No one in the group found out what happened to Stain for a full 8 hours after the fact.

They all just went back home. Shine and Emi finished their hang out time with just chilling and watching a movie, and Wally peeped in from time to time but was mostly playing Uno with the boys.

The LOV went about their usual business.

Shigaraki took out his frustration with the situation on Mirko--for 2 seconds.

He was used to just getting away with snapping at people and didn't think much of saying peevishly, "This whole thing could have been avoided if you were just less reckless."

But Mirko was already so worked up from her talk with Shine, almost dying for the upteenth time, and kind of already thinking it was indeed her fault, that that remark was all it took to push her over the edge and start the waterworks again.

Shigaraki had probably never regretted anything so fast since the deaths of his family.

Medea glared at him too, which made it worse.

Even Silk shot him a reproachful look like "not helping."

Shigaraki had never used to notice things like this.

Mirko tried to stop crying and failed, to her greater embarrassment. She hadn't cried as much in 10 years as she'd been crying in the last week.

Since no one was helping him, Shigaraki attempted to back track. "What's wrong with you?"

"Everything, apparently," Mirko snapped. Her tone was angry even if her face wasn't.

Medea flipped Shigaraki off.

"Hey, don't listen to him. He's damaged," she attempted to help.

"Hey, he dug grave. He should lie in it," Silk nudged her. "Don't make excuse for him. If he want to point fingers, we all just remember he's got a bunch more fingers pointing back at him most of time."

"Like literally? Gross," Medea said.

"Is very literal metaphor, in Boss's case," Silk said.

"Both of you, shut up." Mirko tried to control herself again.

"Well, excuse us for trying, ungratful b----," Medea said.

"Hey, don't talk to your mentor like that." Silk whapped her in the head. "Whether you like her or not."

"Oh, sorry," Medea said in a bad Russian accent.

"All of you, leave me alone!" Mirko said. "I don't need any more of this today." She eyed an innocent corner like she might kick it, but then didn't. "I have to think."

She wiped her eyes hurriedly. 

Then she left.

The other two girls just glared at Shigaraki again.

"I don't know why that was anything to get so upset about," he said guiltily, though he didn't know it was guilt.

"You ever hear phrase 'kick someone while they're down'?" Silk asked.

"He just likes to blame everyone else," Medea said. "All of us let Stain get away, though, even me. I wasn't a very good tracker... Maybe I should start working on that in training."

"Is hard to do," Silk said. "Maybe I could help though...if you want."

"Uh...sure," Medea said. "That'd be nice."

Awkward pause.

"But later," Medea added. "I'm bushed."

* * *

The news about Stain made the news outlets later that night. Medea got the alert first, since she had a phone, and Mirko was asleep at the time.

Medea flipped out.

She gathered everyone but Spinner, who was luckily outside at the time.

"He's dead?" Shigaraki was shocked.

"But it can't be. Just like that?" Compress said.

"Someone followed him." Silk was analytical as always. "The whole situation, it must have been either bait or some kind of test. I bet he fail when he not kill any of us. Is not good sign."

They looked at her.

"Very convenient, isn't it?" Mirko said.

Silk frowned.

"Let's not start that again," Compress said.

"Silk didn't even know Stain was there until we all did," Medea said, "so it doesn't even make sense to imply that."

"Whatever." Mirko looked tired still. "The Hero Killer is dead, assuming this isn't fake."

"They'll run DNA tests, but they seem sure enough." Compress scrolled through the feed. "Found in some dingy little apartment rented out under a fake name. Landlord only found him because there was some detail about the contract they wanted to settle. Didn't even know it was him till they saw the costume... No signs of a struggle besides a sword stuck into the wall. Cause of death unknown, perhaps quirk related."

"This sounds like what happened to Hantai," Silk said. "Who is assassination people...and people who get close to either LOV, or Likstar and West. Which is it?"

"Could be both." Medea bit her fingernail worriedly. "But if that means they saw him with us..."

"If they wanted us dead, they'd have followed us already," Silk said. "We must not be target yet."

"Unless they're here now." Compress glanced towards the window.

They all listened.

"I only hear crickets," Mirko said. "And Spinner."

"I don't understand one thing," Silk said. "Why break him out only to kill him a week later? Something must have gone very wrong to terminate him. And he had public favor...unless I answer my own question there...but if he was threat, why use him at all?"

"My dear, if I may suggest, this could be the kind of person who sees a use either way for Stain's talents," Compress said. "Whether he's a martyr or an instrument of chaos, they may turn it to their advantage. Not unlike AFO's Modus Operandi has been thus far."

