Before the lights had gone out and these confrontations had happened, Medea and Monama had run into their own trouble.

Getting into Wally's cell had been a cinch, but getting Wally out of it was harder.

Wally didn't appear drugged when they got in there, but he also didn't seem really focused either.

Monama destroyed his cuffs easily enough with Shigaraki's quirk, and then Medea finally found what might be the reason for his daze--one of the chips like the ones that had been in her was implanted in the base of his neck.

Inspecting it, the two kids weren't sure what it would do.

"I don't know that much about their tech," Monama said after a minute or so of deliberating, "but if they are able to block quirks by messing with our brainwaves...then can they do other things?"

Medea shuddered. "Like what?"

"Well...Mr. West's speed is not a quirk--we've said that--but he still turns it off and on. There must be some kind of mental signal there, right? So it can still be stopped... It's not like Miss Likstar's power. Her eyes glow without her knowing it, right? That must mean her power isn't always her own choice to activate...which means she probably can't be blocked like this, right? But they aren't the same. Mr. West is from another world. It's possible they've...hacked that, as it were."

"So they're...confusing him?" Medea looked sick. "That's horrible."

"More or less horrible than anything else they've done?" Monama said.

"I guess not, but that doesn't make it better," Medea said.

"Well, they couldn't possibly keep this on forever, right?" Monama said, "Maybe they just didn't want him to rescue Miss Likstar. I'm sure we can remove this... Wait...Shine removed yours."

"Yeah...we don't have her sword," Medea said, "and I can't do it. And you definitely can't...unless you could destroy it."

"No, that amount of precision with a borrowed quirk is next to impossible," Monama said, "I mean, even if I could control it, aiming it would be too risky. I could kill him or get his nerve along with the device...so also kill him."

"Then how do we get it out?" Medea said.

"I don't think we can..." Monama said, "We must just...get him to someone who can..." He took Wally's arm. "Follow us, Mr. West."

Wally blinked at him. "Huh? Oh, sure... Monama, where's Shine?"

"Uh, we're going to to meet up with her," Monama said.

"Okay, good," Wally said, then seemed to lose focus again.

"He's not staying alert for long..." Medea stated the obvious, "At this rate, we'll be telling him this every few minutes."

"At least he remembered her," Monama said shortly, "and us. I was afraid we would not be so lucky. Let's just move."

But of course, it wasn't like no guards were coming.

Medea slipped past them with her quirk and stole their weapons, then used them to make them all surrender.

It was pretty easy. They'd heard about how scary she could be from rumors about her burning nomu to death on her pyre.

Monama didn't do much to help. He had to keep leading Wally, who understood what they were doing but kept getting distracted every few minutes, and he'd stop walking if he wasn't pushed.

This state was so creepy that Monama had to wonder what other uses the ninja might have for it.

Once they were farther out of the cell block, they didn't see Shine, Mirko, or Shigaraki.

Medea said they shouldn't try to find them. They'd just get cornered again. "Let's just get him back to the main base and meet them there," she said.

"And you think they'll be able to get through?"

"None of these guards have been anything like tough enough to stop them," Medea said, "I think they'll be fine. They might already be there. I don't want to separate and risk losing you and Mr. West in this maze."

Their luck changed for the better a bit when they headed out of the section altogether, because Wally seemed to be focusing more.

"Hey, what are you kids doing here?" he began.

"Shh," they said.

Wally lowered his voice. "What's going on? How long as it been? Why can't I use my speed? And where did you say Shine was? I thought you said we were going to meet her."

"Okay...so it works differently outside that area... That's freaking terrifying," Monama said.

Medea rubbed her head. "I get it. While the prisoner is in the special area, they don't want them to escape, so they programmed it to confuse them...but once they are outside it, they probably are questioning them, or getting them to join their ranks, or train or whatever, so they have to be focused...lucid, I guess, then. It's like some weird, twisted, sci-fi, futuristic movie... How do they get this tech?"

"Oh, shoot, is that what's been making me feel so ditsy?" Wally said, "I hate mind control tech... Ugh, it's the worst. I've been down this road before too. I guess it wasn't total mind control--I do kind of remember what happened. I just couldn't do anything to get out of it. Totally creepy."

