In the confusion, Aizawa, Miss Joke, and Midnight had all realized something was up pretty quickly. 

Once the lights went out, Midnight couldn't do much. Aizawa was a little more used to the dark, but this was total dark-- if he couldn't see anyone, he couldn't capture them.

Miss Joke couldn't really fight drones using her quirk either.

Emi felt her phone buzz, and she saw a text from Shine to the effect that they should stay low and get out as soon as they could, preferably taking any Top Heroes with them.

Miss Joke found Aizawa after that to pass on the message.

When the lights went back out, though, it was all they could do to feel their way around.

Then the shots began firing.

Midnight, following Miss Joke, almost freaked out on the spot. She wasn't at all good at dodging bullets or being inconspicuous. She covered her head and just held still.

Aizawa, like the self sacrificial idiot he was, was going to get up and try to rope the drones just by sheer sound, something he could do fairly well on a human target. He had practice with all the blinking.

But the drones were smaller and moving faster, and they weren't that loud.

He probably would have gotten himself shot if Miss Joke hadn't seen it coming and yanked him back down as soon as he started to get up.

At first the shots were only a few. There was a yell-- Gang Orca was hit, but then people were saying he wasn't hurt that much...and then he was gone.

"Let go," Aizawa hissed at Miss Joke. He wasn't even sure it was her.

"Eraser, don't you dare do anything stupid." It was. "Don't make me use my quirk. You can't stop those things."

"Someone has to try."

"Just wait," Miss Joke said.

"Someone could be dying right now!" Aizawa shoved at her. This was hard in the dark. She had a good grip.

Miss Joke sighed. "All right, all right, fine, but don't just stand up. We need to use our heads. How are those things finding us?"

That was a good question.

"If we figure that out, maybe we can stop them," Miss Joke said, "I'm guessing sensing body heat, maybe."

"Why aren't they firing at random, then? You listening? Those are carefully aimed shots."

It was true. At that point they were still only going for Top Pros.... They seemed to be missing though.

Miss Joke rubbed her head. What else had the text said? Get top pros out...remove their ID-- she almost hadn't noticed that part.

"The ID," she said suddenly, "The badges."

Aizawa made a sound of choked surprise...and realization.

"What?" Midnight was listening though not moving. "What would that have to do with anything...?"

"If that's the case, we can't throw them off," Miss Joke reasoned, "so we have to just destroy them. But if we swing blindly we could just hit other heroes. I'll turn on my flashlight."

"That will make you a target," Aizawa said.

"Do you have a better idea?" Miss Joke retorted.

"I have one," Midnight said, "If we attach the phone to my whip and slide it away, it won't hit us if they shoot at it."

"That's some first rate planning, if we can do it fast enough." Miss Joke pulled out her phone. "Hand me something."

Midnight handed her the whip. Miss Joke unrolled it and tied the end around her phone.... Luckily, she was pretty good at tying knots in the dark. Plenty of practice pulling pranks.

Then she flicked on the flashlight and shoved it away from her.

The light wasn't much, but it was enough to see a couple of the little drones... Miss Joke thought she counted at least 5.

Aizawa grabbed one easily enough and yanked it into a wall, shattering it.

"Not bad," Midnight said, looking up from between her arms, "Not bad at all... Anyone else feel a little jarred after that...?"

"Actually my biggest question is where Eraser was hiding his capture scarf, out of costume," Miss Joke said.

"It's more compact than it looks," Aizawa said.

It was about that time that the drones re-calibrated.

Suddenly they began firing at random. It was impossible to tell if they were aiming or not. People began losing their composure.

The phone light idea had caught on. Some more pros had taken out drones, but either more came in, or there were way more than they thought, because now they all scrambled to get away.

Miss Joke thought to grab her phone, but Aizawa yanked her away from it and behind a pillar in the room. Midnight had already scrambled for it.

They were lucky. They were close enough to get cover, though not total cover. Something hit the pillar and then exploded into it. Chunks of marble (or other stone) whizzed past Miss Joke's face. 

Aizawa was shielding her, being much taller, but it was still too close for comfort.

