A few days went by with no incident...outwardly.

Recovery Girl had Mirko up and running again before anyone could really notice she was out.

Medea, now freaked out, just moved into UA officially. She took the entrance exam too...and did not do well on the academics part. But she dominated the practical part, so the school let her in.

She was old enough to be a second or third year, so Aizawa talked the staff into letting her join that course, since she really had a lot of field experience, on the condition that she'd get tutoring to catch up academically.

While that was good for her, Mirko felt a little blank now. She'd achieved getting Medea into UA--she should be proud of herself, but all she could think about now was Shigaraki and the League.

Silk never heard from Compress.

Wally was concerned enough to go looking for the house again, but when he found it (and it took a while), it was empty.

Silk remained at a hotel.

Spinner had gone to Kitsune's house, which Compress would have ribbed him about mercilessly had he been around...and Spinner kind of missed it, in an annoyed way.

Of course, he told Silk that "nothing happened." He just thought it would be better to stay with someone he knew.

Kitsune handled it like a boss. But she expressed concern for the other three members also.

In the midst of all this, All Might was called to Nezu's office.

Nezu got right to the point.

"I took the liberty of tracing Mr. West's ID when he went after Miss Likstar," he said.  "I found the house."

"Wow...But the house is empty now."

"So it is," Nezu said, "but, thanks to knowing where it was, I got some satellite photos. I know a friend who works in surveillance--long story. And I saw some interesting persons leaving it. Take a look." He spread out some photos.

All Might could make out a few people. He didn't recognize most of them, but the coloring of a couple looked like Twice and possibly Shigaraki. And...

"AFO," he said.

"Yes, loading into a car," Nezu said. "I followed the car. Their new location isn't so far off." He slid another set of photos.

"This looks like a parking garage," All Might said.

"Well, there's a store alongside it and an old theatre and mall, but most of the buildings have been torn down and are being replaced," Nezu said. "It would be a good place to conceal a lot of people coming and going."

"And the police are on this, right?" All Might said.

"I think we should be careful," Nezu said. "This is hardly a normal situation. Any police who went in might just be decimated before they even find AFO. Frankly, without you, it's hard to know how to handle it. I don't think Endeavor will be enough."

"Maybe a team of the top Pros would be enough," All Might said.

"Yes..." Nezu said. "That's sort of what I'm thinking. They'd have to move quickly, though. You should alert you friend in the police force who's aware of OFA. Keep a small circle."

All Might agreed.

* * *

Mirko was on the job when she got the call about the mission.

She came into the local office that usually handled Hero team-up missions. Hawks, Best Jeanist, and Endeavor were all already there. All Might was too.

Edgeshot arrived right after her.

Mirko wasn't sure what to expect, but when the police chief explained the situation, she was dumbstruck.

What...? How had they found them so fast?

And...she was...being told to...to stop them?

Oh...no, no!

She saw Hawks shooting her a worried look. Endeavor did also, though his worry was more job related.

"Anyway, we've been instructed by my supervisors to apprehend them at any and all costs," the police commander said. "It would be best to capture them, but lethal force would not be prohibited, as AFO is a national threat, and even All Might barely took him down, no offense to present company."

"No, I agree. He must be stopped at all cost," All Might said.

"And...what about his cronies?" Mirko said, swallowing.

"We want them alive," the police chief said. "But some of them are highly dangerous also, so use discretion. And...if it comes to it, well, this is a war."

"I understand," Best Jeanist said.

Easy for him to say, Mirko thought.

She felt sick.

"I have no problem with this. These Villains are menaces," Edgeshot agreed. "And it will just be the five of us."

"We need this taken care. If the five of you can't do it, we're probably doomed." The officer was blunt. 

Mirko shook her head.

* * *

After the meeting, Hawks and Endeavor both addressed her.

"Are you going to be able to go through with this?" Hawks asked.

Mirko was silent.

"If you don't think you can do your duty, you had probably better just pull out now. They'll send in the number 6 Hero instead," Endeavor said.

Mirko looked up angrily. "And both of you, when you know that it's not how they think it is, are willing to just participate in this."

