Henry:

We were totally gonna make it... totally. All we had to do was match up against a true pro in a week. Oh boy, my mind is racing. It's been racing this whole time, but I'm trying not to let Tori see.

Out of the library, we walk to a small map of the facilities on the wall. Tori admires the view of the city outside while I review the options available. "On the base floor is the support course. If I had to guess, that's where we can requisition equipment."

"Are you sure that's where? We could just ask."

I shake my head. "I have nothing against asking directions, but making support items is the specialty of those classes. Maybe we can find someone to help us figure out what to get in the first place. The actual requisition desk is useless if we don't know what to ask for, ya know?" I say back.

In minutes, we're traveling down the hall of the base floor with several support classes. "Why do you think three floors are devoted to the support courses?" Tori asks.

"I don't know. Maybe a lot of people like the course, " I shrug.

"Maybe- but I wonder if it has something to do with the space they might n-" As we walk by a metal door, I hear some kind of explosion followed quickly by the door flying open and a few screws embedding themselves in the wall, missing my face by inches.

Tori jumps back several steps with a shriek, then seems to remember I'm even there and tries to yank me away from the door and into the safety of the... sheetrock walls of the hall. I suspect more substantial materials are under the sheetrock, but I don't see them, so I can't be sure. Tori tries to hug me to keep her and me safely back, but I work my way out of her grasp and over to the door.

I'm not stupid, just not easily scared. I keep the metal door between me and the room beyond it, but I still peek through the apparently strong glass. Inside, I see a room full of tables and gadgets of all kinds. The floor is cement with-

The door is suddenly thrown open even further, and I'm slammed against the wall. "Is everyone okay out here?!? " a teenage girl shouts as she suddenly bursts into the hall. "Oh, hey, who are you? You're cuter than most of the weirdos we have around here," the girl says when she notices my sister. "I would know I'm one of them!"

I slowly push the door off myself, feeling almost smashed.

"Oh hey, there's also you. You both look too cute to be here- must be someone's siblings- are you lost?" She alternates between normal speech and yelling as she speaks, and her motions seem a little jerky- but at least she has a smile while talking directly to us; that's a nice change of pace for today. The new girl has what I think is naturally pink hair that's arranged in dreadlocks and swept to one side, or the back is swept to the side, and the front of her hair-do hangs, framing her face with dreads. For a girl, she actually has a decently strong build, and she wears a thick gray apron that's covered in grease stains, coupled with a gray tank top and extremely thick and bulky gray gloves. She's actually gorgeous in my eyes, but I'm trying to stay on task.

"Um... hi. My name is Henry; who are you? Do you know what that blast was?" I ask.

"I'm Mei Hatsume, inventor extraordinaire!" She says, and then sticks a hand enthusiastically in my face. "And if I had to guess, you're someone's cute little brother... though hey..." She leans down a bit to examine me- which is a bit weird. "I don't think you're Japanese- actually, you're not even Asian- are you from America- yeah, I think you are-" she starts moving around me and yanking my arms up and down as she examines me- I don't feel like she has a concept of personal space. "Hmm- no significant hair anywhere but your head, but your body has developed to a certain stage, so I'd say... twelve, maybe eleven?"

"Um- I think that's enough," I say, pulling away from her as her eyes continue to sparkle with what I guess is curiosity. "Look, we're here because we need support items."

She gasps at this, her eyes becoming even brighter. "Really, I—" but then she pauses and deflates a little; " Oh no, you're probably just here to pick something up for someone; that's not as exciting."

"Actually, not so much. You could say we need stuff for a... project of our own," I say.

"Henry, are you sure we should be talking to the crazy girl-" Tori starts, but she's suddenly cut off.

"Henry?" Hatsume asks. "Wait- oh no, I don't believe this... Brown hair, American, somewhere in his early teens, most likely preteens- THE PURPLE BANDIT!" she suddenly yells. "Oh my goodness- you're in my school!" She starts jumping up and down in excitement as I stand there, clueless as to why. Most people aren't happy to see me these days, not in the slightest.

She grabs my hand and starts yanking me into the room that just exploded. It now occurs to me that I'm fighting really hard to be the only preteen in a building full of teens. Being yanked around is gonna be a thing, isn't it?

Naturally, Tori and I aren't winning even as my sister tries to help, so we all enter the room.

