Momo reached for the computer and hit the save button on the file she'd opened.

The Fireball throwing was close enough now to not miss.

They had their eyes on Momo, watching for if she made something.

Momo looked up only in time to realize this.

Then, Fuyumi threw one of the chairs at them.

The idiot Meta had not even watched her, assuming she wasn't a fighter if she wasn't fighting.

The chair hit them head on before they could spit any defense at it, it was just a plastic swivel chair, so not that heavy, but they fell on their rear end.

Momo stared at Fuyumi.

"It was all I could think of." Fuyumi said, reddening.

"No that was amazing!" Momo was impressed. 

She glanced down. The download was finished.

"That's enough," Intelli said over the line. "You'd better move that device before it gets destroyed, I have plenty."

Momo snatched the phone off the cord without even waiting to unplug it from the computer.

"Destroy it," Intelli added.

Momo smashed the shield into the monitor, and then the actual computer.

The fireball shooter had gotten up by then and kicked the chair aside.

"Who even are you? You're no hero I know," she growled.

Fuyumi shoved up her glasses. "It doesn't matter."

Momo formed a long pole. "I think we'd better finish this."

"Get into one place!" Shine suddenly yelled at them over the ruckus.

Momo used the pole to knock the Fireball girl aside while she was distracted, and then she and Fuyumi ducked back behind the desk.

Shoto finally got to them. "Are you two okay?" He sounded worried.

"Oh we're fine," Momo said.

"What happened to your..." Shoto glanced at Fuyumi's sweater.

"Just little fire, it's fine," Fuyumi said. 

"You're not burnt?"

"No, Shoto, I have fire immunity like you," Fuyumi said. "Just a little, but I can withstand something that size."

"You do? What's your quirk" Shoto said.

"You don't know that?" Fuyumi gaped.

"I didn't know Touya's either," Shoto said. "I mean, I knew part of it, but, not all of it."

"It's fire, small fire," Fuyumi said. "Nothing like yours." She touched her hair. "You couldn't guess?"

Shoto really should have guessed.

Momo wondered if she should say she'd just figured it was that or some combination of fire and ice like his, but then decided it wasn't necessary to voice that thought.

[Character development!]

Shinso appeared from around the edge of the desk, gasping for breath.

"These guys just keep coming." He rubbed his head. "I'm getting a little foggy. Maybe I've overused my quirk? I've never used it on so many people..."

Something hit the desk and sent it skidding a little. They all backed up to the wall. The desk pinned them there.

"So, that's not good..." Shinso said. He'd barely escaped getting crushed.

Shoto slowly grabbed Momo's hand with his left hand, to her surprise.

He froze ice around, trying to shield them.

The metas knew they were hiding there.

"What? Are you scared?" One leaned over the edge of the desk, holding some kind of weapon. "You thought you could get in and out of here? Pull the wool over our eyes? We're not stupid."

"You sure look stupid," Shoto said, not being able to think of anything else to say.

The meta hissed. "Insolent, little, brat hero! See what daddy says when you don't come back, hmm? I'd almost say this is too good for you. Having a little more fun with it would be better--"

A vibration shook the whole floor.

Momo recognized that-- Shine's sword's special shock attack, always very effective.

The meta swayed a little. "What the--?"

Shine slammed him out of the way. She panted. "Good, you're all here."

She put one foot on the edge of the desk and launched herself over it, landing on top of them. "Sorry, no time for anything better."

The remaining Metas were right on her heels. "You won't get away that easily, you b----!"  They raced for the desk.

Shine closed her eyes, and a door opened underneath them all.

* * *

Monama's breathing got labored in the short wait for Team 1 to show up. When they did fall out of the air next to Wally, he had to get out of the way, though he caught Shine.

She was out of breath and kind of dizzy from the effort of using so much energy. The others seemed okay. Shinso felt dazed, but he wasn't hurt, except for a few bruises.

Shoto had taken a couple hits, but he was still moving, and Fuyumi and Momo were fine.

"That was so intense," Fuyumi commented.

"Shoto? Fuyumi?" Endeavor was on the line. "Are you safe?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Shoto said, realizing he was still holding Momo's hand. He let it go.

Momo rubbed it kind of self consciously.

"Can you help him?" Medea asked her.

"Huh?" She focused. "Oh...Monama... Oh my..." She took in how bad he was.

"So, you managed to survive, Icyhot," Bakugo noted, grumpily, "I took on half a dozen of 'em single-handedly."

