True to her word, Mirko hibernated for, like, 48 hours straight after the mission and got up only to eat, still half asleep.

This was generally the result of overdoing it-- she would just crash for a few days like this.

But when she finally woke up out of her fog, she was raring to go.

Hawks had left her a message on her phone to the effect of, "I'll patrol your area while you're taking a break. No worries."

Like she needed his help!

But it was probably better for the city...

She had a few messages from people wanting her to take care of a mission but nothing too major.

She watched the news while eating breakfast and lifting weights with the other hand.

No major activity...some minor villain attacks.

But the League didn't appear anywhere. Apparently they were true to their word.

Well, after that mission, they were probably lying low.

Mirko frowned.

She hadn't had much time or energy to mull it over till now, but the mission bothered her. It was too weird. Too unnatural. And incomplete. Like she'd told Hawks, it was a draw at most.

She scowled at the TV and clicked it off.

More than that, she, she of all people, had gotten trapped and lectured to by a villain! A villain!

The humiliation was crushing.

And then the exploding kid had said some salty stuff too, and she'd just let him. She never took anyone's crap.

Put it down to the crisis, she thought to herself, No one has the time to care about stuff like that when they could die at any moment.

Right, that had to be it. Normally she'd never have let that get to her.

Another thing she felt bad about, when she remembered it...was Miss Joke getting shot.

She should have been able to stop that punk. Why hadn't she noticed him get up? It was disgraceful!

Having a team really did just distract you. Always she was aware of everything around her because she never had to worry about anyone else getting in her way. It worked best that way. Look how sloppy she got when that wasn't the case.

She went up to her private gym she'd made sure was built into the top of her apartment and started kicking her extra heavy punching bags in annoyance.

"I am not selfish," she muttered to herself, "or self centered. Who does that freak think he's talking to? Endeavor?"

Then she caught herself. What was she doing thinking about that again?

She kicked harder and broke the chain off the ceiling... This happened so often, she just picked up a replacement chain and installed it with one jump, then she resumed kicking and punching.

"From the first to the last your poor cooperation with your team puts them in danger constantly. You're ungrateful if they help you and put them down if they need assistance... You've been the primary reason there's absolutely no cooperation on the Pros side... Everything you do is just for your own fame... It's to be expected of the shallow, superficial icons of the hero world to be selfish...but I gotta admit, most people try to hide it more. It's almost admirable that you make no effort to pretend to care about anyone else, but then, what does it say if you can't even fake that image for the sake of reputation? Kind of makes you a worse failure than before."

"Shut up, shut up!" she said to no one.

It was not true.

Not that she hadn't heard almost all of it before. Not having an agency and loudly professing not needing a team were both controversial things in this hero driven society.

Many Pros openly disliked her stance on it and expressed their need for their sidekicks.

And sure, that was popular. All the fluffy feelings people brought into it-- what a load of crap.

Mirko glared at her punching bag. Sure, it was easy to win approval by buttering people up, but that wasn't earning it. That was just telling them what they wanted to hear.

While not all Pros were willing to tell the press they didn't like Mirko, she'd gotten plenty of "hints" at gatherings, when the cameras were not on them, that she should rein herself in.

It didn't stop her. She dismissed criticism and failure both. No regrets.

So why did it piss her off just that much more to hear the same thing from a villain?

Maybe it was because you didn't expect it from that source.

Maybe she was just tired of hearing about it.

She sat on the floor right in the middle of her workout and picked at the training mat.

"Who needs friends?" she shrugged.

She wasn't totally against having people to go out and party with, if that was your thing. It didn't require you to rely on them, after all. But over the last few years of climbing to the Top 10, even that had become a rare occurrence for her. And she didn't really regret the loss either. All that was just a distraction.

She worked hard to get where she was, and she was proud of it. Why should she need anyone else to take part of the credit? She was a living proof that Pros could go really far on their own. Everyone should give it their all. No one should be lazy just because a sidekick or partner could pick up the slack.

