Silk was summoned to the Primal Source (what they called the main HQ for this chapter of the Originals) in the early evening, to find Commander Hantai waiting. [Hantai 反対 means opposition, reverse, contrast, hostility, etc.]

"Good, you're here," he said. He had Lethe and Kurogiri, who seemed to be his personal lackeys, since Silk had yet to see him without them. No sign of Shin Nemoto, though.

[For those of you who don't remember, Shin Nemoto was Overhaul's member who could make people tell the truth. He was described in the Ibara Rescue Arc as the Commander's third lackey, but not named. Presumably, he must have been recruited with the rest of Overhaul's most faithful lackeys way back in Eri's rescue. I'm putting it here because I doubt the narrative will have time to explain it.]

Commander Hantai waved for Silk to come stand with the rest of them.

"Why was I summoned?" Silk asked, "I was busy working on project."

The project was redecorating her room on the premises.

"So sorry to pull you off whatever important thing you were doing," the Commander was cuttingly sarcastic, "but we maybe need you here. You recall these people, no doubt?"

He opened a small projector image of the two odd non-heroes who'd been helping the LOV.

Silk regarded them coldly. "Da--Yes, I do. Why?"

"We've failed to apprehend them a few times now. They seem to have a lot of abilities we cannot discover. We've had them analyzed. There's really no pattern, except light," Commander Hantai continued, "but somehow one of our agents has gotten them to agree to come here for a hearing, and they will be here within the hour. My question/assignment for you is to tell us if you think it's likely this is a trick. They've resisted all attempts to garner sympathy for our cause before, but they do not have quirks. What is you assessment?"

"I believe I turned it in along with everyone else's," Silk said.

"I want to hear it again, from your lips." Commander Hantai looked at her warningly.

Silk swallowed any more sass. "You ask if it's a trick? I don't know. From all I know, the man is a bumbling oaf when it comes to planning, but adequate in a fight, very adept at using his abilities. If he fights, it's going to be hard to stop him, but he could be restrained. The woman is who you need to worry about if it is trap, though. She is unpredictable."

"Oh, please, my dear Silk," Hantai said drolly, "It is your job to make sure no one is unpredictable. You can do better than that."

Silk folded her arms. "She cares about her charges...and people who aren't her charges. Doesn't kill. You know all that already...and she is no liar, that I've known."

"Everyone is a liar," Hantai said, "some are just better at not getting caught."

"She is hard to catch, then," Silk said, "She is nice enough. Willing to help total strangers. Perhaps if you can convince her someone here needs help badly enough, she might consider not fighting you."

She nodded at Lethe. "She knows his sister. No doubt if she sees him, she'll try to convince him to leave. If she sees me, she may do the same."

"I trust you know how to exploit that," Hantai said.

Silk shrugged. "One thing--she is extremely hard to fool. Any sign of dishonesty in you, she'll catch it. I would not try to lie to her outright. Better to just conceal some of the truth."

"And what are the odds they will bring some of those dirty, quirked scum with them?"

"If she promise not to, she won't," Silk said, "Strangely enough, she actually does what she says. I think it's breaking some ancient law of some sort if she doesn't. They have rules, but it was never explained to me directly. I just picked it up. Lethe knows things too."

Lethe shrugged. "I found bits in Shigaraki's memory about her...but unfortunately, he trusts her about as much as he trusts anyone, if I had to guess. It won't be of much use trying to convince him she'd join us."

"They must know they are vulnerable, coming in here alone." Hantai stared at the images. "I find her intriguing... Yes, we could use someone of her intelligence and power. The man is useful too. I leave him to you, Silk, our black widow."

Silk didn't care for this job description name, but she said nothing about it. "If you think I can persuade him. I think he's quite devoted."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll find a way to play the game," Hantai said, "We ought to separate them, in case they are planning something. I get the impression they are hard to stop together."

"Together, I'd say impossible for most of us," Silk said.

