Exam results came out. I dropped like 30 ranks in position in my cohort of 250-300. Sigh.

Wrote this in several sittings over the week while struggling with motivation and mood, so writing quality and pacing may differ wildly through the chapter. With this, though, the Festival is over, and I'll be moving on to other stuff in time. Update schedule will slow down compared to my first week now that I actually have things to do with my time.

Hopefully it's enjoyable. Otherwise, sorry once again.

Chapter 11: Second Debut

Yadama Hizashi was no stranger to crowd control. In his Present Mic persona, he had to know how to sway a crowd's views, after all.

Still, Taylor Hebert had masterfully manipulated the crowd and mollified their opinions toward Shinsou Hitoshi. He had no idea that she was capable of doing that, but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Hell, she might have just single-handedly averted a crisis not just for the boy, but also for UA and the public as well. With the ever-rising tensions between the quirked and quirkless, the last thing that society needed was a controversy within those with quirks.

Now, however, he had been left with the mammoth task of attempting to turn the crowd's growing boredom and irritation in the aftermath of the travesty of a tournament. He wished he had access to whatever magic or otherworldly power Taylor had made use of, because there was no logical way that she could have handled the crowd the way she had. Nezu had made it abundantly clear in private that his reading of Taylor Hebert indicated that she was paranoid, distrustful and moderately asocial, and attempting to adjust to a world markedly unlike her own. Hizashi would take the principal's word for it, given his quirk.

"ALRIGHT, LISTENERS! Wasn't that an amazing tournament!" Hizashi cringed internally at his attempt at rousing up the crowd, and hurried on with what he actually wanted to talk about. Anything to save the final few moments of the Festival. "The tournament is over and Bakugou Katsuki has been crowned as the victor, but that's not all that we have for you today! You've seen how our newest teaching assistant can come up with grand events for our students and your viewing pleasure, but now you get to see how she's like in her classes! An up-and-rising star of UA, Taylor Hebert has gained rapid popularity within the student body, especially among the first-year classes that she teaches!"

"WOO! GO TAYLOR-SAN! YEAH!"

Hizashi could have thanked Tokage Setsuna for the interruption, because it brought some chuckles and a slight increase in the crowd's interest. "I'm sure many of our students would have seen videos of Taylor-san's training classes –"

Here, some snickering grew among the assembled students, just as Hizashi had planned. Taylor's skillful scripted playing of the crowd had given him ideas for new ways to improve his own practice.

"- but now we get to see them for real! And that's not all! This will be a training exercise conducted after more than a week of intense planning and cooperation with fellow teachers! This will surely be an excellent educational opportunity not just for the participating students, but for all of you as well, dear listeners!"

Quickly, he pressed a button on the commentator's table nearby. An image of Taylor's Six, as had been colloquially termed by the teachers, showed up on the screen. It was a still-capture from one of their previous training exercises, catching them in the middle of an action shot, quirks fully on display as bodies of insects came at them from all angles. He could hear the muttering among the crowd, and capitalised on the change in their interest level.

He spied the Six among the crowd, Tokage grinning from cheek to cheek as she waved at the crowd from where she stood. By her side, Kendou and Kinoko were looking uncomfortable with the attention, while Pony and Shiozaki looked shocked from their moment in the spotlight. Monoma was talking with Midoriya from class 1-A, who seemed to have been fully healed by Recovery Girl's quirk. Hopefully that meant that his rivalry with the other class had toned down a little; Kan had been a little worried about his obsessive competition.

"We've already seen these six students in action during the first two events! Part of the reason they worked so well together is because of the practical exercises they'd been put through during classes! Taylor-san has put her Bug Control quirk to extremely intelligent use, forming mock-villains for our students to engage and other forms of hazards commonly seen in hero fieldwork. Today, we have collectively come up with something far beyond the previous classes that these students have participated in!"

Now he could move on to the actual briefing. He turned his attention onto the students still recovering from their surprise. "Students! I'm sure that Taylor-san has informed you of the training exercise, but not what it entails. Do not worry, because I will now begin the briefing for the mission!"

He changed the display on the stadium screens again, and this time he could not hide the grin as the audience collectively 'ooh'ed and 'ahh'ed. Power Loader had surely outdone himself this time.

He pointed to the screens that now showed a map of where the exercise would be held, located within Training Ground Gamma. The cleanup crew had been exceptionally productive in restoring it back to the state it had been before the first two events.

"The premise for this exercise continues on from the theme of the first two exercises! Brave students, you have defeated the two villains and escaped from the wrath of the Nezu-bot, but all is not yet over! For in secret, Nezu has been working with the renowned villain Hive Mind, who has the ability to control all manner of bugs and enforce her dominion over those that she infests!"

Pressing the button yet again, a figure of Taylor wearing a different costume appeared on the screen, insects and arachnids of all sorts obscuring her features. She sported a dark-themed costume with yellow lenses on her mask, a stark contrast against the Weaver costume she normally wore. He had no idea what it was supposed to represent, but she had simply told them that the costume was of 'sentimental value'. Hizashi wasn't stupid enough to question someone who literally had millions of bugs floating around her regarding the meaning of those words. He smirked as the audience gasped at her choice of outfit; no doubt he would be informing her of their reactions later.

"Two months since the fall of Training Ground Gamma, there have been reports of strange creatures and aggressive humans sporting insectoid characteristics attacking those passing by the industrial city. In cooperation with the Support Department of UA, some brave scientists within the city have maintained communications and have been developing a device that would put an end to Hive Mind's nefarious schemes. But pressed in on all sides by the horrors that she has created, they are unable to escape from the city! Your task, young heroes, is simple: Enter the city, find the lead scientist, bring him and the device back to this stadium and save Training Ground Gamma from the bug armageddon! Failure to do so would surely bee catastrophic!"

He allowed himself a mental pat on the back for a pun well done. Everyone loved bee puns, right? Thankfully, Taylor had already left the stadium and couldn't physically threaten him for that. Seriously, she needed to learn to lighten up!

"We have pinpointed the scientist's location based on communications that have been sent from his position. Vlad King-sensei will be playing the role of this scientist, but he will not be using his quirk to assist you during the task," he said, then highlighted the area on the map. It was located fairly deep within Training Ground Gamma, as a means of testing their capabilities in infiltration or direct assault. Hizashi wondered which route they would choose. "You will have access to the armbands used during the first two events for this task for the purposes of communications, mapping of your surroundings and navigation."

He snuck another look at the students. As expected, Tokage was enthusiastic, but the rest looked equally excited for the exercise. Kan hadn't been kidding when he said that Taylor's lessons were extremely popular.

"Of course, for this exercise, you will be allowed access to your hero costumes and any support items you have prepared during your time in UA! Beyond that, following the theme of the first two events of today's Festival, there are no rules. Will you sneak your way in to rescue the scientist? Or will you brave the legions of horrors that lie in store? Will all of you work together on the same task, or will some among you fend off Hive Mind's forces while the rest bring the device back to the stadium? Treat this as an introduction to hero fieldwork: there are no rules!"

With that, he finished off the presentation with the final slide prepared by Power Loader, showcasing a venerable army of spiders accompanied by bodies consisting of butterflies, dragonflies, ladybugs and all other manner of insects. They needed to show off what Taylor could do, in order to introduce her to the heroes of their world.

In the image, Taylor was looming over them all from a nearby rooftop, alongside a few of Ectoplasm's clones that would act as other villains in the exercise. It had been annoyingly painful trying to convince Taylor to take part in the photo-op, but she had ultimately unwillingly consented. For someone who had such a deep understanding of social dynamics and the ability to manipulate them, she certainly hated attention.

"Now then, students! Are there any questions?"

Unsurprisingly, Tokage's hand was in the first in the air.

"Yes, Tokage-san?"

"Sensei! Is there a time limit for this exercise?"

"There is no strict time limit, per se, but it should last for approximately an hour after accounting for travel time and escorting of the scientist back to the stadium from Training Ground Gamma. Any other questions?"

"Yes, sensei! What sort of resistance may we be expected to encounter?"

Ah, now that was a good question. Pity for her, though; the teachers had agreed that they wouldn't spill all the beans just yet.

"You will likely face many of the same threats you have seen before in your classes. Ectoplasm-sensei will also be employing some clones to act as some of Hive Mind's underlings. However, be ready for new surprises and slightly more difficult foes in the course of this mission. As any hero would know, anything can change during the course of a mission!"

He spotted some of the said heroes nodding in agreement with his words. Good, that would hopefully be able to boost the school's reputation if this trajectory carried on into the actual showcase. God knows how badly they needed that after that tournament.