"I'll try not to kill any of them," Hawks said, "except AFO...but you know they may not feel the same way. And it's not like we can explain it to them. They knew this was coming, Rumi. We all did."

Mirko bit her lip.

"I regret it," Endeavor said. "I don't like them, but they didn't seem wholly evil either. But it's our job. AFO is not to be trifled with. We must stop him, and whoever stands in our way will have to be taken out."

"Really, you can look them in the eye," Mirko put her ears back, "knowing that some of them saved your son--both of your sons, actually, maybe more than once--and just kill or seriously maim them?"

Endeavor hesitated. "I will try to avoid it. If they're smart, they'll surrender."

"They will never do that," Mirko said. "I know them by now. They will not surrender, and if you attack AFO, they will kill you, probably."

"And you're not going to help us?" Hawks said. "You'd really choose those Villains over us? Remember who the bad guys are here, Rumi. I know you have a crush or whatever, but get real. That was never going to work out. It's two different worlds--"

Mirko suddenly slapped him.

He reeled back.

"Don't act like you understand," she said. "You never let your guard down at all. And you'll pretend these people are the same as they always were, because the government is telling you to, like you always do. So don't you freaking talk to me like you get it, Hawks."

"She has a crush?" Endeavor didn't help.

Mirko stormed away.

"Uh...Endeavor, maybe we should talk." Hawks rubbed his face. "Because if I know her, she's gonna do something stupid if she goes on this mission, and I want you to be ready."

Endeavor scowled.

* * *

"So you have to figure out something," Mirko said to Shine and Wally.

"Hawks is really going to go along with this?" Wally said. "I mean, if all three of you top Pros told them the truth, maybe they'd reconsider using lethal force on the LOV."

"Or we'll be accused of treason, get our licenses revoked, and no one will be able to do anything to prevent this," Mirko said.

"Rumi, I know you well enough to know you won't go through with this if it comes down to it," Shine said. "You can't actually do things you don't think are right. At least, you couldn't do it for long. You'd hate yourself for it the rest of your life. So what do you intend to do?"

"You have to do something to stop it," Mirko said.

"We're blocked," Shine said. "Same darkness as before. We've tried. It's no good. Can't get to Compress. The others wouldn't let us take them, and we weren't shown where they were. Nezu..." She frowned, then she gasped.

"What?" Wally said.

"Why would Nezu help All Might find AFO?" Shine said. "He wants the LOV to win... At least, he doesn't want UA to."

"Wait..." Mirko said, "are you saying this is a trap?"

"It has to be." Shine got up and began to pace. "You see, I didn't have much faith the top 5 Pros could take AFO anyway. All Might barely could, with help. He'll eat you all alive, especially if the League helps him... And whoever else is working with him, they won't be ready for. It's a trap. The whole place could just blow up when you get there too, but I have a feeling it will be a bit more spectacular."

Mirko clenched her fists. "So whichever side I pick, someone dies?" she said.

"AFO is doing this on purpose," Shine said. "He wants you to have to choose...but he wants you dead too... This will make it look like you are aiding against them...clever." She put a hand to her chin. "Even AFO might not be able to kill the top 5 Pros, especially if they have backup. Even if he could, he'd make a scene. So he'll have other people there. Rumi, you have to..." She paused. "I don't know... I see no solution. If we could warn the League, we could manage something, but we can't."

"Wait," Wally said, snapping his fingers, "All Might might show us."

"They'll expect us to try that," Shine said.

"Yeah, but you know who might be able to get in there?" Wally said.

"Who?" Mirko was puzzled.

"Silk," Wally said.

* * *

Wally dropped Silk near the parking structure.

Silk disguised herself using her quirk and went around the set of buildings.

She found some people moving in and out. They looked like real construction workers.

She altered her clothes to look like theirs, and walked right past them, into the inside of the building.

It took a while of looking around for her to find people who seemed to be up to something more than reconstruction. A tarped-over hallway led into a back room.

"I don't think you guys are supposed to be back here," one sour-looking person said.

"Looking for the bathroom." Silk hid her accent.

He shrugged. "Down the hall."

Silk nodded.

