"We're fricked..." Spinner squeaked when he saw the bazooka.

[For those of you who need a visual, this is a bazooka. It's a weapon meant to pierce tanks, so it could certainly shatter ice and sheet metal shields.]

Kitsune blinked at it. "So...any chance I could trick him out of it?" She said weakly.

"Maybe Shigaraki can just bring the whole place down like before..." Momo said.

"I'd kill all of us." Shigaraki said. "Unless someone wants to warp us out of here."

"Can't you?" Mirko asked.

"If I tried to do both those things, not sure I could finish them." Shigaraki said.

He must be feeling worse than he was letting on if he was actually that unsure of his own ability right now.

"So just warp us out of here then." Hawks said.

"Too many of us." Shigaraki said. "Someone would have to stay behind...a lot of someones."

"Then get the kids out," Aizawa said. "We can fend for ourselves, we're Pro heroes."

"Mr. Aizawa, we can't abandon you here," Momo protested.

"You'll do as I say, I'm your teacher!" Aizawa said fiercely. Eyes red and hair up.

Momo was silent.

"He's right, kids first." Miss Joke said. "And anyone else who can't possibly fight that..." She eyed the bazooka. "If I used my quirk, I could maybe stop them. Why are they waiting?"

"They expect us to surrender," Shine muttered. "They don't really want to blow up their own compatriots. Emi, isn't your quirk a bit unstable?"

"If I use it from this far away, I would probably affect the whole room and all of us," Miss Joke admitted. "I could turn it off, but it's got quite a kick...also it's a little unnerving to watch, to be honest."

"I can turn it off at the right moment," Aizawa said. "Don't worry about it." 

Miss Joke smiled weakly. "Okay..."

"All right, then we'll pretend to surrender." Hawks said.

"Medea, get out of here." Mirko said, winning. "You and Lethe and Monama, all go."

"But what about you?" Medea said.

"I'm fine," Mirko said, nonchalantly. "And you have to get Ren. Tell him what's going on. Knowing him, by now he's got some back up plan ready to go if this happened. Can you do that?"

Medea looked at her, then swallowed. "Okay, we'll get him. Right Monama?"

"Uh... right." Monama said.

"I still don't want to leave you here" Shoto said.

"Go call your dad, Shoto," Shine said. "And the police. Tell them people were kidnapped here. Spinner set them free, didn't you?"

Spinner nodded. 

"So they'll testify, you can finally get these jerks arrested." Shine said. "You can save us if we do get out that door, have the cops ready. And the Pros."

Shoto nodded. "All right, we'll do that."

"Okay," Shine waved at Shigaraki "Get everyone under 20 out of here."

"Kitsune too," Spinner said. "She's not good for fighting."

"Oh, I'm not a high priority compared to kids," Kitsune said.

"That's going to be my limit..." Shigaraki warned. "Unless Likstar can."

Shine shook her head. "Sorry, not yet."

"That's half of us." Hawks said, he was waving at Hantai. "Okay, okay, we surrender. Don't fire that thing."

"Don't stand down." Hantai warned. "I only want the DJs alive, once they come out, you can blow them the frick up."

He didn't say that loud enough for most of them to here, but Mirko's ears twitched.

The kids were all warped away.

"Hantai's going to blow us up as soon as you two step out of range." She said. "I'm honestly surprised you haven't pissed him off enough by now to just kill you, whatever his higher ups say."

"It is really weird, huh?" Wally said. "Most bad guys want to kill me within 5 minutes."

Shine laughed weakly. "Okay, so we do this slowly. Emi, wati till we're almost fully out of the way the--

"Then use my quirk, I got it." Miss Joke said. "Here." She handed them both masks from her belt. "Put these on, it'll help you not be affected so you can run."

"Won't he find that odd?" Wally said.

"He might not figure it out fast enough to matter." Shine said.

She and Wally linked hands, then moved out from around the ice.

Miss Joke peered around the edge, waiting.

"I don't know about this, she's the smile hero and we're putting our lives in her hands." Spinner said.

"Joke is a lot strong than you think" Aizawa said. "She holds back on the job because she could suffocate people to death with her quirk. You're lucky she's never fought you."

