༉˚*ೃ ¹². 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐋!

𝐀𝐈𝐑 𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 Tsubame's face. Her feet were not touching the ground. In fact, no inch of her body was on any solid surface at all. The purple mist, which had enveloped her body and wrapped her in a cold, unwelcome blanket, dissipated, whirling away in the wind, until it was totally gone. Her eyes had squeezed shut at the torrent. Now, they slid open. For not even a split second, everything was... calm. She was staring at the cage ceiling of the USJ, the clouds above it behind the glass. Peaceful... Wasn't she too high up? Then she was falling. Oh, shit—why was she falling?

           Tsubame's head immediately snapped downwards. Far below her swam the ground: the muddy, dirt-filled area of the Landslide Zone amidst submerged buildings made for training purposes—far, far below. She had to be a good ninety feet in the sky.

          Stomach dropped as she plummeted, hair flying overhead in its spiral pigtails. Up above her, the purple mist that had deposited her in the air had vanished. Warp—okay, she'd been warped. Teleported. Was somewhere else. That must have been the fog villain's Quirk. But now she was falling. Falling fast. She was left to just drop through the empty sky of the USJ, bodyweight catching up to her and sending the fifteen-year-old hurtling towards the ground. Tsubame bit back would have been an instinctive shout, refusing to cry out in fear due to her own pride. She almost chomped off her own tongue at the sudden rush of adrenaline-fuelled fear.

          Shit! she thought internally, grimacing with her teeth bared and her eyes wide, brows pulled together. Shitshitshit! Oh fuck, oh fuck! She kicked her legs out, flailed her arms, and then realised that would help absolutely nothing at all. Did not a thing to slow her rapid tumble through the open air. Instead, Tsubame relegated to drawing her knees up close to her chest, arms braced at her collarbone with clenched fists nearing her chin—simply bracing in protective fright while she helplessly fell. Her insides had been left somewhere a dozen feet above her as she dropped like a stone.

          All Tsubame could do was stare at the ground as it sped up closer and closer. Seventy feet. Sixty feet. Fifty-five—! Thinkthinkthink. If she pushed off with her tiger legs at the right time then maybe she'd only break them both and not the rest of her body. Or would it be better if she tried to roll? Maybe she should just stay curled up—? Shitshitshit! Fuck! Fuck! Wind rushed past her ears, an impossible cacophony of noise. Adrenaline filled her system from head to toe, composed her veins, but what could she possibly do off of the ground? It wasn't like she could just grow wings—! Shitshit—! Tears unwillingly built in her eyes from the speed of the fall as it burned her gaze with the assault of air, and she was forced to squeeze them near-shut to avoid any injury to them. Shitshitshitshit—! What do I do—?!

          A hand grasped the back of her shirt. A hand—? And then there was ice shooting out underneath her, pluming all the way down towards the dirt ground.

          It struck the earth with a shattering, clinking sound, and formed a kind of ramp—arching up in the air towards her body and whoever had grabbed her. A safety slide.

           Panicked, Tsubame's head craned around to her left, upwards, to see a flash of white and red hair. Todoroki Shoto. His hero costume flapped a little in the wind rushing past the two students in their fall. Blue and grey heterochromatic eyes were focused on the ground rushing up beneath them. So he'd been caught in the warp gate with her too.

          "Don't move," he told her, voice deep, solemn and unfeeling, gaze still focused on the ramp they were quick approaching. His words were quickly lost to the hungry air, careening somewhere above the two teenagers, but Tsubame's sharp ears caught them just as easily. He said every word without even a lick of emotion. Now she could see his body—his legs that were bent slightly at the knee in a landing position, other arm that wasn't still clutching her held out at his left, once again bent a little at the elbow. The both of them were falling level now, at the same height. She swallowed sternly and blinked in agreement. They were rushing up to the icy ramp, nearing closer and closer to the landing.

          Tsubame did not say anything as her feet pressed over the tops of his shoes, opting to stand on them before the two would land on the ramp of ice, because she had no doubt that the sharp, cold surface would tear her bare soles to ribbons had she done it any other way. He did not complain.

          Todoroki Shoto's feet landed on the shimmering slope he'd created, like some kind of skateboarder, body angled sideways in tandem with Tsubame's own. A jolt ran through both of their bodies, but considering he was pretty much perpendicular to the earth, the ice gliding vertically along the soles of his shoes, there was no crashing impact. As the ramp curved, they simply slid with it. The two glided easily down, though at an alarming speed, horizontal for a moment before it levelled smoothly out. No broken legs. No smashed bodies. Tsubame stayed stood upon his shoes the entire time, his hand still gripped in the back of her hero costume, and her own fingers entangled in the white shirt of his own, grasping at his shoulders without actually laying a hand on his body.

          Thank fucking God for Todoroki Shoto, she let herself think as they slid onto level ground, still covered with ice. She on her own would not have been able to get out of that situation. Then, the ice ran out and Todoroki's feet glided right onto the uneven dirt. It sent the both of them stumbling a little, though Tsubame doubted the boy wouldn't have if it wasn't for her extra weight pinning his feet down, and she tripped off of him. Their hands disconnected from one another's clothes.

           Adrenaline was still living in Tsubame's system. It crowded her brain. It still felt as if she was without a stomach, and it would likely take a while for her to feel like she hadn't just had the wildest free-fall rollercoaster ride of her life (what she imagined a rollercoaster would feel like, anyway). Sweat beaded upon her forehead, as she stood with her hands clasped over her bent knees. Head bowed. Trying to regain breath. Her male classmate was a foot or so behind her, standing still.

          "Todoroki-san—" she had time to say, was going to gasp out a thank you, but then her eyes glanced up and they were surrounded by villains.

          Tsubame's entire body went stiff, snapping suddenly like an elastic band, muscles tension, jaw tightening, yellow eyes immediately alert. The circle of men and women surrounding them was large, stretched out across the Landslide Zone for further than Tsubame thought necessary. Had crept out of their hiding spots in anticipation. All for two kids...? Each villain looked gruff in their own way, either in physical appearance or the wild look in their eyes. They were out for blood.

          This was bad. The two U.A. students were alone in the landslide section of the USJ. No one knew where they were, and between the different sloping hills and half-submerged buildings meant for rescue exercises, they couldn't see their classmates or their teachers. They'd only had one round of combat training so far, and these hardened villains looked like they were incredibly, incredibly eager to tear the fifteen-year-olds apart. Like vultures on a carcass. That was what the villain with the warping purple mist had said, hadn't he? Writhe in torment until you breathe your last.

          Her figure straightened upright—rolled her shoulders back in preparation for a fight. Teeth bared. Hands pulled into fists. Lip curled standoffishly. Tensed and ready. The villains seemed to be enjoying it: the fear they were instilling into some teenagers. Relished in it. Tsubame supposed it wasn't every day you got to murder some kid heroes in training. As silently as possible, Tsubame extended her Quirk further. She continued with tiger, still the strongest one she had—biting back the pain as it crept all the way up to her elbows. The miniature breaking, twisting and moulding of bones was a small, excruciating grind. When it reached the section of her human elbows, a point which she had not crossed before, only then did Tsubame stop—gritted her teeth and bared the pain. There was no holding back today.

          "Looks like some little heroes got lost," jeered one of the villains, a woman with a visible Quirk—silver knives made up her fingers, her teeth, stuck out of her arms and legs, composed her silvery hair. Her voice was sickeningly sweet, taunting. She cocked her head at Tsubame, who was facing her, a gross smile stretched across her face. Todoroki and Tsubame had previously been more or less facing the same way, their eyes silently darting to size up the enemy encircling them. But now, the students tilted their bodies slightly, so they were entirely back to back. He was significantly taller than her—the jut of her shoulders pressed up against his shoulder-blades. Tsubame was sure that he could feel her heavy breaths through where their backs were touching, and she hated it. Didn't want to be made to feel weak in front of the strongest of their class. Didn't want him to think lowly of her.