She waited until she was out of his line of sight, then she went past the bathroom and into the very back.

She changed her clothes back to street wear.

She saw someone go into an elevator...and it went down.

There wasn't supposed to be a basement in this building, she didn't think.

Silk awaited till the light went off, then she followed.

The doors opened to reveal a basement level--it didn't seem like a normal store down here--empty and hollow.

She slipped along the hall until she found people who were drinking coffee and discussing something.

A couple of older men and a few teenagers. They cast her questioning looks.

"I don't recognize you," one of the men said. He wore a lab coat.

"I'm new," Silk said. "Just called in. Looking for my boss."

One of the teenagers looked her up and down.

"Quirks are not the future," he said.

That was the Originals' motto...one of them...

"We are," Silk answered.

They all seemed to relax.

"Who called you in?" the lab coat guy asked. "So many different divisions right now."

"Does the name Shigaraki mean anything to you?" Silk asked.

"Oh, yeah, that's the jailbird," Lab Coat said. "He's not here right now. You sure he called you in?"

"I don't know that I was supposed to meet with him. I'm just on his assignment. Perhaps any of his subordinates could help me," Silk said.

"Well, they're in the back," one of the kids said, gesturing. "But at least two of them are bats--- crazy. Doubt they could help you much, unless you're here to double their dosage." He and the others laughed meanly.

"We'll see," Silk said. "I'd still like to inspect them."

Lab Coat gestured down a hall. "Go ahead."

As Silk walked sway she heard the other old man whisper, "You sure she's legit?"

"Only the Originals know that pass code," Lab Coat hissed back. "Even if she's fake, what difference does it make to us? They can deal with her if she's not real. I'm not sticking my neck out for those loons."

The others seemed to agree. No one made any move to follow Silk.

Silk let out a sigh as she got farther away.

It took a while to find the right room. Most of the ones she looked in were empty.

Finally though, she opened a door and found Twice.

He jumped when he saw her.

"Silk lady," he hissed. "How did you find us? Go away!"

"All right, quiet," Silk shushed him, shutting the door. "Listen, Twice, we have big problem. I need find Shigaraki. Or Compress."

"I don't know where Compress is," Twice said. "I haven't seen him in days. Shigaraki is probably with AFO. They're...expanding his resources or something. He said to wait here."

Silk frowned. "And Toga?"

"Toga won't talk to me," Twice said. "She's acting weird."

He clutched a pillow. "They won't leave me alone," he said, "the voices."

Chills went down Silk's spine.

"You've got to get out of here, Twice," she said. "Come, follow me. We find Compress somehow."

"Promise?" Twice said meekly.

"Of course." Silk took his arm. "Spinner is waiting for you."

"Spinner is nice," Twice said, "and Medea..."

They went looking through more rooms.

Finally, she found a locked door that seemed double bolted from the outside.

If she were a betting woman, which she was, she'd bet that they'd keep the escape artist in a room that only locked from the outside, though with his quirk...

Silk pulled some tools out of her pockets and began to undo the bolt.

Twice stood guard...sort of.

Finally Silk had the door open.

Inside the room was dark. She flashed her phone light.

Compress was sitting in the corner, cuffed and blinking at the light in surprise.

"Kira?" he said. "Or, no, I bet this is some trick again. Will you ever tire of this game?"

"Atsuhiro." Silk ran up to him. His mask was missing. "Darling, is me, for real this time."

"That's just what they would say," Compress said.

Silk kissed him and cupped his chin in her hand. "Did that feel fake?"

"Well...it's a d--- good imitation."

"Why not use your quirk to get out of here?" Silk said.

"Oh, genius, I wonder why I didn't think of that." Compress lifted his arms lethargically. "It must be the quirk blocking cuffs on my wrists."

"Ah..." Silk said. "A moment."

She pulled out her lock pick and undid the lock on the cuffs. She knew how to do this. The Originals used to use the same kind of cuffs.

Once they were off, Compress rubbed his wrists. "This is new," he admitted.

"This is real, Darling. Come, we must get out," Silk said. "But this was not supposed to be rescue. The League is in danger, all of us. Have you seen Shigaraki?"

