"And he said that?" Shine said, over the phone.

"Yeah." Rumi was mad still.

"I can't believe that. I should have slapped him harder," Shine said.

"You slapped him? Nice," Rumi said.

"I really should control my temper..." Shine mused.

"What is with him?" Rumi sighed.

"Guilt...but still, I have to admit, Rumi, it wasn't that long ago I would have thought you'd agree with him about all of it." 

"But you wouldn't have."

"It's typical for me, but not for you. Didn't you tell me it was a waste of time to try to help villains, yada, yada?"

Rumi remembered that... First day they met.

It was kind of embarrassing now.

"At the time, all I knew about the LOV was what the news said."

"And I told you that, didn't I?"

"Well, yeah, but I thought you were crazy."

Shine waited.

"Don't do that," Rumi said, "I hate when you do that thing where you wait for me to admit you're right."

"Sorry, should I gloat?"

"It would at least be honest. I know you're thinking it even if you're not saying it."

"I guess I can't hide it. One of my few flaws, it's being smug," Shine admitted.

"You don't freaking say."

"At least I have a reason to be," Shine said, "But to get back to the point...I don't know. I think Fuyumi is on it. I think it's kind of beautiful, really. I was always taught that mercy was right, and that humans are not basically good, but we are worth saving. It's not so easy to hold onto that view, but it's better to have a strong foundation in it. You have never been told that, ever. I don't mean this to be patronizing when I say I think it's admirable if you can change your mind. I rarely ever change my mind, and I'm not sure that's a good thing."

"Better than not having any mind at all," Rumi said, "but I don't know. I don't think I think what you do either."

"No?"

"Not yet. It's still my job here..."

"But things changed."

"It's not like they would have if the LOV hadn't also stopped doing crimes," Rumi said, "At least, bad ones..."

"I thought it was odd until I learned more about Shigaraki," Shine admitted, "Then I began to understand that neither good nor evil comes very naturally to him, thanks to AFO. But oddly, good more often than evil. At least, that's my take on it, but I rule things by how close they come to love and not the law. And that's not going to hold up in court. Law is not like that."

"And that's where Hawks is going to be backed up by every hero out there," Rumi said, "and I should be backing him up too."

"But if it came to it, you wouldn't," Shine guessed.

Silence.

Rumi wanted to say she would, that she was the same person as before, and that her mind was unchanged about the right thing to do here.

But how could she say that?

"Maybe Hawks is right," she said slowly, "I am a traitor...to the idea of heroes. I could walk the line before and get away with just barely meeting it...but now what can I do?"

"You have no regrets, right?" Shine said, "So why is it any loss to realize that? Would you want to go back to how you were before? Blind?"

"No, I don't want to unlearn all this," Rumi said, "but also I'm...still supposed to be a hero. However little I cared about the usual image, there is a standard here."

"Rumi, in my opinion, you're no less a hero now than you ever were," Shine said, "A hero does what's right, bravely, and doesn't back down. I've never seen you back down from anything--it's your best quality--even from the truth. You have chosen to pursue it. I think I judged you too harshly at first, honestly. I challenged you, and you met it. From a DJ's perspective, you're every bit a hero. Heroes aren't perfect, but they are committed to what they believe, and you've done nothing evil or wrong, even colluding with the LOV. What do you have to be ashamed of? I'd say it's bragging rights to pull that off. It's not easy."

"Well," Rumi leaned on the wall, "they never once tried to get me to do anything bad. That's the reason it never came up. They didn't even care if I kept doing hero work."

"They don't think much of other villains--one of their peculiarities as a group," Shine said humorously, "It's because they know, deep down, that most villains are selfish and lazy and dishonest. And oddly enough, for all their talk of destroying, the LOV prefers better stuff than that, though they'll use it if it's available. I was surprised when I first met them to find what kind  of standards they had, and I wasn't even sure they'd be considered full villains where I came from, but with how loosely that term is used here, it's easy to lump anyone into it. Try to remove the label, and you get a much broader picture..."