"What sort of conditions would count as defeat?" Monoma asked. He was certainly a sharp one. Hizashi could see why Taylor was considering him as a team leader as they progressed on into the school year.

"Unlike the exercises in class that Taylor-san has conducted, winning or losing will not be so clear-cut," he said. Ah, screw it, he could tolerate some bugs in his lunch just for the students' and audience's reactions. "In the Zombie Butterfly exercise –"

Tokage began cackling as scattered laughter broke out among the students, while the crowd just looked confused. He smiled; that name hadn't ever been formally acknowledged among any of the faculty just yet.

"- in that exercise, defeat was considered as being overwhelmed or attacked by Taylor-san's mock villains. For today, this condition will be changed to being captured or otherwise incapacitated by enemy forces. You will be allowed to rescue one another but be warned that the difficulty of your opponents will be correspondingly increased compared to previous classes."

"Come on, sensei! Can't you explain that a bit?" Tokage whined. Hizashi shook his head with a slight smile.

"That would be telling, dear Tokage-san! I wouldn't want to spoil the surprises that Taylor-san and the other teachers have prepared for all of you!"

That seemed to be the last of their questions. Hizashi waited for several more seconds, before moving on. "You will now have some time to get changed into your hero costumes. Return here in fifteen minutes, and we will take you to the outskirts of Training Ground Gamma where the task will begin. Remember our motto: Go beyond! Plus Ultra!"

Hearing those words echoed back to him never got old. He watched as the Six made their way back toward the main campus.

Now comes the hard part , he sighed mentally. How could he entertain the crowd until they were ready to begin after the worst tournament showcase in years?

"So, dear listeners! While we wait for our students to return, how about we talk about the events of the day? Personally, for the first event, I was rather impressed with…"

I waited by the command deck that had been specially arranged for my use within Training Ground Gamma. Here, the entirety of the grounds and more was within the range of my power. I registered the presence of millions upon millions of bugs of all sorts that had been specially prepared by Nezu for this showcase. Not quite the largest number that I had ever commanded, but it was certainly comparable to some of those moments. Still, I probably wouldn't need access to that many.

In front of me were a range of monitors displaying live images from cameras scattered around the training ground, alongside headsets providing audio feed of the grounds. Truthfully, I didn't really need them, but I hadn't exactly disclosed my ability to hear through my bugs just yet. With the sheer density of bugs that I had access to, sight wasn't even strictly necessary, as I could map out the area decently well enough.

Then again, I was willing to accept any form of help that would enable me to keep the true scope of my abilities hidden for just a while longer. I wasn't sure how much longer I would keep the extent of my powers a secret. I felt just slightly guilty not disclosing this information to my fellow teachers, or at the very least just Nezu, but I had been blindsided by those I trusted before. Dinah's betrayal after having rescued her still stung, even if it led to better numbers for preventing the end of the world.

Through my bugs, I sensed the presence of seven new bodies entering the range of my power. I recognised them as my six students and Nemuri, who had volunteered to escort them to their starting location.

On cue, Hizashi's voice came over the communications system. " Taylor-san, the students are approaching the training ground soon."

"I know, thank you. I can sense their presence."

" Still creepy, even if it's not me."

"That's the point. I heard what you said during the briefing, by the way. You should know that I don't make empty threats."

Hizashi gave some hurried splutters as I considered just what type of bugs to pack into his lunch. It had to be something small and unnoticeable, yet sufficiently disgusting by most people's standards to ensure he never took one of my threats lightly ever again. Perhaps some maggots would do?

" Taylor-san, the students are in position. Are you ready to begin?" Nemuri asked.

"I'm ready. Hizashi, if you would please send the signal?"

I looked at one of the cameras detailing the situation in the stadium. It was unfortunately outside of my range, but I at least had audio and visual feeds.

" Dear listeners! Dear students! Our participants are all ready now, so without further ado, let the training exercise begin!"

I sensed the Six students discussing their plan for approaching the task. Good, I had drilled into them early that without the overwhelming force other heroes had access to, analysing a situation and piecing together something that they could use to their advantage was critical. Stealthily, I allowed just a few more bugs to skitter their way through the grass undetected in order to eavesdrop on their conversation. Of course, I wouldn't make use of such knowledge to my advantage.

That would be my chosen lie if asked, at least.

Nonetheless, I wouldn't abuse this knowledge too hard. Ultimately, this was meant to assist the students in their education as well. A one-sided beatdown wouldn't necessarily help; the tournament would likely have drilled in the lessons that such an overwhelming defeat would give anyway.

"… to the map, Kan-sensei is located near the middle of the training ground. How should we make our approach?" Itsuka was asking the group.

" It will take about ten minutes of walking at a safe pace to reach there from the main entrance to the training ground, if we stick to our formation and watch out for threats," Neito said. Good, he was thinking rationally. I wouldn't hesitate to send in my forces to intercept them if they weren't at least being careful. The notion that supervillains sent in their underlings one by one to die while watching heroes break through their hideouts was something falsely perpetuated by comic books and movies.

" It's faster if we approach from the east side, though. With my quirk and Pony-chan's horns, we'll be able to scale it, no problem. We'll be less likely to be spotted as well," Setsuna pointed out. Not bad, I had expected one of their team to have thought of such.

" Good idea, Setsuna-chan! We'll be able to have a better view from up there as well!" Kinoko cheered.

" Don't be so hasty, Tokage-san. We know how devious Taylor-san can be when she's in the mood. Could you scout ahead to check the path leading to the east wall?" Ibara added her own thoughts.

" Ah, right. Hey, do you think Taylor-chan's listening to us right now?" I tensed up. What could have given me away? My bugs were all safely sequestered away, hiding in spots outside of their vision. She shouldn't have been able to notice them. How could she even know I could hear through my bugs, anyway?

" Right, Nezu-sensei did say that he knew where we were through our armbands. Hey, Taylor! If you're listening, no cheating!" Pony said indignantly.

Oh. They had no clue, then.

They waited several seconds for a response. Did they actually think I would give them one if I were , hypothetically, listening in?

" Let's just get moving, Tokage-san," Neito sighed. " Could you send your eyes and one ear ahead? We'll help guard your body, and you can tell us about what the situation is like."

" Of course I'll keep an eye out for you, Monoma-san."

With that, Neito gave a deep sigh, probably used to Setsuna's antics and terrible puns. My bugs felt just the slightest disturbance in the wind that I assumed originated from her body parts moving through the air. It wasn't something that could be detected outside of someone with a significant Thinker power or enhanced senses, so I didn't allow myself to react to that.

I did move my minions located on the east wall just slightly, though. If she wasn't careful in moving her eyes and ear and came within what looked to be line of sight of my butterfly creations, I could justify an immediate response toward their presence.

"… can see several of Taylor-chan's zombies. There's butterfly and ladybug variants. Oh, and a couple of spider-dragonfly mixtures too, that's new."

" Please stay on task, Tokage-san."

" Right, right, Itsuka-chan, don't be such a downer. So far I've spotted five of them, but we should be able to hide from them quite easily. If we loop around behind the treeline to the southeast, we can hide until nearer to the east side. I don't see any villains up there from where I am, but I can't get any closer right now without alerting Taylor-chan."

" Okay. Can you keep one eye out maintaining lookout, and regenerate your other one to take us to where you are? Will it strain your quirk too much?"

" I should be able to keep an eye and ear separated for just enough time to bring you all to me, provided we don't run into any trouble. I'm growing an eye back now."

It took another few seconds before the group began moving. Time to concentrate on the exercise, then. I moved some of my minions around, simulating sentries placed on lookout on the south and east walls. To their credit, my students mobilised well; they hid completely behind the treeline out of what I defined as the view of my bugs and the cameras lining the walls. They maintained their silence as well, or were speaking so softly that my bugs couldn't hear them, a testament to how seriously they took this exercise.

"… okay, Tokage-san. Point out where the villains are?"

The lone bug I had on Setsuna's arm sensed her movements as she demonstrated the locations of some of my villains. She managed to pick up some of the more obvious ones, along with a few of those I'd taken some effort to try and hide, but there were a few more she hadn't seen. I smiled slightly, that would make things just a little more exciting.

" Okay, let's take this path here," Setsuna said, before making a series of complicated gestures. The rest of the group murmured agreement, and then they were off.

Setsuna scattered her body parts, taking off from the ground. The rest of the group followed suit, probably through Pony's horns and Neito's copying of her quirk.

Right then. Time to start the exercise.

"Coast is clear. Be careful of the one on the right, stay close to the wall so you don't get spotted," Setsuna informed her team. She had sent one of her eyes ahead, keeping track of the sentries up on the wall. Carefully, she brought the rest of her body parts up the wall, leading her team along a safe path where they couldn't be seen.

