Neutrality Order (TomBoo)

N.E. - Chapter 4

What came next was out of the blue, even for his expectations.

First years in full-fledged work-study internships.

The ones with provisional licenses, anyway.

While everyone else chattered on about it, Tommy sat back quietly, thinking to himself; a real internship would be a true godsend, on the one hand. He'd have information and territory practically handed to him. On the downside, it would leave him with that much less time for his side-work. There was a lot to think about.

Aizawa interrupted his musings by having third-year student speakers come in, introducing them as UA's The Big Three; Callahan, a socially-anxious shy boy, Hannah, a bubbly excited girl with the attention span of a hamster, and Connor, a tall ray of sunshine who made everyone want to smile with terrible jokes.

Tommy found himself indeed smiling; he could tell right away that they were all top contending upperclassmen from past UA sports festivals and access to the school's student forum, but he could see now that Connor was something special. Some of his own classmates didn't really seem to catch on all that well, not getting as good a read on them, until Connor came up with something fun for them to do!

"How about you all take me on at once?"

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With Aizawa's permission, everyone suddenly found themselves in Gym Gamma in their gym uniforms, including the Big Three.

"...is this for real?" Eret asked, watching Connor stretch out.

Callahan stood facing the wall, muttering about how Connor shouldn't break their bodies midway through first year.

Hannah called out for him not to smash their spirits too bad.

Connor just smiled and asked who was going first.

Aizawa's eyes immediately went to Tommy...who was standing off to the side with Jack out of the way. "... Tommy. You're not participating?" His legitimate surprise made the rest of the class look over.

Tommy leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "I want to see what's gonna happen first," he replied, eyes shining with interest. "No way a third-year would challenge a class of semi-experienced first-years without something to back him up."

The rest of 1-A's guards went up a bit more, eyeing Connor more seriously now, something that didn't escape either Connor or Aizawa. Wilbur didn't seem to care either way and immediately went on the offensive, swinging his sparking fist at Connor's head-

-only to be distracted when Connor's gym uniform fell right off his body.

And then his hand slipped right through Connor's head.

Wilbur barely caught his balance before turning to glare at the upperclassman, scowling. "A phasing quirk?" he growled to himself, then jumped out of the way as his classmates with longer-range abilities fired off attacks; only Wilbur was close enough to see Connor apparently vanish a mere moment before they hit.

Across the room, Connor suddenly appeared behind Lani. "LONG-RANGE ATTACKERS GO FIRST!" he shouted, and then proceeded to take down the bulk of the class with swift, almost effortless ease, one good hit each that lasted a mere second and a half before he grabbed his gym uniform pants and put them back on.

Aizawa did not look surprised in the least. "This is a good learning opportunity everyone!" he called out to the suffering students. "Get it beaten into you early! Connor is the closest to being the top hero INCLUDING the pros!"