Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The entire school was gathered in the big announcement hall, excited and nervous whispers could be heard all over. Izuku was sitting in the second row on the very right front, each student had their assigned seat. The seating arrangements were put into each class, which was a hell lot of students, if one thought about it. 

The hero course was not the biggest, as many thought, since each class started out with 20 students, and the further up in grades you went, the less students were in each class.

Then there were all the other courses.

Support Department, General Education, IT-Department, Management, Marketing, Business, Design, Construction, Politics, Economy, Science and Medical Department. 

As a general rule though, the first years sat in the front and the third years sat in the back. The hall was huge.

Uraraka was sitting next to him, talking with Mina, when principal Nedzu stepped onto the stage and silenced everyone. The sheer power the rat(?) held with only his presence was enormous, to say the least, and Izuku felt a shiver run down his spine. 

A few weeks ago Aizawa Sensei had warned him that whatever he did, he should avoid talking to Nedzu privately at all costs. He didn't go into detail why. 

"Good morning my students! Today I would like to make a special announcement. The Second and Third Years all already know about what is about to happen, but please don't spoil my fun, alright?" Cheers erupted from the upperclassmen and all the First Years looked at each other curiously.

"It has been a tradition in UA started by me several years ago to hold a special kind of event. The Hero Course's first years will be the ones participating, the rest of the students is allowed to watch the event during school hours, the newly acquired dormitory system will also help show the live feed."

Murmurs arose from all around the hall and Izuku's mind started racing. Just what kind of event could that possibly be? He's never heard of this before, and Izuku knew everything about UA. He's even figured out where all the hidden vents were, the secret tunnels, everything. But to never have heard of an entire event? Interesting...

"The event is called 'Heroes vs Villains'! The leader of the Heroes will be announced in a few minutes, while the leader of the Villains will be kept secret. Each leader has to gather their teammates wisely. This event will have a two week preparation time starting today after the announcement is over, and the actual event will be the following five days long! The event itself will be one big battle between the Heroes and the Villains! The goal of the Heroes is, naturally, to stop the villains from doing harm to civilians, keep collateral damage to a minimum and arrest the villains, and most importantly the leader of the villains! The goals of the villain team are obviously to simply being villains. Property damage, endangering civilians, incapacitate heroes, etc. Now then, it is time to announce who will be the Hero team's leader!" 

Excited chattering echoed throughout the hall and everyone was hyped to find out who the Heroes' leader would be. Izuku had a 1 to 40 chance of getting the role. A big hologram appeared on the wall and a slot was rolling, like in a casino. It got quiet and anticipation could be felt oozing off everyone, and after what seemed like an eternity the slot slowed down, and stopped on-

"THE HERO TEAM'S LEADER WILL BE BAKUGOU KATSUKI!!!" Present Mic announced, no one had noticed him getting onto the stage. 

Cheers erupted all around the room, and Jirou and a few other students with enhanced hearing were holding their ears. Izuku quickly pulled out his noice cancelling earbuds and offered them to the girl, who gratefully accepted them.

The principal took over from Mic-Sensei again and easily hushed the uproar.

"The leader of Team Hero cannot refuse their position. The leader of Team Villain will be told privately. They however are able to refuse their position and give it to someone else whom they see more fit. This person though, as soon as they accept, will not be able to pass the role on to someone else. Every department other than the first year hero department, please go back to classes. The first years will stay back and one on one will be told if they are the villain leader or not. Each talk will be about ten minutes long, as to not give it away that someone is being told all the information."

Iida made sure that everyone was in a line and the greenette listened in on many conversations. Those that were before him all came out of the room with relieved faces, so he could rule all of them out already. For the chance that he was to be the chosen one, which wouldn't be so far fetched, according to his luck up until now, he needed to plaster on his usual fake smile and relieved face he perfected while in middle school. 

What he was also 100% sure about was that Bakugou would never let him into the Hero Team. If the blond would think rationally, which he never did, when it came to the green haired teenager, then he should be kissing his feet to come to the Hero Team, only speaking about the quirk factor, and maybe the analytical and strategic part. He'd been told multiple times here at UA that his planning skills were far more advanced than what was normal their age, and after comparing his knowledge about certain things with his classmates he did start to see the difference in understanding. He didn't want to sound egoistic and full of himself, but he did acknowledge his own skills for once, so... progress?

This meant that Izuku didn't even need to try to get into the Hero Team, but simply go to the Villains from the start. Sure, it hurt his pride to be a hypothetical villain, but if he was honest, during middle school he did sometimes think about switching teams. 

Anyways.

