Looking over the screens, I cracked my knuckles and kept leaning on the wall. The room was small, tight, and under the scents of body odor there was more. The remains of lavender, an undercurrent of burnt sugar, a whiff of pastry and another of ozone. Crossing myself idly, I watched the fight begin.
Yaoyorozu had mined the doorway, which was intelligent, but her mines were sonics and flashbangs if I was reading the kanji on the side right. Since it was liable she didn't have any other less-lethal explosives, I couldn't judge her much, but the defense was entirely static- and worse, unwatched. The stairs were also lightly mined, and from what I could see she had her bo staff and was getting ready with Tokyami to hold the defense on the third floor, with the bomb in the gantries on the fourth. It wasn't inherently a bad plan, too. Just one that didn't have any formal training to it.
When it was time for Todoroki to go, he just stood up, and grumbled. His stretching was almost indolent, and I could feel Ojiro squinting in time with me as he set himself, before using his Quirk.
Then the world was ice.
Watching All Might frantically reboot the console, I winced. The first floor was coated in centimeters of ice, and much of the second as well. The third, meanwhile, had a titanic ramp leading up to it, as well as a solid hoarfrost covering the inside. Tokoyami was literally locked in place, and Yaoyorozu was shivering, trying to heat herself up with a blanket and what looked like a supersized handwarmer. It wasn't fast enough, as Mister Freeze there walked up the ramp, cool as could be, and then just draped the both of them in capture tape.
"Well then." Ojiro muttered. "Glad we're not dealing with that."
"Seconded." I muttered, heaving myself off the wall. All Might turned around, rubbing the back of his head and grinning.
"de la Veracruz-shounen, Ojiro-shounen, you're up. I'll have a helper robot lead you to the next building!"
We both nodded, and it wasn't long before we were out following a robot to our battle arena.
"Alright, so what's the plan?" Ojiro asked as we walked over. "I can probably beat Sato in a one on one, since his technique is mediocre before he starts using his Quirk, but Iida's going to be dangerous."
"We might not have him on raw power, but I'm pretty certain we can outplay him." I replied. "Get Sato off him, and I should be able to hold him off for most of the time limit unless my gear starts breaking."
"You trust your gear that much?"
I just opened up my jacket to reveal the plate carrier, before shutting it. "Yeah."
Once we got to the building, it did not take long to reconnoiter it. The first floor was simple: a large grid that would have sixteen subdivided rooms, if two of them weren't consumed by the grand staircase to the next level. The second floor had four (much larger) rooms, while the third floor was barren except for support structures. The fourth floor and fifth floor, meanwhile, were combined in a massive storage area, with our paper-mache bomb and a series of mezzanines around the edge of the room.
"If you take first floor, I'll get Sato up the stairs." Ojiro offered. Nodding, I found a couple of the rooms, before stringing up my paracord in the hallways at about knee height. Finally, I collected some random-ass rocks, slipping them into a pocket as I waited.
"HEROES!" a tinned, robot voice called from outside. "YOU ARE CLEARED TO ENGAGE! FIND THE BOMB!"
I rolled my eyes, and then the door got kicked in. "Villians!" Iida yelled, voice booming. "Come out with your hands up!"
God, really? That was the best he could do? Pulling a rock from my pocket, I idly flipped my macuahuitl around, I dropped it down and batted it across the hallway, where it bounced off the wall a few times.
"Who's there?" Sato said, voice booming. Groaning under my breath, I whacked out another rock, and cracked my neck. Time to put the game face on, and play the heel.
"Answer a riddle and I'll tell you." I drawled, before silently sprinting away, hopping over my tripwires and to another room as I batted another three rocks around.
"We don't play villainous games, de la Veracruz!" Iida yelled. "Sato, the stairs are over there!"
Fuck, they found the stairs early. Running, again, I slipped my shield on and grabbed a last fistful off rocks before sending them down a corridor.
"I hear him coming!" Iida yelled, as I stopped dead before the corner that would let them see me. Think, Arsenio, think!
"
Can you see them?" I heard in my ear, and then I nearly facefaulted. I had an earpiece. I had a teammate.
"Yeah, but we need to act fast."
Ojiro grumbled at this.
"I think I can bait Sato up here, but-"
"Don't forget to stick together!" Iida yelled.
"
Fuck it," I muttered. "
We're doing this live."
Then I threw one last rock down the hall, landing it on an empty hallway. Iida turned, stalking after it, and then I heard something- I'm still not sure quite what it was. Either way, Sato roared, dashing up the stairs, and Iida turned. Then I struck.
