Itami moved out of the way of Medea's fire, along with his pets.

The ninja were ganging up on Aizawa.

"Give it up," Itami taunted Medea. "You don't have enough control, do you?"

He pulled out a long, black katana.

He swung it at her.

It passed through her.

Perhaps Itami had not realized she was fully intangible because this seemed to surprise him a little.

Medea focused as hard as she could, blocking out the cries of pain from her friends, and moved towards Itami like fire moves over a prairie or brush.

Itami backed up a little, but she was faster than him.

He seemed utterly shocked when she got close enough to reach out her hands, in full fire, and grab the sword till it started to get hot.

Itami dropped it.

"I like fire," he sad, her flames reflecting in his pupils in a creepy way. "It's very painful...but is it enough?"

The hyenas strained to get away. Like all animals, they were afraid of fire.

Itami lost his grip on them and they ran for it.

Above, the vultures were also keeping their distance. The dogs were backing off too...which was good. They had been about to tear into everyone a moment ago.

Medea noticed all this the way you'd notice something in a dream--surreal, but there.

She reached out and grabbed at Itami's coat, solidifying her hand just enough to hold onto it. Fire began to spread over his clothes as they smoked.

"Get off of me, you little terror!" Itami finally began to actually show fear, and he swung at her. "Ninja! Do something--get water!"

The ninja looked over at him...and did nothing. They just exchanged glances.

Itami suddenly grabbed Medea's solid hand.

"If you want to use your power," he said, half-crazed, "then I'll use mine too. Be afraid, girl!"

A terrible feeling of stabbing when through her hand.

But she somehow managed to hold on, because she knew she had to.

It felt like her hand was going to fly into a million pieces...!

"You can live without it," she told herself.

"Having a little trouble, Itami?" Panniku suddenly stepped out of the shadows.

"I'm on fire!" was his brilliant response.

"Ah, shame," Panniku said carelessly. "If only there was someone around who cared enough about you to feel sorry."

"You'll care when you answer to the boss for not helping!" Itami said. Then he yelped.

Medea could have increased her flames enough to kill him...but she didn't want to.

"I guess that is true," Panniku said. "Maybe I can help spark a little fear in her. Get it? Spark? Ah, you're probably too hot to care right now. I always thought you were too hot to handle--no...a hot head..."

"Ahhh," Itami said.

"Right." Panniku looked at Medea. "I can't get a lock on you... Is it the fire?"

Lethe looked up and laughed a little crazily through the pain.

Panniku zeroed in on him. "I remember you." She walked up and plucked him off the ground. "You're her brother. The one who can erase memory... Hey, we did some stuff to you, huh? Akume was real fond of using your powers... I bet half the people here are your victims...but you were always so scared... Maybe your sister would like a demonstration, huh?"

Medea turned...

Lethe began to scream.

"You devil!" Aizawa shouted at Panniku, turning his gaze on her.

Her quirk must have stopped because Lethe stopped, but he whimpered.

"Oh...you shouldn't have done that." Panniku turned to Aizawa, pulling out a dark sword of her own. "Hold him down!"

The ninja grabbed hold of Aizawa's arms before he was ready.

Panniku walked up to him.

"No!" Eri got in her path. "Leave Mr. Aizawa alone!"

"What's this?" Panniku said. "The little girl.... Oh, wow, Overhaul's prized tool...you must have a lot of fears..."

"No!" Aizawa cried. "Kill me--but leave her alone!"

"Fear abounds." Panniku was enjoying this, clearly. "I can't decide which of you is more terrified right now... How delightful!"

Lethe suddenly stumbled up and lunged toward her, hand out.

Red squares appeared around her head and she froze.

[Image by Onerose.]

He was using his quirk? Medea realized too late--she'd lost focus and run out of time.

Itami suddenly smacked her and sent her smack into the ground. Her newly reformed pain receptors screamed murder at her.

"Medea..." Lethe looked at her. "I can't hold her for long..."

"I was going to ask how you did that--" Itami used his foot to shove Medea more into the ground and regarded Lethe coldly. "--but then I realized my idiotic compatriot's attack spiked your adrenaline, but the pain will only be dulled for a few moments."

Lethe gulped. "I'll...I'll make her forget you."

