Disclaimer: I do not own the My Hero Academia franchise or SCP Foundation property.

-(Army Hero)-

Chapter 5: Entrapment

The next day, Sasha found himself in an all too familiar setting.

It was 9:00am in the morning, and the first period of the day was underway.

But already, the first period was extremely boring.

It wasn't that Sasha was discouraged or interested.

The class in question was English, taught by Present Mic himself.

But there was just one problem that...

"I already know English." Sasha murmured to himself.

Resting his right elbow on his desk in utter boredom, Present Mic was in the middle of his lecture, and he presented four example English sentences:

1. "The man whom I respect most is my father."

2. "That is the house in which he lived."

3. "I well remember the day on which we both met."

4. "Please tell me that all you know."

There was so many things wrong with these English sentences.

Although he was Russian, Sasha couldn't help but flinch his head slightly, subtly cringing at the wording of each sentence. In the first one, the English article, 'the', is missing before 'most' - the sentence would flow much better if that correction was made.

In the second sentence, the wording was weird. A much simpler iteration of that sentence would be 'He lived in that house', but then again, this sentence in question is emphasizing the house first.

Then, there was the third sentence. But like the first sentence, a simple fix was only needed, and that was to get rid of 'well' and 'on which'. Thus, the sentence would become, 'I remember the day we both met'.

Finally, there was the last sentence, and this one was the worst. If this was Russian, this sentence was fine, because the language has no articles (i.e. 'The', 'Is', and 'Are'); however, this was English. There were two ways this sentence could be fixed: 'Please tell me you all know that' or 'Please tell me that is all you know'.

"Which of these English sentences is wrong?" Present Mic turned to his students and asked.

Initially, nobody answered.

Sasha couldn't talk because he was 'mute'. But for the sake of his fellow comrades' learning capabilities, silence was his best answer anyway. Certainly, he wanted his peers to learn, but saying the answer for them would prevent them from thinking on their own.

Then...

Sasha heard the faint rustling of clothing to his left, where he saw a certain black haired girl raise her hand.

"Okay, Yaozorozu, you're up!" Present Mic happily called.

"Yaozorozu? Such a fitting name if you were Russian." Sasha remarked internally...

There were three more periods after English, but at 12:30pm, there was lunch.

From what Sasha could tell, the cafeteria looked more like a clean food court at a shopping mall.

"I was expecting no more than crowded tables and benches..." Sasha pondered internally upon entering the cafeteria, "I'm pleasantly surprised."

There were fine wooden tables, padded seats, dividers with well-kept hedges on top, and tall glass panes to allow the maximum amount of sunlight into the room as possible. It was one of the nicest places he had ever seen, a stark contrast to the cafeteria from a certain concrete prison. Not to mention, the cafeteria was spacious!

There was just one problem with that...

He had packed his own lunch.

With a metal lunchbox in his right hand, he walked over to a booth, which was fortunately vacant.

Once he sat down and opened his lunchbox, he had nothing more than a sandwich and a small metal flask. It was the lunch of a simpleton, and that simpleton himself was Sasha. It was a tuna and tomato sandwich with rye bread, courtesy of his job at the restaurant he was working at while attending middle school.

Humbly, Sasha began to the eat one of the two slices.

He was a quiet and modest eater, taking small and steady bites while minding his own business. Lunch was a time to sit down in silence for Sasha, but it was kind of hard to do that when there was the background chatter of his fellow peers. Nonetheless, it was also his time to get away from all the people until class resumes in a bit.

Once that slice was gone, he reached and opened his flask, where he took a brief sip. The water inside was tasteless, but it traveled down his throat with a minutely lingering burn. He was lucky that no one saw him, because he was in no mood to talk or share his drink with anyone.

"Это такой безумный мир... (This is such a crazy world...)" He sighed inaudibly in his head, which was slightly raspy from his sip.

So far, there was no sign of Izuku, Iida, or other students, allowing him to temporarily break his blank facade.

But he wouldn't let it hang out in the open, hence choosing to rest his arms and head on the table. He stayed that way for a moment before raising his head to take another sip. Softly clicking his lips as the foul-tasting contents went down his throat, disappointment and contemplation had subtly formed on his face.

It was the face of an unostentatiously annoyed veteran.

He was surrounded by people with unimaginable powers that he couldn't possibly imagine during his time with the SCP foundation. Here, he felt ordinary, and that was the point. But even then, he needed a breather from his fellow peers, because even a selfless man needs to stop and rest sometime soon.

