Solitaire stood on the top of the half finished building in Nerima, breathing through the skull mask as he stalked his prey. It was getting harder, they were being more cautious, because of him. He'd been using Nerima for too long, four months. Maybe it was time for a change of location. Heroes didn't know where he was hunting at the point (Villains couldn't exactly walk into the police to report him, and he didn't leave evidence behind), but villains certainly did.

Watching the Villain vanish into the alleyway, Solitaire dropped behind him with a heavy thud, sending the man turning and raising a gun. Before he could move to fire it, he caught sight of the Vigilante's black coat, causing the villain to stagger back, "Th- the Grim Reaper!"

"I don't like that name," Solitaire purred softly, stretching his body like a serpent, joints cracking and popping as he did, He preferred to use hand to hand, that way the other him could use their true form without making the connection between them obvious, "I'm not anything of the sort, just another sinner."

"I'll shoot!" The man said desperately, waving the gun wildly.

"Oh, I believe you," Solitaire said, and then lunged forward, swinging a clawed hand forward and taking off the gun arm in one swoop. Before he could follow it up, something black exploded from the other arm and swung for Solitaire's throat. The monster flipped back, dodging the blade by the skin of his neck. Lunging forward, he swung his fist into the gut of the villain.

A third strike wasn't necessary as the fist tore through the flesh like chaff, coming out the other side soaked in gore.

"Y-you-"

"It's nothing personal," Solitaire said, lifting up his hand, "but I need to eat."

The blow took the head off roughly, the tearing of meat and sinew wetly squelching as bone snapped. Then Solitaire lifted the body up and picked up the head, staring into the blank eyes.

"Well, that isn't quite true. I don't like rapists."

Solitaire stood, lifting the much larger body as he began to make his way towards the tunnels that would lead him to his base of operations and then, later, home. The hunt had been sloppier tonight, quicker than normal, but it could be forgiven.

They had a big day tomorrow.

- X Katsuki X-

"So, you actually decided to show up?" Katsuki drawled, leaning against the wall surrounding UA as Izuku approached, "I was starting to think you chickened out on me, Nerd."

Izuku squirmed slightly, before saying, "We made a promise."

"And you cut it so close I thought you were gonna break that promise," Katsuki said, before raking his eyes up and down Izuku, noticing the rumpled clothes "Well, we should probably get in there."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded rapidly, rushing by Katsuki. Silently, the explosive blonde pulled out his phone and typed out a message.

He went out last night.

A minute later, the response came back from the other two members of their friend group close enough to 'know'.

Shit.

You're sure?

Yeah. You can yell at your boyfriend when we've passed.

HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND.

I'll keep an eye out for reports about Solitaire last night.

"Kacchan?" Katsuki glanced up, meeting Izuku's eyes, "What's up?"

"Just talking with Touka and Hide," Katsuki said, "Let's go, Nerd."

- X Izuku X-

Izuku crouched and slid off his shirt as he tried to ignore the guilt eating at him from what he had done last night. The man had been terrible, he had been sure of that from the moment they met, but… that hadn't made killing and eating him anymore right. Even if Izuku didn't want to eat him, his Quirk didn't give him a choice. It was the only thing he could eat, and he had put it off for so long that… he didn't want to think about what would have happened if he hadn't and then come to UA.

Warm bodies everywhere, tender and still with fat.

Yeah, it was better for Solitaire to go out than the other answer, which would end with him in Tartarus if he was lucky. Closing his eyes, Izuku breathed in as the liquid muscle pierced through the skin on his shoulders, writhing and spreading like a pair of red wings.

When he opened his eyes to the blue haired boy walking towards him, he watched the movement stop. Izuku stood, slowly and methodically cracking each finger as he went, then his elbows in a hyper flexing that caused the other boy to visibly wince, "Can I help you?"

"I was going to ask why you were stripping yourself of your shirt," the boy said, adjusting his glasses as Izuku began to crack his back and neck, continuing to wince, "but I can see why. I'll leave you to get ready!"

Izuku cracked a grin, glancing up at Present Mic with blood red irises surrounded by black scalea and equally red veins. Then the Pro Hero waved, "Go! Go! There's no countdowns in real life!"

Izuku took off, rushing around the pack and pulling his wings around his arms as the first robot approached him. Kicking off, Izuku swung his left wing and arm, the cells around the edge hardening to a crystal state. The robot's head fell in two separate parts as Izuku swung the other arm at a second robot, firing shards of crystalline cells at it and watching it tip back and jumping off the robot, rushing to find some more 'villains' to rack up the points. He had a bet with Touka to win, after all…

He wondered how she was doing?

Eh, did it really matter at the moment? He had robots to destroy, and that meant he could cut loose!

Izuku chuckled, rushing towards a pair of three robots and flowing from one strike to another, each one dropping as his blood began pumping.

At least it was something he could fight, and destroy, without feeling guilty!

- X Touka X-

Touka drove a foot into the head of the robot, electricity crackling down her leg and through the circuits, frying them and sending smoke rising. Kicking off and towards the next on, she briefly imagined it was a green haired dork with green eyes… before taking off the head in an explosion of sparks.

That stupid dumbass! What was he thinking, going out without telling them? Was he trying to get himself killed, or worse, locked up in Tartarus for the rest of his damn life? Did he realize what that would do to Hide? To her, to get a loved one chucked in that hellhole while her dad was still living his sentence?

