….
[Osaka City]
Koji Koda was working with Thirteen, the Space Hero, specialized in rescue, disaster relief and evacuation - perfect for someone with Koda's animal communication quirk.
Today's operation was a fire rescue.
A small apartment building had caught fire, and a child was reported trapped on the third floor.
"Koda." Thirteen's calm voice came through his earpiece. "The smoke is too dense for our infrared sensors, so can your friends help us pinpoint the room?"
Koda nodded frantically, then remembered she couldn't see him through the smoke. "Y-yes! On it!"
He cupped his hands, letting out a low, melodic whistle, and a small bird - a sparrow - flew into the building through a broken window.
Minutes later, it returned, chirping directions.
The rescue was successful - the firefighters, guided by Koda's avian scout, the firefighters extracted the child, and the family was reunited with everyone safe.
But amidst the celebration, Koda's [Anivoice] had caught a discordant frequency.
Beneath the building, through the cracks in the pavement, he heard it: the high-pitched, panicked screams of rats.
Is it due to fire panic?
He thought, but it seemed like something else lurking in the sub-basement.
Koda opened his mouth to tell Thirteen. He looked at her towering, heroic silhouette, then looked at the busy paramedics.
What if he was wrong?
What if I am just sensitive?
What if I am wasting the time of a Top Hero for some rodents?
His social anxiety won out, and he said nothing as they returned to base with the sun setting.
….
Night fell over Osaka, but Koda's mind wouldn't let it go - those cries kept echoing in his mind.
While Thirteen retired to her hotel to file reports, his conscience gnawed at him until he couldn't sit still.
He returned alone, following the directions of the local bird population - they led him around the back, down an alley, to a basement entrance that shouldn't have been on the blueprints.
The animals' cries were intense now. He stood in front of a reinforced door that clearly didn't belong to the original structure.
As Koda reached for his phone to dial the emergency line, a shadow detached itself from the brickwork.
A massive, calloused hand clamped over his mouth.
"Well, well." a rough voice said. "Look at the little mouse poking around the trap."
Koda tried to scream, but a rag soaked in a sweet, chemical rot was pressed against his face.
The world tilted and went dark.
….
When Koda regained consciousness, he was in a small concrete room lit by a single bulb, his hands zip-tied.
Beyond the heavy door, muffled voices were raised in a heated argument.
"-can't just kill a U.A. bart! Do you have any idea what kind of heat that would bring down on us?"
"Then what's your plan, just let him walk out of here so he can report our location?"
"More importantly, we can't let Giran catch wind of this at all, he made it very clear that no third parties were to be involved, so the kid stays here with us until the operation begins tonight."
A chilling, wet chuckle followed. "He will be dead the moment the Nomu are unleashed, so it hardly matters, can't testify if there's nothing left but a stain on the ground, right?"
Nomu - The word sent ice through Koda's veins, he had seen what those creatures were capable of at USJ.
…and these men were planning to let them loose in the middle of a crowded civilian district.
He had to warn someone…
His quirk?!
[Anivoice]
Koda tried to reach out to the nearby lifesource.
After an agonizing silence, he heard a scratching in the ceiling vents. Three crows, their eyes shimmering like black glass, hopped down and landed silently on the floor beside him.
He thought quickly - who could he call?
Would anyone take a crow's cawing seriously, and worse, wouldn't following it only put them in danger?
Then he remembered the look in Midoriya's eyes during the USJ, and the way Bakugo never backed down from a fight, no matter the odds.
"Please." he whispered as quietly as he could. "Can you find my classmates and lead them to where I am?"
The crows understood - two slipped back through the vent while the third remained, perched on a pipe like a silent guardian.
Now all Koda could do was wait and hope his message reached the right hands.
….
[Osaka District - Nighteye Agency Exterior]
Izuku Midoriya stood in the courtyard, practicing Full Cowling in the dark.
Everyone else had gone to bed hours ago, but sleep wouldn't come.
Nighteye had begun to acknowledge him, slightly, and the restless energy in his body refused to settle.
Ten percent. Fifteen. He pushed toward twenty, testing the limit without breaking himself.
A crow dropped from the sky, landing heavily on the metal railing beside him, cawing urgently.
"Huh?" Midoriya powered down, the green sparks fading, he turned toward the bird, squinting. "A bird?"
Immediately, an image of his classmate popped up. "Wait… I recognize you - you're one of Koda's friends, aren't you?"
The crow cawed again, sharper, hopping away and back before moving off once more.
Follow me.
Midoriya's posture tightened, instincts locking in. "Something's wrong… okay? I am coming."
….
[Same Time - Red Justice Agency Dorms]
Katsuki Bakugo was currently vibrating with a very specific, murderous brand of retail therapy: staring at the ceiling from the floor of his room.
At this point it wasn't by choice.
The Hero Stain, whom Dabi had recommended as 'the best' with a 'trust me' smile, had deemed his 'violent sleeping posture' unacceptable and mandated floor sleeping as part of his rehabilitation program.
Something about discipline and control.
"Fucking ridiculous." Bakugo muttered into his pillow.
TAP. TAP. TAP.
A crow hammered at his window, relentless and aggressively, like something on a mission.
"The hell?" Bakugo sat up, eyes narrowed into slits. "It's two in the morning, you flying rat! Get lost!"
TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP.
"I am gonna roast you into a nugget!"
Bakugo stomped to the window, his hand already smoking as he prepared to incinerate the pest. But the moment he cracked the glass, the bird dived inside, landed squarely on his shoulder, and let out a caw that nearly burst his eardrum.