For whatever reason, however, nobody sat beside or near the raven-haired boy. And for the rest of the hour, Sasha enjoyed his lonely lunch, but he kept his flask half empty. Hence, he kept the flask in his right pocket as he walked back to Class 1-A; however, shortly after returning to his seat and 1:20pm came along, a surprise had arrived...

"I am..." A familiar inspirational figure entered the classroom, "...entering through the door like a normal person."

Glee and admiration sprouted among the students upon seeing All Might enter the classroom.

Sasha nearly wanted to stand up and salute All Might's name. Luckily, that pint of water in Sasha's stomach had eased him slightly, and that was the only thing that stopped him other than discipline. Although if one were to carefully smell his breath, there was a faint ethanol-like stench.

"I teach Hero Basic Training." All Might introduced himself once he got to the podium and faced the class, all the while retaining his signature smile, "It is a subject where you train in different ways to learn the basics of being a hero. You'll take the most units of this subject!"

"Боже ... he's already diving into the action." Sasha muttered happily in thought, "I like that ... it's kind of like me."

"Let's get right into it! This is what we'll do today-" He flexed his muscles before spinning around and presenting a large card that read in English 'Battle', "Combat training!"

Instantly, eagerness and excitement exploded ... albeit silently among the students. But among them, Sasha looked to his left, directly eyeing Izuku, whom had a horrified look on his face. All the while, the ash-blonde had an unsettling grin, belonging to a battle-hungry warmonger, unlike Sasha's calm and stern expression.

"And to go with that are these!" All Might swept his right arm to the left side of the classroom, where four metal shelves slid out from the wall, "Costumes made based on your Quirk registrations and requests you sent in before school started."

"Ah yes ... that reminded me." Sasha chirped internally, watching as he recognized his number on one of the lockers on the shelf.

"After you change, gather in Ground Beta!"

Almost instantly, the entire classroom enthusiastically complied, "Yes, sir!"

Concurrently, Sasha saluted with his right hand before being the first student to stand up from their desk, making his way to the lockers. With the other students following suit, All Might left the classroom to escape the horde gathering towards the shelves. On the shelves, there was a plastic container with a number on each one.

Sasha was number five (#05) - the lowest container on one of the shelves.

But upon taking his container, he turned around and accidentally bumped his head into someone.

Thankfully, his head made contact with the chest of a certain 6'2ft tall boy.

"Sorry." Mezo apologized politely upon seeing Sasha look up at him briefly.

Responding with a humble nod, Sasha passed by the multi-arm boy and followed a few other students outside.

Before he knew it, he had followed these students for a little bit, where they found two separate locker rooms; men and women. Entering into the men's locker room, his locker number turned out to be the number five ... again. But when he went over and opened the locker, a pleasant surprise awaited for him...

There standing upright in the locker was 40in long rifle, retaining an archaic metal and rubber construction (front hand guard, buttstock, and pistol grip). If one didn't know any better, it looked like a SIG 510-1 without its magazine. But for Sasha, this was his weapon - there are many like it but this one is special.

Obviously, Japan would never allow firearms to any of their citizens; however, there is no law against a object designated as a prop. The gun looked and felt like a prop, but the real magic was hidden inside this elegant amalgamation of heavy duty steel and pine wood. This was a stun blaster.

But before he could get his hands on it, he first needed to get into his 'costume'.

Placing his container down, he took off his coat, necktie and dress shirt; however, upon being in his undershirt and pants...

"Oh..." A 3'6ft tall boy with a large round head and cheeks chirped, "I didn't know you wore suspenders, Comrade Sasha."

Sasha just had his thumbs under the top of his suspenders when he heard and saw the purple-haired midget. Being much taller than him, Sasha was able to easily hide the contents in his locker.

"Какой крошечный человек... (What a tiny man...)" Sasha blinked as he chuckled internally, "And here I thought I was tiny."

"M-My name is Mineta." The midget introduced himself, oddly timorous in his speech, "You saved my life during the practical exam."

Extending his right hand out, Mineta offered for a handshake, whom Sasha humbly returned the favor.

"I think we met before, little man. Oh yes, the repeated side steps..."

Once the two concluded their handshake, there was an awkward silence...

But being pressed for time, Sasha used his left fingers to tap the top of his wrist watch on his right wrist.

"Um ... yes, yes, the time! We better get going." Mineta stuttered, scurrying away to his locker elsewhere.

"Why do I get the feeling that he was watching me?" Sasha murmured in thought, troubled by the brief interaction with the purple-haired midget.