It was like getting attacked by a swarm of deadly wasps that you couldn't see.

It was all over only a few minute later though. Ryuku had busted in at some point. People were escaping, and the police rushed in.

Most of the drones were hit by the pros, and a few just ran out of bullets. Didn't seem like they were programmed to carry that many. They were clearly just meant to shoot specific people.

Once the shooting finally stopped, Midnight let out a very terrible sigh of relief and fear.

Miss Joke sighed too, more quietly. "Well...that was a new one... I don't like this gag..."

"Only you would make a joke about it," Aizawa said.

"Actually, Eraser, plenty of people would cope by doing that. You're just too stressed," Miss Joke said, "Uh, you can move now."

Aizawa stood back. "Once they get the lights on, this won't be pretty."

But once the lights were on and the wounded were taken stock of, it turned out the heroes were very lucky. Over 30 people had been hit, but out of that 30, 25 were only wounded, and only 2 of them were bad injuries. West had done his job well.

The rest were evacuated and given medical treatment. And since the whole thing happened in less than half an hour, it was likely they'd pull through.

But the remaining five...

"It wasn't any top Heroes," the police officer who told them this said, shaking his head, "Though it looks like they were the initial target, but it was just sheer bad luck. Most of the heroes could block or hide from bullets in some way, even protect their neighbors. We'd be looking at a lot worse if it were civilians up here."

"Is that supposed to make it okay?" Midnight said, with some anger, "Because we were heroes, it's okay?"

The officer looked stunned. "Well, ma'am, heroes are prepared for this every day in the field. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but it's a lot better than it could have been. I'm not sure how the Top Heroes got out, but it's a miracle it wasn't worse."

"Miracle," Miss Joke said quietly, "Again...we're never going to be able to repay them."

"They wouldn't ask us to," Aizawa said.

The officer didn't get it. "Right, well, I'm getting conflicting reports of what happened. Some heroes are claiming it was an angel... I don't really believe that. If any of you know, we'd like to get their statements."

They all shook their heads.

"Couldn't say," Midnight said.

"Whoever it was, I'm grateful though," Miss Joke said.

Aizawa said nothing at all. Par for the course.

The officer shrugged and walked away.

"Nezu will not be happy to hear about this," Midnight said.

"He won't, huh?" Aizawa said, "Are you sure about that?"

Midnight gave him a weird look. "What? Oh, you mean because we're all right? But still, it's horrible."

"Yeah, it is." Aizawa walked away.

Miss Joke followed him. " Eraser...don't do anything stupid... You can't be sure."

"I can have my own opinion."

"Well...true... Just don't..." Miss Joke sighed. 

"I can't believe it," Aizawa said, "I wouldn't believe it, but that ID card trick...we used it too. I didn't even know that till Likstar told me... It could be a coincidence."

Miss Joke must have already known about it. She sighed. "Yeah...because if that's true, it doesn't matter that you, UA's own staff, were here."

"That's not the half of it, Joke," Aizawa said, "If this is true, it didn't ever matter. Staff, students, all of us have been in danger enough times, and I never once would have suspected it was...and then, the people I had the audacity to accuse are the ones who've slowed it down since they came here."

"Feels bad, doesn't it? Thinking you could have been wrong for so many years," Miss Joke said.

He shot her an odd look. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Just what I said." She looked confused. "I can relate, I mean. I felt that way too, but I'm glad I finally am seeing the light...literally... I'm sorry about those five heroes...but five out of hundreds...well, I can't explain why anyone had to die, but it was shockingly low."

She looked past him. "I have a feeling, though, that won't matter to her."

Aizawa turned.

Mirko had finally reappeared. She was helping people evacuate also, but the look on her face was clearly pissed off.

Shine appeared not that long after. She was much slower than the heroes to get up there.

"Emi!" She ran up and hugged her. Then pulled Aizawa into it before he could get away.

"I'm sorry I didn't portal you out. I thought I should save it for the targets, and then it was chaos..."

"Oh, it's all right. We would have smacked you if you used it on us." Miss Joke patted her reassuringly. "Are you okay?"