"OW! YOU PIECE OF-"
The crow grabbed a lock of his ash-blonde hair in its beak and pulled with surprising force, then banked toward the door.
It circled back, snatched his hair again, and yanked.
Bakugo's eyes narrowed as he muttered.
"That's one of the shy kid's birds."
Bakugo didn't waste another second. He was already pulling on his gauntlets and grabbing his phone, his face setting into a mask of grim determination as he vaulted out the window after the black blur.
….
[Ten Minutes Later - The Warehouse District]
Midoriya rounded a corner following his crow guide and nearly collided with Bakugo and Shoto following.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE DEKU?!" Bakugo shouted.
"Shh! Keep it down." Midoriya waved his hands frantically, his eyes darting to the shadows. "One of Koda's birds led me straight here, and something's definitely wrong, Kacchan."
"I have got one of those annoying birds nagging me too!" Bakugo's palms sparked. "So where the hell is that animal-talking idiot?"
"I don't know! The bird just keeps leading me toward that basement entrance–"
"What happened?" Bakugo asked as Midorya was looking behind him.
Todoroki stepped out of the shadows, his hero costume on, frost forming around his right side.
"Half-and-half?! What the hell are you doing here?!" Bakugo barked, irritation flaring instantly.
"I followed you." Todoroki replied evenly. "You leaving at this hour was suspicious. Looks like I was right, whether you like it or not, Midoriya is still our classma-"
"No shit, Sherlock." Bakugo muttered, though he didn't move to shove Todoroki away. "The bird brought me here. Same as the nerd."
Midoriya quickly explained, urgency tightening his voice.
"Did you inform anyone else?" Todoroki asked, glancing at the circling crows.
"Hey, are you both ignoring me?!" Bakugo snapped.
"No." Midoriya said, his focus absolute. "I didn't want to raise a false alarm without confirmation. But if all of us were led to the same basement..."
He looked between the two strongest fighters in his class. "This can not be considered as a coincidence anymore."
"We should call the Pros." Todoroki said, reaching for his transceiver. "If this is serious–"
BOOM.
An explosion tore through the street.
It wasn't close enough to throw them, but the ground shuddered, and a low-frequency shockwave rattled the windows of the surrounding warehouses - flames began erupting a few blocks away, and the crows flew into a frantic, screaming cloud.
"That's where they are leading us." Midoriya said.
"Forget calling for backup." Bakugo growled, his boots already sparking as he pivoted toward the smoke. "I am going in now, whether you're ready or not."
"Wait." Midoriya pulled out his phone. "I am sending our location to someone, just in case."
He pocketed it, energy surging through his body as Full Cowling activated.
"Let's move."
All three took off toward the flames…
….
[The Hidden Facility - Sub-Level 2]
Inside the concrete bunker, the air was thick with panic and the smell of scorched insulation
"The explosion went off early!" a villain screamed, clutching a detonator.
"Forget the schedule! Release the Nomu now! Open the tanks!"
"What about the U.A. kid in the back?"
"Leave him! We need to evacuate before the pros swarm the ward–"
The door burst open.
Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki stormed in, their entrance creating immediate chaos.
The villains tried to fight back but were hopelessly outmatched.
Midoriya's enhanced speed dropped three villains before they could react, Bakugo's explosions took out two more, and Todoroki's ice locked down the rest.
Within minutes, the room was silent, the low-tier thugs groaning in the frost.
"Koda!" Midoriya found him in the side room, still zip-tied but conscious. "Are you okay?"
"M-Midoriya!" Koda's eyes were wide with relief and fear. "There are… They said Nomu!"
Midoriya's eyes widened.
At the far end of the facility, a door tore off its hinges as two Nomu emerged - one massive, grotesquely built yet fast despite its bulk, the other thin and skeletal, moving with inhuman speed.
"Oh, hell." Bakugo muttered.
The thin Nomu vanished. "Where did it–"
It reappeared in Todoroki's blind spot, a jagged strike sending the boy crashing through a reinforced cinderblock wall.
"TODOROKI!" Midoriya surged to twenty percent and launched forward–
Only to be intercepted midair by the larger Nomu - the impact like slamming into solid concrete, his durability barely holding.
Bakugo blasted in, his largest explosion yet aimed at the creature's head. "GET AWAY FROM THEM!"
The thin one dodged every explosion, the larger one simply tanked the heat without flinching.
Within seconds, the three top students of Class 1-A were grounded, the facility floor cracked beneath them.
Koda watched in horror, still too weak to move, his gentle nature making this violence even more traumatic.
But even beaten, even hurt, the three students pushed themselves to their feet.
Midoriya's arm was definitely broken, but he managed to stand.
Bakugo's shoulder also seems dislocated though he just popped it back in with a grunt and stood back.
Todoroki had a gash across his forehead, blood in his eyes he wasn't down to begin with.
="Guys… when we were on our way here," Midoriya managed between strained breaths, his vision starting to blur. "I saw an orphanage just a block away, and if those things make it out into the street, we won't be able to stop what happens next."
"Obviously." Bakugo snarled, spitting blood onto the concrete. "You think I don't already know that, Deku?"
"I agree." Todoroki said, the air around him beginning to steam as his temperatures clashed. "We hold them here and don't let a single one through."
They had seen this before, at USJ.
Dabi had fought two Nomu until he was barely alive, showing them what true heroism meant, standing when everything said to fall, fighting when logic said to run.
…and these kids were his students.
The Nomu attacked again, and three students, trained by the best teacher at U.A. - stood their ground and fought back, even without a chance of winning.
Because that's what Heroes do.
.
….
[To be continued…]
★─────⇌•★•⇋─────★
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