"Good for you," Shoto said dryly, "I didn't count."

That seemed to put Bakugo out. He probably wanted to do the Legolas and Gimli thing.

Momo bent down next to Monama and did her thing. She wondered how many times it would work for her...but it did. He went back to normal in just a few seconds.

"You've got a real gift," Wally said to her.

Shine was leaning on him, still bushed, but now she seemed to be arguing with Endeavor.

"We have to wait for Intelli to sort it out. We need to regroup, rest, all of us. Decide who should keep going. Some of us should probably be removed."

"There is no time to wait," Endeavor was saying, "We've been watching this target for 30 minutes and done nothing. We have Metas right here. We could take them down. It's irresponsible not to."

"Sir," Shine was barely civil in her tone, "if we were going to do things the regular, bullheaded, hero way, we should have gone through the usual channels. It would be at least 3 days later, and Hawks would be dead. Do you really want to pull this now?"

"Your method has served us to collect information, but I'm not satisfied with letting all these criminals go," Endeavor said, "I see why you perhaps don't have an issue with that, but this is where we are different."

Silence.

"Ouch..." Shinso muttered.

They all could hear it, if they had their links on the channel.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Medea said into it.

"Forgive me, but I'm not really interested in the opinion of a teenager who is not even a hero student," Endeavor said.

"Dad!" Shoto didn't even notice he actually used that term. "You can't be serious about this. This is our plan."

"Our plan already changed once, Shoto. How many more times do we need to let them go? I'm inclined to think no one really knows what we're doing."

"If I may," Compress' voice spoke, "I think Miss Likstar is right to be cautious. We made the mistake of charging in on the Metas in the past. And, you, sir, and your army of heroes have not really been able to stop them either. If we intend to really pull this off, shouldn't we be thinking outside the box?"

"I don't care about the opinion of a villain either," Endeavor said.

"Why are you all like this?" Spinner griped, "As soon as we have a good point, you say it doesn't matter because we're villains."

Where she was, Mirko looked uncomfortable.

"Number 5? What do you say?" Endeavor asked pointedly.

Everyone looked at Mirko who could look at her, and everyone else leaned into their links. By now they all had put them to line 2.

Mirko, left to herself, would have been right there with Endeavor. She preferred the direct approach.

But, on the other hand...she couldn't have handled even a dozen Metas on her own, and she was the number 5 hero... Was Endeavor really right this time?

She glanced at Ren, then at Shigaraki, like she was waiting for some kind of signal.

Ren shrugged. "What do you think?" he asked, "Are they too strong for us?"

"Uh, well, I wouldn't go that far--" Mirko began, and she was going to say more, but Endeavor didn't give her the chance.

"Then now is the time to attack. Word of the other fights will spread in no time, and it'll be too late."

"Don't do this, Endeavor," Shine said, "Please, please, don't do this. What good will it do you? Where did he even go?" This to Wally.

"He went off over to check the other side," Wally said, "but I can go get him. Should I go get him?"

"I wouldn't recommend that, West." Endeavor heard him. "I intend to do my job. I'm going to call in more pros also. This is why we have agencies, by the way, Mirko."

"Wait just a minute--" Mirko said.

 But Endeavor didn't wait. "I guess all of you either join me or get clear of the area."

"Dad, no!" Shoto and Fuyumi both yelled, but he went off line.

* * *

"Well, nice going!" Shigaraki said sarcastically to Mirko.

"What? What did I do?" she said.

"Could back us up!" Compress said.

"Had to look good to the Number 1 Hero. We get it, you shallow twit!" Spinner said.

"Hey! Watch it, that's my sister you're talking about," Ren warned him.

"This isn't--I didn't--" Mirko sputtered, "Don't you idiots get it? I wasn't going to say he should do it. I was going to say he shouldn't."

Pause.

"You were?" Spinner said.

"Yes, you SOB," Mirko snapped, "I'm not that overconfident, for crying out loud! Those guys nearly killed us! Endeavor's a moron with a death wish, that's all. But he didn't let me finish."

"But you said you could take them," Compress said.

"I said they weren't too strong for us, but I was going to add if we played our cards right," Mirko huffed, "He cut me off, or were you not listening to the same line? I mean, I know I have better hearing than you, Compress, but I didn't think you were deaf."

