The bus ride to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint was unusually loud. Hancock sat near the back, watching her classmates chatter excitedly about working with the Space Hero: Thirteen.

  "I wonder what kind of training we'll do!" Ashido said enthusiastically from across the aisle.

  "Rescue training, obviously," Bakugo growled from his seat. "Pay attention."

  "Someone's grumpy today," Kaminari teased. "What's wrong, Bakugo? Mad that Hancock beat you for MVP last week?"

  The temperature in the bus seemed to drop. Hancock glanced up to see Bakugo's hands sparking dangerously.

  "Say that again, Sparkplug. I dare you."

  "Kaminari," Hancock said quietly, her voice cutting through the tension. "Perhaps you should focus on your own performance rather than commenting on others."

  Kaminari blinked, then laughed nervously. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry, man."

  Bakugo shot Hancock a look she couldn't quite decipher. Not grateful—he'd never be that—but perhaps surprised that she'd intervened.

  She looked away, focusing on the passing scenery.

  The USJ was massive. Hancock stood with the rest of Class 1-A at the entrance, observing the different disaster zones spread below them. Flood, fire, landslide, ruins—each designed for specific rescue scenarios.

  "Welcome!" Thirteen greeted them enthusiastically, beginning their speech about how Quirks could be used to save people rather than hurt them.

  Hancock listened, but something felt wrong. A prickling at the back of her neck. She scanned the facility, searching for the source of her unease.

  "Where's All Might?" she heard Midoriya ask Aizawa.

  "He used up his time limit this morning," Aizawa replied. "He's resting."

  All Might isn't here, Hancock noted. And something feels—

  The lights flickered.

  Then the air in the center of the plaza began to distort, swirling like a purple-black vortex.

  "STAY TOGETHER!" Aizawa shouted, already pulling on his goggles.

  Figures emerged from the portal. Dozens of them. Villains.

  Hancock's eyes widened as she took in the sheer number—easily fifty or more, all converging on the plaza. At the center, three figures stood out: a man covered in severed hands, something huge and monstrous with an exposed brain, and a figure made of purple mist.

  "Thirteen! Protect the students!" Aizawa was already running toward the stairs. "Kaminari, try to contact the school!"

  "There's some kind of interference!" Kaminari shouted, holding his comm device. "I can't get through!"

  The mist villain suddenly expanded, flowing up the stairs toward them at impossible speed.

  "GREETINGS, STUDENTS OF UA!" The voice echoed from within the mist. "We are the League of Villains. Forgive our audacity, but... we've come to kill All Might."

  Hancock's blood ran cold.

  Before anyone could react, the mist villain engulfed them. She felt the strange sensation of being pulled apart, scattered—

  She landed hard on stone, rolling to absorb the impact. When she looked up, she found herself in the ruins zone—shattered buildings and rubble stretching in every direction.

  And she wasn't alone.

  "Tch. Of course I get stuck with you."

  Bakugo stood a few feet away, already in a fighting stance. His hands sparked with small explosions as he scanned their surroundings.

  "The feeling is mutual," Hancock said, rising gracefully to her feet. Her long hair settled around her shoulders as she assessed the situation.

  They were surrounded. At least twenty villains emerged from behind the rubble, all wearing predatory grins.

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  "Look at this! A couple of brats!"

  "This is gonna be easy!"

  "Let's kill 'em quick and go help with All Might!"

  Hancock's expression remained calm, but internally she was calculating. Twenty opponents. Both she and Bakugo were strong, but these were real villains. Real danger.

  "Oi, Empress." Bakugo's voice was low, controlled. "How many can you take?"

  "As many as necessary."

  "Wrong answer. I'll take the left side. You take the right. We clear them fast and figure out how to get back to the others."

  Hancock glanced at him. He was actually strategizing. Working with her.

  "Agreed."

  "THAT'S IT?! NO ARGUING?!"

  "Would you prefer I waste time?" Hancock moved into position. "Let's finish this quickly."

  For a moment, Bakugo just stared at her. Then a feral grin spread across his face.

  "Hell yeah. TRY TO KEEP UP!"

  He exploded forward, literally, blasting into the left group of villains with devastating force.

  Hancock moved right, her body already enhanced with her Quirk. The first villain—a man with elongated arms—lunged at her.

  She caught one arm, her fingers glowing pink, and felt her emotional manipulation activate. The villain's expression went slack, his aggression melting into calm contentment.

  "What the—"

  She kicked him aside with a Perfume Femur, sending him crashing into two others.

  It works, she realized. Using my Quirk in actual combat. I can do this.

  Another villain charged—this one with a mutation Quirk that made him look like a lizard. She couldn't petrify him mid-charge; he wasn't feeling attraction, just bloodlust.