I could practically hear the back room wincing as I slammed my macuahuitl into his calf, aimed straight into his engine block. Something cracked, and I could swear I saw an imprint of my blunt edge in the steel of his armored boots.
"Blackguard!" he yelled, but I was not one to let an advantage go. Bringing my shield up to check him as I kept charging, I clanged into the shoulder radiator as I tried to press him into the wall. "Foul villain!"
"Such kind words!" I shot back, laughing as I whipped my not-blade forward again into a stab. That hit just skipped off his breastplate, though, and it wasn't long after that I was dodging a handful of punches. Then I made a mistake, and stepped back.
The next thing I really remember clearly was getting my shield up as it felt like I needed to block a fucking car hitting me. Sorry, truck-kun nee Iida, but not today. The trainee hero's kick still sent me staggering, though, and I had to frantically parry another two with my shield so he didn't ring my bell again. Any chucklefuck who says you can't parry with a shield, by the way, is wrong. Blocking is when you accept the force of a strike, and parrying is when you redirect it: if I had been blocking those thinly-disguised gunshots, I'm pretty sure Iida would have broken my arm by the third!
I still needed to get some momentum back, though, or this would be over when my back hit a wall or the stairs. Using my next parry to throw his following strike up, I got a solid hit in on Iida's thigh, forcing him to dump his momentum into a good recovery stance and letting me press in closer. A punch from my left hand and shield rim cracked off his helmet, and I groaned a little. Most people, that would be a broken nose and they'd be down, but no. This kid had professionalism in the blood.
The skid plate on my knee nailing him for a cup check, though, was proof two could play at that game. Letting out a faint whine, the chevalier in front of me scrabbled back two steps, in obvious discomfort.
"Really?" he asked, voice still slightly squeaking.
"Man, I'm a villain." I shot back, letting my guard fall in a showy gesture. "I'd like to think I take this about as seriously as you do, right? It's only respectful, after all."
"You have a point, but still! Such a low blow-"
I yawned, bringing my shield back up casually as I kept pushing in and Iida kept backing up. Much further, and we'd reach one of the windows at this rate. "-is an excellent tool, and should always be considered. Bet you a curry bread that would have worked on, say, Bakugou."
We both turned our heads at the sound of rumbling from towards the bunker, before I continued. "The problem is, so many heroes think we villains don't think. If we weren't thinking, why, we'd be one short step from the dogs of the government, and that would be a crime unto itself! After all, isn't it the ability to make our own minds the difference between us free fellows and the muts that lick each other's asses for scraps?"
Two more meters to the window. "I'm not here to banter with you!" Iida yelled. "Have at thee!"
"Really?" I asked, doing an instep parry to the kick that was telegraphed so hard you could pick it up on a satellite. "How very much like a dog of the government to say, that. What other tricks did they teach you?"
Two more body shots, another step in. I had the momentum, and it was a meter to the window now as I kept driving forehand swings into Iida's left. He was blocking, but he wasn't blocking well, and his arm was starting to flag. Gauntlets helped, but gauntlets wouldn't stop me forever, and he seemed to be figuring this out as a flurry of kicks slammed into me, one managing to get me straight in the chest. I could swear I heard a ballistic plate cracking, before I snarled and leaped over a low kick to get another two punches into his helmet. A half meter to the window, and my opponent was as blind as a bat.
"Haven't you learned now, hero? There's only one time you're allowed to win!" I roared, dropping my macuahuitl and getting one last punch in before I transitioned to a grab. With hands wrapped around his hip plate and a radiator, I planted myself firmly, and hurled Iida towards the window. He clipped it on the way out, slamming into the ground outside, and I took a minute to re-grab my macuahuitl and pant. Fuck, he was heavy!
"You got Sato, right?" I asked, looking out the window as Iida groaned and stood up, dusting himself off.
"
Sato, stand down!" I heard All Might bellow through the community channel.
"You're captured, just calm down!"
"
Fuck, man." I heard Ojiro pant.
"I got him, like, a minute and a half ago. You toying with Iida or something?"
"He hits like a truck, and that armor of his is no joke." I grumbled, popping open my jacket and looking down. Sure enough, there was a massive crack in my ballistic plate, and I just put my head in my hands. "Shit, he broke my plate!"
"Temper, please!" All Might kicked in, his comm chattering excitedly. "Villains win, although not without revelling in the role a little too much! Come back to control for a discussion, please."
Looking at Ojiro's now-battered uniform as he walked down the stairs, he whistled at my open jacket. The shattered ballistic plate was still in one piece, thanks to the nylon overlayer, but the numerous fractures were obvious. He had a few bruises himself, mind, but as I inspected my shield for dents he certainly seemed to have the less punishing time of it.