Before UA Izuku had mastered the ability to read people like an open book, he could even read Shoto, although he did pose a bit of a challenge for once. Sometimes he could even differentiate the many moods the principal was in (he did have to admit though that reading an animal's facial expressions and body language was far harder than those from humans).

And that is what he was doing right now. Mineta was walking out of the room and honestly? How that pervert got into UA was still a miracle. And the way he was relaxed told Izuku immediately that he was not the Leader. Next up was Yaoyorouzu, and the way she was looking around after she stepped out of the room already told him everything. Quickly telling Aoyama that he needed to go to the toilet he let the boy go before him and quickly approached the girl, and positioned himself so that her back was facing the majority of the people.

Before she could say anything, and god was she easy to read, he cut her off.

"Before you say anything you need to relax. If you continue to look like a deer caught in headlights the others will find out. Take a deep breath. Come on." He instructed and she followed his example. 

"I told Aoyama that I was going to the toilet, would you mind explaining that one maths formula to me again?" He asked her, and she was visibly relieved to get out of there. The two of them wouldn't raise any suspicion anyway, since they were often seen studying together. 

She started off far too fast at the beginning and Izuku simply tugged at her blazer, getting her to slow down. He exaggerated another breath and she subconciously copied him, calming down a bit. 

After they got out of the hall they walked a bit faster, Izuku had always one ear and eye out for any people lurking around the corners. He led her to a conference room which he knew was never locked and sound proof and closed the door behind the two. 

"Right, so I know for a fact that you are the Villain's Leader, correct?" He went straight to business. He knew that Yaoyorouzu had self esteem and confidence issues, so he opted to go the more serious, business-like way of an approach.

The way she shifted from one foot to the other and was fiddling with the hem of her skirt further proved his theory, but he wanted to hear it himself. 

She sighed defeatedly.

"It's no use trying to hide it from someone as observant as you, huh? Yes, I was chosen as the head of he Villains... Midoriya I have no idea how I am supposed to do this. And now that you know you'll tell the others since you obviously be joining the Heroes and if I have to go up against someone like you then my loss is already set in stone and-"

"Who told you that I'd be joining the Heroes?" He interrupted, hoping that that would stop her from spiralling. And it did the job flawlessly. The tall girl stopped in her tracks and looked at him in disbelief. 

"Bu-but you're like, the embodiment of good! The nicest and strongest person in class, the most heroic one out of all of us! Why wouldn't you join the Heroes?" The genuine confusion was written all over her face, but at least she wasn't as tense as a few minutes ago anymore. A win is a win. All the compliments did make him blush though, so he quickly regained his composure.

"Yaoyorouzu, think about it. Kacchan is the leader of the Heroes. When it comes to me he never thinks rationally nor logically and won't let me join them over his dead body simply out of spite. He also won't let himself be convinced otherwise, not even by Kirishima. All he wants is to pound it into me that I am beneath him. He's always been like that. I would know, we basically wore the same diapers, we go so far back." 

Pushing a glass of water into her hand he continued.

"Which leaves me no other choice than to join the Villains. And honestly? It's a good excercise! It's important for a hero to have different personas to fall back on if necessary, and to play a villain is quite hard, so if we ever have to pretend to be someone else it'll be far easier, you know what I mean?" 

The young woman's face was starting to morph into a more relaxed and content one, even if the difference wasn't that much yet, it was something. She thoughtfully nodded her head.

"You are right, Midoriya, I now see the background behind this event. Aizawa Sensei told me that this was also going to be graded and would make up most of the participants' grade. Hey, Midoriya?" Her black eyes looked into his green ones intensely.

"Hypothetically speaking, would you take over the role of the Leader?"

That question caught the teenager off guard and made him spit out some of his water. 

Would he take over the position? He was basically already a part of the Villains, and he did kind of take off the load of her shoulders by, literally, taking the lead... But that was going to be a very hard and taxing task both mentally and physically. And could he hurt his friends? Nonsense, he already does that everytime they spar... If he were to say that he wasn't comfortable joining the Villains and if Bakugou wouldn't let him be a Hero then he could simply say that he would sit the event out, because he was too uncomfortable because of all the villain attacks that had happened. If he actually did that, then he might manage to stay undetected at least until the official live streamed start of the event... Like this he would have the element of surprise backing him up... Where would the event even partake? Surely in one of the simulation grounds, most likely ground zeta since that was the most urban one according to the third years...

"Midoriya!"

The raised voice ripped him out of his rabbit hole of a thought process and he looked at her with wide eyes.

"Are you back with me now?" She asked, concern written all over her face.

Oh. He must have stared off into space and was most likely completely unresponsive. Sheepishly smiling at her he replied.

