“Man, you guys look exhausted.”

“Don’t rub it in, Felix.”

Felix approached his classmates, who were preparing to make their own dinner despite all the hard training they were already put through. He decided to at least exercise a shred of decency and help them get the fire going.

“Psionic fire,” the psychic whispered, channelling his psychic energy to imbue the air with a spark of heat.

A huge flame burst from his fingers.

“Oh crap! Too much, too much!” Felix focused his mind, slowing down the air molecules enough to generate a beam of ice at the raging fire.

He heaved a sigh of relief. Aizawa would probably give him an earful for burning the place down. Or worse, more assessment papers.

“Wait a minute, you can use fire and ice moves too?” Kaminari shouted as though he had discovered a new game item. “That’s wicked cool! You’re Todoroki’s secret love child or something?”

“If Todoroki is my father, then you must be my mother, Kaminari.” Sparks danced around Felix’s fingers as he psychically boosted the electromagnetic forces between them.

“Oh, that is so not fair…” the blonde bioelectrical boy groaned. “Psychic powers are too strong…”

A recognisable growl of frustration interrupted them.

“Aww dammit, psycho! How’re we gonna light the coal now that it’s covered in ice?” Bakugo yelled, storming over to toss out the unusable coal.

“W-what do you mean?” Felix looked at him blankly. “Todoroki can just melt the ice, can’t he?”

“Ice melts into water,” Todoroki said quietly. “Wet charcoal doesn’t burn well.”

“Oh…”

“Ugh, how can someone be so strong yet so stupid at the same time?” Bakugo dragged another huge bag of charcoal. He tossed a handful of them into the pit and lit them up with a tiny explosion.

“Thanks, Bakugo.”

“I’m not helping you again!” The boy huffed, somehow managing to make his walk back to his chopping station look as violent as possible.

Felix felt a vibration in the back of his pocket. He opened the text message after finding a private enough spot. There were only four words.

Two hours. Be prepared.

Colour drained from his face.

~ ~ ~

Night fell quickly, much to the dismay of the undercover student. Felix had seized the small break time to disappear from his classmates. Apparently they were about to do some sort of night walk around the jungle, which meant that he had the perfect excuse to go missing. Whether it was sheer coincidence or Shigaraki’s intricate planning, he was just glad that he didn’t have to turn on his friends in front of them.

The psychic reached a nearby mountaintop after making sure he had gotten out of view from everyone.

“I don’t like this. It’s not cute.” Toga flapped her arms, fidgeting uncomfortably in her new villain outfit.

“This was orchestrated by the designer behind the scenes, right?” Dabi was dressed in his usual attire. “Appearances don’t matter as long as they’re functional.”

“I don’t care; I don’t wanna wear this. Senpai, tell him I don’t like this costume.”

Felix shook his head at the sulking girl, before catching a marble tossed towards him. Mister Compress snapped his fingers, and it expanded into a set of clothes.

“Is that your hero costume?” Dabi asked. “Aren’t you afraid that your classmates are going to recognise you?”

“Not when I turn it into my villain attire.”

The boy flipped the clothes inside out, revealing the dark purple underside of his cape. He draped the costume over his school uniform and covered the top half of his face with its oversized hood.

Another set of footsteps approached them.

“Heya, sorry for the wait.” Jin walked towards them, waving excitedly as though they were a group of friends about to leave for a vacation. Muscular and two other unfamiliar villains were accompanying him.

“Dabi, are the nomus ready?” Jin walked past Felix as though he wasn’t there.

“At my beck and call,” Dabi replied, casting his gaze into the forest as a creepy smile spread along his face. “Gathering a bunch of punks who are just strong will only increase the risk of failure. It’s better to have a small group of experienced elites.”

“I don’t care, just let me at ’em,” Muscular complained as muscle fibres began to jut out of his skin. “I’m getting too pumped up.”

“Shut up, you crazy bastard.” Dabi smiled as the last member of the Vanguard Action Squad showed himself. “We all have our roles to play. Now that Mustard’s here, it’s time to show these heroes that their peace rests in our hands.”

Felix closed his eyes, letting his telekinetic senses spread down to the group of chattering students. It was difficult, but he had already spent enough time with his friends to be able to pinpoint their exact physique from even a mile away.

Where are you… There.

The psychic opened his eyes again, tutting slightly in annoyance. Apparently, the night walk had already started, and Bakugo was unfortunately paired with Todoroki. He had to be careful. One wrong move, and they’ll recognise his fighting style immediately.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Felix looked around him; his teammates had also long disappeared from the mountaintop and were probably in the middle of their mission. There was no time to waste.

Wind rippled his cape as Felix swooped into the midst of the forest. He pulled his hood down even further. Todoroki’s voice was already audible from this distance, and Bakugo wasn’t exactly the inattentive type. Fortunately, they seemed distracted by what he could only assume was the League Of Villain’s doing, so it made his job slightly easier.

Felix tossed a few pebbles, feeling the boys’ heads turn to the sound. He crept towards them and began telekinetically rustling the bushes around them. The boy stole a peek. Bakugo was completely on edge by now, and looked ready for an excuse to blow up the next thing that moved in his direction.

So Felix gave it to him.

A raspy yell broke the night sky as a tree log snaked around in Bakugo’s direction. Twigs snapped as the impulsive boy charged straight towards it. Felix seized the opportunity, covering Todoroki’s mouth from behind.

