After a rather restless night, Mirko got up and did some stretches.

Then she called Ren.

"Just so you know...I'm doing something pretty dangerous today...even for me, so, yeah. Don't know if it'll make the news."

"What's going on?" Ren lowered his voice despite probably being in his sound proof room.

Since it was his device, and no chance of being hacked, Mirko didn't hesitate to say, "Something with those Meta Liberation Army people."

Silence.

"Get out," Ren said, "You're taking on them head on? I mean, haven't you been? But still..."

"This will be special...as in, really, really dangerous. All of us are in on it. If you know what I mean."

"Sis, this is so crazy," Ren said, "What are you doing?"

"Well, first we have to find one of them," Mirko said, "Then we'll figure out what else to do."

"Finding them is easy," Ren said.

"What...?" Mirko said.

"Sis, you don't spend any time on the internet? You know how America has that whole free press thing? With the right VPN, you can find websites over there talking about their ideals."

"What? You're joking."

"I'm not, a lot of us nerd guys at college dig up this stuff. I don't know if they allow hero students to do it, but they don't care about what people in Support Moogle, let's just say."

Mirko leaned over slightly. 

"You're telling me you could find them?"

"Oh, well, I mean, I'd have to get on the dark web and find a way to message them," Ren said quite casually, "Which is not my thing, but that hacker friend I mentioned, he'd be all over that. So yeah, it's possible. Don't be so naive. How do you think they communicate? How do you think they report news? How do you think they get new people? You don't just find these guys. And they keep people out of their sanctuary cities too (more like neighborhoods). How do you think all this goes down? Don't you ever wonder why heroes never find these guys as quickly as they should?"

"I was aware our resources were lacking, but to this extent..." Mirko was shocked. "Ren, we really need to talk more."

"Maybe if you called more this stuff would come up, mi hermana," Ren said, "But hey, when do you need this by?"

"As soon as possible."

"You give me three hours...maybe 4, meet me at that one park by our old school," Ren said, "Bring your friend. They might want to hear this."

Mirko hung up.

She walked about and found the LOV mostly assembled already, looking kind of nonplussed.

"Well, good news, losers," she said, "My brother just told me he can find the Metas for us."

"You're what?" Compress looked up.

"Of course he can." Shigaraki was not even surprised. "He probably is one."

"Don't talk about him like that," Mirko warned, "Ren may be a bit of a psycho, but he'd never work for people like that."

"You're not suspicious at all of him just knowing how to find them?" Silk said.

"It seems there may be a lot we don't know," Mirko said, "Besides, if he was working for them, he'd have eliminated me by now."

"That you're so sure of that is making me wonder about this guy," Compress said, "What kind of villain is he?"

"He's not."

"He sure sounds like one," Spinner said.

"Well, on paper, Spinner, so do you," Compress muttered.

"Enough," Shigaraki said, "It's worth a try. But what about the heroes?"

"Just have to let them know," Mirko said, "This ought to be interesting."

* * *

3 and a half hours later, the motley crew was at a pretty small, dingy looking park near an even more ratty looking school.

"They don't show this in anime..." Wally said.

"This place looks exactly how I remember." Mirko frowned at it. "Not a nostalgia thing."

"Ah, there you are." Ren was sitting over on the swing set with another guy, who had big glasses that looked like they were from a sci-fi movie.

Endeavor had not joined them yet. Nor Hawks. It was best to keep him out of plain sight for now. The student were there though, but at a playground that didn't look so odd.

The LOV did, but they'd dressed a little more normally for once.

Dabi was also there.

"Long time no see," he told them, sounding chill, "Except you, new girl."

Silk rolled her eyes.

"Oh, wow." Medea saw Monama in the cluster of students. "I can't believe it. You came."

"I wasn't letting 1-A one up me again," Monama said, "Don't think I came here for you. Just stay away from me."

"Okay, fine, I will," Medea sniffed.