"I heard people died...so no..." Shine looked upset. "I'm so tired of these psychos getting away with this."

"Welcome to a hero's burden," Aizawa said flatly, "but if it helps, you and West kept it from being worse."

"Not just us," Shine said, "Hawks took out a few drones-- I saw him... He warned me. And thank goodness Endeavor listened when I said to get the heck out... He'll be back in here soon, no doubt. Mirko is even okay...well...kind of." She cast a worried look toward her.

"It's never easy for any of us to accept failure," Miss Joke said, "and it's kind of beaten into our heads in training that we are never to let anyone die on our watch."

"But that's unrealistic," Shine said, "Not that you can let people die, but that you'd be able to stop it always. Wally is the fastest man alive, and he misses people."

"Well, that's Plus Ultra," Aizawa said dryly, "UA...not just UA, every hero school."

"I feel we've perhaps built up our expectations too high," Miss Joke said, "I wonder if we were a little less arrogant, maybe we would have known this party was a bad idea. You and West said it... We all knew it, deep down... I'm sorry."

"Emi, it's not on you," Shine said.

"You've guessed it, haven't you?" Aizawa said to her.

Shine paused. "Yeah...the cards kind of made it obvious... Could be a coincidence... Nezu didn't come though."

"He's not exactly a hero like the rest of us."

"Aizawa, how did he end up the principal of UA?"

"I don't even know. He won the position decades go now. I've known him since I was in school."

"And that was, what, 40 years ago?" Miss Joke laughed nervously.

Aizawa didn't even bother to react. "No, it was about 20 or so now."

"He's old," Shine said, "for a ferret."

"He's a mouse, isn't he?" Miss Joke said.

"Or a bear..." Aizawa said.

"Whatever he is, he's a rat." Shine frowned. "Even if all I suspected were false, to keep putting everyone in this position by sheer stupidity would also be bad."

Since there was no denying that, Aizawa slumped. "I'm starting to feel like I've been blind all this time... I let this happen."

"Eraser, don't start with that," Miss Joke said.

"Yeah, get over that complex already," Shine said, "Hasn't Cece taught you anything? Don't expect me to pity you, Aizawa, if you just want to wallow in paralyzing guilt. This is not your fault, nor mine, nor Emi's, nor anyone who was caught off guard here. Learn from it and move on."

Aizawa rolled his eyes. "Still annoying."

"Oh, you know you love it," Shine said, "If I didn't annoy you, it wouldn't be exciting at all to talk to me."

"Is that how it works?" Miss Joke grinned. "I always suspected that was it."

"Both of you are impossible!"

"But one of us is taken," Shine said. Then: "Sorry, Midnight must be rubbing off on me... That was in poor taste."

"I thought it was funny," Emi offered.

"That sounds like a pity vote," Shine said.

"I'll choose to forget you said that, since I'm tired," Aizawa said.

"You two okay to get home?" Shine asked, "I think I need to help Rumi get back...and I have to find Wally...and Endeavor, probably..."

"Don't over do it," Miss Joke said.

"Yeah, I can try not to..." Shine walked way.

"Better find Midnight and get out of here," Miss Joke said, "We're no good at rescue and evacuation en masse. We'll be in the way of the really useful people."

"Sure," Aizawa sighed.

* * *

Mirko heard about the causalities once she was on the floor.

She didn't say anything to anyone about it. She had just stepped in the bathroom to put on her costume, which she'd brought with her just in case.

Then she tossed the silk dress into the trash, since she couldn't tear it. It was like steel.

[Fun fact: Proportionally, they say spider silk is more strong than steel is. A quirk of silk might actually be like titanium, given how they train it. No one's getting out of that.]

She stayed around helping people into the wee hours of the morning, but finally things were pretty much cleared up.

The police had told her she should just go, recover, but she didn't want to go. She didn't have a house to go to.

Only highlight was Ren contacting her on his new device to ask if she was okay. He'd seen the news.

She told him she was fine.

"You sound a little absolutely livid," Ren said, "Don't go all Vegeta on me, sis."

