Shigaraki got more hung up over that argument than he thought he would. The Pro really pissed him off.

It was no good. And Kurogiri was still gone... If he did work with the Originals...wouldn't that mean they could find the LOV easily, even if they didn't make a stir? It still didn't make any sense.

The other members were getting stir crazy too, since no one dared to go out and do any real jobs with the ninja still at large.

The news that Dabi was not coming back did not go over well.

"I can't believe he'd just desert us, and without so much as one word of explanation!" Spinner was livid. "We should kill him!"

"I don't know why he'd do such a thing, after all we've done for him," Compress agreed, "We took care of each other, and now he just turns his back on us... What is our policy on defectors? Death?"

"We've never had a policy. No one has ever defected," Shigaraki said.

"People don't defect from other groups because death is the punishment. Shouldn't we implement it?" Spinner urged.

 "That doesn't sit well with our policy of letting anyone join freely," Shigaraki said, "We've never hazed people. What's the point? He's gone. It's too late to worry about it."

"I think if we just let him go, we're creating a lax standard," Compress said, "Anyone can go, then. No consequences."

"Well, killing them sounds like something all those other groups would do. Aren't we supposed to be a different sort of change?" Shigaraki said.

"I would have sworn you would have said to just kill him..." Compress was puzzled. "Why are you being so lenient? Consider the implications. He could betray all of us to the law just to get amnesty. They love stuff like this. The dramatic effect makes people like the heroes more. Good triumphs and all that."

Shigaraki was silent. Compress might have a point...

"What is use?" Silk spoke up, "Talking about murdering Dabi, when you do not know where he is? Let it go. If we move out now to find him, we just expose ourselves."

"It could be she has a point, though," Compress admitted way too quickly, "We'll have to bide our time for revenge... I'm sure we'll get a chance sooner or later."

Shigaraki was glad to drop the subject. All this was making him uncomfortable. He scratched at his neck nervously.

But after all that, he was sitting and thinking alone, when that new kid, Lethe, came around. 

"You really just want to let Dabi go?" the kid said.

"It's moot until we have more freedom," Shigaraki said, "Go away. I don't need advice from kids."

Lethe gave an unpleasant smile. "I just was wondering if perhaps you already knew who is hiding him. I have a suspicion."

"What? Are you daring to accuse me of something...?" Shigaraki's mind suddenly went blank. Lethe had his hand up....

* * *

Who was he talking to? Shigaraki rubbed his head. Someone had been in here...

"Shigaraki?" Spinner looked in. "Are you all right...? It's been a while... Don't we need to discuss what to do next?"

"Yeah... Were you in here before?"

"No...why?"

"I just thought someone was in here..."

"I saw Lethe come out of here a while ago. I guess he was bugging you for another mission, wasn't he?"

That sounded dimly familiar...but what had he told him? Probably to leave him alone.

A lack of clarity was not really a new feeling for Shigaraki, so he didn't think much of it. His mind was usually so many different places he forgot any conversation that wasn't interesting.

"Who told you Dabi wasn't coming back anyway?" Spinner asked, "I've been wondering, was it Likstar?"

"I..." Shigaraki paused. "Huh.... How did I know that?"

"Sir?"

"I don't remember," Shigaraki said weirdly.

Spinner looked at him weirdly.

"Lethe..." Shigaraki said, "Where is he?"

"Probably just out..." Spinner got suspicious. "Do you think he has something to do with it?"

"I think it's high time we find out just what his quirk is," Shigaraki said.

* * *

"What do you mean you know how to find out where Dabi is?" Compress said. Lethe had gathered him, Silk, and Medea outside.

"Just what I said. I have already...UA. That Likstar woman. She knows where he is. If you want a chance to question him yourself, I think we could find him."

"Interesting," Silk said, "but foolish. If they find us, we're dead."

"Perhaps, but it would be simple for Medea and I to sneak in," Lethe said, "We're good at that. And Dabi is a weak link if he spills relevant info. We should make sure he can't talk."

"He has a point, but to infiltrate UA again would be hard without a warper," Compress said.

