They all stared at Viridian in shock for a moment before Nezu hummed thoughtfully, sounding far too pleased for Shouta's liking, "Yes, that does sound promising, doesn't it Aizawa?"

Mitsuki: You know what, I won't complain if it works.

Momo: This is going to be so weird though.

Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned, "I can't believe we're actually approving this."

Aizawa: Me neither.

"Uh..." Kaminari's eyes ficked between the three of them, "I think I might be a little confused, because it sounds like you want me to..."

"Seduce a fellow classmate so you can get her alone and deliver an electric shock strong enough to stop her heart?" Shouta deadpanned. "Because yes, it seems like that's exactly the plan. How do you even come up with these ideas, problem child?"

Midoriya: Um... with my head?

"It makes sense!" Viridian defended. "Plus, he flirted with the previous host too, so it's only logical that..."

Kodai: Right, Kohaku.

"Wait, what?!" Kaminari yelled. "When was this?!"

"Oh..." Viridian swallowed nervously. "Um... do you remember Kohaku?"

"Yeah, of course, but what does that have to do with..." Kaminari trailed off as he took in Viridian's expression. "...oh."

(the mood dimmed as they remembered how she died)

Viridian had tears in his eyes behind the goggles, "Yeah..."

"That is, of course, why it is imperative that Queen Bee be taken by surprise this time around." Nezu said kindly. "We must not only defeat the villain, but save her victim as well."

Shouta put a hand on Kaminari's shoulder, "You don't have to do this, you know. It might take us a few minutes, but we'll figure out another way to get her alone. You're not a hero yet, so you don't have any obligation to go along with this."

Kaminari(firmly): No, I'm going to rescue Hagakure.

"No, I... I'll do it, just..." Kaminari bit his lip. "Um, Viridian, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Viridian frowned, "Of course... what's up?"

Kaminari pulled the problem child into the corner and glanced nervously back at Shouta and Nezu, who pretended not to be paying attention, before lowering his voice so that they had to strain to hear him, "Um, I just kinda wanna make sure that you're actually okay with this?"

Vlad: Anyone else a bit lost as to where he's going with this?

"Yeah?" Viridian looked slightly confused. "Denks, it's my plan, why wouldn't I be okay with it?"

(Inko suddenly started laughing and everyone looked at her in confusion but she didn't explain)

"I know that, it's just..." Kaminari shrugged awkwardly. "Are you sure you're okay with me, like, flirting with other people and all that?"

Oh no...

Shouta had to resist the urge to snort when the problem child somehow managed to look even more confused, "Why wouldn't I be? I mean this is why you learned to flirt in the first place, right?"

(everyone suddenly realized why Inko was laughing and joined her, leaving Midoriya very confused)

Midoriya: Uh, why is everyone laughing? I don't get the joke.

Kaminari looked surprised and Shouta shook his head fondly. Of course the problem child had absolutely zero idea that he was supposed to be jealous and let the whole thing go completely over his head. Poor Kaminari... dating Viridian was sure to be an interesting experience and that was if the problem child even knew they were dating, which Shouta wasn't convinced wasn't the case. Poor kid.

Midoriya: Wait, jealous?! (everyone laughed even more)

After a moment, Kaminari turned back to them and nodded firmly, "Leave it to me. You want me to bring her back here, right?"

"If it's not too much trouble." Nezu smiled pleasantly. "Good luck!"

Kaminari: Yeah... I'm going to need it...

Kaminari nodded and walked out, closing the door behind him. Shouta raised one eyebrow and turned to Viridian, "So, how do you two know each other?"

Viridian turned bright red and started sputtering while Shouta smirked. After all the stress the kid put him through, he deserved to suffer just a little.

(everyone giggled and Midoriya shot Aizawa a betrayed look but Aizawa just grinned)

Queen Bee let herself enjoy the games as she observed her classmates. The sport festival was a treasure trove of information and even though she knew All for One was watching from his cave, there were plenty of little moments like these that would give her some nice tidbits to feed to him, which was essential considering how pissy Sensei had been lately. Sure, the poison hadn't worked quite as well on the failed experiment as they'd hoped, but that was why Sensei had put the failsafe into his programming. Even another brainwasher wouldn't have been able to break Sensei's control without killing the guinea pig unless they were somehow stronger than All for One, which was honestly laughable, so the only thing those heroes had accomplished was killing their key witness and doing her job for her. It was enough to make her giggle.

Shinso(smirking): Oh really?

"You've got a pretty cute laugh, Hagakure."

Queen Bee startled and turned to see Kaminari leaning against the wall, smiling softly at her. She blushed, which would have been cute if her host's face were just visible, and she giggled again. Was he really falling for her again? She must be doing something right to make him fall for her twice in two different hosts, and the best part was that the poor boy had no idea!

This was going to be fun.

