Izuku looked up as the buzzer sounded.

  "All 178 people still standing, please return to the central area. Anyone who has been captured but not left the arena yet, please go into the building proper. You will be led to where you need to go." Mera's exhausted voice called out.

  Mirio, Tamaki and Nejire rejoined Izuku back in the centre building, which was still open to the air. Once all 178 students remaining gathered in the centre, Mera began to speak.

  "Congratulations on passing the first half of the exam.. but that was just the elimination round. The real test.."

  The model cities to the North, East, South and West were all engulfed in multiple explosions and collapsed.

  "..begins now. Here's the situation. Bombings have occured in four cities nearby to one another. Rescue civilians and save whatever is left of each city. The HUC will be acting as hurt civilians in this scenario. Please try to take this as seriously as possible. That is all. You have approximately 3 minutes to prepare." He finished with a yawn.

  Mirio was the de-facto leader during evasion/infiltration scenarios. Tamaki was the leader during combat, although he was still working on his confidence. Izuku was the leader during Rescue scenarios. Both his analytical mind and quirk were practically made for these kinds of scenarios.

  "LeMillion, scout the city to the North, locate civilians and get heroes suited to the job to get them out! Suneater, go East,  lift rubble, support the buildings still standing, carry civilians to wherever they're all being gathered. Nejire-Chan, go West. Scout above the city, look at precarious areas from above, give your perspective. I'll take the South. If anyone needs help, send it through the Comms."

  A few seconds after Izuku finished giving his orders, the buzzer went. Mirio dropped, Tamaki bounded, Nejire flew and Izuku leaped to their respective areas.

  Izuku raced ahead of the other hero students with Dark Cloak, reaching the city and immediately spreading his smoke over the area.

  One, two, six, twelve, nineteen civilians trapped in the rubble around him. The smoke solidified around the 'Victims', rising and pushing the rubble out of the way. Izuku gathered up all nineteen people and smiled at their shocked faces.

  "You don't need to worry, the heroes are here to help! Do any of you know of family members or other people that were around you at the time?" He asked gently.

  One small looking HUC worker pointed behind them, wailing quite convincingly.

  "M-my father! H-he was right beside me when the explosion happened!"

  Izuku nodded, giving him a small smile.

  "I'm sure your father will be fine. The other heroes will find him while I take you to the medical centre." He turned to the awed students behind him. "Would you please look inside the small corner shop a few streets over? I believe you'll find a man there."

  With that Izuku rose into the air and flew back to the middle of the arena, nineteen rescued civilians in tow.

  "No serious injuries other than this lady's broken leg. I've kept it stable with my smoke, but it will need to be set properly." Izuku told the students in the makeshift medical tent.

  None of the workers were actually hurt, but it was basic procedure to ask civilians about any injuries or whether they're hurt anywhere. The HUC worker had told him her leg 'stung like the backside of a wasp'.

  The moment he left the tent, his earpiece crackled.

  "Wisp! We've got an unstable building, with literally no support other than one kid with a minor stasis quirk! Everyone else is an offensive type emitter of some kind!" Nejire's voice came through.

  "I'm coming Nejire-Chan. LeMillion, Suneater, have you two had any problems?" He asked as he flew West.

  "None on my end! Everyone here's doing really well!"

  "A few people were put off by my quietness... but it's all sorted now.."

  "Alright. Nejire-Chan, which building? Oh, nevermind, it's the glowing one that's crumbling in slow motion, right?" He asked sarcastically.

  Wisp arrived on scene and immediately cocooned the building in smoke, the smoke hardening within the cracks and keeping the apartment complex together. He took a long pull of his cigarette and blew the smoke out, pulling all of the excess away from the building, leaving a pale concrete tower with big black lines all over it.

  "It's all stable. There are civilians on the second, third and fifth floors. One on second, four on third and two on fifth."

  The other examinees got to it as Mirio popped out of the ground, huffing and puffing slightly.

  "Everything alright? I came to help, but you've got it sorted. Hooooo, that could've been bad!"

  "W-Wisp, we need some help transporting civilians.. i-if you're not busy.."

  "On my way Suneater! Don't worry, the building will hold even if I'm not here. If you need me, just call." He said, floating into the air and zooming away.