"We could, easily, I'm telling you." Lethe was impatient.

"Oh, oh, disguise time!" Medea's hand shot up. "I am all over this. We could pose as students. Lethe and I are the right age. I have the perfect quirk. It's no big deal."

"Una Problema, Senorita," Compress said, "To get into UA you need a special ID, scanned at the gate, unless you could just bypass the wall altogether. They also have guards, robots, etc."

"We could get in easily enough." Silk tapped her chin. "With disguise it might work. I can make disguise. It's low risk compared to any other option, but if that leaves two children to do the investigation..."

"And when have Medea and I ever failed to get our info?" Lethe asked.

Medea rubbed her arm as if she was nervous. "Yeah, we're always on our game."

"If you could pull it off..." Compress was tempted.

"Just let us try," Lethe said, "If they catch us, they'll just think we're punk kids pulling a prank. We'll get let off with a warning."

"True, that is likely..." Silk said, "I could pose as their mother if they get taken in-- or aunt. Pretend to pick them up. It's a piece of the cake."

"There's no the," Medea said, with typical teenage sass.

"No the where?" Silk said.

"It's just cake."

"That is what I said. It's the cake."

"Ugh, forget it." Medea rolled her eyes.

"Well, in that case, I see no reason not to attempt this," Compress said, "And what the boss doesn't know, won't kill him."

"Good. Let's go." Lethe was in a hurry.

They left just before Shigaraki and Spinner came looking, and when Twice told them the four had gone out to pull off a job, they were livid.

"We have to warn Compress if they're up to something," Shigaraki said.

"How? We don't have phones!" Spinner said.

"Well, where would they have gone?"

"Maybe to look for Dabi...?" Spinner suggested.

"No, they'd never do anything that stupid. Probably just went out for supplies," Shigaraki said, "And none of us can just go out after them. They'd recognize us."

"I can," Toga offered, "I'll just go in disguise. It's no big. I need to get out anyway... How bloodied should they be when I bring them back?"

"Just bring him back in once piece, Toga. And don't get carried away. Or distracted."

"Never." Toga's tone did not fill them with confidence. She slipped out.

"Uh..." Shigaraki face palmed for real.

[Me thinks what he doesn't know may kill him if it has to do with Lethe. Guess we'll find out.]

* * *

Getting into UA was just shamefully easy. Lethe had been right.

Silk used her quirk to change how their clothes looked carefully, and she even could make fake hair extensions in different colors, changing Medea's hair from purple to gold highlights.

Medea and her had way too much fun changing clothes up, more than was necessary, really.

Lethe preferred to just look the same, only with a UA uniform.

They snuck over a wall after Compress and Silk either removed or covered the security cameras with a screen.

Silk could even weave fake IDs, though they wouldn't pass any real inspection, but they would probably be enough to fool any casual observer.

"This is going to be so much fun," Medea said, "Where do we find Likstar?"

"She's around the 1-A students, so we just need to find the classes." Lethe was not nearly as hyped up. "Let's just try not to draw any attention to ourselves."

"If you run into trouble, you let us know," Silk said.

"How?" Medea said.

"Send up flare or something... Let's just agree if you take longer than hour, we come looking," Silk said.

"It could take that long just to find them. Make it 2 hours," Lethe argued.

"Fine, 2," Compress said, "You'd better pull this off after all this effort."

"You didn't do that much," Medea was snarky, "We're doing all the work."

"You ought to check that attitude of yours if you're going to have good cooperation skills," Compress said.

"Gee, sure, Dad." Medea was sarcastic as only teenagers could be. "Come on, bro, let's go. I want to check this."

"We're not here for sight seeing, Medea." Lethe followed her.

"Sure, but I can still look around," Medea replied, quickening her pace.

Silk was smirking at Compress.

"What?" he said.

"Dad." Silk imitated Medea's tone pretty well. "Such a brat. I can't believe this is team we left with."

"Yet somehow still more mature than any of the other wackos in this League," Compress said remorsefully.

Silk laughed.

* * *

"Lethe, seriously though," Medea spoke once they were far out of earshot, "don't you think maybe we'd just better tell them about the plot?"