Nonetheless, he shrugged his shoulders before opening the plastic container. Inside, there was a gakuran with grey camouflage, and a garrison cap with a dull brass button of the 'U.A.' logo fastened to the front of it. Lastly, there was a pair of black leather jackboots, or 'sapogi' (сапоги - 'boots').

"Heh ... just like old times." Sasha smiled while musing internally as he saw the neatly folded costume.

Taking off his shoes and pants, he slipped into the grey trousers, fastening and adjusting the black suspenders while he was at it. Then, he put on the tunic, followed by replacing his grey garrison cap with the equally camouflaged one. Finally, there was the jackboots, whom he had to squeeze into for a bit, but they fit like a glove.

With the container empty, he put the lid back on and placed the box on top of his school uniform in his locker. At last, now he could take his gun out. Grabbing it by the pistol grip and handguard, he pointed the blaster upward as he reached his right hand into the locker and inserted a short yet straight box magazine into the gun.

Equipped with a sling, he slung his gun onto his right shoulder; however, there was just one problem with that..

Upon slinging his weapon, the whole locker room went quiet...

...

...

...

But Sasha was too busy to notice at the moment, since he was reaching into his locker and got out a matching grey utility belt with side pouches.

"Ehm ... Sasha..." Iida murmured unnerved, "Two things. One, nice costume. And two, WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT?!"

"Wait, you got ... a gun?" Mineta poked around the corner of a locker and uttered in horror.

"Sasha!" Izuku chimed in partially undressed, horrified to the sight of a firearm slung on a fellow Japanese citizen's shoulders, "How the...?!"

"It's a crime to own a firearm in this country!" Iida protested out loud, "Unless you're a police officer or soldier, you have much to explain to why you have a gun!"

Despite the collective glares of his fellow peers, Sasha simply rolled his eyes before a clone marched behind him. Taking the gun off his shoulders and resting it against his closed locker, Sasha turned around to face his clone. Shaping his right hand into the form of a pistol, he then raised his index finger and pointed it into his chest.

Obediently, the clone raised his gun to his right shoulder, aimed, and...

"W-Wha ... Sasha, n-" Iida barked and attempted to reach for the clone's gun; however, it was too late.

A blue bolt of energy left the muzzle at the speed of a 100mph baseball pitch, slamming into Sasha's chest with an instant electrical sizzle. Gritting his teeth, excruciating pain overwhelmed his body as he felt the wind being knocked out of him. From his chest down to his knees, his body went limp, and he fell against his locker.

...

...

...

For ten long seconds, every boy in the locker room stood there, wondering whether or not he had ordered his clone to deliberately kill him. For Izuku, it felt like his friend had committed suicide by his own clone - he was on the brink of crying at the loss of his friend. For everyone else, they didn't know what to make of this scene.

But then...

A coarse groan escaped Sasha's lips, where he leaned to his left side and grabbed his blaster, using it as a cane in an attempt to lift him back up. His limbs felt tense, all like he had suffered a massive cramp in his arms and knees. His breath was vulgar and raspy due to the stun bolt he endured, but he nevertheless got back up.

"Sasha?" Izuku rushed over and helped Sasha up to his feet, all the while continuing to wear his school trousers and shoes, "Sasha?! You okay?"

Partially hunchback from the pain and heavy breathing, Sasha leaned against his locker, where he raised his left hand to halt Izuku. There were no injuries or wounds on Sasha, but it was clear that the stun bolt had took its toll on him.

"Hah!" Bakugo sneered at the sight from behind the clone, whom was already dressed in his hero costume, "Guns are for pussies."

Insulted, Sasha tightened his left hand into a fist, where he shaped it into the form of a pistol, then raised his index finger and pointed it at Bakugo's direction. With a minute vertical nod, the clone obeyed orders via turning around, raised his gun to his shoulder, and aimed at Bakugo.

"Pffft!" The ash-blonde firecracker scoffed at the clone pointing its gun at him, "Bring it on."

With slight hesitation, the clone aimed slightly downward, and fired.

Instantly, the blue bolt of energy closed the distance and slammed into Bakugo's right leg.

"NNNGH!" Bakugo snarled loudly, tightly gritting his teeth as both his arms instinctively grabbed his leg.

With his entire right leg paralyzed, he tumbled to his right, slamming hard onto the floor. For a whole minute, Bakugo clutched his leg and breathed loudly, overcome by the gargantuan pain that coursed from his limped leg. While that was happening, Sasha finally erected to his full height, completely recovering from his pain.

