[TRIGGER WARNING: THIS CHAPTER WILL CONTAIN MENTIONS OF SUICIDE AND THREATS.

Not too bad but if you're really sensitive ,may want to skip to the last scene.] 

Lethe should have taken Likstar down first thing, but he wasted time looking for Medea, hoping she'd only hidden, not actually run away.

By the time he gave up on that, he knew Kurogiri would have been waiting for him to come, and he raced back to the right section.

Likstar was there all right, trying to get a hold of her team, but her calls didn't seem to go through.

She had her sword out and kept trying to trace a door with it. "Come on! Come on! Break!" she muttered.

Her eyes flared gold.

Lethe held up the dart gun. He hesitated... But no, he had to do this... Medea defecting wouldn't matter later. He could fix it. He could keep them both safe if he just did this. They had to survive...

But he didn't expect someone to come running out of the street behind him and knock into him.

Then jump back.

He didn't recognize the guy at all...but he a had a ridiculous costume on. So he must be a hero.

Likstar turned around, hearing the noise.

"Monoma?" she cried.

"Miss Likstar, run away from this guy!" Monoma yelled at her, "He's trying to drug you."

"What?" Shine zeroed in on Lethe. "You!" She looked livid.

"I've got him. Just go!" Monoma said, "That girl told me to warn you. You remember?"

"Her?" Shine blinked. "Oh...okay, but do not get close to him."

"I won't." Monoma turned into purple flame.

"Medea..." Lethe gasped, "What have you done?!"

Shine ran the other way. "I'll get you once I can, Monoma, just run for it once you can," She yelled behind her.

Monoma managed to snatch the gun out of Lethe's grasp. Lethe was just too shocked to stop him.

"I can't believe she's...actually...lost her mind... How could this happen?"

"You know, I may not know your relationship with your sister, or you, all that well," Monoma said, "but I'm pretty sure if you mess with someone's head, that's kind of abusive. Maybe you should really think about going to therapy."

"Shut up!" Lethe backed away from him. "I don't know how you are using her quirk, but I'm sure you have a limit, don't you? You seem familiar... You're from UA, right? Not 1-A, so you must be the B class."

Monoma glared at him through the fire.

"Ah, I remember you now," Lethe smirked, "Neito Monoma...Copy Cat quirk. You have a very short limit, don't you?"

Monoma hissed. "It won't matter if you can't touch me in that time, will it? I can finish you off, I promise you."

Lethe shook his head. "I'm not much of a fighter, my sister is-- but I am not stupid."

A person dressed as a ninja landed next to him, holding up a device. They aimed it at Monoma and shot him with something... A dart? 

Suddenly his quirk turned off...

"What a useless, s--- hero," the ninja said, "Not even a weapon to fight back with. Quirks are such a disease on the mind as well as the body."

Monoma backed up as the ninja came closer to him, pulling out a knife. "I think he's better off just killed off, don't you? He's useless."

Lethe turned away. "Whatever... I should find Likstar." He went for the dart gun where Monoma had dropped it. It wasn't so easily melted and was still usable.

Then a gunshot rang out. The ninja in front of Monoma looked startled, then looked down at their torso. It was hard to see in the black, but blood showed...

They dropped the knife and clutched at it. "That little b---."

Monoma looked back.

Medea was standing not that far away, shakingly holding up her gun, teeth gritted and eyes blazing.

Lethe looked up. "Aya...you wouldn't... You would never."

"Drop it..." Medea said.

Lethe looked at the dart gun. "And if I don't? You'll shoot me?! You'd do it on purpose? Kill your own family?"

Medea winced. "Ah..." She shut her eyes. "Why does it hurt...? Why does it hurt so much when you say that?"

She put one hand to her head.

"You really are a piece of work," Monoma said to Lethe in disgust.

"Shut up. You don't know her at all!" Lethe said, "She's not able to make this kind of call. She's never been strong enough to face these things. No one would..."

"Ahhh!" Medea screamed, "Stop! Stop it!"

"I can stop it." Lethe started coming closer. "Just let me help you, Aya... Come on, you know it's better this way. You know you don't really want to remember."

He got really close.

Medea froze, terror in her eyes. "I don't want to remember..." she repeated, "I know...I know I don't..."

"Exactly," Lethe said slowly, "It's too much...isn't it?"

"It is..." Medea said.

Monoma knew nothing about brainwashing, but he was pretty sure this was it.