Spinner gulped.

[Credit to this idea goes to Sarah, who wrote the fan fic Smile For Me. One of my faves.]

"Don't flatter me too much, Eraser." Miss Joke said, nervously. "I might get the wrong idea."

To her shock, Aizawa put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "You've got this."

She swallowed. "All right, now."

She snapped her fingers, her quirk: Outburst shot out like a yellow gas.

[While people have different theories about how her quirk works, since she was based of The Joker, and her early designs made her wear a gas mask so as not to be affected by her own quirk, my guess is it must work kind of like laughing gas. I doubt the author will ever confirm, so it's as good as any other theory.]

It didn't take more than few seconds for the ninja to start laughing...while it was natural sounding at first, the longer it went on, the more it sounded strained.

Since it was so dark, no one had seen the gas before it hit them, and sure enough the people with the bazooka and gas dropped theirs.

Shine and Wally were protected, as predicted. But the quirk started to waft towards the rest of the group.

Hawks was covering his nose.

Miss Joke was biting her lip, waiting.

Even Hantai was affected now...

Wally hurried as fast as he could without his speed, and snatched the bazooka out of the reach of the ninja, then he tossed it to Hawks, who caught it and shoved it aside.

"Destroy it," he hissed at Shigaraki.

Who did so, though he gave Hawks a dirty look.

Spinner leaned away. "That stuff is too close..." he started laughing.

Miss Joke swore. "The rest will be dead within 30 seconds if it doesn't stop now."

Aizawa's eyes flared red.

The quirk stopped.

The laughtter didn't stop for few more seconds, but suddenly it was dying down.

A few people passed out at once from the lack of oxygen.

Wally looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"Shine," he said, sounding upset, "that was just like..."

"I know," She grabbed his
arm. "It's okay, it's just Emi, it's not the same."

"I know but it was so freaking similar..." Wally was shaking.

"What's wrong with him" Miss Joke looked upset. "Did I do something to him? I think I scared him."

"Calm down," Aizawa said. "He's fine."

"He doesn't look fine." She bit her lip. "I overdid it, this is why I don't use my quirk en masse like this..."

"Uh, stop freaking out." Mirko said.

"She can't help it" Aizawa said. "Using her quirk that much depletes her own oxygen a little, causes anxiety or depression for a short time."

[Another idea Sarah came up with in Smile For Me.]

"Yikes..." Mirko grimaced.

"Suddenly glad I have a physical quirk" Hawks said. "Worst recoil for us is usually just getting tired, or in my case, grounded."

Miss Joke was taking deep breaths. "All right...I'll be okay now." She forced a smile. "Just needed a minute..."

Unfortunately, since enough ninja were not passed out, they were already recovering.

"I can't do that again..." Miss Joke warned.

"Nice trick," Hantai himself was up again, and looking at Shine and Wally. "But ultimately fruitless."

Black smoke appeared. Kurogiri's eyes.

Shigaraki started to move, Mirko grabbed him and held him back. "Don't. It's just what he wants you to do."

"But--" Shigaraki began.

"Just give her a chance," Mirko said. "She's already gotten him to cooperate a few times."

Shigaraki stopped.

Hawks watched this with a weird look.

"Come on," Spinner muttered. "Kurogiri, snap out of it."

Even Compress and Silk were watching this with curiosity, though Silk had also been spinning a screen so that they could slip into the hallway unnoticed at the right moment. The ice was melting though.

"Take them out of here." Hantai ordered Kurogiri.

The smoke swirled.

Wally looked at Shine, he was still shaken up, but he set his jaw.

"Back off!" he said to Kurogiri fiercely. "Leave us alone."

"Or better yet," Shine still had his arm. "Come out of it, Oboro. You needn't listen to Hantai anymore. I told you, you can stop. We are not your enemies."

Her eyes glowed.

The ninja backed up. "It's the divine blessing," they said.

"Don't be afraid of her," Hantai said. "It's all for show. Kurogiri, you know I am your master now. Don't you dare defy me."

Kurogiri's eyes seemed to get larger, as if he were panicking.

"Don't you dare," Shigaraki muttered. "Don't talk like you own him, you sick monster."