"If all else fails we still have our young protégé Lethe to try the old fashioned way of conditioning them," Hantai shrugged, "Kurogiri, can you dampen their escape abilities?"

"I can attempt to, Commander, but I suspect them to be stronger than I am," Kurogiri said.

"That's all right, just stall them," Hantai said.

He suddenly turned to his communication device. "And it looks like it will be less time than we thought. Must have run here. Get ready. We want to make a good impression."

* * *

"Holy smoke, Karen," Wally said, "You could have told us this was a palace."

It was, in fact, more of a large mansion but designed in one of those weird, quasi-modern styles, like one of the hero agencies--probably so it would blend right in with them. 

The sign outside, as far as Shine could tell, just read that it was a phone company.

Which she thought was a perfect cover for them to keep tabs on heroes' whereabouts. Already this was telling her so much.

"Don't be coy with me." Karen looked nervous. "And no calling me Karen in there. My name is Akari."

[ 丹梨) Akari means red pear tree. It's not supposed to symbolize anything. I just picked one for the sound of it.]

"That's a nice name." Shine ignored her hostility. "And look, it even has the Kar- sound in it, so Karen kind of fits you anyway."

"I just said not to call me that," Karen/Akari said in annoyance.

"I just can't stop thinking of you as a Karen though," Wally said.

She gave him a dirty look.

"Just follow me," she said stiffly.

Inside, she led them through an ordinary looking lobby, with security that looked at them closely and then let them pass.

In the back, she took them to an elevator, where she punched in a code and took them to a secret floor below the regular business floor.

"Let me guess--a lot of people here don't know this is a cult," Wally said.

"We are not a cult," Karen said.

"Sure, you just meet in secret, take blood oaths, and claim to hear from God because you're a book club," Wally said.

"Don't you claim to hear from God?" Karen said.

"Yes, but our book warns us to test every spirit against it so we aren't deceived by false prophets," Shine said, "and your practices don't check out with the book."

"Well, your book carries no weight here," Karen said, "If you want to make it out alive, you should keep an open mind."

Ominous.

As they followed her farther into the basement level--which looked much more like a secret base, but they'd seen so many of those, they weren't impressed--Wally heard Shine murmuring part of a song under her breath.

https://youtu.be/zVlFkFmk_NM

"I'm not scared of the dark. I'm not running, running, running. No, I'm not afraid of the fall. I'm not scared, not at all. Why would a star, a star ever be afraid of the dark? I'm not scared. I'm not scared, even from the start. I'm not scared of the dark. Of the dark. 

I ain't never scared, and I ain't never horrified. I just look down at my Rolex. It said it's the darkest times.
I ain't never terrified. I ain't never petrified. You know I see dead people. I just tell 'em, 'Get a life.'

I ain't never scurred. I'm not sure if that's a word, but I mean every word, feelin' like 'do not disturb,' wait.
Let me testify, I have never testified, and I'm married to my pride. I ain't never, never cried.

 I got eyes like marbles. If I cry, they sparkle. You know I can read your mind like I'm the author. There's a line for tomorrow, and that line's gettin' shorter. I'm behind the trigger. What if I am the target?

 Deep sigh, a sayōnara, I ain't afraid to die. It's either goodbye or good mornin', and the skies start to fallin'. And I'ma shine in the darkness. I look back down at my Rollie. It says, 'Time for the chorus.' You know I'm not scared."

He smiled to himself. Leave it to her to pick both a humorous and yet fitting choice.

They would have held hands, except they needed to be ready at any moment, so they just stood close.

Karen took them the central room of this base, and along the way, plenty of people stopped to stare at them like they were some kind of angel.

Shine suspected their reputation had led to a lot of hype among people who worshiped the lack of quirks but still desired power.

People followed them a little at a distance, until Karen shot them a dirty look and they backed off.

"Don't mind them. They just think you're saints," she said.