"Hey, knock it off!" he yelled at Lethe.

The ninja forced himself up, knife in hand, ready to stab Monoma from behind, but he didn't notice. He was too absorbed in the other scene.

Medea was staring at Lethe, transfixed, then suddenly she looked behind him. "Duck!" she yelled.

Monoma ducked on instinct, because if you were in Vlad's class, and someone yelled duck at you, you did it.

Medea shot again, right in the hand of the ninja. They howled and dropped the knife for the second time and began calling her names that no one should call a teenaged girl.

Lethe was distracted too. For a moment he thought she was shooting at him. When he turned around, Monoma yanked his feet out from under him.

Medea walked up and kicked the dart gun out of his reach.

Lethe froze, not sure what she was going to do next.

Tears were streaming down her face now. "I don't know what you did to me," she said, in a very low voice, "but I hate you!"

Lethe gasped in shock.

"I don't know why it hurts so much, but I bet it's your fault!" Medea yelled at him, "You're not even sorry for me, are you, you d--- sociopath! How did I not know this about you till today? I hope I never see you again, Yuma!"

https://youtu.be/byfiQA8HRaE

"Maybe I'm too emotional. But your apathy's like a wound in salt 

Maybe I'm too emotional, Or maybe you never cared at all 

Maybe I'm too emotional. Your apathy is like a wound in salt 

Maybe I'm too emotional. Or maybe you never cared at all

[Chorus] Well, good for you. You look happy and healthy. Not me, if you ever cared to ask. Good for you. You're doin' great out there without me 

Baby, like a damn sociopath!

 I've lost my mind. I've spent the night cryin' on the floor of my bathroom 

But you're so unaffected. I really don't get it. But I guess good for you."

"You don't mean that, you're just erratic!" Lethe cried, "You always get like this, but you'll calm down and remember that I'm just trying to keep you safe! Come on, Aya."

"Don't touch me!" Medea backed up. "Screw you! If the ninja find me, I swear I'll..." She shook. "I'll just shoot myself before I let them drag me back there."

"Don't say that!" Lethe cried, "That's crazy!"

"I'm serious!" Medea yelled, "None of you come after me! You hear me?" She backed up and then turned and ran the other way.

Monoma snatched up the dart gun and then ran after her, because he wasn't staying here.

[Design by Onerose, original template by original designer]

* * *

The LOV and the two Pros had found all the remaining nomu were engaged in battle with pros or else roaming around. It was down to around 10 of them now, a mix of small ones and few larger ones still.

"All things considered, they picked off a lot," Hawks said, "Look, there's Likstar."

Shine was running out from between buildings.

They landed in front of her. 

"No, run!" she yelled at them, "But there's a kid, back there, blonde hair, Monoma--"

They all heard a gun shot go off.

They froze.

"That...didn't sound good," Hawks said.

"The ninja..." Shine said.

Another gunshot went off just a second later before anyone could think of a plan.

Silk bit her lip.

"Lethe was back there too." Shine began to explain hurriedly about the drug thing. 

"It could be too late. Should we risk it?" Hawks wondered.

"You are a disappointment!" Silk yelled at him, taking off that direction.

Compress was going to follow, but Spinner grabbed him. "Are you nuts? They'll capture her and you, and we're screwed."

"We can't let her go alone," Compress said.

"I'll fly over." Hawks lifted back into the air. "We should not be hesitating like this. I'm ashamed."

"Sure, but we can't all just focus on one kid either," Mirko said to the others, "We have to fix that." Pointing at the rest of the area.

Wally appeared. "Shine! There you are. I was just looking... The kids are all over the place, but I think they're okay."

"And Kurogiri?" Shigaraki demanded.

"Just like we thought, he's gone." Wally embraced Shine. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing, but it was...Monoma..." Shine was kind of dazed. "I'm not sure what's going on, Wally, but I don't like it."

"Get her out of here. She's in shock," Mirko told Wally, "Once you recover, worry about getting the rest of the heroes back together... Someone is messing with the plan deliberately. That's probably a sign it might work. But we'll improvise."

There was a screech from the nomu.

"I think they've sensed us," Spinner said.

Wally snapped his fingers. "I've got it: they're like dogs. They howl to alert each other when they find their target. Eh?"

"That's why they keep finding us. When one sees us, they call all the rest..." Compress said.

Then he pulled free of Spinner. "I still say we should help Silk."