Hawks gave him another odd look.

"Come on, Shine," Mirko leaned forward. "Don't give up...keep talking."

"Look at us," Shine held out her free hand. "We're free of your brainwashing after all Hantai. This poor soul can be too, you can't get your claws in everyone forever, can you? 'He whom the Son makes free, He is free indeed.' You can't take us captive on the inside. You've lost. There is nothing more for you to do."

Hantai glared at her. "Shut up, Likstar. We still have some of yours here, somewhere. You want them to die?"

"I'm not as stupid as you apparenlty think I am," Shine's tone was clipped. "If you had them, you'd have shown them, you love to gloat, Hantai, perception works both ways. I understand you now. You are a sadistic, cold hearted hollow shell of a human being, and a coward, like I said before. All else failing you, you'd probably run to save your own skin in the end. And you're about ready to lose, I'd say. Which means even if you had our friends, we'll have the upperhand. Are your ninja so sure you're going to win this?"

Hantai glared, then suddenly he lunged, and before either she or Wally could dodge, he sent his flail out, slashing it across both of them.

Catching Shine in the throat, and knocking her over.

She started coughing, and put a hand to her neck.

Mirko started to move now.

"Don't." Shigaraki warned her. 

She stopped.

Hawks shot them yet another odd look.

"Sir..." Spinner was nervous. "This isn't looking good."

Hantai kicked Wally down as he tried to get up.

Then he walked up to Shine.

"I better stop this," Hawks said.

Hantai motioned, and one of his subordinates tossed him a gun.

"I wouldn't," he warned. Pointing it at her.

"Reptile," Shine muttered, her voice barely working now.

The other ninja slowly pointed their guns towards the group.

Hawks bit his lip. "I can't stop that many..." he said. 

The ice was melting fast too, it wasn't covering them entirely anymore.

"Does anyone have a plan," Compress asked.

"Run?" Silk offered.

"One that doesn't involved just leaving them here." Mirko said testily.

Miss Joke bit ler lip again. "Eraser..."

"I know," he said.

At that precise moment, Kaminari and Jiro came stumbling out of one of the hallways.

"Hey guys," Kaminari stupidly waved at them. He clearly wasn't fully recovered yet. "What's going on?"

"Denki!" Jiro covered his mouth, but it was too late.

Hantai turned to them, and his eyes were cold.

Jiro grabbed Denki's arm to try to pull him back.

Hantai raised the gun. "Stupid heroes."

"No!" Wally jumped up and reached for his arm.

The gun went off.

Jiro and Kaminari ducked, just barely.

Wally yanked the gun off, but now it was pointed right into his torso. Hantai couldn't miss.

Hantai smiled an evil smile.

Shine made a shocked screaming sound.

"Wait!" Suddenly new voices cut around the room like it was on a stage.

Everyone turned, even Hantai though he kept the gun on Wally.

Kayla, dressed in ninja garb, and dragging someone else who had blood on them--Toga probably, though she was in disguise, was now in one of the hallways.

"Baker..." Hantai growled.

Kayla voice rang out musically over the whole intersection.

"Brothers, sisters" She called. "Hantai is a heartless monster, you must stop following his orders. I have it on authority, he's willing to let all of you die, and your families, and self destruct this entire base once he gets away with the DJs, he doesn't care about you. Right now you can turn the tables and elect a new leader."

The ninja looked from her to Hantai.

Hantai gave her a puzzled look. "You have no way of knowing any thing," he said.

Kayla jerked the girl she had with her forward.

Sure enough, she melted into Toga, who was grinning with her usual insanity.

"I did a little spying, Commander," She said, crazily. "You people are so easy to replace..."

For the first time, Hantai looked disturbed. "You...didn't..."

Kayla's voice was getting more melodic the longer she spoke, and now it was almost a sing song, which wouldn't normally be compelling, but something it was eerily enchanting to hear in that empty space.

"I don't like her methods, but she's not one to get info wrong," Kayla said. "Trust me, this whole place is going to blow up as soon as he's out of here. You all can either burn, or you can join us."

The ninja looked at her, then they nodded. They all turned to Hantai.

