Ch. 3 Hero/Villain Exercise

Elaina walked outside, taking in a breath of fresh air. She wandered around the grounds for a little while, lost in thought. She made her way closer to the trees that surrounded the property. Right on the edge of the forest was a large rock. She crawled on top of it and laid down.

The birds chirped in the distance. A light breeze blew through, caressing her face and ruffling her hair. It was strange and still new to her; she had a dad. For the very first time in her life, she had a dad.

She still wasn't sure how she was supposed to talk to him, to respond to him but she had hope. Hope that they'll have a normal, or as close to normal of a father-daughter relationship if he wanted it. She didn't have to be an empath to know that he had reservations and she didn't blame him.

Feelings of anger, confusion, and hopefulness washed over her. They weren't her own emotions which told her that someone else was close by. "Hey! That's my rock! Get off it or I'll kill you!"

Elaina sighed. So much for peace and quiet. "I don't see your name on it." She hollered to Bakugou.

A shadow appeared over her, blocking out the sun. She cracked open her eyes to find the angry face of Bakugou. She sighed again but louder before closing her eyes. "Hey!" Bakugou violently shook her, almost causing her head to slam into the rock. "This is not a place for you to sleep! Leave! Before I kill you!"

"Is that all you know how to say?" She had to admit that he was starting to sound like a broken record. An angry broken record. "Can't you give me some time to think."

"That's all you nerds ever do!" He jumped up beside her and sat down. "Find your own damn place to think."

She sighed before pushing herself up. "You know, I finally found him." She whispered before jumping down. Confusion that turned to shock then finally elation emanated from behind her. So, he could feel something more than anger. Leaving everything behind, including Bakugou, she headed back to the dorm.

.... . ....

The next day, class was taught by All Might. He had decided to do a team on team, hero versus villains competition. The goal for the exercise was to capture all of the members of the opposing team and to lock them up in the provided cage.

The cage was kinda creepy. It was carnival style and pink. The top of it was decorated in some sad, depicted writing and a couple of mocking phrases. It also had pictures of the principal on it. Elaina suppressed a shudder at the thought of being locked up inside of it.

The teams for the exercise was chosen at random by drawing names out of a box. She was paired with Tokoyami and they were playing the heroes.

The opposing team playing the villains were Kirishma and of course, Bakugou. She had a feeling that this exercise was going to be very explosive and very difficult.

"We need a plan." Tokoyami crossed his arms and looked at her. "Especially since it's Bakugou. We need a way to take him out fast if we want to win."

"What moves can you do?" She wasn't too worried about Bakugou. If he was still the same as he was when they were kids then it shouldn't be too hard to take him out.

No, her concern was with Kirishma. She had no clue what his powers were or how he handled himself in this kind of situation.

Tokoyami gave her a rundown of his powers. A wicked smile appeared as a plan formed in her mind. "Here are my quirks and what I can do with them. I also think I might have a plan on how to deal with them but first, I need to know what Kirishma can do."

The five minutes were up and the two teams headed to their designated spots. All Might's voice poured through the speakers. "You have ten minutes to capture both members of the opposing team. Start in three...two...one!"

Elaina gave Tokoyami a big smile. "Are you ready?"

He gave her a quick nod. "Dark Shadow...Fallen Angel." Dark Shadow wrapped himself around Tokoyami's body and spread his arms out to use them as wings. Tokoyami grabbed Elaina and wrapped her in his arms.

Elaina's heartbeat picked up at the thought of flying without using a plane. This was going to be so much fun.

__________

"Start in three...two...one!" As soon as All Might was done with the countdown, Bakugou took off at full speed.

"Wait, Bakugou, we need a plan!" Kirishma ran along beside him, struggling to keep up.

"I'm gonna find them, then kill them!" He didn't need a plan. He could handle those two all on his own.

"Aaah! This is so much fun!" Elaina's excited voice reverberated around him. What the hell? Was she having fun? Why wasn't she taking this seriously!

Confused and angry, he stopped for a few seconds. "What the hell! I'm gonna kill her first!" He took off as fast as his feet would carry him, using the fire from his hands to propel him along.

He left Kirishma behind, momentarily forgetting him.

"Tokoyami, this is so cool!" Elaina's voice sounded louder, closer. He ran toward it. He jumped over and ducked under, and even crushed some of the metal work of the abandoned factory.

"Flying is so much fun!" Her voice was much closer. There was no longer an echo from it. He skidded around the corner, the heat from his flames covering his arms in their deadly warm embrace. Then he stopped in his tracks, confusion filling him only to be replaced with anger.

"Where the hell are you!" He slammed his fist against the nearest wall, which was made up of several connecting pipes. A loud squeal came from behind the wall. Elaina's abashed face peeked out from behind it. She gave him a small finger wave before running out and down the walkway.

