"Dad, I'm telling you it's dangerous," Shoto was on the phone.

Bakugo and him were outside already, And most of the sidekicks who'd been there were with them, a few were till around the back looking for the culprit, but of course she was gone without ever using a door.

Dabi still had Mabui, he wasn't about to let her out of his sight.

Shine was getting her account of what happened.

Wally appeared with Camie and ran back to try to get Burnin.

"Burnin is inside." Shoto added.

"Her quirk" Camie said. "Kali corrupted it, its going crazy."

"Her quirk is going haywire," Shoto said.

"What?" Endeavor said. "Look Shoto, I'm on my way but I was two cities over. I'm not going to get there in time. You all have to deal with this."

"We're trying but Kali's quirk makes it hard for anyone to get close enough to fight her."

"She's gone," Camie said.

"She got away." Shoto added.

"Then it should be fine," Endeavor said.

"I don't mean to panic," Camie said, grabbing Shine's arm. "But Kali's quirk can make your own body get affected by yours...she zaps people's immunity. Remember Bakugo?"

"Yes--oh no," Shine said. She ran towards the agency.

But Wally met her at the door, and stopped her.

"No," he said. "You don't want to go in there."

"What?" Shine said.

"I...tried," Wally said. "But it happened too fast. I didn't realize it was happening till it was too late."

Shine covered her mouth. "She's...she's...gone...isn't she?"

Wally hung his head.

"What?" Shoto was shocked. "Burnin is dead?"

All the sidekicks looked up. "What?!" They began to cry.

"Burnin is dead?" Mabui looked up.

"The green haired lady?" Dabi said. "How?"

Wally looked a little sick. "I got back in, with a fire extinguisher, but it didn't work. The fire didn't go out...I guess it was immune. So I used my power instead, and it went out...the building is safe for now, but she had...she was burning  already from it. She might already have been gone...it was too hot for her...I'm...sorry...I should have stopped it immediately."

"No it's not your fault," Shine said. "We didn't know it would effect her that way, getting Camie out was what anyone would have done first...they tricked us." She started to cry. "Again..."

"But..." Shoto looked shell shocked. "I...she..."

"Shoto? Shoto what happened?" Endeavor said. "Did I hear you correctly?"

Shoto dropped the phone and collapsed.

"Shoto?!" Momo pushed through the crowd, she'd followed him here, but the sidekicks had separated them by running around. She ran up to him and put his head in her lap, he was shivering.

"Make him a blanket," someone said.

Momo did.

Dabi resolutely picked up his phone. "Hey...it's me...yeah, she's dead. Someone snnuck in, killed her with their quirk...no, I think it was to get to us."

"It wasn't the plan," Mabui said, she shivered. "They wanted me...I'm sorry, if I had been able to resist them more, this might not have happened. I should have warned the staff more..."

"You didn't even know it was Kali," Camie sniffed. "It's my fault, I should have said that right off. I thought I could find her myself."

"Guys, it's not your fault," Wally said. "They planned this."

"No I can't explain," Dabi said curtly to Endeavor. "Not right now. Later. It's the big boys now, though...I don't think it's about heroes anymore." He eyed Mabui.

She hugged her stomach and sank to her knees. "This was a mistake," she muttered.

* * *

The whole thing made the news later that day.

Burnin's death was hard to explain.... The police were stumped yet again.

Kali's quirk never seemed to work quite the same way twice on the same person, so the similarities to Stain's case and Edgeshot's were unclear. Camie was able to give a statement saying it was like an old classmate of hers...but they all doubted that would slow Kali down at all.

Shine, once she'd calmed a little, said that the kids had prevented it from being worse. Kali could have intended to burn down the entire agency after getting Mabui, from the looks of it, and they had made that impossible. So they should be proud that they had done that much.

But none of them felt proud.

Kirishima and Mina felt like they hadn't helped at all.

In the end, it was no one's fault...but another casualty in this war that was (pardon the pun) only heating up.

When the people hiding at UA heard of it, they were furious also.

