Birds of a Feather

We'll do better in groups if they attack us!

カラス

"Why do you wear this ice costume, Todoroki?" Karasu asked as the class loaded onto a bus in their hero costumes to go to a special training in a new facility Aizawa had given them minimal information on. For a pro who wasn't big on being a media spectacle, he certainly liked to give them something of a show of suspense.

"What do you mean?" Todoroki raised an eyebrow at her as he took a window seat towards the back of the bus, avoiding the crowd of students who sat on the rows at the very front of the bus that faced inwards.

"Well, it looks kind of heavy for one." she shrugged, sitting beside him.

"I guess it kind of is." He looked down at his arm that was coated in the artificial ice. "I hadn't thought about it, honestly. I designed this with a specific purpose in mind."

"It does look cool, though." Karasu said quickly and carefully, crossing her legs in her seat as the bus began to move. "I will say- if I were a villain and I saw that coming at me, it'd definitely scare me."

"Oh, uh, thanks." Todoroki leaned against the back of the seat. "Yours looks cool too, I guess. Kind of like your brother's."

"Thank you- I took some inspiration from Hawks' suit, obviously." Karasu smoothed over the torso of her catsuit with a smile and flicked her windscreen glasses down off her head to in front of her eyes. "Flying has a lot of very specific aerodynamic requirements that he understands better than most pros... and I just thought it looks nice. A little more streamlined than his, which is really just a personal thing."

"It does." His eyes flicked over her entire body quickly before he turned to look out the window. If Karasu didn't know better- she'd think he was blushing.

At least things aren't awkward after that whole Endeavor thing, Karasu thought as she picked at her nails nervously.

As the bus came to a stop, the students filed out to stand in a line in front of their waiting teacher.

"Wow." Karasu looked at the dome in front of Class 1-A. "That's- enormous." Her wings perked up excitedly, accidentally knocking Kirishima back slightly. "Crap- sorry, Kirishima." she said quickly, looking back at him.

"It's all good- this place surprised me too." Kirishima was still staring at the dome ahead of them in awe.

"Follow me inside." Mr. Aizawa ordered them, waving his hand once for the class to follow after him into the facility.

"Welcome, students." Pro-Hero 13 was standing inside. Karasu had always thought her space suit was one of the more extremely intimidating pro costumes out there. She was an extremely impressive pro, though. "I built this facility to simulate any type of emergency you may encounter and need to do rescues in- I call it the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, but you can call it the USJ."

Now that sounds already copyrighted, Karasu thought with an amused smile.

"All Might will be joining us soon for training, but for now we'll get everything started." Aizawa said as he turned towards the inside of the facility. "Here there are simulations for all sorts of disaster scenarios you may face as pros. Here you can safely practise them and-"

Below them, towards the fountain in the centre of the facility something like a thick, opaque black smoke appeared and created a wall- and from it poured rows of villains. In the front leading them out of the warp gate, was a man with blue-grey hair and covered in what horrifyingly looked like severed hands.

"Oh my God-" Karasu took a step back as the teachers took a defensive stance. "Hawks has arrested a few of them before- this is an attack-"

Todoroki looked from her to the gathering villains, his eyes widening in realisation. "With a group that size, they won't have come for us."