          That's stupid, Tsubame, she told herself. You're about to die, who cares what Todoroki Shoto thinks?

          Only briefly, Tsubame's mind flew to the rest of her class, her friends. They'd all been hit by the Warp Quirk too, right? Was each member of Class 1-A facing the same terrifying predicament now? She couldn't see any of them, not through the chaos of the Landslide Zone. Were they going to die? Were they all going to die? Then, her thoughts snapped back to the here and now. As much as she wanted to, Tsubame didn't have time to fret about the wellbeing of her friends. She could die here.

          "Let us pass," said Todoroki Shoto, voice deep as always. He wasn't much of a talker, Tsubame was surprised to hear him now. "And we won't hurt you." He sounded so serious, like he meant every word. Tsubame kind of wanted to laugh, and kind of wanted to grin. Absurdity. So much faith. 'We'. He was speaking about her like she was possibly on the same level as his Quirk.

          Despite knowing she couldn't possibly live up to his own long-range elemental powers, Tsubame latched onto his confidence and fed on it. This is no time for self-doubt, Tsubamemochi, she thought, put on a brave face, and grinned crookedly, staring down the woman with the knife Quirk. "You'll regret it if you don't," she warned, trying to summon every arrogant bone in her body. Canines bared smugly, head tilted in a cocky manner. Like how she'd looked at Bakugou just earlier that day. Eyes lidded slightly with ego. "Don't make us injure you so bad you can't get up. Walk away."

          How were Todoroki's breaths so calm? So even? It was like he wasn't scared at all. Tsubame couldn't tell if that was true at all, or if he was just good at hiding it. Maybe, with Endeavor as a father, you got used to that sort of stuff.

          The woman grinned, flashed her knife-laced fingers at Tsubame, as the other villains began to laugh. Tsubame had to admit, it probably was a funny sight. In a sick kind of way. Two fifteen-year-old children promising they'd defeat about twenty-five to thirty hardened, professional criminals. Let's do our best, Todoroki-san, thought Tsubame, not dropping the grin, though it wasn't sincere. "You're so cute," sneered the woman, her black eyes staring them down as her sick smile widened, knives in her mouth grinding together. "I can't wait to cut you up."

          They moved.

          I should have told Dad and Miki and Tomomi that I loved them this morning, thought Tsubame, and then she lunged.

           Akatsuki Tsubame could the blood pumping in her ears, that was all she could focus on, the feeling of her heart, heavy and wild, beating in her chest. Alive, she thought. Alive. Alive. We're going to come out of this alive. She didn't know what she was doing. Swept her extended tiger claws—shimmering like a near-dozen tiny knives in the sunlight—as a warning, and caught a villain across the face. Blood was drawn. They dug into the planes of his cheek as he rushed her. The red sprayed up towards the sky. And then the rest were at her. The two at the front of the pack were each holding weapons, a machete and a club, planning to smash or skewer her within the next two seconds. How are there so many—?!

          In a moment of quick-thinking—all her brainpower was saved for her Quirk—, Tsubame was changing. Braced back on her legs as the fur and bones shifted with a 'crack!', from orange and black stripes to a softer wheat colour, bones thinning out, and she jumped. Fresh cougar calves and paws launched her up, a good seven feet into the air. The two villains crashed into each other below her, and she sprung off of the taller one's head, nimbly getting out of the way. Her pounce from the top of the man's skull sent her flying through the air. Sent him slamming into the other villain.

          Tsubame's leap had cleared her out of their immediate line of fire. But now that woman with the knives for fingers and all kinds of appendages was cutting towards her, blades flashing in the air. Her mouth was cracked open wide, laughing—teeth filled with shining sharp edges. Eyes crazed. Tsubame just had time to leap out of the way as the knives of her hands smashed down against the dirt. Narrowly missed slicing her up. Her feet skidded on the dirt, and Tsubame flipped herself backwards once again to avoid a bladed swipe that would have gutted her. Pressed herself off her feet, caught herself with her hands and pushed off again: a backwards handspring just like she'd learned in gymnastic lessons—launching herself with her strong feet far enough to easily clear the danger zone. It sent her flipping back towards her red-and-white-haired classmate.

          "Todoroki-san, get the knife woman!" she exclaimed, serpentining around him at blinding speed to take the enemy in front of the ice and fire boy. She was a melee hitter—there was nothing she could do against knives, except get stabbed. A 'tch' noise left her male classmate's throat, but he turned in tandem with her. The two spun around one another in sync, shoulder-to-shoulder, and swapped places as smooth as a river rolling across stones. Had she been any more coherent in that moment, been thinking anything other than instincts, Tsubame might have considered how well the two of them moved together. Like they were built for it.

          It was a bad predicament to be in. But at least Tsubame hadn't had to face it alone.

          The enemy that had been in front of Todoroki was a tall man, nearly as tall as Aizawa-sensei, holding two massive iron chains in his hands. They seemed to have sprouted from his palms, and looked heavy enough to crush her body in a single blow. As Todoroki ducked behind her, Tsubame leapt ahead—sprung out of a crouch with her powerful legs and a wild, determined cry. She was grinning. Grinning. Despite the way her brows were pinched and eyes were wide in obvious nerves, and her mouth was trembling at the edges, her lips were split wide, wild, baring her teeth at them in a cat-like smile that she hoped was terrifying to witness. Be scared, she thought. Be scared. Be scared. So I'm not. Don't let me be scared.

          The villain's chains swung, pure muscle and violent intent behind them as the ripped man grinned too, and she nimbly jumped over them, missing the weapon by an inch. Felt the rush of air beneath her bent knees. Cougars are some of the highest jumpers in the world, Tsubame thought victoriously as she found herself airborne, as the man looked up in astonishment. Didn't you know? She was easily a good ten feet in the air, and with a wild, wild grin, Tsubame cannoned down. Her leg outstretched in a violent downwards kick, Miruko's signature move, and brought it onto the villain's face. There was the resonating sound of crunching bone.

          Blood splattered up, covering the heel of Tsubame's paw, and that's how she knew it was a good hit. It squashed something out of place. The girl did not give her opponent time to recover, not with her body fitted into full flight or fight mode.

         His weapons were flying loose after his hands had released them in the impact's shock, and they reeled above Tsubame as she landed with her feet on top of him. Grabbed the chain in her hand, like how she'd grabbed Sero's tape just the day before—just grasped it straight out of the air with strong hands—and wrapped it wildly around his neck, pulling. She was still perched atop his shoulders, big cat claws digging in, like a bird atop a cage perch. The hulking man staggered back at the sudden yank around his throat, and threw a blind punch upwards at her with a large hand. Out of pure luck, Tsubame managed to dodge. Leaping forward off of him, subsequently throwing his body backwards, and she tilted mid-air. Another gymnastics move. Her reinforced fist crashed right into the massive villain's face. The crunch sound this time was more grotesque. He staggered, she landed perfectly on her left foot, poised. Her next kick landed upwards—bare foot striking directly to undercut his jaw.

          There was a momentary silence from the other villains as their large companion was still for a moment, before teetering limp back and crashing onto the ground on his back, unconscious. Blinks. Amongst all the terror she was feeling, Tsubame had a rush of pride. Then, the villains' teeth bared, and they rushed at her. She fell back beside Todoroki.

          This was an advantage, though. The villains clearly hadn't expected any fighting skill from the students.

          Come on, Tsubame. Come on.

          She was... Well, she was alright. Compared to Todoroki, with his long-ranged ice Quirk, Tsubame was nothing. But she was holding her own against a mass of villains trying to take her down, at least. She wasn't dead. She copped a blow to the shoulder that knocked her off kilter, and then the villain was frozen by a stream of Todoroki's ice. Shit. She needed to do better. Tsubame turned back, looking at her dual-haired classmate with sweat already beading on her forehead. "Thanks!" It was a breathy exclamation, tense. Fuck no, don't let him no you're afraid.