"Oh, yeah sorry, I was lost in thought a bit. About your question though, it would be very hard, but I first want you to try it out. Maybe you'll be a better leader than you originally thought?" She still looked doubtful so he quickly added something he had already made up his mind to.

"If it made you feel a bit better, I could be your right hand man?" And oh no, did he say something wrong? Tears were springing to her eyes and he was on his feet immediately, hovering over her frantically.

"That would be awesome, Midoriya! Alright, I'll try, but only under one condition. If I really don't trust myself enough to pull through I nominate you as my replacement. Is that alright with you?" Her eyes were still glassy and hope was shining through, and who was he to deny her that? Relenting after a while he accepted and shook her hand.

"Fine. But I won't take over if you don't actually try, do you understand? If you don't at least try I will sit the event out all together." She frantically nodded and the fierce hug that followed made Izuku tense up, but thankfully she either didn't notice or if she noticed she didn't mention it, and he returned it. 

The height difference between them made it a bit awkward because his face was practically right in her chest, and he had to think fast, so he turned his head so that he was facing outwards, and not directly at them. 

After a few moments she let him go and fortunately she didn't notice that he was blushing hard. Walking back to the hall he quickly went in right after Aoyama and was now sitting infront of Aizawa Sensei, Yamada Sensei and Nedzu.

"Hello, Midoriya. Would you like some tea?" The shortest one out of all of them asked and Izuku politely accepted.

"Thank you, principal. About the leader, I already know who it is, so you don't need to tell me that I am not the leader." Oh, how he loved and lived for the surprised faces all of them made. The underground hero spoke up after a few seconds, eyebrow raised curiously.

"How did you find out?"

A small, cheeky smirk found its way onto Izuku's face, something that made all of the adults shift in their seats, since they had never seen that kind of emotion on the boy's face before.

"Sir, I am very good at reading people. And Yaoyorouzu was very easy to see through. Next year I would recommend using a different room or to tell each student throughout the rest of the school day, so that no one sees their immediate expression right after they leave the conference room. Anyways, the way how she walked, the fake relieved smile, her bad habit of playing with the hem of her blazer whenever she's nervous, all of that gave it away in an instant." 

The principal's tail twitched a slight bit, but before the rat(?) could say anything, Mic Sensei let out an impressed whistle.

"Impressive, little listener! I wouldn't have thought that you'd be this observant! So you already know which team you'll be choosing?"

Taking a sip he closed his eyes for a few seconds before responding.

"Mic-Sensei, I know for a fact that you only act oblivious to the world, the loud blond persona is working well anyways, so I can't judge you on that. That's also why I know that you know that Bakugou would rather die than allow me into his team. So either I sit out completely or I join the dark forces." It was easy to see that the principal was getting excited now.

"And knowing Yaoyorouzu, she needs someone who first of all knows how Bakugou Katsuki thinks, and someone who knows how to analyize, plan, strategise, and effectively be her right hand man. I think that you might have wanted to get her to gain more self confidence, but you should have known that this kind of approach would not work on someone as soft spoken as her. Yes, she always speaks her opinion if asked, but other than that she's more of a follower. In the right situations she already shines, however, to throw her into something as big as this and telling her that she's essentially alone almost killed her self esteem. This kind of approach would have worked beautifully on someone like Mina though." 

Remembering to take a breath because he was getting light headed again (stupid hyperfocus), he drew in a few puffs of oxygen and sipped at his perfectly made tea and straightened in his seat. Setting down the cup with a soft clink, he crossed his legs and looked at the three men seriously.

"I have already talked to Yaoyorouzu, and the two of us have shaken hands on a deal. She will try to live up to her role, but if it gets too much for her, even if she tries her best, I will take over her role. If I see though, that she does not give it her all, then I will sit the entire event out and not take over. I also want her to gain a bit of confidence, but if she gives up immediately then that would all have been for naught, wouldn't it?"

Silence settled upon the four and Nedzu broke it after taking a sip of his own cup.

"Everything you have said thus far has been correct, Midoriya-kun. We did intend for Yaoyorouzu-kun to gain more confidence, however we did make a miscalculation in our approach. I was already curious as to which students would choose which team, and I could have sworn that you would surely be a Hero. You have managed to surprise me, Midoriya." 

Izuku completely missed the quick, but full of fear, look the other two teachers sent each other at that, because he was currently being praised by the most intelligent being on the planet!!!

Quickly regaining his composure and praying that noone saw the stars in his eyes, he cleared his voice.