"As if I would," Mirko said, "I gotta get back to work. Bye."

"All right...fine." 

* * *

Finally, she headed back. Shine had offered to send her, but she wanted to walk...well, hop.

Thinking about what happened...she felt like a bomb about to go off.

When she entered the lair, she saw Silk sitting by a table, sipping tea.

Perhaps, really, it was to be expected what followed.

Mirko completely lost her head.

[Image by Onerose. Original template to original creator--I'd label this: Run, Silk!]

"You b----!" she yelled.

Silk looked up. "Oh, I didn't hear you--"

She didn't get to finish. Mirko pounced on her like a panther and smacked her into the ground, pinning her throat down with her foot.

Even rage broke, she wasn't willing to actually choke her out, so she wasn't blocking her air flow, but it hurt plenty, and it was enough to make Silk start coughing from the impact.

https://youtu.be/NM53vEiNMeI

Mirko was so tunnel visioned right then, she hadn't even noticed most of the League was hanging around the lair.

"Have you gone mad?!" Compress cried, coming at her. Mirko knocked him away with ease before he even could do anything.

"Whoa..." Spinner was scared...or impressed.

"Hey, get off of her. You're choking her!" Medea yelled, getting in front of Mirko.

Silk was trying to form some cloth...hard to do that when you're coughing though.

"5 People." Mirko wasn't even listening to the others. She barely knew they were there. "5! Heroes! Down, and more were wounded, and you stopped me from doing anything about it!!!"

She was yelling this at the top of her lungs.

"She's going to blow our cover!" Toga cried, pulling a knife.

"I wouldn't touch her if I were, you," Compress said, "Unless you want to get your arm broken..." He rubbed his. "I'll have to pull her off. Someone distract her."

Mirko slammed Silk into the ground again. "Say something!!!!"

"I...can't..." Silk choked, "Let...go..."

"That's it. Get off." Medea turned into fire. "Or I'll set you on fire."

"You can try," Mirko hurled at her, looking ready to attack her next.

Medea started to lunge. Mirko got ready to kick her away.

Spinner and Twice both grabbed Mirko's arms, while Compress yanked Medea back. "Don't do anything stupid!" he hissed at her, "She's a top pro. She could kill you without even trying."

"I can take her!" Medea struggled.

"Let go of me!" Mirko fought the other two.

"Sure!" Twice said, "Never!" he said next.

Silk rubbed her throat, coughing, and tried to get up.

"I can't hold her..." Spinner grunted. He was losing his grip.

Toga wasn't getting anywhere near her, that was for sure.

Mirko almost broke free then and lunged at Silk. They dragged her back.

Finally, Shigaraki grabbed her also.

That made her stop... He was using four fingers.

"All of you, knock it the frick off!" Shigaraki had finally found his voice after watching this in disbelief. "This is not the way to settle this. Medea, stop it!"

"You can't make me!" Medea cried.

She got a dangerous look in answer to that.

She doused her flames. "Fine!" she snapped. She stalked away from Compress and leaned on the wall.

"I suggest you control yourself," Shigaraki said to Mirko.

"Let go of me!" Mirko tried to kick Spinner in the shin.

It occurred to Shigaraki that if she could easily take on nomu, she really ought to have been able to throw those two idiots across the room. Weird.

"Boss, she's kind of too strong. I can't hold her back," Spinner warned.

"Silk, I'd run if I were you," Shigaraki said, in almost a too normal voice. It was kind of freaky.

Silk stumbled up and ran out of the room.

"All right, let her go," Shigaraki said, stepping back.

They let go.

Mirko fell on her face, but she was back up a second later. 

Spinner had his sword out, blocking her.

Toga had knives ready.

Compress had a marble.

"I suggest you get a grip," he said, "Attacking one of us was a clear violation of your agreement. We could just kill you for that."

"I'd like to see you try," Mirko spat, taking one step toward him.

Shigaraki yanked her back again. "Someone really needs to learn to control their temper."

Mirko kicked him off. "Like I give a frick!"

Spinner winced.

"Yikes," Toga said.

Since Silk was normally the voice of calm in these situations, everyone felt kind of at a loss.