"FUCK!" Bakguo cursed loudly, pounding his right arm into the floor while his left hand continued to clutch his leg.

"Well..." Iida stood there and curiously noted, "At least you're not bleeding or burning."

"AH SHUT THE FUCK UP!" The firecracker snarled vulgarly.

"Is that how it feels to ... get shot?" Izuku innocently murmured, slightly disturbed by Bakugo's display of pain and paralysis.

"I think we already know the answer to that." A 5'6ft tall blonde kid chimed in nonchalantly, dressed in a black jacket and pants with lightning bolts on them, plus a pair of blue tinted shades.

But at that point, Bakugo's heavy breathing stabilized. Unfortunately, the best he could do was sit up and lean back against his locker. Not a moment too soon, however, he looked up at Sasha and Izuku with hateful eyes, most especially the clone that stood in front of him.

"I was going to let you off, but now, you have gave me plenty of reasons to-" The firecracker with the grenade gauntlets snarled at the raven-haired boy and his clone.

"That's enough!" Iida stepped in between the two sides and silenced them, "Bakugo, you can do all the 'killing' you want went we get to training. But please, restrain yourself until then."

Unsurprisingly, the firecracker sneered with a disgruntle 'pffft', where he limply stood himself up.

"And Sasha," Iida turned to the Russian and his clone, "Lethal or not, you cannot carry firearms. I wouldn't be surprised if you were told to relinquish it once we get to training."

Unfortunately, the only response the glasses-wearing speed demon got from the raven-haired soldier boy was a stern and calm look...

But...

Sasha was very much allowed to keep his stun blaster.

Now, he was at Grounds Beta, standing in front of a multi-story concrete building.

But there was just one problem with that.

...

...

...

"Sasha, go in first and set up!" All Might ordered sternly without losing his signature grin, "In five minutes, the hero team will break in, and the battle will start!"

Despite the enormous size difference between the 5'0ft tall army kid and the 7'2ft tall mighty pro-hero, Sasha was unfazed. There was no hint of fear, anger, arrogance, or even pride in the Russian's presence, posture, and face. Simply put it, Sasha stood there before giving All Might a right hand salute.

"Young Sasha, learn to think from the perspective of the villains. This is pretty close to a real battle."

"I've seen my fair share of battles, Comrade." Sasha said back internally, all the while as he retained his calm and featureless gaze at the 7'2ft tall mighty pro-hero, "The sacred patriotic war comes to mind."

"But keep in mind, this is not a war. You're not here to kill, you're here to learn. If things go too far, I will stop it. Understand?"

Humbly, Sasha nodded vertically and he walked through the door inside the building.

His objective as the villain was to defend a nuclear weapon smuggled into the hideout. Realistically, Sasha expected the nuke to be a briefcase bomb, but when he got to the top floor, disappointment splashed upon him. As it turns out, the nuke was a 10ft tall atomic bomb stood upright on its four fins.

"Oh my god ... I'm actually guarding a thermonuclear warhead?" Sasha gawked within his thoughts, "Блядь, if I were to have known this was an actual nuke, I would've gotten myself an NBC suit. Luckily..."

With his right hand holding his blaster, his left hand reached into his right hip pouch, where he pulled out a geiger counter. Turning it on, he quickly walked up to the nuke, where he put the device against the nuke.

But ... the counter found nothing.

"Hmm, I suppose its shielding is very good." Sasha pondered internally, "But, I can't be too sure."

Walking over to a metal barrel sitting adjacent to the bomb, Sasha rested his blaster on the floor before jumping on top of the barrel and scanning the tip of the bomb.

...

...

...

Tick...

Tick...

"As I feared, it's a real bomb...!" Sasha's eyes widened slightly, almost destroying his expressionless facade.

Reeling and putting the geiger counter away, he stepped down from the barrel and grabbed his blaster; however, he was still immensely troubled by the doomsday ordinance beside him, "I'm not equipped to deal with this kind of threat. Shit, not a war, my ass! But then again, I don't know what I be doing if I joined the JSDF instead."

Sadly, he had a job to do, and it was to defend this weapon at all cost.

Without losing his composure, he made a 360° scan of the room, looking around in all directions. The nuke stood in the center of the room, with wooden boards, pallets, and metal barrels modestly spread out among the concrete pillars. But to the right side of the room were a lot of rectangular windows leading out to the streets.