"Go right ahead. I could have fun with that," Itami said. "I never liked her anyway." He picked up his sword. "'Course I'll have to kill your sister."

Medea raised her head slightly and looked at Lethe like, "Don't."

Lethe looked so very scared and confused right then.

"I..." He put his hand down.

"Eri," Aizawa hissed, "use your quirk on the others. Go, it's fine."

"But..." Eri said

"It's fine," Aizawa reassured. "I'll be right here."

Eri swallowed.

"And you think we'll just let her?" one ninja said to Aizawa.

Aizawa raised an eyebrow instead. "They just admitted to wiping your memory, and do you think Itami will be happy with you afterward for refusing to help him? If you want to survive, I suggest you let her do as I said."

They glanced at him, then each other, and two of them moved to stop Eri.

There others tossed weighted ropes at them and knocked them over.

"Jerk's got a point," said one flatly.

"It's so hard to find loyal employees these days," Itami sighed.

He raised his sword over Medea again.

Medea summoned all her willpower and turned back into fire. The pain was gone, and she leapt up, right through Itami.

He gasped as the flame singed him, then she grabbed onto to his neck and latched on.

Her tried to reach up and pry her hands off.

At the same time, Eri ran to Miss Joke and touched her, and Miss Joke sat up, now okay. She snapped her fingers, and the ninja who were standing off to the side all began laughing.

Eri ran to Kaminari and Jiro and touched them, and they were up.

Eri's quirk began to go out of control... Aizawa turned it off. "You did good, Eri," he said encouragingly.

Lethe's hold on Panniku snapped also, and she looked around, a bit dazed.

Lethe fell to the ground, gasping.

Panniku gave a yell of outrage and turned to stab him. "You dare attack me, you little piece of s---!!!"

She ran her sword through Lethe's torso.

"Lethe!!!" Medea screamed, turning solid.

It didn't matter. Itami was already so hot that he just fell forward, hissing in pain.

"Die, you little wretch!" Panniku reached out to Medea, and feelings of panic and terror started to grip her heart like a claw.

She began to scream as flashbacks crowded into her mind.

"And all of you had better take them and throw them into the bay," Panniku snarled at the the ninja, "or you're next. I'll forgive your disobeying Itami, he's a weakling anyway, but don't think I'm so lenient as him."

The ninja, perhaps understandably, were terrified enough to do as she said. They snatched up the others. Miss Joke tried to stop them, but Panniku seemed to turn her quirk onto her.

Miss Joe began to clutch her head, and her quirk started to go crazy, affecting the others, not just the ninja. Then it stopped all together.

"Emi!" Aizawa called, "Calm down...it's just in your head!"

"Oh, is it?" Panniku picked up Eri by her collar. "Is it really?"

"Leave me alone!" Eri screamed.

"You don't want to do that," Aizawa said. "If you scare her and she loses control, you'll die."

"I think she'll be fine," Panniku said, "because you're going to keep her in line, till all the others are tossed in there, and then you'll come with me, because otherwise, I'll just drop her and do it, and I can kill her then too. And you wouldn't want that."

"Crazy b----," muttered one of the ninja.

Panniku turned to who'd spoken, and, taking out a gun, she shot him.

He fell over.

"Any more comments?" she said, like nothing had happened.

"No...!" Kayla was gasping as they were being dragged toward the water. "Oh, gosh, no!"

"Stop!" Ren tried to reach for a weapon, but it hurt to move too much.

* * *

The other group had been on their way, unhindered...but they had been sliced by the needles also, most of them, without knowing it. Shoto had avoided it by using ice to block himself, and Wally was too fast, but the others weren't able to dodge it all.

At the same time it happened to the group at the bay, they all began to feel the pain from the toxin and to collapse and cry out.

Mirko was even worse off, since she had those gashes.

"Is poison!" Silk choked out. "From darts! I've seen attack before..."

"Like...in my world..." Mabui gasped.

"I think I'm dying!" Dabi yelled.

"Guys?" Wally ran, trying to help them, but there was nothing he could do.

"Maybe ice would help." Shoto put some on Momo, who only shrieked. "Ahh...d--- it!... Sorry Shoto..." She started to cry. "That didn't... Ow..."

"I'd swear this is Itami's doing." Shigaraki was a little less overcome. He was used to pain.