"Oh, for the love of--I'll get her," Mirko said, "Just get out of range of those monsters and keep them focused on you. That's your job, Magic Man. Bye." She sprang off down the street.

"She's kid of brave and stupid at the same time," Wally said, "I'm liking her more."

"Glad you're warming up to her...but the kids..." Shine said.

"Okay, Shine, you need to take a minute. She's right," Wally said, "Come on, all of you villain people get up high or something. Make them work for it."

Shigaraki warped them all to the top of a building, while Wally and Shine dashed a safer distance away.

* * *

Monoma followed Medea away. She didn't run very far. She was gasping and clutching her head. She still had the gun though.

Then she saw him and pointed it at him. Her eyes were wild. "Don't."

Monoma stopped... He was not ready for this...still...

"Calm down," he tried.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" she yelled, "I'm not going back! Don't try to touch me! Just leave me alone!"

"I'm just trying to help. You'll get caught by those people if you keep acting like this," Monoma said.

"Like what? Crazy?" Medea said, sounding very near snapping. 

She held up the gun to herself. "Back off, or I'll shoot myself. I swear!"

[Medea image design by Onerose]

Monoma backed up. "It's not the answer, you know. You shouldn't threaten that... Just...calm down..."

"What's the use?" Medea sniffled, "This is already hell, isn't it? Nowhere to run." Fire flickered over her form like she might erupt at any moment. "Bad things always happen around me. I know that's why I don't remember them. I don't know what I did, but it was bad..."

"It's no use." Lethe's voice was not that far from Monoma. 

Monoma turned. Lethe was staring grimly. 

"Whenever she gets like this she's completely unreasonable... She doesn't mean what she's saying. She's in a frenzy. She's not thinking clearly. She's hurt herself before because of it..."

Monoma was not really trained for crazy. "Doesn't seem natural."

"I would be able to stop it, if it hadn't gotten this far," Lethe said, "but she'll burn herself out...eventually."

"And you'll wait till then to do it all over again..." Medea was listening to this. "That's right, isn't it?"

"In your right mind, you would never want to hurt me or yourself," Lethe said, quietly, "If you would just let me help you, I could fix it."

"No..." Medea backed up way more. "No, you're not fixing anything. You've never fixed anything."

"That's true," a new voice cut in.

All three of them looked. Silk was panting and walking up to them. She looked like she'd been put through the wringer herself. Her clothes were torn and her hair was a mess, but she was still more calm than any of them.

"It's not fixing to forget, is it?" Silk said slowly. 

Her smooth voice was like soothing tea compared to the yelling and Lethe's chilling tones.

Medea stared at her...

Silk tossed out a line of cloth and yanked the gun out of her hand before she could react.

Medea gasped.

Silk jerked the gun into her own hand.

Lethe backed up.

Monoma was not sure now who this person was or what she was going to do.

Silk pointed the weapon at the teens. "You know what I was told to do if I found you?"

Neither of them moved.

Then Silk opened the cartridge of the gun and emptied it out. "But I don't think I should do that... What did they do to you kids? Why would you do this?"

"Medea, let's go," Lethe said warily, "I don't trust this."

Medea looked from Lethe to Silk.

Silk held out a hand. "Don't go back... You know what happen if you go back."

Lethe moved as if to do something.

 Monoma gabbed him and shoved him onto the ground. "Don't touch her! Either of them."

Lethe tried to reach for Monoma, but Silk used her cloth and tied his hands together. "Give up, Lethe. It's over..."

Black smoke appeared behind Lethe.

"I'm afraid it's not over," Kurogiri spoke, "It's just beginning..."

Silk gasped and yanked back. Monoma grabbed her cloth and was pulled out of range, but Lethe tugged away from her, and the smoke swallowed him.

It curled towards Medea, but Silk tugged her away too, and they all backed up.

Kurogiri didn't seem inclined to reach farther...or he couldn't. He vanished.

Medea let out a terrible shriek and burst into tears all over again. "What did he do with Yuma...?"

Monoma looked helplessly at Silk.

Silk slowly untied Medea, then began patting her hair. "Easy," she said slowly, "Deep breaths. You be okay now. Just let go of the fear..."

"It hurts..." Medea whimpered.

"Past hurts, yes..." Silk said, "Because it's important... The pain now is just way of showing it's trying really hard to come back. You need to know..."

"How...do you know?" Monoma was shocked.