"They tried to get that Bakugo kid into it though," Rumi said.

"And that went so well... I think I made my point to them about it," Shine laughed, "They knew you'd never listen. In their minds, a top pro is already too far gone. But they were fair to you. It's okay to admit that there's some good in them. It would be stranger if there wasn't. I don't get why you all tout that idea--it's ridiculous. This is not pro wrestling where you have bad guys to beat up for people's entertainment. It's real life. You'd better be darn well sure who's the bad guy."

"You knew this would happen," Rumi realized, "You knew what would come about if I got involved. You did this on purpose."

"You just got that?"

"Shine!"

"Look, Rumi, if it bothers you that I can guess this stuff, I'm sorry," Shine said, "Did I make you do it? You dove into this on your own. I barely had to do anything. I've tried to help, but you're the gas to run this machine, honey. Don't pin it on me."

"I just think you didn't say anything about it, just so I'd go along with it."

"Perhaps I did refrain from voicing what I thought would happen, but I don't have to tell you anything, you know. I don't expect you to tell me everything."

Fair enough...

"And how do you think this ends?" Rumi said, "Because it won't be good. The law will catch up with them eventually, and I'll have to pick a side here. And I don't want to pick either side."

"Then stay out of it."

"That's the coward's way."

"It's the only way if you can't in good conscience choose one or the other. I doubt they would resent you for it."

"That's not really the point," Rumi said.

"Just explain that you won't be turning them in even after all this and you'll just go your separate ways. I think it'll be fine."

"Yeah...uh...Hawks said something else," Rumi said in a lower voice, "He said...and Ren said it too, in a way...that they'll kill me, sooner or later...because of what they tried to do to you."

Shine was quiet a moment.

"You're hesitating," Rumi said.

"I'm thinking."

"Same difference!"

"On their own, I don't believe they would do it," Shine said.

"On their...? What do you mean?"

"If AFO or Ujiko put them up to it...I don't know if they all would refuse...but they'd probably defer to Shigaraki...and I don't think he would if Ujiko was the one who said it, but his complete faith in AFO makes me uneasy."

"How can he have faith in someone everyone knows is evil?" Rumi said, annoyed.

"Like he knows that. I'm sure AFO didn't inform him of much...and he wouldn't care anyway. Tenko Shimura was thrown aside by the world, and no one cared if he disappeared. Why would he care what moral alignment AFO has, if he is the only one to ever be kind to him...? Even his own family wasn't."

"Yeah, but...still," Rumi said.

"Kids are ruled by love, not moral codes," Shine said, "Love in a twisted, warped way, but perceived as such even so. I can't even say I blame him. I feel the same about God, but I know God is good. If God wasn't, what would I turn to? I don't know. If all you have is someone like AFO, that's better than nothing to a person who's totally empty. There's this proverb that says, 'a full soul loathes the honeycomb, but to a starving soul, any bitter thing is sweet.' And that's very true of love."

"Always love with you," Rumi said.

"Say what you will, it's all most of us want," Shine said, "Heroes just make it about fans--worst kind of love. It's so fickle. I'd rather have a cat [Aizawa can relate]...but anyway, that's what I can't get past. I'm honestly afraid that as long as AFO remains, there really is no way to pry Shigaraki away from this...but I don't know everything. Miracles happen. You'll have to decide what to do when the time comes, but for now, I don't think you're in any more danger than you ever were."

Rumi sighed. "Right. Well...I knew you'd say that."

"And you wanted to hear it. Believe me, I get it."

"One thing though--why doesn't it bother you they betrayed you before?" Rumi said, "It's like you're not fazed at all by that."