"It not matter," Silk spoke up, "Whatever Pro say or not say, Endeavor had made up his mind. He is arrogant, like all the heroes are, and he's the number one. He will have image to uphold, and he'll call in more people we can't be seen around. We can't go help him, even if their plan would work. So now we decide. Do we move on our target, or comply with Likstar?"

"If you think for one minute I'm moving out if she says not to," Compress said, "when this was her idea, think again. Right, boss?"

They looked at Shigaraki.

"Well," Shigaraki mused, "if Mirko says we can't handle it, then we definitely can't..."

Mirko looked surprised to be given credit for that.

"And Likstar is always right, so we're going to hold off for now, and we don't have the man power if one of the teams goes rogue to handle it anyway," Shigaraki said, "We should regroup."

"Actually," Shine's voice came over the line, "I want you to wait there. Intelli is going to do something for me. I was going to explain to everyone, but I can't reach Endeavor now... We have to decide-- are any of us going to back him up, or do we let him do this with his sidekicks?"

"Don't look to us. They'd just arrest us," Compress said.

"I meant anyone who isn't a villain," Shine said.

"I don't really want to get taken off the main action," Mirko said, "Endeavor can handle a small pack of these idiots if his stupid team gets together, since he bothers to rely on one at all. Unless his kids want to help him, I don't see why any one of us should get off target."

"I don't want him to die, but I don't want to be off the real object either," Shoto said, "If his team gets here, he should be okay. They're tough. Not that many of us here are really qualified to help him, and if the news shows up...I think we should get away from here. West and Likstar can't be seen anyway."

"I want to take Monama to a doctor too, just to be safe," Shine added, "and Camie. We'll regroup with you guys in... Give us maybe two hours. Just stake them out till then. Do you need food? Water? We can send you some."

"I'd love some--" began Spinner.

"No," Shigaraki said.

"Oh, shut up," Mirko said, "Just because you don't take care of yourself doesn't mean you should enforce that on the rest of us. If we're chilling for a couple hours, we should use it."

"I agree, and I'd love some tacos," Ren said.

"Don't be so stereotypical," Mirko said.

"You dare to call me liking tacos a stereotype?" Ren said some spanish words to her that must have been an insult, because she shoved him.

"I could go Mexican," Wally said, "Want me to pick us all up some food?"

"We'll go back to the house for now," Shine added, "Hawks will want to hear what happened, and he should probably join us for the next part of my plan... I hope I'm doing the right thing."

"Can I get teriyaki?" Spinner asked.

"Oh, I'd love some..." Compress named some Japanese dishes that Wally and Shine could barely pronounce.

"Should I write this down?" Wally asked.

"I got it," Medea said, "I know what they like by now. Anyway, they'll eat whatever. We barely have food as it is."

"Sheesh, are you okay?" Camie croaked.

"Don't freaking talk!" Bakugo scolded her again.

"See you soon," Shine said, "and of course, alert us if they start acting unusual."

She went off line.

"Well, now we wait for orders." Ren sat down on the grass. 

* * *

Hawks and Natsuo were both waiting when they got back.

Medea came with them rather than joining the LOV. She was worried about Monama and Camie.

Given that they had more adults available now, Shine and Wally didn't push themselves. Fuyumi insisted she could take them to the ER. Natsuo even went with her to avoid being around Shine.

The others all ate or just sat or lay down around the house or cleaned up. Whatever they could do to get ready.

Shoto went outside to think.

Momo looked out there after him. "Are you all right?" she asked.

Shoto looked up. "Yeah."

"Worried about your dad?" Momo said.

Shoto hadn't really been thinking about it. He didn't think the situation was anything Endeavor couldn't handle... He'd actually been thinking about her more, but he couldn't just say that.

He reddened. "Uh...not that much. He's the No. 1 hero, after all."

After All Might, that really wasn't as big of a safety net as they once thought, but Momo did not point that out.

"I can't believe it all happened in just a couple hours," she said, "It's still afternoon... I bet the others are worried about us... I texted them already to let them know we'd be taking a break. I wonder if Mr. Aizawa will want us to leave now. I think it'll only be more dangerous from here."

"Yeah..." Shoto said distantly.

"Am I bothering you? Sorry." Momo noticed his lack of focus.

"What? No." Shoto cursed himself for his complete inability to read signals. "No, it's fine. Don't leave."

Momo paused mid-step. He always had such a commanding way of speaking, like he didn't realize it was that way.

Well, it was endearing once you realized it wasn't on purpose...exactly...