And if the stupid LOV didn't share that philosophy, who in the h--- cared what they thought? It was ridiculous.

She shook her head.

Working with villains... Talk about a new low...

Why had she even agreed to do that so easily? Since running into Likstar she'd been doing all kinds of things she never would have done even a month ago. The woman had everyone around her under some kind of spell...even Eraserhead, and he'd always been more of Mirko's flavor of hero-- a loner. He ought to get it.

What had made her think all of it was a good idea?

But not all of her concerns were about herself... Hawks was acting really weird, and he refused to tell her anything about it, even after they'd left the others and she'd asked what the heck was with that display of cowardice again.

(She never considered her method might be part of the problem there, but Hawks wasn't over sensitive either.)

She didn't normally bother about other Pros and their problems, but when it looked suspicious, she did. The LOV sure seemed familiar with him too.

She'd gotten dragged into this. Maybe he had too...but in what way?

And how did he know Likstar? And Dabi?

She sighed. She hated not having answers.

[Can y'all tell who I'm shipping yet? Leave your votes here...if you care, that is... Maybe it's just me, huh?]

* * *

Meanwhile, the LOV had problems of their own.

Dabi and Shigaraki had gotten back to the newest lair, with Silk in tow, and told everyone the unfortunate news that Kurogiri had vanished-- and that Chisaki had probably been crushed, but plenty of his goons had gotten away.

"Also, we brought home a new recruit." Dabi waved Silk in.

Silk stepped through the door she'd been outside of, waiting for this signal.

Spinner, Compress, Twice, and Toga stared at her.

Silk's villain costume really was just a kimono, like for the stage but a little less long and frilly. It was, of course, made out of silk, with silk sashes and ribbons. Probably she could use all of it to attack with if she ran out.

But she was small, with delicate features and looked more like a china doll in a window shop than a bad guy.

"She doesn't seem very impressive," Twice said bluntly, "I'm surprised you'd bring someone like that, Dabi. Aren't they usually your fuel?"

Dabi gave him a warning look. "She's got a bit more mettle than it looks. She's an illusion user. We needed one of those."

Silk snapped her fingers, and a huge bear seemed to growl right in front of Twice, who yelped and jumped back against the wall.

Then the silk rolled itself up and back into her hand. She smiled smugly. "Convinced I could be useful yet?"

Spinner and Compress exchanged a look.

"She's kind of cute," Toga said.

"Hands off," Dabi warned her, "You know the rule."

"I was lookie, no touchie," Toga said.

Silk leaned way from her. "I think I know who all of you are...well, mostly... Uh...Spinner, right?"

"Yeah." Spinner was not very welcoming.

"And Twice..."

Twice waved, then flipped her off.

"He just does that," Dabi explained.

"And...uh, I don't actually know you." Silk eyed Compress's mask and outfit. "But nice ensemble. I like the dramatic mask flair. I considered it once myself, but it just inhibits my quirk, I found."

"That can be a problem," Compress said amiably, "for illusions, that is." He snapped a marble up and it turned into his hat. "Not mine though. I'm known as Compress." He tipped said hat.

"Stop showing off." Dabi rolled his eyes. "And that last crazy one is Toga."

"Yes...I've heard of her..." Silk said, still distastefully.

Toga ran a knife through her hand coolly.

"So she'll be joining," Shigaraki said with finality, "Any objections?"

"Just one: Did she work for Overhaul?" Spinner said.

"It was just to pay bills." Silk crossed her arms. "And I think he ditched me anyway, so I see no reason to stay loyal to him."

"Why let it go to waste?" Dabi said.

Spinner shrugged. "I guess that's good enough. But it would be better to get Kurogiri back."

"I promise you, we'll be getting him back, and we'll destroy Overhaul's gang once and for all," Shigaraki growled, "We just have to find them first."