Thus, I get a better look at the exploding room. As I noted before, the walls and floor are made of cement. There are several desks, many of which are bolted to the floor; all of them are metal, and the ones that aren't bolted down are currently tipped over from the blast. Around one desk is a huge black ring, and there is a big dent in the middle of the desk. I don't want to go to a desk that was obviously at the epicenter of a blast, but I'm pulled there anyway.

I'm not terrified, just nervous- same story for Tori, but she has it worse as she lets go of me and stands back a bit. Some might think I have more courage than Tori, but it's not that simple. Doppelganger lets me body swap, and my second body never inherits or maintains injuries when initially summoned. Thus, even if another blast went off, I would likely get hurt, swing my right arm, summon my double, body swap into the new body, and snap away my injured body, going on with life like nothing happened. The likeliness of me being killed in an accident is actually relatively low. Tori, on the other hand, has no such gifts. By the desk, I notice a heavy tarp that Hatsume digs underneath.

She yanks out a jewel case with a CD, holds it over her chest, and shows it to me. I read the cover, and... what... is... this?

The title on the cover is "Where is The Purple Bandit: Middle School Geography."

"Your character almost got me through geography single-handedly!" Mei cheers. "International thief and child genius that turned on the man that stole him from his parents. He fights a never-ending battle against human trafficking, taking the fight to the criminals using their own tactics. The game lets you choose to join him or track him down... my teachers said the storyline was hogwash, but- YOU'RE HERE! It's all true, isn't it!?"

"I um..." I start, not sure what to do. This... this did not come to mind as a possibility.

"I'm really sorry about your sister Cartigan, and I promise, if you let me, I will help you track her down so you can finally get back to your family—I have tons of gadgets, come see!" She opens a metal cabinet, and a massive pile of gadgets of various types, all looking incredibly precise and advanced, scatters over the floor.

"Um- I'm his sister..." Tori says.

Mei pauses, blinks, and looks over at her. "Oh right, you're here- CARTIGAN! Oh my god! Henry- you did it, you did it, you did it!" And now Mei is hugging me. "I followed your show and your games and your comics- I will admit it was hard to explain to the nay-sayers how it could all be real and how you weren't just some regular thief- but you're here! You got back with your family. They must be letting you in the school early 'cause you're overqualified!" She swings me around a few times in a hug and then sets me down again.

My eyes are wide with shock as my brain desperately tries to keep up. Apparently, someone made me into a hero of some kind. Not a pro hero mind you, more like an old comic hero. I guess it's not like a thief can copyright his image, so whatever. The point is that this girl is a huge fan.

Crap- do I lead her on? Do I tell her the truth? I just need to grab Tori and see if she's on board with pretending to be this Cartigan character. Maybe we can finally have an ally in this-

"My name is Tori," my half-wit sister just blurts out. "You could say we're victims of human trafficking- it's not that much of a stretch, but everything else you're going on about really is hogwash."

"I... huh?" Mei pauses, holding up her game again, her enthusiasm slowly fading.

"Look, my brother is a better person than Charles tried to turn him into, but an international thief working to defeat human trafficking around the world? I'm sorry, but my brother never did anything at that level. Besides, he was only in the public for like two years."

"Yeah, well... they only launched the series like six months after he first showed up."

Tori snatches the CD away from Mei and starts reading off the back. "Henry Sullivan, the Prometheus Thief, known around the world as the Purple Bandit, didn't start out as an international criminal. When he and his sister Cartigan were stolen from foster care, Henry was able to escape. Forced to leave his sister behind by the hero who rescued him, Henry has grown tired of the law taking too long to reunite him with the only family he has. Our vigilante hero thus gathers a growing group of victimized children with special aptitudes to use them to steal the resources of traffickers from their very homes. At times, they will even steal from the innocent to keep themselves going. Will you side with the Bandit and his merry thieves or hunt them down for the system?"

I chuckle, "I sound kinda cool."

Tori rolls her eyes at me.

"But none of it's real?" Mei says, sounding disappointed as she puts the game back on her desk. "I dreamed that someday I would find you."

"And help me or arrest me?" I ask.

She sits at the desk that was at the center of the earlier blast. "Thank you. I was gonna thank you. All the gadgets and gizmos in your game and one of your shows made me want to start designing. I dreamed of making a gadget to find Cartigan and bring her back to you..." She pushes the CD back under her tarp. But there's no Cartigan—there never was, was there?"

