"HOW?!!!!" AFO's enraged shouting could be heard all over the new hideout.

Ujiko cringed away from AFO, who was knocking tables and anything else he could find over.

Akume remained calmly sipping tea.

"It was unexpected," Akume said.

"You said this idea was foolproof," AFO said coldly, "and yet you mean to tell me that everything we did was undone, all of it, in the work of a few minutes? By that unruly, unrefined, blindly reckless, and insignificant woman!"

"Not as insignificant as you thought," Akume said.

AFO towered over him.

"I am losing patience. Give me one good reason why I should not just take your miserable quirk and kill you right now."

"Because," a different voice said, "that would be most unfortunate for our arrangement."

AFO couldn't really look up, but he diverted his attention to the part of the room that it was coming from.

Ujiko saw a different man, just as tall as AFO, or almost, stepping out of the shadows.

His face was hidden by a mask much like a greek tragedy mask, and as of yet, they had never seen it.

[Image by Onerose]

"I don't think blaming Akume is quite fair," the man, who most of the new recruits referred to as "Lord" or "Master" and not by name, said calmly. "You forget, even that Hero is under Likstar and West's control, as they will have taught her how to counter our ways."

"I thought you were able to counter them," AFO said.

"It is starting to look like the direct approach is the only one left," The Master said. He rubbed his hands together, as if thinking. "Having tested them thoroughly with all these small attacks, it's become clear they are experienced DJs, steeled against physical and mental attacks like."

"And what attack is left?" Ujiko asked in a whiny tone. "They are in our way. And the boy will never work for us properly if they keep influencing him."

"Akume, would you say he's past the point of return to us?" The Master said.

Akume fiddled with a tea spoon. "Every time he fails to do our will, he's going farther away. If he's not past the point of no return now, he will be soon... Even if we reclaimed him, they've probably marred him permanently. It's so blastedly difficult to remove the stain of people like that."

"Hmm," The Master mused. "And I concur. It is too late for the boy."

AFO frowned. "I was quite clear about my terms before."

"We all have to cut our losses," The Master said. "I sacrificed Hantai."

"I'm sure no one will mourn his loss," AFO said, "but I had plans for Tomura Shigaraki."

"Plans that were impressive," The Master admitted. "It's a shame to let them go... Well, I'll tell you what, AFO--There is always the direct approach. Give him one more chance to either choose you or them. If he's as loyal as you raised him to be, it should be no matter. But if he's not willing, if he's hesitant, then you will know the seed of doubt is already taking root...and in that case, it will be too late. We must have total confidence to enact our plans."

"He would never dream of choosing them over me if it was put to him point blank," AFO said. "I gave him everything."

"A dog needs a master," Akume said. "Isn't that what those two self important idealists say? I seem to recall that phrase."

"It's true enough," The Master said. "And anyone who will let himself be mastered is a dog. But if this dog turns out to be a wolf, then it would be better to treat it as such. I'd think it over carefully, AFO. The future is at stake for more than just you, and we won't hesitate to do as we think necessary." He was cold.

Ujiko cocked his head. "It may be just another failed experiment," he said, "but we were so close... Those people will pay. I will dissect that rabbit slowly once we catch her."

"Catching them is not the difficult part," The Master said. "Surely you noticed how they evade restraint. And defeat. You're fools if you think you'll crush them by that again. Soon they will realize who we are. But it will be up to us to use that to our advantage."

"Whatever you say," Ujiko said. "You deal with them. They are more your type."

"The once mighty AFO has been bested by a pair of misfits," The Master said, as if it amused him. "I do love cruel irony. Of course, being betrayed by his most prized project would be best of all."

AFO clenched a fist. "I wouldn't allow that."

"Good," Akume said. "They're hiding at UA, of all places...which really goes to show how far gone the subject already is. They've got those two pawns of ours there too. What should we do with them?"