Bakugou chased after the little pipsqueak. He chased her down the walkway for several feet before they came to a large, dead-end room. "Where the hell is the bird freak!" He screamed. He thought those two were together only to find them separated. There was definitely something fishy going on.

Elaina smiled, confirming his suspicions. "If you mean Tokoyami, he's currently taking Kirishma to the jail cell. The plan was to separate you from your teammate. You know, you made this really easy. And now, all I have to do is stall."

What the hell? She was standing in front of him talking so confidently. There was no way that the red-haired idiot would fall so easily. He struck the wall near him, the pipes bending from the impact. "What the hell! I'm gonna murder you!" He dove straight at her, firing off a blast.

She ducked out of the way, rolling onto the ground before bouncing back onto her feet. The blast hit the wall where she had previously been standing. The wall exploded, rubble rained down, covering the floors.

He threw a right hook at her face but she dodged it. He threw some more punches but she dodged all of them. His fist just missing contact by a hair.

"Stand still you damn nerd!" The rubble on the ground bounced around with the sudden, intense impact of feet against ground.

"Aw! Is someone upset," she laughed. He threw another punch at her but this time his fist was covered in flames.

She dodged, still laughing at him. He heard the sound of metal scraping against concrete. Her smile disappeared and she started falling, falling through the wall that he had punched out earlier.

"Elaina!" He dove after her. Why the hell did she have to lead him to the tallest building there!

.........

She was falling.

That was the only coherent thought going through her mind. She watched as the scenes flashed by her without processing them. The wind whipped her hair around, slapping her in the face. The sound of the wind increased, sounding like a train speeding toward her.

She had made a mistake and now she was paying for it.

A hand reached for her. It was long and masculine and covered in something that looked a lot like a hand grenade. Bakugou?

The hand grabbed her and pulled her to it. She slammed against Bakugou's chest, hard. She felt heat against her side and they were no longer falling.

Bakugou landed them safely on the ground. She looked up at him in bewilderment. He saved her? He jumped out of the building just to save her? Guess he was a real hero inside, even if he didn't sound like one.

"Idiot! What were you thinking!" His words pulled her back to her senses.

She looked around their surroundings and found that they were on a small platform made from twisting pipes. Above them, she could see the large hole that was in the building where they previously were. That's right. They were still in the school, in the middle of an exercise for class.

She brought her foot down onto Bakugou's and pried herself out of his arm. A look of hurt and confusion, then pure anger flashed across his face. "Why the hell did you do that! You should be thanking me for saving your ungrateful ***! I should have just let you fall!"

Elaina felt bad for doing this to him. She would have to thank him later and apologize, but for now, she had a competition to win. She couldn't let Tokoyami down.

... . . . ....

Pain coursed through his foot and his side. The little brat had jammed her elbow into his side when she broke out of his embrace. He should have just let her fall if she was going to treat him like that. She smirked. "Did you forget." She waved her hand to the scene around them. They were in one of the fake cities that the school had constructed for training.

"No!" Bakugou spit out. It was a lie and he hated that she knew it. He had forgotten about the stupid competition the moment he saw her falling.

Fine. If she wanted to continue with the competition then he would make sure to pummel her real good. There was no way he was going to lose to her or fall behind Deku. Not those losers. He charged at her and fire off a shot. She ducked.

She had the audacity to smile. He growled before he lunged at her. He raised an arm and fired. Nothing came out. What the hell?

.... . . ....

Elaina wiped away the sweat that began to bead on her forehead. Using her empathic ability like that took a lot out of her. Bakugou stomped his feet. "What the hell?" He growled in confusion.

"Quirk Manipulation," she whispered the name of her special move. Being an empath allowed her to sense what someone was feeling and if she concentrated enough on what her target was feeling and zoom in on it, she could use their power against them.

"You did this to me!" Bakugou screamed. At her nod, he lunged. His arm was raised, ready to try and fire off another shot.

She focused in on the rage and confusion that he was feeling and dug deeper. She found a golden thread that led her to the source of his quirk, down in his core. Focusing with everything she had, she pulled that thread to her and told it to stop. When Bakugou tried to fire, nothing happened. Before he completely gave up on using his quirk, she moved in closer. Every step she made sent waves of pain up through her body and into her skull. On unsteady feet, she grabbed his arm and shifted it so that his palm reached up into the air. She then released her hold on his quirk.

Bright orange and yellow flames shot out of his palm and into the sky, serving as a beacon for Tokoyami. Now, she just had to hold put long enough for her partner to arrive.

A sharp pain wedged itself into her side before she was sent flying. She skidded across the metal platform before coming to a halt when her back hit the metal piping. She coughed, seeing blood splatter onto the rusty-grey grate that was the platform.

Bakugou stomped toward her, a murderous snarl plastered on his face. He picked her up by the collar of her costume. "You wanted to play with the big kids," he sneered, "now you can lose like the weakling you are." He raised a clenched fist. Elaina slammed her eyes shut, waiting for the impact. It never came.