A deft series of manoeuvres later, they were safely placed in position up on the wall, allowing a bird's eye view of Training Ground Gamma. She beckoned for them to crouch low, so as not to alert Taylor regarding their choice of entry method.

"We should probably take out the ones on the wall before we head down," she whispered. She wouldn't put it past Taylor to install microphones in just about everywhere in the training ground, after how one of their previous exercises had gone. Since then, their team had agreed to keep noise down to a minimum during any of her insane classes. "There's two up ahead, facing out toward the east. We can probably take them out quickly enough that Taylor-san would count that as a silent takedown."

"You and me?" Pony asked. Setsuna nodded, then detached her arms and an eye.

"Follow, but be careful," she said.

She moved her eye on ahead, scouting just several metres in front of her as her other eye spied Pony creeping quietly behind her floating limbs. Two horns were hovering in the air in front of her, ready to strike.

Several metres of travel later, she brought one of her index fingers up while curling in the rest of her fingers. Hopefully Pony would understand the gesture for silence. Peeking around the corner, she found that the villains she spotted still hadn't moved.

Good. Silently, she pointed their positions to Pony. Then, on one hand, she began to count down.

Three. Two. One.

She shot both hands flying through the air, curling their hands around one of the humanoid bodies. Likewise, one of Pony's horns acted as a gag where their mouth would be, while the other applied pressure on their windpipe.

Taylor must have counted those as successful defeats, because the bodies slumped down to the ground for a second, before dissipating into their constituent bugs. It was significantly creepier now that they were composites of all manner of insects, rather than the butterflies from the first exercise.

Quietly, she beckoned for Pony to maintain position, while she led the rest of the group toward them.

"Good work," she whispered once her body and mouth finally caught up. "There were several more behind, but I don't think they'll be able to spot us."

"Should we head on down now?" Kinoko asked.

The rest looked at her for guidance. Funny, when had she become the one in charge? Setsuna considered the situation. It would be safer to take the rest out as well, but that would take more time. There was also the issue of her not knowing the position of Taylor's minions further out along the wall.

No, the best option would probably be scaling down into the training ground right now.

"Yeah. I think that would be the best –"

She heard a light click, and stopped mid-sentence. Likewise, the group froze up, looking at the source of the sound.

A lone bug-creature paused mid-step about twenty metres ahead as it (he?) spotted their group.

Damn it! Of course Taylor would send patrols! This was Taylor . Why would she do anything less?

She sent her hands flying forward, Pony's and Monoma's horns doing the same by her side. They struck the villain in an instant, but that was already too late.

"INTRUDER ALERT," a robotic voice chimed. "SENDING TEAM TO INVESTIGATE."

"Damn it! What now?" Setsuna asked, sending her eyes out to scout for reinforcements. Monoma moved to copy her quirk, repeating what she had done.

"Run, or fight?" Itsuka asked, looking around warily.

"I don't see any yet – No, two of them, ten metres!" Monoma corrected, pointing out their locations while detaching his arms. Setsuna turned an eyeball around to look, but the pair had been taken out by Monoma and Pony, turning into a mass of bugs as they left the wall.

"Good work. See any more?"

"No, but they left something behind," Monoma said, moving forward gingerly while one of his eyes rotated in midair. He bent down to pick up an object.

"It's a speaker and a microphone," he informed the team. "Looks like the ones we used in class. Should we assume that Taylor wants us to know that they've got communications up as well?"

"Yeah. There's something else, though. Look," Kinoko pointed, then retrieved whatever she spotted. It was a small, rectangular object, with several buttons.

"What's that?" Pony asked.

"Dunno. Think we should press them?"

"I'm not sure if that's really the best idea, Tokage-san –"

A few bugs flew over at that point, cutting off Monoma in his speech. They landed on the device, and pressed on a button.

"Damn, be careful!" she warned.

"INTRUDER ALERT," a voice chimed. She cursed, then spun around to watch out for new threats.

Then the bugs pressed another button. "SOMETHING AHEAD," the voice continued.

The bugs pressed more buttons, calling out different phrases. "REQUESTING BACKUP" was followed up by "HOSTILES CAPTURED" and "TARGET ELIMINATED".

"They're set phrases?" Monoma said, just as Setsuna came to the same realisation. "I'm guessing that we should assume that they'll communicate with other villains nearby?"

The bugs flew into the air, forming a smiley face.

"I guess that means Taylor-chan is listening to us through the communicator. No cheating! Hey, Monoma-san, mind ditching that later?"

The smiley face turned into a frown, before the bugs left as indistinct wisps.

"Taylor's really making this exercise more realistic, huh?" Pony mused.

"It's like one of those old Splinter Cell games with a more realistic version of VR-technology!" Setsuna said excitedly. Man, this was getting fun.

"I don't think any of us ever played those ancient games, but I get what you mean. They'll be reacting to our movements during the exercise, huh?" Monoma said. "If no more of them are coming, I think that means we've dealt with the reinforcements the first one called. Should we make our way down?"

"Yeah. Be careful, though. Now that we know they've got communications, we need to make sure not to get spotted before we get swarmed. Monoma-san, copy my quirk and help keep an eye out. Pony-chan, get ready to take out targets if we can't get them fast enough. Ibara-chan, Kinoko-chan, Itsuka-chan, I'm not sure how to use your quirks right now, but if we get in a tight spot we'll need your help."

"Got it. Don't worry, we'll be ready," Itsuka nodded.

"Okay. Monoma-san and I will scout ahead for now. Pony-chan, get ready to send the rest down when we give the signal."

They nodded, as Monoma refreshed his duration over his copied quirk. Then, they sent their eyes, ears and arms forward, hiding in the shadows of buildings as they scouted for targets.

They were making decent progress, all things considered. After my impromptu explanation of the communicators that I had Hatsume make for the exercise, the students took the task more seriously, cutting all chatter to a minimum.

Setsuna and Neito had done a fine job in taking out my bugs on the way to the building where Kan was being held. There were only a couple mishaps where they'd accidentally allowed themselves to get spotted by my cameras, but recovered quickly enough that only a few initial reinforcements sent to investigate the disturbance had arrived before being taken out by their team.

I wouldn't fault them for their blunder just yet, but I made a note to highlight areas of improvement after the conclusion of today's events. They simply weren't very used to stealth and infiltration, it seemed.

They were entering the building to rescue the scientist for the scenario given to them. Would they learn from their earlier exercises?

The moment they entered the doorway, I had spiders lurking up above the doorframe spin their webs blindly down below.

" AMBUSH!" Setsuna warned.

With that, two of Ectoplasms clones advanced, joined by groups of spiders preparing to weave webs to capture my students.

Kinoko had been caught by my spiders, mimicking the events from a previous exercise. This time, however, she didn't scream in terror. Beyond a short-lived muted shock, she recovered well, getting into motion before she could be fully captured by my bugs. Through the camera feed, I could see her using the gun that formed part of her hero costume to fire spores at the staircase leading up the building, halting further flow of reinforcements before they could become swarmed.

Itsuka and Neito were moving to engage the two clones, utilising the advantage of their Brute quirks in close combat within the building. Pony was lending supporting fire, preventing Ectoplasm from backing away from the Brute pair. Setsuna and Ibara were hard at work trying to clear my bugs; the former had split her body to her maximum limit as the many bits of her speared at my bugs, while Ibara simultaneously shielded the rest from my webs with her vines while crushing any obvious collection of spiders she could see.

I began moving some of my minions downstairs, deliberately allowing them to slow down as they passed the mushroom field. "INTRUDER ALERT. REQUESTING BACKUP," I had one of them warn, as he made his way to a mock terminal near to the wall.

"Pony-chan!"

"On it!"

Before he could successfully pretend to work the communications system to call in more reinforcements, Pony's horns had already speared through my minion, and for good measure destroyed the terminal I had him working on. Luckily it wasn't actually functional, and simply a cheap mess of plastic. The teachers probably wouldn't appreciate the amount of property damage that my students could get up to.

The two Brutes had crushed Ectoplasm's clones by then, and they took the opportunity to regroup.

"Everyone alright?" Setsuna asked.

"I'm alright," Kinoko said. "Didn't freak out about the spiders this time."

Setsuna gave a short laugh, but remained otherwise serious. "We good to continue?"

In the video feed, I saw the rest of the group nod. Carefully, they neared the staircase to the next level.

The moment that they turned the corner at the top of the stairs, I got my bugs to trigger one of the devices I had commissioned Hatsume to make. A jet of liquid not unlike the containment foam mimic that Nezu had used surged toward them, immobilising them in position.