"But...you would have resisted, I'm sure," Monama said, "if they attacked you...so it's not perfect control, right?"

"Does it matter?" Wally said, "This is so messed up."

"But where did they get this tech?" Medea mumbled.

"Look, if I'm not remembering wrong--which I guess I could be after that--didn't they raid Dr. what's-his-face's lab, the guy who brainwashed people into being nomu?" Wally said.

Medea nodded. "Yeah, yeah, they did. Lethe was part of that--Oh s---."

"Uh huh, and doesn't quirk blocker tech come from the government? They got, like, that stupid, strong prison where they keep the big baddies like AFO and Stain," Wally said.

Medea and Monama stared at him.

"So...the tech was already a thing, and you all just thought that was normal and not mind control?" Wally said.

[Yeah, bet you didn't even think of it as mind control either till now. I know I didn't until I wrote this.]

"Oh...wow..." Monama realized he was right. "Things are kind of messed up, huh...? But that's for criminals. They can't be allowed to use their quirk."

"Dude, I don't know the rights and wrong of that," Wally said, "but I think it's not that hard to figure if someone can block the brain's ability to use a quirk, they can block other stuff too...like my speed, apparently... I think they were already planning to capture us like this...but I don't think this would stop Shine the same way as me, like you said...so why isn't she around?"

"I think they did other stuff to her," Medea said, "but we're not sure. Boss Man and Mirko are looking for her right now."

"Those two?" Wally said, "Can they even work together well enough to pull that off?"

"We'd better hope they do," Monama said.

"Anyway, Mr. West, we have to go," Medea said, "so let's find the others and get their help. Hang on, I'm going to look."

She passed through a lot of walls in straight line and then came back.

"I didn't see Mirko or Boss Man, but I did see Bakugo and Todoroki fighting off some guys this way. Let's go."

They followed her lead, though it took awhile.

Right about the time Shine had healed Silk, they had gotten to where the two boys were. They had no trouble taking care of the few ninja left.

Even Bakugo was glad to see Wally, though not to hear he couldn't use his power.

"Maybe you could just summon your sword..." Shoto said, "and we could use it."

"I tried," Wally said, "I don'w. It's not working. Maybe Smoke Man had something to do with it. I can kind of feel this dark aura around here."

"Why does that block you?" Bakugo said.

"I...don't know," Wally said, "It shouldn't...but our powers aren't always predictable. I'm not so great with that anyway."

He rubbed his neck and winced. "But I got to get this thing out.... Shine needs me, and so do all of you. We have to get out of here. These guys are crazy."

"Maybe Momo can help, then," Shoto mused, "or Ren...or Kayla. We have to get you out of here, then. Let's look for the rest of the group."

"Yeah--wait, where the frick did they go?" Bakugo said.

All the boys noticed then that Medea and Monama had slipped away while they were talking.

"Why would they...?" Shoto said.

"I hope they don't run into that little girl's brother," Wally said cluelessly.

Bakugo looked at him askance. "If that's what she's doing, I swear, I'm going to blast her a-- the next time I see her."

"It would be foolish to do that. I'm sure they just went to find Shine." Shoto gave them way too much credit. "Anyway, we can't stay here. They can pass through walls and bullets. I think they'll be fine, if any of us will be."

Bakugo didn't like it, but there was literally nothing they could do about it, so he went along with them.

They did fill Wally in as much as they could while hurrying, but he was so much slower than normal, it felt like they were slogging along, and they didn't have as much to tell him as they wished they did.

But that was not going to matter for long.

[Hmm, foreboding.

At least he's okay, though, right?...Sort of. The ninja could not get any creepier though, could they...? Never say that in writing.]

* * *

Medea and Monama felt bad sneaking away, but with Mr. West delivered to the others, there was no better time to do what they had planned.

Monama was even more doubtful that this was a good idea than he had been before, but there was no dissuading Medea from it.

Some people shot at them and chased them but nothing hit them, and it felt more like a dream than a real threat. Monama thought if he had this quirk all the time, he might be as bold as Medea, because how could you be frightened when literally nothing could hurt you?

Medea gripped his hand, though, when they solidified again to catch their breath.