"Well... no," I say. "Sorry, I guess I'm a disappointment to a lot of people right now."

The girl sighs, straightens her back, and turns back to me. "No, no, that's not fair. People told me it was all fiction. It's not your fault I didn't listen. What really happened?"

I shrug and put my hands in my pocket as I pace the floor a few times. "Two years ago, some guy came to foster care. He looked rich and powerful in a nice suit with a nice-looking woman on his arm. He said he wanted to give Tori and me the home we really deserved. We both jumped at the chance to be in his family. Days later, we found out he was, ya know- a monster. Charles Miles forced both me and Tori to work for his criminal empire, making me use my childhood hero persona as some twisted villain costume. He spent two years educating me in snatch and grab and then in the art of negotiation and other forms of business. But I have turned on him, escaped, and rescued my sister... so it seems your game got a few things right after all. Because of me, that beast is rotting in a cell right now."

"You were a villain?" Mei asks, "Like a villain for real? What the regular news got it right?" I nod. "Great... well, who caught you?" She asks, her shoulders slumping.

"Caught," I smirk. "No one caught me. No one can catch me; I turned myself in."

A grin reappears on her face. "No one, huh?" She stands up and folds her arms. "Why are you in here anyway?"

"You brute forced me into the room..."

"I... yeah, I do that sometimes..." Mei admits, finally cringing a little at herself. "Any reason you're on the first floor of the UA building, though?"

"We need equipment for a fight," I say.

"I guess I should ask, is this a LEGAL fight?"

"It's an entrance exam, actually. I'm trying to become a kind of... a proto student, I guess? I'm getting UA to groom my sister and me to be part of a proof of concept class for their EMT program."

"Wait- a whole new branch of Heroism?" Mei's eyes go wide. "A whole new department that will need gizmos and gear- maybe even sensitive medical stuff that I can spend hours or even days improving?" She gasps with a smile. "Oh my... so if you get in, they launch a whole new program?"

"I mean- I guess that's part of the idea."

Her wild, enthusiastic eyes lock on mine. "What do you need?!"

"Well, Tori and I are doing a capture battle against Bakugo."

"The blonde guy who looks like he stuck his tongue in a toaster?" she asks.

Tori snickers behind me as I nod.

"I can make something to catch him no problem- just give me... a few hours? Not long, unless you wanna make requests."

"I... hours?" I ask, stopping.

"I said I was a genius, didn't I?"

I shake my head, realizing this is neither the time nor the place for gawking. "Okay, first off, that's amazing. But second, no, I'm not allowed to have specialized equipment. Only non-lethal generic stuff."

"Ahhh..." she says in disappointment. "That's not as fun. Hmmmm... losing interest..."

"C'mon, I thought you wanted a new department," I say.

"I mean... I do. But why do they need YOU for that?"

"My sister has a healing quirk."

Mei looked off to the side. "I mean, that IS rare but still... you've never been caught huh?" she asks.

I shrug. Before I can blink, Mei pulls out a gun with a large, bulky barrel and fires it. I would dodge, but I realize it's not aimed at me—then I hear a shriek and a small thud. I look back and see Tori on the floor in a net.

As I look at my sister, I hear a mechanical "click" and spin around to the left even as it's going off. A large net smacks me on the right side but scatters on the floor because it's not centered enough on my form to catch me.

"No way..." Mei says. She aims her gun at me again- only to have it taken by my double, which I summoned while evading her second round. Mei grins and throws herself at the double as I snap my fingers. The double throws the net gun to me before it disappears. I catch the net gun in my right hand, and I move to aim the gun at Mei as she hits the ground. Mei spins around to see- me and my double standing three feet apart, BOTH aiming firearms at her. "Nice- but it only has two rounds per cartridge."

Mei runs at me as I try to fire anyway- which logically does nothing as she tackles me to the ground, grabbing my net gun and slamming her elbow into my chest, knocking the wind out of me and snatching the weapon away from me. She then quickly loads another round cartridge into the front of the gun as I transfer my consciousness into my double. Mei aims her gun at my current body, and I snap my fingers just as she pulls the trigger and- my old body disappears- along with any equipment and clothing associated with it, meaning the gun in her hand disappears, her cartridge falling to the ground as I swing my right arm, another double of me appearing next to Mei and spinning around, kicking the cartridge to me before Mei can grab it.