          She went back to dodging, ducking, and delivering blows to whoever she could. Faces. Limbs. Chests. A kick and punch to literally anyone who didn't have red and white hair. Grabbed one by the face, slammed him into another oncoming villain. Socked one in the throat. Kicked another hard enough in the groin to make them keel over and just not get back up. Todoroki, however, was still stuck on her grateful comment as he froze another set of villains. He seemed to take her thanks as a means to reply. "If you weren't here, I'd be able to freeze all these villains in an instant," he observed bluntly, eyes narrowed as he focused his ice blasts on single enemies at a time. So straightforward...

          Offended, a scoff left Tsubame's mouth, though she knew this was no time to be arguing, "Well, thank you." Her tone was laced with irritation and dripping with venom. She was trying her best! It wasn't her fault that she wasn't as incredible as the Number Two Pro Hero's son Todoroki Shoto. Tsubame was attempting to stay stuck at his back, to defend him from behind and be defended the same, but she was just one girl, and there were so many villains. She wasn't a fighter, not yet. Boxing bags didn't move. Didn't hit her back with claws and fists. Didn't have Quirks. They couldn't teleport behind her and flip her away from her classmate.

          The villain who'd managed such a feat was male, short, but quick. He'd been in front of her one moment, then, blink, gone, and then he'd been grabbing her by the arm. With surprising strength, he managed to flip Tsubame's body up and throw her forward—sent her pitching down the steep landslide slope. It was smart to immediately separate the two of them. If the villains had thought they weren't a threat at first, the teenagers were even less of one now. Seventy meters away from each other, Tsubame hitting her spine against the ground. Dirt clouded up around her as she landed, skidding. The girl threw out her feet to slow herself and shone her claws in the air.

          The teleporting villain made the mistake of appearing back in front of her, a kind of knife in his hand as it looked like he was going in for the attack. He'd royally fucked up. The knife glinted, and then Tsubame launched forward off of her feet and hands, landed on her right foot and sprung to her left at alarming speed, and slammed her fist into the villain's chest before he could even react. Aimed right for his solar plexus, like she had with Sero during combat training. Only, this time, the holding back was minimal. It struck home, hard, and knocked the teleporting enemy back with a sturdy thud, her knuckles making brutal contact with the sensitive muscles just in front of several vital organs. The result was instantaneous, and the villain was out cold before he'd even hit the ground.

          There was no time for victory, though, because the moment Tsubame inhaled and turned back towards Todoroki in an attempt to get back to him, an explosion of smoke hit the ground beside her and bloomed out in a rapid cloud. Instantly, her vision was obscured. Smokescreen Quirk? She coughed and waved a hand in front of her face, covering her mouth. Where was her classmate? It was lonely and quiet in the smokescreen. She turned to and forth. Which was had she come from? Narrowed her sharp-gazed eyes in an attempt to see through the ambushing cloud.

          A hand smashed into her nose. Someone passing by with a speed Quirk, dashing through the obscuring smoke in the blink of an eye. Pain broke through her face, and she smelled blood so quickly that it was almost a shock. Ow! Then, the villain was gone again, and Tsubame was twisting her body in the direction she'd vanished, anticipating more. Agony was blooming in her nose, a sting that spread across all of her features. Instantly, her eyes started to water from the pain to the surrounding area. It felt hot-white. A wet liquid dripped down onto her mouth and her hand that cupped her nose.

          Fuck. Where—?! She turned again, disoriented amongst the grey cloud, senses overwhelmed. Smell and sight were limited—actually, scratch that, Tsubame couldn't see at all. She was turning on the spot, eyes narrowed and alert, head whipping around as she tried to get her bearings on the situation. Need to find Todoroki—. Tsubame looked around, but was completely blind in the smoky area. The fingers not clutching her bloody nose clenched into a fist and she forced herself to take a breath.

          That was alright. Tsubame didn't need her eyes anyway.

          She went still, silent, just inhaling and exhaling—and focused on the sound in her ears. Shut her gaze. Strained her ears, right down to her canals, breathing softly. They twitched a bit. Focused long and hard. The smoke made a slight noise... she could hear Todoroki's ice from somewhere around her... even the thrumming of her heart...

          An itch of sound. A footstep. Sneaking, quietly. Just the slight drag of toes against dirt.

          Tsubame pivoted, and punched. The insect-like villain that had been creeping up on her was immediately decked in the face, eyes bulging. She conjured up a bloody grin as it reeled back. In retaliation, its sharp mantis arms flung out. Clipped a wound on the outside of Tsubame's thigh. Blood bloomed through her black shorts.

          It was hard to think, in a situation like this. Combat training with Kirishima and Sero had been nothing alike, because she'd known they weren't going to kill her. But now, she had to take into consideration that one wrong move would end her life; that there could be villains sneaking up on her; that she had to do every step correctly or she'd be irreversibly hurt. Stop thinking, Tsubame told herself, taking a deep inhale through her nose as she sprung back on nimble legs, dodging out of range of the mantis-armed villain, calming. Just listen to your instincts. The villain was beginning to fade into the smokescreen again, but Tsubame was paying attention to all of her senses now—and amongst the smell of smoke and blood, if she really focused, Tsubame could sniff out the scent of the villain in front of her, a little like mothballs and... insects, forest-like. Even as its visible figure obscured amongst the smog, Tsubame knew where it was, clear as day.

          She lunged.

          Sprung forward on her strong calves, fingers braced off of the ground to increase her speed—a little like a bunny-hop—, and then she was flying forward in a leap. Claws extended, glinting, sharpened teeth bared wildly, and eyes alight. It slashed at her again, but the bug villain also wasn't able to see through the smokescreen, and that proved to be a mistake when Tsubame heard the slice through the air of it coming. Totally blind—'swish!'—, she ducked. Skidded on her kneepads just as the sharp mantis claws swung where she had been just moments before—now over her head. It cut neatly through empty space. The villain was unable to see where she'd gone, just as impaired in the smog as she was, so it was hardly a surprise when Tsubame sprung up on her feet, basing her assault on purely sound and smell alone —forest, insect, mothballs—, and caught the villain around the throat.

          Her lunge knocked the both of them out or range of the smokescreen Quirk, extra senses like sight rushing back to her, as her arm unabashedly smashed the villain down into the earth. Poor thing, she would have thought, as she swung the enemy like a strength-testing hammer at a carnival, had it not tried to kill her just seconds before. A 'slam!' down. Its mandibles clicked in pain. Instantly, her weight was pressed against it, the villain's face against the earth, and her hand caging the back of its insect skull.

          "I think you made a mistake," Tsubame grinned, pressing the villain's head further into the ground as it struggled against her. She had its pincered arms pinned with her knees. "You underestimated us."

          "Hey," Todoroki's voice addressed her, and ice crested before Tsubame's figure. Spiking outwards. His shoes stopped beside her. "Get up." Tsubame squinted at him from her position, once again wondering why the hell Todoroki Shoto was being rude to her, or at least unwarrantedly blunt. But she rose to her feet, knees cracking, and stood beside him above the now-unconscious villain.

          And, so, maybe Tsubame had miscalculated how many villains there were.

          The ones gathered in front of them looked fully pissed off, and— were there always that many? Sure, Tsubame hadn't done a headcount, but she'd thought her estimation had been more-or-less accurate. It wasn't a favourable situation to be in. Todoroki Shoto's right foot shifted once again, testing out the waters—and Tsubame couldn't help but think, just freeze them all! But it seemed like he was having some trouble with his Quirk in her presence. A noise that sounded suspiciously like a swear hissed from his mouth as the ice stopped just short of her, almost spiking into her bare feet, and Todoroki clenched his fist. Looked as if he had his teeth gritted.

          What was it that he'd said? 'If you weren't here, I'd be able to freeze all of the villains in an instant.'

          Perhaps he was telling the truth. Tsubame recalled how he'd asked Shouji to step outside at the combat training building before freezing it whole in a display of power. Was it possible a wrong move would freeze her whole? His weakness was teammates, then? The two students rose next to each other, both sets of brows furrowed as the remaining villains gathered—a wall. Tsubame's shoulder bumped his as the two stood astride.