"Does 'saint' mean something different here?" Shine asked.

"Anime always makes saints like these big, magic, powerful people," Wally offered helpfully, "Like Fairy Tail. That's a pretty good show, actually. Erza's kind of like you, with the sword and that attitude."

"Oh, please."

"Anyway, they just think it's having a lot of spiritual power."

"I see." Shine frowned. "Great...having a Paul situation here, then."

"If a snake bites you, it wouldn't be that surprising around here," Wally said.

"I'd shake that off," Shine joked.

[References story in Acts where Paul was bitten by a venomous snake, but it didn't harm him. Natives then decide he was a god.]

Whether it was to impress them or just to show off, they were presented with a row of Ninja, who seemed like an armed guard, as they neared the assigned room. And there were all forms of armor and weapons mounted on the walls.

"What's all the equipment for?" Wally pointed.

Karen looked up. "We pay homage to a time without quirks and how men defended themselves. That is why we here in Japan use ninja tools as well as guns. In Canada, they were more likely to just use guns and arrows, but we have ninja there too."

"I remember," Shine said.

"But all over the world we use many weapons with a modern spin," Karen explained.

"I do like medieval weapons, myself," Shine said, "I like how direct they are. People make a statement about hurting you with them. None of this looking-away stuff like with guns."

"You carrying a sword was seen as more confirmation of you're being here to assist us," Karen said, "Your expressed dislike of heroes gave us hope. Yet you sided with them. Commander Hantai will not be pleased about that."

"Well, tell him to forgive us for saving people's lives," Wally said sarcastically.

Karen ignored that.

"This is weird," Shine muttered, "Something about this feels oddly familiar. But in a bad way."

As if on cue, they arrived at the right door at that moment.

Karen punched something into the keypad.

Shine noted no cameras--always the ninja trademark.

And it's always easier to get in than to get out, she reminded herself, There're no traps now, and they didn't do much to hinder us, but once we try to force our way out, all hell will break loose down here.

She saw Wally was thinking the same thing by the cautious glance he gave backwards as they walked in.

After all this time, they could practically read each other's minds. She hoped that understanding would be enough, because they would hardly be able to say anything with the ninja watching them so closely.

This was worse than the World of Ninja--at least they were more clueless.

They both were surprised when they saw Lethe, Kurogiri, and then Silk, all standing in the background by a table, where someone who must have been the Commander was sitting.

They remembered him. Wally had taken him down in Canada.

"Hey, it's this guy," Wally said.

"He's sitting," Shine spoke, "while we're standing, and so are they. He is showing us he is in control and at leisure."

Commander Hantai raised an eyebrow at her. "Likstar, right? I think you may be overthinking this. You're welcome to have a seat if you wish. You are our honored guests."

"Thanks, we prefer to stand," Wally said warily.

"If you wish." The Commander stood up. "Allow me to introduce myself. Last time we met, I hardly got the chance. My name is Hantai. Commander Hantai. You may call me Commander or Hantai for short."

"How is that short?" Wally said, "Commander or Hantai is longer." It was weak joke. Even Shine didn't pity laugh at it.

Hantai was not amused. "Indeed... Well, welcome to Primal Source."

"I'm sorry," Shine cut him off, "Primal source--is that really the name of this place?"

"Yes...why?"

"Nothing...I guess I should be used to weird names by now," Shine sighed, "One question though--when you send supplies to other chapters, do you call it Prime Shipping?"

Wally laughed. "Now that was actually funny."

"Thanks, babe," she said. Then she cocked her head. "Hello, Silk, Lethe, Kurogiri. Do you remember us?"

Silk wasn't too surprised by her command of the situation, but the other two were.

"I recognize you," Kurogiri said.

"Hi..." Lethe was sullen.

"I thought you might like to see your old friends," Hantai said.

"We weren't friends," Shine said, "Friends are people you can trust."

That jab was not lost on Silk, at the very least. She frowned at her.

