The drive up to the Rockies was going to take all morning, and they only ate a quick breakfast and, of course, bought coffee first.

The tensions in the group were high in Shine's car. She could sense it. Her perceptive eye didn't miss that Ren and Shigaraki kept frowning at each other whenever the other person wasn't looking.

Rumi was oblivious to that, as she usually was to people's signals. She was the only one in a good mood. Iida was still down, and Ibara was even more depressed than the day before.  She informed them she'd worked out that they were not kidnapping her, since she did remember them as friends, but it puzzled her as to why she had such hazy memories of how they met and how she'd left home. She still wasn't convinced the ninja had treated her badly. She thought they had misunderstood the group's intention.

It bothered Shine less that she still had gaps. Shine had dealt with this sort of thing many times, though this was a new version of it. She was sure Ibara would remember in time--though no doubt, not all of that would be a pleasant experience for her. Shine still wondered how she'd gotten all those cuts and bruises. Kayla wouldn't tell her any more about it, and that bothered her.

But Iida was not used to things not making sense or not being able to be fixed with just winning a fight and getting an A-grade. It was stressing him out.

Shine had to get her mind off of everyone else's mental states for a while. She turned up her playlist and tried to block them out.

https://youtu.be/pXW7WIvYaig

Wally's car was much calmer. Kayla was in a black mood still, probably from guilt, if he had to guess. But the kids and Hawks were cheerful.

Medea was better after getting some rest and time to calm down. She wasn't quite her normal, dauntless self, but she was talking at least. Camie and her kept up a good dialogue.

Eventually the kids fell asleep though. They had not gotten enough last night. Momo was texting her other friends at UA at first, and Shoto too, but she also dozed off eventually.

Medea fell asleep on Monama's shoulder, not on purpose, and he didn't try to move her...then he fell asleep leaning on her also. 

It was just so cute, Wally wanted to take a picture. He wished Shine was there to share it with him... He missed her. Hopefully those crazy adults weren't giving her too much crap over there.

The plan was to go high enough to need snow chains and make it look like they got stuck up there, then portal home. That way, the ninja might be confused for longer. Wally was sure they were following them--but so far no sign of them actually catching up. They had to be stunned after how fast it had all happened.

"Where are you gonna go, Kay?" he asked, in English, since everyone else was asleep--except Hawks, but he was on his phone playing a game.

Kayla looked up.

"I haven't really decided yet," she said, "I can't stay around here. Once they figure out it was me...I should leave the country. My visa is still good for Japan, and they might take longer to find me there. I could disappear. I wasn't working there for that long, so not that many members knew me."

"Well, if you settle there, we could help you out, if you keep in touch," Wally said.

"I don't see any real reason to keep in touch," Kayla said, "All this doesn't make us friends. I just needed an escape."

"But what are you really running from, Kay?" Wally said, "Is it just the Originals? Or is it yourself too?"

Kayla frowned. "You and your girlfriend both talk so oddly. What does that even mean, running from yourself?"

"Take it from someone who's good at running," Wally said, "both my mouth and my legs...it's great, you know, but if the person you can't accept is you...you can't outrun that. You quitting that group because you think they're freaks, or because you think you are one? I'm just wondering, what pushed you over the edge? That Lethe kid has deluded himself into ignoring their crimes, even the worst ones, on the grounds that it's a good cause, and he's had months. You've had your whole life... You remind me of a friend on mine, honestly. I'm not asking to be harsh. I just want to know."

He seemed sincere.

Kayla relaxed a little. Wally was hard to mistrust.

"I guess it's been years since the bloom has been off the rose," she admitted, "I couldn't disagree about the quirks...but I found less and less in the Originals that I could agree with. I accepted the Meta placement because it would at least be fighting people I really dislike. But it was feeling like there was no meaning in it. We've been around for years...decades...and quirks just keep increasing... I'm disillusioned, I guess. Then, what they're doing to those prisoners isn't right. It should be someone's free choice to join us, even if we take their quirks either way. You can't just create loyalty like a computer program. That's wrong."

"I'm glad at least you think that's wrong," Wally said.

"Don't patronize me. Your fiancee already read me the riot act," Kayla said, "and...she knocked me on my--butt. I mean, she's hard to argue against."

"Oh, yeah, I almost never try," Wally said, "Gets me further just asking her nicely than it does trying to convince her I'm right."

"I meant her points..."

"It's not hard to point out the problems if people don't even try to hide them," Wally said seriously.