          Her nose was still bleeding badly. She felt it drip down to her mouth. It was probably broken. They'd cleared out a fair portion of the villains—but there was still more than a half standing. These ones looked strong, and if her theory was correct, that Todoroki really couldn't use his full capabilities with her presence because of possibly injuring her too, then they were going to be fighting for a while longer.

          That's bad. A projectile Quirk fired towards her, and Tsubame was forced to launch herself backwards out of the way to avoid it. Separating herself from Todoroki. Oh shit, that's really bad. She'd become a burden?! Maybe she could get far enough away—but, no, the villains were doing a succinct job at keeping her from going anywhere, and each time she evaded them it just pushed her back closer to Todoroki's line of fire. Not to mention all the ice on the dirt was beginning to become a slipping hazard for her bare feet. As a villain with some kind of strength-enhancement Quirk flew towards her, Tsubame blocked it with an 'x' made with her wrists. Succeeded in dulling the power of the blow rather than receiving it head-on. It scooted her back several feet, once again into Todoroki's circle.

         This is really bad! Her head snapped towards her classmate's, face desperate.

          "You're Endeavor's son, right?!" The immediate stiffness that strung through Todoroki Shoto's body indicated that Yaoyorozu Momo had been correct—but there was something about the change in his demeanour that made it feel wrong. He did not answer, but Tsubame understood. She got out a breathless, "Then, I mean— we saw you use heat to melt your ice during combat training, right?! So, do you have fire like he does?!" This was shouted as she dodged a sharp blow from someone who had a Snake Quirk. Tsubame didn't know if his silence was confirmation or denial. But he looked unhappy. Her voice ripped from her throat anyway, "Could you use it right now—?!" She ducked again as a projectile shot from someone's palm shot into the landslide behind her. Tsubame was instantly on her feet, muscles crying out in protest as she launched over the next explosive projectile that just narrowly missed her leg, and crashed her fist into the villain's face. "I know I'm stopping you from your ice, but you could wipe a whole bunch of these guys out with flame, right?!" She jumped again, over another attack, and kicked an enemy in the face with a muscled cougar foot. Sprung off of the ground with a desperate dodge to avoid another blow. Blood sprayed from her nose. "We can't keep going like this!"

          Sharply, but not fast, Todoroki's face angled towards her until he was staring at her in profile. His teal eye—Endeavor's eye—stared at her coldly as he said, "I refuse."

          Tsubame was taken aback by how withering his look had been, how deadly serious. Cold, stern, and... angry? Like he'd quite literally rather watch the both of them die than do just what she'd suggested. It actually made Tsubame falter for a moment. Okay, so he does have fire, I guess, but it's off the menu. Shit.

          That didn't leave them with many solutions, though. It was true that Tsubame had become a hazard, dead-weight, because whatever Todoroki did to the villains could possibly hit her. And that would be a danger to both of them. How had she become dead-weight? How? How?

          "I can't do anything like this," she muttered to herself, looking down at her Quirk-affected hands. This wasn't the entrance exam, or combat training, where nothing was made to truly, irreversibly hurt you. These villains would kill her. Both of them. Desperately, her face snapped over towards Todoroki Shoto. His expression was, like always, solemn and aloof—nothing showing there. His hair blew around his face. "Cover for me!" she shouted, and his eyes slid to meet hers. Teal and grey on yellow.

          She'd manage to wedge her body between Todoroki's and one of the half-submerged buildings behind her, shielded on both accounts. And then, she activated her Quirk.

          The result was pretty much instantaneous. The act of pushing the affected area up past her elbows into uncharted territory instantly sent agony ripping through her, a particularly hot knife against her bones themselves. She could have passed out from just that alone. Tsubame choked out a sound behind gritted teeth and was forced to bend at the waist. Her arms were held out in front of her, fingers clawed and stretched upwards in an attempt to tense her way through the pain. Get through it. Get through it. Blinding. White-hot. Torture. Acute agony in every nerve.

          Muscles tore. The very fabric of them ripped up, ligaments ripping, tendons rewiring. A dozen injuries completed over and over. And the bones too. They were always the most painful. They split inside, moulded themselves into the shapes that fit what her brain commanded. Tiger limbs, strong and brute-force, some of the most powerful mammals on the planet. The bones rolled. Reshaped. Changed course. Realigned. She felt all of it. God. God. God. Tsubame could think of nothing but the pain and the pure desperation to keep going. She was not going to die here. Not when Tomomi needed help with homework and Miki wanted her opinion on a date outfit. God.

          Keep going—. Vaguely, she could hear the enemies closing in. They'd gotten the memo that it was just them vs one student now; that the other was down for the count, momentarily, for whatever reason. Tsubame bit down on the edge of her tongue, which was excruciatingly painful, but distracted her ever-so-slightly from that which was worse. The sound of Todoroki's ice rung in her ears. So did the sound of cracking bones.

          Oh god— oh fuck, it hurt, hurt, hurt— hurt, hurt, hurt—...

          She was going to throw up. It hurt so much that she was going to throw up. Nonono, do not do that, that's so gross and embarrassing. Her begs were heard by whatever kind of merciful god was looking down upon her, the nausea dissipating, but the agony did not. Felt a little like she was dying. Past her biceps— keep going, keep going, keep going—.

          Todoroki kept up his end of the bargain. No one touched her, not even by a hair. She could be grateful for him, at least for that. No passing out. No passing out... She worked as quickly as she could, whimpering into the turtleneck collar of her costume, the intricacies of her Quirk shooting up further and further. It strengthened her already-significant muscles, widened her bones and packed them with density.

          Every time some enemy got a little too close to her, Todoroki was stamping his right foot down and sending ice shooting up to freeze them in their places. They made a good team, huh? Tears filled her eyes from the pain as her Quirk worked excruciatingly. Her sharp teeth tore into her lower lip, leaving it a puffy, bloody mess. The red dripped a little down her chin. It hurt less than everything else in her body.

          Her fingers clutched at her shoulders, resisting the urge to animalistically react to the pain and just rip out the source. Head craned backwards and jaw nuzzled into her collarbone in an attempt to soothe herself amongst the pain, brows pinched tight. The final twists and cracks of bone came into play. It was a grotesque display—the bones visibly moulding and changing under her toughening skin, beneath sprouting fur. Even that hurt, the prickles breaching her flesh. Shit, shit—ow. She could hear it, and though Tsubame was used to the sometimes-disgusting nature of her own Quirk, she was not used to it moving that far up her body, or that close to her ears. Gross, gross, ouch, ouch. For a moment, Tsubame actually couldn't see—whether her gaze went blank from the pain, or she whited-out for, like, half a second, she had no idea.

          But then she came back no more than a second later, consciousness flashing in her mind. There was no new pain. It ached, and stung, but the muscles and bones and all of it had set. The fur ran all the way up to the tops of her shoulders, ending before it could hit her collarbone or any of the rest of her body. It was striped, pure tiger, and Tsubame hung for a moment. In that position, breathing raggedly, tongue bleeding and sweat rolling freely over her skin, Quirk worked harder than it ever had been before. She clenched her arm, flexed it, and, oh, how it hurt, and, oh, how strong it felt. Denser, more muscular, heavier—built to tear down prey. Everything burned. Felt shattered and pulled apart.

          And yet, now Tsubame was grinning. It spread across her face, a little mad, victorious and wild. Everything hurt, she could pass out at any moment, and yet—...

          Todoroki's hair was flying around his face. "How's your Quirk?!" he rose his voice, clearly trying to keep the ice back from where she stood. It was a threatening reminder of his strength, as it arced towards her only to be stopped by the shift of his foot each time. Seemed to be making him uneasy. Quirk. Not me. He did not move to help her, but stood still like a statuesque shield between her and the other villains.

          A wild laugh left Tsubame's mouth as she clenched her fist, slamming it into her opposing open palm like one might threaten to beat up a kid in a middle school playground. Her feet braced off of the ground. She leapt, high into the air over him.