Nezu: Well, if she assumes that she's the one doing the manipulating, then she won't notice Kaminari luring her to my office.

"Oh that's so sweet, Kaminari! You must like cute things a lot, huh?" She swished her mini skirt at him teasingly. "I hear these awesome outfits were your idea."

Kaminari blushed and shrugged, "Guilty as charged. What can I say? You all rock them even better than I imagined you would."

Queen Bee leaned closer, grinning at the way Kaminari's eyes widened. He was so easy to fluster! She hadn't been able to do much more than tease him in her last host, but now she was tempted to do more. Mina hadn't shut up about his mystery phone call and whoever he was dating, but how satisfying would it be to steal his heart from his poor little lover and then use him as an extra spy, just to rub salt in the wound. It almost made her buzz in excitement.

Kendo: Wait a second, how old is Queen Bee, exactly? (everyone paused)

Midnight: ...I do not like the implications of that statement.

Aizawa: Nem, you are literally flirting with students.

Midnight: It's just for branding! I don't mean it!

Jana: Well for the record, Queen Bee changes to match the host's personality, remember? So I suppose if you think about it she's got the mind of a fifteen year old right now. But if you really think about it she's also an animal with a quirk so age is always going to be finicky considering how long bees usually live.

Spinner: Stop making this weird.

He flinched when she touched his arm softly, "Oh? So you've been imagining us?"

Kaminari swallowed dryly, "Uh... some more than others."

That did make her buzz and she felt a wave of restlessness go through her swarm as she spoke quickly to distract him from the soft sound, "So what about your mystery lover? You know, the phone call from earlier?"

Kaminari: Okay, gotta pretend that other me totally isn't in love with Midoriya. Easy as pie!

Jana: Is that sarcasm? I genuinely can't tell if it is or not.

"Well..." Kaminari had recovered and leaned closer, probably aiming to whisper in her ear, but ended up nose to nose with her instead, "That was only one date, so it's not like we made a commitment, and he's not the one in front of me, is he?"

Queen Bee felt a surge of pride and had to physically stop herself from bursting out laughing. Had she really seduced him straight? Oh, this was just too good. Why hadn't she done this earlier, it was so much fun!

Toga: She's kinda creepy. (everyone looked at her in incredulity)

"We still have a little bit of time before the last round starts." She said coyly. "Do you wanna go somewhere a little more invisible? Aizawa did tell us to have fun, after all."

Kaminari smirked and put a hand on her waist, "That sounds perfect."

Sero: Yes, you got her!

Bakugo: Now bring her to the rat.

"I have a hypothesis." Nezu said, getting straight back to business and giving Izuku a much needed distraction so that he didn't have to answer Eraser's question. "With Queen Bee present on site, how easy do you think it would be to hack the entire hive at once?"

"Um... not easy," Izuku stuttered. "But probably possible. As the queen it's almost like she's the motherboard, right? All the rest are connected to her, so if we can somehow interrupt that connection..."

"Then you can make sure the entire hive gets destroyed." Eraser finished. "She can regenerate from even a single bee, so we can't afford to miss any."

Midoriya: If we hack the queen and tell the whole hive to die though...

Izuku sat down cross legged on the floor and pulled out his laptop, "If we can make the hive think we're the queen, then that should be pretty simple. I just need to change a few things... we want control, not just attraction, right?"

"Yes." Nezu pulled a small laptop of his own out of somewhere Izuku couldn't see. "And could you perhaps send me your code? I have some hacking experience myself and you know what they say, two heads are better than one and all that."

"Oh, um..." Izuku frowned. "It's not really anything that special. I mean, I'll send it to you, but... well, it's more functional than anything else, so don't expect it to be pretty like one of yours probably is. I'm sorry."

(everyone sighed at Viridian's self-depreciation)

Power Loader: Midoriya, it doesn't really matter if it's pretty or not as long as it works.

Eraser sighed, "Kid, prioritizing function is only logical. And Nezu doesn't have time to write a whole professional level program before Kaminari comes back, or did you forget we're on a time limit?"

"No, but, uh..." Izuku screwed his eyes shut and forced himself to send over the code. "It's just... this is Nezu! He has an intelligence quirk and everything! It's intimidating, okay?"

Nezu: Completely understandable.

Nezu chuckled, "Intelligence quirks are often overrated, I'd found. Most people highly underestimate the natural potential of the human brain."

Izuku stared at him. Nezu hadn't discounted his intelligence just because he didn't have a quirk that made him smarter, but from the way he was talking, he thought that a person without an intelligence quirk might even be able to compete on the same level as someone with one, which was just unthinkable. Izuku shook his head and turned his attention back to the program, occasionally thinking out loud and suggesting a change to the code until both he and Nezu were fairly confident it would work while Eraser watched from the corner.

Dabi: Not unthinkable.

