Hibiki is the first to wake, quickly getting ready and leaving the building. She listens for the group of people to determine they must still be asleep. She decides to do a few stretches, eats breakfast then sends out clones to surround the area to keep an eye out. 80 clones spread out, 40 pairs, surrounding the camp. She decides to make breakfast for everyone too.

Aizawa slumps into the kitchen, seeking out his daily coffee. He looks a bit surprised at seeing all the Hibikis moving around, making food. "You're up early."

"I didn't get much sleep last night," the real Hibiki admits, handing him a mug of coffee just as he likes it.

He blinks at the cup in his hands. "Thanks. Why's that?"

She turns back to continue doing whatever she was doing before. Aizawa moves out of the way, leaning against an open area with no clones moving around.

"I don't have a good feeling about tonight. I was having bad dreams of our students getting hurt." She takes in a shaky breath as she stops what she's doing and places her hands flat on the counter to lean on. "It just... I don't want what happened at the USJ to happen again. It was so lucky that none of the students got severely hurt. But... seeing you so hurt when I could've done more..."

Aizawa sets his coffee down, moving over to her. He pauses behind her, looking down at her and thinking about what he could actually do. How do I reassure her? I can't just hug her or something. It'd be weird and... not me. "Hey."

She flinches, turning to find him behind her. "Aiza–"

He pushes a piece of hair behind her ear out of her face. He quickly takes his hand back after realizing what he did. What am I doing? He awkwardly looks away for a second before looking into her eyes. "I can't promise that something like that won't happen to me again, but you need to stop blaming yourself about it. Danger comes with this line of work."

"I know," she whispers, looking at her feet. "This is all so new to me. I've never gotten close to someone in this business. I've never made any friends with other heroes, so when a pro was killed on duty, I wouldn't be totally emotional. Just a simple that sucks and moved on. Now I work at UA and have gotten close to all of you. It just... it'd hurt if anyone was killed." She sighs. "I've never really been a sympathetic person. I don't linger on things. Things will happen, good or bad, and then I move on. I don't dote on it. So I don't really understand why this is affecting me so much!"

Aizawa looks at her in surprise. She's really been holding this in. He notices her furrowed brows and places his pointer in the middle of them, making her look up at him a bit confused. "Keep furrowing your brows like that and you'll get wrinkles."

Her face relaxes as she gives a small smile then sighs. "I guess neither of us are really all that good at reassuring others, huh?"

"I've never been good with people."

"That makes two of us."

He moves his hands to rest on her shoulders, giving them a light squeeze. "You don't need to blame yourself for what happened at the USJ. That wasn't even supposed to happen in the first place. It's in the past and everyone is okay. If you think you made mistakes, you learn from those mistakes and improve yourself."

She smiles. "Thanks, Aizawa."

"I'd say anytime, but I'm not exactly good at this," he responds, moving back over to his coffee. He takes a sip. "This coffee is good."

"I'm glad you think so," she replies, returning to what she was doing.

He looks around at all the clones as he drinks his coffee. "So, what are you all doing?"

"I figured I'd make breakfast for everyone," she chirps, now happier and relieved after their talk. "It was keeping me distracted."

Mandalay enters the room a bit surprised by all the clones moving around. "What's going on in here?"

"I'm making breakfast," Hibiki responds.

"Oh, uh, need any help?"

"I think I got it covered," she chuckles.

"Alright, I'm gonna go get things set up for the students for training then," Mandalay says. "The other Pussycats are already out there, I just wanted to check up with you guys. Where's Vlad?"

"Still sleeping," Aizawa answers before finishing his cup. He moves to pour more into his mug.

"That man can be so lazy sometimes," Mandalay pouts, propping her hands on her hips sassily.

"Feel free to wake him," Hibiki replies. "Just try not to wake up Ren. He's not good at being suddenly awakened. He'll whack you pretty hard with his quirk."

"Feel free to do a cannonball on top of Vlad," Aizawa continues, sipping his drink.

Mandalay pouts her lips in thought. "Not a bad idea. I'll go wake him. See you in a bit." She leaves the kitchen with those parting words.