Dashing to cover besides two of the windows, he peaked his head out, sneakily looking down. Unfortunately, the ledge completely obscured the 'hero' team that was making their preparations down below. But from what he can tell, the windows were a perfect defensive position, and given the junk in the room, he had an idea.

But before he could put that into action, there was the entrance he just used moments earlier.

It was a single metal door, identical to a commercial office entry door. There were was no hydraulic arm that one would usually find on a commercial grade office door. Luckily, the door only opened inward; however, that won't matter if the 'heroes' can simply break it down with their quirks.

Nonetheless, he had an idea.

Reaching his left hand into his left pocket, he pulled out a piece of paper. Once it was unfolded, the building's floor plans were revealed. It was a five story building with a fire escape staircase on the right side; however, the one thing that continued to trouble Sasha was where the 'heroes' are going to be coming.

Although the 'heroes' don't know where the nuke is located, they can enter from any floor at any direction. Setting up the defense is easy, but figuring out where the 'heroes' would be appearing is the problem. But that's where his 'army' comes into play.

Within a few seconds, five clones emerged from him, spreading out to surround him. Turning and looking at their 'commander', the five clones were holding a blaster in the right hand, and the building's floor plans in the left hand. But Sasha slung his blaster and placed his paper away, exchanging it for his notepad and pen.

After a minute, he tore the page off and gave it to the clone in front of him. Slinging his blaster on his right shoulder and putting the floor pans away, the clone took the note and read it. Then, he passed it on to the next clone before turning around and jogging out of the room. Soon after, the four clones would repeat the same thing.

While that was happening, Sasha was writing in his notepad again, writing a new order in the meantime. Once all five clones have left the room, one more clone spawned from Sasha, sidestepping to his right. Turning to the clone, Sasha tore out the page and handed it to the clone, whom took it and read it.

In the time it took for Sasha to put away his notepad and secure the strap on his blaster, the clone finished reading the note and he gave a right hand salute. Then, 20 more clones spawned from the clone Sasha. Pointing at ten of the clones, he directed them to Sasha himself, while the other ten clones were to follow the clone's lead.

With ten clones on his command, Sasha directed them to a pile of wooden pallets and some barrels nearby. Sasha jogged over to a 5x5ft tall board, where he grabbed one end, and another clone came along and grabbed the other end. Then, Sasha shoved slightly forward, directing the clone to march backwards towards the door.

Behind him, a clone was rolling a barrel on the floor. But moments later, Sasha and his 'little helper' got to the door, where the clone used his hip to push open the door. Afterwards, the duo carefully exited, where turned, walked down the hall, and chucked the debris onto the staircase.

Not far behind, the other clone rolled the barrel next to one of the windows. Not a moment too soon, another clone came along with another barrel and placed his barrel next to another window, specifically the fire escape route. The debris won't stop the 'heroes', but it will be in their way, thus buying Sasha valuable time.

Looking at his wrist watch, there was only 59 seconds left.

"Ah блядь..." Sasha cursed internally, turning around and waving his right hand forward, telling all the clones in his sights to return back to the room.

Rushing back into the room, he spotted a pair of clones holding a wooden pallet. Once he got inside, the duo leaned the pallet against the door, where the edge of the pallet locked in place with the narrow spacing of the floor tiles. For good measure, two metal barrel were placed in front of the pallet, somewhat securing it in place.

Afterwards, Sasha turned and nodded at the clones, indicating them to get behind one of the pillars.

Twenty clones were in the room with Sasha, each of them picking and hiding behind a concrete pillar. Sasha was hiding behind a pillar to the right of the door, ready to shoot anyone who would enter. With all the other clones hiding and awaiting orders, Sasha aimed his blaster around the corner, waiting to shoot anyone from their left.

"Here we go..."

...

...

...

At the same time, Team B had just been given the signal to begin.

They were comprised of two members, Mezo Shoji and Shoto Todoroki.

Mezo's hero costume is consisted of a skintight blue tank top, slightly baggy pants, and indigo boots. At 6'2ft tall and with all six tentacles stretched outward, he looked like a man-bat when seen from the front or back. The webbing between the tentacles surely made him look like he has wings.

While he was standing there with ears morphing on his tentacles, Shoto walked inside the building behind him. Although 5'9ft tall, Shoto was a simple man - he was emotionally calm and quiet. Compared to Mezo, Shoto looked like an admiral, wearing a simple white shirt, pants, and sneakers as his hero costume.