"I don't think he even knows I'm here," Compress said slowly. "I haven't seen him since those shadows shoved me in here. Where is this?"

"Is some kind of base...but I'm confusing now.... If you not helping him, then what is he doing?" Silk asked.

"Being duped, if the last I saw of him was any indication," Compress said. "Has he killed Mirko yet? I think that's where it was going."

"He let her go," Silk said.

"Ah, good for him. True love wins," Compress said weakly.

"You're incorrigible as ever," Silk said. "But she will have to fight him if we not stop it."

"Oh, well, that's interesting," someone cut in.

Silk looked up. Twice was nowhere in sight. Instead, a teenaged girl with a gun and a sly expression was standing in the doorway.

"Two lovers together again, huh?" She tilted her head. "Ugh, revolting. And you're here to warn the League? How sweet. But if you do that, we won't get our conflict, and what's life without a little conflict?" She smirked. "Silk, is it? I've looked forward to meeting you. That coldblooded betrayal thing, it was masterful. We could use someone like you."

"I have no interest in joining you," Silk said tightly, "whoever you are. I quit the Originals."

"Oh, lady, you think we're the Originals?" The girl cocked her head. "Don't be silly. We own the Originals." She laughed smugly. "You've been working for us the whole time. And...you don't really get to quit, but, I mean, if you don't want to cooperate," she pointed the gun at Compress, "I guess I could just off both of you right now."

"Surely you don't think a gun would work on us." Silk spun thread in front of them. "We're not novice."

The girls shrugged, and then she blew a cloud of dust out of her mouth. "I mean, if you want to do this the hard way..."

"Don't inhale that!" Compress warned, covering his mouth.

Silk covered hers too.... The dust hit her silk, and it began to warp, sort of how hair frays over fire, but worse. Silk isn't really supposed to do that...

"I might  be able to stop it if you want," the girl said, bored. "It's so much worse when it hits your body...or your quirk...whichever comes first. The fun is in the mystery."

They backed up to the wall.

"All right, all right!" Compress cried. "You win. Call that off, for heaven's sake!"

The girl made some kind of sucking sound, and the dust receded a little, though it still hit the rest of Silk's shield and the floor.

"Heaven will have nothing to do with this, actually," the girl said, "but we can have a hell of a time now that you're ready. I do like the idea of you helping out our new hires. But I have a better method."

* * *

When Silk didn't come back, everyone concluded she'd been captured.

But, surprisingly, Twice showed up in front of UA the very same day the raid was planned...which was the day afterward.

It was lucky that Wally saw him first, because if the staff had, he'd have been arrested.

Twice was not making a lot of sense, but Wally somehow got that he'd given someone the slip by switching himself out with a clone at the last second--a last ditch effort on Twice's part, one he barely had the mental power to come up with. And his plan beyond that had just been to find someone he knew. The DJs being his last option.

Wally called the kids and Shine out right off--and Aizawa.

Twice began to freak out more with all of them around and cowered away.

"He wasn't like this before," Shoto said.

Shine's eyes flashed gold.

"Camie? What do you think?" she said.

Camie had developed a lot of perception on their long mission, and she was almost as accurate as Shine was now.

"Something spooky happened to him," she said. 

Shine scanned Twice, though he cringed away from her and muttered at her to leave him alone.

"Twice already had issues," she said, "but I admit, this feels a bit different. Something...dark and ugly has frightened him...and now he's afraid of us more than ever. But, Jin, you came here, so deep down, I believe you want us to help you. Come, the real Jin, talk to me."

She spoke forcefully.

Twice went silent, then in a very small, hushed voice that did sound more sane, he spoke, "I can't think...with them all in my head... Just get them out...please."

"All you had to say," Shine said.

"We're...doing this now?" Momo said.

"We did it several times in the other world," Shine said. "Healing someone's mind, it's no different than their body. You know that. Let's all pitch in."

"You can do that?" Aizawa said.

In answer--most of them began to pray at the same time.

Twice at first acted more afraid of it than before, and he yelped and almost ran for it...but Wally stopped him.

Then he became quieter.