"Not this again!" Monoma groaned, struggling against the hardening solid. Unlike Nezu's version, this one lasted for just a while longer.

"What is this stuff?" Setsuna questioned as she detached her arms to allow their movement. She spied the contraptions where I had launched the containment foam from, destroying them utterly. I would need to get Hatsume to increase their durability for future exercises. I didn't doubt that she would enjoy the challenge.

"Incoming!" Itsuka said, as she enlarged her hands once more. More of Ectoplasm's clones engaged the team, while I had teams of spiders firing webs while they were still immobilised. This had been a scripted encounter, one that the teachers had great interest in seeing how my students would react.

As copies of Ectoplasm caught the team in a pincer movement both from the second floor and from where they hid on the first floor, I began organising squads of spiders and flying insects to spin their webs in an attempt to capture my students. It wasn't anything serious, only a few thousand units of the insect duo, but if given enough time they could probably be able to force the non-Brute combatants out of the fight.

Itsuka and Neito were shielding the rest of the group, tanking hits from Ectoplasm while attempting to make the best of the situation they found themselves in. Up on the stairwell, there were only two narrow funnels of entry leading to the group. Itsuka grabbed a single clone, shoving it back toward more copies streaming in from the second floor.

A pity for them that that was only true if assuming their enemies travelled on foot. My mounted spiders began flying in, targeting the more vulnerable members of their group. As I had done thousands of times before, I ordered their mounts to fly in tight corkscrews around one another as they circled around Kinoko. Only three threads in each braid, but it would probably be enough restraint for her case.

"Spiders!" Setsuna warned, already sending the tiniest of fragments of her body to intercept them. "The hell, Taylor-chan is intense!"

Far away in my control room, I snorted. This was nowhere near what I was capable of. Then again, they didn't ever see me when I was fully serious before. That would have to change at some point.

The Brutes of the group turned to look at her warning. That was a mistake that Ectoplasm quickly took advantage of. Two clones moved to tackle Neito to the ground in the instant of his distraction, with one continuing to pin his arms behind his back while the other advanced on the rest of the group.

"Damn, incoming!" he shouted, still struggling against the clone.

Kinoko was firing her gun blindly at the swarm. Some of them were tagged by her spores, but most simply failed to find any purchase. She began to grow the mushrooms using her quirk, sending some of my bugs to the ground as they struggled against the increase in weight. Within a few more moments, however, I had her arms bound in webs, pulled together tightly by the tension of thousands of flying bugs.

"I can't move my hands!"

"I can't help!" Itsuka shouted, still fighting off against Ectoplasm, backing up toward the rest of the group as she picked up the ones that had overpowered Neito. At some point, she'd put her Brute rating to good use and ripped off the solidified weak foam holding her in place.

My bugs were beginning to move onto the other shaker. Attempting to capture Setsuna or Pony was pointless; their quirks would function even if I could successfully bind them. It wouldn't do them any favours if I gave them any more leniency than I already had.

Bugs began circling around Ibara's head and hands, attempting to pin down her hair against her head while simultaneously tagging her as having been captured. She caught on quickly, sending her hair lashing out to the sides before I could gain any significant amount of tension. Some bugs were crushed against the wall, but the rest continued. In her moment of panic, she'd accidentally struck Pony, sending her off-balance, feet still bound by foam.

"Shiozaki-san! Careful!" she cried out.

"Sorry! I can't – hit – these bugs!"

She changed tactics, growing out the tiniest of thorns on her hair, encircling vines around her own head as my bugs approached. It wouldn't immediately destroy them, but the movements of her hair ripped the strands of silk before they could be tightly wound around her. It was a stalling tactic, relying on Setsuna to continue shredding my swarm before they were overrun.

Only a few hundred remained now. Itsuka was doing commendably well, holding her own against four of Ectoplasm's clones. Despite that, she was giving up ground quickly, with the group bunched up together on the stairwell.

"Change tactics!" Neito ordered, still restrained by one copy of Ectoplasm. "Shiozaki-san, deal with Ectoplasm! Don't worry about being captured, you can continue using your quirk even if that happens! Pony-san, knock Ectoplasm off me!"

They complied. As Itsuka retreated, Ibara's vines lashed out into the funnel where Ectoplasm's clones were advancing from, forcing them backwards. At the same time, all four of Pony's horns rammed into Neito's assailant, giving him the opportunity to get up, rip off the containment foam, and switch over to Setsuna's quirk.

"Good plan!" Setsuna said. Together, the many body parts of Neito and Setsuna were able to tear my swarm apart, reducing their number to less than a hundred units. It was insufficient to capture the students now that they'd reorganised. I dispersed the remnants of the swarm; no sense in wasting good bugs.

Itsuka helped to tear apart the threads binding Kinoko's and Ibara's hands, receiving muted thanks in return, before removing the weak solidified foam restraining her team's movements. That seemed to be the end of the engagement, as the remaining clones of Ectoplasm were completely helpless against six teenagers that no longer found themselves immobilised or otherwise caught off-guard. Within a few more moments, the clones dissipated.

While they managed to turn the situation around, it was disappointing that it took them almost being overrun before they'd come up with a decent plan of action. I would have to come up with something to help with their ability to adapt to a surprise engagement.

"We all good?" Neito asked, panting slightly.

"Yeah. Damn, Taylor-chan is being intense today. Whatever that liquid was, flying spiders, clones and bug bodies?" Setsuna commented.

"Let's keep going. Knowing her, she'll send some more minions after us if we take too long," Pony said. I honestly wasn't going to, if only because I would need to coordinate with Ectoplasm for that to happen. Besides, the real test would come later.

"Right," Itsuka agreed.

They pressed on. We didn't plan for any more adversaries in their way, allowing them to find Kan within one of the rooms. He was sitting by a computer terminal, watching the feed from the stadium alongside commentary by Present Mic.

"Vlad King-sensei!" Setsuna greeted. "How are you doing?"

"Please stay focused," he sighed. Then, he fell into the role he'd been assigned to. "Thank you for rescuing me, young heroes! Quickly, we must make our way back to the stadium and put an end to Hive Mind's schemes once and for all!"

"Yeah! Let's go, Kan-sensei!" Pony cheered.

"Anything else you can tell us, Kan-sensei?" Monoma asked.

He sighed once more. "Thank you for rescuing me, young heroes! Quickly, we must make our way back to the stadium and put an end to Hive Mind's schemes once and for all!"

The students paused. Through the camera, I could see Kinoko blinking. "Um, Vlad King-sensei?"

"Oh, my God. It's an escort quest. You're an NPC!" Setsuna said a moment later.

Kan nodded, unwilling to say the phrase once more. He'd lost a bet against Hizashi, and had been relegated to this role for the showcase. I didn't understand most of what they were talking about, but apparently it had something to do with computer games. They would have gotten along well with Shigaraki, provided the Striker didn't actively try to kill them.

Setsuna snickered. "Hey, say it once more? I didn't catch it the first time. Or the second."

One of his eyebrows twitched. I wondered when Setsuna would realise that she would be receiving extra homework for the foreseeable future.

"Let's just get going," Itsuka said. She was ever the responsible one.

They made their way out of the building, still being careful to watch out for and avoid my bug bodies. It didn't seem that they would be making any more mistakes.

I grabbed my Skitter mask off the table, securing it onto my face. I double-checked that the bugs I wanted were on my person, then left the control room.

Time for things to get personal.

It wasn't making any sense. Other than the slight spot of trouble that they had at the staircase, things were going far too smoothly.

By his side, the rest of Monoma's team were chatting animatedly, having left Training Ground Gamma behind. Now, they were on the path approximately halfway back to the stadium. Following the retrieval of Kan-sensei, they'd encountered even fewer of Taylor's minions than on their way into the training ground itself.

"Stay on guard," he warned.

"You're being too paranoid, Monoma-san. Lighten up a little!" Tokage said.

"Monoma-san's right. This is Taylor-san we're talking about," Kendou agreed. Finally, at least someone had some sense.

"Man, you're all becoming just like her. I've got an eye and ear scouting ahead, and there's nothing as far as I can tell."

They had copied what they'd done back in the Training Ground, using both his and Tokage's quirks to look out for any threats. For the last five minutes, they hadn't come across anything.

Their path was lined by trees on either side. Nowhere quite near as dense as a forest, but a decent way of hiding some of Taylor's minions nonetheless. He was meticulously sending an eye out into and between the trees and undergrowth, making sure that they were completely clear. Tokage looked out along the main path itself.