"So, were those words of experience?" Aizawa asks, talking about Ren.

"Oh, no, my brother's experience," she chuckles. "Had a fairly big bruise across his torso for a few weeks. Made Ren cry and worry over his dad for the whole time until it was healed. Takeshi hated and loved the time. It was fairly amusing not gonna lie."

"What is Ren's quirk?"

"He's able to manipulate plants. Can spring them from anywhere even his own body. It's like his mother's. Obviously stronger though."

"What about his father's?"

"Takeshi has the same quirk as our mom, he can duplicate arms anywhere on his body," she answers.

"That explains Hideki's then. Has a perfect combination of both."

"Yeah, his quirk is pretty cool."

(Hideki's quirk is basically like Robin's devil fruit from One Piece except no eyes or ears or mouth, just legs and arms. He can have them normal size or giant like she does. But if someone like zaps his extra arm if it's not attached to himself, it's not going to physically hurt him but they'll likely disappear.)

"He does have an impressive quirk," Aizawa comments. "If he truly wants to get into this school, I'm sure he'll have no problem."

She smirks. "So you admit I was right."

He shrugs. "I guess so." He looks at the clock on his phone. He yawns and stretches a bit. "Guess we should get the remedial class up for studying."

"Breakfast first, mummy man."

Aizawa groans. "Please don't remind me about that horrid time. Hizashi was killing me."

She chuckles. "Go and wake up the kids."

"You two sound like an old married couple."

The two turn to the new voice to find Vlad.

Hibiki's whole face bursts into flame. "V-Vlad!"

He gives a hearty laugh.

"You're up early," Aizawa comments.

"Well, I did get cannonballed on," Vlad groans, rubbing his side with a slight wince.

Aizawa grins, hiding it behind his mug as he takes another sip.

"I-I'm making enough food for both of our classes," Hibiki tells him, calming down her flushed face.

"Thanks, chibi," Vlad responds.

Hibiki's cheeks puff up as she repeatedly gives him light punches. "I know I'm small! Don't point it oooutt!"

He laughs, ruffling the top of her head. "Chibi."

Hibiki crosses her arms with a pout. "You guys are so mean!"

"Well, I'm gonna go get the remedial class up, pipsqueak," Aizawa grins as he leaves.

She stomps her foot. "Evil! You're evil!" she shouts behind him. "The two of you are evil!"

The two chuckle in reply.

~~~

All the students get back to their workstations from yesterday, pushing their quirks to the limit.

The six remedial course students are all almost falling asleep standing up. They each teeter back and forth with closed eyes.

"Hey remedial course," Aizawa says, undoing his scarf. "Keep at it." He flicks it and pulls it back against Kirishima's forehead, snapping his body upright.

"Yes, sir!" Kirishima squeaks.

"Sorry... but I need more beauty rest..." Mina groans.

"Who knew yesterday's extra lessons-" Kaminari groans.

"-would go on until 2 in the morning," Sero finishes, groaning.

"And start back up at 7," Sato grunts.

"I told you it'd be tough," Aizawa says. "Remember, you're not just improving your quirks, you're also working to overcome the many weaknesses I saw in the finals." That makes them all flinch. "Think carefully about why you're more tired than the others before you start whining." He pulls his scarf back tighter on Kirishima, making him bend further backward. "You have much to improve." He snaps the scarf off and wraps it back around his shoulders.

"Right!" they all bark. "Yes sir!"

"Uraraka, Aoyama," Aizawa calls out. "The same goes for you. Your team didn't fail, but you were very close. I'd say you passed the proverbial finish line by only a hair."

The two squeak.

"That bad?!" Uraraka cries.

"Don't lose focus. Each of you can move faster. And no matter what you're doing just remember where you started from. Don't forget who you were before UA. Always keep in mind why you're sweating and why your limits keep getting tested. That's what it means to improve."

Hibiki doesn't listen to Izuku and Aizawa's short chat as she uses her remaining clones to help train the students. The real her heads over to the remedial students. "WAKE UP YOU SIX!"

They immediately jerk up wide awake then all cry in complaint at Hibiki. She snickers in reply.

"More importantly!" Pixie Bob shouts out for everyone to hear. "Tonight's gonna be fun! We're pinning classes against each other in a test of courage! I know you've been training hard today and later you'll get to play hard! How's that for a reward?!"