The LOV didn't have any love for Burnin, or Endeavor, but they saw the obvious threat implied towards them.

"Kali is deadly." Medea stated it. "She can kill anyone, almost, anywhere, any time, as long as those freaks are backing her up."

"This is a warning also," Shigaraki said. "If I do not go back, this is going to happen again."

"It will happen if you do go back," Mirko said. "They'll never stop. If we give them what they want...it's over."

"But all of you pay the price if we stall," Shigaraki argued.

"Maybe we should hear what the DJs had to say first," Medea said.

But that wasn't good.

Shine and Wally were grim.

"Mabui has told us something that has made this about 10x worse than it was," Shine said. "We didn't want to say it till we knew, but...we know now. It's.... The people who are assisting AFO aren't...they aren't normal people."

"Well, duh," Medea said.

"No, listen, I mean...they aren't even like all of you," Shine said. "The attacks seemed different, so we thought maybe it's magic, maybe it's some cult at it again...but what they knew, what they could do, felt more and more familiar...and now...it's confirmed...we're dealing with Dark Walkers."

Silence.

"You've got be kidding," Mirko said. "What is that, the evil version of what you are?"

No one laughed.

Shine and Wally just stared at her.

Her ears went back. "No...really?"

"They exist," Wally said, looking nervous. "It's rare.... I mean, personally, we've only met people who are trying to become them...never the full on real deal."

"And I wasn't feeling ready to assume that's what it was," Shine said. "And I still hope it's just a cheap imitation...but all they knew about Mabui---and us...it either is an imitation that has almost become real, or it's real."

"Dark Walker sounds like a pretty stupid name," Shigaraki said.

"It's...just a name that DJs came up with to make it easier to understand," Shine said. "In reality, of course, it's not that simple. But what's easier to remember? Dark Walker, or person with strange, interdimensional powers who's out to wreak unimaginable havoc on whatever world they are in?"

"Dark Walker is easier to say definitely," Medea said shakily. "But what--? Is that, like, you but the dark side?"

[References.]

"It's like a Sith Lord to a Jedi," Wally said. "Like, the powers kind of are the same, but the way it happens is totally different.... At least that's the theory. We've never encountered one before."

"And I didn't think this was it, but the shadows, the phasing, and now threatening Mabui with being able to go to her world," Shine said, "it looks bad.... It looks like they have played with dimensional power.... Remember when we warned some of you that poking into this stuff was dangerous? Well, there was a reason for that.... It has been poked into in the past."

"And what happened then?" Mirko asked.

Silence.

"It depends on the case," Shine said. "And we don't know the facts from the fiction there. We've never seen it happen. And we have no idea what the goal of this person is.... Kali didn't kill Burnin because she needed to...she killed her to hurt all of us. To show that they will cut down anyone to make a statement.... All these attacks are to wear us down and break our spirit. It's always the way. And as devastating as they are, we cannot let them. If we panic now, they'll win. That's the plain truth."

"So, what? We do nothing again?" Mirko was on edge.

"No, we have to do something," Shine said. "I'm just not sure what."

Shigaraki stood up. "It's clear what," he said. "I will have to return to them."

"What? No," Wally said. "That's a terrible idea. Give them more fire power?-- Oh, poor choice of words there.... I mean, attack power."

"You two haven't got this figured out, clearly," Shigaraki said. "In the meantime, Compress and Spinner are gone, Lethe is hanging by a thread, and the rest of us could be next at any moment. Whoever this Dark Walker is, if they are truly like you, then they can do anything they want. To any of us."

"That's not entirely true," Shine said. "We all have rules."

"Well, the rules aren't working in our favor," Shigaraki said. "We don't have time or options. You two tried, you failed. I have to go back to Master and tell him to stop all this."

"And he'll listen," Mirko said with killing sarcasm.

"He'll have to if I tell him everything you just said," Shigaraki said.

"No." Shine almost sounded panicked--and Shine never sounded panicked, ever. It scared the crap out of them all, even Wally.