They stayed in formation, with Shiozaki, Komori and Kan-sensei staying about five to ten metres behind Kendou and Tokage in the front, giving some room for the Shakers to act in the event of an ambush from the front. Pony and himself flanked the two on either side, allowing them to react to an attack from the back. It was an organisation they had agreed upon earlier in the day, utilising what they'd learned from Taylor's lessons.

"Armband: how much further are we?" Pony asked.

"Given current walking speed, location of objective is approximately ten minutes away."

"Sweet! Ten minutes and we'll be done with all of this!" Setsuna said. "What do you guys want to do after we're done, anyway?"

"Stay focused," Monoma snapped.

"Fine, fine. Sheesh, you need to learn to relax. Hey –"

She paused mid-sentence. He tensed up, sending his eye looking around. Did she spot something?

"What's wrong?" Kendou asked, enlarging her hands. She remained silent for another second.

"What is it, Tokage-san?" Shiozaki asked, growing out her hair to the sides, preparing to send them launching out at any threat.

"Oh, my God," Setsuna uttered. "Boss fight."

What?

His unspoken question was answered a few seconds later at the sight of Taylor riding a giant beetle just slightly larger than his own size, rapidly moving toward them. Since when could she even do that? The rest gave cries of alarm, preparing to unleash their quirks. Hurriedly, he recalled the body parts he'd sent off into the trees.

Of course, it was at that moment that two more massive bugs came leaping off trees on either side, tackling Shiozaki and Komori to the ground. How had he missed them?

She's taking out the Shakers.

Damn, Taylor was getting serious.

They weren't at all prepared for my ambush. Sure, Setsuna might have seen me coming for them, but that was exactly what I'd planned for.

I had kept the bugs that I'd empowered with Administration's version of Rachel's power hidden within the top branches of trees on either side, then backtracked down the path to the stadium. Once they'd passed just halfway through the tree-lined path, I had ordered the giant beetle I was riding to move toward them.

My power was simultaneously similar and markedly different from Rachel's own. My bugs didn't have the power or speed of her dogs, barely qualifying for a mild Brute and Mover rating of their own, but I had control where she didn't. I traded off fine control of all other bugs and range for unnatural strength and enhanced senses of the three empowered bugs that I had under my command, allowing Administration to somehow actually process the visual input of those bugs into something I could comprehend.

I much preferred having access to the senses and movements of all my bugs, but it was a necessary handicap for me to properly test my students. I had no plans to use my Shaker power just yet, unless they impressed me enough and showed that they could deal with just this part of my power alone. If I really wanted to, I could probably overwhelm them with the bugs of my base power very easily without ever being spotted.

I had chosen my bugs carefully for this test. In my time as a Ward, I had diligently continued my research of bugs to find variants that would be useful against the Slaughterhouse Nine. Back then, most were too small in scale to be of much use in a fight. Today, however, I put that knowledge to good use. A giant flying beetle not unlike Atlas for flight and durability, a Darwin's Bark spider for its immensely strong silk, and a bombardier beetle for its caustic chemical spray. My power didn't increase their size and strength, but also the volume of chemicals contained within their glands.

The bombardier beetles had glands that stored hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide. I didn't fully understand the chemistry, but in my test run of the empowered insect I had launched a barrage of boiling acid by mixing the two chemicals together, managing to slowly melt through the other bugs that I had tested them on. It wasn't very strong, far weaker than Acidbath's and probably Mina's acid, but given sufficient time it would do some damage. Needless to say, I would be carefully regulating the use and targeting of that particular defence mechanism.

"Holy –" Setsuna turned to look at the commotion behind her as Kinoko screamed. It seemed like she still couldn't handle giant spiders.

Setsuna shouldn't have gotten distracted. My beetle rapidly closed the distance toward her, sending her flying backward. In midair, she split her body, allowing her to avoid impact with the floor. Itsuka quickly intercepted my mount with one fist reared back, and I ordered the beetle to leap backwards, holding on to a portion of its carapace with my hand.

Kinoko and Ibara were down, pounced upon by the spider and bombardier beetle hiding in the treeline. I had my spider simply release a large volume of silk onto the downed Kinoko, not bothering with grace or finesse in capturing her. Against a Brute, the silk probably wouldn't hold, but with her tiny frame she could only struggle feebly against her bindings.

She was the easier of the two Shakers to disable, and now the element of surprise was gone. The spider grabbed hold of her with its front two limbs, preparing to take her away from the group.

One down.

"Shit!" Neito swore, switching over to Itsuka's quirk. As the closer of the two Brutes, he moved to help the two Shakers. Weighed down as it was, my spider couldn't dodge his assault while holding Kinoko. I had it release her from its grip, then sent it darting off to the side, cleanly avoiding his crude swipe. Pony's horns were flying around, trying to pin down all three of my bugs, but unlike most of her opponents during today's matches I could match her speed for speed.

Ibara pushed herself to stand, putting distance between herself and my bombardier beetle as Pony's horns kept it away from the Shaker. Quickly, she lengthened her hair, trying to catch the two bugs closest to her while they leapt into and out of the treeline to avoid her quirk.

"What do we do?" Pony asked, eyes darting around on all sides as my bugs moved rapidly, alternating between attacking and hiding. Her horns were being obstructed by trees and other foliage, while my bugs had no problem navigating in this environment.

"I don't know!" Neito shouted, still holding on to Itsuka's quirk, trying to get Kinoko free from the mess of webs. I couldn't let that happen. "We need to –"

I had both my bugs hiding in the trees closest to him leaping out at the same time, sending him flying backward. Ibara and Pony reacted quickly, sending their quirks toward my bugs, but I had my bombardier beetle release a spray of its noxious chemical concoction. It met vines and horns with a hiss of gas, melting through the organic matter, sizzling as it seeped into the ground below.

"Holy hell, what is that stuff?" Kinoko said, still struggling against her webs, unable to employ her quirk in any meaningful way.

"Acid! Don't get hit!" Ibara must have recognised it based on how similar it was to Mina's quirk during their earlier battle.

"You're using fucking acid? " Setsuna asked disbelievingly, as she and Itsuka attempted to engage me while riding on my beetle. What attacks I couldn't avoid I had my beetle take, its hard chitin carapace easily taking the damage without consequence.

"Didn't Hizashi-sensei warn you that you'll have tougher opponents for this exercise?" I said for the first time.

"Yeah, but I thought he meant Ectoplasm-sensei clones, not acid-spewing giant insects!"

"Not my fault you misinterpreted," I said casually, continuing to avoid attacks while my other bugs kept the other three at bay. They simply didn't understand this exercise.

"Shiozaki-san! Use your quirk to form a net; try to limit their movements!" Neito ordered. She nodded, sending her vines out at all angles to latch around trees rather than converging them in an attempt to capture my bugs as she'd done before.

Not a bad plan normally, but he was badly misinformed. They weren't facing human opponents.

My spider simply danced along the vines, moving deftly as they shifted. It was most at home traversing along its webs, and these vines were not much different. The beetle simply continued spraying acid to melt its way through the vines, its movements between the group and the trees unimpeded.

"Damn! Alright, Kendou-san, switch places! Tokage-san and I will take Taylor-san, you three try to restrain these bugs and get Komori-san free!"

With that, Neito advanced forward toward me. Itsuka must have trusted in his judgment, because she leapt backward, trying to grapple the bugs whenever they appeared. Their group couldn't make any headway into rescuing Kinoko, harried by the two bugs as they were.

"That plan won't work," I informed him.

"Won't know unless we try!" He gritted his teeth, attempting to attack me. He was stubborn. A good quality for a hero, sure, but he needed to understand when to accept my words at face value. I needed to show him just why it wouldn't work.

I leapt off my beetle, allowing it to fight Setsuna on its own. The two of them must have been surprised, because Neito paused in his attack, while my beetle barrelled right into Setsuna once again.

It took a moment before Neito came at me. His form was wide and sloppy. There was none of the polished grace that Itsuka had in using her own quirk, reflecting his inexperience with actually making good use of his teammate's quirks.

I moved to meet him head-on. He hesitated for a second, and I brought my body low, ducking below his swing. His quirk may have enhanced the power of his arms, but it did nothing for his weight. If anything, it shifted his centre of gravity slightly forward, which I capitalised on as I grabbed his leading arm, supporting it with my stump and back from below, and threw him harshly into the ground.

"What the –" he managed to say, right before colliding with the ground. I timed my attack perfectly, with the bombardier beetle releasing another spray of acid to force the trio to dodge, freeing up the Darwin's Bark spider to come and assist me. Another ejection of silk later, Neito was down.

People never expected the insect Master to fight up close. I always made sure they reconsidered that.

Two down.