"You know, this is kind of fun, just running from them," she said, "and they think they're gonna catch us, and then we're gone.... This is good therapy. I feel much better about my quirk when I'm avoiding near death because of it."

Monama laughed weakly. "Sure..."

"Reminds me of that one song," Medea said, "Camie played it to me, I think to pump me up, but, like, it's so true too."

"Huh? What song?"

"🎵🎤Just like fire, burning up the way
If I can light the world up for just one day
Watch this madness, colorful charade
No one can be just like me anyway
Just like magic, I'll be flying free
I'ma disappear when they come for me
I kick that ceiling. What you gonna say?
No one can be just like me any way
Just like fire, uh.🎶🎤"

Medea sang this pretty well actually. Then she winked at Monama, as more people came around the corner, carrying weapons.

They turned back into fire--they were perfectly in sync by now--and slipped through the wall.

https://youtu.be/WkyDce0AQ6s

* * *

At the other end of that wall, they found a sort of catwalk that led deeper down into the base, and here, at the lowest level, there was a small section of rooms.

Monama saw some people who looked like they might be elites bustling around, talking on their phones.

He and Medea quickly ducked through the walls, not sure what they'd find.

They stumbled through before anybody could really notice them. If they did see them, they just thought it was a flash of light in their peripheral vision.

Then finally, Medea yanked Monama through the wall, into a much larger room with a huge desk/table in the center, but it appeared to be empty.

They leaned on the wall, breathing hard.

"I hope no one noticed us go in here. I think this is the heart of the base," Monama muttered, "We'd literally have to go through the whole thing again to get out."

He noticed purple streaks on his skin...overuse of the quirk.

Medea's tolerance seemed higher though--she looked normal, mostly. A slight glistening on her face, maybe, but that just gave her a pixie-ish look that made her even cuter.

[Design by Onerose, original template by original creator.]

"Yeah..." she said, breathlessly.

Then Monama's heart almost stopped, because he saw someone stand up over in the corner of the room, so they were not alone.

Then he saw who it was...

"Medea?" Lethe spoke in shock.

"Lethe?" Medea saw him now too. "You're...here..."

"You're here," Lethe echoed, but in a very different tone, "Why? And with him again."

Medea held up Monama's hand. "We're dating now."

Monama wished she hadn't told him that.

Lethe's eye narrowed. "Oh, are you?"

He sounded like a normal, over protective brother there, but it was still creepy.

"Yeah, so don't you do anything to him, or it's the same as doing it to me." Medea stood in front of Monama protectively. "For the record, he thought this was a bad idea, but he's still agreed to help. He's a good guy."

"I'm sorry, but he's the prick from the festival? You really could do better if you insisted on dating a hero at all," Lethe scoffed.

"He had the guts to face down you," Medea shot back.

Lethe winced. Point made.

Monama wished he wasn't here for this, though. How awkward.

Oh, just take me to meet up with your brother who brainwashed you, Medea. That's a great second date... he thought melodramatically--anything to cope.

"Are you here for the DJs?" Lethe said dully, now moving along the table, running his hand over it.

Medea set her hand on fire. "Don't come too close to me," she said nervously, "I came here to talk to you."

"Oh?" Lethe was surprised. "You're finally coming to me?"

"Quit being creepy," Medea said, "I don't want to hear any of this Originals crap, do you understand me? We were family once, weren't we?"

"You said we're not anymore," Lethe said, looking up sharply, "Why should we act like it, then? All this would have gone away if you just came with me to begin with, Medea. Instead, I've...just done more and more things I'll never forget, and it's because of you."

Medea shivered.

Monama frowned at him. "Just say the word and I'll shut him up," he muttered.

Medea squeezed his hand. "I've got it," she said in a low voice.

https://youtu.be/WWqUqUftYaQ

[Fit too well for them, since Lethe's power work like a drug anyway. Just ignore the more romantic based lines. Not that many anyway.]

"I just want to talk," Medea said, "You always have so much to say, Lethe--Yuma. You never once asked me what I wanted."