Shigaraki: Just look at Mastermind. (the heroes shuddered at the memory)

They all froze when they heard voices coming down the hall toward them, "Where are you taking me, Kaminari? I was expecting to be pulled into the first supply closet we passed!"

Tetsutetsu(freezing): She's here.

Denki laughed, "What kinda guy do you take me for? I think we can come up with something a little classier than a closet."

He held the door open for her and Izuku could tell the exact moment when she turned her head toward them, because she froze and an angry buzzing filled the air, "You little..."

Mineta: Zap her!

Denki panicked and grabbed her arm, "I'm sorry."

Her body sized and flashed with lightning as Denki channeled his quirk through her. When he stopped, she collapsed and he caught her, lowering her body slowly to the floor and staring up at Izuku with barely concealed terror, "Uh, did it work?"

Recovery Girl: Check her pulse.

Eraser knelt beside him, "Check her heartbeat, Kaminari. Do you know how?"

"Um... like this, right?" Denki pressed two fingers to her neck. "Oh, god. She... I can't feel anything!"

(Hagakure and Kaminari gulped)

Joke: Sh, it's okay, that's supposed to happen.

"That's good. That was the goal, remember?" Eraser kept his voice level and helped keep Denki grounded. "She can survive a few minutes without a heartbeat, so just give it a little longer."

Hagakure: A few minutes?!

After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably about thirty seconds, something started flickering in and out of visibility where Hagakure's head should be and Izuku gasped as Queen Bee pulled herself out of Hagakure's eye socket, a slight trail of blood flicking behind her stinger. There was significantly less blood than when she'd killed Kohaku, though, so their plan must have worked. Hagakure was safe... theoretically.

Hagakure(freaking out): Theoretically?!

"Oh, um..." Denki reached into a bag by his side and pulled out a jar. "I had Yaoyorozu make this, I didn't know if..."

Midoriya(shakily): That'll work...

"This will work quite nicely." Nezu took the jar and set it down beside Eraser. "I'm sure you can handle this, Aizawa?"

Eraser nodded and wrapped his scarf around his arms so that it formed a makeshift net, "Got it. You two better get to work before her reinforcements arrive."

Midnight(worriedly): Don't get stung don't get stung...

Izuku and Nezu glanced at each other and nodded in determination. Nezu sat back down, "Have you isolated her signature?"

"Almost..." Izuku muttered. "There it is! Oh, that must be her connection to the rest of the hive..."

Midoriya: Hurry other me...

He trailed off as the buzzing got louder and he glanced over to see Eraserhead forcing Queen Bee into the jar, "Focus Viridian. Me and Kaminari will handle Queen Bee and Hagakure. You need to deal with the rest of the hive."

Izuku gulped and nodded, "Um, yeah, so that's how she's connecting, so let me see if maybe we can clone the signal..."

Toga: I really hope this works...

He was vaguely aware of Denki starting chest compressions beside him, but Eraser was right. He trusted him to take care of his friend and talk him through reviving the host. His job was to make sure Queen Bee couldn't just turn around and find another host.

Izuku cloned the signal and scanned through the commands, "Most of the bees have already been ordered to come here, I'm gonna expand the command for the whole hive and... good they're responding as if the order came from the Queen, not an outside party."

Hawks: That's good...

"Good work, Viridian." Nezu praised. "Now, let's see... we don't want to call too much attention to the destruction of the hive, but an explosion this large will be hard to hide."

Izuku thought for a minute. They could put them somewhere isolated, or in one of the training grounds at UA, but that would make the news and a big explosion near or in UA on the day of the sports festival wasn't going to be good for publicity. But if they went too far away, they wouldn't be able to tell if there were people there or other things that could be hurt by an entire swarm of exploding bees.

Endeavor: Now what?

He heard coughing and glanced over to see Hagakure sitting up, crying as Denki tried to comfort her and Eraser rubbed circles onto her back. Izuku heaved a sigh of relief. They'd saved the host.

(everyone breathed out a sigh of relief that Hagakure was safe)

Hagakure(shaking): Oh thank goodness she's out...

He knew that it was Eraser's job and everything, but it was still amazing that he'd dropped everything to help Izuku pull off such a crazy plan, especially when he was announcing for the largest event of the year.

Aizawa: Problem child, of course I'll help you. You don't have to deal with everything alone.

Izuku gasped as an idea occurred to him, "So what if we don't try to hide it?"

Bakugo: The explosion?

Nezu smiled approvingly, "And how would we accomplish that?"

Izuku frowned, "Eraser, you're announcing right?"

Eraser shot him a suspicious glance, "Not at the moment."

Midoriya: Oh! I see.

"I know, but..." Izuku smiled and sent a few of the bees on a small detour to the support course labs, which hopefully had what he needed. "When you have a minute, can you tell Present Mic that there's going to be a fireworks display before the third round?"

Uraraka: Oh! They pretend the exploding bees are part of the Sports Festival!

Nezu: Perfect!