"Can we undo it?" Wally said.

"I know nothing of how their attacks work, or if this is his quirk or just released toxin." Shigaraki was not helpful. "But all of us are easy targets like this. Perhaps with your speed, you could move them out of sight."

"That will hurt them," Wally said.

"It's okay..." Shine said, wincing. "We'll hurt anyway. It doesn't matter."

Their screams when he did it belied her words, but he did it as fast as he could.

* * *

The salt water in the bay aggravated the pain more as they were tossed in.

"Medea!" Monoma gasped, as he was being dragged. "Fight it! It's just fear!"

Medea shivered.

Just fear, just fear, just fear....

But it was real...!

She closed her eyes...

But the others were going to die!

Mirko had told her not to fear her quirk--it was just a tool...

Cece had taught her to try to calm herself.

Shine had told her that courage was not the absence of fear, but when something stronger than fear overcomes it. And that thing was love.

Medea had had enough panic attacks to at least not be fully caught off guard by one... This was more intense than before, but...

I love my family, she thought to herself...suddenly a clear thought in her mind. I love my friends... I have to push aside my fear!

With that thought, her fire suddenly blazed up again, thicker than before.

"Are you...resisting me?" Panniku turned, with a strange look.

It was the hardest thing Medea had ever done, perhaps, since she left Lethe for the first time, because she felt fear trying to swallow her whole, right at the edge of her will to fight it...but she lurched to her feet and at Panniku, who dropped Eri in her surprise and turned to block her.

Medea went through her sword and jumped onto Panniku, solid enough to knock her into the ground. A move Mirko had taught her also.

Then she turned her fire up.

"Ahh!" Panniku screamed. "Stop it! Get off me, you little devil!"

Medea's eyes were purple flames, but they seemed to bore into Panniku's soul--if she'd had one.

"I'm not the devil!" she said, her voice flame-like again. "You can make me feel afraid, but I choose whether or not that fear controls me. You can't control that! So guess what, b----?" She shoved Panniku down into the ground. "I'm not afraid of you!!!"

The heat made Panniku gasp and tear up, and then she stopped struggling

Medea suddenly felt fine.

She stood, her fire going out. Then she turned and looked at the ninja.

"That girl just took down two Commanders," said one.

"Yeah," said another.

"And I don't know what the h--- I'm doing here," said a third.

They dropped their weapons.

"Get them out of the water!" Medea snapped at them.

They jumped to do so.

"And if you have an antidote for that toxin," Medea said, "I want it."

She hissed in pain.

"Eri," Aizawa said, "heal the others... I'll help you."

Eri nodded slowly and touched Medea. Medea felt herself go back to being pain free.

Then she ran and knelt next to Lethe. "Yuma...tell me you're still here."

"I'm...not dead..." he said faintly.

Eri ran up to him. "I can fix him," she said, eyes huge. "Wait." She touch Lethe...and he was fine. Eri almost went too long on him, but Aizawa stopped her quirk. "Take a break," he said. "Pace yourself, like we practiced."

The ninja were fishing the others out of the bay.

"Hey...uh...don't kill us, but we can't reach them all..." said one.

Ren, Kayla, and Jiro were the ones who were too far. Perhaps they were more weighed down by equipment. The others had at least partially floated because they were limp.

Eri was able to heal them.

Medea and Lethe stumbled to the edge of the dock to stare at the water, hopelessly.

"They have drowned by now..." Lethe said dully.

"No..." Medea said. "I...was...too late..."

"No, Aya, you saved us all," Lethe said. "That was amazing.... I never thought..." . He suddenly grabbed her and hugged her. "You're so much stronger than me... It's not your fault."

Medea started to cry. "You still helped... Yuma, that was so...incredible."

"And I did nothing," Monoma sniffed, sitting up. "How typical..." He was trying to be ironic.

* * *

Kayla was swallowed up by the ocean... She should have worn less tools...but she had wanted to be prepared...

The water was stinging her...but not so badly... Salt water didn't really bother her, it was just the movement on the cuts...but the water might also have washed the toxin out partially, because it subsided...

If only she hadn't lost her quirk...

I was relieved when I lost it... she thought to herself, in a way, but if I hadn't, I could save everyone now...

She looked up and saw that some of the others were being pulled back out of the water...but it would only take a few minutes for the rest to drown...

