They walked in. Momo was not sure what she was expecting, but she wasn't ready for a young looking woman with white hair, who looked exactly like Todoroki, and looked incredibly calm. Though slightly uncertain.

"Mom, this is Likstar-San and Yaoyurozu Momo..." Todoroki explained, "And this is my mom, Rei."

"Hi," Shine smiled, "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise..." Rei said quietly, "Shoto's told me all about his friends at UA... I never thought I'd get to meet any... Would you like to have a seat?"

Momo wouldn't have, but the other two did, so she did too. What on earth would they talk about? Todoroki wasn't much help. He was looking at Shine like she might go off like a bomb.

"You look just like your mom," Shine said.

Not the right thing! Momo gave her a look. Todoroki stared at Shine. Rei looked at her oddly, then nodded slowly.

"Anyway," Shine shrugged, "since we're all here, I'll bet you're wondering why I go to UA."

"You're a teacher, right?" Rei said.

Shine shot Todoroki an unreadable look. "Yeah, I am. I love kids... even teenagers."

Rei smiled. "Teenagers can be difficult."

"A lot of fun though," Shine said. "Plus, UA's got the brightest bunch of teens I've ever met in one place."

"With their reputation, I would hope so," Rei replied.

"Sure..." Shine started telling her about the students.

Momo relaxed a little over this. Todoroki just watched and listened. It was plain he got his reserve from his mom; she didn't ask any personal questions about any of them or anyone else. She mostly nodded. There was something fragile feeling about her, like her calmness was a hard-earned trait that could be shattered by the wrong thing, but she also seemed like she'd survived a lot of hardship. Shine kept her tone light and easy, and after 10 minutes or so, she looked up at the clock.

"I think I'll get some coffee. Momo, want to come?"

"Oh, sure," Momo followed her out.

"I like her," Shine declared. 

"This is so sad," Momo said, looking downcast, "She shouldn't be here."

"Maybe. I'm not sure, but even so, it's better than being in her previous situation," Shine muttered, "Anyway, I wonder that she can't leave. This whole thing has a hushed up feel to it."

"Yes... Shine you described our class pretty accurately... You've learned all about us in in only a few months, and they still don't know you hardly at all; doesn't that seem unfair?" Momo said, looking at her sideways.

Shine considered as they stopped at the coffee machine. 

"Well, Yao-Momo, I don't really think in terms of fair where this is concerned. Trust, openness, amity, they aren't fair. There's things you choose or don't, usually over time. I trust people as quickly as I can in order to be able to understand them. It seldom works the other way. Maybe it's only right, that I must fight for it. What's it worth if it's not hard?"

"I don't know why you trust us." Momo looked at her cup. "We can't do much to earn it. We haven't helped you. If anything we hold you back. I think, all this time here, you should be somewhere people would be kinder. Maybe more would happen."

"Listen," Shine said, "more happens than you know. And it'd be the same wherever I was. Success is accumulative, not instantaneous, as I think you know. I'm contented to watch it unfold piece by piece until it snowballs into something big. Excuse my mixed metaphors."

"I know you only came here for Todoroki," Momo said pointedly. "You don't like this either, do you? But you're willing to do anything with us. You never say no, hoping it might help. But no one is grateful. It just... bothers me."

"Well," Shine looked a little perturbed, "if I'm doing it just to get in good, no wonder they aren't. I thought I was being a friend, is all." She looked around. "You're right, I didn't like this. Not in my nature, but I can ignore that for now. I take it as a great honor to be invited at all. You should too."

"I'm not sure why," Momo admitted, "Only close friends would even know things like this normally, let alone talk about them. I hope she wasn't offended that we came."

"Momo Yaoyerozo!" Shine scolded, startling her, "I'm not one to care about social taboos, and I'd advise you to not borrow trouble. Perhaps it's unconventional, but so is our friend. I love him for that-- his lack of sense of what to hide is one of his best qualities. One I could learn from. I won't be a part of the problem. Screw that attitude, I say."

"Shine," Momo was sure someone would hear her, but it was quiet. 

"What?" Shine asked, "What are you afraid of?"

"If someone hears you..."

"So? Perhaps they'd like it if someone was a little more mad on their behalf. Keeping things in the shadows only worsens them."

"Still, you can't always just say things like that, and make all you do sound good..." Momo said, "I'm sure you mean well, but you're going to hurt someone's feelings or anger them." 

"And clearly I've never done that before," Shine said dryly, "At least I mean something. Someone ought to, instead of dancing around it."

"Shine," exasperated.

"Okay, okay, I can go too far. But still, better than not far enough. One has to risk it to make progress."

They walked back to the room.

"I don't know if we should interrupt..." Momo said. Shine tapped on the door lightly.

"Come in," came the response. So they did.

The rest of that time passed mostly in just listening to Todoroki and Rei talk. About normal things. At least for them. Shine and Momo just sipped their drinks.

                                                                       
***

It was finally time to go, and the three of them walked on out.

Momo told Todoroki what had gone on downstairs while they were on their way to the train and Shine was walking ahead. She was usually ahead; she was taller than both of them (not by much for Todoroki, but he tended to go slow anyway).

Todoroki didn't understand what Shine could have said to stop something like that. "It would be pretty powerful words that would stop anyone from doing anything, but someone who was that hysterical? I just don't see it. She must have used a tranquilizing kind of power, like her quirk blocking."

"The quirk blocking isn't a consistent power, and it requires them to touch someone, I think," Momo said, "and she didn't touch him. All she did was talk."

"But you saw her eyes glow."

"I don't think that was her power... They seem to glow when she's determined," Momo said, "or about to use a power, but they only glow sometimes and not others... Truthfully, I don't think it's a consistent factor of her usage."

"Then what do you think it was?" Todoroki asked.