"When that happened, we weren't friends, and they wouldn't have claimed we were. I knew that. I knew that it could swing either way, and I hadn't earned their trust yet. But after I saved Dabi, I did, and they acknowledged that. From then on, we got to be more in sync. It's all about trust with them. I would take someone who broke my trust much more seriously, but I've never known them to do that. I don't trust so easy anyway."

"Hmm," Rumi said, "For once, I get it."

"I know you do...so good luck," Shine said.

"Yeah...thanks..." Rumi said flatly.

* * *

She gave a lot of thought to what Shine said. She remembered what she'd said during the Meta infiltration mission--that you can choose between Fear and Faith.

And she guessed this is what Shine meant. All Hawks and Ren were saying was out of fear, and she got it, completely. But Shine was speaking out of Faith that you have to do the right thing.

Maybe she'd kidded herself long enough.

It would be a huge concession though...

"What is eating you tonight?" Medea asked her, mid-game with Shigaraki and herself, "You're being so...not loud and aggressive."

"I've got a lot on my mind," Rumi said.

"Well, you're about to die," Medea said, "so freaking focus. This was your idea anyway!"

"Ah, got 'em." Shigaraki was smug.

"You see that? Now we're bailing you out," Medea said.

"Maybe I'm just not in the mood for this." Rumi put down her controller.

"Okay...what's wrong?" Medea said.

Rumi didn't say anything.

"Fine," Medea said, huffily, "You don't want to talk about it? You don't want to play. I'm going to go do something else, then. Frick this." She left the room.

Shigaraki logged off. "This was pretty much over anyway..."

Mirko stared at the now blank TV screen.

"Does this have something to do with that outing yesterday?" Shigaraki guessed, mostly because he wanted to complain about it again, "Because it was still reckless."

"Shut up," Mirko said, "It wouldn't have mattered about going out if Hawks hadn't been there."

"Hawks?"

"Forget it." Mirko crossed her arms. "Jackass..." She meant Hawks.

"If you're not going to talk about it, go away." Shigaraki had gotten far enough in understanding people...sort of...to be annoyed by them just acting upset but not saying why.

"You don't want to hear about it. It's hero stuff," Mirko said.

"That sounds important, actually..." Shigaraki now was concerned. Were they planning something?

"Do you trust Likstar?" Mirko asked a completely random question.

Shigaraki never thought about trust like that.

"What kind of a question is that?"

"Just...hypothetically. Her word against someone else's, who do you believe?"

"Who's the other person?"

"Anyone."

"Then her, obviously."

"That's what I thought," Mirko said.

"And what does that have to do with heroes?"

"Well, I'd trust her more too, than most people. She doesn't BS anyone," Mirko said, "and right now, I have to pick between what she's saying to do and what the heroes would tell me to do."

Well...that was a dilemma all right...

Shigaraki actually thought he should have seen that coming. Of course the heroes would eventually pressure her to turn against the League--he wasn't dumb, he could guess that part--just like Ren.

Why did everyone always have to get involved when they weren't wanted? Who asked them anyway?

"You should pick her," he said aloud, "She never asks for anything for herself, so she's not going to manipulate you through the situation."

"It's funny you think she doesn't manipulate the situation. She just doesn't do it for her," Mirko said.

"Huh?"

"Nevermind. That's what I thought too... On the other hand, there're expectations that I can't just ignore."

"Typical."

"Oh, don't give me that," Mirko said, "Credit or not, for hero work, it's still pretty much a full time gig. You don't just make a snap decision about doing something that heroes wouldn't like."

"Typical. Like I said."

"Err!" Mirko frowned. "Why do I bother?"

"Maybe it shouldn't be typical," Shigaraki explained slightly more.

"Yeah, well, if everyone just left everyone else alone, it'd be easier for us all," Mirko grumbled. 

"So why do you care what heroes say if you don't even like them?" Shigaraki honestly didn't get it.

"I don't. But I do care about being killed," Mirko said.

Silence.