"We could never do that," Lethe said coldly, "You know that."

"I know," Medea said slowly, "but I hate the Originals. They're creeps and bullies...and Compress and Silk aren't as bad as most of the schmucks we've met on the run...and maybe they'd know how to fix this."

"They're just villains like everyone else, Medea. Don't get attached," Lethe said, "Do you think they'd hesitate to murder us if they thought we'd turn on them? All these people are always the same. They don't care about anyone else. They don't care about you. Don't be so soft in the head."

"I'm not!" Medea's eyes flickered purple. "Stop saying that. I just think you're in over your head. You know, I usually think you can handle yourself better than anyone else. But they outsmarted us. We're still...you know...green. Maybe we should have just let the LOV give us assignments. Maybe the plan to get more respect was a bad one."

"You always think so small," Lethe said, "If you just wait for people to tell you what to do, you'll never be anything but a yes-man. It may have backfired, but we'll get out of this and back on top. We just need an opportunity."

"Sure," Medea said, flatly, "It's funny. For twins, we sure don't think the same. I mean, who needs to really be on top if you can make it work where you are?"

"We need no one to want to mess with us," Lethe insisted, "It's the only way to stay safe. You know I will always keep us safe."

"I know you always say that, but we're only in trouble now because of you." Medea said something truly hurtful.

"What?" Lethe turned, hurt indeed. "How can you say that?"

Medea bit her lip. "I didn't mean it like that... Just, things explode in your face sometimes. Don't you think even you have to deal with that and ask for help once in a while?"

"No one was ever going to help us when we were in that home," Lethe snapped at her, "You want to go back to that? To the people saying we're demons and putting cockroaches in our food and dumping trash on our pillows and pushing us into dark closets?!"

Medea cringed. "No..." she said, more subdued.

"How about the police asking about us? And our family and friends denying they even knew us?!" Lethe pushed. He felt sort of guilty, but Medea needed to be reminded just why they'd run off.

"No, no." Medea backed up. "Stop it, I get it. We're screwed... Fine. Let's just get this over with, then."

She thrust her shoulders back. "I'm still going to have fun with it. Let's split up and meet in the middle of that building." She pointed to what looked like an office and classroom building, shaped like an H. "We should cover more ground if we look separately. We only have 2 hours. I bet it took at least 20 minutes to walk here."

"Can you contain yourself?" Lethe asked, "Don't lose your temper."

"When have I ever when it was important?" Medea said.

Lethe winced to himself. Guilt twisted in his stomach. But it was better this way.

"All right, fine... Just don't talk to anyone."

"Right, I've got it." Medea tapped her head. "I'm on it." When they got inside the H, she went to the left.

 Lethe went to the right.

He didn't talk to anyone, he just looked for the teachers' lounge, where he hoped to find out where they would be at this time of day. School was in session after all.

Medea had a bit more of an adventure on her route.

Lunch hour had just hit when she was moving along the left half of the building, checking classrooms.

"D---, this place is huge." She ogled the desks and walls with costume slots lining them.

Students started pouring out into the hallways after a bell went off.

"Ah, s---." Medea didn't think Lethe would be happy if they saw her. But she couldn't get out of the hallway in time, so she just pretended to know where she was going and followed the students.

No one really looked at her funny at first, but a few students noticed her as she kept following the flow.

"Is she in the hero course?"

"I don't think so. Maybe a Gen Ed student got lost."

"Should we ask her?"

"But they hate us. Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Medea got annoyed. "You know, I can hear you." She looked over at them and frowned. "Got a problem with Gen Ed?"

"Oh, no..." They backed away.

"Sorry," one girl with horns and a thick American accent said. 

"That's right. No," Medea said. 

She walked onward smugly, not realizing that's not at all how a Gen Ed student would have acted.

"That was weird," some blond guy said to a red haired girl, "Do you think that's a new transfer?"

"In the middle of Winter?" the red head said, "That'd be weird...and no one else transferred out, did they? Well, I wouldn't know for Gen Ed, but let's just leave her alone. She clearly doesn't like hero students."