"We can't chase them down, though, Sir," Compress said, "We don't have the numbers. What happened to letting the Pros do it for us?"

"They won't bother now that they've got that little brat back," Shigaraki said.

"Oh, so they did get the kid?" Spinner looked actually glad to hear that.

"Yeah, they did," Dabi said, "And with zero casualties. Sure is annoying when they are as good as they say, ey, Boss?"

Shigaraki nodded. "Yes..."

"So, how annoying was it to work with both Hawks and the other...whatever her name is?" Compress wanted to hear all the juicy details.

"Pretty annoying," Dabi said, "Boss, here, even got into it with Bunny Girl...told her right off, didn't ya?"

"She was getting on my nerves!" Shigaraki said.

The other members laughed, even Silk.

"It takes guts to tell off a Pro," Spinner said, "I wish I got the chance to do that. They're so arrogant."

"Yeah, real pains in the neck," Dabi said.

"And Likstar? I bet she was really obnoxious too," Compress said.

"Oh...well, she got beat up pretty bad," Dabi sobered, "so I don't think she had the chance to be... For someone who doesn't fight much, she sure can take a beating..."

"You sound like you admire her or something," Spinner was disgusted.

"No...I just think it's a shame sometimes she's not on our side," Dabi said.

They all agreed with that.

"That woman?" Silk said, clueless, "She's not a threat, is she? She's kind of stuck up."

"Oh, don't get all pissy just because she told you to stay away from the gang. She's right about that," Dabi said airily, "They're bad news. Anyone could've told you that."

"In the underground, even other villains don't want to touch them, after the heroes exposed their whole operation," Compress added.

"And we're not going to touch them either," Shigaraki decided, "at least for a while... I need to know more first. None of you start something on your own, got it? Especially you, Twice."

Twice still wanted to avenge Magne. He pouted. "Ah..."

Silk seemed a little surprised. "I guess you all really stick together, huh?"

"Oh, sure," Spinner said, "We're a unit. And you'd better be a team player."

Silk nodded. "I can do group work...usually most of it, in fact, if you ask my college classmates."

Compress smirked. "I like her already."

* * *

"Moment of truth, Emi." Shine looked at her on the second morning before she left for Ketsubutsu. "If you can't use your quirk, you'll have to let the school know. It's now or never."

"Can I pick never?" Miss Joke said.

Shine crossed her arms. "Look, maybe I can help.... Just try."

"All right." Miss Joke held her breath and snapped her fingers.

The glow of her quirk appeared, though she was aiming at a chair, so nothing happened.

"It feels like I did it," she said. Then she clapped her hands. "Oh, yes! I'm back!"

Shine let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness... It wasn't permanent."

"What a relief." Miss Joke spun around. "But...I do wonder why..." She stopped. "Did they even have it ready, then?"

"If so, they weren't risking it on people they were just going to capture and kill, I guess," Shine theorized.

"Well, that's good for me, I suppose." Miss Joke hugged her sides. "How are you feeling now? Better?"

"Still tired," Shine said. She rubbed her head. "More so than I thought I would after two days... I guess I really overdid it."

"You should keep resting, then," Miss Joke said.

Shine nodded.

"Miss Likstar..." Eri wandered out of the bedroom rubbing her eyes. "I'm hungry..."

She had yet to ask Miss Joke for anything... Maybe too much trust was involved?

"You're not even supposed to be up," Shine muttered, feigning being annoyed.

"Well, I'm off." Miss Joke grabbed her purse. "If Aizawa calls to pick you all up, shoot me a text so I know you weren't kidnapped. Later."

Shine waved.

After Miss Joke was gone, she and Eri entertained themselves for awhile, but then she felt tired and sat on the couch while Eri just did a puzzle.

Next thing she knew she was startling awake to the sound of someone knocking on the door.

"Eri?" She blinked, sitting up.

Eri was nowhere in sight.

"Eri?!" Shine yelped.