Ren...I'm sorry... she thought. I should have taken them up on their offer of trying to get it back.... I wasn't grateful...

She glanced up towards the surface. Help... This would be such a good time for a miracle...

She looked at her hand... Wait...was that...bluish tinting?

Suddenly, she felt her feet had morphed together...

She could see her hair had turned blue...

"Oh my!" she gasped, and she could inhale the water.

Then she lost no time. She swam for it, her eyes now able to see clearly...

She found Ren and Jiro getting swept out to the bay by the current, and, snatching them, she swam for the surface.

Their heads broke water. Then she ploughed toward the dock like a shark. [Sharks are very powerful swimmers.]

Medea and Lethe were standing there, not looking happy, but suddenly they saw her and gasped.

"Help!" Kayla cried.

To her surprise some of the ninja came and hauled Ren and Jiro out of the water.

"Jiro!" Kaminari cried.

Kayla gasped.

"You...you're a mermaid again," Medea exclaimed

Kayla pushed on Ren's chest. "Yes...it's a miracle..."

Midnight came over and worked on Jiro for a moment. Then Jiro started to cough up water. It was beautiful.

Kaminari hugged her, which made her get static shocked, but she didn't care.

Ren started to cough up water too, to Kayla's huge relief, then he opened his eyes... "Eh...that was.... Hey," he grinned slowly, "sexy mermaid is back."

Kayla could have punched him for that, if she hadn't been so relieved.

After a moment, Eri had them fixed up too, and Kayla was turning human again.

The ninja were all thoroughly cowed by both these displays and didn't seem anxious to fight them anymore.

Panniku and Itami were severely burned, though alive, but they seemed unable to go anywhere.

"No shadow attacks," Hawks noted.

"I saw a few," Aizawa said, "but they ran from Medea... We were exceedingly lucky she was here." He patted her shoulder. "You did good, kid. You'll be a great Hero."

Medea was still crying. "Thanks... Oh, gosh...I thought they killed...and..."

Monoma hugged her. "We all did," he said, "but you had to steal the spotlight, as always."

Medea managed to laugh, weakly.

Aizawa went to Miss Joke, who was not doing so well, though the panic had stopped.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah." She smiled weakly. "Just...you know...I...didn't...help that much."

"You helped." Aizawa sat down next to her. "Are you okay?"

Miss Joke sniffled. "Maybe not..." She covered her face. "I don't normally let fear...you know... I guess I just...didn't expect it to be so intense... Ah, I'm sorry, this is so unprofessional."

Aizawa awkwardly put an arm around her. "I think you have a right to be upset after that...so it's fine... We're all upset."

Miss Joke leaned on him and cried harder.

Everyone else very tactfully didn't look at them and instead told the ninja to tie up their two overlords.

"And do what with them?" the ninja said.

"Whatever you want," Hawks said. "They did the most to you, I bet."

The ninja exchanged looks.

"I say we toss them in the bay," said one. "They can drown instead."

"Should we allow that?" Midnight asked Hawks.

Hawks crossed his arms. "I don't know. But if those two escape...do you want to go through that again?"

"That doesn't make it okay," Midnight said.

"We'll leave them with their people," Hawks said. "What they do after we're gone is their business. Fair enough."

Midnight sighed. "I suppose we can't really take them with us..."

"If it helps," one ninja said, "these two are really textbook evil. And they'd probably just get away if we let them go now."

Itami started to stir.

Midnight took her whip and smacked him with it. He went back down.

"On second thought," she said, "I don't care. Let's get out of here."

The others agreed. They had a hill to get to.

"Come on," Aizawa said to Miss Joke, holding out his hand, "let's go."

"Sure..." Miss Joke said, taking it and standing up. "I guess you feel pretty sorry for me right now, huh, Eraser...?" She tried to smile weakly. "You're being so nice."

Aizawa looked down at her. "You know, I can be nice."

"Oh, sure, I was just kidding." She gestured.

It was kind of cute...

"Would I do this because I feel sorry for you?" Aizawa said, bending over to kiss her.

Miss Joke's mouth dropped open. "I...did not see that coming."

"Good. For once I have you by surprise," Aizawa said. "Come on."