"Kill the useless one," The Master said. "He was only around to amuse us anyway. Kali has to have something to entertain her or she gets twitchy. The others will be useless if they get into his head. I suggest we simply take his quirk and any other useful things from him and kill him also-- or else render him utterly useless to them. Perhaps that would break them more."

"Make your plan to appeal to the boy," Akume told AFO. "We will resolve this within the week. Lord Ender does not like to wait."

* * *

It was funny how UA, once the last place the LOV would have ever been welcome, was now the place they could hide at efficiently. None of the students were around and only a few staff were.

It was odd for the League to see the other side of the Hero lives... It seemed so ordinary.

Mirko visited ostensibly to check in on Medea and confer with the DJs.

Cece did some psych evaluation on the two kids, and...her report wasn't great.

Yin's mind was...pretty much just shattered. He'd been driven crazy. Recovery might be possible, but it would take a long time and careful attention. It was very sad and horrible.

Lethe, she held out more hope for. He was able to form sentences and explain things, though with a lot of paranoia and breaking off into panic attacks.

Shine said that Cece could only measure where someone was, not where they could be, and that Yin could still be helped, she thought.

She spent a lot of time with both boys, trying to gauge where they were.

Lethe talked to her, with a lot of coaxing, and finally filled in some of the blanks.

Kali had forced him to comply with her wishes, and Akume had taken him under his "care" and begin to prod his powers...testing them on people Lethe didn't know, really.

Akume didn't seem to care how badly Lethe messed up those people, he just wanted to see how far he could go.

And then he used some kind hallucinogenic to train Lethe--or he called it that--to be able to do more and more, with less inhibition.

Lethe could barely get through that without having a freak out.

Shine finally deduced that Akume somehow could use someone's subconscious against them. Lethe wasn't sure exactly how, and if he ever tried to explain more, he seemed to become pained again...till Shine suspected Akume had put some kind of block in his mind to prevent him from talking about it without hurting himself.

She did her best to help. And she got some results. Lethe became a little calmer, but she couldn't get rid of the deep seated fear... It wasn't all just illusions... Lethe was always afraid...it was just...stronger now.

Shine had to conclude only time was going to be enough to undo all this.

Medea didn't want to leave him, even though she was still recovering from a pretty serious concussion. Yin could have killed her when he hit her with that rock, but she was very lucky--or blessed. Still she had side effects for days. Even so, she wanted to stay by Lethe.

They mostly let her. Lethe became convinced when she wasn't around that she'd finally been taken for good, and it took 3 days for him to even stop crying when she left for a short time.

Yet this was the hopeful case. Yin jumped every time someone came in, accused all of them of being devils, and refused to eat.

Shine, Wally, Momo, and even the other students spent hours trying to help him.

Finally, they did see progress after several tries. Yin became a little more clear. He seemed less sure they were evil. Finally, he began to speak more coherently.

But he was very, very afraid to speak at all.

He also mentioned Kali, though not by name, a lot... She must have done something to him.

Lethe mentioned that at first Yin was used to motivate him, but after a while they discarded him as unnecessary. He'd heard Kali and others torturing him and other prisoners at different times.

He confessed, "They like hurting people. They're only nice to you if you can give them something, and not even then..."

"But you don't have to go back," Shine said.

"You think you can keep me out of their clutches?" Lethe said bitterly. "It's too late... I chose the Dark Side too many times, Miss Likstar... I'd be better off dead."

"As long as you are alive, Yuma," Shine said, "you can choose the Light. If you die, your fate will be sealed. I can't let that happen to you willingly. Think of Aya, too. As long as someone out there loves you, you have a chance."

Lethe shook his head. "I'll never be able to forget that, even if they did leave me alone, and they won't."