"This is dumb," Mirko said, "I'm wasting my time trying to explain it. I just need to grit my teeth and come out with it." She sat up straighter. "I'm sick of this."

She had lost him entirely now.

Shigaraki's only thought was she was finally going to leave...and he didn't feel as glad about that as he would have expected--more annoyed, like this was Ren winning or something.

"I gave it some thought," Mirko went on, determined now to just get it over with, no matter how awkward it was, "and I decided that the League's been pretty fair, over all. And I do kind of owe it for crashing here all this time."

Not what he thought she was going to say... There was some catch coming, right?

"I can't just pretend I like what villains do either," Mirko went on, "so there really is no picking a side here. So I'm not going to pick one... I'm just going to do what Likstar does and not get involved to that extent."

"Involved in what?" Shigaraki could finally contain himself no longer.

"Turning the League in," Mirko finally got it out, "I originally agreed not to do that with the ninja thing, but I don't know how long that's going to last and what could change, but I think I can let this go finally. For whatever reason, I no longer really care about it." She got up. "There, that wasn't so hard. I'm going to go train." She left the room.

For once Shigaraki was left truly dumbfounded... What the heck was that?

She was just renouncing her whole claim as a hero to taking the League down?

Sure, they'd all pretty much forgotten about it already, but in the back of their minds they always assumed the fight would be back on once all this was over... Was it not?

That was impossible! Heroes didn't just give up like that!

Did they?

Literally no one was going to ask her to ignore her duty as a pro. It would have seemed ridiculous to even try, but she was just willingly going to make that call?

Did Likstar brainwash her?

[Like you would know that if you saw it, Shigaraki.]

Weird.

* * *

"So that's what all that was," Medea said later while they were training. They'd started going over hand to hand combat also. Medea was picking it up pretty fast.

"Why did you change your mind?" Medea asked.

"It was time," Mirko said, "I can't play both sides of this. I hate that. I'm not a double agent."

"You're not like Hawks, you mean. 'Cause it would have seemed just like him to accept our help, and at the end of it, bring us down with the help of other heroes," Medea said, "but, even so, no one would have even held a grudge. We thought it would happen."

"I don't know if I like that you all just assumed that, no matter what, all Pros will act exactly the same," Mirko said.

"I guess we just think you all have to," Medea said, "But for the record, major points. It'd be pretty sleazy to do that. Will you get in trouble?"

"Only if I'm exposed...which Silk could do," Mirko said, "But at this point, why even bother worrying about it? If she's gonna, I can't stop her."

"But you'd just go to jail for this?" Medea said.

"Oh, no," Mirko said, "I'd definitely take Likstar's offer of getting out. I'm not going to jail for doing literally nothing. Not that committed."

Medea laughed. "Was that a pun?"

* * *

Decisions made, Mirko just gave up even pretending anymore.

She even made Spinner come with her to shop. Now that Silk was gone, it was kind of just her and Compress doing it, and he was refusing to go out anywhere.

"But I can't go out in public!" Spinner protested.

"Take off the mask, idiot," Mirko said, "and ungel the hair and put on a hat, problem solved. I'm tired of doing this by myself like some servant, and you're going to come."

Spinner, being a total pushover, caved in.

"But someone is going to recognize me," he insisted, once they were at the store.

"Will you shut up?"  Mirko said, eyeing her shopping list, "I'll go this way. You go that way."

"What if they call the police?" Spinner said.

"Just play it cool," Mirko said.

"I'm a freaking lizard!"

"Oh, for the love of..." Mirko rolled her eyes. "Fine, but you're carrying the stuff, then."

Spinner felt ridiculous doing that.

As it happened, half way through the produce section, some kids did come up to him and say, "You look like Spinner from the LOV."

Being the socially awkward recluse he was, Spinner froze on the spot.

Mirko looked over. "Wow, rude," she said, "Do you just go up and assume everyone with a lizard quirk is a villain? That's quirk-ist."