"Hey, you're that girl from before," Camie noticed her, "Girl! I love your highlights. Did you do that yourself?"

"Yeah, actually." Medea tugged her hair. 

"And are those colored contacts?"

"Oh, yeah, they're to help disguise when my quirk is about to go off. More element of surprise." Medea had only remembered this recently. She'd wanted the colored contacts, and then Lethe has suggested they could help keep people from knowing if she was angry. Perhaps he'd hoped she'd control herself more with that bit of leeway.

"Wait, so your eyes are your quirk?" Camie said.

"Nah, they act as a kind of preamble to it, like they're warming up the oven," Medea explained.

"Well, it looks way cool," Camie said, "You're killing that aesthetic."

"I like your outfit too," Medea said, "Real punk looking."

"Will you two shut up?" Bakugo said, "I can't hear what that nerda-- is saying."

What they were saying was they'd found a lead.

"It took a bit of effort," the hacker guy said, "but I got a meeting point. They liked to meet up out in the woods a lot. Harder to be seen, even by satellite."

"That makes sense." Shigaraki had never much thought about why they'd found them there. Or even if that was why the doctor had them go out there to begin with.

"You should totally take us with you," Ren told Mirko, "We could break into all kinds of places with our skills."

[Art by Julianna Gardner]

"Absolutely not. Mama would kill me," Mirko said.

"Hey, I'm not a little kid anymore. I can do what I want," Ren shot back, "You can't always hog all the fun, sis. And besides, don't you need tech people? None of these idiots look like they know the first thing about programming."

The group regarded him uncomfortably.

"He's not wrong..." Kaminari muttered.

"This is your brother?" Wally said to Mirko.

"Yeah," she said, "El esta un pequitto loco."

"Uh...what?" Wally said.

"Ella is la chica loca," Ren said back, "Pero yo puedo help. ?Comprende?"

"Si," Shine said in a decent accent. "Comprendo. Porque no, Rumi? Most of us aren't licensed anyway."

"I'm licensed to make items," Ren said.

"Uh...did anyone follow that?" Compress said, "I don't speak Spanish."

"You not miss much," Silk said, "All they say was: Brother was a little crazy, and he said that she is the crazy girl, and he could help. Miss Likstar asked why not. Is easy with context."

"You speak Spanish?" Compress said.

"I dabble-- Spanish, French, English," Silk shrugged, "Is much more common for Europeans to speak several Western languages."

"My parents made me learn French," Momo said, "but not Spanish. They said Mandarin was more important..."

"What is your life, Yaomomo?" Jiro shook her head.

"You know, I thought I noticed Mirko speaking with a light accent for a day or so the other week," Medea said, "Weird. But cool. I wish I spoke another language."

"Ugh, fine." Mirko finally gave in. "Don't blame me if something happens to you. Probably would just follow us anyway, you little stalker."

"Little is kind of a subjective word as this point, hermana," Ren said, earning him a shove.

"You know, I only knew about her brother for a few hours, but already I perfectly understand their relationship," Compress muttered.

"Is cute, kind of," Silk said.

"Are we watching the same siblings?"

"You know, success is really all about having the right connections," Ren was bragging rather casually to Shine and Wally, "I'm impressed with your pool of heroes and villains here. We should get in touch sometime."

"Uh...maybe..." Shine edged away.

"You remind me of Batman in a very unsettling way..." Wally studied Ren. "And also The Question."

"More The Question," Shine said.

"I'd say more Batman, actually," Wally said.

"I don't know who you mean," Ren said, "But aren't we wasting time? We have to go half way across the country."

"You couldn't find somewhere closer?" Shigaraki griped.

"Oh, we could have," Ren said, with a sly look, "but then they'd narrow down where we came from. Let's not make sloppy mistakes now, Mr. Shigaraki."

Shigaraki looked a little unnerved by him.

"Still can't believe you weren't bs--ing me about this, man," the hacker said, "No worries, your secret is safe with me. I'd never dare sell you out."