She jumped up frantically. "Tenko, if you tell AFO about this, you'll kill us, all of us.... They know too much already, but you can't help them! Please! That's all they need to finish this, is one of our own to turn on us. I'm begging you not do that!"

She freaked even Shigaraki out.

"All right." He backed up. "I won't talk about it, but I'm still going back."

"Dude, you don't have to do this," Wally said. "None of this is your fault. It's theirs."

"You can still believe that after how many losses you've suffered in the past few days," Shigaraki said, "but I'm not going to pretend anymore."

Mirko looked horrible right then.

Shine looked faint. She sank back down into her seat. "Tenko..." she said.

"Don't call me that. My name is Tomura Shigaraki." He looked terrible when he said that. "And it's time you realize it. Trying to do things your way is leading only to more problems."

"Don't we get any more credit than that?" Wally said. "We're predicted a bunch of things."

"Yes...but you predicted it would be safer to stay away, and it's not...so you were wrong," Shigaraki said. "Everyone is wrong sometimes-- Didn't you say something like that?"

Shine shook her head. She seemed too overwhelmed to argue for once.... The others waited for her to try to stop him...but nothing.

Shigaraki actually appeared to wait, too, for her to say something, to give a flawless reason why he was wrong...but nothing.

"Well...I guess it's settled then," he said. "Akume said he'd guide me when it came to it, so I suppose I have only to wait."

He walked out of the room.

"Say something!" Mirko yelled at Shine, scared. "You can't let this happen."

Shine put her face in her hands. "What can I say? Even if he's wrong, the way he understands things, it looks right. I can't promise that anyone will be safer if he stays here.... I have no way to argue this right now. I'm sorry, Rumi.... None of us always has the answer."

Mirko stared at her.

"We could force him to stay here," Wally said, "but...I mean, would that really work? I think they could come get him if he wanted them to."

The teachers were silent also and shook their heads.

Mirko dashed out of the room, perhaps on the verge of tears.

Medea got up. "I'm going to...sit with Lethe, I guess," she said. "I...don't know what else to do now." She left too.

Shine started crying again. Wally rubbed her back, but he wasn't sure what to say.

The others didn't know what to say either, so it was silent.

* * *

Dabi, Mabui, and the other students were waiting around the infirmary. Shoto was in there. Recovery Girl said he was going to be fine. He'd been a little in shock but nothing serious. He was tough.

Momo was sitting with him. Her parents had let her when she told them what happened.

Camie and Bakugo were sitting together silently.

Mabui kept rocking back and forth in her seat and muttering to herself.

Dabi fiddled with a Rubik's cube he'd had in his pocket...

"You know...it's not your fault," he said finally.

Mabui pursed her lips. "I am not safer here.... It...it might have been a mistake to come to this world.... Perhaps...I heard wrong."

"You were sure. Don't let them put doubt in your head over this," Dabi said. "People die and get killed all the time, especially Heroes.... It ain't fair, but it ain't like it wouldn't have happened anyway. You're not the reason. They're hateful, cold-hearted people--that's the reason."

"I am tired of people dying because of me," Mabui said too loudly.

Silence.

"I mean, why me?" she went on miserably. "What do I contribute that makes it so worthwhile for me to live while they take the hits?"

"Girl, we can't play that game," Camie said.

"No one made Burnin run back in there," Bakugo said. "I told her not to. It was her choice. She wasn't trying to save you, she was trying to help Camie. And that's not a bad thing. It's not your fault in any way, lady. They're just putting ideas into you head so you'll freak out."

"He's right, you know," Dabi said. "Burnin made a choice on her own, you didn't tell her to. We did our best.... Our best wasn't enough." He looked at his hands. "And so often, it feels like, it's not...but it's not your fault any more than ours."

"Then is it just bad to have this gift?" Mabui looked at her hands too. "If I just didn't have the teleportation jutsu...these people would not care about me."

"I don't know, maybe they would just to spite us," Camie muttered, "gift or no gift."