Miss Joke blinked. "Uh...sure.... Where are we going, again?"

"To help the others defeat Ender."

"Right...sure..." Miss Joke flushed.

"We...all are going to forget we saw that, right?" Kaminari said, making a face. 

"Yeah, ew," Jiro said. "Teachers making out is just wrong."

"Says you," Midnight said. "I find it romantic... Eraser is finally acting like a man."

"And that's enough of that." Hawks looked embarrassed. "Let's just fly out of here. I don't want to wait for more of those freaks to show up."

They all hurried away.

The ninja, left to themselves, exchanged a look, then proceeded to throw both their "overlords" into the bay.

"Heroes can spare them, but I don't intend to let these two ever hunt me down again," said one.

"So now what?" said another.

"I say we get the h--- out of here. This city is spooky."

"Yeah, come on...Akari."

One woman was looking after the others.

"Yeah," she said, turning. "It's funny, I almost could have sworn I remember those people calling me Karen... What a random thought, right?"

"Yeah, it sounds nutty. Let's just get out of here."

* * *

The other group felt the pain fade unexpectedly... Itami's quirk, in fact, wasn't to make pain, but to activate chemical reactions. With him now gone, the toxin wasn't that long lasting, or it would have been more deadly.

They were still smarting from it, but the worst of it seemed to be over.

And, poetically, it started to rain also.

"I hope the others are okay," Shine said.

"Yeah," Wally said, "but I think we'd kind of know if they weren't."

"Yo." Camie held up her phone. "I've been using Moogle Maps to see how close we are...and we're actually just a few blocks from that hill now.... Do we know what we're looking for when we get there?"

"No," Shoto said, helping Momo get up, "but we'll find out."

Nothing met them on the way through those few blocks. Then they were at the base of the hill.

"I wonder where the shrine was..." Wally said.

"According to this," Shoto had a page pulled up about it, "it used to be right there, in front of us. There were steps and stuff...but the clearing away left it just a hill."

The hill was mostly dirt too, and some rubble was still visible at the end of it.

"It's a shame about the shrine," Momo said. "I mean...even if we don't believe in it, it was important to a lot of people, I'm sure, and now it's just...nothing."

"No," Mabui said, "I think there's still something special about it. It looks destroyed, but the trace of what was there...it'll still be there." She moved forward.

"Hey, careful," Dabi called.

They followed her cautiously.

Even as they set foot on the hill, though, they knew she was right.

They could feel it...energy...darkness, maybe...

Maybe they were all just more sensitive after their exposure to the other attacks.

Shine's eyes suddenly lit up again.

"I...I know how to find him," she said. 

"You...have that?" Wally said.

"What?" Dillon asked.

"In worlds with open magic," Shine said, "my insight had another feature.... I knew where people were, all the time, if I just looked, if they weren't shadowed. It's like the magic is just in the air around those places.... And here I've never had that, but...there's something different about this hill. Whatever Ender is doing, he's changed the atmosphere.... It's so thick I can see it, in a way." She pointed ahead. "He's inside.... There's...I don't know, there must be some shelter here. Come on." She picked up the pace.

In far less time than they expected, they were nearly at the top of the hill.

Up here some plants had regrown. It got more sunlight.

Now, though, all of them were wilting.

And up here there was a tiled area. It looked brand new.

It was surrounded by a smaller rise of dirt, like a circle, so you wouldn't see it from the bottom of the hill.

And on the tile, AFO was standing, waiting, with Ujiko.

And...one other person.

They all stopped to stare.

"That's him," Shigaraki said in a lower voice.

Ender it was. He was adjusting something on some device...

It was the same one as they'd seen in the Ozarks, but bigger...and it sort of shimmered, blending into the background, like it was transparent.

"That thing is phasing a little out of reality," Shine said. "It's not stable."

"That's because it's doesn't have enough power yet." Ender suddenly turning and looked right up at them.

His eyes were dark behind his mask.

"Welcome," he said. "I've been expecting you."

AFO and Ujiko looked up at them.

"Ah...frick..." Mirko muttered.

* * *

"Please, come in," Ender said. "Make yourselves at home. I'm afraid I have no chairs, but..."

"Like we're dumb enough to get close to that thing," Wally said. "I guess you knew we'd come, but we're not here to just surrender."