~~~

Night soon falls, and the students are making their dinner. Hibiki stares on impressed at Bakugo's cutting skills, so fast and precise. Shocks Uraraka as well as she stands beside him. He retorts with a defensive shout as usual.

After dinner is when the test of courage begins. Hibiki is starting to not feel good about this. Her clones have remained in their places all day and haven't seen the group at all. She knows they've moved from their previous location. She has no idea where they are now.

"Perfect!" Pixie Bob grins. "We've filled our bellies and cleaned the dishes! It's tiiiiime fooor–"

"Totally awesome test of courage!" Mina cheers, excitedly cutting her off.

"We're gonna win!" the rest of the remedial course students cheer.

"Not so fast," Aizawa cuts off their good moods. "It pains me to say it but the remedial class will be having lessons with me tonight instead."

"YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" Mina screams.

"Sorry," Aizawa says plainly, wrapping each one up in his scarf. "Your training during the day didn't impress me, so I'll be using this time too."

"Awww, give me a break! I just wanna prove my courage!" they all complain.

He takes them off as Pixie Bob moves on to explain the rules. Class B is going to spread out into the forest trail then Class A is going to go through the trail in pairs once they're placed. According to Tiger, it's Class B's job to scare A so bad they piss themselves. Whoever makes the other class piss themselves more is the winner.

"Revelry in the dark."

Izuku ends up being the one without a partner, so Hide is paired up with him. Bakugo complains about being with Todoroki and Mineta wants to switch with Aoyama to be with Momo.

"I should be with her," Mineta pleads as Aoyama rapidly shakes his head no.

"Revelry in the dark."

The first team to go in is Tokoyami and Shoji. Team two is Todoroki and Bakugo. Team three is Jiro and Hagakure. Team four is Momo and Aoyama. Team five is Uraraka and Tsu. Team six is Mineta and Ojiro. Team seven is Iida and Koda. Team eight is Izuku and Hideki.

They manage to get all the way to team five before a problem arrives.

Hibiki flinches as four of her clones are burned alive and ten others are knocked out with some gas. "Villains!" She rids of the ones knocked out by gas.

Everyone turns to her in surprise at her sudden outburst.

"Huh?" Izuku questions.

"Villains are attacking!" she shouts. "We need to get the children to safety now!"

Everyone begins to smell smoke. Hibiki feels 20 more of her clones disappear but not die. She gets rid of them too.

"You see that?" Izuku questions, looking in the distance.

Everyone looks to see lots of smoke rising from the forest.

"Black smoke?" Mandalay says.

"Something's been set ablaze?" Iida questions.

Most of the Echo clones are in a battle against the scarred man. Can he multiply too? Does he have two quirks? Fire and cloning? No, it's the work of another quirk. "We have multiple villains attacking. One of which can clone others. The clones also have the quirk of whoever they were cloned after." She quickly turns to look in the woods beside them. "Get down! They're here!"

Pixie Bob is lifted up and magnetized over then slammed in the head with a giant magnet pillar.

"First, let's get rid of these feral cats," big lips villain says.

Two villains reveal themselves. Big lips and the lizard man now with a big sword.

Hibiki immediately sends a sonic scream in their direction which they dodge.

"Pixie Bob!" Izuku screams, rushing towards her only for Echo to stop him.

"This is bad," Mandalay says.

Izuku looks at the red cat then at Echo and Hideki. His eyes widen. "Where's Kota and Ren?!"

Echo flinches. "Ren!" She whips her head towards Izuku and Hideki. "Go. Find them. We're under attack. Find them and take them inside then stay there."

"Oba–"

"No!" she shouts, eyes narrowing at Hide. "I don't want you fighting."

"I can handle myself! You said I was strong enough to take on the whole class. I–"

"NO!" she shouts, voice laced with angry concern. "You're not a student here! There's no excuse for you if you use your quirk! I said no!"

Hide flinches, never hearing his Oba shout like this. He looks into her pleading eyes, seeing that she's scared, then nods. "Okay."