When they stopped speaking, Shine asked him if his head was clear now.

Twice rubbed his forehead. "It doesn't hurt anymore," he said. "I think the voices are gone."

Camie cheered. "Yay!"

"That was intense," Shoto muttered.

"We'll talk to you more about maintaining later," Shine said. "But, tell us, please, do you know what happened to the others?"

"The others...yes!" Twice, or Jin, really, said. "Silk and Compress are captured. They want me too, but I got away... Shigaraki, Shigaraki isn't aware that Compress was being held captive, and they said if I told anyone what I saw, they'd kill Toga and me."

"Who did?" Aizawa asked.

"Them...the dark people," Twice said.

"Dark? Like their color?" Shoto said.

"They wear dark stuff," Twice said, "and they seem dark...and AFO and Ujiko are working with them, so they can defeat you all, I think... I heard something... I think they are trying to trap you."

"We know that," Wally said. "But how can we warn Shigaraki?"

Twice shuddered. "AFO won't let any of us get close enough to him to warn him."

"Even if we sent Twice back," Shine addressed the others, "it probably won't work, and it's cruel to do that to him. Honestly, police custody might be the safest option for him right now. Even here, it's not safe."

"So what can we do?" Aizawa said.

Shine bit her lip. "The only thing I can think to do is go the place ourselves. It's risky, and if we let them find us, we'll probably fail, but if we can get to the League somehow before all this goes down, maybe we can warn them. Only the most stealthy of us should risk it, though."

"Hey, if I go, I might be able to get closer to him," Medea said. "Maybe they'd let me, since I was in the LOV."

"Or maybe they'll take you just like Silk," Monoma said.

"I'm a little harder to catch." Medea lit her hand up. "Come on...it's worth a try."

"She could be right..." Wally said, "but I don't like it."

Aizawa suddenly got a text. Then frowned at it. "Did either of you send Midoriya out anywhere?" he asked.

"Uh...no..." Wally said.

"Why?" Shine asked. "Where is he?"

"Well, that's the thing, he's not here," Aizawa said. "I thought he was training with All Might, but All Might just told me he never showed up."

Bakugo swore.

"Uh...you don't think...?" Wally said.

"It's Deku--I'd believe it," Shine said. "He'd do any stupid thing to save the day."

"How would he know where to go?" Aizawa asked.

Shine lifted her sword. "That is it! I say we all pay Nezu a little visit and settle this. Who's with me?"

"I am," Shoto said.

The others rushed to agree.

"Let's go roast that d--- rat!" Bakugo said.

"Likstar, this could be unwise" Aizawa said.

"What's unwise is ignoring it any longer," Shine said. "And we have very little time. Do you want to save Deku or not?"

Aizawa frowned. "Fine... We'll all regret it."

* * *

Leaving the 1-B students watching Twice until the police could arrive, the rest of them went straight to Nezu's office, where he was looking a his computer monitor.

Shine walked up to the desk and sliced the monitor in half with her sword.

Silence.

"Da-ang," Camie said, impressed.

"Miss Likstar." Nezu looked up angrily. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Cut the crap, Nezu," Shine said. "All of us know already."

Nezu reached for something under his desk.

Wally plucked him out of the seat and held him aloft.

"Mr. West, put me down! This is not dignified!" Nezu cried.

Shine held out her sword at him.

"Did you tell Deku where AFO was?" she asked. "If AFO is even there."

"Why would I do that?" Nezu said.

"Bakugo," Shine said, "if he lies again, I want you to blast his tail off."

Bakugo grinned and made some explosions in his palms.

"You can't be serious," Nezu said. "Aizawa, why aren't you stopping this?"

"Because I can't keep ignoring it," Aizawa said. "All the lies, all slip ups, you're the only common factor, Nezu. Please, just say it was because someone blackmailed you...not that you just wanted us to die the entire time."

Silence.

Bakugo sneered, "Fine, I guess I'll just start with his tail--"

"All right," Nezu said, "I admit. I might have let young Midoriya know. He is All Might's mentee. I thought he had a right to know."

"Oh, and I suppose you didn't think All Might wouldn't go right after him, thus handing over the very people AFO wants," Shine said.