"I understand you may have some misgivings," Hantai said, "but I trust they will be laid to rest once you hear more about our high and noble cause. If you would like, Miss Likstar, I will personally give you a tour of this facility. And our Silk, there, will look after you, Mr. West."

"And why do you think we'll let you separate us?" Wally said.

"You don't have to separate if you don't like," Hantai said, "but you want to see more of this place, do you not? I want to give you a thorough tour. I believe you have different interests, correct? And forgive me, the employees might be uneasy seeing both of you walking around together. You've got them quite in awe."

Shine bit her lip. It was an obvious trick...but at the same time, to resist it could waste an opportunity to see more of this place, and depending on how they used this insider look, that could be very useful. If both of them had to run, it would pay to know a lot of the building...and they were more conspicuous together.

She shot Wally a look to communicate this.

Wally didn't like it, but it wouldn't be the first time either of them had to do a thing like this alone...

And they were quirkless, right? He shouldn't underestimate them, but at the very least he must be way faster than any of them.

It didn't feel like a great idea, but he nodded. "I guess we could see more."

At least, he thought, I can talk to silk worm lady alone, then, maybe figure out why she ditched the League... I mean they'll expect that, but she might not see a problem explaining it anyway...

He didn't like the way Hantai was looking at Shine though, like she was some sort of angel, but not in the reverent way. Shine was smart though. She'd notice this guy's vibe.

"Splendid," Hantai said, "Let us go, then, and I will elaborate. Or perhaps you would like to tell me what changed your mind about coming to us."

"Oh, sure, I'll tell you," Shine said.

"Ah, but first, you won't mind one little thing." Hantai made some motion.

Shin Nemoto came out of a corridor.

Neither of the DJs knew who he was, but Wally thought he'd seen him at the camp in Canada too.

Before they were ready, Nemoto had activated his quirk on both of them.

"I just want you to tell us if you came here with the intention to lead the LOV or the heroes to us? And if you truly are open-minded to our cause," Hantai said.

Shine felt a very strong compulsion to start talking grip her.

But as with other mental quirks, she was more aware of it than the inhabitants of this world would have been. She felt it going into her mind--and she pushed back.

Her eyes blazed up, to their surprise.

"I see you haven't been told much about us," she carefully controlled her words, "if you think you need to use a quirk to force us. Shame on you. You detest quirks but you pull them out as soon as it is convenient. That is my opinion of you. And you expect me to be open-minded about it? Call off your dog, Commander, or forget about this whole meeting. This is just insulting."

"What she said." Wally was having a harder time resisting it. Mind control was more common in his world, and he didn't have as much immunity, but he could fight it. "This is so weird... We didn't even lead the LOV here, but if we had, we'd be so screwed right now--I didn't mean to say that."

"It's okay, babe. That's nothing they can't know," Shine said.

The Commander looked impressed. "All right, stop." He snapped his fingers as Nemoto, who didn't seem to appreciate being treated like a dog for real.

"Impressive, Likstar," Hantai said, "Not many people even know that quirk is being used on them when they speak. You truly do have resistance. Consider that a little test. Forgive our rudeness. Of course we'll take your word for it."

Shine didn't buy it for a second. "I'm not stupid, Commander."

"Of course not, but I'll let you be the judge of our sincerity," Hantai said. 

Shine pointed to him. "Let him use it on you and answer my question. Before this goes any further. Or we leave, now."

Silence.

Silk had to smirk a little. Well played, she had to admit.

"I..." Hantai saw that refusing would confirm her suspicions. "Very well..." 

Nemoto used his quirk again.

Shine tilted her head. "Is this a trap?" she asked.

She wasn't sure how many questions Nemoto's quirk allowed before it ran out...and she didn't care for using it anyway, but this one seemed the most important to know right now.

"It's not," Hantai said, "We genuinely are hoping you are interested in our cause."

This was somewhat surprising.