"Go! Izuku you should know where they are!"

"I do!"

"Then go! We can handle these two!" Mandalay says.

"If you absolutely need to fight using your quirks," Echo sighs, speaking to the students. "I'll allow it."

"Hai!"

They quickly rush off. Iida and the other students rush off to the building.

Two Echo clones walk up behind the villains, one grabs Pixie Bob and runs towards the building, getting safely inside.

"How are you today, UA high school?" Lizard speaks up. "We are part of the Vanguard Action Squad of the League of Villains."

"I knew it," Echo growls.

"Tiger, Echo, I've talked to everyone. Trust the safety of the other students to Ragdoll, we will stay here and hold them back."

Echo listens to the forest for Ragdoll. "Ragdoll is gone. I don't hear her heartbeat."

"What?!" Tiger and Mandalay screech.

The second clone decides to make her move and takes the lizard man by surprise, kicking him across the field. She then sends a scream at the other villain and successfully knocks him back.

A loud ripping explosion bursts forth from the direction Izuku and Hide went off in. Hibiki sees a giant pillar sprouting out from the ground.

She smirks, hearing a heartbeat in the group that must be a villain. "Good job, Ren."

"These two are Magne and Spinner," Tiger informs and tells them all the crimes they've committed.

Echo clones out 4 clones to help fight Spinner and Magne. "I'm going to help the kids in the forest. Can you handle these two with my four clones?"

"Yeah!" Tiger shouts, trying to punch Magne.

She spreads out the wings of the suit and propels herself up into the air. She immediately heads for Bakugo, passed out Tsuburaba, and Todoroki along with a villain, the teeth one. She clones herself to go help everyone else.

Before she's able to make it to the three boys, she's cut off by a large pillar of blue fire. She narrowly avoids it, throwing her off course and landing in a small clearing. She's immediately surrounded by 10 of the purple-scarred man.

"You're the one that's managed to kill all my clones, huh?"

"Name's Dabi, sweetheart."

She looks around at all of them, formulating a plan in her head. "Echo, but you already know that. I assume this is the work of another's quirk somewhat similar to mine. You have fire powers which is why your body is so burnt."

They all sarcastically clap. "What a great observation by the number 6 hero."

Mandalay suddenly sounds in Hibiki's head. "We have discovered one of the villains' targets. It is one of the students named Kacchan! Kacchan should try to avoid combat and acting independently. Understand Kacchan?!"

"You will never have Bakugo! Over my dead body!"

All of them smirk. "That can be rearranged." All aim at her and release a large stream of fire. "Burn in hell!" The fire takes over her form and disappears in the flames. "Damn! I was sure that was the real one!"

The clone speaking chokes and vanishes after his head is stabbed through.

"You would be correct. I am the real one," she says before disappearing again.

"Dammit, how is she so fast?"

"Where did she go?"

"I guess she's not the number 6 for no reason."

The Dabi clones all speak to each other, spinning around repeatedly to try and find her.

She takes another one out before disappearing again.

"Fuck this," they growl, blasting the whole area in a tornado of fire.

Echo smirks, her suit protects her and this is perfect coverage. She quickly moves through the fire and takes down each Dabi clone, ceasing the flames. She smirks. "If fire is all you got, it's gonna take a lot more than that to take me down."

She rushes off where she hears Bakugo has gathered with a group. The teeth villain was taken out.

"Echo sensei!" Midoriya yells out, spotting her.

"Is everyone okay?" she asks, checking on everyone and seeing Shoji's bleeding appendage.

"I'm fine, Echo sensei," Shoji says. "It was cut off while using my quirk. I'll be fine."

She nods and looks at Tokoyami kneeling on the ground.

Tokoyami apologizes and goes off on a little rant. Shoji replies calmly and says exactly what Tokoyami needed to hear.

Echo turns to her nephew and Izuku with a harsh glare. "I told you two to stay inside!"

"Kota and Ren are safe," Izuku says, standing confidently.

"Yeah, Ren took out the villain before we even got there," Hide claims excitedly. "They were both crying in terror though."

Echo sighs. "You're in so much trouble when we get home."