Kayla bit her lip a little. "If that's true, I am blind. You hear something your whole life, and you know so many people who are better off without their quirks...soon you'll agree to anything to get rid of them. It was the nomu incident that did it for me. I know that the odds are quirkless people died in that. I realized that some of the Originals at least are more concerned with killing their enemies than they are with protecting their own, and I began to see some past incidents in a new light. I gave them the benefit of the doubt before, but now I wasn't sure. The only thing to do was to get out, but you were the only people I could imagine doing that. When I saw the others on the boat, I thought maybe you were involved, but when I saw the lightning strike, I knew for sure. I don't know why you're here, but I'm not stupid. I'm not fighting the tide if it's turned this much."

"Can I ask...are the Originals really that scared of us?" Wally said, "That they'd go this far?"

Kayla nodded. "It's not that you're so powerful, though that would be bad enough. It's that you unite people they never thought would ever work together. That is a threat to them. If someone could reform villains and humble heroes, our group would lose a lot of traction as the only way to stop these problems... If you can change people inside, without taking their quirks...well, we look extreme. I've been pondering that for weeks now...and I felt it was just a waste of time to work for them anymore. And now that I've seen it firsthand, how you operate, I don't know what to think."

"Why?" Wally said.

"Because I don't think the villains or heroes have totally changed their views or their character," Kayla said, "yet here they are. How do I explain that?"

"I see your problem," Wally said, "I used to think like you do. I think everyone does when they're new to this ideology stuff. Most people think people need to agree with you totally in order to be on your side. A lot of religions think that, and I know cults do for sure. You think that if this stuff we do really works, it would totally change everyone to be like us."

"It seems like it should," Kayla said.

"But why?" Wally said, "We're not perfect. We can't encompass goodness. I hope no one thinks that about me. That's a crap ton of pressure. What we do is just try to show the best of it that we can with our gifts, talents, and values. And actions. And we bring people in who fill us out. I love that about teamwork. Just in this car, I can tell you the kids are special. Peaches there--I mean Momo-- she's so much more considerate than I've ever been, and she's 16. And she's smart too. The Camie kid, she's better at accepting people and just letting stuff go. Bakugo is a pain in the neck, but he's also fearless and determined, I have to admit, and the others we work with all have something we don't. Maybe it's not even something you'd put into words, just a feeling about them. You can't replace any of them. We all care about doing the right thing. We can agree that much, so it's okay if we disagree about other things."

"I understand them, but the others...they don't even agree there," Kayla said, "yet you accept them as part of your team."

"Who are we to judge if someone can be used for good? I've seen even bad people do good things," Wally said, "You can't rule someone out... I'm not as good with words as Shine is...but I just feel like, you can't be that arrogant, you know, think that you can turn down people just because they aren't like you. God made us all, right? He can use us all. But even when I didn't really think about God, I still thought people had stuff to offer. You just have to want to see it... You've experienced too much if you think they'll agree with you about all the stuff you think is important, Kayla. That's just not life. But that doesn't mean you can't work together. Don't you think it says more for your cause if people who are totally different can still unite under it?"

Kayla pursed her lips. "I didn't think of it that way. But how can criminals and law enforcers possibly have a common cause?"

"Depends on the criminal--or the law enforcer. You think all criminals are as black hearted as that? Or all lawful people are selfless? Wish I could think it was that simple. Quirks don't have anything to do with that, either."

"I don't know about that. Some of them make people crazy."

"That could be true," Wally said, "but I think maybe people are already crazy, and the quirk just heightens it. It reminds me of something... I know two guys who both got thrown into these vats of chemicals...and it messed with their heads...but one of them became a serial killer psychopath who thinks hurting people is funny. Gives me nightmares thinking about him...and the other became just kind of goofy. He even joined my League at one point."

[He's talking about a very little known character called "The Creeper" , who was introduced in the Batman animated series, but the Justice League series brought him back. He was a part of the League in that.]

"What are you saying?" Kayla said.

"I'm saying that they both were exposed to the same thing, but one person, who was already a criminal by the way, goes even more evil, and the other doesn't," Wally said, "You see what I'm saying? It's not like you have to be really smart to put it together. People still make their own choices. Quirks don't make them evil. I know powerful people who are villains--and worse villains than the LOV."

Hawks looked up.

"And I know powerful people who've given up everything to save people they barely even know," Wally went on, "You are who you are. Kayla, I don't have a quirk, it's true, but I do have a superpower. It's not that different. It's not in my DNA, but it did change my biology to have it. That didn't change who I am. I am who I am. Someone can have a monstrous quirk and not be a monster."

"That the propaganda the heroes schools spout?" Kayla said.

