Stain had been broken out of prison--in a way even he wasn't really sure of.

After so long in four walls, unable to move hardly, almost no visitors, he'd just been stunned by the open air and ability to take a step on his own.

Getting his bearings, he'd found himself in some kind of street.

Adjusting to the dim light, he noticed the teen-aged girl in black, leaning on a wall, holding a nail file that was metal and looked sharp enough to stab someone with--he would know.

"Who are you?" Stain didn't have a blade, naturally, but was on guard.

"My code name is Moto," the girl said flatly, "but you can call me Kali."

"How foreboding." Stain took a defensive stance.

"Isn't it?" Kali said lazily. "You're welcome, by the way. We're the ones who busted you out of that tin can cell."

"I thank you," Stain said, "but it seems that people only help me when they want something."

"You learned something from the LOV," Kali said coolly.

"From all those lawyers who wanted to use me to help them make some kind of statement," Stain said. "People don't help you for free. Who do you work for, little girl?"

Kali looked up, eyes dark. "Don't call me a little girl, hon," she said, savagely. "I've fried bigger fish than you. I know all about your quirk. I don't think you'd like to see what mine would do to it."

She smiled thinly. "As for who I work for, Boss prefers not to meet his new hires in person until they've proven themselves. But don't you worry--we're not gonna push you into some kind of kill mission just for us. You just got out of prison." Her voice became falsely sympathetic. "You need rest, food, water, a shower probably," with her nose up, "and we're going to provide all that as a gesture of good will. If you'd do us the courtesy of hearing us out after a few days to recuperate, that's all we ask."

Stain had no options but was not the type to let that make him accept something.

"What's the catch?" he said.

"No catch." Kali held up her hands, file still in one. "Except that if you did try to skip out on us and ignore our gracious generosity without even a second thought, I'm authorized to stop you by whatever means necessary."

Stain suddenly picked up a broken glass bottle he'd spotted some time ago and charged at her.

Kali moved with the speed of a ninja and dodged so that he hit the wall instead. The bottle shattering on impact.

She stuck her nail file up to the back of his neck and planted a knee into his back so he was pressed against the wall.

"I figured you'd try that." She was totally unruffled. "Normally, I'd kill you for trying to attack me, but this is just what we're looking for from you. An unbroken, fighting spirit. Things are different on the outside now, Stain. Different forces are in power. If you want to get the public's attention the same way again, you're going to need more than just a shop's worth of blades and a dingy mask. But if you're still not convinced, allow me to demonstrate what happens if you try that again."

She stepped back and spat onto the wall. The color was black.

The wall contorted in a strange and unholy way that really defied description--it just looked wrong the way a broken leg looks wrong.

Stain stared at it.

Kali wiped herself off. "I learned that trick recently. Normally I can just breathe out my quirk on command, but turns out I can concentrate it too with a little maneuvering. Let's just say it'll get you before you can ever get to me."

She backed up. "Ready to stop fooling around?"

Stain turned to size her up.

"You're not a Hero," he said.

"Nope," Kali said. 

"You're not a Villain," Stain said. "Not from the LOV, anyway."

"Right again."

"So what are you?" Stain said.

"Not important," Kali said. "I think the real question is: What are you? And what can we do for each other? My boss has a proposal for you. So do we have a deal?"

Stain eyed the wall.

"I'll hear him out, but I'm agreeing to nothing."

"Perfect," Kali said.

* * *

After that, Stain had been given the accommodations he was promised, at a nice hotel. Out of costume and with no mask, he wasn't recognized.

It was a full three days before the little witch reappeared to made good on her words.

Before he was given any more information, he was taken to a secluded house with all manner of weapons, so he could restock on knives and swords.

All this didn't convince him, but he took it. He wasn't going to pass that up.

But Stain was still a fanatic, and when Kali finally took him into some kind of sitting room and had him take a seat, he said aloud, "If this has nothing to do with Heroes, I'm not interested."

"It does have something to do with Heroes," Kali said.

She checked some kind of communication device. "Master still doesn't care to appear in person, so I'm going to explain what we want."

"And a li--young girl like yourself is handling the Boss's business because he can't find anyone else to do it? Or are you his daughter?" Stain said.

Kali pulled her file back out pointedly. "I thought you were supposed to be intelligent. Do you not know the principle of anonymity? Oh, right, you exposed yourself openly as part of your career, relying on luck to not get captured, until it ran out because of 3 snot nosed brats who were...oh, right, younger than me." Her eyes hardened. "Maybe the Great Stain should show some more respect to young people."

Stain scowled at her warily.

"I handle a lot of footwork for the Boss," Kali went on snidely. "No one suspects a teenager. I can go most places unnoticed. My abilities are quite equal to anything most stupid grown ups can dish out, I can promise you. Shall we get on with it? Or do you want to keep measuring d----?"