Eri poked her head out of the bedroom. "I'm in here... I thought you might be tired, so I took kitty in here to play." She held up a cat toy.

Shine breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, that was nice of you... Sorry, I don't know what came over me."

And why did she feel kind of heavy? She rubbed her arms.

She got up and went to the door. Outside she saw...Wally?

She opened it. "Hey, babe---" 

Wally didn't give her the chance to finish. He scooped her up and spun her around. "Finally! Gosh, I've been waiting to do that till Aizawa finally had class again."

"Don't hit me on the door," Shine said, but she didn't really mind.

Wally put her down. "Longest two days ever, am I right?"

"Not as long as waiting for you to get out of the hospital at home, but, yeah, pretty long," Shine said.

"Me? I'm barely ever in there at all," Wally scoffed, "Is Eri around?"

"Yes, she is," Shine said, "So I can't go anywhere. Honestly...I'm exhausted still."

"Oh, really?" Wally said, "Well, you should rest, then." He carried her back inside.

Eri laughed because it looked silly to her to see a big woman like Shine (at least by her standards) get carried like a doll.

"Hey there, princess," Wally said to Eri, "How ya doing?"

"Uh...okay..." Eri was a bit shy now.

"That's fantastic," Wally said.

"I got the flowers. They were nice." Shine pointed to the vases she'd put them in... Actually she'd run out. Miss Joke didn't really have a lot of them around.

"Cool," Wally said.

"I'm going to get you something really good later," Shine added, "Once I think of something...and I can get out, that is."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Wally waved her off, "But see? I'm totally fine."

"I see... I did believe you though."

"Yeah, but it's better in person." Wally did a few exercises to show her he was at full mobility.

Shine sat back down, tired still. Wally, who saw her more often than Miss Joke, noticed she looked a bit pale for her.

He frowned. "You feeling okay?"

"I... Like I said, tired," Shine shrugged.

Wally put a hand on her forehead. "Well, you're not hot, at least no more than usual." He winked.

Shine looked shocked. "Wally!"

"What?"

"And in front of Eri, too!"

"It was just a joke," Wally said as she swatted him with a pillow.

Shine was only faking being mad, and Eri didn't get it anyway.

Wally hung around for a while and watched movies with them.

Shine perked up but did not act like her usual energetic self at any point. And she fell asleep again while watching Barbie: Magic of Pegasus (Eri's choice).

And though it was boring, it wasn't that bad, Wally thought. Shine actually enjoyed cheesy movies like that, so it was not normal.

But he didn't want to freak Eri by acting all worried in front of her, and he needed to get back to the dorms for when the students were there...but then, they'd be okay. Watching Eri was their real job, right? He'd just wait till Miss Joke got back.

He didn't expect another visitor to arrive.

Someone knocked on the door at around 3 pm.

Wally thought it was Miss Joke, so he didn't even check before opening it--but it was Mirko.

Wally had only met her briefly, and he didn't even remember her name, but it was hard to forget someone with bunny ears.

"Uh...hi..." he said blankly.

Mirko tapped her foot and looked annoyed. "Is Joke here?"

"She's out."

"Why are you here? Aren't you Likstar's boyfriend?" Mirko suddenly looked suspicious.

Wally realized how bad it looked right then, but then he started laughing.

"Oh, wow, how embarrassing-- but relax. Shine's here. I just came by to check on her."

"Why is Likstar at this house?"

"She's...well...the whole thing was kind of a delicate situation, so Eri's staying here until they've had more time, and Shine is here to take care of her," Wally explained, "But if you're here to check on Miss Joke, I can tell you she's doing great. Her quirk came back."

"Really?" Mirko at least looked happy to hear that.

Wally had thought she was kind of a jerk before. Shine had told him all about her manners and the roof thing.

"Yeah, so it's all good." Wally didn't really want to let her in. If she was as rude and aggressive as he'd heard, she'd just upset Shine.