No, of course he didn't, it was just 'oops, it's that time of the month (note to self: never use that terminology for Izuku's cannibalistic diet again), better go find a criminal!' Because he was a raging dumbass when it came to these things. And she was going to lay into him about it when they got home.

Because she might not get along with Bakugo, but he had known the secret longer than anyone, so if he thought Izuku had gone out hunting, he had sure as hell gone out hunting. And even more obnoxiously, he had stood her up for the last study session before the entrance exam to do it. UA had a stupidly low acceptance rate, and Touka had never been the best of their friend group at school work.

Touka pushed that thought aside, landing on another robot and sending electricity crackling down her body and into the face as she latched on. She'd just have to get enough points here to make it worth adding her to the Hero Course. She had to, because then she might be able to stop A-

Touka twisted, dodging the bullets from the next robot until she saw them spark with electricity. Then she stepped into them, wincing as the pain came even as her Quirk amped up her body. Throwing herself forward, Touka gave a heavy kick that arced with lightning, taking out the robot before continuing on. There was a purple haired boy holding a sign post as a rudimentary spear.

"Go for the joints," she advised, red lightning crackling around her, "That's where they're weakest."

"I-!" The boy started, before nodding, "Thanks."

"We're competing right now," Touka said, "so don't thank me yet."

Then she was off, towards the next robot, a three pointer. This was it, she had to succeed here.

She had to become a hero, for her dad.

- X Shouta X-

Shouta watched the screens showing the students, frowning before Snipe essentially said what he was thinking, "Looks like we got some real spitfires this year, eh?"

If that's what you called a boy who caused explosions with his bare hands, a girl who absorbed electricity and then let it out to enhance her body and a boy who created wing-like appendages that he used like blades to cleave through the bots as he fell on them like a bird, fired as a series of flechette strong enough to rip through the armored plating or as a shield to block rounds. None of the powers were that impressive on paper, but with how well they were using them…

This was one of those rare cases, in Shouta's opinion, that the exam was giving a very accurate image of three of their soon to be students. They knew how to use their Quirks, they were athletic, or at least the girl and green haired boy were given the twists and spins they used to give their attacks more momentum.

He'd still test them, day one, but he could already tell by the way they moved that they would pass the tests with ease… assuming, of course, that they weren't completely useless without their Quirks, since they all seemed to be Emitter or Transformation types.

And they were far from the only ones making good impressions. There was a girl who could grow her hands large enough to bat away the smaller bots, a boy who had turned into a giant beast to rip the robots apart, another who was trapping the bots with sticky balls and leaving them for others to finish (thus wracking up a larger number of points then he probably had a right to, if Shouta was honest), yet another who had welded several robots to the walls and the ground and another girl who wrapped them in vines.. Those three would make decent capture heroes, he could tell.

Many of the students were passable, the white haired girl who used telekinetic powers to lift up poles and send them flying through the bots, the soon of the Iida family, fresh off a slightly wince worthy failure at the recommendations (not that Shouta could blame him. The recommendation students this year had been absolute monsters in power), the boy with tape dispensers in his elbows. They were standing out in the pack… but at UA, that was the bare minimum for success in the Hero Course. You had to go Further Beyond, and be ahead of the pack to be really worth it in Shouta's eyes.

And it was going to take the crucible of fire that was UA's training to bring that out or see you drop out. Despite Shouta's… reputation as being a bit trigger happy with the expulsion (something he was sure Hizashi was gonna harp on him about again), the truth was many people couldn't handle the strain of UA's hero course, and decided to move down to general studies on their own. Shouta was just normally very good at calling which students it would happen to beforehand.

More than half the students he readmitted ended up transferring before the first school year was up. But this year… he wouldn't admit it aloud, but he had a good feeling about this year's students. Even the ones he felt were only barely holding on, like the mohawked boy, might be able to take the strain.

- X Izuku X-

Izuku hid the exhausted grimace as he continued through the fight. He needed to stop firing off 'feathers' because, and there was no denying it, he was running low on RC cells, the unique cells his body generated over time and… after he ate.

Still, it couldn't be too much longer before they ended the exam. Even with the time dilation that came with the rush of fighting, he could tell they had been doing this for a while.

Should he swap which ones he was using for the ones around his spine for the rest? They used less cells, but the energy to bring them out…

No, he'd just stick to his wings for now. It could only be a few more minutes now, and he'd just keep to close combat. That's all-

A loud, sharp buzz filled the air, sending Izuku reeling slightly before he glanced back, watching a giant robot descend towards the testing area. That… was a problem he wasn't going to deal with. He'd prefer his reckoning not come from a multistory robot, if he was honest.

Turning, he rushed in the opposite direction of the robot, picking up the stunned white haired girl and brown haired girl with hair like a mushroom. That wasn't worth getting a few extra points.

- X Touka X-

Touka watched the Zero Point robot rocket up, staring up with wide eyes, though only one was easily visible. This school was insane...

Before she could do anything more than grab a nearby streetlamp and drain electricity from it to amp herself up to run away from the lumbering robot, she stopped, "Help! Please, I- my legs are stuck!"

Motherfucker.

Touka weighed her options for a second, sucking on her teeth before heading towards the girl calling for help. That's what a hero would do, right?

Landing, she watched the brown haired girl struggling with the rubble around her. She was tapping pieces and sending them floating, pushing them away from her. Well, that was lucky at least.

"Focus on getting them off of you," Touka said, grabbing the pieces and throwing them away, "I'll move them."

The girl nodded, and they began the process of freeing her from the rubble.

- X AN X-

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