The kids looked at her oddly.

"Didn't your parents teach you better than that?" Mirko did a very convincing angry Spanish mom tone. "Apologize to the nice man there."

"Oh...uh, sorry." The kids backed off sheepishly. "We just meant you look cool. Scary, you know..."

"Come on," one hissed, "before the scary lady calls my mom." They made their escape.

"Piece of carrot cake," Mirko said, "Just chill and watch, Donny."

Spinner gaped. "That was so cool."

"I know." Mirko was way smug. "Now hurry up, valet." She started power walking.

Spinner didn't even are about carrying stuff after that--he was too impressed.

Plus no one was there to say SIMP.

[But I will. SIMP!]

After that, Spinner pretty much stopped complaining about Mirko at all. 

Really, only Compress didn't like her, other than Toga.

Twice was indifferent...or of two minds about it. Hard to tell.

Mirko, now that she'd made up her mind, just stopped thinking about the situation anymore. They were just waiting it out now, and it didn't much matter where she did that from anymore.

She thought maybe she'd better patch things up with Ren though.

But Ren actually beat her to it.

"Bien [fine], sis," he said when she answered the phone, "Dos semanas [two weeks] is enough time. Can we just agree to disagree about this?"

"Yeah, whatever," Mirko said.

"And I'm sorry for the record, if it'll make you feel better," Ren added begrudgingly, "and I do have a peace offering. A compromise. You know how those lairs are filthy, right?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm afraid of getting ticks." Mirko scratched her ear at the sheer suggestion. "Or meningitis."

"Yeah, well, what if I told you I could help you all hole up in a place those freaking ninja are never going to look for you, and it would be clean?" Ren said.

"Not a hotel, Ren."

"Oh, no, way better than that," Ren said, "Intelli and I just hacked the registry for this one place. Got in under fake names. We were thinking of using it as back up in case my college is a compromised location, which it might be before too long, but for now it seems okay. I thought, in the meantime, you could use it. It's out of the way. The odds of anyone seeing it are pretty low, less than in the city. It could buy you weeks, maybe longer."

"I do hate moving every 7-8 days or less," Mirko admitted, "but I don't know if the LOV will bite. Kind of set on the whole lair thing."

"Well, I will deck it out in Halloween decorations if it will help," Ren said, "We're gonna set up a bunch of back-up locations too. It was a genius idea--actually got it from our little talk... Only they won't be dumps. Why move into an obvious location if you can avoid suspicion?"

"Yeah, but don't you need money for that?" Rumi said.

"You have money," Ren said.

"Ren, you mad genius..." Rumi grinned. "D---, why didn't I think of this?"

"Because you only think to punch your way through things," Ren said, "I don't work for free here though. I have my eye on this great tool on Weeb-bay."

"Got it," Mirko said, "You little s---, I owe you if this works out."

"It's a good compromise, isn't it? Maybe you don't leave the LOV, but they can at least hide better."

"But I don't want you linked to this," Mirko recalled. 

"I won't be, really," Ren said, "Like I said, it's under a false name. Only thing is, it will be a long walk for your job...but you're working less anyway, right?"

"I think a lot of us are," Mirko said, "At the top...government's afraid we'll draw more attacks if we work too much around other pros. Not that it would stop me, but sidekicks are handling more right now."

"Things sure have changed," Ren said, "Before too long, Top Pros may not be that different than anyone else."

"I'd hate the slacking off normally, but I have other stuff to work on, so it's kind of an edge that I need to be in public less," Rumi admitted.

"Then this idea will work," Ren said, "You'll have to move again even so, but we're going to start picking different spots, less obvious ones. Another reason, if that Silkworm did snitch on you, she's going to tell the Originals what kind of places you migrate around. You probably reuse lairs, right?"

"I think so, yeah."

