The next day, we're eating dinner when Nyikang comes rushing back into the room, his helmet on lopsided. 

"Suit up," his voice is bold and commanding. Shinso and I stand abruptly from the table. "There's an ongoing terrorist attack in Hosu. It will probably be over by the time we get there, but we can at least help with the rescue efforts. Hurry up!"

I bolt out of the kitchen, running to my room. The footsteps behind me indicate Shinso is following suit. I put on my costume the fastest I ever have. It's still a little sweaty from our patrol earlier today, but I ignore that and throw it on. Throwing my conductor's coat over my shoulder and grabbing my mask, I exit my room. 

I notice Shinso's door is open. At the sound of my footsteps, he pokes his touseled purple head out with one eye covered in black makeup. "Help, please?" He quickly asks before retreating back into the room. 

I run in and tie his hair back while he does his other eye in the mirror. "You really gotta learn to do this yourself," I illuse, putting on my own mask in the mirror. 

"It's not my fault that hair ties hate me. I don't know how you do it. Whenever I try to do it, it never holds," he says exasperated as he closes the makeup container and pulls up his mask to cover the lower half of his face. 

"Lots and lots of practice," I respond as we run out to meet Nyikang. 

"At least the eyes are easy enough to do by myself."

"It's lopsided, you know that, right?"

"What?"

I pat him on the shoulder. "I'll fix it on the way."

We run with Nyikang to the station, meeting up with his other sidekicks on the way. I now really regret not learning their names. I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. Earlier today, we had gotten split up while taking down some bank robbers, so Nyikang had insisted we keep our phones on us at all times on patrol. I'm so glad I forgot to take it out because if I didn't have it and we got separated while dealing with a terrorist attack, I'm sure he would be pretty angry. 

As soon as we board the train to Hosu, Nyikang gathers us all in a circle to go over a game plan. Shinso and I are not allowed to fight unless we are truly backed into a corner and about to die. Otherwise, we're working on rescue and evacuation. 

He begins speaking with his sidekicks about the intel they received from other heroes on the scene. Apparently there are a bunch of nomus rampaging through the streets and the skies. 

What? Flying nomus? And not just one...multiple. 

"We do not have a lot of information on the creatures or how they fight, but they're taking down heroes easily, so be on alert."

I step into the circle. Immediately, all eyes turn to me, but I push down my embarrassment to illuse, "All Might fought one of those things at the USJ. I was there when it happened. It was matching him punch for punch and could regenerate any limbs that were cut off. It didn't seem to have a sense of self-preservation, so it continued to attack no matter how hurt it was. They also only listen to their master, whoever that is. Last time, it listened to Shigaraki, but without instruction, it did nothing."

The heroes are silent for a moment before discussing the information I just told them, coming up with new battle strategies. I remain standing frozen in place, still feeling all their eyes on me even though they are focused now on Nyikang. 

I feel a hand on my shoulder pull me back. "Hey," Shinso whispers, shaking me to get me to look at him. "That was good what you did. They're going to be able to do a lot with that information. Just take a deep breath or something. Jeez, calm down."

I only now recognize how erratic my heartbeat is and how uneven my breaths are. I nod and begin taking deep breaths, pacing in the empty train car as it rockets us to the city. 

We're willingly running into a city full of nomus. The things that are capable of taking down the symbol of peace. I need to do something. I need to calm down. 

"Shinso, sit down please," I illuse quietly. He looks at me curiously, but does as I say. "Let's get your makeup fixed."

I pull my sleeve over my shaking hand and wipe at his eyes, trying to make the makeup more symmetrical. I quickly fix it and take another shaky breath. 

"We're going to be fine," Shinso says calmly with a hint of annoyance laced into his tone. I look out the windows of the train as we approach the burning city. One of the sidekicks blows a hole in the side of the train and hops out. 

"There's debris on the tracks," Nyikang says, approaching us. "Us three are getting out at this next building."

He points to the approaching building, then backs up, taking off at a full sprint and landing on the roof. 

Shinso pats me on the shoulder. "Let's go save some people," he says before following our mentor. 

I rush after him, illusing sound under my feet to soften the impact. Nyikang checks briefly to make sure we have made the jump before hopping off the edge and scaling the walls down to the ground. I glance at Shinso to see him staring after the man in stunned silence. 

"C'mon guys!" Nyikang calls from the ground. 

Shinso gives me a look filled with the most fear I have seen from him yet. "Is he serious?"

I shrug and think of a plan. I can slow down the descent. It's not that far of a drop, so we won't pick up too much speed. 

I grab Shinso's arm and jump off with him in tow. "What're you doing?!?" He shouts, closing his eyes and clinging onto my shoulders. 

I illuse a powerful bass drum roll under my feet to slow our descent. Shinso hops off of me the moment his feet touch the ground, trying to regain his composure. I hear a scoff from Nyikang as he turns and runs from the alleyway, the two of us running behind him. 

I see his figure pause and the gold cloud of sparkles that indicate his quirk is at use emerge from his chest, shooting forward at a crumbling building ahead of us. The whole building pauses in it's descent, then continues, being slowly set down. 