"That's right, you wouldn't," Ren said, "But we need transportation... Hmm, a guy with a plane is not on my contact list yet."

"Is the train too good for us?" Shine said, "Or maybe we should just do this."

She nodded at Wally. "You got that location."

"Give me five minutes." Wally vanished from sight.

Five minutes later, Shine said, "Everyone in," and opened a portal.

* * *

Wally was smart enough to know not to wait by where they were actually supposed to be. He went a km or so East and picked a pretty shaded spot.

If the whole group showed up, obviously the person Ren's friend (who introduced himself as Intelli) had contacted would be suspicious.

It would be easy enough for both Mirko and Jiro to listen in from a distance, Jiro a farther one.

The only problem would be if someone saw them. Silk took care of that. In a few minutes she made a huge screen all around, like a canvas for trapping animals.

"Are you sure her quirk isn't more being a spider?" Momo asked Mirko, "It seems best for trapping things."

"You said it, not me," Mirko said, "and never say that to her if you don't want to get snapped. Don't ask me why."

Momo thought it was a little odd to be sensitive about that. Perhaps because she'd never been made fun of for her quirk...or for anything else.

"Is it weird we didn't ask Midoriya to come?" Kaminari was nervous. "He's pretty strong, you know."

Bakugo glared at him. "You think we need Deku?"

"We didn't ask him for a few reasons," Shine spoke in a low voice, "One is he knows nothing about all we've been up to. Another is he's very easily recognized after all the fights he's been in, but lastly and most importantly, I've never trusted him not to rush out and do something reckless and off the plan."

"And yet you trust Bakugo not to do that," Monama sighed.

"Bakugo is higher on my list of people I believe will not do that than you are," Shine said coolly, "because Bakugo knows I will lose my confidence in him and keep him out of future missions if he pulls that kind of crap."

Bakugo said nothing to deny this.

"But Deku would do it regardless of that fact," Shine said, "and I can't have someone who doesn't care about keeping my trust on my team. Or anyone's trust. There are times reckless heroism is really worse than being a bit more hesitant but moving in a wiser way. Also, we are not here to prove anything, so anyone who even thinks about showing off can expect to be grounded."

She was talking to Monama and Shinso, really. Ibara wouldn't bother. She was barely even listening.

"There's some lovely nature around here. I hope we don't end up destroying this forest..." she said.

"Is plant girl here for real?" Medea asked Camie.

"I think she's real," Camie said, like she was totally serious.

Medea snickered.

Ren and Intelli left to get closer. Wally went with them, so they'd have a quick get away.

"And now we wait." Mirko didn't sound happy about it.

* * *

https://youtu.be/B5Gvdgs_R1c

Meanwhile, at the Todoroki family's new residence, they were just waiting for the signal or call to move out.

Endeavor was displeased when Shoto flat out refused to stay out of it. But not altogether surprised.

"What do you expect? You train him to be a hero for all these years, and then you just want him to sit out of it when you don't like it?" Natsuo was kind of not helping.

Endeavor didn't reply.

Fuyumi was nervous. Between them and Hawks, she really had no one around who was not kind of awkward to talk to. What did you say in this situation? She just made tea. At least she'd brought food.

Hawks was kind of at that depressed stage where he tried to sound normal to hide that he was depressed, which didn't do nearly as much as he probably thought it would to make it less awkward.

"So, uh, Endeavor," he said in a falsely nonchalant tone, "You have how many kids, total?"

"Three," Endeavor said.

"Four," Fuyumi added mentally.

"Four," Natsuo said aloud, to her chagrin.

They shot him a confused look.

"One of us died." Natsuo seemed determined to bring up the unpleasant subject. "Years ago. But he still counts, right?"

"Uh, sure. Sorry to hear that..." Hawks could read the room, apparently. One up on any of the Todoroki family there.