All Might had left before they could stop him.

"Well, he did say he would," Nezu said. "This is my error, but the other thing you are accusing me of just insults me."

"Why? Because you're embarrassed we caught on?" Shine said.

"You humans are so mistrusting" Nezu said.

"Principle Nezu," Momo sounded hurt, "I didn't want to believe it, but you just let Midoriya go? How could you do that? Is it really true? Have you really wanted to get rid of us all this time?"

Maybe it was her hurt tone that finally did it. Guilt can be a powerful motivator for things.

Nezu suddenly frowned.

"Well, what do you expect?" His voice went shrill. "If it wasn't for humans, I wouldn't be like this. Humans are horrible, cruel creatures... Why would I want to see more of you around?"

"What?" Aizawa said. "That's not really it. Your whole reason is just because some humans experimented on you once, so now you hate us all? I thought we were friends."

"Oh, come now, Aizawa," Nezu said. "It was so easy to get you all to come here and be monitored...I'm surprised you didn't catch on yourself too."

He squirmed. "So you caught me, so what? After what humans did to me, it seemed only fitting to use the very quirk they so graciously bestowed on me to be their own demise. If it wasn't for this world's obsession with quirks, I might have lived a normal life. As a normal animal."

"Would you go back, really?" Shine asked. "Sure you're an abomination, but still, once one has sentience, does one really want to lose it?"

"Well, it wasn't my choice, Miss Likstar," Nezu sniffed. "Should I really be ashamed of it? Guilt is not a huge emotion us animals feel. I just gave back what I got. Why are you all even surprised? Did I ever act sorry for any of the things that happened?"

Silence.

[Well, he really wasn't ever, canonically.]

"I trusted you," Aizawa said.

"Which was your mistake," Nezu said, with an odd laugh. "Such an easy thing, really, getting all of you to trust me. I can't believe it worked for so long."

"And...you don't care now that we know?" Shoto was incredulous.

"I'm not really that afraid of death," Nezu said. "I always found the fear of death to be illogical. I supposed I'd get found out sooner or later, though I was hoping it would be on my terms, but now that it's happened, it's too late anyway. You all can't stop my plan. The police will never call off this attack." He laughed again. What made it worse was it was just how he used to laugh in training... How had it not scared them then?

"You jerk!" Kaminari pointed a finger at him. "So maybe some people did some bad stuff to you, but we never did anything! We wanted to help people--uh, animals like you."

"Yeah, dude, what the heck?" Jiro said. "And you're not even ashamed to tell us you used us?"

"I just thought of you all as lab rats." Nezu suddenly sounded very humanly vengeful. "After all, that's how they thought of me."

Silence.

"He's telling us this because he thinks it won't matter after today," Shine said finally. "If AFO kills the top 5 Pros, All Might, and Deku, he will come for UA next and wipe out all All Might ever cared about. Nezu will have made it easy for him. We are wasting our time here. And we could not call the police and stop it in time. Nezu will win."

"True," Nezu said. He smirked. "Perhaps if you used your head, you could find some way to prevent all this, but I find humans usually aren't that perceptive."

He looked at Shine. "You have been the biggest challenge, Miss Likstar. I admit, you think pretty well for a homo sapien. I could never quite figure out what you were doing. Say, let's play a game. If you figure out some way to stop AFO today, I'll give myself up to the police." He clapped his paws. "I'll make a full confession and retire from my position. It really won't be fun anyway now that you all know. And if I win, you can leave this school."

"That's not fair," Bakugo said. "You can't make that call."

"Fine." Shine surprised them. "If we lose, we'll leave the school, but we wouldn't stay here anyway now that you've admitted it. But if we go, we take all of these people with us. Not giving you a chance to get rid of them."

"Ooh, I like your way of thinking." Nezu leaned forward. "But the clock is ticking, Miss Likstar. If you want to prevent an all out massacre, you'll have to hurry."

"You're despicable," Shine said. "Kids, we're going, now, those of you who are coming. The rest of you, leave this campus. Don't tell anyone where you're going."

She cast a glare at Nezu. "Game on, rat."