"You may never forget," Shine said. She was quiet for a bit. "I know something of what it's like to think the darkness has tainted you forever, Yuma. I might seem far away from it to you, but the truth is, those of us who try to walk in the light openly see the darkness at its most ugly...and it can be overwhelming. I don't know what they did to you in full, but I've heard enough stories to guess part of it... It's horrible. Nothing could ever make it okay for people to do things like that. But there will be justice for them. And you can recover, and you can even somehow have all this horror transformed into something else. Hell, Heaven, they aren't about just being always in a good or bad place. They are about what colors your whole life, and where you finish. People who suffer the most can be trusted the most with glory. It may take a very long time for you to see it that way, but it always comes, eventually, if we endure through the hard part."

"I feel like part of me...is still stuck there, with them...and I'll never get it back."

"No." Shine's eyes gleamed. "You will. He can give it back to you... He is truly the only hope for us, Lethe."

"Oh, right, you still believe in God, huh?" Lethe said. He looked angry. "You know, if He was real, I'd only feel worse. He lets people like that roam around freely and do what they do...and He doesn't care about any of us."

"That is not true," Shine said.

"You don't think I tried praying?" Lethe said. "You'll try anything when you're surrounded by that kind of hell!" He gripped his blanket. "But I didn't get answered."

"You did," Shine said. "Aya. She saved you."

"Because she cares, but what about when it all was happening?" Lethe said.

Shine looked out the window. "I know...it often seems like God doesn't care...but I can't reconcile that with the stories of miracles I do hear. Evil is senseless, but Good is unexpected. We're free to do the most horrendous acts to each other, in some cases. I've asked the same questions you ask, Yuma, and wondered why God didn't stop the things that tore my heart out." She wiped her eyes a little. "Or let me stop them myself." She looked back at Lethe. "We Christians don't just not think about this stuff. We think about it all the time...but we still have Faith."

"And why would you?" Lethe said, stone cold.

"Aside from all the answers about God knowing better and letting us have freedom or nothing is real, and that evil is not utterly powerless, as sad as it is, because the world belongs to the Evil One," Shine said, tugging her hair, "the most consistent answer is that, in the end, Faith is all you have left. You can lose everything if you don't believe, and you can lose everything if you do. But the thing you cannot lose, if you lose all else, is Faith. God will not take Himself away. Anyway, most who use the reason that God does not care as a reason to reject him just need someone to to blame... We all suffer, not all as horribly as you--at least...not as openly... I don't know where the blame will lie when all is revealed, Yuma." Shine clasped her hands now. "I just know that the only Person who ever made me feel better about any of it is God. The comfort is there, if you want it. I do not understand it or why it had to happen to you, but I know that evil has its chance... I know God tells us He does not cause it--that they will rise against us, but not because of Him. So, I assume, that means He does not like it. There are laws even God abides by because he cannot break his own rules...but He does show mercy and deliver us. I think in the end, it's all in how we see it. You may push Him away if you want, but He's the only one who can heal the kind of damage you have...or any of us have."

Lethe was silent, perhaps resenting her words, perhaps despairing of understanding.

Finally he said, "I wonder what you would do if they did to you what they did to me."

"I would be heartsick," Shine said. "I would feel horrible. I would ask God why it happened to me. And I don't know if He would answer...as I have, many other times, when I was pushed to my limit. I would feel fear probably beyond anything I thought...but that's not new to me either... I don't know, Yuma. It's hard to picture myself doing anything but getting back up again and telling the Lord I will accept the answers when He gives them. I know, to you this is cold comfort. It's too close... We will be happy to help you with whatever you need. In the meantime, I just hope even you can look ahead and think there is a light there."

Lethe shook his head.

Shine didn't push him any more than that.

But she told the others she found it deeply upsetting.

"Is it wrong if I kind of see where he's coming from?" Shoto said darkly. "All Might...the other Heroes, and now this.... God is not doing much for us."

"I don't think we should say that," Momo said. "We've seen awful things before, but we were set on helping them."

"It's hard to stand it if you can't do something," Wally said.

"We only blame God once we feel helpless," Shine mused. "Good point, Wally."

"I do feel helpless," Shoto said. "He's just.... They're both just kids."

Shine spoke. "Good and Evil don't have an age limit, Shoto."