"I thought you'd find me," Ender said, "but I admit, I didn't think so many of you would." He narrowed his eyes. "I sense that my two Commanders I entrusted with the taking of what I wanted have both failed...and perished...how droll."

He didn't sound upset at all.

"You mean they were useless too," AFO said

"Well, AFO, they are only human," Ender said. It sounded weird the way he said it. "And prone to error. It's no matter. You see they're here anyway."

"We should just kill him," Bakugo said.

Ender raised an eyebrow. "Kill me.... Oh...I see." He took off his mask.

His face...was surprisingly, human, but also...it was so hard...not quite right...

[Image by Onerose.]

"You actually came here thinking you can defeat me?" Ender said, face hard. "That's...amusing."

Shine gasped.

"What?" Wally said.

"He looks kind of like him," Shine said, "much older, but...I..." She blinked. "Ender
Wiggin."

Ender frowned. "I suppose I should have expected you to know the origin of my name...but no, we don't use our real names here. You fool, I'm not a character from a book."

"Actually we watched the movie," Wally said.

"You're not exactly what I expected." Mabui tilted her head. "The last ones like you we met were different."

"You've never met anyone like me," Ender said. "And my name is not Wiggin...but that is a conversation I prefer not to have with so large an audience... How about we whittle it down?"

The kids looked at Shine and Wally.

"Hey, I don't trust him," Dillon said. "I mean, even as far as I could throw him."

"You all want to see what my machine does?" Ender seemed to change the subject rather suddenly. He reached out towards it.

"No! Don't turn that on!" Shine suddenly yelled. "You'll hurt us all!"

Ender flipped the switch anyway. Wally dashed forward, but he was just a second too late to stop him.

Ender turned to smile thinly and shoved Wally back with more speed than expected.

The machine made a horrid whirring noise, and all of them with some power of portals felt as if their souls were being yanked on just hearing it.

"Ah!" Mabui said.

The whole area seemed to change...or separate...or...be overlaid...

Ender chuckled as all of them suddenly found themselves separated.

Shine remained in the same space as Ender.

Wally was caught in some claw-like trees not too far way. He could see her, but he wasn't able to get free.

"Handy little trick, isn't it?" Ender said. "I admit I did take something important from that joke of a film they made of me. I mean, have you seen it? The acting is laughable." He gestured around. "But one idea did strike me. Holograms. They're so realistic, right? They can't even tell the difference between real ones and a video game. I borrowed that idea for my device... You see, while it's warming up, there's still remnants of spiritual energy in this area itself to use...to turn the unseen things into the seen. To make things in the mind solid... Fascinating, isn't it? It's a little game I like to play while I'm preparing for the real war." He gestured to some monitors. "And this will show us what's happening...if we get bored... Would you care for some tea, Likstar, was it?"

Shine held out her sword. "If you can do that, I can probably interfere, can't I?"

"You could," Ender said, "but if you so much as try, this machine will suck you through its gate." He smiled with diabolical glee...but it was still lifeless somehow. "DJs, as you call yourself, I think, can't fight this without being drawn into it--a side effect I made. Perhaps your little students can. I guess we'll find out, but I do hate a crowd at times like this. This is better, isn't it? One on one." 

He turned to AFO and Ujiko. "You can go finish them off at your leisure. I won't need you for a bit. Bring me the ones on the list, if you can capture them alive.Otherwise, I don't care."

AFO and Ujiko didn't seem to like being ordered, but clearly they also were anxious for this chance. So they went...the hologram...(or was it real?) seemed to let them in.

"Sure you don't want tea?" Ender pulled a table and pot out of the air, much like how Shine could summon items.

"If it's from you, I don't want any part of it," Shine said.

"You're so mistrusting," Ender said. "What have I ever done to you?"

Shine scoffed. "Other than try to kill me, my husband, my friends, and my students? I wonder."

"Technically, Miss Likstar, I haven't done any of those things myself," Ender said. "My crew is a bit malignant, but can you blame them? We were so close... I'm sure they'll learn in time that diplomacy is useful." Then he laughed.

Shine didn't lower her guard. "What do you want from me?" she asked. "You left me in here. I know you want to harvest my energy, but you aren't trying to restrain me."

"I've heard much about you." Ender poured himself some tea. "So, to be perfectly honest, I wanted to chat first."