"Thank you very much, Nedzu-san. I believe the 10 minutes are already over though, it would be suspicious if we talked longer than this, no?" Izuku got up and bowed quickly, before expertly schooling his expression into his usual sheepish, shy one, with a hint of relief visible for the untrained eye. He then left the room and walked over to the others, who all subconciously relaxed upon seeing him coming out of the room smiling.

Chapter Text

As soon as Midoriya left the room, changing his entire demeanor within seconds as to not raise any suspicions, all three of the men inside the conference room untensed and looked at each other in disbelief.

"Alright, what the fuck." Hizashi breathed out and Shouta had to agree with the sentiment. Even himself, a very observant and always on alert underground hero had not picked up on the fact that Midoriya was on another level than his peers observational and intelligence wise.

"My my, this was certainly something... If Midoriya should actually take over the role of the Kingpin, then this year's event will be far more interesting than the last years'..." Nedzu mused to himself and Shouta felt it ice cold running down his spine. His employer was excited, and that was never a good sign. He'd have to stock up on headache medication.

"I have never seen Midoriya so... calculating. Dare I say intimidating." Taking up his cup of coffee he took a big gulp. The problem child was going to give him grey hair soon if nothing changed... 

"How did the little listener know that I only bluff with my loud dumb blond persona? I've fine tuned it for years and he easily dissected it..." Hizashi whined and all three adults suddenly got a deeper understanding about the school's cinnamon roll.

While talking with the others he kept an eye out for any potential allies, and well, Monoma made it very easy. The way he looked at Bakugou with disgust was enough for Izuku to slide a note into his locker with a room number on it and a question mark. If Monoma was as smart as Izuku thought he was then he should figure it out. Uraraka and Iida of course immediately joined the Heroes, and Asui did aswell after a few minutes of thinking about it. What he found very interesting though was the way Kaminari was acting after repeatedly getting told that someone as stupid as him shouldn't be in the Hero Team, so he made sure to 'accidentally' run into him and pushing a small crumbled up note into his palms, and making sure that the blond boy got the memo. The understanding look was as fast gone as it appeared and Kaminari undetectedly put the note into one of his pockets. 

Listening in on Kirishima, Sero and Mineta immediately confirmed that they would be on Bakugou's side, aswell as Sato and Aoyama. His phone buzzed suddenly and he looked at it. It was a text from Yaoyorouzu.

'Pinky on board.'

Huh, that surprised him. Mina was one of Bakugou's best friends, however, the two of them did have an argument a few days ago, so maybe it was out of spite? He'd have to help Yaoyorouzu quiz the girl later. 

He watched as Awase, Kamakiri and Honenuki from 1B went over to Vlad King, so he could ignore those three. They opted out of the event. Kinoko did the same, which was a shame because she could have been very useful.

The first one from class 1A to tell Aizawa Sensei that he was gonna sit out the event was Koda, which Izuku kind of saw coming.

When the announcement and role-telling was finally over they all were dismissed and allowed to go to their dorms for the rest of the day. The two-week preparation time had officially started.

On the way to the dorms Izuku caught sight of Monoma walking and talking with Yanagi and Kuroiro, so he quickly caught up to them. They were walking in the part of the way that was in the forest, so he didn't have to worry about being seen by any of the Heroes.

The way how Monoma first tried to sneer at him was quickly overruled by the hand covering his mouth by Yanagi, who looked at Izuku with such a distrustful look that he was almost offended. 

"Hello, Monoma, Yanagi, Kuroiro. I noticed how all of you weren't that happy with Bakugou being the leader of the Heroes?" 

"Well, obviously!" Monoma exclaimed, body language transmitting clearly that he was jealous. "Of course it would be someone from Class 1A! And knowing you, you will also be a part of the Enemy-"

"So all three of you will be Villains then. Got it. Would you mind if I joined you?" He cut off the blond and the silence after that was deafening. 

"Why won't you be a Hero, huh?" Even though the tone was still accusing, there was genuine confusion well hidden beneath.

"Have you seen how Bakugou treats me, Monoma? He'd rather die than have me in his team. So either I sit out, which I don't plan on doing, or I join the Villains. And since all of this will be graded, I don't see why I shouldn't participate, regardless of what role I play. Oh, also, just so you don't get confused, I'm not the leader. If you all are with the villains I'll tell you who it is though? Of course I understand if you'd rather team up with the Heroes, being a Villain will be quite the hard task..." Was he gaslighting Monoma and the other two to join? Yes. Yes he was.

And it worked like a charm.

"Of course we're up to the challenge! Bakugou won't know what hit him!" the blond exclaimed proudly and the other two nodded in agreement.

"Alright! Then welcome to the team! The Kingpin is Yaoyorouzu by the way." He added nonchalantly and gave Yanagi a piece of paper with his phone number and a location on it. Then he walked past them and entered the dorms of 1A.