Stain didn't like her vulgarity.

"Proceed," he said tightly.

"I trust that in the last 3 days you caught up on current events," Kali said. Boredly.

"I'm aware of the Metas going down, the arrest of an LOV member...and the confirmed death of another one," Stain said. "Kurogiri, one of the ones who irritated me before. Also that brat Shigaraki has come up in the world."

"Riding your coattails," Kali said, "but you don't care about that, do you?"

"No," Stain said. "As long as Hero society is purged, I don't care who does it."

"A true radical to the last," Kali said, "so at least I don't need to start up with that revenge crap. Last guy I talked to couldn't shut up about that." She made a teen-aged disgusted face.

"Anyway," she went on, "that said, there is an obstacle to the 'purge of Hero society', as you call it. Some people are trying to stop the LOV's momentum in its tracks, and yours. And all of ours by extension. And we've tried to have them eliminated in the past...but it's not enough to just stop a threat, if you don't have an alternative."

Stain was silent.

"To put it shortly," Kali said, "we need someone who's already captured the public's attention to be able to get a hold of it again. The LOV is weak now, down a lot of people, and unable to really do what needs to be done. But you always have done whatever it takes to bring about a better world. That is what our goal is. I believe we have something in common. In short, we help you accomplish that, and all we ask is that you rally the people to your cause, just as before."

Stain narrowed his eyes. "That sounds like it only benefits me. The LOV tried that tactic before. I'm not naive."

"I'm sure." Kali leaned on her arm. "But if you are the sort of man we take you for, you will know that passing up a chance to further your cause, at whatever personal cost, is well worth it."

"And what of your cause? You wish to take no share in it?" Stain said.

"Our goals aren't in conflict. We wish merely to see Hero society crumble," Kali said, "or become more pure, as you would say. For that, we do not care if it's you who does it, or another. But you have the charisma to capture the public's imagination. To be real, Shigaraki has never had that. He's useless."

She shrugged. "Think of it like investors buying into a product. Or bankers backing up the government in a war. Someone has to be on the front lines, and someone has to cover the costs. With us behind you, you could hit so much more than just one city at a time."

Stain began to look more tempted. "And what do I give you in exchange for this?"

Kali tilted her head. "The only thing we want from you is to eliminate anyone who tries to stop you. Hero or Villain. Less problems for us that way."

"I double as your assassin," Stain said.

"If your enemies are our enemies, who's to lose anything by it?" Kali said.

Stain was quiet.

"What did you have in mind to start with?" he asked finally.

[Uh oh.]

* * *

"You really didn't have to do this, Shine," Emi said, as they were walking around downtown in one of the cities between UA and Ketsubutsu.

"Nonsense. Shopping for a date is loads of fun, and I get an excuse to spend money," Shine said.

Emi snorted. "How much do you shop?"

"Ah...Momo and I haven't gotten to go shopping in ages," Shine sighed. "I was going to invite her, but she and Shoto already had plans. So did Cece...and the last time Nemuri and I hung out outside of school, I regretted it sorely, so I think our friendship based on mutual dislike is best kept at a professional level."

"You know, I don't mind Midnight that much, but I do sort of see what you mean," Emi admitted. "At least, I am always worried about her being around my students...but you know we can't talk about it."

"I can," Shine sniffed.

"Did you invite Rumi to join us?" Emi asked.

"I did, but I don't think she will. She hates shopping," Shine said.

To their surprise though, they turned a corner and saw Mirko waiting by the street, wearing normal clothes and looking pretty shy, which was odd for her.

She glanced up at them and looked away.

"That is her and not one of her twin sisters, right?" Emi said.

"Quadruplets, Emi," Shine said.

"Oh, her poor mother," Emi said.

"Es pobre madre, actually." Shine's accent changed.

"I keep forgetting how many languages you know," Emi said. "Hey, mind if I ask, do you ever get treated differently while you're out in public because you look American?"

"Actually a lot of people in America think I look European," Shine said dryly. "I really look slavic or semitic, if you see me around those people, but c'est la vie. You know, I haven't given it much thought, but a few times when Wally and I have been out, or I've been out with just one or two of the kids, I have heard a few remarks."

"Nothing too bad, I hope," Emi said.

"Hmm...once when we were hanging out, you stepped out to use the restroom and I heard some people talking about the giantess with the midget," Shine said.

"Oh! You're kidding," Emi laughed. "They said that?"

"Thought I couldn't understand them," Shine smirked, "but of course, I hear it all in English."

"What did you do?"