"Do you just try to say things as fancily as possible?" Medea grumbled.

"I think it's obvious," Mirko said in a dark tone. "Anyone who loses to Likstar or West, whatever the reason, is eliminated."

They all looked at her askance. 

"It's the common thread," she said. "It's like throwing different players at them, like that old Disney movie Hercules, with Hades. One thing after another... They're gonna keep trying to find an Achilles heel, but they probably won't."

She laughed dryly. "I think they'd survive anything. I don't know if the rest of us would. Seems like the people who don't listen to them just open themselves up for destruction."

She straightened. "Guess you should be keeping that in mind."  She directed that at Shigaraki.

Then she left the room.

Silence.

No one wanted to acknowledge that she had a point.

"Well, ahem," Compress cleared his throat. "Who's going to tell Spinner? Poor sod, he'll be devastated."

"But is better than letting him find out on his own. It would be a shock," Silk said.

But no one wanted to be the one to tell him.

* * *

It was so late at night when the news broke that no one in the dorms was up, but they all heard about it the next morning.

Iida had mixed feelings. No one had even known Stain was out...

The 5 1-A kids, and Monama, who'd all known that Overhaul had been busted out previously, were less shocked by that, but they were worried. 

They demanded to know why Shine and Wally hadn't mentioned talking to him.

Shine's answer, which was stressed for her, was that it had been a long day and they just hadn't been ready to unpack it until after getting a good night's rest.

Her tone made the kids flinch.

"I'm sorry," she said, realizing it. "I just...I'm reeling here. We just talked to him yesterday, and it seemed like it was going okay and now...just like that...dead. And I'm sure it's the same person who killed Hantai. I can feel it... Someone is sending us a message."

"But what message are they sending the world?" Shoto said. "Now they all know Stain got out and it was hushed up."

"What's odd is that it was hushed up that he got out, but not when he was found dead," Wally said. "They could have just spun some yarn that he died in confinement. People might never have believed it, but still, that's what the government usually does to cover up stuff like this."

"I think it can only mean someone from the media got to the crime scene before the higher ups did," Shine said. "They couldn't get to it fast enough. This kind of thing goes live, and people would have put it on social media too, which can never be fully controlled."

That made sense.

"And it's just perfect, isn't it?" Bakugo said warily. "And I didn't even get to meet Stain."

"Why would you want to?" Shoto said.

"Everyone else did," Bakugo huffed.

"I didn't," Momo said.

Bakugo shrugged. "You wouldn't want to."

"I think it's too bad for Stain," Kaminari said. "I mean, he was a bad guy and all, but you talked to him. Maybe he would have come around, you know? Been a better guy, and he was still kind of cool."

"Your definition of cool needs work." Shine was severe with him for once, which surprised him, and he felt chastised.

"It's never cool when they've offed someone you know," Wally said grumpily. "Then it's real. Murder is never cool."

Silence.

"But it is forgivable," Shine said slowly. "I just...I don't know how to understand this."

"I think we were meant to warn him that one last time," Wally said. "I mean, if he didn't take it, it was on him. At least we tried, and no one else would have done that, so you shouldn't feel too bad, Shine."

"Is that what you'll tell yourself?" Shine said knowingly. "I know you're upset too."

Wally's demeanor wavered a little. "Well, it's sucky...but we have to try not to go there."

But they weren't fooling anyone. Even Shoto could tell they were shaken.

"Do you guys want some Soba?" he offered.

They glanced up and then laughed oddly.

Then Shine started to cry.

"What did I say?" Shoto said.

"You were being a dumba--," Bakugo said, almost fondly for once.

"It's just...sorry, it was too cute..." Shine said. 

"It was," Momo agreed, then reddened. "I mean sweet. It's sweet... And maybe some tea...and whatever else you two need to feel better."

Bakugo silently decided to make them dinner.

While none of that was going to make Shine and Wally feel that much better, they were too kind to hurt the kids' feelings by saying so. It helped the students to be able to do something.

And it did make them feel slightly better, being reminded that someone cared...but what upset them was it seemed like Stain had been cut down just when he might finally have been something more than a killer and a misguided idealist...

Shine could never have this happen without reliving some of her past sorrow.

Wally had any number of times it reminded him of, though he was more adjusted to it...but it was always hard to know that you couldn't save everyone, even if you did your best.

"I wish we could just know and promise that everyone we reached out to would be all right, that we were some kind of good luck charm," Shine said, when they were alone. 

"Tell me about it," Wally sighed.