"That's one of the only things they teach that I agree with," Wally said, "I don't think they should tell kids to use their quirks if they really are horrible, though. But very few quirks can be used only to do horrible things, most can go either way. You can blame all of the people for a few exceptions, but I don't think that makes sense or is fair. I think you're just looking for somebody to blame, then. The world has a lot of darkness in it. I wish I could tell you it would go away with quirks, but where did it all come from before then? To be really blunt, Kayla, the only part of the DNA that would eliminate evil would be taking what makes it human at all, not what gives it a quirk. That's the least human thing about it, and humans have done evil for thousands of years with or without quirks."

Kayla leaned on her hand, thinking. "You have a point," she said finally, "but at least they could make it less widespread."

"Not true, some of the worst bad guys I know don't have powers. In fact, one of those has almost taken out my buddy Supes, multiple times--he just used money, brains, and influence...all the stuff people have anyway. Power doesn't matter as much as you think it does, Kay. It's the heart."

Kayla sighed. "Really? You really think power doesn't matter. People could wipe out whole cities with their quirks alone."

"Uh...okay, sorry if this sounds crass," Wally said, "but Hitler wiped out over 6 million people, and all he had was human power...and if I can, I'd like to ask if anyone with a quirk has even wiped out as many as 1 million people?"

Kayla was silent. Clearly no one had even made that point to her before.

Hawks made a face to himself. He had caught some of that...and, dang, was that point brutal.

"Yeah, see?" Wally said, "It's not that easy to judge."

Kayla really had no arguments left.

"So...what do I do?" she said forlornly, "If I accept all of what you're saying, then I've lived my whole life under a lie, and I've supported horrible actions because of it."

"Then you accept that, say you're sorry, preferably to God, and you change your ways," Wally said, "It's not the end of the world...I think...so you can still do that. Stick around us for a while, maybe you'll find something...or don't. I mean, you don't have to join us. We're just offering, but if you just do your own thing, and it's a good thing, I'm cool."

Kayla snorted. "I don't think the rest of the world would be that nonchalant about it."

"So? Screw them. They just can't admit they're just as deluded," Wally said, "It's okay to have standards, but the way a lot of people act like they're better than people like you just because they haven't knowingly been a part of it...it's stupid. We're all guilty of something."

"You have to be the most forgiving and the most high-aiming man I've met," Kayla said, "That's not a combination I usually expect..."

"I'm flattered, though I don't think that's true..." Wally said, "but if it is, then I'm just trying to be fair. You know? Why be mean about it? It doesn't help."

The tires skidded just then.

"Whoa," Wally said. 

The kids sat up, jolted.

"I think we might need to stop now..." Wally said, "Wow...that didn't take as long as I thought it would."

"That was scary," Hawks said, "I just remembered why else I don't drive anywhere..."

* * *

Sure enough, there was snow up here, and it was going to be too dangerous to keep driving. Shine especially declared she never drove in snow, because, again, Californian.

"Though people have this misconception about our state that it never snows there," she said, "In fact, it snows all over--the mountains, the desert, and the northern part of the state."

"You know, I did not know that," Camie said, "I thought it was all, like, Hollywood, and movies stars are just all over there."

"Yeah, well, I've never met any," Shine said, "Fun fact, a lot of our animated show are made in Canada, actually. Don't know why, I just know that's a thing...or it was. Maybe it's not now."

"Yeah, totes," Camie agreed.

"Can we, like, go?" Medea rubbed her arms. "It's freezing up here."

"Yeah." Ren looked up from inspecting the cars. "I really think we're far enough. We should just push this off the road, like we had to pull over or something, and leave it."

"Wait..." Wally suddenly got a gleam in his eye.

He pushed both cars--but parallel to each other. 

"What are you doing?" Hawks said.

He got hit with snow.

"Snowball fight!" Wally said.

"What?" Momo said.

Bakugo scoffed. "That's freaking lame. Snowballs don't even hurt."

He got hit with one faster than he could see it, and it knocked him over. The ground was slick up here.

"Oh...oops..." Wally said, "I totally haven't wanted to do that since I met you. My hand must have slipped."

Camie started laughing. "That was classic..."

"Oh, it's on!" Bakugo yelled angrily, getting up.

"You'll never land a hit on me!" Wally taunted, "I can make a hundred of these before you even break a sweat."

"Okay, but, babe, since we're engaged and all, you have to share with me," Shine called, "mostly because I don't want to be on the opposing side to you. I've been hit by one of your snowy bullets before." She rubbed her arm at the memory. "Not pleasant."

"Wait, so it really hurt?" Camie said nervously.

Medea ducked. "I don't want to die..."