Shigaraki could think of nothing else to do but wait for it to blow over. "We should all try to keep our heads. Not do anything rash..."

"Oh, sure," Mirko said with dripping sarcasm.

"Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen," Compress said, "Shall I just put her in a marble?"

"I don't think that would solve anything," Shigaraki said, "and killing each other won't help at this stage."

"This is between Silk and me," Mirko said, dangerously, "I intend to finish it."

"By what? Killing her?" Medea said from the wall.

"I don't have to kill her to beat the crap out of her," Mirko said.

"Top hero..." Spinner muttered.

That set Mirko off. "And what if I am? That doesn't mean s--- if I can't do my job, and she stopped me! By force! You think I can just let that go?"

"The he-- are you talking about?" Shigaraki said. At least this was getting somewhere now.

"Ask her." Or not...

"But she's not here because you almost killed her," Compress said.

"I can control my power better than that," Mirko sniffed, "I hate her. I already didn't like her, but it's official now... Little b----."

Compress looked pretty mad now. "Didn't she save your life?"

"Well, with this pro that doesn't mean she wouldn't be angry," Shigaraki said darkly.

Mirko scoffed.

"Okay, I have an idea," Shigaraki said, "We ask Silk what really happened, and then we decide who's responsible. Can everyone live with that?"

Silence.

"I can," Spinner said.

"I doubt the answer will surprise anyone..." Compress muttered.

"Pro?" Shigaraki prompted.

Mirko crossed her arms. "Can I wait to beat her up till she confesses...? Sure...why not. I've got all night."

"Great," Shigaraki said reluctantly, "Now someone go find her, and we'll sort this out... This is such a pain..."

Compress went to find Silk.

* * *

After a lot of defending her actions, Silk had told them what happened.

"She's livid because I not let her go," she concluded, "but I maintain was bad idea...and I think she is being irrational."

"What else is new?" Shigaraki grumbled.

When asked, Mirko confirmed this was the case.

"Done with the inquisition? I want to finish with what I started now," she said.

"Not so fast," Shigaraki said, "I fail to see what the problem here is. Which is not new. You're always angry about something."

Mirko sniffed. "I don't expect a bunch of villains to understand it. My job is to save people...and she stopped me. She might as well have just stabbed me. It's no different."

 "There's a big difference between being tied up and stabbed--"

"Shut up!" Mirko stomped her foot. "If you ask me, she's the one who broke the deal. The deal was, if I don't arrest you, you don't interfere with my job. Otherwise this doesn't work. She did that. So I can beat her up. Fair is fair."

Pause.

"Huh, that is a good point," Shigaraki surprisingly admitted.

"Boss!" Compress cried. He was listening.

"No, Mirko is right," Shigaraki shocked Mirko by saying, "Silk did break the deal. I didn't think of it that way till now."

"But you can't...you can't let her beat her up. She could put her in the hospital," Compress said.

"Well, that's true, and we can't have that." The way Shigaraki said that so clearly, Mirko almost wanted to laugh...or cry.... She was pretty emotional.

"Still," he went on, now lost in thought, "if we just go breaking our agreement, what's to stop the Pro from doing it? You see how that works, Compress."

"Uh...I guess, but I don't think violence is the solution," Compress said.

"Convenient time for you to think that," Mirko muttered, "but if even this guy is saying I'm right, then what can you do? You just admitted it."

"Well, Silk should make amends," Shigaraki decided.

"She can't. Unless she can turn back time and make it so they didn't die," Mirko said.

"Well, no one can do that," Shigaraki said.

"No kidding..." Medea muttered.

"If you won't be satisfied by anything but blood, this is not going to work," Compress said to Mirko.

"We can't have infighting either..." Shigaraki said, "Way I see it, both of you crossed the line. We'll call it even."

That was actually sensible. They were gobsmacked.

Mirko got up. "You know what...? I'm not even really in the mood anymore to beat her up. But she better stay the h--- away from me. And next time she tries something like that, I'm not holding back. I don't care what deal is going on. I get to do my job, or so help me, all of you are going down." She stormed out of the room.