"Then why are we here?" Shoto said. "If we can't stop things like this for happening, then why do we even try?" He shook his head. "Genocide, massacres, murders, torture...am I really supposed to believe that this is worth it? That God should allow this?"

"Are you doubting this now?" Bakugo said.

"Maybe," Shoto said. "I've always had a hard time with that part."

"Think of all the good things we've seen happen though," Momo said.

"Shoto," Shine said seriously, "this is a war. Never forget that. God is not one to exaggerate. The Bible says the devil was cast out of heaven. And The devil is the king of this world...of any world that is fallen. It was mankind who gave him that right. Not God. And we give in to temptation. It is all our fault individually, and collectively, that these things happen. God would either wipe us all out at once to prevent evil, or...He has to let us do some of the things we wish."

"Couldn't he just stop the damage to others?" Shoto said. "We can make bad choices, but why do innocent people have to pay the price?"

"But no one is really innocent," Wally said. "I known superheroes who've nearly destroyed the world."

"And even here, All Might's mentor caused some of the very things that allowed AFO to get power again," Shine said. "Are any of us free of sin? As long as we all do wrong, we all contribute to the pain that leads people to become broken, corrupt, and horrible--as I think even you have seen for yourself... Remember Inasa?"

Shoto stiffened. "But...still..."

"We think there's such a huge difference--" Shine gestured. "--between what these people do and what we do...but did they start off that way? It'd be easy to believe people are born that evil, to think one of us couldn't fall like that. It is only by the Grace of God we don't. Like it or not, we do this to ourselves. Sometimes I don't ask why God lets evil happen, I only ask why He lets us live at all. And people hate each other, deeply. Some think we should all wipe ourselves out. That scares me."

Shoto was somber. "I just think...God could have spared things like that...without ruining things like choice... Why does it all have to be this bad, just for freedom?"

"At what point of our corruption should it become no longer our choice whether we should repent or not?" Shine asked. "Answer me that."

Silence.

Shoto looked at the others for help. No one offered it.

"I...don't know," he said. "I mean...murder, maybe."

"People have repented from being murderers," Shine said, "so they can. Are you suggesting they shouldn't be able to? That they should have to realize on their own that they were wrong? That they should be let off the hook and just made to repent, never really seeing it was wrong?"

"No, they should see it was wrong," Shoto said.

"And how can we accomplish that?" Shine pressed.

"Well...God could make them see it," Shoto said.

"Well, the only way God has ever done that is by more suffering," Shine said, "and hell itself. You see...if you will not see in this life, then you will indeed be made to see, but that has been theorized by wiser Saints than me as one of the reasons hell is so very torturous. Clarity is not always the best thing ever. Clarity without mercy is hell, Shoto."

Silence.

"Guilt is the worst burden of life," Shine went on, when no one else had anything to say. "Trauma is horrible and so is pain, but guilt has no escape. The others can be helped. No one can heal guilt. Only God can remove it... So, when you can't tell me when someone should not be able to repent...then you see God's predicament. The only thing God, on record, has ever been shown to argue with Himself or others about in the Bible is how much to punish and prevent our sin. It seems to me it is hard even for Him to cause suffering, no matter how deserved it is. These people who did this to Lethe, they are still people He loves, because they are His... We can't love them, not anymore. We see only their evil. But God sees all about us." She shook her head. "He saw when they were being born...when they took their first steps, when they spoke first...what they endured that set them on this path... When you know all about someone, it is hard to destroy them, no matter how bad they are... It's...you saw what they could be..." She seemed close to tears. "I'm sorry... I'm probably just rambling now."

"No...no, what you said..." Momo was choking up. "...I didn't think of it that way... I... It's just...it's so horrible. I mean...how could you choose? Between people who you know all about."

