The backlash of the attack on the Pro Heroes was real. People were approaching heroes everywhere.

Public favor was already more against the heroes since the Meta war began anyway, but this just started it all up again.

Even UA students, when they left the campus to visit parents or go to the store, got approached by nosy or angry people.

Iida took the whole thing pretty hard and didn't really listen to Shine or Wally when they tried to comfort him. His one consolation was his brother was all right. Cece and Tensei had gotten out with the first escapees, because people had helped Tensei since he was in a wheelchair.

Shine said it showed some standards didn't change with time.

Camie snuck over to UA starting the day after the event, though Shine was much too tired to do much more than portal. The students were trying to let their supervisors rest. Wally was better; he was more used to late nights because of his job.

For Shoto, the whole event had stalled him on knowing what to do about Momo. He still was thinking about it, but she was worried, and he was worried, and it seemed better to wait a couple days to act on anything.

Surprisingly, Dabi was more civil about the whole thing, other than he said it was too bad Endeavor walked out unscathed.

"You really mean that?" Shoto said.

"I don't know anymore, but it's a habit to say it," Dabi was honest, "I wasn't as sore about it as I would have even a month or so ago, but I don't feel glad. What do I do with that?"

"I can't say I felt one way or the other," Shoto admitted, "but it would be bad for all of us if they succeeded, so I'm glad they didn't...but people are dead."

"5 out of over 500 is not even 1%," Dabi said.

"But it was so easy. Why do the villains always know how to attack?" Shoto was frustrated. "They are always ahead of us."

"It might shock you to know the LOV tends to feel it's the other way around. The heroes have all the advantages, except surprise. We always know they'll show up. They don't know when we will."

Dabi had yet to lose the habit of talking like he was in the LOV, but in this case it was useful.

"I guess that makes sense," Shoto said, "but if that's true, why do they always seem to get what they want?"

"Actually, from failing to kill All Might, to Endeavor, to not stomping out the metas completely, I'd say we don't get what we want all that often, but we do damage. 'Give 'em back what you got' is our motto."

"But sinking UA's reputation, kidnapping Bakugo..."

"All that really isn't that much," Dabi said, "but if you want to know our secret, I'll tell you, because you won't be able to use it against us anyway."

Shoto waited.

"You guys are predictable morons," Dabi stated, "You know why Likstar does what she wants and West follows? She's not predictable."

"How is she not and we are?" Shoto was clueless.

Dabi rolled his eyes. "Heroes always do the same thing-- spout off the same crap about taking down villains, and go for protecting civilians. That formula is easy to beat. You just threaten one of those things. We're crazy, but we still could figure that one out. And Boss isn't stupid, even if he is immature, but who isn't? Likstar's secret is you never know what she'll do. Even when we tried to use you little punks against her, she pulled stuff we didn't see coming, with the nomu, and knowing things and predicting we'd do stuff. She can think, basically. All of you let your training think for you. Easier that way. That's why the League beats you. Right?"

He said the last to Shine, who was just coming in, looking tired still.

"Hmm? The League beating the heroes?" Shine knew at once what he meant. "You mean because heroes are predictable."

Shoto blinked. "So does everyone just know this?"

"Duh," Shine said, "Is that news to you, Shoto? I thought you knew that."

Ouch.

"But heroes still win almost every time," Shoto said.

"Yeah, it's so annoying," Dabi said, "because they have better quirks."

"That's not the reason, Touya," Shine said, grabbing coffee, "I can tell you after months of observation, I know what it is. Heroes are highly trained. They train and train and train more than any sane human being should. They are mentally conditioned to train and fight and put that above everything else. Villains don't have access to that kind of training, so they are clumsy about fighting. So they lose, not because they aren't clever, but because heroes are trained so hard as to be able to cover their inability to think clearly. Like The Terminator. Who needs critical thinking if you're an all powerful killing machine? It takes all the ingenuity of humans to fight that kind of raw power. Heroes are just that en masse."

Shoto didn't like how she said that. "Heroes aren't killing machines."

"Not yet, but what would stop them if it was legal?" Shine said, "Who could stop them? Free thought is always the most dangerous thing here. I must say I would never have gotten this far in this world if God had not seen fit to hide us in UA as supervisors. Much as I enjoy hanging with the villains, it would never have been safe to do so."

She winked at Dabi. "Not that safety is always the more important thing, but one needs time and a cushion in order to really make lasting impact. Even Jesus had three years of safety."

"I hope you're not implying it'll end like that," Dabi said.

"That would be blasphemy. I would not end like the Risen Lord," Shine said, "But who knows what will happen? I don't plan to die, but I don't know when our time here is up. It will be 6 months soon. I've seldom been anywhere that long."

"Up?" Shoto had forgotten that they were not here to stay, though he thought Shine had said it before. "Wait...you're leaving?"