Nyikang's consciousness returns to his body and he continues running. 

Ahead of us, a man garbed in all black rushes out from a burning building. When he sees us, he launches a glob of spit in our direction. I nimbly dodge it, noticing it has started to burn through the ground where it hit. 

"I'll get this guy!" Nyikang shouts to us as he dashes forward. "You two check for people trapped in there!"

Without hesitation, I run into the burning house, holding my sleeve over my mouth. 

"Yamada!" Shinso calls out from behind me. I wave him in with me as I start searching for anybody. 

I hear a woman screaming from across the house. I nearly hit the door off the hinges as I get to the room she is in. 

The chestnut haired woman is lying on her stomach with a support beam crushing her ankle, the fire on one end inching closer and closer to her. I hastily illuse under it, lifting it to pull her out. 

"You need to get out," I illuse calmly to her as she shakes from panic. 

"No! Not without my son!" She cries. "He's upstairs!"

"We'll get him out," I assure her, clutching her arms. 

"I'M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT HIM!!" She shouts, shaking me with tears in her eyes.

"What's your son's name?" Shinso asks her. 

"Akio! Now let me-" she pauses as her eyes glaze over. 

"Get outside," he states firmly. She calmly obliges, walking towards the door. "Stay away from the fire," he adds hastily. I notice her jump back from the flames she was about to walk into. 

Glancing at each other for the briefest of moments, Shinso and I run up the stairs to a room where I can hear a small child crying. I break down the door, noticing the fire has already crept into the crib. The boy is pushed as far to the other side as he can get himself, tears streaming down his face. He can't be more than one year old. I shrug off my coat and cover him with it, lifting him out of the burning structure and onto my hip. I cover his mouth with one of the sleeves, mine with the other, as Shinso leads us through the burning hallway and to the stairs. Flames lick at my skin and leave searing pain. The smoke stings my eyes and kills my throat, but I continue through the pain.

Without hesitation, we both jump the railing instead of taking the rickety old stairs. I illuse under our feet as we fall, then run outside just in time for the roof of the small home to cave in. 

Shinso releases his quirk from the woman who is now standing across the street from her burning house. She takes one look at the bundle in my arms and bursts into tears. I hand her her crying son who embraces her tightly once he's back in her arms. I put my coat back on and step back from the two, coughing the smoke out of my lungs as Shinso calls for an ambulance. 

"They will be here in a few minutes, ma'am," he says evenly, putting his phone away. 

A crash comes from an alleyway down the street. We all turn our attention to it. 

"That's probably Nyikang," Shinso says, already running that direction. "Stay here with them. I'm gonna check to see if he needs any help."

"Wait!" I illuse, knowing he's not the best person to run headfirst into a fight. I don't mean to be rude, but he just isn't prepared well enough yet. 

"Just stay here!" He calls, already running. 

An ambulance arrives a moment later. As soon as the paramedic jumps out, I send them a small wave and rush after Shinso, knowing the mother and son are now in good hands. 

I sprint as fast as I can to the alleyway that is now eerily quiet. As I turn the corner, I see Shinso laying on a crushed dumpster, a puddle of blood growing around him. His face is bloody and bruised, starting to swell up. My heart stops at the sight. His purple eyes widen when he sees me. A single word leaves his mouth:

"Run!"

A large force shoves me hard into the ground, snapping my right shoulder like a toothpick. I gasp from the pain, but force myself to roll over as I hear the growling behind me. The adrenaline coursing through me from the fire rescue and seeing Shinso so broken has my whole body ringing. 

I look up to see a large, leathery beast with three eyes and an exposed brain towering over me. A wicked snarl tears from his throat, filling my body with fear. 

Before I can think better of it, I scream. The high pitch sound reverberates through the alleyway. Something inside of me pulls, a sign that I'm using my quirk, but I'm not illusing. The sound is coming from my own throat. I watch in horror as the beast's eyes vibrate around in its head. 

I close my mouth, cutting off the sound. The nomu's eyes refocus, but it doesn't approach me, just stares down at me. Somewhere behind me, there is the sound of crunching asphalt. 

I turn, terrified that another nomu is coming for me, but it's just Shinso, trying to stand. 

"What're you doing?" I illuse, going to his side to help him up. His entire torso is cut up and bleeding. 

He grabs my non-injured shoulder to steady himself as he stumbles down the alleyway. "We need to get out of here," he grumbles, tripping over his feet as he tries to run. "Call an ambulance," his voice wavers, terrified, as he speaks. It occurs to me that I've never heard this scared of a tone from him. 

When we get into the street, a whole group of bloody and injured people has emerged from the rubble. They all one way or another make their way down the street. Some run while others crawl, but they all go in the same direction, away from the heart of the city. 

Shinso pulls me in the same direction. "We have to go," he cries, trying to drag me down the street with everyone else. "Call someone already!!" He shouts at me, panic evident in his voice. 

Utterly confused, I tug my phone out of my coat pocket and dial the police, illusing into the microphone to send a bunch of ambulances. When I hang up, I turn to see the nomu standing in the exact same spot, staring at where I was laying. 

What's happening?