Chapter Text

Day 1, 00:00

A group of limousines entered Ground Zeta, each an elegant matte black with each a different golden shimmering reptile painted on the side.

The Heroes were sleeping soundly while the Enemy moved into their headquarters. The average citicen would think that all of them were a group of successful businessmen. They themselves though?

They were the Villains.

Everybody had gone into hiding in the headquarters, while one figure majestically walked out of the shadows and into sight of the cameras, right in the middle of the main street. 

Confidence was oozing off of her, and her outfit showed just as much. She was wearing a flowing, red and white ballgown, head held high, hair and face hidden under a blood red veil. Her back was bare, revealing a golden shimmering dragon tattoed over her back.

(author's note: the following link should be the style of  the dragon on the woman's back, the only thing that's different is that the dragon itself is gold, but the red accents are the same) https://www.pinterest.at/pin/2322237300655736/

https://www.pinterest.at/pin/262123640804729755/

From the other side of the street a man walked over, face hidden under a blood red face mask with a golden dragon on the side. His suit matched the woman's dress perfectly, with it being a tailored red and white embroidered tuxedo suit. The hat hid the colour of his hair perfectly and he elegantly took the woman's hand, kissed the back of it, and led her further down the street, at some point picking her up bridal style. The full moon basked the couple in a magical sort of light, and they dissappeared out of sight.

https://www.pinterest.at/pin/336292297191994261/

The midnight bell rang right as they vanished without a trace.

The blaring alarm ripped Katsuki out of his sleep and he cursed to himself. Of course the Villains wouldn't start moving at a normal time, no, it had to be fucking midnight. In less than five minutes the entire team of Heroes was standing infront of the gates to Ground Zeta, Aizawa Sensei and Vlad Sensei were looking at them with grim expressions. 

"Exactly ten minutes ago these five limousines have entered the city. There is no doubt that these were the vehicles the Villains used to get in. Right when the midnight bell rang, two people walked down the main street, seemingly a couple. Here is the video." 

A hologram showed how the five matte black limousines entered the city, on the side of each a golden reptile was painted, in a modern brush-style. After a while they vanished, and the video switched to a different camera, zooming in on a beautiful woman strutting down the main road, red and white dress flowing charismatically behind her, accentuating her feminine curves. The fabric seemingly barely touched her smooth skin, and her face and hair were hidden beneath a silk, blood red veil. Even without seeing any facial features, everyone immediately felt the pridefulness seeping off her. 

After a while a man with the same amount of prestige approached the woman, bowed infront of her, kissed the back of her hand, and led her further down the street, as if he was leading her to their final destination. The man was wearing a white suit with a red tuxedo and red tie beneath it, and his hair and eyes were hidden with a white hat. The rest of his face was skillfully hidden with a blood red mask, marked with the same golden dragon as the woman's back was. A bit later he picked her up bridal style and the couple vanished in the light of the moon.

"Up until now noone else has been spotted, and it is strongly believed that the couple plays a main part of the entire Villain Team. Dynamight, the responsibility for the safety of the citicens, the city, and of your teammates lies in your hands. I wish all of you a successful mission." The underground hero sent them off and they immediately went to their already fully prepared headquarters. 

After all of them arrived there, Katsuki immediately ordered an emergency meeting. Now all of them stood around the high-tech table, which was replaying the video, and zooming in on the two figures as much as possible. 

"I'm sorry to say this, but I have absolutely no idea who those two are. The only two girls we can rule out are Mina and Hagakure, since Mina has pink skin and Hagakure is invisible." Uraraka mused, her hair still a bit disheveled from getting out of bed that fast.

"Which only leaves us with five other guesses. Jirou, Yaoyorouzu, Yanagi, Kodai or Setsuna." Iida continued where Uraraka left off. "And the ones we can forget about anyway because they opted out of the event are Awase, Kamakiri, Honenuki, Midoriya, Kinoko, and Koda."

"And who the hell is that man?" Kaibara exclaimed annoyed. "Judging alone from the stature we can rule out Shouji and Tokoyami, maybe Kaminari or Monoma? That whole ordeal would fit Monoma pretty well, since his normal costume is already on the more elegant side. The other suspect would only be Kuroiro, or one of the girls decided to crossdress."

Katsuki hated to admit it, but he agreed with the 1B extra. They had no idea who they were, and this little knowledge was very dangerous. 

"I think we should keep those two in mind for now, however it's more important to find out where the limousines and the other villains all disappeared to, kero." Asui stated matter of factly, and a viscious grin formed on the explosive teenager's face.