"I just walked up to them and asked them if they knew where I could find a nice ramen shop around here," Shine said. "Of course to them my accent sounded flawless, like I was a native, and you could tell they immediately thought 'oh shoot, she's Japanese and just her quirk makes her tall or something!"

"Quirks did make it harder to tell what ethnicity someone is," Emi allowed.

"Yeah, guess I look human enough they thought I was safe," Shine snickered.

"Ramen shop though? Really?" Emi said.

"I was only half kidding. Ramen is good," Shine said.

Emi was still laughing when Mirko finally worked up the nerve to walk over.

"I'm only here because Shigaraki practically forced me to do this," she said sullenly.

"To shop?" Emi said. "He's that kind of a man? Sounds like my dad."

"What?" Shine said.

"Whenever my mom annoys him too much while he's working on a home project, he just tells her she should go out and shop and have fun," Emi said. "Usually it works, too. I think she caught on to what he was doing after a while, but she says a husband who encourages you to spend money is a rare find and you should treasure it."

"I can tell you get your sense of humor from your parents," Shine laughed.

"Yeah," Emi said.

"But why would he, for real?" Shine turned back to Mirko, who was still standing rigid.

"I didn't mean literally, but...we need to talk," Mirko said.

"I'd love to, but Emi and I are trying to find her some second date attire," Shine said. "So if you want to join us for a bit, we'll get lunch eventually... You know, I wanted to go back to teaching, but the kids won't let me! They say I need a break, I mean, after stopping a whole war! Sheesh!"

Mirko did a double take.

"Tell me all about that." Emi took Shine's arm and yanked her along. "While we're looking for clothes, though."

Mirko followed them dubiously.

"Hey," she looked Shine up and down, "where did you get those bruises and bandages from?"

"This is nothing. You should have seen me before Momo and the others helped," Shine said. "I got so banged up. There was a demon plant thing and these giant monsters. It was just...ew..." She made a face.

"Sounds exciting." Emi somehow always took this stuff in stride.

"Yeah, but for real, you've got to hear how the whole thing started..." Shine began telling Emi about the mission in more detail.

It sounded pretty confusing to Mirko, and not at all pleasant, but Shine made it sound like a blast.

Is that how she would talk about this world once she left it? Make all the bad parts sound like fun?

"But the war was the least of it," Shine said. "It was after that when this little prick Sasuke was giving everyone all this crap about being something called a Hokage, and finally his ex best friend kicked the crap out of him, with a little advice from yours truly about it, and he had to surrender...lost an arm though."

"Wow." Emi was wide eyed.

"And to make it worse, I talked to him after that about his actions and finally showed him the obvious, that he was a prick and stuck in the same role for his whole life." Shine waved dramatically. "And he just barely admits I'm right, and then it still took, like, 3 more days of the heaviest arguing I think I've ever done to get him to really give up--while he was in prison the whole time! Da--uh, Shoto's brother, helped me, or I'd have really lost patience."

"He was patient?" Emi said.

"No, he wasn't, so I had to exert myself more," Shine said.

"I don't know anything about all this," Emi said, "but this kid sounds like a real handful. How did you not give up?"

"I thought about it, but I felt like I couldn't... 2 and a half or so years ago we failed to convince him, both us and the natives, and I gave it up then, but things can change over time... I hope it sticks," Shine said.

"And you're really going to go back in just a few days?" Emi said.

"A week," Shine said. "Well, it's a few days now...about a month for them. You see, they want our help learning how to mend all the fences, starting from scratch. And they requested our expertise in this area, as DJs...and it sounds like fun, getting to tour the world a bit..."

"But you'll be away from us for a while," Emi said.

"To you? Only a week or two," Shine said. "I mean, how long could it take?"

[Those words become ironic in that fic, by the way, but it's a massive amount of fun. I loved writing it. Took me about a year, though.]

"Well, even so, I'll miss you," Emi said sweetly.

"Aw." Shine hugged her. She looked back at Mirko. "Seriously you're not asking me about it... Isn't this your speed?"

Mirko looked uncomfortable. "What's there to ask?"

"Something is wrong," Emi hissed at Shine, forgetting Mirko could easily hear her.

"Yeah, I know," Shine mouthed at her.

By now they'd gotten more items, well, Emi and Shine had. Shine also stopped at one point to buy a few things for a homeless person she saw, who at first denied being homeless or in need, but when Shine just left the stuff there and waited, they took it.

"They weren't very grateful," Emi noted.

"We don't do things to be thanked," Shine shrugged. "Poor kid. Looked like he hadn't been treated kindly in about forever."

Emi pursed her lips. "We have charities, you know."

[Japan actually ranks the lowest in charities worldwide. Partially due to it being complicated to donate to some, but also the attitude of the nation overall is that people are less likely to help someone in an emergency. Which gives credence to the many places in this story where the heroes act as if the idea of helping people off the books is just weird. I'm not hating on Japan, it's just the statistics.]