"Satisfied?" Nemoto asked.

"Are you planning to brainwash us?" Wally asked.

Hantai felt that Nemoto stopped using his quirk before he answered. "No."

He wasn't actually sure he could brainwash them, but the intrigue of figuring it out was exciting to him.

[This guy's a weirdo. But then again, he was ordering Lethe to steal people's memories and turn them into weapons against heroes, so who's really shocked?]

Shine and Wally couldn't tell that Nemoto had turned his quirk off.

"I guess that worked," Shine said, "Let's just get this over with."

She never had answered the question about being open-minded or not, but no one acknowledged it. Possibly they didn't even notice.

Silk waved for Wally to follow her.

Kurogiri and Lethe seemed intent on staying in this room.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Wally asked Silk as soon as they were a good distance from the central room.

"I am showing you around." Silk's accent became thicker now that she was away from the other ninja.

"No, I mean why are you here? You ditched the League and broke Magic Man's heart," Wally said.

Silk stared straight ahead. "You're referring to the one they call Compress, right?"

"What do you mean referring?" Wally got a weird feeling. "It was totally obvious you two were crunching on each other, even to me, and he's been real mopey about it ever since. I mean, I don't like him that much, but even I have to feel bad for the guy. I've been there myself."

"That again?" Silk said, "Da ...I know who you mean."

Wally slowed--which to him was a regular walk for someone else. "Uh...Silk lady, are you saying...you don't remember?"

There was a strange silence.

Silk didn't seem stressed at all from her posture, but she did look at him a bit oddly. "No, I don't remember."

"But...you know you were in the League, right?" Wally said.

"Yes, I do," Silk said, "I was a spy. Surely even an idiot like you can figure that out."

"I'm not an idiot, lady, but I don't really care what you think of me," Wally said, "So how is it you remember that, but not your little love affair?"

"Please do not ever refer to it as a love affair again," Silk said, "and I think I can answer that for you. Our dear Lethe helped me."

Wally felt cold. "I thought so, but why do you know he did and act so calm?"

"I asked him to," Silk said.

Wally's mouth dropped open.

Silk shrugged. "I find it's easier on these missions if I just forget the unexplained detail afterwards. I used to have to try to forget it, but with Lethe's help, I actually have put it out of my mind. Only relevant information needs to stay in my focus. It helps a lot on the job, not to have to be distracted by guilt."

Wally felt a little sick...and he didn't speak so easily.

"Uh...are you saying you purposely chose to lose your memory of that guy?"

"Did I not just explain that in some detail? You have short memory, Western," Silk said.

"It's West, actually...and at least if mine is short, it's not my fault," Wally said incredulously, "I thought you were the sane one, but if you let someone mess with your head on purpose to avoid feeling guilty, you are crazier than Toga. Even she wouldn't do that."

"You underestimate her," Silk said dryly, "I've no doubt she would, and I'm an informative agent." She opened her hand widely, displaying her red polished nails. "They call me the Black Widow here... You know what that means?"

"It's a really deadly spider in North America," Wally said, "Shine's used to 'em where she lives. She told me."

"Right, well, it also means something else."

"Yeah, I think I've heard it before..." Wally said, "but that means you're an assassin."

"Oh, nyet, West. I'm no assassin," Silk said, "at least, not usually. It's a sort of nickname, really. I'm an excellent spy. People trust me, and I work my way into their ranks, learn all I can, and I come back to the Originals with that information. No harm telling you now. I never work the same job twice. Many cluster groups like the Metas would have liked to cause us problems. I've worked with a few of them."

"You had no criminal record though," Wally said.

"I never work with them as myself," Silk said, "Silk was just a code name I adopted for the camp mission, and I've kept it on only because of Lethe and Kurogiri, and in the event we do run into the LOV again. I'll change it soon enough."

"And Black Widow is your code name in here."