"Uh," Monama said, "should we really do this? Isn't it a bit juvenile?"

Wally hit him with one.

"Hey!" Monama said.

"I mean, it'd be nice to exercise a little after that long car ride, and there's so much snow that's just going to waste here..." Shine said.

"Ah!" Ren ducked behind one of the cars. "They'll ruin my devices with the water!"

Mirko ducked as more snowballs were getting tossed around now by Bakugo and Camie as well as Wally.

"I haven't had a snowball fight in, like, ten years," she commented, pulling her ears down.

Shine ducked behind a car also. "Well, I thought with your personality you'd be all over this. It could be worse. Shayera once told me GL (Wally's best buddy) had a whole firing squad's worth of these ready to hit her with."

"I'd take that over the high speed automatic rifle." Mirko crossed her arms.

"Is this a serious conversation?" Shigaraki interrupted, "This is a waste of time. What are they even doing, trying to kill each other with snow?"

"This is a game," Shine said, "Don't you know that? Oh, wait, I bet you've never played this before."

"Why would I? It's snow. It's nothing special," Shigaraki said.

"You know those are the last words of someone who's going to get creamed," Shine said.

Shigaraki glared at her. "I'm not participating in... What is this, like some hero training?"

"No, it's a snowball fight," Shine said, "It's...fun... It's not hero training. They'd never do anything this sensible."

Mirko laughed. "I don't know, sounds like something Aizawa would find a way to make painful and torturous."

"Oh, geez, how would he do that?" Shine laughed, "Let me think...death by snow... If you don't hit a target with the snowball, the whole landscape will avalanche on you and kill you, and then you're expelled."

"Even better, you have to build a fort and hit the target at the same time, and part of the game is to try to knock down the fort of the other team," Mirko said, "while the avalanche is impending on some kind of timer."

"I think I know what Christmas training is going to be next year." Shine was dying of laughter.

[I'd watch that OVA, just saying.]

"I think, Miss Likstar, you forgot where there would be a hostage also," Iida said, "for rescue training."

Shine looked at him oddly. "Did you just...make a joke?"

"Uh, no, I think I was being serious..." Iida wasn't sure now. "I actually think this is kind of an insensitive thing to be doing. Miss Shiogazi needs to get home."

"I don't mind." Ibara hugged her sides. "Everyone seems to be having fun, and they seemed so stressed before. It's just a little diversion, after all."

"Good sport," Shine approved, "but you might want to take cover... Wait...are Bakugo's exploding?"

Turns out, mixing his sweat with the snow had made Bakugo's snowballs explode on impact... It was kind of terrifying.

Mirko couldn't resist joining in any longer, but her method of fighting was to kick up huge drifts of the snow and blind her opponent.

"Heroes always take things so seriously." Shine stayed behind the car and just threw a few. "It's both terrifying and amusing at times."

"I don't see why this is funny," Shigaraki said, "or useful."

"It's not useful. That's the point," Shine said, "You...need...well, need to stop seeing everything as serious all of the time. It's okay if we just want to relax sometimes." She glanced at Iida. "Good for you, too... Why don't you go participate? I'd like to see you do one thing that wasn't for school."

"But Miss Likstar," Iida said, "I'm really not in the frame of mind for this."

"Sometimes you have to do it before you want to," Shine said, "Get out there--that's an order. Plus, I just want to watch you get hit with snow."

"I question your motives," Iida said.

"No, that one actually made sense," Shigaraki said.

Shine laughed at him. "I know you meant to be spiteful there, but the timing of that..."

"Likstar, you coward," Mirko called, "get out here. I'm going to bury you."

"No way," Shine said, "I hate the cold, remember?"

"So do I, but here we freaking are!"

"No, Rumi, really, don't," Shine said.

Mirko kicked snow at her anyway.

Shigaraki got hit full in the face too, to his annoyance. "Nowhere is safe!"

Shine had ducked. "Well, if you'd move, it wouldn't have happened."

Ibara ducked also. "I'm not really one for violent games... I think my hair is freezing also..." She brushed snow off herself.

Kayla wasn't going to throw any snow either, until she got hit a few times, either by Wally or by students who had aggression to take out. It was hard to tell--they were so fast.

She huffily grabbed some snow and threw it back. She wasn't bad at it though, being Canadian and all...

[I know, enough Canada jokes--though the snow thing would make sense.]

"It's nice to see her act normal," Shine said.

"I hate her," Shigaraki said.

"Why?" Shine said.

"I hate all of them," Shigaraki said, "and most people..."

"Hmm, you're malicious, is what you're saying?" Shine said.

"Yes," Shigaraki agreed.