When we got back to the bunker, All Might was just leaning back on the console, chuckling. Iida and Sato had gotten back sooner than us, and both had their headgear off, looking forlorn.
"Alright, class!" our oversized teacher began. "As interesting as our first fight was, it wasn't really great for instruction. Generally in practice after a mission or an incident like this, you'd do what's called a hotwash while waiting for medical attention or someone to bring up the paperwork. Starting with the heroes, what did they do right?"
"Good building entry?" Uraraka asked, more than said.
"Didn't get distracted by the gaijin's tricks." Bakugo snorted.
"They stuck together for most of it, and that kept Arsenio from setting up an ambush." Yaoyorozu mentioned from under a large wool blanket.
"All excellent points!" All Might said, smiling. "Now, a more important question: what did the villains do right?"
There was a moment of cricket noises, before All Might chuckled a little bit. "I know it can be a bit of a stretch to consider villains as being able to do the right thing, so let's flip this on it's head for a minute. Pretend de la Veracruz-shounen and Ojiro-shounen were heroes defending a safe house with a key piece of evidence in it; what did they do that worked to stop the interlopers?"
"They split their opponents up to fight them on better ground." Izuku mentioned, muttering a little. "de la Veracruz-san also used a lot of distractions, which really slowed them down, and Ojiro-san's ambush was very well executed. There wasn't any warning before things were going, and with Iida being tied down in the lower floor it's easy to see why things went the way they did."
"Well spotted! Normally, I wouldn't cover combat banter until you were in your third or second years, but de la Veracruz-shounen had an excellent way with words to keep Iida-shounen's attention. Now while we know from their radio chatter they were trying to divide and conquer, I doubt that was so obvious to our fighters on the ground! An uncomfortably large part of fighting is based around controlling escalation and de-escalation, and if we go over the tape it's pretty obvious: just with the right words, Iida-shounen was led by the nose."
Watching Iida fume, I shrugged. "No hard feelings?" I asked.
"No. I am just mad I didn't see that during the actual fight!" Iida said, picking up steam.
"It happens to the best of us." I said, shrugging, before offering a wan smile. "C'mon, the next match will be starting soon."
"Not before I figure out how to counter that villainous trick!"
My eye twitched, as Mina turned to me. "Come to think of it, how'd you get so good at that, Arsenio?"
I rolled my eyes. "Can we save the Inquisition for later? Izuku and Uraraka already left, and that match will be starting soon."
"Fine, but I'm going to find out that trick sooner or later!"
This had passed annoying and into actual harassment. "You really want to know the trick?" I asked, malice in my eye. "Absolutely sure?"
"Yes!"
"Never ask a question you don't know the answer to." I said, stepping forward. "So, I have to repeat myself- When are you allowed to win? Think about it, and we'll see if there's more than just shaft horsepower driving your brain."
A trick question, but not a useless one. As always, the devil was in the exact words: when were you
allowed to win? The answer was never, because if the enemy allowed you to do something, then it was in their best interest. I'd have hardly stopped Iida from walking into a landmine, after all. Victory in all aspects would meet resistance; measuring that was how you sussed out an opponent. Most fights were won by information, not by hitting the enemy.
Shrugging off a surprisingly subtle side-eye from All Might, I looked at the screen as I resumed leaning against a wall, coat open. Coming over, Momo looked at the screen as well.
"Rough match?" She asked. I shrugged, the pieces of my ballistic plate softly grinding.
"Mostly tired.
Nemo malus felix." I muttered.
This earned a light smile, and a companionable silence for a few moments as the timer ticked down before the next match began. "You're lucky I'm the only person in the class who knows much Latin." Momo finally said, a glint in her eye.
"Oh?" I asked. "It is an interesting bit of history."
"Naturally. Although, for a Mexican, I keep finding myself thinking of Hapsburg phrases for you."
I put my hand up to my chest in faux-confusion. "Such as?"
"It's a dead heat between
si vis pacem, or
tu felix Austria." Momo said evenly, before shaking her ponytail alluringly. I tried not to stare, as my brain figured out what, exactly, she had said.
Si vis pacem was fairly easy to pull apart, since I'd been drilled in the back half before:
Parabellum. If you wish for peace, prepare for war. I could track the line of thought.
Tu felix Austria, though? I had no idea. You lucky Austria… would what? There was something I was missing. Something important.
I could figure it out later, and deal with that half-baked puzzle after class. Momo was a smart girl, and that meant this was either a riddle to play with me, or a way to quietly pass me information. Either way, it was something interesting to wrap my head around before-
"Third match! Begin!" All Might yelled into the mic.
Well, that. C'mon, Deku, Uraraka! I'm rooting for you!