"Shoto, I'm a World Walker," Shine said, "I have to go on to other worlds. I'm not a permanent one. I know one of those, but even he has missions to other worlds on occasion. He just resides in one that's not his...mine, actually."

[Dillon Strongfeld, for those of you who read the bio chapter. Yes, he is in this story, but not till much later in book 2. You'll love him though. He's funny.]

"So all of you know each other?" Dabi hadn't heard this before.

"Oh, no," Shine snorted, "I only know him because I met him in his own world before, and I had no clue he'd be one. He says he thinks meeting me is what set him on that path, but I never told him what I was. God does things in odd ways. Been through a lot, poor guy. But he's turned it around. Bit of a daredevil though. I met him in jail after he skydived in the middle of Texas and got kidnapped by a mad scientist. That world was always getting me in trouble with those..."

"But you met again?" Shoto said.

"Much later, yes. He's cool. But we're not supposed to know too many other DJs. We aren't supposed to form guilds. Partnerships are okay, but you know we're too powerful if we're all together. We might start thinking we could rule everything. Bad enough that goes to regular people's heads. Most of us don't know who the other are. We hear the legends. I might be the stuff of legends in some worlds, I don't know. We don't usually learn our own hype. The legends don't use our real names, generally. You've heard stories of people who fall into other worlds. A lot of them are based on World Walkers, but details get changed or lost in translation, partly so people will not catch on."

"What if we were a legend?" Dabi got stars in his eyes, practically.

"You might be in one," Shine said, smiling, "but no one will ever know it was real. Except us. That's best. No one would rest otherwise before they found a way to exploit us."

Shoto shuddered. "Why did you ever tell us?"

"I like that after all the crap I got about holding it back."

"I just mean, I wish I'd known how serious it was," Shoto said, "I'm not sorry now, but I don't think I'd ever let anyone in on it if I were you."

"Some people should know though, and it's easier to trust as you develop those instincts. You will too, not to worry. With practice." Shine rubbed her eyes. "Ah, I'm not ready for this..."

"I was wondering," Shoto returned to the original subject, "if we can stop being so predictable."

"Well, keep hanging around Likstar," Dabi said.

"When will you know when to leave?" Shoto asked her.

Shine looked up. "I can't say. I'll just know. Both of us will."

Vague.

"You're going home today, right?" Shine changed the subject.

"Yeah..." Shoto said uncomfortably, "Fuyumi is pretty upset about what happened, so I thought I should go talk to her in person."

"She thinks the LOV did it?" Dabi always would guess the worst.

But there was a good chance he was right.

"I'm going to tell her the truth," Shoto said, "not all of it, but that the LOV didn't do it. I mean, it's only fair."

"Hmm." Shine nodded. "Wally is making me take the day off, but he's going to check in on Hawks. Neither of us are too sure Hawks is going to be okay. They'll have to figure he warned us. If I had my way, I'd take those tracers out of him and let him go into hiding. But he wouldn't stop working. It'll be a real trick to get him out of this."

"Why bother? He won't listen to you," Dabi said.

"We don't abandon people," Shine said, "and he's struggling. What would you do?"

"If I were you or if I were me?"

"Either."

"If I were me, I'd say he's a lost cause. He never should have gotten into this. If I were you, I'd ignore what I just said, because you will."

"And this is why I like you, Touya," Shine said, "You don't bother trying to stop me from what I'm going to do anyway. Take notes, Shoto. It's important not to control people too much."

Shoto shook his head.

* * *

Visiting Fuyumi and Natsuo...and his dad, was still a little weird for Shoto.

One thing he still hadn't told them was his shifting worldview. He dreaded how much it would piss Natsuo off. He was still barely talking to him after the revelation about Touya.

Fuyumi was handling it better. She'd had time to think about it, and she understood Shoto's hesitancy.

Endeavor stayed away from Shoto mostly, while he was there, out of shame. Shoto looked in on him though. Since deciding to forgive him, he'd thought he'd feel the same...but already, he didn't feel much like acting angry... In fact, he didn't think he was angry.

For the first time since he was a kid, that anger that was always in his mind somewhere just wasn't there.

He felt free.

Fuyumi noticed. "You seem different, Shoto. I don't know what it is. You're less...locked up in your own head. Is it your friends?"

"That and other things," Shoto admitted, "Fuyumi...about the attack...the LOV wasn't behind it, and neither was... you know who. I know for a fact."

Fuyumi pursed her lips, but she looked relieved. "All right...I believe you." She sighed. "Thank goodness for that."

"You're...still trying to decide whether or not to trust Touya, aren't you?" Shoto said. He could tell only because he'd been just the same, still was at times.