"She's got Monoma-san!" Pony shouted. My spider was returning to face them now, the beetle having since stopped its caustic spray.

"Damn!" Setsuna swore again, reforming her whole body. She must have hit a hard limit on her quirk. "Alright, regroup! Four of us bunch up together!"

Bad plan. They were making worse and worse judgment calls as the fight went on.

"Again, not going to work."

They either didn't hear my words, or simply chose to ignore them. The four remaining students stood together back to back, having abandoned attempts to rescue Kinoko or Neito. I mounted my beetle once more, while the other two bugs hid themselves among the trees.

I took the moment to take a look at Kan. He was evaluating the fight, amused. This entire time, my students had forgotten about him, leaving him standing at the back.

I sighed. It seemed like a beatdown was the only way they would accept that their plan just wouldn't work.

From high up on a tree branch, my beetle released another spray of acid right in the middle of the group of four. They panicked, dispersing to all four sides.

"Holy shit, Taylor-chan's crazy!" Setsuna shouted as she dodged the chemical spray. It didn't matter; I'd been called worse during my time with the Chicago Wards. So long as they learned, this would all be worth it.

I seized the opportunity, ordering my spider to pounce onto Ibara the instant that their formation was destroyed.

"Shiozaki-san!" Itsuka called out. Horns and body parts tried to wrest the spider away.

Too late for her. Another spray of webs took Ibara out of the fight.

Three down.

"This is so unfair!" Setsuna said.

Finally , she was getting it.

"That's the point."

"What?" she asked, dumbfounded, pausing in her attempt to chase down my bugs.

I allowed them the slight reprieve. I wasn't looking to defeat them. I only wanted to give them a very important lesson. "You aren't going to be fighting fair fights all the time in the field. Remember what I said on Friday?"

"Exploit the events, cheat, fight smart, abuse any weakness?" Pony recited.

I nodded. "The way I structured this fight wasn't fair for you. You've all been fighting me wrongly this entire time. I've planned this attack for you to have several ways to deal with me and complete the exercise, but I can assure you that whatever you've been doing is not one of them."

"What do we do?" Itsuka asked.

"I'm going to give you a second chance," I said. I turned to look at Kan. "If that's alright with you, of course?"

He shrugged. "No problem with me. I'm curious to see how they handle it, myself."

"I'll give you a minute to recover and plan. We'll begin right after the point where you've been taken by my ambush. Sorry, Kinoko, but that means you stay webbed."

"Fine," she pouted.

I had my beetle very carefully erode its way through the silk keeping Neito bound to the floor. "One minute," I repeated. Then, I made my way over to Kan while the students began plotting. Without the ability to properly sift through the senses of the rest of my insects without sounds sounding like anything more than garbled nonsense, I couldn't quite hear them talking.

"Think they'll figure it out?" I asked.

"Maybe," he said. "They've done well for the rest of this exercise. You're being kind of hard on them, aren't you?"

"This is me going easy. I'm not very used to fighting with these bugs."

"Since when could you do that, anyway? I've never seen you use these enlarged bugs before?"

I shrugged. "Never really needed to use them before today. It was the only way I could reasonably test them without going overboard."

He began to whisper, soft enough that it couldn't be picked up by the microphones feeding back to the stadium. "You sure it's wise to show that much of your abilities?"

"It's not that much, really. I haven't shown my Shaker power or the full scope of control over my bugs. If anything, it makes my power more believable as a Bug Control quirk," I whispered back. It was enough to demonstrate that I was the real deal, deserving of the special position I'd been given in the school. Hopefully it could fast-track me on the way to a full Hero Licence as well. At the same time, my current and future enemies wouldn't know what I was fully capable of.

"If you say so. Still, be careful," he said cautiously. I nodded, then checked my armband.

"Alright, minute's up!" I told the group. They ceased discussion immediately, looking toward me with determination. That was a promising sign.

I mounted my beetle once more. "Alright. Begin!"

I had my bombardier beetle fire acid, but this time they were prepared.

"Acid!" Pony shouted. Ibara was ready, and intercepted the globule of hot liquid with a thick mess of vines. At the same time, Setsuna had split her body into multiple pieces, cutting through the webs keeping Kinoko bound.

I had my spider and the beetle I was riding charge the group. Neito and Itsuka employed their Brute quirks, taking on my beetle together, while Pony focused all her horns on keeping my spider away from Setsuna and Kinoko. As soon as the acid stopped, Ibara reorganised her vines, assisting Pony in maintaining a field of control to prevent the spider from approaching Kinoko.

Good. They didn't panic and break formation the same way they had previously.

I continued poking and prodding, but their formation remained intact. I had the bombardier beetle try to release more sprays of acid, but Itsuka and Neito took advantage of its temporary reduced mobility each time it tried to aim its attack to land their own strikes, forcing my beetle to dodge and abandon its attempts.

Within moments, Kinoko was free. I had my bugs return to the treeline, waiting for the next part of their plan. Would they surprise me?

"Alright! Phase two!" Neito ordered.

He swapped over to Pony's quirk, sending horns into the air. All six of the students grabbed hold of a horn, while one flew over to Kan.

"Grab it!" Pony shouted. "We're moving out of the trees!"

Excellent. They were thinking. Removing my bugs' ability to ambush them was one possible way to reduce my advantage and complete the scenario, provided they remained cautious.

The seven of them raced along the path. I sent my bugs in pursuit. Kinoko was rapidly shooting her spores and growing them along the path, slowing my bugs down fractionally.

Pony's horns would probably normally be faster in linear speed, but I was forcing the group to dodge lines of silk and streams of acid all the way. Still, though, they managed to clear the path to where the treeline ended before my bugs managed to catch up.

"Alright, Kan-sensei! You're heading off to the stadium!"

I was impressed. That was two potential victory scenarios they'd combined together.

Kan didn't waste any time. Pony took him as far as her horn would carry him, then he'd dismounted and began running back to the stadium. He would take another four or five minutes or so at his pace, probably.

"We just need to take his device back to the stadium and we win, right?" Setsuna said cheekily.

I nodded. "You'll have to hold out for a few minutes," I pointed out. Then, I struck.

Even without the cover of trees, my bugs had the advantage in manoeuvrability. They lost at linear velocity, but they had greater balance, and could arrest their momentum and change directions far more easily than humans. I swapped mounts, letting my beetle barrel through the two Brutes at the head of their group, falling onto the spider I'd positioned below.

"We're going with plan B!" Neito shouted.

Plan B?

The two Brutes mounted on two of Pony's horns, hands enlarged. Then, Pony sent the horns flying toward my beetle, as the Brutes stretched their hands out to the side.

Interesting. They planned to combine their quirks?

My beetle tried to dodge, but their charge covered far too much area. It couldn't move sideways far enough, or avoid the horns by flying, so I simply let it tank the hit. It wouldn't die, but it still suffered a crack in its carapace.

I did the next best thing I could, and unleashed a wave of acid. Ibara intercepted it with her vines, just as I'd planned. My spider mount launched itself toward the group, leaping over the field of mushrooms that Kinoko had set up. I rolled off its back, delivering a gut punch at the mushroom Shaker while the spider continued on in its path of attack toward Setsuna's floating torso. She tried to dodge in mid-air, but my spider hunted for a living. She was tackled to the ground, torso and head stuck in place with webs while her limbs remained in the air. Even if she separated her body into chunks, the sticky silk would continue holding them together.

Kinoko managed to tag me with a couple of spores before I hit her. They grew into mushrooms on my costume, weighing me down slightly. Smart, but now she was on the ground once more. She tried to get up, but my spider leapt backwards once Setsuna's torso was restrained to the ground, beginning to repeat what it had already done to the Shaker. Again, she took the chance to grow mushrooms to weigh down my spider, but then was rendered immobile once more.

One and a half down.

"Kinoko-chan!" Setsuna's head shouted from the ground.

My bombardier beetle had run out of acid by this point, having been too liberal in its use over the past engagements. I would have to make do with just its physical abilities. I sent it to charge into Ibara, while Setsuna divided her limbs further to launch a barrage of sharp-edged fleshy bits into its carapace. They found purchase, drawing some ichor from the haemolymph of my insect, but it continued on in its path. With her vines wrecked by acid, she couldn't immediately regrow new ones to intercept the insect and was forced to take the hit.

I took stock over the situation with my more durable flying beetle. Itsuka and Monoma were trading blows with it. Pony had recalled her horns, believing the Brute duo capable of dealing with that insect on their own. More cracks had appeared over its body, leaking some of the liquid of its open circulatory system. The students didn't escape unscathed either; bruises and cuts were beginning to form where they'd been tackled or sent tumbling toward the ground.