Fuyumi, despite being a ball of nerves, was not totally without some of her father and brother's ability to think about the situation more clearly, and it occurred to her right then, though it didn't to the other's, that if the Meta Liberation people truly did come to their house, with the shrine there, that could end up being bad.

"Uh, Father," she said nervously, "I think I left something important at the house. I'm going to run over there."

"What? No, you can't do that," Endeavor said, "Whatever it is, we'll have to do without it, or replace it, if in fact they do find the house."

"No, I seriously have to." Fuyumi almost panicked. What if they recognized Touya? Or exposed the family for having a dead child...? That could be really bad. Touya would be livid, too. She needed to try to prevent that.

She got up. "Sorry, excuse me." She grabbed her purse and raced for the door.

"Fuyumi!" Endeavor cried.

He was stunned. Fuyumi was never the type to disobey...even if she was...23? She was 23 now, right?

[Yeah, Endeavor, I never remember people's ages either.]

Natsuo got up and ran after her. So did Endeavor.

But Fuyumi was faster than they expected. She was out the door already and going out the gate.

Hawks followed them holding a bowl of rice. "Wow...whatever she wants must be pretty important."

"I'll have to catch up to her using my quirk...but that's bound to draw the news..." Endeavor said.

"Oh, sure, the great Endeavor chases his own daughter through the city." Natsuo gestured widely. "I can see the hook line now. That'll go over well...alert everyone where we are, too."

"I'll get her," Hawks offered, "The worst they can think is I got away. They'd never think I'd be here... Luckily I don't have those trackers in anymore... Uh, does anyone know how West got those out?"

Awkward silence.

"Something about a sword..." Natsuo recalled.

"I don't like it, but it's either you or Natsuo," Endeavor said.

"I could try to catch her," Natsuo said, "but if Big Sis is really determined, I'm not sure I'd be able to stop her. Remember when we fought over that one toy...?"

"The time you broke a window?" Endeavor said. He remembered having to pay to fix it.

"Yeah, Fuyumi was the one who broke it," Natsuo said.

"I thought it was--" Endeavor stopped.

"He said it was him," Natsuo frowned, "so she wouldn't get in trouble... Guess no one's perfect."

[In my personal experience, even the nice sibling is rarely nice to everyone, especially the other siblings, so I completely believe Fuyumi having a temper, if only with her brothers... What girl wouldn't?]

"Well, you know," Hawks took a bite cheerfully, "if she's a teacher, I'd say you have to have some amount of fortitude. I just had that one kid as an intern, and I felt so much more responsible afterwards."

"Hawks, given the situation we're in, your brand of humor is not appreciated," Endeavor scolded, "Go get her if you think you can. If she rushes back there and it's a wreck, I'm not sure she could take it."

"Big Sis isn't that wimpy," Natsuo defended her, "But...still..."

Hawks flew away, keeping lower and of out of sight more.

Fuyumi had made it almost to the train station though before he caught up.

"Hey," he called, "lady, you really shouldn't do this."

He landed in front of her.

Fuyumi backed up. 

"Listen, I know, but I have a very good reason, and if I don't hurry, I'm afraid it'll be too late."

"To late for what?" Hawks rubbed his head. "If they traced me to the house, it's already too late."

"But..." Fuyumi realized he was probably right.

She hugged her purse. "Touya..." she muttered to herself, "I'm sorry... This is...not fair."

Why couldn't the poor boy just live in peace?

"I have to see for sure," she said aloud, "Maybe there's a chance. I'm going to go check it out. It's fine. No one will think anything of me going home. I live there." She turned and walked on.

"Uh, I don't think you quite understand the situation." Hawks kept pace, but in the air. "I'm pretty sure your dad and your brother want me to drag you back if you don't turn. Look, whatever it is, it can't be worth risking everyone's lives."

"Actually, Mr. Hawks," Fuyumi could be bit cold when she was mad, "everyone's lives are what I'm concerned about. I'm not stupid. I wouldn't go back if it wasn't life or death, possibly. So, if you don't mind, I'm going to go. Tell my father I'm sorry, but I have to."