          "Great!" Tsubame cried back in response, lips pulled into a snarl, and then her strong fist was diving straight into the face of the villain closest to Todoroki. She felt a nose crunch, a nasty sensation of collapsing bone and cartilage under her knuckles, felt the wetness of blood splattering onto her fingers, the pushback of her enemy's head. It felt like slow-motion, for a moment. Where Tsubame's skin was hyperaware of everything. Then, the resounding 'crack!' echoed out amongst the other sounds of fighting in the USJ, and the villain was flipping backwards, her fist thrown with enough force that it crumpled his knees and sent his skull reeling back into the ground. He fell like a doll. The rest of his body folded back into him. Puppet without strings kind of deal.

          Shit.

          She took a second to glance down at the strong muscles in her arms, covered with striped fur and now teaming with power, and then when the next villain worked up his courage to charge, Tsubame did the same. Same outcome, too, an instant K.O.. Spouting blood, folding body and all.

          Compared to Todoroki's solemn expression as he faced the villains, Tsubame grinned wide, wildness gripping at her expression as she wiped her bloody nose with the back of her hand. It hurt, was a little crooked, but the blood that stained her teeth was hopefully intimidating. Canines shone. "Let's do this then, Todoroki-san!" she exclaimed, smiled arrogantly with teeth in a way she'd seen Miruko do a thousand times on TV. She spoke while sliding between villain after villain, the girl a constant moving force, never entirely still. Her body was heaving with breath, sweat beading across her forehead and into her fur, claws bared at all times. Breath was heavy, voice a little shaky. The muscles of her arms, torso and legs were pronounced. "And then let's find the rest of our class!" She worried for those who'd been caught in the air, or who didn't have powers for pure fighting. Like Hagakure, with her invisibility, or Uraraka, whose Zero Gravity Quirk required her to get a direct touch on enemies. Even Midoriya, as his bones seemed to break upon the use of his Quirk.

          "We'll finish this quick," Todoroki replied, seriously and unfeeling, with ice creeping up his right arm as he froze those farthest from Tsubame. His breath came out in a puff of visible air, like it was an icy morning in December.

         Tsubame's fist broke an enemy's knee. We can do this, she thought, as she dodged out of the way of a punch by the skin of her neck, but was still scared. That's bullshit. I don't get afraid. She just wanted so badly to be able to go back to Tomomi, and Miki, and her father. Alive. The confidence was a front—she wanted to be at home. Let me go home.

          She moved before any of the other villains could get the jump on her—I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid—, leaping into the fray just like her homeroom teacher had. So cool, Eraser Head. And, oh, make waves she did. Her strength now was tenfold to what it was before, and when she punched, she punched. She could have sworn she was carving through butter, and not assassins, or whatever this poorly thought-out ambush on Class 1-A had been.

          "Your left," announced Tsubame, and then her body was sliding in front of Todoroki's side and her fist struck powerfully up against the enemy man's chest. God, she felt strong. The enforced muscle and bone wrapped up around her arm supplied so much extra power, extra vigour. It sent the opponent flying. Smashing back through the air at an astounding distance. What the fuck. Tsubame'd never had this much power in her life. It was a little intoxicating. In fact, no, it definitely was. There was something about having a mashup of different big cat DNA in your own that didn't sit quite well—tigers were aggressive when they wanted to be, and now, in such an adrenaline-inducing, dangerous situation, she was having a hard time keeping a lid on it. It was a little like... walking two dogs, except one was a mountain lion, and the other was a tiger, and they were both pulling on their leashes very hard in the direction of oncoming traffic.

          And so she didn't exactly want to enjoy her fist breaking a man's jaw as he tried to skewer her with a long weapon, but she did. It was a constant effort to reel it in. But the strength within her grew her ego a little. She couldn't help it.

          It was also excruciating. Pain made a home in her, lived inside her bones as each shift of her arms felt like she was moving with an open fracture, every inch screaming at her. Her legs burned—felt like she'd had the muscles ripped out of them. God, it was like her entire body was one broken bone. One big bruise. Hot. White. Agonising. Sharp pain dove into her skull, a raging headache forming. Adrenaline was the only thing pushing her forward. The flight or fight response. Fight, her brain told her. Fight, fight, fight. Live.

          Live.

          And so she whimpered and crunched her teeth and just thought about how she wasn't going to give up all the beautiful things she loved in life for some stupid villains who'd come in thinking they could kill a girl who loved the world so strongly it hurt and a boy who was made out of fire and ice and couldn't seem to let himself use both. It had been the biggest mistake of these villains' lives.

          Because she was getting used to fighting, now, and these D grades didn't stand much against her brute melee force while Todoroki took out the long-distance fighters with more threatening Quirks. She was bathed in sweat—and maybe her own blood as it dripped from her nose?—and so was Todoroki despite the ice he was constantly expelling from his body. They seemed to work better, now that she'd come to understand his blunt remark from earlier. Let's use our differences to our advantage.

          There was a villain closing in that seemed to have a bullet Quirk, fingers outstretched with small barrel of a gun-like objects at each fingertip, who looked a little dangerous. He was grinning, a bit crazed like the rest—you'd have to be, to sign up for this job—, and he directed the fingers towards the pair of U.A. students.

           "Splitting," warned Tsubame, as if she had to notify her classmate of every little thing she did, and dove to the side in the direction of the bullet villain. Mostly to avert the aim from Todoroki. The villain seemed to like his chance of one-on-one, and levelled his aim at her.

          And her limbs were on fire. Every shift of her arms felt like she was moving broken fragments of bone. Tender, like a nerve. Just get through it. Just get through it. She threw herself through the air—pain—, before the bullets could fire, and they missed by a longshot. Idiot! Tsubame landed smoothly into a handspring, flinging herself forward. The wide-toothed villain just smiled. Such misplaced arrogance.

          She jabbed towards his face with a distraction punch, watching him duck back with a sick grin as he waited for his Quirk to reload. Thinking he'd outsmarted her. That she was just some dumb U.A. kid at an overrated high school. Then, her shin slammed into his thigh, channelling every minute of kickboxing she'd ever done. She swung her leg in three quick successions, connecting each time, two to the thigh and one to the knee—bare foot strong and stretched straight, arms held up in a position to balance herself as her lips pulled back into a determined snarl. The three low kicks aimed for the villain's sciatic nerve, landing brutally against the outer leg in a horrible repetitive thudding and crunch sound that definitely damaged some muscle, ligaments and bone. He didn't check her back once. Villains relied that much on their Quirks, huh?

          The impact sent him stumbling down, her strength exacerbated tenfold by the cougar DNA and muscles building her up, his knee twisted the wrong way as he did so. Split through the skin. And something had shattered in multiple spots in the thigh. As he fell, Tsubame delivered a brutal kick to his head with her non-dominant left leg, all moves from her kickboxing training at the gym. It sounded like it hurt. A lot. Snapped his skull back in a K.O. blow. Out cold.

          She had no time to celebrate her victory, though. Someone grabbed her from behind. Strong arms, covered with short black fur and wired with intense muscle that could have squeezed her to death, clamped around the front of her body. Pulled her off of the ground in a crushing grip. From the way she was being pinned, Tsubame could not move, nor see her opponent.

          So, she did the first thing she thought of. Pivoted, leaned back, and bit. Her teeth crunched down on shoulder muscle, felt fur under her tongue, but clung on anyway like a wild animal. The man who'd grabbed her screamed out, punched her in the side of the neck hard. She choked but dug her teeth in, turning the full way around so she could further the attack. His arms squeezed Tsubame tighter, to the point where she felt her shoulders pop, and she kicked him hard in the shin. Deepened her teeth's grip on a wide chunk of his skin.

          She could see now that the attacker had a Minotaur-like mutation Quirk, more bull than man, and it was a funny chance that he was coming up her own similar one. Compared to him, Tsubame was just a tiny menace. A five-five angry demon currently biting the shit out of him while he attempted to punch her off or unconscious.