Even Kurogiri suddenly seemed to change his mind. "I will not help you." He said in his cold voice.

"What?" Hantai said. "What's wrong with all of you, snap out of it! I am your
Commander!"

Kayla fixed her eyes on him...they looked kind of a goldish amber color right now.

"Commander, you should surrender now," she spoke in the same lilting tone. "It's too late. Let him go."

Hantai's eyes got kind of...dreamy?

He loosened his hold on Wally, who himself seemed a little transfixed.

Shine on the other hand, picked up one of the poles off the ground, and hit Hantai with it really hard. He fell over. Out cold.

"All of you," Kayla looked around at the ninja. "Get out of here. The police will b3 waiting outside, you should surrender to them and you won't be hurt. Go, now!"

The ninja didn't even argue, they all ran, even the ones who'd already turned on Hantai.

Spinner started to run, and Silk grabbed him with her clothes and yanked him back, Compress too.

Shigaraki almost did too,and Hawks, but Mirko yanked both of them back. 

"What's wrong with you, snap out of it!" She said.

"Wally!" Shine slapped him.

Wally blinked. "What...what was that?"

"I apologize," Kayla's voice returned to it's normal pretty but not hypnotic tenor. "I've never used this ability like this, and I don't even know if I can control who it works on...apparently it works on men better than women."

"I was tempted," Shine said. "But I have high resistance, I think all us girls here are pretty stubborn."

Aizawa seemed okay, but then again, he tended to resist mental quirks better if they weren't direct.

"How did you do that?" Miss Joke was impressed.

Kayla looked embarrassed. "I...remember when I said I had a dream where I used it differently? That was how...my quirk can do more things than I thought...I tried it a few times while I was walking around here, and it worked...and then I realized I've used it my whole life, maybe even on you." She nodded at the group. "Everyone just trusts me implicitly, even within the Originals, I never thought much of it."

"I don't get it." Wally said.

"Her quirk isn't just mermaid," Shine said, a little peeved. "It's Siren."

Everyone blinked.

"Oh, that make sense, " Compress said. "It's true, I was all set to jump off a ship if you told me too, what an overpowered quirk."

Kayla shivered. "Yeah, don't tell anyone else about it. I don't like it."

Toga blinked. "Hey where did all the fresh meat go." She said.

Kayla glared at her. "It did come in handy for getting her to cooperate with my idea...take beter care of your people, Shigaraki, she killed 3 ninja before I caught her. Women take longer then men."

"Toga's not fully a woman anyway, if you ask me," Compress muttered.

Toga's crazy eyes seemed to confirm that.

They all moved out of hiding.

"Well...now we have this SOB." Mirko looked down at Hantai distastefully. "What do we do with him?"

"I vote kill him," Spinner said.

"We're not safe if we let him go," Compress said. "I at least should capture him."

"No, kill him," Silk said warily. "You capture him, they'll have use for it. And he'll tell about Baker's quirk. Last thing we need is Originals to retake her. The others may not remember what happened clearly enough, we can hope, or will not risk talking. But Hantai is too high up."

She picked up a gun. "Besides, he's evil."

Shine and Wally looked at each other.

"You know...I don't really feel sorry for him," Wally said, "but is he really worth breaking our rule for?"

Shine sighed. "Look, they suffer most if he goes free. I'm leaving it up to them to decide. The man is certainly inhuman enough for me not to shed any tears over it."

"As heroes, I don't think Mirko and I can agree to this," Hawks said, "or Eraser and Joke."

Miss Joke shook her head.

"What's going on?" Kurogiri suddenly sounded unhinged. "What's happened?"

His smoke started to go in and out like a candle.

"What's this?" Shigaraki said.

"He has no master to give him orders. I imagine what Kayla did threw him into confusion," Shine said.

Kayla bit her lip. "Should I try to command him? I could command all of you too."

"No, leave him," Shine said. "Might as well finish this now."

She glanced at Shigaraki. "Are you ready?"

Shigaraki blinked at her. "For what?"

Shine gestured to Kurogiri. "He's in torment... He always will be... I can break him out of it by force, maybe, or you can let him go."

Everyone got real quiet.