Lethe stared at her. "Well, it's because--"

"Because you think you know best," Medea said, "but just for once, I want you to listen to me. And if, after that, you still think it's better for me to join you, we can talk about that. But you're gonna ask me to do that, eyes open. Got it?" She sounded emotional, but not like she was breaking down yet.

Lethe looked from her to the door. "There's no guarantee we'll be allowed to have this talk. Commander Hantai will come back in here soon."

"Well, then, we're going somewhere else," Medea said, "Come on, I bet you know a good spot."

"I can't leave this room. He'll be livid," Lethe said.

Medea's eyes flickered purple...then she looked down. "Fine...I guess that's it, then... I knew you'd never listen to me. I just came here to be certain. You can't catch us, so don't bother trying." She nodded at Monama.

They blazed up.

"Wait!" Lethe said, coming closer.

"No!" Monama held up his hand. "Don't even think about it!"

"No, I mean...fine." Lethe looked kind of panicked. "We can talk. Don't run..."

Monama realized that Lethe actually knew he'd never catch them. For all he was powerful, his physical game was weak. Medea had always been that for him. Guess no one was invincible.

Medea turned her flame off. "Then lead the way."

Lethe motioned them to the door, then he looked both ways. "The second meeting room for the lower ranking officials is probably empty."

Lethe crossed the hallway to a different room and punched something into the keypad to the door. It clicked open. The room was dark.

Lethe flipped on the light.

They followed him in and shut it.

"How are you using your quirk anyway?" Lethe was puzzled.

"None of your business," Monama said curtly.

He stood by the door. "Don't take too long. He could be tricking us."

"Thanks," Medea said. She move more to the center of the room. 

Lethe came and stood at least 3 meters away. "You wanted to talk...but I warn you, it's probably no use. I'm not going to change my mind about them."

Medea shook her head. "This isn't about you, right now. I mean, sort of it is...but...look...just listen."

She drew a deep breath. "To be honest, Yuma, I don't know where to start. The last 4 months or so have been totally insane and a lot of it was hell. I can't even begin to explain that to you. Nothing would... You just weren't there for it. I don't know what's going through your head. The thing is, I don't know you at all."

Lethe winced a little and started to speak, but she cut him off. "Let me finish!"

He was silent.

"The thing is, Lethe, I learned a lot about us in that time," Medea said, "I went to therapy, which is, like, totally unheard of almost, but I did it because I couldn't sleep, I couldn't control my quirk, nothing. And I relived all those memories that you took, over and over again."

She drew a deep breath. "If...if I was really honest, I'd admit, I saw why you took them. I hated them. It was horrible."

Lethe looked surprised, like he hadn't thought she'd admit that.

Monama had his hand on the doorknob just in case.

"It's easier not to deal with it. You're right about that." Medea rubbed her arms. "But here's what you didn't understand: What you did, it was wrong. It didn't give me a choice, and that made it 10x worse when I did know what happened. All the time most people get to process stuff, to let it go, to decide what to do about it, you didn't let me have that...and it's like, those memories never really left me. I just couldn't access them. But they wouldn't have hurt if they were really gone...and if it wasn't important, then they wouldn't have tried to come back so hard... Isn't that how it works?"

Lethe didn't say anything, but she knew.

"And you know that, but you just watched me suffer for 3 years." Medea's voice began to tremble now. She was starting to cry, but not uncontrollably. "And every freaking time it was bad, you thought you could fix it by doing more of the same, and when it didn't work, you said it was my fault, that I was erratic and short tempered. But, like, that's so messed up, because you never gave me the chance to grow up and learn from my mistakes. You made me that way, but then you used that to justify what you did over again... It's called a vicious cycle. You made it true so you could keep doing what you would do anyway. And, like, I don't get why you started it to begin with, but it's like you just couldn't bring yourself to stop, and you didn't care what I would have thought about it."

Her eyes blazed suddenly with anger. "Which, if you knew me at all, you'd know I hate being controlled, and I would hate what happened. Or is that why you never told me you did that?"

"I--" began Lethe.

"Shut up!" Medea yelled at him, "If you start talking, you'd twist my words and make it so like you're the victim here. Poor you, you had to deal with me all that time, take that burden on yourself, whatever s--- you say so you sound like the hero here! But frick you, Lethe! You can't be a hero to someone who didn't need saving! And you can't give that person a reason to need saving and then say you were the hero for fixing it. You started it!"