"Well, maybe we should just educate her, then," the blond said.

"Monoma! No!" Kendo said, "Leave the girl alone! Get back here."

Too late. Monama could never resist a chance to posture to someone.

"Excuse me." He blocked Medea's path. "Is there a problem you have with hero students?"

"Nah, just weirdos who creep on me when I'm minding my own business," Medea said. This talk was how you established you weren't afraid on the street. She and Lethe had learned that fast.

But it didn't work on the hero students.

"Perhaps if you weren't in the wrong hallway, no one would be staring," Monoma said, "You know this isn't the Gen Ed hallway, right?"

"Is that so?" Medea feigned a careless tone. "Whatever. One look at you and I'd think it was, but guess that was just my mistake."

The red headed girl stifled a laugh.

Monoma frowned. "What?"

"You're not Gen Ed?" Medea said, "I mean, sorry. The totally ordinary appearance and lack of any apparently useful quirk kind of had me going on that. Not to mention the obnoxious nosiness. I mean, clearly you don't have a life, right?"

Some of the the 1-B students were gathering to listen to this.

"Excuse me? I am Neito Monoma of the hero course! I was in the Sports Festival!" Monoma snapped.

Medea had actually watched that on TV while hiding in a basement with her brother, so she wracked her memory... Oh, right.

"Hey, yeah, I remember you." She smiled unpleasantly.

"Well," Monama began to sound smug, "of course you do because--"

"You were the guy that Bakugo hotshot humiliated in the Calvary battle," Medea finished triumphantly.

The other 1-B people avoided eye contact with Monoma, whose smug expression faded.

"Not the smartest move to piss off the top student in the course," Medea said. She was enjoying this now. "What a dumba--."

"It was a calculated risk!"

"I think you miscalculated that one a little," Medea snorted, "Well, you know, this was great and all, meeting the B-squad, but I think I'll look for some real heroes to accidentally wander the apparent territory of. Bye now." She walked away.

"That was fun," she said to herself, "and they didn't suspect a thing. See, Lethe, I can totally handle this."

* * *

"That was really weird!" Monoma cried to the others.

"Yeah, I've never seen anyone give you so much of a dose of your own medicine." Kendo was laughing at him.

"Bro, she really roasted you just like you roasted the 1-A kids," Awase said.

"No, didn't you think it was odd how none of us had ever seen her before?" Monoma sputtered, "And to just pick a fight with a hero student? She's clearly an imposter."

"Aren't you just sore because she embarrassed you?" Kendo wasn't buying it. "We don't know the other courses that well. I couldn't name any of them except Shinso. I think I've seen her around... You're overreacting. Don't shame us further by making a stir over it just because she hurt your feelings."

"She did not! I don't care what an ignorant Gen Ed student says about me, but I'm telling you, it's not natural."

"She was a little...unique," Awase said, "But, hey, she was kind of cute too, wasn't she?"

"If you like vipers," Monama grumbled.

"I couldn't tell what her quirk was, but I guess it's probably weak if she's in the General Studies..." Awase mused.

"Well, I thought she was funny," one of the other students said in passing, "Monoma deserved that. You shouldn't pick on other students if they're just walking around. It's bad form."

"Actually, we should apologize to her," Kendo said, "I think I will."

"Yeah, let's do that," Awase agreed.

"But don't ask for her number," Kendo warned.

"I wasn't going to!" Awase reddened.

"I'm not going to apologize for anything," Monoma declared, following them, "And she is sus, you'll see. I bet she's not even in the hallway anymore."

* * *

But Medea was in the hallway. More specifically, she was at an intersection. And trying to remember which way she'd come from. 

"I knew I should have downloaded a map or something..." She looked up and down. "Well, probably should just keep going left. That's what they say to do when you're lost...right? Wait, is this left from where I entered? Or left from where I turned? Because then it's actually right... Left is right, right is left... Ergh..." Her eyes started to flame with irritation.

"Excuse me." The red haired girl startled her enough for her almost to set herself on fire. She whirled around, eyes still blazing.

"Whoa..." the shorter guy with dark hair and a headband said.