“Sleep…”

The unsuspecting boy could only let out a muffled groan before his eyes rolled back. Felix laid his body down gently, turning off his tactile telepathy so that he did not accidentally trip anything else in Todoroki’s brain. Now, time for Bakugo-

“Icy Hot? What’re you- Die, asshole!”

Felix leapt backwards as the smell of singed air stung his nose. He locked eyes with his quarry; there was a strange look of recognition in Bakugo’s eyes, as though he was struggling to remember something.

More explosions rang out as Felix darted around, using the surrounding trees as leverage to leap off. Bakugo was blasting the ground relentlessly now, intent on making Felix keep his distance. Confused as that boy was, it seemed that his mind was still sound enough to figure out how Felix’s tactile telepathy worked.

“Who are you?” the boy growled. Felix bent backwards, narrowly avoiding another beam of light.

“You’ve fought me before, haven’t you?” Bakugo was swinging wildly now. “What did you do with my memories? Why can’t I remember you?”

More psychic power surged through Felix’s muscles, enhancing his physical strength and speed even further. Although he had the cover of the night sky, his opponent’s explosions were lighting up the dark like it was day time. At this rate, he might have to forcibly knock out the boy instead.

You asked for this, Bakugo.

Felix flew upwards, before hurtling down towards Bakugo-

“GROOAAH!”

An enormous force slammed into him from the side.

The forest spun around him like a twirling kaleidoscope, but at least he still had his telekinetic senses to tell him up from down. Felix kicked off a tree and landed, staring at the huge shadow like monster rampaging in his direction. He pursed his lips. One of his fellow villains was engaged in combat with Tenya, while Tokoyami followed close behind.

“Meat… Their flesh is mine… Don’t take them away from me-”

There was a sickening crack as the shadow monster snapped off the blades off the villain’s mouth. It roared once again, slamming him against a tree. Felix’s eyes narrowed behind his hood; he had not expected Moonfish to be subdued so quickly by Dark Shadow.

“Bakugo, we need a light!” Tenya’s frantic voice cut through the monster’s growls. “Tokoyami’s quirk is out of control- Guh!”

The boy was sent flying with a single slap from Dark Shadow.

Felix moved quickly, taking the follow up hit before the monster could land the finishing blow on his friend. Air burst from his mouth as he slammed into a huge rock. It did not hurt as much thanks to his faintly coloured psychic aura, but he cursed silently anyway.

He could not afford to reveal his psionic abilities here, not with all his classmates in the vicinity. Felix’s mind worked furiously. He had to somehow subdue Bakugo, avoid Dark Shadow, and escape Tenya, all without resorting to psychokinesis.

“One point three million volts!”

A blinding light seared his retinas as electricity crackled around Dark Shadow, causing it to shrink back down in fear.

“Bring up the voltage! I’ve got some light here too!” Kaminari pointed his fingers victoriously at the coughing Tokoyami, before turning his attention to Felix.

“Much thanks, my friends…” Tokoyami panted, before passing out.

“I don’t know who you are, villain. But I won’t let you go just because you saved me.” Tenya got into a combat stance. Bakugo and Kaminari raised their fists as well.

Crap. If I attack, they’ll instantly know it’s me. But I don’t have a choice now!

Magenta light began pooling in Felix’s eyes-

“Oops! Too slow, kiddos!”

“Bakugo!”

Felix retreated backwards to Compress’ side, who was waving a tiny marble where Bakugo was standing. He heaved a silent sigh of relief.

There was a tap on his shoulder.

“Close your eyes,” Compress whispered as he tossed a few marbles at the students.

Yells of shock rang out as the smell of smoke flooded Felix’s nose. He seized the opportunity, bursting up into the air as well. The psychic could no longer sense Compress’ presence in the vicinity, which meant that phase one of the mission was successful.

“Vanguard Action Squad, we have successfully retrieved our explosive target,” Compress’ voice gloated in his ear. “Muscular, are you ready to close our show?”

There was no reply.

“Yoohoo, Mister Muscular?”

Felix changed his trajectory midair and burst towards the plateau in the distance. It came into view within seconds, and he landed with a loud crash.

The boy walked towards the figures in the distance.

Izuku was sitting against the wall, clutching his side and wincing in pain, while Muscular’s motionless body lay defeated beside him. Kota was sobbing beside the young hero as well, although he looked mostly unscathed. Realisation dawned on Felix; Izuku must have just saved Kota from Muscular at the kid’s hideout.

So much for being ‘strong’, Muscular…

Felix approached his classmate with a fake smile.

“F-Felix? Is that you?” Izuku’s strained voice was barely audible.

His shirt had been completely ripped off, and bloodied patches of bruises covered almost his entire torso. Although he had somehow managed to defeat Muscular, that cocky thug had evidently given him a very hard fight.

“Is that a new costume? Looks good, I like it.” Izuku gave him a pained smile. “Thank god you’re here. Villains have attacked the training camp, and they’re going after Kacchan and me. I don’t know how they found us, but I’m sure they’ll be no match for you.”

Felix chuckled softly. Oh, the irony of the situation.

“Yes, I know.” He put his hand gently on Kota’s head, causing him to drift into a deep sleep.

“Huh? What did you do to him?”

Felix swung around without warning, telekinetically pulling the injured boy towards him.

“Felix…” Izuku choked, shock and betrayal dancing in his eyes as his friend’s hand closed around his throat. “W-Why…?”

There was a soft thud as the psychic let go of his unconscious friend. He put his finger to his ear and activated his ear piece.

“Izuku Midoriya is secured. Mission accomplished.”