"Likstar's in there?" Mirko pushed past him with surprising force for such a small lady (Wally was over 6 ft tall; she barely came up to his chest without her ears). 

"Hey, wait a second." Wally tried to stop her but he didn't use his speed, and she was pretty fast.

Shine had sat up sleepily hearing the commotion. Eri looked up from her movie.

"Bunny girl?" she said, confused. At least she remembered her, though, and didn't freak out.

"Bunny girl?" Mirko said, "It's Mirko, okay?"

"Okay..." Eri looked nervous.

"Hey, don't scare the kid." Wally was annoyed. "She's just a little girl, you know. You can't be all scary like that to her."

"I wasn't being scary." Mirko honestly didn't think she had been.

"Hey...Rumi..." Shine didn't look all that pleased to see her. "What's up?"

"I need to ask you something...in private." Mirko lost no time.

Shine and Wally exchanged a glance.

"How long of a something?" Shine asked.

"I'll make it brief." Mirko rolled her eyes.

"Okay," Shine said.

"Shine, you don't have to be nice, you know," Wally said.

"Of course I do, Wally."

"I mean, she could come back another time," Wally amended.

"Yes, then I'd have to talk to her another time," Shine said.

Mirko's ears twitched. "Are you mad at me for some reason?"

"No, I'm not mad at you. You're just a lot to handle." Shine was killingly blunt. "And I'm not really up to an argument right now. I hope that's not what you had in mind." 

She got up and followed Mirko outside. They moved a little away from Miss Joke's house just in case someone saw them.

Mirko noted Shine didn't look as put together as normal... Her hair was up, and she wasn't wearing make-up... Other than that she seemed fine, so what was all that about her being tired?

"So what's up?" Shine asked.

"Tell me about Hawks." Mirko lost no time. "You know what was eating him, don't you? He knew you from somewhere... And Dabi...what's going on with that?"

Shine stared at her. Then she sighed.

"I told you, it's not my place to explain."

"Oh, bulls---, you could tell me," Mirko said, heatedly, "I'm not asking so I can file a police report or anything. I just want to know."

"If Hawks wanted you to know, he'd have told you himself," Shine said. 

"Maybe he can't." Mirko was dangerously close to the truth. "So I'm asking you."

Shine studied her. "Are you asking me as his friend? Or as a Pro?"

"I wouldn't call us friends," Mirko hedged.

"Then no," Shine said. She gripped a lamppost and leaned on it.

Mirko sighed. "If I said we're friends, would you tell me?"

"Am I that easily convinced?" Shine replied, "Look, Rumi, I keep a lot of secrets. I didn't ask for it to be that way, but that's how it worked out. Whatever I stumbled into by accident, I can't go telling it around. It could change the course of too many events to be that careless. I know that we are shown these things for a reason...but it is a personal reason. If I tell you, and you do something stupid about it, I would effectively have signed your death warrant and possibly Hawks'. Furthermore, I really know very little about him. I'm sure you could guess most of what I know."

"That he's caught up in the League's business somehow," Mirko lowered her voice.

Shine sighed. "I can't confirm that. If it looked that way to you, then you know what you think already. If it is true, I strongly suggest you stay out of it. The LOV would not want another Pro poking around their business-- and you especially."

"What's so wrong with me, huh?" Mirko got offended a lot more than Shine thought she would at that. "What did I ever do to all of you, huh? Is it just because I'm a top hero and I work alone? Is that the reason no one around here trusts me?!"

"Shh, keep your voice down," Shine hissed, "What are you talking about? When did I say that?"

"Well, it's true, isn't it?" Mirko pointed at her accusingly. "You think I can't handle it, is that it? Didn't I keep up with all of you on that mission? I didn't fink on any of you. So what's the deal with treating me like some kind of loose canon?"

Shine shook her head. "Who's doing that?"

"Everyone!" Mirko retorted.