I load the net gun and take aim, snapping the fingers of my left hand, my double disappearing again.

Mei punches the floor, "Damn it, I-" She looks to the side and sees my double has already reappeared, this time with a loaded net gun pointed at her.

"Can you dodge four rounds?" I ask.

Mei raises her hands in defeat. "Sick..." she says. "That was awesome! And you can duplicate and disappear weapons along with your body and clothes?... And did you do a body swap?" she looks back and forth between me and my double, as we're six feet from each other. (I can only deploy my copy three feet from me, but I can deploy him mid-air with the inertia of a running jump behind him- don't ask how any of that works; I have no idea.) "The game made it seem like you were just a really good acrobat. But... you're the real deal. An evasion expert."

"Well... I don't like to brag..." I say.

"You do like just leaving me in a lurch!" Tori yells from the ground, as she's still stuck in a net on the ground.

"You're still here?" Mei asks Tori. "What was your name again?"

"Tori- how do I get out of this thing?" Tori demands.

"You're in a school for academic excellence- figure it out," Mei says, shrugging, then she turns back to me as Tori grumbles and struggles on the floor. "Tell ya what, hot shot. You're not a secret crime fighter; I'll accept that. I'll help you beat Bakugo- heck, I'll even give you and your sister academic help any time you want- and I think she might need it..."

We both stare at Tori as she keeps struggling with the net. "Oh- I'm not an escape artist, you jerks!" My sister snaps.

"Anyway, I'll be your personal assistant once you get into the school- just like Fumiyo in the game! But in exchange, Henry, you're gonna be my personal lab rat. I'm GOING to figure out a gizmo to catch you- and you better bring your A game cause otherwise I... I..." Mei is grinning and looking cocky, but suddenly she freezes. "I... I have no leverage on you once you get in, do I?"

"I mean, no, I guess you don't," I say.

"You could just phone in working with me or ignore me altogether once you're in." Mei sits in her chair and stares at the floor. "I used to idolize you, but now... you're just a thief. You took advantage of people before; what stops you from taking advantage of me?"

"I... look, I didn't want to live that way..." But she has me with that. It's not like I don't notice that I think and act differently. I can't always put my finger on how different I am; I think I'm a generally good person, but let's face it; when I heard how much this girl idolized my fictional counterpart, I immediately set out to take advantage of her. If not for Tori's big mouth, I would still be trying to pretend I was some kind of dark avenger so I could get Mei to work with us for free.

I sigh and pick up a small utility knife from a nearby table. After cutting a few of the load-bearing strands of the net holding Tori, I pull my sister up. "C'mon, Tori. Let's just go."

"But Henry she..."

"We're just a couple crooks. We'll be lucky if we get in at all. She won't help us." I state it matter-of-factly. Mei would take a risk trusting me, and I already know I'm not the kind of person people do that for. I'm not a good bet."

"Hold on," Mei says, me pausing at the door. "You... you're not all fake, I... I won't believe you are, I won't."

"Mei- there's no crime fighter here, just a normal thief, I have nothing to say. If you don't trust me, you're probably right not to."

But she speaks up before I get going once again. "He used Tori against you, didn't he?" I look back. "Charles, he really did use your sister against you. You really were taken in by a monster, you really did escape, you really did fight against your kidnapper, you really were stealing for a greater good, the greater good of protecting your family. So what if it's not as cut and dry as I thought it was. You've got some flaws... so what?" Mei stands up and looks down at me, putting her hands in her work apron. "For all you know, if I write you an equipment list, it'll just be so I can watch you embarrass yourselves with crap that can't help you. You don't know me; you don't know if I would do that."

She walks over to me and offers her hand. "I'll trust you to keep your word and be my lab assistant if you'll trust me to know support gear. I don't care that you're not 100% of what the show and video game said you were; you're still one of my heroes."

"I... I'm your hero?"

Mei smiles at me and proffers her hand closer to me.

I look at her hand. She has to know that she knows next to nothing about me. The Purple Bandit from her game is a fairy tale that was only loosely based on me- maybe just based on scraps of public information. I'm her hero? I don't deserve that, and I know it...