"Damn right, Froppy. We've gotten the information that they seemingly vanished the fuck off the face of the earth, but if we look at the map here, we can see that almost every single building there has underground car parks. The only problem we have here is that every single building there is marked as civilian appartements, making it impossible for us to raid them." 

Disappointed groans could be heard from every single one of the 21 heroes, excluding Katsuki, and he held up a hand to silence them. 

"I'll station a few of you to keep a watch on the surroundings." He looked into the round and held eyecontact with everyone before announcing the names. "Dragonio, Tailman, Grape Juice and Froppy. You're up. You'll patrol the area starting in ten minutes."

The four immediately got ready and quietly talked to each other, Froppy took over the coordination part.

"Spiral, Battle Fist, Plamo, Uravity, Cellophane and Sugar Rush, all of you go get some rest, your shift will start at 07:00." After all the announced people left the room Katsuki continued.

"Ingenium, Red Riot and ComicMan, you patrol the East Area. Tsuburaba, Mines and Rocketti, you cover the South. Vines, Gevaudan and me will cover the North and Twinkles, Shoto and Real Steel, you'll cover West. When each of you did one patrol round I want you to send one of your team back here to get some rest. If anyone spots a villain, announce it through the comms, assess the situation and capture them. Now everyone get the fuck going!" 

All heroes scrambled to get everything together and soon they were off patroling.

"My lady, the enemy has made the first move~" The man in the red and white suit drawled, eyes glistening in the dimly lit dining room. "What shall be our next move?"

The beautiful woman put down her cutlery on the plate. She was having a steak rivalling Gordon Ramsay's in quality. 

"Start with Phase 1, Operation Saphire. I want it done by today, 9 a.m." Her tone was absolute, and her minions, all dressed in elegant black suits with red and white ties stood up from the table and went outside. 

She put a strand of her hair behind her ear, motioning for the man to sit down next to her. 

"Pendragon, are you sure that you want this? That we will be able to do this?" 

Pendragon looked at her, his snow white hair shimmering in the warm, indirect light. His red eyes reflected the flame of the candle dancing between them. He took her hand and encased it in his own.

"My darling Dracaena, I would give my life for you. I will do my best for you, so rest assured, and stay confident. You are the heart, you make sure that the rest of the body can work." He stood and picked her up, making her yelp in surprise and hold on to him. He carried her through a long hallway and brought her to her room.

"Get some rest, I will overlook Phase 1, Operation Saphire myself." He bowed and placed a gentle kiss on her hand. 

"I will, thank you. Take care, even if the heart pumps the blood through the body, without the brain it cannot function." After that she closed the door behind her and he went to the control room.

Opening the door he saw Python, Venom and Wyvern discussing something. 

"Wyvern. Send your eyes out and report who is currently patrolling where." 

"Understood!" She immediately did as told and he watched as the two eyeballs flew out the door, doing their own thing. 

"Python, Venom. It's currently 01:28 a.m., which means it is as dark as it can be. Do your thing and incapacitate Tsuburaba, Mines and Rocketti. They're patrolling the southern four blocks, work together and do it as quietly as possible. I'd advise that Dark Shadow steals all their comms first. While you do that, keep an eye out for the Saphire."

"Understood." The moved like the shadows they were and Pendragon sat down, watching the three of them through the body cams and listening in over the comms. 

Pendragon watched with all his attention. Of course, he did trust his colleagues, but he was still in charge of this Phase. A microcamera which could also pick up sound was fixed to one of Wyvern's eyeballs and with her help he could find out the current pattern with which Dynamight worked. He'll most likely have most of them out and about except for a few. The speye (heh, pun intended) managed to invade the jewelery shop in the east block, the second building to the left and the night guards were pretty much useless. 

Their first of ten objectives was to steal the most valuable item from there, but that shouldn't be too hard. He watched as Wyvern's hand flew in and expertly evaded all alarms, took the stone and swiftly switched it out with a prop, and the first objective was theirs. 

The great mistress was currently sleeping, so he would take on the responsibility. He tapped his comms, relaying the next order.

"Ananconda, Mamba and Basilisk, report to my office." The replies came almost instantly and he leaned against the chair. After a few minutes the two women and the man stood in his office, Basilisk was the only one who was allowed not to wear a suit, based on her position as a mechanic. 

"I want you to complete Operation Ruby before M'lady wakes up. The target is at Willowstreet appartement number 32 on the sixth floor. Basilisk, I want you to give them some see-through knives, stun guns, tape, plastic bags and ropes. Mamba, when you get to the appartement, I want you to copy Anaconda's quirk. After that you'll have to be fast. Stay hidden, break in, eliminate Mr. and Mrs. Tanaka by first taking the wife hostage, then you tie up the husband, put the plastic bag over his head and leave him struggling. The wife should watch. Make sure to do that in sight of one of the home cameras they installed everywhere. During that you get her to tell us how we're gonna get to objective number 9. If you have to, rip out her fingernails, one by one. Get creative. After she told you everything we need, you kill her. You can choose how."