"Lethe suppressed my memory," Silk explained in a low voice, "It gave headache to me also, but that was just a short memory. I can't imagine how much worse it would be...but I suspected it, from her behavior, that he was suppressing hers for some time... I do not know how long it will take to undo it."

"Why is it causing pain?" Monoma wondered. Anything to make this less scary.

"I think...the mind partially resists bringing it up..." Silk said, "but that is just theory. I learned a little about PTSD from my mother... Sometimes it is like this...bad physical symptoms...but it's really in the mind."

"Oh...they don't really prepare us for this in hero school..." Monoma said.

"I'm sure," Silk said drolly, "But Medea will live, don't worry... That is, if League does not kill her first."

"Well...uh..." Hawks spoke. They looked up. "Guess I was a little late... Where's the other kid."

"Gone. Kurogiri took him," Monoma said.

"Is not her fault," Silk said to Hawks, grabbing Medea in one arm, "See what kind of mental state she is in? She is not rational."

"If it helps, she told me what happened. I can explain," Monoma said.

"Better come talk to the LOV, not to me, kid. They're the ones out for blood," Hawks said, picking them up and flying away.

* * *

"You!" Spinner lunged at Medea as soon as Hawks put them down.

Silk got in his way, eyes flashing. "Hold horses, Lizard Man! Is not what you think!"

"Oh, really?" Shigaraki sounded murderous. "What is it, then?"

"Easy there," Mirko said, blocking him. 

She'd arrived too late also but had heard most of what happened. She hadn't thought interfering was the best idea with Medea panicking.

"Maybe give the kid a chance to explain."

"Allow me..." Monoma could not believe he was talking to the LOV, but it seemed he had no choice but to explain.

Hawks brought Likstar and West back up to join them too. Shine seemed a little calmer now that she saw Monoma was okay--actually, she hugged him, to his shock.

"Well, um, it's like this... Medea here was telling me to warn Miss Likstar about their plan, and it was all just the way she said, with Lethe trying to drug Miss Likstar, so I know she was telling the truth. And it turns out they were forced into the whole thing, and Medea didn't like what they did to the city, so she ran off and got help, and here we are..." Monoma felt he was doing a bad job explaining this, but he was nervous with all these killers watching him like they were thinking about whether he was their new target or not.

"We're supposed to believe that?" Spinner said.

Monoma grabbed Medea's arm and held it up. She didn't even try to stop him. She was still holding her head with her free hand. 

"Look, they chipped her. It's a tracking chip, and a quirk blocker...and she saved my life twice...three times, even, so I think you should at least give her a chance."

"Really?" Silk said, "That is even better... Come on." She gave Shigaraki a pleading look. "You cannot blame poor girl. She's just a kid, and her brother has done something to her. See the condition she is in?"

"Yes, he messed with her head. He admitted it himself." Monoma was still disgusted by that. "Talk about toxic..."

"I knew he would," Shine said, "I saw it too. Listen, I really think Silk and Monoma are right. Medea is probably not really at fault here. A least she tried to warn us."

"And she told me the LOV didn't start this attack," Monoma added.

"She said that?" Spinner said, stunned.

Shigaraki sighed, then motioned at him to stand down. "Fine...I guess she was never the main culprit anyway. She can live. But don't expect us to be happy about it."

Silk sighed. "I'll take it."

"What's got her so in pain?" Shine asked, "A memory?"

Monoma hissed to her, "Something about hurting her family seemed to set her off. Lethe said something. I don't quite understand it."

"I said it too-- same thing happened... I see," Shine said.

She moved closer to Medea, who cringed away from her. "Hey, maybe I can help a little. Can I try?"

Medea shivered. "What kind of power do you have...?"

"It's harmless," Shine said, "It's not to suppress or anything. It just might make it a little easier."

"Let her try," Compress said, "She can do amazing things. We've all seen it."

Medea nodded slowly.

Shine put a hand on her head and murmured some words.

Medea began to calm down slightly... She lowered her hands.

"Is pain gone?" Silk asked.

"No," Medea said, "It...got less, but it's not gone...but I can think again... I'm so screwed."

"I doubt it will go away completely until her memory is back," Shine whispered to the others, "but in the meantime, it's better if she can at least move, so I'm glad that much worked."

"What do we do with her? The chip..." Silk said.

"Oh, that. I can get that out," Shine said.