"You don't act how I'd picture a malicious person acting," Shine said, ducking more snow, "To be honest, I've always been puzzled by you, Tomura. You talk kind of crazy and say a lot of weird stuff, but you never seem to really go off the wall. When do you actually do malicious things to people? When I'm not around to see it?"

"Probably." Shigaraki didn't seem very interested in this conversation.

"For example?"

"Killing people."

"But who did you kill other than Nine and the Metas?" Shine said, "On purpose?"

"It's all on purpose," Shigaraki said, "Destroying things makes me happy."

He didn't sound happy.

"You like to say that a lot," Shine said, "I mean, I get it...but did it always?"

"Why does that matter?"

"You're hard to figure out. I'm just asking. Have you always liked destroying things? It's a fair question, isn't it? If it's your hobby or whatever." Shine felt weird saying that.

"Always," Shigaraki said dully, "Of course that's what that feeling was. The itch wasn't there."

"Itch?" Shine said oddly.

Shigaraki scratched at his neck, as if just thinking about it was bringing it on.

Shine tilted her head. "When did you start itching? I thought it was a nervous habit."

"It was because I have a destructive nature. When I destroyed things, I didn't itch," Shigaraki said.

"Ah..." Shine said, "Your quirk turns on you when you don't use it on other things."

Shigaraki had never really thought of it like that. "No, that's not it."

"Sounds like it," Shine said, "I've never heard of itching to destroy things, literally. I've been wondering, if your decay is really kind of like dehydration, after seeing how it worked on the ground. Dried ground cracks, after all. Itching is a symptom of dry skin, so I just thought maybe it works on you too."

"No, that's stupid," Shigaraki said, "It's not about that." He seemed agitated.

This was striking a nerve.

"Why not?" Shine asked.

"Because it's about needing to destroy. I like doing it," Shigaraki said.

"So you feel good afterward?" Shine said.

"I don't itch."

"Not my question," Shine said, "I asked if you felt good."

"I feel at peace."

He wasn't acting at peace.

"I see," Shine said.

"And usually sick..." Shigaraki added that as an afterthought, like he didn't think it mattered.

"Sick..." Shine mused, "Well...I can't ask about your past. I suppose it would be too cruel to do that."

"What? Why would you want to ask about that?" Shigaraki said.

"I'm just wondering... I mean, you know, I want to know how quirks work, and yours is rather unusual, if all you say is true. But I don't want to ask about such a sensitive subject like it was for science. That wouldn't be right." Shine made a face. "I hate it when people do that."

"It's not a sensitive subject." Shigaraki was clearly in some kind of denial. Hadn't he noticed how edgy he always got about it?

"I think it is," Shine said.

"No, it's not. I've accepted who I am," Shigaraki said in a dead tone.

"Oh...I didn't think you had a sense of self," Shine goaded him on purpose.

"Shut up, you insolent woman!" Shigaraki got mad all right. "I have a sense of self! I live to destroy. That's what I do! That's my goal."

Iida was shooting him a very disturbed look.

Ibara was too, for that matter.

Shine leaned on the car. "Who told you that?" she said, "Or did you come up with it on your own?"

"It's just obvious... I can't help but destroy."

"Ah, you see, that's not the same thing," Shine said, "That's where you're confusing me. Maybe I'm just slow on the uptake, but I don't see it as the same thing. You can't help it doesn't mean you live to do it. We can't help sleeping, but it would be weird to sleep all the time...though some of us do."

"It's both."

Shine bit back some annoyance at this. It wasn't like she could expect any different from him. He could barely communicate at all.

"So did that all just come to you?" She already had a strong suspicion the answer would be what it always was, but she wanted to know for sure.

"Master taught me how to accept my destiny," Shigaraki said.

Shine suddenly felt sick...not with disgust alone, but with pure rage.

It was clear to her now... That one sentence said everything. She'd seen it enough times to know...

Just like Darkseid, just like Granny Goodness...just like all of them...

But her rage made her go silent, and Shigaraki thought the conversation was over, if he even had a sense of it at all, which wasn't likely.

He was kind of going back into that usual dazed state he seemed to be in most of the time.

"Hey, wake up!" Mirko hit all of them with snowballs, startling them out of their reverie.

Shine rubbed her hair.

Shigaraki jumped. "That idiot--" he griped.

"Ow..." Ibara shivered.

"Okay, I think Ibara is getting too cold." Shine got up. "Time!" she yelled.

Everyone dropped their ammo, except Bakugo. He threw one last chunk at Monama, who hadn't even fought back that much until he'd copied Bakugo's quirk.

"Let's go," Shine said.