"I know...but I think that in person is just more meaningful," Shine said.

"I know, but it's not always safe." Emi remembered who she was talking to. "Then again, it's you, so nevermind."

Shine laughed.

Finally, they stopped to eat, and Mirko had more of a chance to talk to Shine--but didn't want to do it where people could see her.

But they found a more secluded alcove to eat at. 

Emi, reading the room, went off to look at desserts and left them alone.

Shine waited.

Mirko fidgeted and avoided eye contact.

"So...uh, how have you been, other than...the war thing, I guess?" she said finally.

Shine didn't remember Rumi ever asking her that question before.

"Good, all things considered," she said. "Memories all back. Once that happened, the worst of it was over... I felt unnerved that I lost them, but looking back, I saw God was helping me the whole time. It took a lot of the poison out of the experience."

Mirko looked up. "God, huh...? He has a funny way of helping. They caught you, drugged you, and Lethe did his thing. So much help."

"A lot worse could have happened to me," Shine said. "I know Hantai's type. I'm not naive. But he was undone. And each time I really thought I was at my limit, someone came to help me, first you and Tomura, then Kurogiri, and then Emi and Aizawa. I would say I could have had it a lot worse. Always I've been protected in these situations, where others were not."

"They weren't, huh?" Rumi frowned. "So He only cares about you."

Shine took a sip of water. "I used to ask that, until I was a DJ, and I became aware of how little we can really do without people's cooperation without upsetting the order of the whole world...and I started to see that as we are to the natives of other worlds, God is to us. He can interfere in some ways without upsetting free will and the order of the world, but if he did it all, it's not really us who are living it anymore, but just Him doing it for us. But for His special children, who agree to His help, He does more. God doesn't always get us out of suffering, but I've yet to know anyone who's suffering didn't turn out differently than usual because they called out to Him."

"I'd say there are people who do call and get nothing," Rumi said bitterly.

Shine tilted her head. "People call the police and don't get help in time, and they call heroes. Even if you do your best, you're still late sometimes. Pardon the White Rabbit joke there."

"God isn't limited by space and time, is he?" Rumi said flatly.

"No, but you ought to read the story of Daniel's prayer that got delayed the answer of by two whole weeks," Shine said. "People act as if the evil forces in the world don't have free will too. God can't just override everything by sheer Will. He has put systems in place so that all his creation, from angels to animals to humans, have to take part in the War between Good and Evil. We exist to do good, Rumi. Not to sit on our duffs while God does all the problem solving for us. We need him to help us, but He will help us, not carry us over every obstacle. Over some, yes, but He decides which we need to fight. When His people took their promised land, God drove out some of the other nations there, but He left some, so His people would learn to be warriors and not slaves. When they whined about Him not solving all their problems and things being too hard, they lost their chance to get that land, and it was given to their children, who were much bolder and wiser than them. And the only two men who didn't throw a hissy fit about it, also."

She sipped her water. "I'd compare it to here, really. We're often sent to young people, with only a few adults, because older people are so much harder to convince to have faith in anything. You're not that old, but even you feel that difference, don't you? Adults think they've got a system of life figured out. Teens and children don't, and that lack of confidence in themselves is what gives them the best chance to have confidence in what really matters."

She tilted her head. "So, is this really what's on your mind? Or is it something else?"

[Side note: I saw a video today that said that tilting your head shows you're listening intently to someone, and I write Shine doing this gesture all the time when she's listening. I never even thought about that being the reason. Weird, right?]

Rumi hesitated. "I don't know how to start."

"I'll just start reading your mind, then," Shine said casually.

Rumi put her hands in front of her forehead real fast, like that would help. It was adorable, really.

"Don't do that!"

"I'm kidding," Shine choked on a laugh. "I can't actually do that...but let me guess, this is about the rescue/disaster in some other way. You refused to answer any of my messages about it. I thought you were mad at me or upset, so I didn't push it, but now you're acting guilty."

She hit the nail right on the head.

Rumi looked shamefaced. "This is why I wasn't going to talk to you. You're too good at reading people... I don't know what to say." She stared down at the table.

"Why do you feel guilty?" Shine asked gently.

"Don't," Rumi warned. "Don't be nice. I'll lose it."

"Okay b-word, then, what should I be?" Shine said sarcastically. "Because my behavior has to match your wishes at all times."

Rumi moaned like that hit home.

"I'm pathetic..." she sighed.

Shine decided to just wait for her to start talking.

[Well, this ought to be good.

Wonder what Stain's going to do now?

Who do you think Kali works for? 

We'll be finding out real soon, don't worry.]