Hide gulps, terror written in his eyes.

"Echo sensei–" Izuku says.

"We need to get you all to the building," Echo cuts him off and begins to clone herself and surround the group. "We need to hurry and cut through the woods instead of continuing on the path. Uraraka and Asui are with a villain! Run!"

Once the group shows up, the female villain disappears into the brush.

"Uraraka!" Izuku shouts, moving up beside her.

Echo flinches, feeling her clones at the end of the group disappear like earlier. She's quick to notice two of her students gone. "No!"

"Echo sensei!"

They all look at her in confusion.

She releases a sonic scream into the trees. "You give them back right now!"

Elsewhere all the Hibiki clones manage to save/get all the kids in the forest. They're all accounted for and inside the building safe from any more harm to come to them. Momo manages to get a tracker on the nomu without Echo's knowledge as 10 clones fight against it.

"Nice trick, eh?" the villain chuckles, jumping into a different tree. "I took the students you're talking about with my magic." He tosses a few blue beads up and down in his hand. "A talent like Bakugo's would be squandered were he cast as a hero. We'll provide him with a grander stage where he can truly shine."

"Give him back!" Izuku shouts.

"Give him back? An odd thing to say. Bakugo doesn't belong to anyone. He's his own person. Don't be so arrogant."

Echo sends another attack as Todoroki sends a blast of ice which the villain just leaps over. Echo follows him with her scream, not giving him any chance to talk with all the clones screaming at him. Todoroki hands Tsuburaba to Uraraka and sends a large ice attack at him.

"Apologies, but sleight of hand and escapology are my specialties not combat. I'm not foolish enough to fight hero candidates from UA and the number six hero." He puts his hand to an earpiece communicator. "Vanguard Action Squad, I've acquired our target. My little show has officially come to a close. Meet me at the retrieval point in the next five minutes for the final bow." He darts off along the trees to the supposed meet-up point.

Echo doesn't waste time in spreading out her wings and taking off after him. A few seconds later, Shoji, Midoriya, and Todoroki fly right past her and careen straight into the villain's back, slamming him right down into the clearing the other villains were meeting up at.

"Shit!" Echo cusses, trying to make herself go faster. She arrives right as the warp gate, Kurogiri, shows up. She sonic blasts him, weakening him. "Give me back my students!"

Toga and Twice manage to get through the portal before the portals vanish.

"We're not leaving without the kid," Dabi says.

"Don't worry," Compress reassures. "They were so proud of themselves for rooting through my pockets, that I thought I'd let them gloat. But allow me to explain the basic tenant of magic. If I'm flaunting something shiny..." he removes his mask to reveal his mask underneath, showing his eyes and mouth. "...it's because there's something else I don't want you to see." He sticks his tongue out to reveal it holding two blue marbles.

"He got them!" Todoroki and Izuku shout.

The marble villain snaps his fingers to release what's inside the marbles Shoji snagged to show that Todoroki's ice was inside.

Hibiki releases another scream onto Kurogiri, making the gate behind Dabi and Compress vanish. Fire blasts into Echo's side, shoving her back and giving Kurogiri enough time to move over to Dabi and Compress. He creates another portal right there, waiting for the two to enter.

"Dammit!" Izuku shouts, running at them with Shoji and Todoroki following.

Echo also heads toward them, knowing using her quirk the force of it would throw them into the portal faster.

"A little bit of misdirection," Compress says, moving back into the portal. "Forgive me. I do so adore a twist ending."

"You can't do this!" Izuku screams.

Compress bows. "One last bow and the curtain falls–"

A beam of light, Ayoyama's quirk, heads out of the forest, hitting Compress directly in the face and making him spit out the marbles. Shoji manages to grab a marble. Todoroki and Echo go for the other only for Dabi to snatch it before either of them do.

"Well isn't that a tragedy? Poor little Todoroki Shoto and number six hero."

The two roll on the ground to break their acceleration.

"Dammit!" Echo shouts, turning quickly to run again. She clones out more of her who run to them.

"Confirm it now," Dabi demands, blasting the Echos back. "Release them."