"But we can't." Shine shook her head. "At times it feels so...unfair...yet I know it isn't. Why should we be any different than anyone else...? But I think as a World Walker, that is the hardest thing, knowing that no matter how much you affect, some people will die, and some will never accept it, and you can't do anything about it. Like in Groundhog Day, with that one homeless man. No matter what you do, if it's their time, then it's their time..."

"I don't think it ever gets easier to accept," Wally said, frustrated with himself. "I feel like I should know this by now. But I just thought, maybe if we'd have more time to work on it... I know I can be cocky sometimes...but I'm not Superman."

Shine saw it was starting to get to him a little more than to her, oddly enough.

But of course, he was famous for handling villains with mercy at home, and she always had had to work within the limits of a World Walker, unlike him, who was still getting used to it even after 3 years.

But it was his way. She'd be upset for a bit and blown it off by talking it out, but Wally would let it simmer until it was eating away at him, if he wasn't careful.

Knowing this, she was treading carefully. Wally would never have lashed out at her--she didn't think he was capable of doing that--but it would be easy to tip the scale the wrong way here if she said the wrong thing.

So instead she came up and cupped his face in her hands.

Wally looked up and tried to force a smile.

Shine was just quiet for a moment or two and nodded.

Wally sighed...

"Yeah, yeah, I know...Superman isn't even Superman all the time, right?"

"Thank you," Shine said slowly, "for being there...and for helping me do that. Nobody else would have done that. And how it ended doesn't matter to me there."

Wally swallowed the lump in his throat. "You don't have to do that..."

"I don't have to do anything," Shine said steadily, "but I choose to, and so do you. Remember that...both of us are just...human, you know... If you don't expect me to be more than that, then I don't expect you to be able to prevent everything... It's a package deal."

Wally put his hands over hers. "Thanks, Shine..."

Shine nodded silently.

https://youtu.be/UP939ptmM6c

[Pour Your Heart Open--A Million in Vermillion]

[The feels...

I don't think I need to comment on it too much, just that sometimes you don't need a lot of words with someone you know well...and I think a lot of shows and books use too many words.

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver." --Proverbs.

While the Flash is not often the most vulnerable character in the JLU, I am reminded that he once felt so bad about failing to get a toy for the kids at the orphanage that he was willing to let the Humanite take a potshot at him. I think all superheroes have this struggle, and it's hard to comfort someone who has such high standards--they will always be much harder on themselves than anyone else.]

* * *

All Might took the news about Stain with more anger than anyone else, probably (except for the stans). Because he suspected foul play.

And that was why he paid AFO a little visit just the day after hearing the news.

He'd been considering doing this for some time, since Shine and Wally's confrontation with him, but this was what finally made up his mind.

AFO was delighted to see...well, hear him...as usual.

"What brings you here after all this time, old foe?" he said slyly.

"Don't play coy," All Might said gruffly. "You must know that Stain mysteriously got out and is now reported dead. Don't tell me you had nothing to do with that, you monster."

AFO never acted surprised by anything.

"I'm sorry to dash your hopes, but I really didn't," he said smugly. "So he got out, eh? I wonder how he managed that."

"You can't seriously expect me to believe you know nothing about it," All Might said.

"Why, All Might, you can't seriously expect I'd tell you anything even if I knew. I know perfectly well that there are monitors hanging on our every word," AFO said.

All Might frowned.

"If you won't talk about that, then how about we talk about Tomura Shigaraki?"

Silence.

"I wondered when you would ask me about that. I'm shocked you waited so long," AFO said snidely.

"Just answer my questions, you b-----d," All Might said. "What did you do to him? I know now that you were not lying. He is Nana's grandson...Tenko Shimura."

A brief pause.

"You did some digging." AFO might have been just a little peeved, hard to say. "But that information can't help you now. It's far too late for that. That boy will never stop hating you. That is how I taught him."

"To get your revenge." All Might was shaken, though he tried not to show it. AFO could tell though. "But you lied before. You said you found him with a mind twisted enough to serve your purposes. I've learned from other sources that's not true. You brainwashed him, didn't you? I don't know how you managed that, but I'm sure it had to do with the deaths of his family, my master's son."

"Ah, yes, Kotaro Shimura...such a sad case, really." AFO was full of false sympathy. "You really have learned it all, haven't you? You'd be interested to know that Kotaro hated Heroes, you included. I'd say he'd have twisted his own son's mind against them, even had I never found him, but it was easy enough to pick up where he left off."

Of course AFO only said this much to twist the knife. And it was working. All Might felt pained.

He coughed blood--perhaps it was the emotion itself.

"I didn't brainwash Tenko. I simply showed him where all his grief stemmed from," AFO went on in his usual taunting voice. "And, of course, that you were responsible. Quite fitting, isn't it? Nana creating the downfall of her own grandson? I'm tickled just thinking of it."