"Team Assassination has understood and now in action." Mamba replied and they walked off. 

A flicker on the screens infront of him got his attention and he zoomed in on something on Venom's body camera. Dark shadow was as small as he could be and swiftly took out the three comms from Tsuburaba, Mines and Rocketti. If they ever want to be actual heroes and climb the ranks they're gonna have to hone their situational awareness.

Python emerged from Rocketti's shadow and swiftly cut her throat, making her unable to scream. They carried her limp body away and hid her behind a dumpster in a back alleyway. The blood was coating her chest and it was a gruesome sight. Tsuburaba and Mines did not notice any of that, with them being just out the noise radius. 

One down, two to go. 

Mines was, if Venom fucked up, going to be a problem. His quirk, Twin Impact, was a strong one, and not to be underestimated. Pendragon watched attentively, his bloodred eyes fixated on Venom. Mines was currently walking side by side with Tsuburaba, his quirk, Solid Air, was also a problem. However, Venom and Python held eyecontact for a bit, before nodding to each other. The two dark villains did not need to communicate verbally to understand each other, even the nature of their quirks was similar, making it even easier.

Python jumped into the shadows and disappeared, and Dark Shadow encased Venom, giving him the ability to fly. Now with a different perspective, the strategist watched the scene unfold, and honestly? 

It was brutal.

Dracaena's right hand man had personally overseen the team's training, and made some suggestions to Python's quirk. 

Long story short, Python was now able to trap both things and people inside the shadow realm, suffocating them in the process. Pendragon himself had found that out, since he was the first test person. The shadow realm felt, as if one was trapped far beneath the surface of a thick, sludgy lake deep at night. And, the victims were not able to move, nor breathe. 

Python snatched Tsuburaba, startling him and making him yelp, and immediately pulled him into the shadow realm. It was a real shame that the cameras didn't work in there, Pendragon would have enjoyed the scene, honestly. 

The panicked sound made Mines turn around, and immediately got face to face with Venom, who collided with him, picked him up and flew up high in the air, up into the clouds and even higher. Venom was wearing an oxygen mask and simply waited until Mines passed out from loss of oxygen. The hero had struggled greatly, but after a long while of trying to use his quirk and failing to do so, because up there the air was too thin, he passed out. After making sure that the enemy was actually passed out, Venom slashed his throat, and marked his cheek with a stamp of a dragon, made out of Mines' own blood. 

Python emerged from the shadows, a limp Tsuburaba held in his hand, and quickly slit his throat aswell, stamping a dragon on his forehead, doing the same.

Grinning to himself Pendragon tapped his comms, connecting with the brothers of darkness. "Well done, Venom, Python. Get back to HQ and get some rest." He ordered, and the two answered within seconds, dutifully fading into the darkness and disappearing from the crime scene. 

A message popped up on his screen and the smile on his face grew even wider. 

He closed the link.

Copied it.

Pasted it.

And sent it.

Oh, how Pendragon was going to love the chaos that's bound to ensue~

"Pendragon, sir. We have obtained everything you've ordered us to. Mrs. Tanaka at first was very stubborn, and it did take her husband to die and three of her fingernails ripped out to spit out the location. It's gonna be a difficult mission, sir." Mamba replied, hair slicked back skillfully. His normally spotless white gloves were coated in blood. 

"Pendragon, sir? Do I have permission to let Basilisk fix my suit? I got a little dirty while disposing of Mrs. Tanaka." Anaconda asked, her uniform was coated in blood, vomit and urine.

"Of course you may. Next time, try not to get this dirty, we need to show class. Good job, the both of you. Mamba, I want you to report to my office tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. on the dot. Until then, get some rest, both of you." 

Taking the dismissal for what it was, they left the room, leaving him alone. His earpiece buzzed and he quickly replied.

"Pendragon? Operation Saphire is completed, the stone has been brought to its new home." 

"Very well, Wyvern. Make sure to get back to HQ safe and get some rest. I want you to rest until 8 a.m., after that you're on standby." 

After getting the affirmative, the strategist leaned back. 

Now only to wait until Dynamight sees the message~

Chapter Text

When Shuuzenji found out that these absolute morons let that student join this excercise, she knew she wasn't going to get even one minute of sleep.