"That laser ruined my finale!" Compress huffs, snapping his fingers which releases the two boys from their marbles just before disappearing into the portal.

Tokoyami appears from Shoji's hand. Bakugo appears in front of Dabi who wraps his hand around the back of Bakugo's neck.

"Checkmate," Dabi chuckles, disappearing into the warp gate and dragging Bakugo behind him.

"Kacchan no!" Deku shouts, using his quirk in his legs to rush forward. He ends up breaking both legs in doing so much like he did at the USJ.

An Echo clone manages to grab Bakugo's wrist and pulls. Her hand gets burned off, and she turns to nothing. Real Echo moves to grab again but all that's remaining is Bakugo's face.

"Kacchan!" Izuku shouts, flying for him and preparing to leap through the portal.

"Stay back... De..ku..." Bakugo fully disappears, and the portal is immediately gone. Izuku falls into a roll on the ground.

Echo's eyes tear up as her eyebrows furrow in anger. Everyone looks on in shocked defeat at the place where Bakugo once stood.

Izuku's screams are deafening as he topples over. Everyone moves to surround him. Uraraka, Hide, and Usui finally manage to make it, watching as Izuku screams at the top of his lungs until he tires himself out. Echo makes all her clones disappear. Echo screams up to the sky, moving over and punching straight through a few trees in anger. She calms herself down enough and heads over to the kids.

"Come on, we need to meet up with the rest. I can hear sirens on their way here along with some helicopters to put out the fire."

"E-Echo sensei," Uraraka and Asui sniffle.

She brings the two girls into a hug. "It's okay. We'll get him back. He's... He's going to be okay."

"Wh-Why would they want him?" Uraraka sniffles.

"I'm assuming they want him to try to make him a villain. That's what I gathered. Knowing what I do about Shigaraki, I don't think he'll kill Kacchan," Izuku speaks up with Shoji picking him up on his back. "At least not until Kacchan is obviously uninterested."

"I hope you're right, Midoriya," Todoroki says.

"Come on, we need to go," Echo says.

They head back to camp.

Aizawa rushes up to them once he spots them. "Noiz–"

She falls into his chest, much to his surprise, and cries. "I... I couldn't save him. He was right there and there was nothing I could do... I couldn't save him. Bakugo's gone. They took him. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry..."

~~~

The ride on the bus back to UA was silent and miserable. The air around everyone was heavy at least those that were unharmed were. The rest of the students that got hurt had a ride in the ambulances. Who knew that Bakugo's, of all people's, absence would put them all in such a funk.

Hibiki sniffles as she leans on Aizawa's shoulder. Her eyes are blurry and they dart back and forth on her lap, lost in thought of what just happened. Her fists are tightly clutched to her chest as her brows furrow. "Dammit..."

Aizawa glances at her then pokes her forehead. "What did I tell you about furrowing your brows?"

She tilts her head up to look at him through her blurry vision. "I can't help it... He... he was right there... and I couldn't do anything to get him."

"There was nothing we could do," Aizawa replies. "We did our best."

"It wasn't enough," she growls, looking down at her lap again.

"Maybe so."

"I should've just taken them out when I had the chance before any of this ever happened."

"And you know why you couldn't," Aizawa retorts.

"I know... Damn it all."

"Bakugo is going to be okay. We're going to get him back safe."

"I really hope that's true."

"Don't think so negatively."

"I can't help it."

"Bakugo is a tough kid. He can handle himself just fine."

"Aizawa, Shigaraki almost killed you with a touch. He could do the same to Bakugo."

"If they really wanted Bakugo dead, they would've done it at the camp. Why would they go through all the trouble of capturing him if they just wanted to kill him?"

She looks up at him again, lip and eyes shaking from holding back tears. "I hope you're right, Aizawa."

He leans down and gives her a reassuring kiss on the forehead, wiping away the stray tear going down her cheek, then pats the top of her head. "I know he'll be fine. Now rest, you need it after all the tears you've shed." He turns away from her, hoping she didn't see his flustered expression. Why did I do that?! That's so inappropriate!

Red flares over her cheeks at the gesture, quickly looking to her lap again. "Th-Thank you, Ai-Aizawa."