"Well...okay..." She sat down instead. "Was there something you did want to talk about?"

Shoto debated. Was now really the time... Then again, was he going to get another chance? This mission was dangerous... It would be dreadful to never take his opportunity...but coming to the point made him really nervous.

"Sorry I grabbed your hand earlier," was the first thing he could think to say. Not the best thing to start with... "I shouldn't have done that without asking."

"Huh?" Momo blushed. "Oh, I didn't mind."

"Oh." Shoto was relieved. 

[Dense idiot.]

"I mean, I just thought you were trying to make me feel better," Momo said.

Actually he was really doing it to make himself feel better...but that kind of would sound selfish if he said that, wouldn't it?

[Dense, dense, dense.]

"I just thought you looked startled..." he said lamely.

"I...well, you don't usually do things like that, but I didn't think about it that much," Momo said.

Even she had to wonder why he was staying on the subject so long. She wasn't stupid. "Was there another reason?"

Shoto swallowed... Now that it came to the point...how did you talk about this kind of thing to someone?

The silence went on so long Momo began to fear she'd asked the wrong question.

"Well...there was kind of..." Shoto began finally.

Momo reddened further.

"I mean, not a bad reason," Shoto tripped over his words, "but I didn't think about it, and Kirishima said something about it, and I just thought it over, and...I realized he was right."

"About...holding hands." Momo was clearly lost.

"About a lot of stuff." Shoto didn't even know he was being really vague and cryptic. "And then Bakugo said something too."

"What?"

"And Miss Lisktar and Mr. West did also, and they had a good point, I thought, about not being afraid, but the thing is, I think I am afraid." Shoto didn't realize he hadn't actually told her yet. "But I'm working on that...so..."

"Todoroki-san, I don't know what you mean." Poor Momo looked so lost. "You talked to all these people about what?"

She decided it couldn't be holding hands at least, but she'd never seen him this nervous either.

[Really, Momo, you can't put this together? You're not this dense.]

Shoto glanced back at a house. Suddenly he wondered if someone else might be watching... He didn't like that idea.

"Want to go for a walk?" He indicated the path. This house had a nice backyard, with a dirt walkway.

"Uh...sure?" Momo said.

They got up and walked away from the house.

Shoto felt a little better now that no one could be eavesdropping.

"What I was trying to say before is-- I think I like you," he finally came to the point, "and I...wanted to tell you that."

Silence.

Momo stared at him.

Shoto had kind of just blurted it out at the last without thinking too much about it. He'd already moved on to the part about being afraid, which was what embarrassed him more... Now it occurred to him he should have backtracked more in that explanation... Momo didn't look happy either... Maybe this was a mistake.

"I didn't want to make you uncomfortable," he said really fast, "so I wasn't sure if I should say anything, but everyone keep telling me too... Sorry..."

Momo covered her mouth. "Di---did you say you like me?"

"Yes..." Now he wasn't sure.

"Like, like like." Momo said easily her most uncreative sentence ever. "I mean, uh, I mean as more than friends? I don't know what I mean."

"That's what I meant...like a crush," Shoto said.

"Oh...you have a crush on me?" Momo was really shocked.

"I shouldn't have told you." Shoto took it the wrong way. "Just forget about it." He began to turn around.

"Wait, Todoroki!" Momo said, too quickly, really, "Why are you apologizing?"

"I didn't want to embarrass you..."

"Why would I be embarrassed? How could I be anything but flattered?" Momo was kind of close to tearing up...not really close to it. "I...didn't think it was possible... I mean, Jiro said, but...I thought it would never happen..."

"Why?" Shoto was still too dense to realize what her saying this meant.

"Oh, well, you're so focused on school," Momo said, "and work, and I wouldn't want to demand anything... I wasn't going to confess because of that...and to be honest, I was too afraid to lose you as a friend. I'm kind of a coward, I guess. I'm not surprised, really, that you had the nerve and I didn't, but you don't need to feel bad."

Even Shoto could kind of put this together.

"Wait, what are you saying?"

"I...thought I was saying... Wasn't I saying I liked you too?" Momo said blankly. "Did I not say it? Oh, sorry..." She dabbed at her eyes. 

"You do?" Shoto was stunned.

"Of course I do," Momo said, "How could I not? You're so brave and kind... You're too good for me, really."

"That's insane. You're like an angel," Shoto said.

Momo reddened more.