"You're so perceptive now," Fuyumi said, smiling faintly, "I want to believe he's really reforming, I really do, Shoto...but it's...well, it's unusual."

"I know. There's...there's more to it," Shoto said, "Something Miss Likstar taught us about that's made the difference, but I'm not sure you'll like it."

"What do you mean?"

Shoto took a deep breath and began to explain all the things he'd learned. As he didn't usually know when to stop, he might have over explained.

Fuyumi got lost after a while, but struggled to keep up.

The themes of mercy, redemption, and second chances did stand out though.

Shoto really didn't know how she'd take it. It wasn't much like anything he'd ever heard before, and she wouldn't have heard it either.

"That's..." Fuyumi was stunned, "so...different."

True.

"I mean, those ideas, those beliefs, I've...never heard it." She echoed his own thoughts.

"Yeah, I know," Shoto said, "and at first, I fought it. It was so crazy. But thing after thing happened, and it just looked more and more real. Even more than that though, the way they treat people, it's different. You'll never meet anyone more forgiving, and they don't hold grudges. I guess I thought I was trying hard before, and that I was being generous, but next to them, I felt like my efforts always were just...shallow and small. When I was being nice to them, they would be so much kinder to me. I'm ashamed looking back on how many times I was suspicious, but they've forgiven me for that too."

Fuyumi nodded. "That's very...special. People who will do that."

"Like you and Mom. But I never got why you and Mom were like that."

"Oh, Shoto, Mom and I are not as much like that as you think," Fuyumi said, "I told you before, I get mad too. I remember stuff. I know Mom does too, even if she doesn't say so. And to tell you the truth, it's not about Dad anymore. Ever since you told me about Touya, I realized something."

She traced a line on the table. "I feel ashamed for myself too."

"But...you've never done anything to hurt anyone," Shoto said.

"Shoto, you don't know me all that well," Fuyumi said, "I was scared by what Touya went through, same as Mom. I've always been weaker."

"I don't think it's weak to be able to move on."

"Do I move on because I'm kind, or because I'm scared to face the anger?" Fuyumi said, "At times I think Natsuo is just more honest. Then I think, no, it's useless to hold a grudge...but I can't make up my mind. I think that's how Mom felt-- you know, why she snapped... Oh, sorry. I shouldn't say that."

"That's fine," Shoto said, "I want to hear it...and...it doesn't bother me as much anymore."

When had he begun to feel less responsible for that? He didn't even know.

Fuyumi blinked at him. "I guess...you really are different. You've changed so much more than me, Shoto. I envy that. I'm so weak... I'd love to have what you're describing. You sound so sure. They sound sure too. And when I met Miss Likstar, I don't know. She just seems to glow, doesn't she? I've never seen anyone so...confident in the right thing. But I think you're kind of like that too."

Shoto didn't think so.

[I do, one thing I love about him. There, I was nice to him for once in the commentary!]

"If I was more like that, I bet I'd feel more sure about Touya too," Fuyumi said, "but I'm not just afraid of him being...evil. I'm afraid of myself. What if I can't do the right thing? Even if I know it's right, I might not be able to do it."

Shoto could relate to that.

He leaned in. "But, sis, that's okay. We're all just like that. We're just trying. And..." he thought, and he sort of unconsciously echoed what Shine and Wally had told him many times, "...it's okay if you don't get it right the first time. Or even more than once. What matters is that you're trying and you're not giving up. Right?"

Fuyumi wiped a tear away. "Really? You think so?"

"Yes, no one's perfect," Shoto said, "I mean, we try to be, but we aren't. So it's fine if you mess it up. I think it matters more if you wanted to do the right thing."

Fuyumi drew a deep breath. "Well...in that case...I think I'd like to meet...you know...to see for myself...or I'll never know."

Shoto understood that. He'd have felt the same way. "I can ask. He said it might be okay though."

"Did he?"

"As long as you don't cast up the past to him." Shoto didn't think about how insensitive this phrasing might have been.

Fuyumi took it meekly. "Right, I won't."

"Okay. Maybe...tomorrow? After class. Dad won't be home then, or you could come to us..."

"Maybe...but wait, where is he?"

Shoto thought faster than usual. "Well, if you come to UA, Shine can take us the rest of the way. That is her power. Portaling."

"Oh? Really, that's really useful."

"Yeah, or we could come here. Either way. If she's up to it."

"Oh, we shouldn't make her if she's still tired..."

"Well, usually she's okay by the next day," Shoto said.

* * *

Wally had a hard time finding Hawks. He had to run around his city for quite a while.

Hawks didn't seem to be in a great mood either. He wasn't happy to see Wally.

"You shouldn't be seen hanging around me," he said. 

"What more damage could it do?" Wally said, "Come on, man, enough of this. You should just ditch these monsters. We can help. Get those trackers out of you."