"Oh...sorry," the red haired girl said, "I didn't mean to startle you. I'm Kendo, by the way. This is Awase, and that jerk there is...well, you know.

Monoma was scowling at her.

"We just wanted to apologize for back there. Monoma has a huge problem with human-ing," Kendo said, smiling nicely.

Medea was weirded out. "Huh? Oh, forget it. I can handle a little attitude."

I can't handle you acting like we're friends now or something, she thought, What is with hero students?

"No, really, we're sorry," Awase said. "Are you lost or something? We could help you. I know this school is huge. I got lost like 5 times in the first week."

Kendo snickered. "Really? I downloaded a map off the student portal website so I could navigate."

"You can do that?"

"Oh, yeah sure," Kendo said.

Medea had a genius idea. "You know, I could use that. Can you download that from...I dunno, the library or the lounge?"

"I think you could. Maybe you could right now. Don't you have your profile set up?"

"Ah, no, I'm new," Medea lied glibly, "Just transferred in... Actually, I was looking for the office anyway to get my schedule. I didn't know there was a website."

"See, told you," Kendo said to Monoma smugly.

"No, you didn't," Monoma shot back.

"We'd be happy to walk you there. We've got time before lunch is over," Awase offered.

"That'd be real cash money of you-- what was it, Awase?" Medea winked.

Awase blushed. "Uh, no big deal. Let's go."

"You're just going to--" Monoma began.

Kendo hit him in the head and he fell over. "Shut up. Give it a rest already." She smiled. "Sorry about him. I think he has brain damage."

Actually, Medea thought to herself, he's just smarter than you. But that works out for me just fine. Dumb people are the best. Especially ones who keep smarter people in check.

She cheerfully followed the students toward the office. Monoma was dragged along by Kendo.

* * *

It took only about 20 minutes, with guides, to get there. Medea made up a bunch more stuff about herself while they walked to answer the questions of the students.

She'd had to lie so many times to get out of situations with Lethe on the road, that she just automatically invented stuff now. And she was fairly good at not contradicting herself either. She just wove a narrative.

She was pretty smug about handling the whole thing. She'd brag to Lethe all about it later, she thought.

Monoma didn't say much more, but he didn't look like he was swallowing all of it the way the other two were. He kept glaring at her.

Like she cared what a little shrimp like that was going to do to her. Kind of a cute shrimp though. If he'd stop making ugly faces.

Medea was a surveyor of cute guys as much as the next girl. So what if she was a villain? She had eyes, didn't she? Lethe was always so adamant about not forming attachments. He never even looked at girls. Medea smirked to herself. Did her little brother think she was going to just let him follow her around the rest of their lives? Seriously, he needed to get out of his goth phase. It was just embarrassing.

Ugh, she couldn't stop thinking about her brother even while she was with hero students. He really just dominated all their plans. In fact, this might be the most time she'd been away from him on a mission ever, on purpose...

"And do you have family nearby...?" Kendo was asking. Gee, she was nosy.

"Hmm? Oh, sure, my brother." Medea was distracted and answered honestly.

"You have a brother? How old?" Awase said.

"Oh, we're twins..." Medea realized too late this might be a bad idea to explain.

"Oh, cool," Awase said. This guy was just too friendly. It was weird.

"Is he going here too?" Kendo asked.

"He... Sure." Medea thought fast. What if they ran into him? She'd better have a reason to know him, right? It was better to just own up to it. "He's just not in my course. That's why he'd not with me."

"So is he business, then? Hero? Support?"

"Oh...business..." Lethe would hate her for this, but Business Class suited him, for sure.

"Wow...so what do those guys do?" Awase said.

Medea snorted. "He'd know, not me. You think I understand how my brother's mind works?"

"That's true... Well, no one gets the business course," Awase said.

"Here we are." Kendo stopped in front of a doorway that read Office. "Now, we've got to get to lunch, so we'll see you around... Oh, gosh, what was your name again?"

Medea froze. What was her name? Geez, it was so long since she'd used it...

"Aya," she said.

[Aya means 'color, design'. Might reference her eyes changing. Or her personality.]