Pony's horns came flying toward me, and I was forced to take a hit before I managed to mount the spider once more. It wasn't too painful, but it would probably bruise. I'd better take things up a notch.

I allowed another beetle to crawl out from inside my costume, empowering it while the other three bugs shrunk slightly. A trade-off between what Administration could do in terms of power and numbers, probably.

"You can do that?" Setsuna asked, her face and body still locked with her back against the ground.

I could do much more. I could have swapped the bombardier beetle for a fresh one with acid, or for undamaged bugs to replace those I already had, but that would be overkill. My experiences with Theo taught me that people learned best when fought at a level just slightly beyond what they were capable of.

"Get ready," I warned. While the two Brutes were still locked in combat with my first beetle, trying to assist the rest of their group but were being repeatedly intercepted, I had my fresh beetle weathering an assault from the bits of Setsuna's arms and legs with its thicker carapace, covering for its fellow beetle comrade. The bombardier beetle took the chance to continue pinning Ibara to the ground while she was downed. She tried using her quirk to shake the insect off, but it refused to budge.

Kinoko, Ibara and part of Setsuna were down. She couldn't maintain the separation of her limbs for much longer, probably. Neito and Itsuka were trying to fend off the beetle without much success, its resilience far more than most foes they'd faced. I could afford to sacrifice the beetle, after all, while humans had some degree of self-preservation. Pony was trying her best, but she had to deal with a spider and beetle with only her horns and Setsuna's assistance.

It was a valiant effort, but moments later she too fell alongside the other three of her group. She'd tried riding on her horns, but before she could gain enough altitude to get out of my insect's reach my spider was able to pounce on her and send her to the ground.

Four down. Only the Brutes remained.

"Damn it! Plan C!" With a grunt, Neito grappled the beetle as it attacked. He gave a wince of pain as he was forced back several steps. That hit might have bruised or broken ribs, but he held on regardless. A valiant effort. "Now, Kendou-san!"

She roared, raising both fists upward, then slammed them down onto the beetle. Once, twice, thrice, and then the beetle disappeared from the sense of my power. It shrunk to its normal size, disappearing into the ground.

"There's still three more," I told them.

They looked determined, but their confidence wavered as I moved my bugs to surround them. An intimidation and distraction tactic, forcing them to divide their attention between three targets. When their attention shifted, I would strike.

Neito's eyes darted to one side.

Now .

The bombardier beetle charged. It didn't have quite the same speed, strength or weight as the other beetle, but with the injuries he'd already sustained Neito couldn't dodge in time. He tumbled to the ground, struggling to stand as he was pinned down by a pair of mandibles. Itsuka clearly wanted to assist, but my spider and remaining beetle were making her reconsider.

Very good. She was thinking rationally. If she moved to help Neito right then, she would lose handily.

I looked down at my armband, finding Kan's own coordinates. Then, I smiled.

The purpose of this exercise wasn't to defeat or humiliate my students. As before, I wanted to test their limits, but offer them a valid way of achieving victory. I'd planned out their task in a way that would allow both for me to demonstrate that I was no simple pushover, but also to showcase just what my students were capable of and reward them for their efforts. It was a win-win situation; a victory for both parties.

"Good work," I said.

Present Mic's voice came through. "Taylor-san! Kan-sensei has reached the stadium!"

"Holy crap! We did it!" Setsuna's disembodied arms were raised into a cheer. "Um, some help over here, Itsuka-chan?"

"Right!" She hurried over, moving to free her trapped teammates from my spider's silk.

I retracted the power I held over my bugs, causing them to shrink once more. It took several more seconds before my power's range returned to its normal limits, alongside the senses and control over the millions of bugs within my domain. Now, the stadium was once again within the range of my power, and I could hear the applause and roars of the crowd amidst Hizashi's commentary.

"… that, the team has bought enough time for the scientist to deliver the device! Hive Mind's creatures have been disabled, and the students successfully saved the city! Please, a round of applause for our brave students and our teaching assistant, Taylor-san!"

I tuned the commentary out. We'd be going back to the stadium, anyway. I ripped off the mushrooms still stuck to my costume, then helped Neito up from where he was on the ground. He smiled thankfully at me, wincing in pain while getting to his feet. "Careful. You'll need to see Recovery Girl after all this," I said.

"Yeah," he said. "You really went all out, huh?"

"Not really," I said. His face fell. "Honestly, if you were an enemy, I'd just swarm you with bugs. Far easier and less risky for me."

"Do you really have to be so direct?" he winced.

I remembered how training Theo and the wards had been like. At the beginning, some of my more ruthless methods weren't quite well-received. Theo tolerated my training, if only because he was forced to face Jack Slash again, but the others hadn't appreciated the way I handled things. Beyond Tecton, I wasn't close with any of the other wards. Grace had been the most hostile of them. This was a chance for me to avoid the mistakes I'd made before.

"Sorry," I said. I wasn't sure whether or not I fully meant what I'd said. It was excellent for their education, but there might be hard feelings after all this was done. "You did great. A little inexperienced, but we can change that. More importantly, you have all the right attitudes. You try to fight smart, you work with your team, and you don't give up. Doesn't always work out, but that's more to do with inexperience. You could do with a little less of your self-sacrificial tendencies though, at least until you get more experience."

"Hey Taylor-chan, Monoma-san!" Setsuna waved. "Sick work, Monoma-san! You guys alright? Let's head back!"

"We'll talk later. All of you," I told them. They nodded. Carefully, with Itsuka and I supporting Neito's weight, we made our way back to the stadium.

All the while, I could feel the sense of pride coming from my passenger mixed together with my own. It seemed that Administration was growing fond of my students.

We were greeted with the audience's applause once we arrived in the stadium. I stepped back, allowing my students their time in the spotlight. Hizashi began to pester them with questions.

"I take it things went well?" Aizawa asked. This time, I was prepared for his entrance, having noted his position with my bugs.

I nodded. "They performed admirably. Didn't succeed on their first try, but they improved. How's things with Todoroki?"

He winced slightly, then sighed. "Some progress, but there's a lot more to unpack. I would talk about it with you, but I don't think he'd want that just yet."

"I understand," I said. "If you've got it covered, that's fine. Do you need me to handle anything with Endeavour?"

I was beginning to dislike him as a person, now that I had a picture of him based on what I'd seen and what I'd eavesdropped upon. He was what Armsmaster might have been, if he were a Blaster with an even more exaggerated sense of self-importance rather than an asocial Tinker. He worked hard as a hero, but didn't have the qualities I associated with one.

"I'm not sure if you can do anything about that," he said.

Someone like him would probably need a huge shake-up to his ego. Armsmaster had only become Defiant after Mannequin had basically left him at death's door, while Dragon helped save him and change his worldview.

"Yeah. I'll continue reading up on him and think up some ideas. Tell me if you need any help with Todoroki. The younger one, Shouto," I corrected.

"Will do," he said lazily. Then he pointed. "Hizashi is going to be calling for you soon, probably."

The two must have been way closer friends than I'd been led to believe, because sure enough he took a break from singing praises of my students.

"And of course, we have our brilliant teaching assistant, Taylor Hebert herself! We've seen her brilliant mind in the planning of the day's events, but now we've also seen her in action! And boy, does she pack a mean punch!"

Some members of the audience laughed. I wasn't sure if he was referring to my powers, or my literal engagement of Neito and Kinoko in close combat.

"Come, Taylor-san, join your students up on the stage!"

I maintained my composure the entire time, letting none of my discomfort show. I was cheating, of course, making my bugs move around undetected to work off my emotions. This wasn't the same kind of attention I'd received in my time as Skitter and for most of my career as Weaver. This was more akin to that disastrous talk show I'd been forced to attend with the Wards just before Khonsu's first appearance.

I waved stoically at the crowd amidst cheers and applause as Setsuna eagerly ushered me to the front. I tried to make sense of the crowd's emotions through my bugs' senses, but this was a fairly new thing to me. Sure, I could sense that they were emotionally heightened, but I wasn't quite certain exactly what they thought. Were they wary, excited, or simply pleased to find something new in this Festival?

"Do you have any thoughts regarding the exercise, Taylor-san?" Hizashi's voice boomed over the system. I moved toward the microphone placed on the stage.

"They did well, all of them. They faced some difficulties, but they recovered well and completed the exercise. I'm proud of them."

"And what of yourself, Taylor-san? We've seen the students in action, but is there anything you'd like to tell about yourself?"

This was it, then. My debut. I thought over the points that the teachers had suggested for my introduction to the world of heroics.