         A fist lanced her in the face, catching Tsubame right in the eye. It ricocheted her head, battered the socket of bone there, but her abnormally extended teeth just kept hanging on, sunk deep into muscle and flesh. Pain had shot through her face like a splinter. She was stubborn when she wanted to be. Her body wiggled to escape the strong squeeze of the villain's arms, and she twisted, and kicked—got her knee up between his body and muscled forearm and pushed outwards like a wedge, flexibly lifted her other leg and started clawing at the outside of his wrist with her clawed foot. There was a lot of blood in her mouth, and she recoiled at the taste—but also kind of enjoyed it? that was entirely the animal instincts' fault, because she mostly wanted to puke—and on her claws too, and even though her opponent was squeezing she was putting up a fight. He went to punch again, and she freed an arm just in time to catch the fist in the air.

          It was clear the Minotaur villain was stronger, but her position also gave her certain advantages. Namely, with their tangled together limbs as they grappled, Tsubame had the ability to twist his arm under her ankle and lock it against his torso in a painfully contorted way. He bellowed like a bull; Tsubame produced one of the clicking growls that cougars make in lieu of a roar. Was tearing in deep with her predator teeth simply just because he refused to let go.

          From the direction her head was craned, she saw Todoroki turn towards her—notice the predicament she was in. His expression hardened, not really concern but duty, and the boy made a move to step towards her. Ready to free his classmate from the predicament she'd gotten herself in.

          At her harsh, determined look, he stopped in his tracks.

          Tsubame had her teeth bared tight. "Got it!" she gritted out to him, wanting to prove something. She wasn't sure if it was to prove it to Todoroki Shoto, or someone who'd been ever present in her past, or all those people in junior high who'd almost convinced her she'd never be able to handle the duties of a hero school, or to herself. Maybe all of the above. All she knew was that Tsubame knew what she wanted. And so her hands that grappled with the giant villain pulled, claws sinking in as her arms locked around him now. They were well and truly wrestling. He was stronger, and denser, but Tsubame was nothing if not determined and tiny and angry.

          Come on, come on. And she did the unexpected. Tsubame's arms heaved, tightening and muscles straining, and with a great inhale and strain, she lifted the villain over her head. Quick and fast, before he could even comprehend what was happening. Flipped him up and over. She felt her back crack at the sudden twist and weight, but it was nothing compared to the satisfaction when Tsubame slammed the Minotaur villain spine-down into the earth with a great crescendo of a thud. Loose dirt flew up around the two at the impact. She had done it with a cry, body slightly airborne from the force, Quirk-reinforced muscles straining all the way up to her shoulders.

          It was a tough throw, a tougher landing, but it had worked. Had worked. And from the way the Minotaur villain's head had smashed down into the ground, he'd been knocked out cold. Tsubame's breath came out ragged and overexerted. She flexed her muscles in test, finding them sore. Looked up at her classmate.

          And in that moment, Tsubame thought—just a possibility—, perceived that, maybe—she'd never been good at reading faces, but she swore—, perhaps, something flickered in Todoroki Shoto's eyes then. Or maybe it was just a trick of the light. Just her swollen eyelid forcing her to see things. Her overactive imagination, some would say. But she could have sworn, could have wholly convinced herself, that it was there. Respect. Respect? Just, maybe, the tiniest hint of it, the slightest sliver, for a half-second, in the stern pools of his teal and grey eyes, the loss of tension in his brows, and the thin plane of his mouth. And then it was gone, and he was turning and extending his right hand, and freezing a villain whole in its charge towards him. She could have imagined up the entire thing, but Tsubame hoped not. It would be nice to have someone as strong as Todoroki Shoto hold some ounce of respect for her.

          Alright, Todoroki Shoto, she thought to herself. Maybe you'll earn my respect too.

          Her lungs felt like they were about to collapse, or that her heart was about to give out, and Tsubame was pretty sure that she was high on adrenaline at this point, but she still moved forward, getting into the motion of things. Rocketed herself off the earth on her strong cougar paws and calves.

          Don't think. Now, she was careening through them, their bodies a blur. She was flipping, and punching, and leaping—stretching her Quirk to her every which advantage. Clawed someone across the face. If you screw up, you die. Hind paw planted in a villain's face, claws caging in the top of his skull, and slammed him down into the earth as she landed. Unconscious. Flipped upwards on her hands to launch herself head-over-heels into the sky and right over the figure of the next villain. Just instincts. Her gymnastic lessons over the years were paying off. Todoroki Shoto was freezing villains left and right beside her, as she took out just the ones that he was missing.

          Tsubame was pretty sure she was fairly beaten up, based on the numb feeling in her eye socket, the ache in her legs, and the way her thigh burned in a narrow area, but with all the adrenaline forcing her to keep moving it wasn't something that she registered right away. When another villain swung at her with some kind of plant Quirk, Tsubame twisted and swung her leg up high—used her cougar leaping abilities to their advantage as her shin connected with the woman's head and downed her, flinging her to the earth the whole way. Without even asking her, Todoroki had frozen someone with a portal-throwing Quirk behind her, stopping the villain in their tracks.

          We make a pretty good team.

          It was true that he was taking out most of them, but at least she could claim she was contributing something. The villains had clearly underestimated their abilities, but it also became clear in Tsubame's mind that they hadn't been the target. Class 1-A had just been expendable afterthoughts in this situation—wrong place wrong time kind of thing: the villain with the purple fog had talked about killing All Might. These villains were just the streetcleaners made to get rid of the witnesses. Compared to the villains she often saw on TV, these guys had to have been scrounged up from the dregs.

         She thought this as she punched another villain unconscious: brutal boxing blows to the enemy's throat then solar plexus, gripping them by the hair. Pain lanced up her arms at every movement. Felt like freshly opened broken bones. Tsubame just beared it. It was all she could do. And then, they were reaching the last of them. How many had Tsubame cut through? Thrown to the ground with twists of her body, punched straight through the nose? Shit, she was tired.

           From the corner of her eye, Tsubame spotted a woman with cherry-red hair geared up and sprinting at Todoroki from behind. Her hands were splayed out in front of her. Raindrops, sharp as knives, hung around the woman as she went in for the strike—and the water began to form something akin to a wide blade. He had not spotted her.

          "Behind you!" she cried, all mask of confidence gone in that moment, and launched herself towards Todoroki. She was there before he'd even had time to turn—before teal and grey eyes could even follow the blur of her body. Tsubame was fuelled by total desperation and adrenaline as she soared at the villain, and punched. She shattered through the hard wall of water like it was glass. Tsubame's hand felt as if it were on fire. Not just that: her whole body. God, she was tired. It hit her suddenly, like a train.

          Her blow forced the villain backwards, woman with red hair stumbling in an attempt to bring her Quirk back her defences. Too late. The small shards cut at her skin, but Tsubame burst through them stoically, still airborne. Her thighs wrapped around the side of the villain's shoulders, trapping the woman in a kind of death lock she'd seen Miruko do before but had never attempted herself, and with a shout she flipped the both of them over. It was clumsier than she'd anticipated—the rotation wasn't full and she landed half on her own body, but it was at least effective in the fact that it brought the villain with full force down onto their stomach. Smash! The impact shuddered through the woman's figure, as she struggled a bit beneath Tsubame's weight, clearly trying to stay conscious.

          The villain attempted to use her Quirk, but Tsubame was quick to—mostly out of total panic and with a toothy grimace—grab the back of her head and slam the woman's face down into the earth again. Stay down! The woman shifted again in an attempt to grasp at her, and Tsubame did the same thing again with a flinch. Shit, stop moving! The villain stilled now, and Tsubame recognised the general silence that had set over the Landslide Zone as only a few enemies to the students remained. She exhaled deeply, watching as Todoroki handled a few more enemies. Her clawed fingers were still wrapped around the back of the enemy's skull—it made her flinch a little. Genuinely hurting people wasn't fun. The woman bled a little on her hand, and Tsubame reached down to feel her throat for a pulse, just to be sure. Thirteen's words from earlier hung at the forefront of her mind. There was a heartbeat. She exhaled a sigh of relief.