Shine raised an eyebrow.

"I'll make you a deal," Ender said. "You and I have a nice chat, and I won't shove your husband into my machine now." 

The claws holding Wally in place suddenly pushed him toward one part of the device that looked like it was designed to hold people in place.

Shine's heart leaped into her throat.

"How do I know you'll keep your word?" she said.

"I think you know we don't break our words," Ender said. "You're well aware of our code. I don't promise things lightly. Take it or leave it."

Shine scowled. "I will accept only because you are clearly prepared if I attacked you, so my odds are bad."

"I'm delighted you are aware of that fact," Ender said. "Have a seat."

A chair appeared.

"If it helps, the chair is not spiritual," Ender said. "Just happened to be in my office."

Shine stuck her sword into it before she bought that, then she sat down warily. "Well, what do you want to talk about?"

* * *

https://youtu.be/xJYTQVKmDLc

The living holograms didn't form a maze as much as it was some kind of psychotic obstacle course.

The kids and Heroes were tossed all over it, though, in reality, they would only have been at different points of the hill.

Where they were, things began to shift into some kind of terrifying danger zone, like the USJ but scarier.

* * *

Camie found herself in a room full of mirrors, but the mirrors were turning, and her reflections were yelling things at her. Things that she'd heard before. 

"Idiot!" 

"Airhead!" 

"Space Cadet!" 

"You're so clueless!" 

"Camie is so weird." 

"She's kind of mean..."

Camie knew it was a trick, but it was still horrible. 

"Ah! Shut up!" She covered her ears. "Some kind of sick joke?"

* * *

Bakugo was in a place that appeared to be covered in lava. "This can't be freaking real," he reasoned.

Then flames shot up in front of him, releasing hot steam.... It felt real.

"Or...maybe it can be..." he muttered sullenly.

* * *

Shoto was in a terrain that kept going from hot to cold in a matter of seconds, till it was making him nauseous and dizzy. Fire and ice kept revolving around him.

* * *

Dabi was just in a straight up inferno.

"I signed up for this so I wouldn't go to hell," he muttered. "I want to file a complaint..."

* * *

Mabui found herself...it looked like a dark forest...one that someone'd cast a Genjutsu in and get you lost for hours.

She shuddered as the plants seemed to curl toward her, and large animals were creeping over the ground.

"Still," she said, "this isn't so bad... I've done survival training...and I'm sure it's not real anyway."

As if her words offended it, the landscape shifted, and she was at the top of one of the trees, and it was swaying dangerously towards the ground.

And her chakra wasn't working.

"Oh no..." She grasped at the branches

* * *

"This is just a bit of cliche," Dillon remarked, as he looked around at the dry desert he was in. "Some kind of mental trick, that's an old game."

Through the heatwaves he suddenly saw an hospital-shaped building...with a jail next to it.

"Oh....no..." he said.

* * *

Mirko heard dogs howling at her, but that was...kind of tame compared to what she expected.

Until she saw a giant, three-headed dog.

"Really?" she said. " A video game thing?"

Mirko didn't know Greek Mythology. She just knew that video games used this thing for a monster.

[Cerberus, if you don't know Greek mythology either.]

Of course, even if it was stupid--a giant three-headed dog wasn't exactly non-threatening...

"This is so degrading," Mirko muttered as she ran for it. She wasn't sure if it was real or not, but after the other attacks, she wasn't going to risk it.

The dog nipped at her heels.

* * *

Silk was caught in a giant spider web.

* * *

Kitsune was falling down a dark hole.

* * *

Shigaraki probably had the worst of it, though.

All he saw at first was a tree...and a fence...and then he realized it was...the mirror image of his backyard.

He'd forgotten mostly what it looked like, and he didn't want to remember.

The ground began to crack under him, whether it was his quirk, or it was the illusion itself...if it was an illusion.

But worse of all, was that out of the house came, not his father, but AFO himself. Slowly clapping.

"I must say, Ender's inventions are impressive," he said. "Just look at how lifelike this imitation is. I'd swear we were there."

Shigaraki froze.

[And the prize for the most horrific fan fic not in the horror category goes to...me, I think.

So sorry.... I promise this is almost over.]

https://youtu.be/LSvOTw8UH6s