Of course, just like my first debut as Weaver, I forgot what I'd wanted to say. I was supposed to talk about my desire to be a hero and to affirm my commitment to helping society, among other details.

Just as I'd done before, I improvised.

"My name is Taylor Hebert," I said. "You've seen my quirk in action, so I won't talk about that. I'm training to become a hero. I'm a little bit more experienced than the rest of my students, due to some past circumstances I won't talk about. I'll be helping the teachers in training my peers, particularly those with quirks I've worked with before."

What else to add? What I'd said during my first debut wouldn't make sense in this society. It was too stable and peaceful to talk about pledging to fight off threats like Leviathan, the Slaughterhouse Nine and other evils. Might as well help bring a positive spin for UA to recover from the tournament. "I want to thank Principal Nezu and all the teachers at UA for helping me to become a hero, and for giving me the chance to help with planning this event. I'm not sure if it went entirely as you'd expected –"

A wave of cheers broke out. Hopefully that meant something positive.

"- but hopefully it was enjoyable. I think the students have a lot to reflect on from their experiences today. I hope to continue working with them as we train to become heroes here in UA," I continued.

Perhaps a throwback to my first appearance back in Earth Bet? "When and if I do become a hero, you can call me Weaver."

With that, I stepped back. Another round of applause broke out, the students by my side joining them. I gave them a curt nod.

"Alright! And with that, we end the Sports Festival for the first years! Coming up next will be the second and third years, although with simpler events, of course! Please continue tuning in, dear listeners, as we see what our students can show us today!"

My job for the day was done. I wasn't going to be involved in those events. I turned to address my students.

"Good work, all of you. Get yourself patched up with Recovery Girl. Talk among yourselves, think about how everything went and reflect on areas of improvement. We'll have a discussion later."

"Again?" Setsuna whined. I glared at her. "Fine, fine. If you say so, Taylor-chan."

"I'll meet you in a classroom later."

"No, better idea!" Kinoko perked up. "We'll all go out for dinner today and talk about it then! How's that sound, guys?"

The rest readily gave their agreement. I looked at them suspiciously.

"You've discussed this beforehand, haven't you?"

She nodded unashamedly. A small smile formed on my face. This was almost like how Emma and I had been, before I had returned from that summer camp where everything had changed. This wasn't Earth Bet, I wasn't Skitter the villain, Weaver the hero, or Taylor the bullied girl. Here, I was Taylor, hero-in-training.

"Fine," I told them.

I found myself back in the same restaurant we'd been in on Friday. Setsuna favoured this place for some reason.

"Right," I began, after we'd all placed out orders. "Initial thoughts?"

"We kind of sucked?" Setsuna offered. "You pretty much took us all on by yourself."

I shook my head. "Don't feel too bad about that. Train your quirks a bit more, get some more experience in dealing with opponents like those and you'll do fine. Good work on combining your quirks, by the way."

"Yeah, Monoma-san, great job!" Setsuna said, shoving his shoulder enthusiastically.

He sighed. "Still wasn't enough, though."

"Keep working at it. Come up with some more ways to work with each other's quirks, and you'll be even more versatile as a team." He still looked glum. "Don't worry about it. It took me four months before I felt comfortable enough with my power to go out on my own, and another one or two months of nearly daily danger before I became experienced. Any other thoughts?"

They were clearly interested in my past, but I steered the conversation away. Itsuka offered the next discussion point. "We need to work with more situations. We did fine in the first two events, since they're similar enough to your classes, but facing you and your bugs in person was completely different."

I nodded. "Fair point. I'll see if I can let you fight my bugs in class, but it might breed unhealthy habits. You won't be fighting giant spiders or beetles in the real world, after all. I might pit you all against each other and see how you perform."

"Like the tournament? Pony-san and I managed to make our way up, but it just felt really…" Ibara struggled to find the right word for a moment, then gave up. "…wrong."

"Yeah," Pony agreed. "I won by making sure Kirishima-san and Ojiro-san couldn't hit me and just poking at them with my remaining horns, but I couldn't do a thing to Iida-san."

"As you've said, that's how the real world works. Bad matchups happen, or in some cases they're decided by the flip of a coin. Take the match between Ibara and Setsuna, for example. In my world, at least, capes that go solo don't tend to last for very long. They're either killed or absorbed into other organisations. It's why I'm getting you all to work with each other."

I took a sip of my tea while they mulled over my words. "Alright. Anything regarding areas of improvement?"

"I'll need to work on technique," Neito considered. "You managed to beat me easily one-on-one even when I used Kendou-san's quirk."

I nodded. "Get Itsuka to teach you some things, or I might be able to help a little. My fighting style would be very different from what best utilises her quirk, though. I'll need to come up with something for myself as well, now that I only have one hand available."

"I'll need to learn some of that too. I couldn't do a thing, even with my mushrooms," Kinoko agreed. Good, it would come as a surprise to her enemies when the fragile Shaker manages to execute some decent fighting in close combat.

"We could use some better situation judgment and reacting to enemy actions. We did almost everything wrongly the first time you caught us out," Setsuna said. "Any suggestions?"

I thought over her question. What worked with the Wards? The most effective method seemed to be our sessions where we'd come up with hypotheticals against all members of the Slaughterhouse Nine.

"Discuss among yourselves and think up some situations and ways you might counter them. For my part, we can talk about how you could handle different types of quirks, using some examples from my world." I wondered how they would react to the likes of the Siberian or Gray Boy. Those powers were bullshit in-and-of themselves, even before factoring how they worked with the other members of the Nine.

The food came at that point, temporarily interrupting our conversation. I dug in readily, the events of the day having burned quite some amount of energy.

"Hey, Taylor?" Pony asked, midway through the meal. I paused. "Will you ever tell us more about yourself?"

"…maybe," I said after a long pause. "I'll think about it."

Setsuna mimed a silent cheer.

Amusement , my passenger conveyed. It seemed that Administration was really liking this bunch of students.

We didn't talk much for the rest of the dinner, but I felt comfortable with my new group of friends.

Shigaraki Tomura turned off the television following the conclusion of Taylor Hebert's exercise.

An 'exercise', they'd called it. Pah! The entire festival was obviously heavily inspired by video games. He didn't take Weaver as someone who was interested in them, but clearly he was wrong. The first event played out like some kind of MMORPG, giving players different ways of gearing up and gathering EXP. The second event, as that student had noted to his amusement, was a horror survival game mixed together with a battle royale. The tournament, a simple fighting game, was boring in comparison.

Then came Taylor Hebert's exercise. An open-world stealth game mixed together with RPG elements and an actual escort quest, complete with NPC. Then a boss fight, coupled together with actual boss battle music played over the speakers by that loud-mouthed teacher.

This Taylor Hebert was becoming more interesting by the minute. He'd known her true identity as Weaver from the start, of course, given the similarities of her costume with the damaged black-themed one she'd arrived at USJ in. Once she'd changed her costume for her exercise, there was no doubt regarding her identity.

She employed abilities he hadn't seen her use in USJ. She used the enlarged insects to take her students down, but didn't use the same numbers in her swarm or the strange ability to create hands of different materials that enabled her to entrap the Noumu. Sensei had been equally intrigued when Shigaraki had mentioned her multiple quirks two weeks ago. He hadn't remembered ever gifting someone quirks like those, much less in that combination.

Then there was the matter of her speech. 'Past circumstances', she'd said. Was she referring to her past as a villain, gaining experience through fighting other heroes? The methods she employed were more brutal than most heroes as well. Acid and giant insects? And the things she taught her student were oh so interesting! 'Abuse the system, cheat, exploit all weaknesses'? Betray teammates if necessary for a win?

She was clearly a villain at heart. He wondered why she rejected his offer, why she was so adamant about becoming a hero.

No matter. In time, she would join the League of Villains. He would discuss the matter with Sensei.

And if she didn't, well, she wouldn't have much of a choice. There were ways of forcing loyalty. They still had the Noumu and the rest of his useless minions that Kurogiri had helped retrieve in USJ.

Of course, if she continued to refuse, some punishment was in order. Perhaps he could kill her students in front of her. Some things to think about.

He turned the television back on, finding a decent game to play. Perhaps a stealth game; that exercise had reminded him of some games he hadn't yet finished.

Hopefully that wasn't too much of a slog. Not sure when I'll continue to work on the next chapter, but I'll probably be moving on to the internship arc.

For the rest of the story, I think I'll be making All for One and other villains a little more competent than in canon. He'll probably play a bigger role, and I may not have him face up against All Might just yet. I might be moving away from traditional shonen style fights and plots, we'll see. I might also introduce some darker and more realistic elements from the setting of Worm into society of BNHA if they make any sense.