"Didn't we tell you before?" Dabi said. "People are afraid of you because you could do a lot of damage to them with that jutsu. You scared them. If you let them scare you back, they just get what they want. I say you make 'em pay for what they did by still being determined to do what you do."

"It ain't no coincidence that she also set on fire the same mainframe you were using to look for clues to them," Bakugo said darkly. "This was a threat. No b---s--- about it."

"We got too close," Camie said.

"What was the last thing you were looking at before they attacked?" Dabi asked. "Anything that might matter?"

Mabui bit her fingernail. "I had entered paranormal activities into the search...because a lot of dimensional power looks like paranormal to the average person.... Or...really they are paranormal, if you think about it. Just not how most of us think of it.... And all sorts of obvious fake hits came up. But I remember." She closed her eyes. "One thing that popped up was reports of a haunted city. A ghost town, they called it. It drove people out of it. Only it wasn't in Japan...it was in America--which I thought was odd, because the DJs...aren't they from America?"

"Not our America, but, yeah, in their worlds they both are," Dabi said.

"It's odd," Mabui said. "Some reporter in this country picked up the story.... I would never normally listen to tales like that, but I did think maybe it's not just a coincidence."

"We have no way of knowing that it's the same as these guys," Bakugo said. "Creepy stories happen all over the world, plenty are fake."

"Yeah, but if they busted up our computer system because she was looking at that, you think that might be a hint that it would be important?" Dabi said sarcastically.

Camie and Bakugo exchanged a look.

"Why America and not here?" Bakugo asked.

Now that they had a mystery to work on, Mabui was perking up slightly. "Well...when we were in my world, didn't you say places were important? They can have links to other worlds still in them. Isn't it significant that your two mentors are from this country? And these people might know that."

"It's worth asking them about," Dabi said.

* * *

"It's called a link," Shine said. "It's...substitution, sort of.... Without going into too much detail you know how people use dolls and stuff to curse people with?"

"Yeah, voodoo crap?" Camie said.

"Yeah," Shine said. "Well, sure, it doesn't always work, but it's basically a principle with this that things that look similar can represent real things or people. In Christianity, it's why we take communion-- Bread and wine symbolizes Jesus' body and blood. We in the Protestant church don't believe it's real. It's a symbol, just like baptism symbolizes death to sin by immersing your body under water, just like the grave does. But you don't actually drown. You see? But in World Walking, location and images are how we link to a place."

"But you didn't go to America when you arrived," Dabi said.

"No...but they could have," Shine said. "Or..." she frowned, "another possibility, that I don't like, is they know we are from there...and they want to link something to us in order to find us."

"Could they do that?" Camie asked, creeped out.

"I do not know if a link through a world that's not ours could really be strong enough to get to us," Shine said. "If they are truly Dark Walkers, then they can't portal to us same as we can't portal to them. They are blinded just as we are. But they might try to work out a way around that so they can drag us away the way they did the League.... But I doubt it will work." She shook her head. "In fact, they could have nothing to do with it. How old was this report?"

"It must have been a few months old," Mabui said. "I'm still working on your time, but I think it was from spring."

"We didn't even know about these guys then," Wally said.

"It might not be true they are coming to this town," Shine said, "but if they are...then they've been here since spring, at least."

The group shivered.

"This gets better all the time," Bakugo said sarcastically.

"Why do they want Shigaraki?" Dabi asked. 

"Oh...it's really AFO who wants him back," Shine said. "But they are willing to help him. AFO must have something they want. His power alone would being useful to people like them. But if they have a use for Shigaraki...it could only be his quirk or his link to us. They wouldn't care about him himself. These people never do."

"AFO doesn't care about him either," Dabi said. "That's clear."

"Not truly, but he may have some mutilated sense of affection for him, the way a mechanic likes a favorite tool," Shine said. "If the tool is broken, they will throw it out, however. It's not more than a preference, at bottom. And I am very afraid that we have 'broken' Tenko Shimura too much... Hhe's been acting so differently, not enough like a Villain for me to think he'll be able to accept their method, let alone their goal."

"And we're letting him go anyway," Dabi said.