But over his entire left side, he had ice masking his appearance until it got to his wrists and shoes. If one were to go by looks, one can easily say that Shoto was a king of ice. Everything from his clothing, face, presence, and posture suggested an anthropomorphic incarnation of the bitter cold itself.

Even as Shoto walked beside the six-armed behemoth, he was unfazed by one of the tentacles morphing into a mouth, which promptly informed the ice man, "All floors are occupied by Sasha and his clones. From my analysis, there are 20 clones lurking about on this floor."

Then, another mouth morphed onto the upper arm and spoke gravely, "No matter where we go, they got this place well-defended. And even if we break through the defenses, we have no idea who's the real Sasha."

Despite the information, Shoto was unfazed, simply walking past the multi-limb giant with a stern utter, "Go outside, it's dangerous."

With his back facing Mezo, the ice man stretched his right hand open, where a cold mist hissed from his palm.

"I'm sure Sasha intended to wage a well-coordinated defense." Shoto sighed before he stopped a few steps later, where he placed his right hand on the wall, "But that doesn't matter to me."

Within seconds, ice began to fizzle and form from Shoto's hand and shoe.

Then, that ice whooshed down the corridor and coursed throughout the entire building. Like someone turning on a fully decorated Christmas tree, ice flooded the whole structure within seconds, freezing anything within its path. But due to the ice, the interior temperature dropped sharply.

Due to the sudden cold, two things occurred. One, Mezo fled outside, which was a dozen steps behind him. From his position, he watched as the building turned into an icy monolith, fixated on the spectacle with a horrified look in his eyes.

But lastly, and most importantly, once the ice settled, Shoto now began to move again. As if this was a leisurely house tour, he calmly and sternly walked down the hall, where he made some turns and found the staircase. But when he finally got to the fourth floor, a strange obstacle had came into his view.

Ice had apparently gathered and bunched up at the stairs leading up to the top floor. Barely seen through the crystalline transparency of the ice, there was wooden planks and pallets gathered on the stairs. Given the debris' disorderly arrangement, the ice was uneven and rocky - the stairs were effectively blocked.

Undeterred, however, Shoto looked to the window next to the staircase, where he poked his head out and saw the fire escape. With an inaudible huff leaving his lips, he vaulted outside and climbed the fire escape. As he did so, he saw Mezo for a brief moment before he got to the top floor.

But even when Shoto got the top floor, another obstacle awaited him.

Similar to the last flight of stairs inside the building, ice had gathered rather irregularly at the windowsill. From the inside, a metal barrel was coated in ice, but the ice that formed was an anomaly. A half wall of ice had sprouted from the barrel, leaving Shoto no choice but to clumsily climb over.

Once inside again, there was no sign of Sasha or his clones frozen in place. Thus, he walked and turned for some time before entering a large room. Standing before the doorway, he saw that Sasha and his clones were hiding behind the pillars, intending to launch an ambush to defend the nuke.

But being encased in ice, Sasha and his clones couldn't move. At this moment, however, Shoto realized that any of those clones could be Sasha, although there were some clones with slight physical differences. One had blonde hair; another had tanned skin; some other one had black skin; and another looked Caucasian.

Nevertheless, Shoto entered through the door, where everyone was frozen up to their shoulders. Some had their guns pointing up at the ceiling, with their hands and arms fully encased in the ice. Most of the nuke was also shielded in ice, and all he needed to do now was touch it and the 'hero' team is victorious.

...

...

...

Meanwhile outside, Mezo eventually broke out of his speechlessness and horror. Regaining his composure, he leaning against a bike railing nearby, where he continued to look up and down the frozen monolith. He did spot Shoto moments ago on the fire escape, but Shoto appeared relaxed and confident.

Unfortunately, that was just it...

Ten minutes have passed and there was no sign of Shoto.

Certainly, it shouldn't take someone of such awesome ice manipulation powers to secure a five story building. And this was not just a building occupied by a pair of students designated as the 'villain' team. This was a defensive structure occupied by an ARMY - Sasha and his clones were everywhere inside.

But so much time had passed, and Shoto was nowhere to be found or heard.

Thus, Mezo had enough of the silence and spectacle, and he spoke into his earpiece, "Shoto?"

...

...

...

"Shoto?" The 6'2ft tall beast called again, albeit with slightly elevated distress, "Shoto, come in? What's happening?"

Again, there was nothing but the faint ticking and crackling of static.

But gradually, a frown formed on Mezo's face. Taking his hand off the earpiece, the six arm teenager walked through the doorway, braving the extreme cold and slippery surface at his own risk. Once he took a dozen steps back inside, he stopped and stretched out his arms, where ears formed on all six hands.