"Because He is good, He will eventually judge them," Shine said, hugging her sides. "But...maybe the more kids I have, the less I can blame God for wishing to put that off... I hate giving up on a student. I don't know if I could bring myself to judge them like that even if I knew they were too far gone to be helped and they were hurting others... It would be a tough call. I'm glad I don't have to make those."

Wally hugged her.

Shoto was ashamed of himself now. "Don't cry, Shine... I wasn't thinking...that's all... I just got angry."

"Hey, it's okay to be angry," Wally said. "I think we should try to stop these people... It's just...when you let that dehumanize them to you...well, we're becoming more like them if we do that. Hate is just not something to screw around with."

Bakugo sniffed. "I think I can take them down without hating them. I ain't scared."

"Good," Shine said, "because Fear is one of the main ways they want to entrap us right now."

[Better than I-- Joseph King of Dreams]

* * *

Mirko got over her embarrassment...sort of...after a couple days. At least, nothing more had happened, so she decided to ignore it.

Of course...Medea plied her for an explanation... Mirko wasn't going to give her one...but then, Medea seemed pretty devastated about Lethe... Maybe it would help her if she knew something more about his quirk's effects.

Mirko wouldn't have thought her own embarrassing situation would be useful there, but Shine seemed to think she'd hit upon something, so...

Of course, Medea didn't react how Shine did.

"No freaking way. You actually did that?" She almost choked. "I can't believe it... Someone owes me money."

"What?" Mirko said.

"Or do I owe them...?" Medea mused. "I forget... But, wow, girl, you went for it. I did not expect that of you."

"I didn't go for anything. Look, Silk said--" Mirko began.

"Oh, get real." Medea rolled her eyes like only a teenager can. "It's been so duh for months you guys were crunching on each other, we had a running bet going who'd let it slip first. Get over it, you can't keep denying it."

"If you tell anyone," Mirko switched tactics, "I'll beat you up."

"Everyone already knows," Medea said. "But I won't tell them more about it, I guess. If you give me the juicy details."

"There aren't any."

"Really... I don't know, the first time I kissed Monoma it was pretty big." Medea waved her hand. "I saw stars."

"Yeah, right," Mirko said.

"Well, it felt like it," Medea said. "I mean...it was kind of awkward too, but in a good way... I mean, awkward isn't always bad, right? Anything new is awkward... That's what Ibara told me when I felt weird about joining the Hero course. She's pretty nice, really, for a churchy girl. They're always so weird on shows."

"Yeah, well, I think that's mostly a stereotype." Mirko, who wouldn't have given two cents about it in the past, shrugged.

"So what was it like?" Medea asked. "I mean...was it weird?"

"I... Why should I tell you?" Mirko reddened.

"Who else are you gonna tell? You can't keep it to yourself." Medea leaned on her hands. "Besides, if I have to keep a secret, I should get something in return. Or I could just tell Silk and Compress and Spinner..."

Mirko groaned in annoyance.

"Well, it's weird to talk about it."

"I guess if you're going be like that is it," Medea said, put out. "I... You know, though, I'd think it'd be kind of not so nice. Isn't Boss Man kind of...you know...?"

"No, I don't know." Mirko reddened more.

"I mean are you...like...? You know, was it hot?" Medea was shameless.

Mirko was crimson. "Medea!"

"Well, it's a legit question!" Medea said. "You've got weird taste. I kind of like normal looking boys myself."

"That's not even important," Mirko said.

"It's because you're a rabbit, isn't it?" Medea guessed. "Because you don't look normal, you don't like normal either. It's like a family thing, right?"

Mirko frowned. "That's..." She suddenly realized how all her sisters had weird taste also.

Wait...was that the reason?

"Oh, s---," she said. "I think you maybe just explained it... Huh... Papi would be over the moon to hear that there's an actual reason for it other than we're just freaks."

"Wait, are you all like that?" Medea said.

"Except Ren. Yeah, we kind of have bizarre taste," Mirko said. "I mean, bizarre to our parents, anyway."

"Wow," Medea said. "That's hilarious."

