauntleted palm aiming at the bastard who had the nerve to look confused. "I asked the support company to add a little something to my costume. During the fight, these gauntlets have been gathering my sweat. What do you think will happen when I let it lose all at once?"

Deku blinked at that, once, twice… Then his eyes widened in realization as the implications set in. Good, the fucker finally realized the trouble he was in. Katsuki promptly reached for the pin in the gauntlet.

"YOUNG BAKUGOU, STOP!" All Might's panicked voice called out. "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? AN EXPLOSION LIKE THAT WILL KILL HIM!"

Bakugou almost scoffed at the words. Give him some credit, he wasn't that stupid. He wanted to teach the bastard his place, not kill him.

"It'll only kill him if it's a direct hit!" He retorted caustically. "Even fucking Deku isn't stupid enough not to-"

"WWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

Katsuki didn't have the time to finish explaining his reasoning before Deku came running straight at him, belting out that strange bellow of his. He was so flabbergasted by the unexpected move, so caught off-guard by the sudden loudness, that before he realized what was happening, the pin came loose.

The positively massive explosion that followed engulfed Deku at a near point blank range, before spreading throughout the corridor and blasting a hole on the far side of the building, completely ruining that particular section of the floor, flinging Katsuki back as the shock prevented him from bracing.

And as he staggered back to his feet, Katsuki could only stare uncomprehendingly at the damage he had wrought.

Holy shit, the gauntlets packed a bigger punch than he had expected… This hadn't really been his intention. Deku was supposed to fucking dodge!

…Where was Deku? He couldn't see anything through the smoke. Don't fucking tell him he actually died-

"Uh, oh wow…" A voice cut through the silence, with a low whistle of appreciation. "You'z been holdin' out on me, Ol'Katsu."

…

…

…

A faint figure could suddenly be seen stumbling through the smoke, quickly revealing itself to be Deku. Smoke wafted from his body and a thick layer of soot blackened his entire frontside, but otherwise he looked mostly unhurt.

"Gotta say tho, if dah support companies can hand out gizmos like dat, mebe I should give'em a call after all…" The boy continued, unaware of the utter shock he'd just put Katsuki through.

"You-you-" The ashen blonde stammered in stunned disbelief, although as is ever the case, that was quick to give way to rage. "WHAT IN THE EVERLIVING FUCK WERE YOU THINKING, DEKU?!"

"Uh, dat dis wuz a great chance tah test out mah force field generator?" Deku replied, sounding genuinely confused by the other teen's outburst.

"…What?" Katsuki asked, the sheer bewilderment at the answer briefly knocking the wind off the sails of his anger. It was only then that he noticed, as the smoke parted around Izuku, the odd, shimmering surface that seemed to cover the nerd.

"Yah, been workin' on a way tah make'em portable." The green-haired boy elaborated, slapping his free hand to the contraption strapped to his back. "Workin' liek a charm, it iz."

…

…

"…You threw yourself into the path of a fucking explosion FOR A FUCKING FIELD TEST!?" Katsuki bellowed out in outrage.

"Yep." Was the simple reply. "C'mon, Ol' Katsu, do I relly look liek a guy dat'd do dat just cuz?"

"YES, YOU DO, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!"

Deku opened his mouth to retort, one claw raised as if to make a point, then he faltered, seemed to consider for a bit, and then he just shrugged.

"Eh, you'z prolly roigt." He conceded the point, then reached into his pouch with his free hand. "Speakin' o' big booms tho…"

Before Katsuki could vent any more of his outrage at Deku's sheer stupidity, something was tossed on the ground right in front of him. Looking down, he saw that it was a stick, attached to what seemed to be a soda can.

"Catch."

Alarms began blaring in Katsuki's head, and they went a little something like "WARNING! WARNING! CODE DEKU-52 IN PROGRESS! COMMENCE SELF-DEFENESTRATION PROTOCOLS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A FUCKING DRILL!"

Eyes wide, without another word, Katsuki about-turned and took three running steps into a leaping dive off the window.

"…Eh, sucka." Izuku chuckled to himself, before his comm came to life. Gotta give support its due credit, they knew how to build sturdy.

"Midoriya-san! What's happening down there! Are you alright?!"

/

"Juzt peachy, Buildy girl! Katsu'n I wuz juzt comparin' notes!" Came the jolly reply, and Momo couldn't contain a sigh of relief. "I took'him out of dah match. Headin' yer way now to help ya with dah sparkly git."

With that the comm was cut, and Momo was left to assess the current situation. The turret had stopped firing, whether because it had run out of bullets or because the explosion downstairs had dislodged something she couldn't really say. From a corner, a trembling Aoyama peaked into the room. "I-is it over?"

"I believe so, Aoyama-san." She replied apologetically, feeling kind of bad for the fright the other boy must've felt.

"Just what sort of a maniac is your partner, mademoiselle…?"

"…I couldn't really tell you, Aoyama-san. I only just met him yesterday." Which frankly said a lot when she couldn't find it in herself to disagree with the assessment…

"Fair point." The flamboyant teen conceded, finding the courage to actually move to enter the room. "Well then, now that your defenses are down, I think I should try to apprehend you and capture the bomb before monsieur Midoriya arrives. En garde!"

With an honestly impressive amount of speed and accuracy, the boy fired a bright laser beam from his navel, aimed squarely at the pony-tailed girl. Unfortunately for him, she had expected it, and immediately raised the mirror she had created for just this purpose. The beam ricocheted off the smooth surface into the far wall behind Aoyama, were it once more ricocheted from the mirrored surface she had place there beforehand and Aoyama had failed to notice, slamming into the flamboyant boy's back and sending him sprawling into the ground.

What Momo had not predicted was for the sheer number of bullet casings strewn around the floor to form a cohesive enough surface to make the staggered boy slide all the way until he was at her feet, but she decided she couldn't rightly complain about that, moving to bind his arms with the capture tape.

"Uh," A voice from behind her as she was kneeling over the defeated teen had her turning towards the entrance again, where she noticed Midoriya staring at her appreciatively. "Ya actually took care'a him before I arrived." He grinned. "Gud goin', Buildy girl."

"TIME'S OUT! VILLAIN TEAM WINS!"

/

Not gonna lie, the chapter was meant to go on a bit longer than that, but real-life time constraints forced me to end it there. The rest will be the beginning of the next one.

Still, I hope this was an entertaining enough bit of orkyness for you guys.

Also, if you find any inconsistencies or inaccuracies with the way Ork tech has been portrayed so far, consider them done for the sake of comedy. And refrain from sending the inquisition to my door.

And on another note, I have received a request from a reader regarding their troubles understanding Izuku's speech. I didn't have the time to do it this time, but going forward I'll had some translations at the end of each chapter. Let it never be said I don't try to be accommodating.

Next up, the next update to Through the Eternities, so look forward to that.

Cya'all on the next one.