"Dark Shadow!" A voice shouted from above her followed by a thudding sound.

"Bird freak! You finally decided to show! Just in time for a good *** kicking!"

Elaina opened her eyes to find Dark Shadow blocking Bakugou's fist. She kicked Bakugou in the gut with all the strength she could muster. Even though the kick was weak, it was enough to work. She broke free from his grasp and sunk down to the ground. "Thank you," she whispered to Tokoyami and Dark Shadow.

"Kirishma is in the cell." Tokoyami nodded toward her, "are you alright?"

Elaina gave a weak nod. "Yeah."

"What the hell! That red-headed bastard went down that easy? All well, I can take on the two of you!" Bakugou pounded his fists together, cracking his knuckles in the process.

"I'll hold his quirk if you hold him." She pushed herself up onto wobbly legs. She searched for that golden thread in Bakugou's core and grabbed hold. She nodded to Tokoyami to let him know that she had done her part. Dark Shadow lashed out and grabbed hold of a struggling Bakugou.

Bakugou bit and kicked at Dark Shadow all the while throwing out murderous words towards them. "Can you hold him?" She breathed out the question.

Tokoyami nodded. Elaina could see the beads of sweat that were forming on his dark forehead. "Yeah. He's strong though." He then nodded to her. "Can you make it back to the cage while keeping his quirk in check?"

"Yeah." She took a step forward and her vision swam before her eyes. "I might need some help though." Tokoyami put an arm around her and slowly they made their way toward the cage, where Kirishma impatiently waited.

Once Dark Shadow threw an enraged Bakugou into the cage, Elaina dropped the hold on his power. Everything went black.

Elaina woke to find herself in the nurse's office, laying down on a bed. Recovery Girl sat near the head of the bed. "Take it slow now, child. You used up a lot of energy out there and you had a broken rib." She offered her some candy which Elaina gladly accepted. "I healed you but or energy is still low. You need to rest to recover it."

The events of earlier came crashing down on her.

She had blanked. Her mind had gone completely blank. She had to depend on Bakuguo. A groan escaped her lips. He was going to kill her.

"It's alright child. Everyone makes mistakes." Recovery Girl patted her arm, somehow guessing her thoughts.

She was right. Everyone made mistakes. But not everyone's father was the legendary symbol of peace, the great All Might.

.... . . ....

A few hours later, Elaina was allowed to leave Recovery Girl's office. Class only had five minutes left so she decided to skip and head back to the dorm. She spotted the rock out of the corner of her eye and made her way to it. Who was it kidding, the thing was more of a boulder than a rock. Finding the natural footholds, she pulled herself up to the top, flat surface and laid down.

Why was she even there? The whole point of attending U.A was for her to get to know her dad. Couldn't she do that without attending? Maybe she could live with her aunt. Now that Izuku lived in the dorms, there was a spare bedroom.

When she had first found out that her dad was All Might, she was thrilled. Thrilled to finally know who her dad was, to find out new things about him. And thrilled to try and follow in his footsteps, to become a hero just like him. Who was she kidding. She could never be a hero. She couldn't even save herself so what made her think she could save others?

She exhaled a long, depressing sigh.

The birds in the forest chirped excitedly and a breeze rustled the leaves. It was quiet and peaceful, a good place for her to collect her thoughts and to figure out what it was that she wanted. But of course, that was too good to be true. A wave of anger crashed into her, ruining the peace.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Bakugou appeared beside her, his face twisted in rage.

She felt a small smile reach her lips. Even though he ruined the peace and quiet, she was glad that he had shown up. She owed him her gratitude for saving her earlier. "Thank you."

She felt the rage inside of him sputter. Confusion and something else swirled around in him. "Wha...What the hell did you say!"

She propped herself up into a sitting position. Staring into his crimson eyes, she repeated herself. "Thank you. For earlier." She sighed and decided to tell him what she was feeling. He probably wasn't the best person to confide in but she felt like needed to talk to someone, anyone. "When I fell, I couldn't think, couldn't react. I guess I'm not cut out for this hero stuff." She gave a weak laugh.

He growled then plopped down beside her. "No one is. That's why you need to work your ******* *** off!" He looked up into the sky, the angry look on his face turning softer. "Hard work and determination. That's what makes a real hero."

Huh, when did Bakugou become so wise and mature sounding?

"Now get off my ******* rock, you damn weakling!" Nevermind. She must have been delusional to think that.

She huffed and did as she was told. Even though he was rude and immature, he was right. To be a hero, one had to really want it and to put in the effort. Being a hero meant working hard to achieving your goal. "Thank you again, bomb boy." The old nickname that she had for him came out naturally.

Without turning around, she waved goodbye to a flustered Bakugou.

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