Sadly, the twinkling and crackling of ice throughout the entire building were the only sounds that came to Mezo's ears. If there was any analogy to describe the frustration, it was the equivalent of trying to hear a gopher with a microphone ... but there was a gushing river nearby. But undeterred, Mezo ventured onward.

Taking small and easy footsteps to avoid slipping and minimize noise, he kept his arms stretched out, hoping to hear something other than himself or the ice. Although there was only five minutes left on the clock, finding Shoto was his greatest concern. This fight should've been over a long time ago...

A minute later, however, a muffled crackle was heard.

Stopping in place, Mezo craned his head up, where his ears picked up the crackle at the top floor. To anyone else hearing it, the sound was nonexistent. But to Mezo's hearing, he heard the crackle as if he was inside a cave, which was like an echo faintly rippled from upstairs.

As he quietly listened, there was another crackle, and then ... another one.

"The ice is falling apart." Mezo thought to himself, "I'm going to be surprised if Sasha is mining through that ice. From what I can tell, this is COLD and dense."

Intently, Mezo stood still and continued to listen, although he was developing a bit of a shiver from the frigid interior temperature. The crackling continued from his point of view, and it only began to worsen. But it was at that moment, however, he realized that there was barely four minutes left on the clock.

Forming fists back on his arms, he began to run, albeit cautiously and slowly.

Making his way to the staircase, he clung onto the railing as he rushed upwards. But like Shoto, once he got to the fourth floor, a wall of ice was blocking the last flight of stairs. To himself, Mezo sighed at the unexpected obstacle, "No wonder he went out the fire escape. I knew this was such a bad idea on his part."

But since he was desperate to find his teammate, Mezo used the fire escape to head up to the top floor. Again, the windows were blocked as well by a half wall of ice. Undeterred and armed with lots of strength, he used his right arms to punch through the half wall, allowing him to enter back inside the building.

Once he got inside, his left arms formed ears on them; however, he immediately cringed upon doing.

There was almost nothing that prepared him to anticipate the sound of ice crackling and shattering nearby. Beside the sudden noise, this was exactly what he was looking for. Among this distant symphony of icy destruction, footsteps and grunting was heard from Mezo's ears.

"There you are!" Mezo dilated his eyes, confirming his findings with a vengeance.

Since the sound was nearby behind a wall, combined with his race for lost time, Mezo morphed all his arms with fists. Walking up to the wall in front of him, he punched his hands through the concrete, where his fists appeared on the other side. But as soon as his hands grabbed the wall, bolts of energy slammed into them.

Before he knew it, all of his fists were coursing with excruciating pain and electricity.

Trying his best not to yell or growl out loud, Mezo soon felt numbness course through his wrists and forearms. Promptly, he pulled all six hands out, but it only amplified the unsettling tingle that appeared from his numbness and pain. If he didn't know any better, it would've appeared that he had a cramp.

Wounded yet wisely, he slipped away from the holes he created, sidestepping for cover. To his partial horror, he watched to his right as blue bolts of energy zipped out of the holes. With half of his six arms stricken with painful numbness, the only thing he could do now was stay out of sight and let the tingling subside.

There needed to be a way where the tables could be turned!

But before he could fully devise a plan, the sound of footsteps could be heard down a hallway to his left.

Realizing the impending danger coming his way, Mezo bravely turned and charged towards the hallway's direction. Within seconds, he slammed into two clones, smashing their backs against the wall. Unfortunately, the slippery ice didn't give him much friction, and he slipped backwards upon impact.

Falling backwards, however, he barely avoided a handful of blaster bolts. But just when he pulled his feet back, a stray bolt struck him in the left ankle. Almost immediately, a brisk 'NRGH' was trapped in his throat, and if Mezo had a visible mouth, his teeth would be clenching as hard as he could to suppress the pain.

He still couldn't feel his hands and forearms, and with his left foot paralyzed, now he really couldn't go anywhere. But being a walking mountain of abominable muscle, Mezo courageously attempted to stand himself up. When he craned his head down as he tried to stand up, his world suddenly went black.

Had he been paying attention, he would've saw the muzzle of a stun blaster pointed in his face.

But there was so much more that occurred way before the duo was knocked out of the fight...

Unfortunately, Sasha's performance was greeted with some rather nasty looks.