But screw it. I'll earn it. I grab her hand. "You're on." She warmly smiles at me when I say that. "And for what it's worth, Mei, you're a hero to me too."

Bakugo:

I sit down in the lunch room with my little group of... associates, Denki, Kirishima, and Sero. I don't know that I have any friends per se, but- well, Eijiro Kirishima is tough enough to give me a good fight sometimes; Denki Kanimari and Hanata Sero are both great for a laugh every now and then. Mina Ashido... just sorta shows up when we're all together, so whatever.

Hotaru joins our little squad, sitting next to Sero and quickly being boxed in when Mina decides to almost slam into her, wrapping an arm around her and squeezing her neck. "The squirt is here!" She cheers. "Did you hear? UA is holding an exhibition match for Bakugo. He's gonna have one last hurrah!"

"What can I say? The people can't get enough of me," I say, smirking as I look at the food Hotaru got for herself. One of the things I'm assigned to do with her is watch her diet, and as ancillary as that part of her mentorship seems, it's still a school assignment. Carrots, apple slices, pork ramen, one of those dumb juice boxes, and two candy bars. "Sero, you like these, right?" I ask, snatching the candy and giving it to the skinniest person at the table.

"HEY!" Hotaru says.

"Make something of it- fight me," I say, still tossing the candy to Hanata, who doesn't object.

And then the wet blanket of our group speaks up. "Bakugo, there's no need to be a jerk to her. She's twelve, and she can afford a few candy bars. You're just being a bully. Real men don't-"

"I'm looking out for my... my people. Hotaru is a growing girl and barely knows what a good diet is, and Sero is a freaking beanstalk. I'm not a bully; I just care for the people around me," I lay out for him.

"Yeah, right. You want to say what she eats, so you should walk through the line with her. You need to work for authority like that," Kirishima says.

"I..." but I stop. My internship with Best Jeanist after the festival rears its head. The number four hero drilled into my head that I need to stop losing my temper so often as it's not helping me. Sides, maybe Eijiro has a point. "Ya know what... point taken." Hotaru looks at me, a little hope that she'll get her candy back in her eyes. "I still don't like you eating sweets, but that doesn't mean I should ignore that I didn't go through the line with you. I know you like to sneak junk, so I should be responsible. You're hitting your first growth spurt, so of course you're hungry. Denki, get up and move it. I gotta get Hotes some better food to snack on. She needs the energy."

"Oh, for crying out loud- what do you wanna get her, some granola bars and maybe a few more carrots? I'll grab it for ya," Kirishima says. "Better that than you plowing through me and Kanimari twice."

"Carrots aren't filling; she'll need something for energy... and something practical to eat in the hall... granola bars are good, but make it a PP and j sandwich instead of carrots," I say. But Kirishima stops and looks over at Hotaru before leaving. "Go on and get it then, if you don't want me getting the stuff but you wanna whine at me for not being responsible then-"

"First off, I'm not your servant. Would it kill you to say "thanks?" Eijiro demands, gritting his teeth at me.

"Fine- thanks. Will you get the crap now?"

"Right after Hotaru confirms she actually likes the "crap."" Eijiro says. "A real man doesn't just force things on folks- Hotes?"

"I mean... I like granola... can you also get one of those granola cereal boxes? I like to mix it into the sandwich," Hotaru says.

"See? I've been working with her for months now. I know what she likes." I say, rolling my eyes. Does he think I don't pay attention to what people like when I hang out with them? Sheesh.

"Thanks, Eijiro," Hotaru says as Kirishima snaps his fingers at her in a friendly gesture and gets up to get her more food.

"He's a boy scout, but... ya gotta respect that guy. He stands by what he says," I say after Kirishima is out of earshot. I turn to Hotaru. "So, imp, how are the rest of your studies going?"

"I'm kinda having to double down on a lot of things. It seems English I can catch up on by just listening to some extra audiobooks, and with history, it's easy enough to figure out what I missed with context clues and fill in the blanks from there- but math is a crap shoot," she tells me.

"Math huh?" I say. "That's not one of the things your dad was worried about, but- what the heck, I got ya if ya need it. Probably easy stuff anyway."

"I'm getting it; it's just a lot of work, is all," she says.

"You're gonna get through on your own steam, huh? I like it; keep that up," I say.