  Mirio waved, before turning to Nejire and doing a double take, his smile returning.

  "You're drooling Nejire-Chan."

_________

  Izuku was just setting down at the medical tent when the city to the North exploded again.

  "Villains!" Mirio's voice came through. "Ryukyu and her sidekicks! All of the civilians have been evacuated, I made sure of it, why attack now?"

  "It's the second half of the exam. Save whatever is left of the cities. Rather than more bombs, the villains are attacking directly. Suneater, Nejire-Chan, keep a lookout for villains in your own areas." He turned to one of the students overseeing the medical area. "We're going to need a villain detainment zone. Ryukyu and her sidekicks have appeared in the Northern city and started wreaking havoc. I expect villains will be turning up in each of the zones, please let people know."

  The girl nodded, and Izuku soared into the sky again, heading back to the South.

  As he'd expected, villains were crawling their way across the city, led by Gang Orca. Ryukyu and Gang Orca? What next, All Might? Best Jeanist?

  "Best Jeanist and his sidekicks are here! They're making their way through the city, but I'm pretty sure we got all of the civilians!" Tamaki's voice exclaimed.

  "Nejire-Chan, please tell me that All Might hasn't showed up in your area?" He asked.

  "No, it's worse."

  "Worse than All Might?"

  "Endeavour. He's torching the buildings that are still standing. He's got a few sidekicks with him, who are handling the students, but there are only a few of them. 10 at the maximum, including him." She replied.

  Izuku stopped in the air above Gang Orca and his sidekicks.

  "Give me three minutes and I'll be there to deal with your little fire problem. I've just got to take out Gang Orca first."

_____

  Izuku arrived at City W, his finger to his ear.

  "Is everyone alright?"

  "I'm fine! The others are dealing with her sidekicks while Ryukyu's trying to catch me! I'll be good for another half hour at least!"

  "Best Jeanist is tough.. but he can't manipulate my tentacles, which are much stronger than my sleeves. They keep trying to attack me.. I'll be fine.."

  "Endeavour's really tough! Nobody but me has gotten close to him, and we're only lasting because of our superior numbers, but we're doing okay! The fires are a little annoying though."

  Izuku raised his hand, gesturing to the thick smoke billowing from the flames. The back smog immediately moved downwards, smothering the fires and putting them out.

  A column of flame rose to his right. There were Endeavour's sidekicks, doing well against the superior numbers. It was actually a surprisingly even fight.

  Endeavour himself was throwing flames into the sky, trying to hit Nejire and another student, who were buzzing around him annoyingly. Nejire was blasting him with her quirk, and the other student was throwing rubble with telekinesis, which was melted as it got close.

  "I'm here! The fires have been put out, and I got a whole lotta smoke out of it!" He yelled, hovering beside Nejire.

  "We need to take him out! Unless he's subdued properly he'll just keep burning the city until it's ash!"

  "The objective can't just be to beat the villains, these are the top 10 in the country! Maybe there's a time limit or something!" Izuku replied, dodging a fireball.

  Izuku tried to wrap the number two hero in smoke, but the man dodged and sent more fire Izuku's way.

  "Man he is annoying! Being able to hover like that really ruins my tactics! And the fact that he's on fire means I can't use my usual dogfight maneuver unless I want to get roasted!"

  "POWERRRR!!!" Mirio yelled, arriving on scene from the ground.

  "P-power!" Tamaki said weakly, arriving from the air.

  "The sidekicks got finished up by the others, so they're tackling Ryukyu now!" Mirio said, bouncing energetically on the spot.

  "B-Best Jeanist underestimated the number of students that escaped his sidekicks and got overwhelmed. H-he was very nice about it too.." Tamaki said.

  A fireball went through Mirio's head, while Tamaki protected himself with a tough clam shell.

  "It's just Endeavour left then. He can fly low and slow, but it's good for dodging attacks. His fire prevents us from getting close from the air and on foot, and he melts through anything the other students throw at him." Izuku informed them.

  "I'll go below!" Mirio said.

  "I-I'll go from behind.." Tamaki nodded.

  "I'll go high!" Nejire exclaimed.

  "I'll be the distraction in the front." Izuku grinned.

  The Big Three and a Half moved.

  Endeavour didn't stand a chance.