Shigaraki looked uncomfortable. "I'm not controlling him."

"Not now, but you have, and you're still in there," Shine pointed at Kurogiri, "somewhere. Hantai's hold must only be temporary, I'm guessing. Bondage of several years doesn't just go away. All I need you to do is tell him he's free. Whether or not he understands you will be irrelevant."

The silence was real.

Shigaraki glanced at Compress and Spinner, who shrugged like "don't look at us."

He glanced at Mirko.

Mirko nodded.

Hawks shot her an odd look like "why are you part of this now?"

Shigaraki looked at Wally and Shine. They smiled reassuringly.

Slowly he walked up to Kurogiri, who kept phasing in and out of view.

[This song just oddly fit.]

"Kurogiri," Shigaraki said.

"Oboro," Shine corrected.

"Oboro." Shigaraki thought it sounded weird to call him that. "You should decide for yourself... You're free to decide, same as the rest of us."

Kurogiri's yellow eyes seemed to expand like a flame.

"I do not understand this order."

Shine stepped up and put a hand on Shigaraki's shoulder. "I'll take it from here."

She reached out her hand.

Now her sword appeared in it, gleaming brightly like it had never been gone.

"In the name of My God, El Shaddai, Jehova Rapha [God Almighty, The God who heals], I set you free." She plunged the sword into the smoke and light.

What happened next was very weird for everyone.

There was a horrible screeching sound that didn't seem to come from Kurogiri's voice, but from the void itself that was around him, and the darkness shot out around him like it was alive, and the light of his eyes went out.

Aizawa yanked Miss Joke closer as the whole room was engulfed into darkness.

Then Shine's sword glowed bright like a lamp in it all.

They saw themselves by it, all looked terrified.

Wally grabbed her shoulder, reassuringly.

Shine's face was set like stone, and she kept her sword aloft.

There was a few torturous seconds of this, then all was silent.

Mirko had her ears covered, now she looked up.

The darkness was gone.

The sword's light remained, making the room glow both red and gold with the emergency lights still on.

Jiro and Kaminari were both cowering in the hallway. Now they dashed up to Mr. Aizawa.

He nodded at them.

Miss Joke blinked, shaking.

Before them all stood...not Kurogiri, but...someone with the face of Oboro...at least, the ghost of his face.

The body fell over.

Spinner yelped in surprise.

Oboro looked up at them all like he was seeing them for real.

"Aizawa..." he said weakly, voice totally changed. "Is that you, old friend?"

Aizawa stumbled forward. "Yes, it is."

"Fancy meeting you in a place like this..." Oboro said weakly. "Is...is it gone? The darkness?"

"It is," Shine said softly.

"Good," Oboro sighed. "You'll pass on my message."

Shine remembered what he'd said now. "I will," she said.

"Is...is that your real form?" Shigaraki was stunned, understandably so.

"Holy crap, he looked normal that whole time," Compress said.

Silk elbowed him and shook her head.

"What's left of it," Oboro said. He winced. "I don't think it's enough left...not enough left..." he took a shaky breath. "I can't stay here... Lady of Light, could you...help me...?"

"Yes," Shine said. 

She knelt down. She looked ready to cry. "I'm sorry, Oboro... I was hoping for more than this."

"What? What's going on?" Shigaraki sounded just like a kid who's about to get bad news from his parents.

Wally shook his head. "Sorry man," he said, "but there's not enough of him left... He's not gonna make it."

"What? Then heal him!" Shigaraki said.

"They already did," Oboro said faintly. "Far more than I thought was possible... At least I'm myself again, even if it's for a short time... Listen, is that Shigaraki?"

"Yes," Shine answered, since Shigaraki was too unnerved to answer.

"I thought I would hate you if I ever got free," Oboro spoke, "but I see now, you and I, we're the same. Two sides of the same coin. It's not your fault. You should try to get free too. It's better to  be free and die than to live bound up to something like this...darkness..." He shuddered. "It's coming..."

"I...don't want this," Aizawa said finally. "It's not fair. He should get the chance to get his life back."

"Aizawa, consider the amount of trauma in his mind," Shine said. "Healing would be very difficult for him if he did survive. He might never be the same. While I don't think that's a reason not to try, do you think he wants to keep fighting? He's been fighting for years... Let him go."