"Aaaaahhh- our class mascot is a hard worker!" Mina burst out, "Look at her- isn't she cute?" Hotaru has to pull back from eating and squirm a little as Mina tickles her sides. That is until Sero hits the older girl with some of the tape from his elbow, almost plastering our pink friend to the seat and giving Hotaru a chance at a bit of revenge until Mina is finally able to squirm out and fall to the ground, laughing herself. (Sero's quirk shoots out this strong tape from his elbows.)

I roll my eyes as Mina returns to her seat, still laughing and grinning at Hotaru. Hotaru folds her arms but still smiles back. "You realize if it was a real fight, Hotaru would pack you up like a suitcase, right?" I note.

"If you say so. I think Mascott here wouldn't have the heart," she says, messing up Hotaru's hair, but the youngest member of our group shrugs off the teasing and just returns to eating. Pinkie turns to me. "By the way, I heard there's gonna be an exhibition match like I was saying. And no, it's not because people want more of you; I hear it's more like you screwed the pooch by throwing a tantrum because the last fight didn't go like you wanted. The school wants you to show you can control yourself, or you could get expelled- you EMBARRASSED all of UA."

"Hey, hey- at least he's known for something; the rest of us are in the background," Sero points out.

"Better that, then the storm coming Katsuki's way," Pinkie says.

I growl at her but grip the table and keep down the urge to tear her a new one. "Look, it's fine. The idea is to test my abilities to bring down a tough case without resorting to deadly force. Should be a challenge."

"Challenge?" Sero says. "That's not what I heard. I heard they got the Purple Bandit, the prodigy of evasion himself!"

"Henry?" Denki says, suddenly seeming more concerned than I would have expected. Oh wait, that's right.

I grin. "Oh, that's right," I say. "Henry is yours."

"Look... just don't hurt him, alright, Bakugo?" Denki says.

"It's in the rules of the fight, dude, don't worry about it. I follow the rules," I say. "It's not like I really care, but I'm not getting screwed over by a technicality. Besides, from what I understand, your mentee isn't easy to hurt in the first place."

"And his sister?" Denki asks like he really thinks I'm some kind of monster. I remind myself not to get offended; he's just worried about someone.

"Look, the rules of the game are that both get captured unharmed- so that's how it's gonna be. I'll embarrass them, but save a few bruises, they'll both be fine. If they get seriously messed up, that means I'll have screwed up, and I'm not gonna screw up." I glare at him, daring him to correct me.

"So you're gonna go easy on them?" Hotaru says. "Really... I kinda hope they win. That way, I can have a few kids in the school my age and-"

"WHAT?!" It took a minute for me to finally process what I was hearing. "You're hoping THEY win? After all I've done-"

"For a grade," Kirishima says as he returns and plops more food on Hotaru's tray. "She doesn't owe you anything if that's all you're doing it for, blondie." I glare at him. He just sits down like he barely notices and then looks me right back in the eye. "You gonna correct me?"

"Ta- no, I guess you're right. If I only help her for my own benefit, she doesn't owe me cheering for me..." I look across the table at Hotaru and growl, "Root for whoever, it's your choice."

"Can... can you go easy on them?" Hotaru asks me.

"I can't hurt either of them beyond-" I start again, annoyed at how many times I have to clarify what a "capture battle" means- for crying out loud, it's in the freaking name!- but Hotaru interrupts me.

"Please? I really want friends, and this might be the best chance I get! So what if you lose this fight, no one's gonna kick you out!"

I stare at her. "Who are you? Are you the girl I've been training? You're talking about me throwing the match, aren't you?"

"Well, I-" But she stops talking as she sees everyone at the table staring at her with me. "What?"

"Hotaru, this is the WRONG school to be talking about phoning something in. If the worst I can do to two of those kids is bruise and embarrass them, they'll be blue all over and humiliated. Maybe the others are too nice to put things like that, but the point is, if you're not gonna give every paper and every match one hundred and ten percent, then you don't deserve to be here."

"Well... maybe not every paper..." Pinkie says, a few of the others acknowledging her as I glare them all down.

"And that's why you're all extras." The table gets quiet, and no one has anything to say to that one. "Henry and Tori will get into this school on their own initiative or not at all. And what's more, me phoning in the fight will only hurt their chances- so for my reputation and for the sake of them even having a chance- I'm gonna dominate those brats."