"Oh boy..." Hawks muttered, "This must just run in the family... What's life or death?"

Fuyumi didn't answer. She didn't think Hawks needed to know about Dabi and Touya being the same person. [Smart. Dabi would throw a fit.]

"All right, look," Hawks said, "I really don't want to have to do this--"

"Mr. Hawks," Fuyumi stopped, "I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but isn't all this kind of because of you?"

Hawks froze. Right between the eyes.

"And that being the case, perhaps if you wouldn't stop anyone from trying to help, that would be...considerate." Fuyumi used her best teacher voice.

Well...Hawks felt wounded...because she was right.

"Okay...okay, fine," he said, defeated, "but if you're gonna go, at least let me fly you there. It's faster than the train, and your dad will kill me if I let you go alone. Unless you want him to follow..."

Of the two, Fuyumi didn't want either of them there...but Hawk wouldn't know to be weirded out by her suddenly thinking of the shrine...better than then having her dad ask her questions.

"Very well," she agreed reluctantly, "I guess it would save time."

"Okay, then, perfect." Hawks scooped her up without much of warning and took off.

Fuyumi half expected he was just going to fly back to Endeavor, but he actually did turn towards the original house's direction. It only took them a few minutes. It really wasn't that far away. Endeavor had wanted the new one close to the hospital for when their Mom finally moved out.... Fuyumi was kind of glad that ended up getting put off. That would have been...bad...

Hawks touched down in the front year.

"For the record, if they have been here, this could be a bad idea," he said.

Fuyumi brushed herself off. That was kind of scary...kind of fun though, maybe, if you didn't think about falling to your death.

"Well, I guess I'll find out." She pulled out her key... The door was still locked.

She went in. At first, she thought it was as before, but then she went into the dining room and gasped. There was a huge hole in the screened door, like someone had rammed right through it. The table was almost kicked up against the wall.

There were signs of  someone going through the rest of the house too: doors were a little off their hinges, and the kitchen had been gone through.

Hawks found more evidence around the other front rooms.

"Isn't this nice?" he said sarcastically. "They left something to remember them by..." 

Fuyumi walked to were the Shrine was. It was untouched.

That kind of seemed out of place. She didn't like it. She let her purse slide to the floor.

This wasn't good... She covered her mouth.

"Hey, we should leave." Hawks looked in. "What's this?"

He zeroed in on the picture. "Huh, that sure looks familiar."

Fuyumi shook herself. This was no time to panic. She picked up the picture.

"I'm checking the attic," she said.

Shoto had checked the attic before, when they'd figured it out, so there must be important stuff up there.

"I really don't think that's a good idea," Hawks said.

Fuyumi didn't listen. She went upstairs.

Hawks followed. He started looking through some of the other rooms. Signs of them being searched, but it looked like more for hiding places. Things were moved but not emptied out.

Funny, none of the Metas could just sense if someone was there with them? Would have made this a whole lot easier...and not left a trace. Maybe it was a good thing.

He did feel kind of guilty now, but he'd been feeling guilty for so long he barely noticed it as a new sensation anymore.

Fuyumi went through the attic. She found some boxes of their records and pictures from before Mom moved out.

"Maybe this is what Shoto went through," she mused, "but no one else would think to, right...?"

She couldn't really take this back with her... She grabbed a few files and then shoved it in a corner and put other boxes on top of it.

How was she going to break it to Touya that his identity might have been exposed? Maybe they wouldn't make the connection...but if he showed up to this fight... She had to warn him first... She could just call him there...maybe if she just called Miss Likstar or Shoto. That was what she'd have to do.

Or text. That might be better.

She pulled out her phone and did exactly that.

"At least," Hawks was saying from the hallway, "if they already came, they probably won't come back. Sorry...though really this was on West for coming here... Stupid moron."

"I believe Miss Likstar was actually the one responsible for that." Fuyumi came out, looking somber. "But it doesn't matter. It's too late now to do anything about it."