          Tsubame was running out of steam, given by the heavy breathing that forced her shoulders to rise and fall dramatically. It wasn't helping that she could only breathe through her mouth. Her nose was all clogged with wet blood. She pinched at it and staggered to her feet, hoping to stop the flow as she titled her head back, eyes blurry in the bright sunlight streaming through the USJ dome's glass.

          "I hate to say this," Todoroki said plainly to the team of villains, half frozen and the other half unconscious, "but you just look like guys with Quirks they didn't know what to do with." Those who had been encased in ice twitched a little in protest, totally stuck, as Todoroki Shoto walked through the group. And Tsubame couldn't help but smile, even if the boy's seriousness did make his words a little scary. We showed them!

          A manic shout came from down the landslide slope as a man with a painted face and a machete dove out from behind a rock and charged at Todoroki, blade shining in the sun. At the same time, from behind her classmate sprung another villain, bird-headed and winged, that was carrying a great spear. Thrust it towards the high school boy.

          "Todoroki-san!" Tsubame cried out in warning, and started to move, but she needn't have worried at all. One shift of the boy's foot and ice was encasing the enemy in front of him from head to toe, stopping him in his tracks. And then his body angled to the right, the spear missing him, and Todoroki was grasping it by the pole. Ice shot up the metal of the weapon, and flashed over the bird villain holding it. Froze him, in entirety, mid-air. Both villains let out sounds of surprise as they were suddenly shimmering icicles, and Todoroki pulled the spear out of the bird villain's hand—causing him to crash into the earth.

          Tsubame's feet skidded to a stop in the dirt, falling short of Todoroki. Smiled in relief. Then, her eyes cut to the last guy standing, in tandem with Todoroki's—gazes of teal and grey, and yellow. The final villain, some guy with a large jaw and big teeth, took a look at his surrounding kin, and at the two teenagers stood amongst them, turned, and ran. Just fled. Scrambled up the hill away from them. It was a hilarious sight. The hunter had become the hunted.

          Tsubame laughed. She was grinning, face a bloody mess and eyes alight with animalistic humour. They were scared enough to run?

          It was probably her predatory instincts that made her find amusement in the situation, but there was also something genuinely quite humorous about a villain who'd come to kill her run away from a fifteen-year-old with just a half-trained Quirk. That was the reason why Tsubame took up chase. Arrogantly, the bones in her calves and feet shifted as she ran. It burned, switching from one animal to another without changing to their regular formation of human between, but Tsubame was feeling full of herself. She staggered for just a moment. Then, her speed was increasing as cheetah paws sprung off of the ground, and she practically flew across the earth and up the landslide slope, pressing with her hands against the ground every moment or so.

          She jumped, went flying through the air in a flash and with pigtails whirling behind her, and tackled the fleeing villain with her knees flying into his back. It was a brutal takedown. Slammed him straight into the ground and his head down too, a crunch in what could have easily broken his nose. Grabbed him by the back of the hair, making sure he was out cold. No more running or tormenting kids for you. Just for good measure, she pressed his face into the dirt. Hoped it was embarrassing to be apprehended so quickly by a girl barely in high school.

          "Told you that you underestimated us," she murmured confidently, relishing in the way the villain was left unconscious as she stepped off of him. They'd come to a high school expecting easy meat from a bunch of teenagers—so fucking cruel. It was the sweetest form of karma that they'd had their asses handed to them instead.

          When she was done with the torment, Tsubame turned and jogged back down the slope towards Todoroki. She slipped a little, ankles sore and a bit weak after all the changing of her body she'd done in such a short amount of time. Her dual-haired classmate was breathing heavily, surrounded by fallen villains, some encased in ice and others knocked out clean by Tsubame herself.

           "You look cold," she observed. The boy was shivering a little, and from his mouth poured visible breaths—soft puffs of air like when it got icy out during the Musutafu winters. Up and down Todoroki's right side were crystalline formations of ice. She'd volunteer to warm the stranger boy like she had with Tsuyu, raising a hand up in an offer, but Todoroki had already turned away. Said nothing in return to what she'd said other than making a dismissive—or acknowledging, she really couldn't tell when it came to Todoroki—noise in the back of his throat. He was approaching one of the several villains he'd frozen totally in ice, the cold substance encasing them entirely from their feet to over their heads. It looked painful. Only their faces were freed. Todoroki's face was stern as he stopped before the man with the machete, his shoes clinking on the icy ground. Stared for a moment.

          Even with the short distance spanning the U.A. students, it was clear how much taller Todoroki was than Tsubame, his shoulders set back and face without emotion. But the both of them were scary in their own way—Tsubame's brashness despite her broken nose and red-slathered face from said wound, and Todoroki's solemn mask. Aggressive wildness and eerie composition.

          "What're you doing?" Tsubame asked, wiping her mouth with her forearm. It came away bloody on her bare tiger fur, from where her nose was pumping blood freely. Her lids felt weighted. Have I always been this tired...?

          "Getting answers," the icy boy replied, grey and blue eyes boring into the villain whose face was quivering. The villain looked shit-scared, and Tsubame would have been too. He dropped the shattered spear as Tsubame neared him—she heard Todoroki exhale lightly through his nose as he addressed the villain, "Hey, at this rate your cells will slowly die." The man he was addressing gritted his teeth with fear, and Tsubame came side-to-side with her classmate. Two angry U.A. High students standing shoulder-to-shoulder, each with molten gazes of displeasure. Tsubame's arms crossed toughly over her chest as she joined in staring at the villain quickly reducing to a snivelling mess. Disgusting. Apathy rose in her throat. They'd wanted to murder children and became begging infants when things hadn't gone their way. "I want to be a hero," Todoroki continued, shoulder brushing her own as he neared the man. "I would like to avoid something so cruel if possible." As Tsubame stayed stood there, arms still crossed on her chest and a withering look on her face as she stared down the villain, Todoroki raised his right hand before the man's face. Small waves of cold could be physically seen leaving his palm, freezing the air, like a tiny blizzard. A threat. Then, he pressed his fingers lightly over the man's face, and spoke sternly, "On what basis do you think you can kill All Might?" His brows sterned. "What's your plan?"

          Tsubame was still breathing heavy, and now she paused. Lips were pulled together tight. "There's no way they'll really be able to kill him," she added without waiting for the villain to fully reply. The Number One wasn't number one for nothing. Tsubame had seen plenty of heroes be defeated and needed to have backup during fights on TV, but there was no record of All Might being defeated ever. As far as anyone knew, he was practically invincible. All Might never let a villain get away, never stopped smiling, and never lost. Those were the three inarguable facts that defined the world's Symbol of Peace. "These guys must be idiots." She spotted a villain shifting on the ground, and moved to tie them up with some of the chain villain's heavy weapons, ensuring that she and Todoroki wouldn't be attacked again. Pinned their arms behind their back for good measure.

          But Todoroki's serious look didn't falter for a minute. "They wouldn't come up with such an elaborate plan if they thought they were going to lose." That made Tsubame's brows furrow. But Todoroki wasn't joking. She couldn't hope to read his expression—the girl had difficulty reading between the lines on the best of days, and Todoroki Shoto was a hopeless case—but Tsubame was sure he wasn't joking. The villain he was threatening was blubbering out mostly incoherent information. Just trying to not get their face frozen off.

          But that couldn't be... There was no way this... League of Villains could kill All Might. Her canines teased her lower lip nervously, chewing a little. Deepened that already scarred divot in her mouth that she'd gotten from doing this direct action. "You get onto that that," she sighed, wringing out her pigtails which were now a frizzy mess, "I'm going to see if I can find anyone else." Tsubame turned on her heel, now with the lack of adrenaline realising just how much her body ached and how exhausted she was, and treaded over towards the edge of the Landslide Zone. Their zone was elevated, and had a dirt, rocky lip from which she could peer over out to the rest of the USJ. Her thigh was burning from the cut, and her nose was an entire world of agony. Plus, she'd definitely pulled some muscles. And Tsubame's arms were filled with a stabbing sensation all the way up to her shoulders from the way she'd pushed her Quirk up that far.