"So anything like a pattern here, it's going to be easy. In fact, if she went in and out of the lair freely, she could have kept track of each location you were at, made a chart or something. Kayla's guess is, they're watching multiple lairs right now, and when you move into an old one, they're going to trap you there."

"You mean that's why they haven't made a move yet?" Rumi was horrified.

"Yeah, most likely," Ren said, "and you'll slip up eventually. But if we break the pattern, it'll stall them. Maybe we can do some counter-surveillance."

"Kayla is helping, huh?"

"Ever since we got her her new ID and her dad flown in, she's been eternally grateful," Ren said, "and she's d--- good at this spy logic stuff. Said she didn't even know Silk was a spy. Guess they didn't intercommunicate much."

"Or she's lying."

"I don't think she is."

"Ren, keep your hands to yourself," Rumi said, "I still don't trust her."

"Why, sis, do you really think I'm the one who needs to be told not to get close to shady people?" Ren shot back, "You're quite the hypocrite... If your new buddies decline this idea, by the way, I have a list of pros and cons ready to prove why it's better than the alternative."

"Not helping, Ren. In fact, it'd be better if I didn't even have to say you came up with this, but I don't see how I'd avoid it."

"I know, I'll ask Likstar and West to endorse it. They'll listen, then," Ren said.

"Maybe, but that's manipulative."

"No, it isn't. It's smart. You have to move in a hurry before you run out of luck," Ren said, "and if you do this...I promise not to bring up leaving again. You've made up your mind, and I'm not gonna try to change it anymore. If you let me help you where I can, I'll just have to be satisfied with that. If we all work together, we might stay ahead of these guys long enough to turn this around on them. But we have to be smart. No more cutting off communication."

"All right," Rumi said reluctantly, "I'll let you help, if you stay in hiding and do it from afar."

"I don't like being chased around, so I can live with that. I don't live for thrills like you."

"Yes, you do, just you want them to be mental challenges," Rumi shot back.

"Whatever, sis. Call me back. I gotta get to class."

Mirko sighed.

* * *

"No way!" Shigaraki was livid. "No freaking way are we going somewhere that person suggested!"

"You didn't even let me finish explaining!" Rumi said.

"There's nothing to explain! This is obviously a trick," Shigaraki said.

"It's not a trick. We worked it out," Mirko tried again.

"Oh, so now you just worked it out without asking!"

"I'm asking now, jackass!" Mirko was mad. "I think he's making sense about the Originals staking out these lairs."

"What?"

"Yeah, if you'd shut up, I was getting to that..." Mirko finished explaining Kayla's theory.

"Well...that would make sense." Shigaraki was a bit more subjective.

"Dude," Medea said, "that's so scary! Ah! We can't go back there."

"Would she really do that?" Compress said.

"I think she would," Spinner said.

"We have to move! No, stay!" Twice said.

"Ugh," Toga sighed.

"In exchange for us using this method of evasion, Ren agreed to back off," Mirko added in a lower voice, "I'd say he's serious. He's never actually broken a promise before."

Shigaraki thought about it. "And it won't be traceable?"

"They hacked the Metas. I think they know what they're doing," Mirko shrugged.

"I think we should get the he-- out of here," Medea said.

"I'm with them," Spinner said, "I don't want to be caught."

"One place is the same as another. Who cares?" Compress said dully.

"But Ren will know where we are." Shigaraki didn't like Ren having that edge.

"Ren could find that out anyway," Mirko said, "Probably has...just saying..."

"So what do we have to lose? If smart guy is helping us instead of trying to take us down, that's so better," Medea said.

Shigaraki felt they were all ganging up on him here...but if the majority voted for it...

"I guess we're kind of out of options," he said very grudgingly.

"Yay!" Medea cheered, "I'mma go pack now!"

"I was going to add, if that didn't work, that Shine and West agreed it was a smart idea," Mirko said dryly.

"Well, then it probably is," Spinner said ironically.

Shigaraki gave him a look.

"I'll just go pack." Spinner left.