Shine rolled her eyes. "Okay, then...don't explain. Rumi, I'd love to hash this out with you, normally. I do thrive off drama...but not today, okay? Can we talk about it later?"

Mirko crossed her arms. "Don't act pathetic... I thought that the deal was, if I kept your involvement a secret, I'd get the scoop."

Shine frowned. "And is that the only reason you are doing it? Because if so, I think you have your answer as to why no one trusts you. If that even is true."

Mirko looked like she'd been hit right between the eyes. "What do you mean?"

"That's kind of a selfish reason," Shine said dryly, "I might take it personally, except I know you've never once considered how I feel at all, so you can't actually mean it that way."

That was cutting.

"Hey! Don't give me that. I'm not the type to coddle anyone's feelings," Mirko said.

"I know that perfectly well," Shine said, "In your eyes, we're not friends, right? That's okay...but here's the thing, Rumi, I only open up to my friends. And only my friends get to help me do my job. It's just too risky to entrust to people who do not feel at least some amount of connection with us. Wally and I agree on that. I'm sorry if that upsets you. I have a feeling, though, anything I say will do that."

"Stop trying to sound like this is a nice thing you're doing." Mirko was annoyed. "We both know better... It's 'cause I stepped on your toes, huh?"

"No, you couldn't do that if you tried." Shine was brutal. "You lack the insight into my character to really hurt my feelings...but, if you mean I'm sugarcoating it...maybe I am. Shall I be more direct? I can't trust you completely because you refused to trust us. Sorry. I imagine Hawks' reason is much nicer than that, but he won't tell you anything either. To be fair, I think he just wants you to be safe. He's not so bad." She shrugged.

Mirko didn't know what to say to that.

"So you agree..." she said finally, "Just like everyone else... I guess I'm not surprised. No one gets it."

Shine didn't know what she meant by that. 

Instead she felt lightheaded, and the next thing she knew she was seeing the ground come up to meet her.

"Shine?" Wally was next to her in an instant. He'd watched the whole thing from the window. "I thought you weren't going to argue," he said to Mirko angrily.

Mirko hadn't really expected Shine to collapse. "I didn't--I mean, I thought--"

"I don't think you did think at all." Wally helped Shine up. "You know, you really should pay more attention to people. What's your problem, anyway? What did Shine ever do to you?"

"Wally..." Shine muttered, "it's okay."

"It's not okay with me," Wally said, still miffed, "She's just bullying you, and I'm not going to let her."

"I wasn't trying to--" Mirko  never caved in like this, but Wally was actually kind of terrifying when he was mad. You could tell it was rare for him.

"Maybe you should just go and come back some other time," Wally said stiffly, "Or wait till Shine gets in touch, huh? Though if it were up to me, I'd say you should just leave her alone."

Mirko backed up. "You know what? Whatever. I'm done here anyway." She bounded away.

Wally took Shine inside. "Still, that was weird... What happened to you?"

Shine's pulse was racing. "I...don't know... I just felt faint. This isn't normal."

"I think we should get you to the doctor," Wally said.

"No, I can wait till Emi gets back," Shine said.

Emi got back only about an hour later as it was.

Wally took Shine over to UA to see Recovery Girl, but Recovery Girl couldn't find anything wrong with her.

Shine put it down to the warping and portaling, as nothing else really made sense. She would just need to rest more.

But Wally thought that really wasn't it. That would only have lasted one day, usually.

* * *

Mirko went home in a huff after beating up some criminals more than she really needed to to blow off steam.

She was livid.

And embarrassed that she'd gotten scared off by a guy who looked like a WacDonald's Happy Meal in human form.

Also, Shine's words stung more than she would like to admit. So they just didn't trust her, huh? This was a new one.

Well, if they refused to help, she was just going to have to figure it out on her own, as she normally would.

And that meant it was time to start hunting down leads on just who those people at the camp had been.

[Who else thinks this sounds like it will end poorly for her? Yeah...me too.]