That's right, Aya...and Lethe's name was Yuma.

[Yuma means 'calm truth'.]

"That's you last name?" Kendo said, surprised.

"Ah, no... I don't really go by that. I guess we're not very formal," Medea said.

"Oh, okay. Well, it was nice meeting you, Aya. Later." Kendo waved and walked away.

"Yeah, later." Awase walked away.

But Monoma hung back.

"Despite your air tight story, I still find it a little strange for someone to transfer in the middle of the year. You won't mind if I just hang back and make sure the staff knows who you are?" he said.

D--- it!

"Whatever..." Medea said sullenly. Now what was she going to do? She could just knock him out, she supposed.

She turned her hand into flame without any warning and moved to use her special trick she knew to knock people out.

Monoma ducked with the reflexes of anyone in Vlad King's class.

"Aha! I knew i!" He swatted at her back, yanking her hair.

"Hey!" That made her mad. She pushed him. "Hands off, Creep."

Monoma smirked and burst into purple fire also.

Medea was taken aback, and she backed up.

His eyes blazed too... So that really did just come with the quirk... Oh, right, she remembered now-- his power was copy...but he wasn't that good at it. This shouldn't be any problem for her.

"Relax, weirdo," she ad-libbed, "I was just messing with you to see what you'd do. Guess you hero students are on your toes. I wasn't really going to rough you up."

"I would never let you do that! But you will be turned into the principal!" Monoma snapped.

"What? 'Cause you can't finish your own fights?" Medea taunted, "Pathetic. Well, whatever. Go ahead. I'll just tell them you started it."

"They won't believe that."

"No? Your two classmates know you are acting all suspicious of me. I think they'll buy it." Medea smiled slyly. "And you can't prove anything. Plus, I'm a girl, and people always believe girls over boys."

"That's the worst logic I've ever heard!"

"Look, whatever. Go ahead. Risk it." Medea held up her hands. "Gosh, you're annoying. I swear good looks are wasted on jackasses like you."

"What?" Monoma said weirdly.

"My brother would have a field day with you," Medea said, "I bet I could accuse you of harassment for grabbing my hair like that to get my quirk. That's so pervy."

"It was not!"

"Of course a weakling who needs others to fight with already has his own problems, so maybe I should just feel sorry for you," Medea taunted, "Poor little hero student. I wonder how you even lasted in this course."

"I am very good, actually!"

"I bet. You know what, I'm thinking I'll just march in there myself and tell them what you were doing. You got a rep for being a pain around here? 'Cause that would really help my case, and I'm betting the answer is yes."

Bingo. She had him.

He looked nervous. "Okay, okay, you've made your point. But I still think you're suspicious. I'll be watching  you. You'll slip up sooner or later."

"Oh, sure, sure I will." Medea was relieved. If she just got away now it would be fine. "See you around, hot stuff." She went through the door before he could reply.

The flirting bit always worked, she thought. Stiffs like heroes couldn't handle it. Lethe would give her points--oh..wait...no he wouldn't... He was going to be livid if he heard about this.

She just wouldn't mention that part. What Lethe didn't know wouldn't kill him, right?

***

Lethe was already in the office, actually. He was in one of the cubicles, checking the school schedule.

"We're lucky the only staff in here just went out for coffee. Won't even remember I was here," he said, "What took you so long?"

"Nothing, it was just a long walk," Medea said, "But this student helped me. Don't worry, my cover story was air tight. They thought I was Gen Ed."

"Really? Nothing went wrong?" Lethe looked up.

"Not a thing," Medea lied.

Lethe could usually tell when she was lying, but she must have really been unruffled enough this time for it not to show.

He looked away. "I think I know where to find Likstar. Wiping her memory of all this should be nothing once we get what we need."

"And we are going to get Dabi for real, right?"

"Of course. It's too much to erase if we have to invent a whole other reason we went out. Don't worry, it'll be easy. Those memories will be close to the surface. It'll take me 5 minutes tops to do this."

"I know you can do it. I'm just worried someone will notice if she's off."

"No, she's an oddity. No one will think anything of it," Lethe assured her.