"If we force him not to go, we are interfering with his choice," Shine said, "and then it no longer matters." She sighed sadly. "We'll lose him either way...and they know that. His trust in us was based on our allowing him freedom--but his trust in AFO is not based on that.... To be blunt, this game was never fair for us."

"The what the h--- was the point of all this?!" Dabi exploded. "We never had a chance at winning! Why did we play the game at all just to get people killed?"

Camie winced.

"Touya, please control yourself," Shine said.

"I want to know why!" Dabi said. 

"It's not like we knew this would happen," Wally said tersely. "We don't know the future. We just predicted patterns."

"Well, you could have predicted this one."

"We did," Shine said. "We predicted how hard it would be to do this...but I admit, I thought we had it...until this turn of events. A Dark Walker...it's not what I thought would happen. I'm praying we're wrong and that there's a less deadly explanation for all this."

"How can we know?" Mabui asked.

"Only meeting them would tell us for sure," Shine said. "They won't make it so easy for us to guess from afar. But they would not want to meet us either. Their advantage is in secrecy."

"And ours used to be," Dabi said, "but now they know all about us."

"I told you all, nothing is hidden that will not be revealed," Shine said grimly. "I always knew that meant us. People find out...but...our enemies...I wanted to avoid that."

"Well, you didn't," Dabi said.

"Touya," Mabui said sharply, "do not blame them. We all have been outsmarted."

"Hey, there's still hope," Wally said. "I never give up, not while we're standing, and we have the ability to fight. You guys, we have to keep hoping."

They looked at him, uncertain.

* * *

It turned out to be far easier to contact Akume than Shigaraki anticipated.... All he had to do was think it--and he dropped into some kind of trance...and saw a location.

Then he was coming out of it--kind of creeped out even by that.

He didn't feel as apathetic as usual about doing things that seemed like a bad idea. While he didn't much care what Akume might plan to do to him, he took Shine and Wally's belief that it wouldn't help the League seriously. He hoped they were wrong.... Who knew he was even capable of hope?

Of course...returning to AFO might mean the end of knowing all of them.... It wasn't like he could come back after that, right?

He scratched nervously...but for once, he doubted destroying something was going to help.... This seemed more like anxiety...or...was it always anxiety? What a strange thought that was.... But, no, that was too positive a conclusion.

[If having anxiety is a positive, you poor boy...]

He didn't like to think about Mirko.... It wouldn't matter anyway.... He still wasn't sure what she'd been saying the other day. She'd been acting weirdly non-confrontational since then.

Compress and Spinner would be fine, right? It was just to make a statement, not an actual threat.

Shigaraki couldn't fix on any of these points long enough to get really clear about what he really thought on any of them. It was just a blur.

Well...it was going to be time to leave.

"Hey." Shine appear out of the inside. "Still planning to go?"

[Image Design by Onerose]

Shigaraki just nodded.

Shine looked kind like she'd been crying. "Well...we...can't stop you. But...uh, Tomura...keep your eyes open. Don't let anything slip by you. If it seems wrong, it is wrong, remember that. Things are simpler than they appear at times like this. And...if you find yourself in trouble again come back to us." She smiled weakly. "If it's something we can help with, we will."

"That's very kind of you, I'm sure," Shigaraki said, "but we both know you won't be able to help anymore after this."

"Things would have to change drastically," Shine said, sounding sad, "but I never say it's impossible. I'd hate to lose you. I hate to lose anyone."

"I keep hearing that lately," Shigaraki said. "But it's not benefiting any of you for me to be here. I can't do anything to stop these people."

"I don't value people based on their usefulness, and the rest of us don't either, I like to think," Shine said seriously. "Not like those who you're going to. Sometimes, you just love someone because you know them and they're a someone, and that's enough. Really, any more than that, and it becomes about your need. You can please the right people just by giving yourself, not power or service...but, I know...that's not something you've ever heard before."

Shigaraki didn't get it. "You make no sense."