  But she could fight.

  Hancock ducked under his claws, spun, and delivered a devastating kick to his midsection. The hormonal enhancement made the impact powerful enough to crack the stone beneath them.

  "Pistol Kiss!"

  Heart-shaped projectiles shot from her fingers, disabling three villains who'd been trying to flank her. They went down hard, clutching their injuries.

  On the other side, Bakugo was a whirlwind of explosions. Every movement was calculated violence, each blast perfectly controlled to maximum effect.

  "DIE!" He roared, sending a villain flying with a point-blank explosion.

  "DON'T KILL THEM!" Hancock shouted.

  "I'M NOT, OBVIOUSLY! JUST KNOCKING 'EM OUT!"

  A villain with a blade Quirk came at Hancock from behind. She sensed rather than saw him, spinning and catching his wrist. Pink energy flared.

  This time, she pushed harder with her emotional manipulation. Not just calm—she made him feel fear. Terror of her.

  The villain's eyes went wide and he scrambled backward, tripping over his own feet in his haste to get away.

  Useful, Hancock thought, but the intimacy of touching him, of invading his emotions, still made her uncomfortable.

  "BEHIND YOU!" Bakugo's warning came just in time.

  Hancock dropped low as an explosion sailed over her head, taking out a villain she hadn't seen. She looked back to see Bakugo grinning viciously.

  "PAY ATTENTION!"

  "I had it handled!"

  "LIKE HELL YOU DID!"

  They were back-to-back now, surrounded by the remaining villains. Hancock could feel the heat from Bakugo's explosions, smell the nitroglycerin from his sweat.

  "There's too many," she said quietly.

  "So what?! We've already taken down half of them!"

  "And we're going to tire out before they do." Hancock's analytical mind was working rapidly. "We need a different strategy."

  "I'm listening." The fact that Bakugo was actually willing to hear her out spoke volumes about how seriously he was taking this.

  "Your explosions. Can you create a smokescreen?"

  "Yeah. Why?"

  "Create cover. I'll use my Mero Mero Mellow on as many as I can while they're disoriented."

  "That petrification thing only works if they're attracted to you, right?"

  "Yes."

  Bakugo's grin turned sharp. "Well, you're annoyingly pretty, so that shouldn't be a problem. Do it."

  Before Hancock could process that backhanded compliment, Bakugo thrust his hands toward the ground.

  "STUN GRENADE!"

  A massive flash of light and sound erupted, followed by thick smoke. The villains shouted in confusion, blinded and disoriented.

  Hancock stepped forward through the smoke, her beauty ethereal in the haze. She posed elegantly, hand on her hip.

  "Mero Mero Mellow!"

  Pink heart-shaped beams shot from her hands. The villains, seeing her through the clearing smoke, felt that involuntary attraction—and turned to stone instantly.

  Five. Seven. Ten of them, frozen mid-movement.

  "HOLY SHIT!" One of the remaining villains shouted. "What is she?!"

  "A medusa or something! Don't look at her!"

  But it was too late for most of them. Within seconds, only three villains remained standing, and they were already running.

  Bakugo let them go, staring at the petrified villains with something like awe.

  "That's... that's actually terrifying."

  Hancock's breathing was labored. Using Mero Mero Mellow that many times in succession was exhausting. "It's effective."

  "Can you turn them back?"

  "Eventually they'll revert on their own. Or I can reverse it manually." She touched one of the stone villains, and he returned to flesh, immediately collapsing unconscious from the shock.

  Bakugo walked over to her, his red eyes intense. "That's your real power. Not the kicks or the bullets. That."

  "It only works on living things. And only if they feel attraction."

  "Still deadly as hell." He glanced around at the destruction they'd caused. "We work pretty well together. For people who hate each other."

  "I don't hate you," Hancock said, surprising herself.

  Bakugo raised an eyebrow. "Could've fooled me."

  "You're loud, aggressive, and reckless. But you're not weak. And you don't pretend to be anything you're not." She looked at him directly. "I can respect that."

  For a moment, Bakugo seemed at a loss for words. Then he scoffed, looking away. "Whatever. Let's figure out how to get back to the others. Aizawa's probably fighting that army alone."

  "Agreed. We should—"

  A massive explosion echoed from the central plaza, followed by an inhuman roar.

  They both turned toward the sound, and through the ruins, they could see it: the brain-exposed creature, fighting Aizawa with terrifying strength.

  "We need to get down there," Hancock said.

  "No shit. Come on!"

  They ran together through the ruins, toward the plaza where their teacher was fighting for his life.

  Hancock had never worked with someone like this before. Had never trusted someone to watch her back, to complement her fighting style, to push her to use her full strength.

  It was strange.

  It was terrifying.

  It was... not entirely unpleasant.