          If it hadn't been for the pure determination to make sure her friends were alright, Tsubame could have curled up on the ground and fallen asleep.

          She rubbed her eyes and yawned as the girl stepped around the downed villains, dozens surrounding them unconscious, and pretty much collapsed at the edge of the zone. Knees buckled against her will. Her body was telling her to take a nap. Fell heavy onto the ground, a pile of limbs. Eyes slid closed for a moment, head pressed against earth. Dozing. F'cking t'red...

          A burst of alertness jolted her. No, she told herself, and Tsubame slapped herself across the face. Harder than she'd anticipated. Ouch. It did pretty well to wake her up. Don't sleep in the middle of an invasion! It was entirely the fault of her Quirk, but Tsubame still clawed herself back up into sitting position, fighting the terrible urge to fall asleep. Lids droopy, head heavy and swaying. Stay awake, you useless Tsubamemochi! Then, she used her fingers to force her left eye even wider open, pressed against her upper and lower lids. Urged her gaze to stay open. Stay the fuck awake.

          The USJ was eerily empty. Tsubame's grin had fallen, mouth pressed into a thin line of worry and exhaustion. Gaze searched, alert and concerned, for any sign of her classmates. Where—? Where—?

          There—up by the entrance. It was hard at the distance, but she thought she could make out the small figures of Uraraka, Ashido, Shouji and Sero. Scratch that, definitely could. Her view sharpened on their forms as they waited atop the large staircase. The two girls were both kneeling by something Tsubame couldn't see, Sero stood beside them, and at the very front was Shouji. His Dupli-Arms were shaped like ears and eyes—probably trying to track down the rest of their classmates just like Tsubame was. Had they been missed by the warp Quirk? Or had they simply gotten there first? Either way, the four didn't seem to be in any immediate danger. The exit door was still firmly closed, however—it seemed they hadn't found a way out. Safe for now.

          Akatsuki Tsubame's sharp eyes cut across the USJ, hoping to search the other zones from the distance to see if she could see any sign of trouble, but for the first time they caught on something in the plaza.

          Instantly, she dropped the hand that was keeping her eye open and clutched it against the crater-like lip of the Landslide Zone. "Fuck," she whispered to herself, suddenly wide awake.

          It was Aizawa-sensei, though it was hard to identify at first. A black smudge on the ground, still. And the two figures flanking him made it even harder to distinguish. But it was him. It was him.

          There was blood. A lot of blood.

          The man was face-down, the giant indigo creature of bulging muscles, exposed brains, sharp teeth and bugging eyes posed with a knee crushing his spine. Was holding him in a bone-breaking grip. Easily a foot taller than him and three times as muscled. That had managed to compromise Aizawa? The same Aizawa they'd seen take out dozens of villains without so much as blinking? Who'd dove in to save his students without a second thought?

          Behind Aizawa and the hulking mass of a creature, stood the man with the many hands. He watched in silence as 1-A's homeroom teacher was crushed. Aizawa Shota must have been in excruciating pain. There was red everywhere. Dousing him from head to toe. One of his arms was twisted entirely backwards in the wrong direction, held up above his head by the hulking mass' large hand. Tsubame couldn't spot how many places it was broken, but it looked bad. His other arm was also smashed, laying limp on the ground. And there was— the—... The creature had its hand crunched around the back of the homeroom teacher's skull, and seemingly had crushed Aizawa's head so hard into the ground that the surrounding pavement around it had cracked. Like a halo.

          He wasn't moving.

          A dry ball had forced its way inside Tsubame's throat, and she swallowed with difficulty. Felt suddenly parched. Shivers and goosebumps had taken over her body, as her fingers dug into the dirt. Eyes wide. Face just peering over the edge a mask of horror, muscles trembling as she watched the giant villain's hand force Aizawa's face deeper into the concrete. More blood. No, no, no. Tsubame's teeth clenched together with a grinding noise that she heard in her skull. Claws pressed grooves excruciatingly into the earth.

          Her head craned back, tilting to the side to spot where her two-toned classmate was interrogating the frozen villain. The girl's expression was open and filled with panicked fear for their homeroom teacher. "Todoroki-san!" called Tsubame, eyes wide. "This looks bad!"

          Instantly, apparently having enough information, Todoroki dropped his hand from the still half-frozen man's face and turned towards her. Heterochromatic eyes meeting Tsubame's. The boy walked—no, ran—over to her side, a determined look on his face. He skidded to a stop next to her, getting to his knees, and joined Tsubame. When he saw the sight of their teacher, Todoroki's jaw visibly clenched.

          "Do you think—?" She swallowed again. The rest of her sentence—do you think he's dead?—hung in the air, untouched, until she saw Aizawa-sensei's shattered arm shift just the slightest. The indigo creature was still perched atop him, and squeezed his skull tighter. Tsubame's features went hard, determined. Brows set, mouth pulled together tight, and jaw clenched. She pressed her tongue inside her mouth to the corner of a cheek, then ran it over her teeth and stopped at the spike of an upper canine. Tasted blood that had dripped onto her fangs from her broken nose. Akatsuki Tsubame was many things, but she wasn't a coward. She wasn't an abandoner. Never.

          She clenched her fingers into fists. Claws dug into the flesh of her palm. Abruptly, her face turned towards Todoroki.

          "We can't—... He's our teacher, we can't leave him." Her voice was a mixture between angrily determined and vehemently worried, bloody teeth on display and features taut. The words trembled a little on exit of her mouth. With her eyes trained harshly on Todoroki's face, desperate and afraid, Tsubame mostly expected him to tell her that she was crazy. That they should just get to their several classmates that were by the entrance and escape from the USJ while they could. That would have been the rational option. It would have been the option anyone would have told her.

          Instead, Todoroki just stared at her in profile, grey eye focused on her face. Spoke, in an aloof tone, "I'm with you."

          I'm with you.

          Tsubame nodded determinedly to him. Turned her face back towards the scene unfolded in front of her. To the blood pooling out beneath her compromised, probably dying teacher. She braced her foot against the earth, ready to spring into action, knees bent as she took up a sprinting stance. Bared her teeth. Tried to calm the feeling of her beating heart, stuttering in her chest, and loud, the way her fingers had a slight shake to them. Instead, dug claws into the earth and shook her head, yellow eyes lasering in on the figures in the plaza.

          It was now or never.

          Go beyond...

          Plus Ultra!

༉*ೃ༄

tsumochi my beloved

ah, despite the contents of this chapter, the line about todoroki and tsubame gliding down the ramp like a skateboarder made me think of a tsumeroki sk8 the infinity au,,,, snowboarder todoroki and skateboarder tsubame, SO TRUE

also AW they work so well together i love them sm sm

todoroki's like,,,,, 'hmm maybe she's an alr fighter' like sir that is your future wife 🙄☝️

i've done so much research into the way tsubame fights, and it's a mixture of boxing, kickboxing, and gymnastics all meshed together. like she's never entirely had proper combat training other than self-defence and boxing classes, and public quirk use is illegal, so she just uses what she knows. i mean, it's canon that ashido mina uses her gymnastics and breakdancing skills in combat so it's pretty much the same for tsubame. she's just got such incredible strength that when she pairs it with agility, and as she works on it more, it'll be pretty much an endgame for anyone with melee quirks. well, most anyway 👀

i was listening to emotional tsumeroki songs while writing this and thinking,,, wtf, this is how they start. i'm,, :')

I OFFICIALLY finished jjk and have just started watching haikyuu!! so wish me luck

i know this chapter is super long, sorry! i couldn't find an appropriate place to cut it and it felt weird splitting it during the middle of combat so have this monster <3 ily

i know he wants to be best friends so bad

word count: 12,962

08.05.2021.