All Might almost lost his composure entirely.

"Don't speak her name, you filthy---" He called AFO some choice words. "She was a good Hero! How could she know you'd stretch your rotting fingers out towards her own kin? That's why she gave him up to begin with, to save him from you. Did you tell Tenko that?"

"I'm sure I don't know why I should have anything to do with it," AFO said placidly. "Did I ever say I was going to hurt Kotaro? And I never did, did I? And for the record, I never hurt Tenko either. I took him in, gave him a home and a purpose, which is more than his pathetic family or pathetic grandmother would ever have done for him. Really, he would have starved in the streets alone and forgotten by all you high and mighty Heroes, wouldn't he? What did I tell him that was not true? Would you rather I tell the boy it was his fault?"

All Might was struck speechless.

He lacked the art of subtlety to see what AFO was doing. Instead, he felt the words twist around him and turn him upside down, so he couldn't think of a reply.

"In the end, who really failed to help him? Just because you see me as such a Villain, you think I did the boy harm?" AFO said. "If he hates you now, I'd say he's the wiser for it. I certainly am."

The last was murderous hatred to be sure, but at the end of all that, it only served to disorient All Might further.

"If...if I ever get a chance to meet him, I'll...I'll tell him what you've said," he tried.

"Oh, please do." AFO was undisturbed. "I'd like it if you sharpened his hatred all on your own, without my help. But really, All Might, you never cared about Tomura Shigaraki before you knew he was your master's grandson, and why would he accept your meager sympathy now? Just because you knew his grandmother? What does that have to do with it? He detests her too, if he knows of her at all. Your compassion is as cheap and pathetic as it has always been, and you have always run from situations you couldn't solve with your quirk. That quirk is a d----d useless waste on people like you."

"Your brother's quirk." All Might touched the one vein that AFO was vulnerable on.

The change was instantaneous. 

"Do not mention that weakling to me," AFO said coldly.

"I will carry on his will," All Might said, "and so will Midoriya. Just wait. Shigaraki will go down, and you'll never get what you want--whatever that is, you miserable monster."

AFO chuckled. "Is that so?"

"Does Tenko know that you're the cause of me?" All Might said suddenly. "Does he know that you forced a quirk onto your brother? And that's what caused it?"

AFO was silent a moment, and then he said, "It wouldn't matter if he knew that. I can do no wrong in his eyes...but I wonder what Midoriya would think of how you abandoned the boy?"

"It was her wish!" All Might cried. "I couldn't ignore her wishes."

"That would have comforted you greatly when he was cold and dead," AFO said mockingly. "Well, you never do fail to amuse me, All Might. I do enjoy our little visits."

"You--" All Might choked. "I won't stand here and give you the satisfaction of taunting me any longer. But I will make sure you fail." He stormed out of the room.

AFO just laughed to himself.

* * *

All Might didn't want to tell anyone about that. It was humiliating.

But he thought perhaps he should try to do something.

It was days later that he worked up the nerve to ask Shine and Wally if Shigaraki would listen if he was to tell him the truth.

"And what is the full truth, All Might?" Shine said, tilting her head. "I know there is still something about all this you haven't let us in on."

All Might hesitated.

"I think you know it all...even that AFO's brother is the one who started OFA."

"Does it seem odd to you that AFO sought out the Shimura family at all?" Shine said. "While it would hurt you, he might never have gotten the chance to rub that in your face at all had you not caught him so early. For the sake of that one dig, would he really have planned for years?"

"He's spiteful," All Might said.

"No, she's right--that's a lot of effort to just get one over on you," Wally said. "Nana didn't know any big secrets, did she?"

"No..." All Might said.

Shine put her fingers together. "Revenge is about trying to give back what you got, All Might. What is AFO really angry about? Have you ever stopped to think why he hates you?"

"I foiled him," All Might said.

"I swear, all you superheroes are the same!" Shine exploded.

"Hey!" Wally said.

"Sorry, Bae, not you. You don't think about it at all," Shine reassured him. "I mean ones like Superman are."

"Excuse me?" All Might said.

"You always think it's all about the foiling. Anyone could have foiled him other than you, and he'd have crushed them later, but would he have made it so personal? He hurt you through someone you loved, didn't he? Why do you think he did that? Revenge is giving back what you got."

All Might blinked at her.

"I don't understand that. It sounds like you're saying he feels it's personal for him--but losing an empire is not personal."

"Are they all this dense?" Shine asked the ceiling.

Wally tapped her shoulder. "Uh, Shine, maybe hurting his feelings."