"That is what shows you I'm right," Shine said. "Because someone as lost in darkness as you could never understand what's good all on his own. I suppose you let AFO explain it to you for that reason.... Well, you're right-- you do need help, but I wonder if AFO is any less lost than you are. Do all these events seem good to you?"

Silence.

"I can't push you anymore," Shine said resignedly. "I'm very sorry if I failed you in any way, Tomura, but I did my best. I hope you come back to us, but...I won't resent it if you don't. This was always going to be a hard battle, and I never knew if I'd win it. Sometimes it comes down to choice.... Good bye." She went back inside.

Shigaraki didn't like that at all. Stupid woman.... She just didn't get it.

A few minutes later, he thought he should just be on his way--but was interrupted again.

Mirko this time. She seemed to be reluctant to come or speak, but she had the air of someone who'd made up their mind.

"I don't think you should go back to them," she said bluntly.

"It's not your decision." Shigaraki was testy because he felt guilty, but he didn't realize that was the reason.

"How many times does AFO have to frick you over before you realize he's dirty?" Mirko said, upset. "All of us bailed your a-- out, but you want to side with them? Ungrateful prick."

"Ungrateful?! What do you know about it?" Shigaraki snapped.

"I know I've almost been killed, like, three times because of the guy," Mirko said. "Sorry if I don't trust him after that."

Well...hard to argue with that...

"Master has his reasons."

"Bad ones."

"Master is the one who's trying to correct the Heroes' mistakes," Shigaraki said. "Perhaps he is reluctant to trust any of them ever again."

"You still think he's the victim here?" Mirko said savagely. "Open your eyes. Who wins in all this? Who's always won? He likes to act like All Might took it all from him, but he's got allies, power, and he's still alive.... It's...ridiculous. And you're an idiot for buying it."

"If all you want to do is insult me, you're wasting your time," Shigaraki said. "This is the way it is. I'm with Master, the rest of you are against him."

"So what, you turn on us now?" Mirko said.

Pause.

"No, there's just some misunderstanding here," Shigaraki said.

"I'm not so good at this psychological bulls---," Mirko said, "but if I had to guess, I'd say that if you have to tell yourself that to think this a is good idea that could be a red flag. Do you even want to be on their side anymore, or do you feel obligated?"

She had him there. 

"What does wanting have to do with this?" Shigaraki fell back on his usual.

Mirko stared for a minute--kind of fragile-looking, then she burst into tears.

Last thing he expected.

"What is wrong with you?" he said nervously.

Mirko grabbed him and shook him. "Why did it have to be you, a--h---!" she said angrily.

[Art by Julianna Gardner.]

Then she stopped and looked down. "I don't know what else to say.... What should I say? 'Please don't do this'?  'I don't want you to'?  What does it all matter? It doesn't matter at all."

"What--?" Shigaraki began to ask what the heck she was talking about.

But Mirko just smacked him instead, cutting him off.

Had she lost her mind?

"I can't believe I ever thought it would be different," Mirko muttered to herself. "I'm an idiot."

"Why--?" Shigaraki tried again.

Mirko just stepped back, wiping her face, though she was still crying. "Forget it...moron..."

She turned--then turned back real fast and yanked him forward so she could kiss him.

That floored him completely-- He was speechless.

Mirko let go and shoved him away. "Goodbye," she said. "I guess this is the last time." She bounded off like she couldn't wait to get away.

https://youtu.be/G0VoZ7tubV0

Shigaraki blinked.

Women were so strange...

At least...he thought it was a woman thing.... Otherwise he had no clue what that was.

[Well, he's closer.]

He half moved as if to go back inside, then caught himself. What was he doing? This was stupid!

He was a moron too.... All of them were crazy-- He couldn't start thinking even for a second that this might be the better option.

Shigaraki shook himself. He walked away from the dorms and warped.

And if it felt like going to his own funeral, it was nothing new in his life.

[Ouch...and...yeah....

You know, the odds of this ship working out were never great--so...

Also, he's so dead, am I right? Would I be that mean? Maybe. Keep reading to find out.]