"Threatening us in our own lair is not smart," Medea said, "She does know any of us could attack her in her sleep, right?"

Bold of her to assume Mirko was going to sleep after all that.

"I'm surprised you admitted she was right," Spinner said to Shigaraki.

"If we act like hypocrites, we're no different than the heroes," Shigaraki explained, "And besides, it's not smart to ruin this arrangement after all the work it has been just to stay alive. Frankly, losing another reluctant ally would not be a good thing."

Compress wasn't happy, but what could he say?

Medea sniffed. "Fine, it's fair, I guess. I'm not saying I don't feel a little bad for the Pro. There's nothing worse than knowing people died and you couldn't stop it..." Her face clouded over. "I guess I'd be pissed too. Silk was just trying to do what was best for the League, though. Hard to blame her for that."

"But we don't force people to do things," Shigaraki said.

"We don't?" Spinner said.

"Have we ever?" Shigaraki replied.

Silence.

[Yeah, I dare you to name a time, at least up till season 5, that Shigaraki forced anyone to do anything. I couldn't remember either.]

"We have our freedom in this League," Spinner acknowledged, "but heroes aren't the same."

"Oh, what does it matter?" Medea said, "She's basically a villain now anyway. Working with us, she'd get in huge trouble if someone knew. Those heroes are not forgiving at all. Don't you morons get it?" She gestured. "Mirko already went off the beaten path. She's stuck her neck out because she thinks it's worth it to stop those Original hacks. And you know? I'm with her. This is getting old, and we're not safe as long as they are out there. If she's willing to break the law to do that, then I don't see why this League is too good for her. Honestly, lizard Man, you're kind of worse than she is."

"What? You little brat, how dare you say that to me?" Spinner said.

"Because it's true, duh." Medea gestured. "I'm not dumb. I pay attention to things. My brother and I picked it out pretty fast. He didn't care much as long as we could keep ourselves out of it, but if I have to work with you because I'm stuck here, then I think you should be less of a snob. Stain this, Stain that. Newsflash: Stain is not here!" Her eyes flickered purple. "And he doesn't even know you exist! So he's not coming to bail you out! But Mirko did! You guys are so ungrateful. And I don't even like her. But she's the real deal. There's not many heroes who would do that for us. I spent years running... No hero's ever helped me. Maybe that was partly because we avoided them, but, it's like, you all just don't want the change you claim needs to happen. What is the use of hating someone even after they proved you wrong? What more does she have to do to stop getting this outsider treatment?"

They stared at her.

Did a teenager just act more mature than them?

Medea, with her typical mood swings, now that she was defending Mirko, suddenly felt that all along she really should have been sympathetic to her. They were kind of similar, after all-- both here because they were being hunted by the ninja, both wishing they could just get out, both needing to stop them just to be safe again.

And she, of all people, knew someone forcing you to do something, or not do it, was not a good feeling.

She laughed. "Yeah, that's right... Man, I've been an idiot. Geez. You all like to say she's so hostile to you, but how do you treat it when she does step outside that hero archetype? S---, I'd act that way too. Amazing she hasn't snapped before now. I would have... Wow, I don't normally defend other people. This is a new feeling. I kind of like it though. I feel so smug about myself right now."

"You have no filter," Compress said.

"Well, I'd rather be like that than be like you and always say only half of what I mean," Medea shot back, "or only go on about one thing all the time. I can at least admit I was wrong. And I'm 16! You guys are a real bunch of morons... I'm out." She left the room.

"Did we just get scolded by a kid?" Spinner said.

"More important, why did we let her?" Compress said, "Not that it's not kind of cute when they get all worked up like that..."

"You have problems, Compress," Spinner said.

"Both of you, shut up." Shigaraki wanted to think.

[Personally, I think it's about dang time someone gave Mirko a little credit for how far she's gone. Woman's a boss.

I write her to be a bit of a jerk at times, I know, but I really love her character even so.  I think not many heroes would be believable in her role, but I buy it with her.

Anyway, looks like this is not going to blow over anytime soon. Next arc should be fun.]