Fast forward some time later, Sasha was now in the monitor room, an enclosed facility where Class 1-A watched the two sides fight on-screen. On one side of the room, Sasha was standing at attention, completely unfazed by the lukewarm to cold reception of his fellow comrades. On the other side of the room, there was Class 1-A.

Izuku and Iida were humbled if not impressed by Sasha; however, they were the only good things that Sasha saw among the class. On the other end of the spectrum, Bakugo, Eijiro, and Denki looked at him with distaste. With the rest of the class, however, there was a subtle mixture of fear, disbelief, and/or disgust.

"Well, even if I say myself, you did surprisingly well, Young Sasha." All Might congratulated, standing in between the two sides; however, his words were slightly bittersweet, "Unfortunately, I'm somewhat troubled in some areas."

"A-All Might?" Izuku chirped, surprised by why his friend suddenly received bitter ridicule, "You don't say...?"

"Mhm, I'm afraid so." All Might hummed back without losing his signature grin, "Does anyone know?"

"Yes, Mr. All Might." Momo raised her hand, whom she began to analytically speak, "I believe you said, no kills."

"Сука, I stunned them!" Sasha sneered in his thoughts, although he was looking at the 5'8ft tall raven-haired girl with a blank expression, "You think I'm some wannabe killer?"

"From watching the match, it appears that Sasha acted as if this was a real-life combat scenario. First off, the nuke is fake. Nobody in their right minds would use an actual warhead for training."

"Ah хорошо, большое спасибо. (Ah well, thank you very much.)" Sasha sarcastically murmured, albeit internally.

"But believing it was real, he acted in one out of two plausible situations. Instead of amassing as many troops as possible, he decides to divide his chain of command. It's a risky approach, because anyone could use the fire escape to bypass the defenses."

"Like I haven't figured that out already."

"His gamble payed off, however, because Shoji and Todoroki decided to enter on the ground floor." Momo continued, and despite the duo's medical absence, she proceeded to carry on her analysis, "Speaking of them, Todoroki made a critical error of judgement. Instead of going together, he decided to go alone, believing that he froze everyone and he would meet no resistance."

"Well ... he may have got me, but that won't stop my fellow comrades from coming to the rescue."

"Bashing Todoroki in the back of the head was one thing, but shooting him when he was down was overkill."

"Fuck you."

Then, a holographic recording showed on screen, where it showed Shoto entering inside the room. Then, a clone appeared from behind the door and swung the buttstock of his stun blaster into the back of Shoto's head. Moments earlier, the clone in question had freed himself, thanks to time and the ice going up to his knees.

As the footage played, the clone swung his stun blaster and shot Shoto two times in the back, making sure that he was truly unconscious.

"Again, fuck you." Sasha sneered internally, giving the 5'8ft tall raven-haired girl a stern yet composed glare.

Noticing the subtle death stare coming from the 5ft tall soldier boy, however, Momo froze.

But it didn't take long for her to humbly regain her composure and conclude abruptly, "Other than that, once Todoroki was incapacitated, it was only a matter of time until victory came to Sasha. There was nothing Shoji could do other than accepting the inevitable or go in there alone."

Thereafter, she pardoned herself, "That is all."

"Yeah, shut the fuck up, you know-it-all."

For a moment, there was an uneasy silence...

That is until All Might broke it with enthusiasm, "That is correct, except there are two things left out. First, Sasha had numbers and teamwork on his side. A truly intelligent villain would always have the numerical advantage, making sure they have something between them and the heroes. Lastly, and most importantly, every villain will arm themselves with anything they could find."

"Eh?" Half of the class murmured out loud in near unison.

"Mhm, that includes ... guns." All Might nodded, "There may be laws to restrict firearms, and there may be strong enforcement to ensure those laws hold, but every wrongdoer will always find a way to skirt around the law no matter what. And that has brought me to my verdict."

Turning to Sasha, All Might stood there for a moment to view the 5ft tall soldierly student before speaking, "Sasha, you are allowed to keep and maintain your firearm, but from this point on, that gun is U.A. property. That means if it is damaged or lost, you will face expulsion. Therefore, you will take greater care of that weapon than your own life. Starting now, you will be under close surveillance for as long as you carry that gun. Understood?"

Instantly after All Might finished, Sasha saluted with his right hand, whom he kept up for a few seconds before lowering it.

"Very well. You are dismissed." All Might acknowledged back, where Sasha humbly yet sternly disappeared into Class 1-A.

Soon after, All Might promptly made a new announcement.

"All right everyone, let's change locations and start the second match."