To always be ontop of all and everything that was happening, she had her own seat inside the monitoring area and was now frantically packing her first aid kit.

Two of the villains just slit three throats in under five minutes. The problem: Those three students were currently bleeding out. For real.

She quickly made her way to the three barely breathing students and used her quirk. Thankfully she reacted as fast as she did, and thank god did the villains know not to cut the main veins. 

All three of them woke up, greatly disoriented, RG noticed. 

"You've been eliminated. Here is what you will do. I healed the basic, life threatening wounds. I left the rest alone. I need you to play dead until your teammates find you. You're not allowed to move, talk, or do anything other than lying there and play dead. If you understand, play dead." 

The disbeliefing stares she recieved were priceless, but the three of them were also smart. They did exactly as told. 

Before the old woman could say her goodbyes though, another alarm rang in her earpiece. Some robots quickly brought her to an appartement, and what she witnessed was the aftermath of a massacre.

Realistically she knew that those were just two hyper realistically built robots with a few blood bags attached to them. Really, she did. 

But this was just plain old horrifying.

The man was lying naked on the floor, his hands and feet were bound together, rope burn wounds clearly visible. His head had a plastic bag wrapped around and sticked on with duct tape. His naked body had chunks of flesh ripped out, fingernailmarks were littering his back. His genital area was one big mess of limp skin, blood, veins, she could also see the plastic cord that was supposed to symbolise the urethra. Two of his toes were sticking out of his anus. The other marks all formed the silhouette of a dragon.

The woman though. 

God, this entire exam made her question Nedzu's position as the principal.

The woman was naked aswell, but not on the floor.

She was tied up by one wrist and one foot at the ceiling, her spine was unnaturally curved and she could see a few broken ribs. Speaking of ribs, a few of them were ripped out and put as if they were a flower blooming. The victim's fingernails were all ripped out, one breast was severed off and was lying on the floor infront of her. Her eyes were sown open and a pencil was sticking out of one. The area around her mouth was corroded away by some sort of chemical, her tongue was dissolved into only a few chunks of flesh. A few of her teeth were missing. Her stomach was cut open and her intestines were sprawled out on the floor, forming the head of a dragon, and her husband's testicles were stitched to her vagina.

The entire floor was coated in fake blood, vomit, urine, and shit. Flies were already flying around.

With shaking hands she did what she had to do and relayed the official diagnosis.

"Mr. and Mrs Tanaka are dead. Cause of death: Torture." 

Shota sucked in a sharp breath. RG's voice never shook. Never.

And when she sent over the videos from the security cameras, Shota had to stay professional. He couldn't show his real feelings. Sure, these were robots. Sure, they were equipped with hyper realistic looks, a few fake bloodbags, and other hyperrealistic looking stuff. 

But what in the absolute fuck is this.

And to think that that is the work of mere 15 to 16 year olds.

This was going to be a very long event, wasn't it?

On the other side of the room his husband was vomiting into a bin and Vlad King looked rather pale aswell. 

And god, this was being life streamed to all the students of UA. Shota hoped dearly that Nedzu was smart enough to censor most of it. 

Speaking of, that damned rat was sitting there and drinking tea as if nothing was happening. 

Breathe in, breathe out. Don't rip off your boss's tail. You need the money to buy your husband a new mic. 

The screen flickered and showed a dark control room, with one person sitting in the office chair. He was the one that put on the show at the main street during the starting minutes, the one with the red and white suit, red face mask with the dragon on it and the white hat. It looked like he took off his facemask, but the rest was staying on, it seemed. 

His eyes and hair were hidden, but one could make out his mouth. 

Which was contorted into a terrifying grin that made everyone in the room shiver. 

The man then suddenly stood up, and walked out of the room. Even through the cameras it was clear to everyone that he had a very high position and a lot of power over everyone. His footsteps were dulled due to the red carpet in the long, golden halls, and it seemed as if he had all the time in the world.

When the camera shifted its angle, the man's white hair ends were clearly visible. 

"Alright, white hair. Who has white hair... oh! That must be either Kuroiro or Yanagi is crossdressing again. I don't know any other participants with white hair." Cementoss mused, and he had to agree with him. 

Except...

"There's also the possibility that they've dyed their hair." He grumbled, bringing down the mood even further. 

"Yeah, maybe. However, I do have to say, the villains this year do show class, but still actual villainous behaviour. And the way they made their entrance, oh my god was that cute!" Nemuri squealed. "Oh, how I wish that I were that stunning bride... Just imagine being picked up as if you weigh nothing, that man is, and I don't mean it that way, very good boyfriend material, I tell you!"

The dark haired man simply groaned in annoyance.

Yes, this was going to be a very long event.