Story of her life, she thought to herself. Why did she always realize things too late?

"Better go back." Hawks seemed afraid she'd say no again, but there was really nothing else to see here...

"Yeah," she said, deflated now.

They flew back.

Endeavor was not happy that it took so long.

"Did anyone see you?"

"Uh...no, I don't think so," Hawks hedged.

"Where did you hide?" Natsuo asked Fuyumi.

Fuyumi didn't know if she should mention the house outright or not... Maybe it was only fair. 

"I didn't. I went home."

"What? How did you get there so fast?" Natsuo sputtered.

"Nevermind," Fuyumi said, "They were there... It was searched."

Endeavor looked angry. "What?!"

"Was it trashed?" Natsuo was wide eyed.

"Not that much, but they broke the doors..." Fuyumi said.

"That's not that much?" Natsuo said weirdly.

Fuyumi had grown up with Endeavor setting his training room on fire...so she didn't think much of it. "Compared to what it could have been..."

"Sorry this happened," Hawks said to Endeavor, "I guess I just keep causing you problems."

"It would seem," Endeavor was mad, "but it's too late now to do anything about it."

Yeah, Fuyumi thought, that's just what I thought too. I guess we are kind of alike there, Dad.

"They probably won't come back," Hawks said.

None of them got it, that it was too late. The worst would be out...Fuyumi thought.

They went back inside the new house though.

"Thanks," Fuyumi told Hawks, "for helping, that is."

"What was so important?" Hawks asked.

Fuyumi pulled the picture out of her purse. "I really hope I don't have to explain that..."

Because if she did, she thought, it was going to be because it was already out there. But without first asking, she didn't think she should talk about Touya.

[Fuyumi's a real champ here. But this can't be good, huh? Do you think they would figure it out?]

* * *

"It sounds like they want them to pledge to join," Jiro related to the rest of the group, "but they won't do that, will they?"

"Just pay attention," Aizawa said, "We'll worry about it when it happens."

"Based on all we know," Shine was sitting against a tree, picking at the grass,"if they did pledge, they'd have to prove themselves, being willing to go into a fight... We need faster results than that. The element of surprise. No telling if these guys are monitoring or not, but I'd count on it."

She tilted her head. "There's a risk either way. Whether we wait or not."

"It would be more wise to gather more information," Aizawa said.

"That's what I'm thinking," Shine said, "but doing it this way takes too long. They'll find Hawks before we ever find them. Ren and Intelli did their part."

 "So you're saying if the Meta person they are talking to is asking them to prove themselves, that's a sign we should just move on," Jiro clarified.

"Uh huh," Shine said, "Kaminari, think you can relay that?"

"On it." Kaminari was only too happy to have a job. He tapped his head set.

* * *

Ren tilted his head. "Uh huh," he said.

The Meta they were talking to paused. "What?"

"So what you're saying is, we can't join without some kind of initiation," Ren said.

"I was..." The meta was confused as to why Ren was suddenly asking for clarification. "I mean--"

"That's all I needed to hear," Ren said.

A taser shot out from under his sleeve and fried the guy before he even knew what hit him.

"While fancy quirks are always more impressive looking," Ren turned to Intelli, "you gotta appreciate the classics."

"You're crazy, man," Intelli said, "but let's see if this guy has a phone or chip or something on him.

"Padre," Ren said, "you're not stealing it."

"No, bro, I mean to see if we can trace it," Intelli said. He started searching the guy's jacket.

"Man, I dunno. What if this is a trap?" Ren said.

"It was our trap," Intelli said.

"Yeah, but it could be a trap trap," Ren said.

"That's some level of trap-ception there," Intelli said.

* * *

"My brother and his amigo are idiots," Mirko said, twitching one ear.

"Hey, wait." Jiro leaned over. "I think I hear something else moving their way now. Maybe it is a trap trap."

"Trap-ception," Kaminari said.

Jiro shoved him.