"We don't have code names like heroes, but if you prefer to think of it as a position name, then that's close enough." Silk was very nonchalant about it. "Why do you mind, West? It's not so different from what you and your girlfriend do."

"It's not at all the same," Wally said, "We help people,"

"To win them over to your cause, you gather intel on them and live with them and earn their trust, but you leave sooner or later," Silk said, "and they go on. You turned that Dabi to your side already. I heard about his trial. Nice work there."

"We didn't have anything to do with it."

"You can tell yourself that, but I don't believe it," Silk said, "So you see, we really are alike. We even both have the same no killing rule, except for special occasions, perhaps. You have plenty in common with us Originals."

"One thing, Silk--you still have your quirk, so I guess you're an elite," Wally said, "Why do you like them? Didn't you tell Dabi and Shoto that you didn't want to lose your quirk?"

"They do pass things on," Silk said, "and the truth is," she lowered her voice, "I wouldn't want to lose my quirk. At least not while I live in a world where other people have theirs. I'm not stupid. But someday, perhaps we'll see our goals realized, and then it won't matter. I can live without it, really. It's mostly a pastime."

"You see, you're too practical to be one of these guys," Wally said, "Why did you ever join them?"

"I don't like to answer personal questions," Silk said.

"Well, if I'm hitting too close here, maybe you should just erase your memories of this conversation," Wally said, "I mean, that's cold, woman."

Silk winced a little at that.

"I just never liked to form long lasting attachments, Mr. West. In this line of work, it's deadly. I know this path is not a pleasant one...but I couldn't choose either hero or villain. The Metas' ideals were always a little too proud to me... If there are no quirks, there can be no quirk-based accidents."

"Huh?"

"My parents died in one," Silk said, "I suppose no one would have told you."

"I'm sorry," Wally said, "That's really horrible...if you're telling the truth."

"I don't lie about my parents, Mr. West."

"But don't you think this is extreme? Accidents happen because of all kind of things. You think a sad backstory makes it okay to kill people? This isn't an anime."

"Oh, I know that alone would be a poor reason, but I have a lot of others. That was just what started me on it," Silk said, "Some time in Russia when I was younger, I heard about the Originals. They call them something else over there. They aren't all about assassinating people, you know. The Japan chapter does take that approach often, but they influence society in all sorts of ways. I grew tired of everyone reducing me to my quirk. I thought the accident was tragic, but is it any less tragic that no matter what other talents I choose to have in life, the first question anyone asks me after my name is always going to be my quirk? Like that even matters that much." She ran her hand along a picture frame on the wall. "We used to care about art, music, and discovery, Mr. West. People would admire a painting because you took time to get good at it, not because you had special quirk to let you make it instantly. Is why I still take time to do my screens slowly, detailed, by hand... It matters that way."

She looked at Wally. "This society is as hollow and shallow as an empty, little, glass jewelry box. There're no jewels in it that I can see."

Wally stared at her. "Maybe you just forgot them, Silk, along with all those attachments you think will distract you from your goal... Look, not to be racist, but could you be any more of a stereotype?"

Silk frowned. "Please, Mr. West, are you any less of one? The selfless American trying to save others from their fate? You think you operate outside the basic ideas of your country? If I even do operate within them, then perhaps there's a reason for it."

"Yeah, well...I just mean the whole cold-hearted, manipulative thing, it's not a type I think you want to claim," Wally said, "And all this crap you're saying about society? Maybe if all it took was a few superpowers to ruin it, maybe people just don't like caring. And maybe you're more a product of that than you think you are. You seemed like a nice woman, but I get why now: Being nice doesn't cost you anything if you can forget or push aside the people you'll hurt when you ditch them later. You're a terrible person." He shook his head. "And I think Compress is better off away from you." He walked on.

Silk stared after him and clenched a fist around her silk spinnerets.

[Hmm...that hurt.

Silk did turn out to be kind of nuts, huh? Were you surprised by her story?]