Shine looked down. "Sorry," she said. "Uh...All Might, who gave you OFA again?"

"Nana."

"Originally." Shine sounded tired.

"AFO's brother," All Might said.

"And what was his brother's last name?" Shine asked.

"Well...uh...I think you said AFO's real name was Shigaraki--" All Might stopped.

Shine and Wally looked at him intently.

"And what does he tell this Tenko dude?" Wally held up his hands. "To never let go of the past and let it motivate his future."

"You can corrupt someone, but at some level, only by the same force that corrupts you," Shine said. "Meaning you can't make someone into something you are not, at some level, yourself."

"I.... Are you saying that he hates us because of his brother's quirk?" All Might said.

"It's always the most bitter thing for any controller to not be able to control family, and because someone who loves you, or did love you, is the hardest person to control, once they have lost their rose-colored lens of you," Shine said sagely. "And whoever his brother was must have been that way. He might have hated AFO from the start, but if he was how you and Deku make him sound, I'd say it was more likely he didn't see it until it was too late... Seems to run in the line of users of OFA."

That shot was a little harsh, though warranted.

All Might was very troubled by this idea.

"But what can he mean by this?" he said.

"AFO didn't snatch Tenko just to spite you, Toshinori," Shine said. "That's a lot of it, but at some point, he couldn't help but begin to see this as a chance to create what he could never have. A subdued, worshiping, loyal to the end version of a family he never had."

"Are you saying he actually cares about that...boy?" All Might said.

"Oh, you'll never hear me say any abuser actually cares about their victim," Shine said. "He cares about Tenko the way a leech might care about a living body. It's bad for the leech if the body is killed suddenly by an outside force, because they won't be alive enough to pump blood--or even if another blood sucker latched on, there's less for the leech, and they might defend it jealously. But it is a leech, and it is only there to take the life of its host, whatever pretense it might have of needing it... In fact, a strong host is better for a leech than a weak one. So make it stronger, let it be healthy, as long as it never is able to pry the leech off."

"That's gruesome." Wally made a face. "But it's pretty true, isn't it?"

All Might was grossed out too, but he couldn't deny the picture was accurate.

"But no affection," he said.

"He may imagine he has some," Shine said. "It matters not in the least. There is a kind of affection that is worse than hatred, and there is love that is worse than hatred also--love that is worse than torturing your object would be. Love that is worse than death, even. And there is love that is stronger than death, decay, and sin. Both are powerful forces, All Might, and they are at war all the times in each of our lives, but AFO has long since lost his ability to tell the difference, or he would have listened to his brother, and even now, when he might have finally realized he brought this on himself. He still thinks if he had just had his brother in line he could have had it all. Love is his weakness, All Might, but it is the source of his worst corruption. We'd be far safer from him if he'd not loved his brother at all."

"You mean to say he did love him?" All Might said. "Not just trying to control him?"

"Will you not pay attention?" Shine grew annoyed. "Control is love for a man like that, who has no idea what love actually is. They get good feelings from having someone at their beck and call to parrot to them what love is, and they think it's the real thing, and because it bears some superficial resemblance to the love that is self sacrificial, they fool others into seeing it that way too. But it takes and takes and takes, and it gives nothing back, except what's just enough to keep the victim from asking questions. And mark my words, Tenko Shimura is a victim of that worst kind of love if I ever saw it. I understand him perfectly, because I was just in his shoes as a kid." She stood up and paced. "You cannot save him, All Might. It's too late for that. You should have acted long ago."

"Miss Likstar! You can't be that cruel," All Might said. "I must try to do something. I let this happen."

"And because you did, the chance is taken out of your hands," Shine said. Her eyes glowed briefly. "Someone else will do what you would not do, and their success or failure will be what determines his choice...and his choice will decide the fate of the rest of the people around you and yours."

Wally blinked. Shine only got like this when she had one of her premonitions.

All Might could sense something was up too.

Shine felt it so strongly, she didn't know how odd she was speaking.

"One man isn't going to decide the fate of the world, to be sure, but of this small part of it, it comes down to just a few of us. And Wally and I are going to be there to help as much as we can, but the final decision will not be ours. It never is. It must be the native inhabitants'. And we won't be able to stop it if they choose evil, and no one will prevail against them if they choose good, not permanently. That is the way of things."

She shivered suddenly. "And the moment that will decide it is coming soon... It's going to before the end of this year." 

She turned to look at them again. "I don't know how I know, but I do."

They stared at her.

The meeting ended then, because All Might was too upset to ask anymore, and Wally and Shine were too overcome by the gravity of her own premonition to want to discuss it anyway.