"I'm not the one--" Lethe began.

"I said to shut up!" Medea hands blazed up again. "I know what you're going to say. You're not the one who killed mom and dad, right? I guess that's true. But if you wouldn't let me remember that, then you wouldn't let me have personal responsibility, so stop casting it up in my face. It doesn't justify anything because I never got to know about it. I did it, but you erased my knowledge of it, and then you have the gall to tell me that it makes it okay? That's some twisted logic on your part, brother."

"But--" Lethe said.

"Stop interrupting me!" Medea said, still angry, "I'm going to say this, just for once, without you stopping me. I don't need you!"

Lethe blinked...stunned.

"I never needed you to take care of me like that!" Medea wiped tears away furiously. "I just needed you to be there for me, and let me decide but, like, to still love me, or whatever, even if you didn't like what happened... If you really loved me, then you'd have accepted that it was an accident, what happened, and let it go. Honestly, you know what I realized in therapy? I'm not the one who couldn't deal with it, you were!"

Lethe was truly dumbstruck now. No need to shut him up.

Monama was surprised she was going there.

"You couldn't face what happened, so you made me forget, so you could feel in control again," Medea said, "That's the truth. I get it now. Once I heard it, it made sense. But, like, I've been dealing with it. I've been making peace with it and my quirk, see?"

She turned it off and on. "I'm real emotional right now, but I'm not setting my clothes on fire or the room, you see? I did it. I worked on it... It's not perfect yet, but I've not set something on fire by accident in over a month. It just took a little practice... I could have done it before too. And, I'm upset. I'm never gonna forget mom and dad... I'll remember them more now than I would have before, though. You took the good from me too, Yuma. I didn't like thinking of them, even the good stuff, because the pain would come...but now, I can remember all the good times we had."

She smiled a little through her tears. "You remember? Mom would always come kiss us goodnight? Even if she got home super late...and Dad would take time to answer us if we had a question, even if he was working...and they didn't put pressure on us for having weak quirks, even though they thought we did...or make us feel like we had to catch up with the other kids. I remember all that now. Don't you remember that?"

Leth's eyes got kind of misty, though he still said nothing.

"We used to eat breakfast together," Medea went on, "and talk. It wasn't all good, I know that, but it wasn't horrid...and...maybe...maybe Miss Likstar was right. They loved us...and they'd understand what happened was an accident...and they'd want us to be happy. I mean, Mom used to say if you mess up, you have to try again. And Dad would say to work until we were satisfied. I remember that. Well, I'm not satisfied with this fake happy you made...and I'm telling you that now. Even if you somehow got me back under your control, it's not the real me. I know what I want now. I want to live my life knowing the truth."

She gestured for emphasis. "Good, bad, ugly...beautiful. All of it. I'm not a perfect person yet, you know, but I'm working on getting better because now I know why I need to, and I don't need you to tell me what to do anymore. You think I'm weak and that you need to baby me, but I'm not weak. You are."

She pointed at him now. "And I feel sorry for you, I really do, but I won't be your puppet. Some things you can't change, Lethe. I am who I am. Stop trying to make me into what I'm not. This is how it is. You either accept me, or you stop lying, because I know you can't love me if you love something that isn't true. That's what I know. And what you had before wasn't true."

Lethe was listening still. But his snide look was gone.

"They all told me you'd never listen to me." Medea was dying down, but lacking a filter, she didn't really know when to stop. "That once someone has you in that position...abusing you... they won't let go. They can't accept that it's not the way they want it to be...and I thought, maybe they're right...bu, you're my brother, and, I guess, I just wanted you to see...this is how I am, and I had to see if you really could help it after that...and I guess that's all I wanted to say. If you still want to do this, then I'll leave you alone, and you need to leave me alone.... I had to face you though...because I won't be afraid of you the rest of my life. You won't be the monster under my bed that wakes me up at midnight! Okay?! I'm done."

She finally stopped talking and drew some deep breaths.

That took a lot out of her. Confronting your abuser is never easy, let alone in such a situation...

Lethe was silent for a long moment.