"I can't. I'm not sure it would matter anyway at this stage."

https://youtu.be/LsHYFQgQxpw

[Grandson--Blood in the Water-- Sister thought this song was too perfect for this story. Shigaraki literally being the grandson of All Might's predecssor and that being the artist's name just seemed too good to waste]

Wally felt kind of disheartened, like Hawks was just giving up...or had he a long time ago?

"Hey, man," he said seriously, "I'm not ready to just give up on you like that. It's not too late. Come on."

Hawks looked distant. "You can't save everyone, West."

Why did it sound like he meant that two different ways?

"What made you just throw yourself away like that?" Wally just didn't get it. "Don't you have any self respect? Any value for your own life or your sanity? You just let them use you. Why didn't you say no?"

"It really wasn't a thing I could avoid," Hawks said, "and Pro Heroes cannot think of themselves too much. We live for the people, after all. I just hope the kids are ready to pick up the pieces if we can't..."

Wally lost it. And Wally did not usually lose it.

He grabbed Hawks by his coat lapels and began shaking him. "Dude, snap out of it! What are you even saying? It's just okay to act like you're a pawn and then pawn it off on the kids if it falls through? That's not fair to them. Maybe if you did it differently, this wouldn't have happened. Ever think compromise with villains was maybe just a stupid idea to begin with if you wanted to avoid people getting hurt?"

Hawks was at least jolted out of his complacent tone by Wally of all people going ballistic on him. You really didn't expect it from him. Shine was the firecracker.

"West, come on, get a grip." He tried to shake him off. "You're making a scene."

"I don't care if I make a gosh-danged scene!" Wally said, "I ain't got no one to impress here. You have a problem with it, why don't you stop me yourself?"

"I wouldn't tell me to do that," Hawks said, suddenly a little dangerous.

Wally punched him.

Shock registered. Hawks just stared at him. A few feathers went off his wings out of sheer surprise.

"Don't threaten me, you overgrown chicken!" Wally was mad now. "I'm a hero just like you are. Only maybe I'm not, 'cause at least at the end of the day, I'm proud of what I do, and I don't sell out my friends and mentors because it'll buy me more time. I've been backed into plenty of corners before, but I wouldn't have done that. I think you fight for the people you think are important, no matter what's going on. Not just when it's convenient for your plan."

Hawks stared at him.

"And guess what?" Wally pointed at him with energy. "If you do that, I don't care what your reason is, you're no better than the villains. It doesn't matter why you did it-- right is right. Wrong is wrong. It's wrong to turn people over to their enemies if they're innocent. That's what you did, jackass. And now you just want to give up? Give the heck up? Not try to fix it? And just how far will you go? Will you kill someone for them?"

"They'll kill me," Hawks said.

"I think they got to you." Wally was on a roll. "That's what I think. You're sick of watching society fail here, and they have solutions. They're bad solutions, but still. You kind of want to shake things up. And you might have felt kind of guilty, but you thought, it'll be worth it. You didn't treat people like they were human, Hawks, you treated them like they were bargaining chips. And in the end you don't even respect yourself anymore. I mean, it's like some karmic joke, really, but I'm not laughing. This is just sad."

Hawks bit his lip. "Are you...done?"

"I guess I might as well be." Wally didn't have Shine's love of long speeches. He just kind of burst out and then he was finished. "I guess it doesn't matter to you anyway."

Hawks just shook his head. "Even if it did, it's too late. It'd be better for you just to stay away from me. They could realize who warned everyone at any time. Then it's my head."

"They already know," Wally said, "This war is stupid. They'll never win. They have to know that. Too outnumbered."

"Would it matter if they won? Society will never be the same after this anyway," Hawks said.

Wally was silent.

"Huh," he said finally, "so...to people who just want chaos...anything is a win, really. There's some kind of irony in this somewhere."

"It's at our expense-- the heroes, I mean," Hawks said, "I guess we just weren't good enough."

"Yeah, well, if you ask me, you were never good enough," Wally said, "That's why it shouldn't be about you."

Hawks blinked at him.

"I'll tell you what, man," Wally said, "you think about it. If you come to your senses, give us a call. We'll help you get out of this mess. Kind of what we're good at. And if you think it's bad for you, we knew a girl who was enslaved to an evil overlord and another one who was working for a crazy witch...so, yeah. If they can get out, why not a poor schmuck like you?"

"But you see, West," Hawks said, "the world is much easier on reformed villains, than on a fallen hero. Honestly, if I was just taken out now, I'd go out with more honor than if it just came out."

"So it really is about saving face, then?" Wally said, "And I think it's stupid to think that all of us aren't reformed villains in our own ways. All of us use our powers selfishly at times, man, and screw over other people, often our friends...but we bounce back. It's what humans do."

He smiled and dashed away.