Aizawa was tearing up.

But finally he nodded. "All right...Oboro, listen, you can go. In the end, you were still a hero... You still fought to get free. Remember that. I'll tell Mic."

"Thanks..." Oboro said. "And tell him he can forget about that 2000 yen he owes me."

Miss Joke started crying.

"You still remember that?" Aizawa said, smiling wryly. "Normally you'd never remember that."

"It just came to mind." Oboro gasped suddenly. "I think...that's all it...help me...get..."

Shine's sword gleamed again. "It's okay," she said. "Let go."

Oboro didn't seem to hear them anymore...and then he went still...and stopped breathing.

Everyone just stared.

Jiro suddenly started sobbing too.

Shine was wiping away tears also.

Miss Joke patted Aizawa's shoulder.

"Hey," she said, "he remembered you in the end... I really think that's kind of beautiful...even if..."

Aizawa nodded. "Yeah...well...at least he went out doing his best... That's what he wanted, after all." 

He looked at Shine. "Thank you."

Shine nodded.

Wally hugged her. "Are you okay?"

"I...will be..." Shine said, sounding emotional. "I did hope he'd be able to survive it, you know."

"Shine." Wally patted her hair. "It's okay.... He's better off now."

"This is really awful." Kaminari seemed back at full capacity now. He patted
Jiro's shoulder.

"I don't know, I thought it kind of fit," Kayla said.

They all looked at her.

"What? He was a slave," she said. "He at least got to die free. To me that's better... They would only have killed him here once he ceased to be useful."

"Hey," Shine spoke up, "now that he's...gone, I can portal again... We can leave here."

"Where's Hantai?" Silk asked suddenly.

They looked around.

"He must have got away in the dark," Compress said. "I knew he'd not stay out for long, the devil!"

"Then never mind him," Shine said. "I don't care. Without Kurogiri he'll have a hard time getting us anyway. We have Silk, and all his men are gone. He has only his failure to wallow in now. Just leave him."

No one even argued.

Shine opened a portal, and they all left that base. They hoped this would be the last time they left an Originals' base...

Toga and Twice had to be taken separately though. Shine claimed her portal would hurt them. Shigaraki managed that though. It was just two people.

[Well, were you all shocked that I killed a minor character?

Fair warning, this story is almost over, so he may not be the last one to die.

I'm calling he'll die by the end of the canon show anyway, if he hasn't by now, so I figured I'd just make it more peaceful than it probably was going to be on that and live with it.

No gonna lie, I actually choked up writing it. Poor guy really had a terrible life.]

* * *

Hantai got to his meeting room, still with his head pounding.

To his shock, here was Tomomoto.

She was cracking gum this time.

"You...you said you'd leave..." he said.

She smiled unpleasantly. "That was while they were here. They've gotten away, Hantai. What do you think that means?"

Hantai looked nervously at her.

"I swear, I will get my revenge on all of them," he said. "I'll hunt them down as many times as it takes. I'm going to catch them and drain the power out of them bit by bit. You can tell your master that."

"Oh, he knows what you want," Tomomoto said.

She came a little closer. "But here's the thing, Commander. We really don't tolerate failure any more than you do. And I think we should treat you just how you treated your own people when they failed, don't you?"

Hantai backed up. "No! Don't! I can still fix this."

"Too late." Tomomoto blew out a cloud of black dust.

Hantai started choking on it, as his body stopped working properly.

She watched him without mercy or pity.

He fell to the floor.

"Coward," she said. "Really, cult leaders always end up being so disappointing."

Her communicator buzzed: Is it done?

Kali typed back: Done deal, Sire. Want me to retreat for now?

:Affirmative, await further orders. Don't let anyone see you.

:Never 😉 

She stepped back into the shadows.

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

[So...Moto just straight up killed a guy.

Be honest, we all saw it coming though. She's totally a psycho. Scares me more than Toga.

Well...

We have about two arcs left in this story. Long ones, but still, we're almost there, people.

Comment what blew your mind most about this one, if you want.

As always thanks for reading this far. See you soon.]