"You...can?" Hawks said oddly.

"Sure." Shine took Medea's hand. "Hold still."

"What the--?" Medea was shocked. "Get that away from me."

"It won't hurt you," Compress said.

Shine had her sword ready. She stuck it right through Medea's skin... It didn't pierce the skin at all, but it caught the metal and wiring of the chip and plucked it right out like a thumbtack.

It was so fast, it only hurt for a second.

Medea gaped.

No blood even showed.

Shine crushed the chip.

"It was that easy?" Shigaraki said, annoyed, "All this trouble could have been avoided if they'd just come to you."

"Tomura, that would have prevented pretty much all the problems that happened not just today, but since we arrived," Shine said, "but do you all listen...?"

"If Medea is now free of them, then she can come with us," Silk said.

"Why do you want her to so badly?" Spinner asked suspiciously, "She's not very useful on her own."

"And you just want to cast her off on her own, and let them find her? Is your heart as cold blooded as a lizard too?" Silk shot back.

"You are far too nice to be in the LOV," Spinner said, "That kind of weak thinking is just going to make us soft."

"She's not useless," Compress argued, "Her quirk is plenty useful. What's eating you, Spinner? Anyone can be blackmailed."

"That is not a good reason!" Spinner said.

"I'm sorry," Medea said suddenly, "For the record...I wanted to let you all in on it sooner. But Lethe wouldn't let me do it...I've always listened to him... I  don't know why anymore."

"By the way, who is this kid?" Mirko asked, pointing at Monoma.

"I'm from UA," Monoma huffed, "The 1-B class."

"One of yours?" Shigaraki asked Shine.

Shine grabbed Monoma by the arm. "Touch him, and I'll fix it so your League won't know ya."

"Huh?" Spinner said.

"It was a joke," Shine said, "Something the kids told me about... Right, Monoma?"

Monoma looked a little embarrassed. "It was just a prank, Miss Likstar... How do you know these people?"

"Monoma, there are some things better left unsaid," Shine said, "But obviously, all of us are in the same fix right now, aren't we? Does it matter who they are? Seems you worked with one once today already."

"I left Kendo in a coffee shop!" Monoma remembered suddenly.

"I got her," Wally said, "Where?"

Monoma pointed. Wally dashed away.

"Now that all the drama is out of the way," Mirko tossed her hair, "let's say we crush those nomu."

Medea glared. "Yeah, let's."

"Wait, you want to help?" Hawks said.

Medea lit one hand on fire. "I have some aggression I could vent, yeah."

"I always say there's is nothing like a healthy coping mechanism," Mirko smirked.

"When have you ever said that?" Hawks said.

"Shut up, Hawks. Your coping mechanism is binging chicken nuggets and listening to Samba," she said.

Spinner snickered.

"On a scale of 1 to 10--" Wally was back already with Kendo, who was awake now and looking confused. "--I'd say that his is a 9 for healthy, and yours is a 2."

"I didn't ask you, WacDonalds," Mirko said.

"Why does everyone make that joke about me?" Wally said.

Shine patted his head. "At least it's a happy one."

"This is very weird team of people..." Monoma said.

"No weirder than your class." Shine rolled her eyes.

"Never change, Likstar," Spinner said.

"I appreciate that from you," Shine smiled.

"Uh...nomu..." Mirko gestured impatiently. "Plan? Now."

"Right...well, they are coming this way," Wally pointed, "so I guess it's working. Now we just need to round everyone up, and I hope they are still okay. Hawks, you with me?"

"I...guess..." Hawks was not really used to getting told what to do, especially by a non-pro.

Wally took off.

"We'd better be ready when they come back," Shine said.

[Interesting footnote for all you science people who might be reading this: You might have noticed that Medea's behavior around her memory coming back is a lot like an opioid withdrawal.

One could theorize that since drugs are known to affect memory and cause the loss or suppression of it, particularly illegal drugs but also some antidepressants, that Lethe's quirk may have a sort of drug-like effect on someone. Which, if he used repeatedly, as he clearly has for her, might make them into sort of an addict to his quirk.

Which would explain why she gets crazy whenever she starts to come off of it, as it were. And it causes pain. In effect, making a destructive cycle for her.

It wouldn't be inconceivable that Lethe's whole quirk could work like a drug, since it is a mental quirk, but I'm not sure logistically how it would work. Not sure it's important to the story to really understand it, but it's an interesting idea.]