Shoto was way happier than he'd imagined being--partly because he'd never imagined getting this far.

"You really reciprocate?" he said.

"Yes," Momo nodded.

"Wow..." Shoto was awestruck.

They really had been right.

Momo was smiling too.

Both of them had totally forgotten the situation at hand.

"So...uh, now what?" Momo asked.

Shoto had not gotten this far either. "We...we could date..." he said slowly, "Only if you want to..."

"I'd love that," Momo said, "If...if you're sure you want to... I mean, I would understand if you want to focus on other stuff for now."

"But maybe it's more important to focus on the people around you," Shoto said, "isn't it? Than just on working to improve yourself... I mean, I've never been that good at it, but I promise I'll try really hard."

"I'm sure you would," Momo said, "but you don't have to do anything different for me, you know. I'm just happy...really..."

She was too good, Shoto thought to himself.

"But I want to be different. That's what you make me want to be, better," he said sincerely.

Shoto was always so direct with his phrasing, Momo really never knew how to handle it. She blushed again.

Luckily he didn't really need an answer.

"In that case," she spoke finally, "we should probably date... I mean, if you feel that strongly about it."

"Okay." Shoto didn't have any qualms about being that direct, yet again. 

Momo nodded... Was this what getting a boyfriend felt like? She was on cloud 9... Wasn't there something she was supposed to be doing?

Her phone ringing brought her back to the earth a little.

"Oh, hello..." she said kind of vaguely, answering it.

"Yo," Camie said weakly, "Bakugo didn't answer his phone, so...yeah, are you okay?"

"Oh, fine." Momo reddened again, like Camie could see her. "I'm sure he's just asleep."

"Well, they said I'm fine." Camie's voice sounded a little better. "Gave me something to soothe it a little, but the damage was minimal. Guess I was lucky. That nasty witch must have been going to just use me as a hostage until they gave up. Monama is okay too, so we're gonna head back. Then we can talk shop."

"Oh, sure, yes," Momo said.

"You okay? You sound really spaced out for you," Camie said, "and...upbeat... Oh my gosh, something good happened, didn't it? Was it with Todoroki? 'Cause I saw
you holding hands earlier."

"Camie!" Momo snapped out of it a little out of embarrassment. "Don't ask questions like that. I'll see you soon." She hung up.

"Did you just hang up on someone?" Shoto said.

"Uh...yeah..." Momo was surprised at her rudeness too. "She just kind of startled me..."

Shoto didn't question it.

"I forgot-- we're on a mission, huh?" he said.

"Yeah..." Momo said slowly.

"That's too bad," Shoto said.

 Momo blushed again. "If you don't stop saying things like that I'm not going to be able to compose myself enough to go back inside."

"We could just stay out here," Shoto said.

"Todoroki!" Momo cried, "What about our team?"

"I know..." he sighed, "Well...uh...is it okay, though if...?"

"W-what?" Momo suddenly sputtered.

"I kind of wanted to...hug you before," Shoto said, looking down.

Momo melted. "Oh...uh, sure..."

Shoto pulled her into a hug that kind of caught her off guard.

But it felt good.... She didn't even know how stressed she was till then...

"I was just...worried about you before," Shoto admitted.

Momo swallowed. "I was worried about you too... I'm glad we're both okay."

"I just want to keep it that way. You have to be careful," Shoto said.

"Yeah...you too," Momo said, hugging him back finally, "We should probably go inside..."

She'd die if someone saw them right now, she thought. She needed time to let all this sink in.

Shoto finally let her go. "Yeah, I guess."

He sounded put out about it... She couldn't take this.

[Me neither. They are too cute.

I mean, I love the other couple dynamics, and I kind of like the spicy ones more, but the TodoMomo brand of cute and sweet has just always been too irresistible to me too. I don't usually find the cute, sweet ones as interesting, but I just love their dynamic. Glad it finally came full circle.

That was worth the wait, I hope. Seriously was not planning on waiting this long, but plot kept getting in the way, go figure, just like the actual show. At least I delivered on my ships though. Looking at you, Horiksohi-guy-who-drags-out-Dekuraka-for-more-than-5-freaking-seasons. Still not as bad as Naruto though. I hear we actually get one confirmed before the end of the manga at least...]

https://youtu.be/90o2bypnKKI

[My favorite AMV for them and favorite ship song--Not that many AMVs to choose from sadly, but I still think this one was good anyway. Counting Stars AMV by Marigeta.]