"Maybe it is the rabbit thing." Mirko leaned on the wall. "Well, who cares?"

"So you did like it," Medea said.

"Would I do something I didn't like?" Mirko said, finally getting tired of this. "Just drop it."

"You're into Shigaraki." Medea stated it outright. "You're crazy for sure."

"Oh, shut up."

"It's okay," Medea said. "I sort of can see why. I mean, you're kind of similar...and he's not so bad, really. So I'm fine with it. Just don't get all gross about it front of me. No one wants to see that."

"Like I would ever," Mirko said in disgust. "And there's not going to be anything more to it."

"Why not?" Medea said.

"It wouldn't work out," Mirko stated.

"Why?" Medea repeated.

"Because...well...how could it?" Mirko fiddled with a strand of hair uncomfortably.

Medea considered. "I mean...stranger things have happened, right? I'm with a Hero...so is Spinner. Why not?"

"We both know Shigaraki is not like them. I can't even understand why I... Anyway..."

"You know, he might not be as different as you think," Medea said meaningfully. "I've seen the way he looks at you when you're not paying attention." She was sly.

"What?" Mirko said, caught off guard.

Medea shrugged. "Well, it couldn't amount to anything, right? He's probably too dense anyway. I mean, though, you made out. What do you think he thinks?"

"Well, he's not said anything about it," Mirko said.

"Duh, he's probably too scared to," Medea said. "I mean, you were all aggressive, right? Shouldn't you be the one to straighten it out? You should just 'fess up to it."

"No way!" Mirko pulled her ears down. "If I'm lucky, it'll go away. I just have a thing for weirdos."

"Get real," Medea said. "You don't risk your life like that for someone you only have a thing for. Come on, am I supposed to be the one who knows more here? You're way older than me, but you're acting like you don't get anything about love and stuff."

Silence.

"Well, this is unlucky for you," Medea said. "You sure do like a challenge, I guess. I wish you'd tell him though."

"Why? So you could laugh at me?"

"No." Medea was serious now. "I was hoping maybe he'd decide not to go back to AFO... You know, he's gonna."

That kind of killed any buzz they had.

"I..." Mirko rubbed her arms. "I couldn't possibly stop that...not like that... That only happens in movies. In real life, people don't pick some stupid crush over life-long servitude... AFO's got too many hooks in him... Maybe Shine can help. She's gotten other people to change their minds. But that's not what I'm good at... I just punch things."

"You're so dumb," Medea said. "You don't even get how much you helped all of us change. Even me." She tugged her hair. "Maybe you're good at it when you're not trying to be."

Mirko scoffed. "Tch."

"I think you're scared to think you could," Medea suddenly hit upon the truth, "because you're not comfortable with that. You like being alone, right? Or...maybe you don't, not really. And that's what scares you. It's not that it wouldn't work. You think it's too hard."

"I don't." Mirko denied it, not convincingly.

"Sure," Medea said flatly. "That's why you've never tried it. Because you think it's so easy."

Mirko didn't know what to say.

"Maybe I'm smarter than you," Medea said. "Maybe it's because I'm a twin, but I always hated the idea of being alone, not needed, or wanted...you know... I guess I at least had that with Lethe...and I want that with my new friends... I can admit it. I think you just can't."

"If I did want that, I'd be worse off," Mirko said, in a dark tone for her.

"Well, it's a tough thing for you," Medea said. "But you're just thinking about yourself, you know, and what makes you comfortable. I think Boss Man has his own problems, doesn't he? If you're just gonna add to them, why bother making a move at all? You can't just start something and not finish it. That's pathetic. If you're going to try, then try as hard as you can, that's what I say." She got up to leave the room. "I'm gonna go back to Lethe..." She paused. "You know...if I could get Lethe to respond as fast as what you got, and as completely, I'd be so...happy right now. I think it's a gift, getting a chance like that. I can't believe you'd just throw it away without anything else. So many of us would kill to get that." She left the room.

Mirko was left to her own thoughts.