"I don't know," Momo shrugged.

Suddenly, in front of them, Shine stopped short. She was looking up at the sky. Then she dashed under the awning of a shop. It was a cute little section of town with outdoor signs and bright colors.

"Is something wrong?" Momo asked. She wasn't sure if they should be hiding also, but Todoroki settled it by following Shine immediately and pulling Momo after him. "What is it?"

"I was fairly certain I saw..." Shine glanced out from under the awning.

A moment later there was a rush of wind, and two figures came shooting down from the sky. One seemed to be a villain with bat-like wings, trying to escape... and perhaps using Sonar to navigate also, from the sound of it. The other was, in fact, Hawks.

Todoroki had no reason to dislike Hawks, as he knew he was working with his dad, but not at all like him-- and he stepped forward to watch. Shine yanked him back, startling him.

He pulled away. "What is your problem? I'm sure Hawks can handle whoever that is."

The villain was yelling something at Hawks that they couldn't hear over the sound of people yelling and getting out of the way, but Shine was sure it was not complimentary-- or appropriate for minors.

"Are you worried about the villain?" Momo asked Shine, because she wouldn't have thought Shine of all people would have been, though she herself was.

"Not really, but I don't want to be anywhere near this." Shine glanced around. "Todoroki, come. If he sees you he'll say something for sure. Anyway, what if your dad hears about this? Do you want to have to explain why you were out with Momo on a Sunday afternoon?"

Perhaps it was a low blow to bring that up-- but not untrue and it worked. Todoroki did not want to have to explain anything about this to his dad. Or for Shine to do so via phone. So he followed as Shine slipped around the crowd. She could do this easily enough; most people were pressing forward to see the fight.

Unfortunately, Todoroki was taller than most people, and his hair was easy to spot. The bat-villain must have had regular human eyesight as well as Bat-vision, because it darted away from Hawks around the awnings, and then saw them.

"Hey, I know you," he (they assumed it was a he from the voice) cried in a human enough voice but raspy, "This is my lucky day after all."

Todoroki didn't think this villain was any match for either him or Yaoyurozu, but Shine cringed.

"Endeavor's son, right?" The villain swooped at them without waiting for an answer. "You make the perfect hostage."

Todoroki would have frozen him or burned him but was stopped by two things: one, Shine and Momo were so close he might hit them, and there were citizens running by also; two being he could set any one of the building next to them on fire. He was still going to try, but the sonar noise made him lose focus. Momo covered her ears too.

The bat villain grabbed Shoto in two claws and carried him into the air... A few moments and he was too high for Shoto to risk falling... at least without more room.

Of course course it was nothing for Hawks to save him. So Momo didn't see why the villain would bother doing this. Hawks already had feathers flying towards them to pin the villain down.

Todoroki knew this too and wasn't very afraid of the fall. "Put me down, you big rodent!" he said angrily.

The bat villain instead did something that was really gross: he spit a huge amount of what looked like acid out of his mouth.

Shine yanked Momo under the awning of a different store, and a tree near them blocked most of the acid anyway.

Hawks wheeled to avoid it, but his feathers that got hit started to fall.

"Odd," Shine said, "The venom of a bat shouldn't be that strong."

"The venom?" Momo didn't even know bats had venom. But she processed it quickly. "When humans have animal quirks, often they have a more potent form of their abilities... so it's possible the venom from the quirk is stronger than a regular bat's... Uh, what kind are venomous?"

"Just Vampire Bats, as far as I know," Shine said, "but if this is another blood-sucking villain, I might throw up."

"Blood--vampire?" Momo was horrified. "What if it tries to...?"

"Yes, now would be the time to shoot him with something if you have anything like that." Shine was watching closely. "If I try something here, it may not work if that thing changes trajectory at the last second, and then I'll reveal myself for nothing."

Momo's mind blanked on anything she could make that would shoot something that high up... Why didn't she know how to do that?! A net maybe? No, it'd be too small, and she'd take Todoroki with it.

To make matters worse, venom had hit several pedestrians, and they were screaming. Some were covering their eyes.

The Bat villain chuckled. "Oh, no, hero, guess you better get them to a hospital before they die. "

"I can easily do that and still stop you," Hawks said, "So turn over the boy quietly if you don't want me to get rough." He smiled. Some feathers began picking people up and rushing them away.

"That man is an idiot," Shine said.

"The villain is being very reckless," Momo agreed, "But that's good for us--"

"Not the villain, Momo. Hawks. He's a moron," Shine said, "I know crooks by now, and they are cowards. That jerk had the chance to run why Hawks was distracted by the pedestrians, and he has a hostage. The only reason he's not running is clearly because he has something else in mind. And he could hit Shoto with that venom too before Hawks pins him down. It would be wisest to back off."

"Shine, Pros are very good at what they do, and I'm sure Hawks has thought of everything you just said," Momo replied, "He's prepared for whatever the villain is going to do."

It would have been better not to say that. Because as soon as she had, the sun seemed to dim... but it was actually being blocked by... a whole swarm of... real bats?

"I thought so," Shine said in a low voice, as sonar clicks filled the air... and the sounds of annoyed bats who didn't like being in the sun and were crashing into things. The whole street was full of chaos now, and people who were scared of bats were running for it.

"Many bats hunt in groups," Shine went on as if she were narrating a nature documentary, "Including vampire bats, who will bite and sting the nearest target if they are hungry enough. Non-lethal bites, but it hurts."

She had her sword out now, and she swatted away one bat that careened a little to close.

This was a real problem for Hawks, because the bats were blocking his view so he couldn't see and were colliding with his feathers and surrounding the villain, in order to keep the feathers from getting through.

The bat villain laughed and started flying away.

Todoroki debated mentally whether to use his fire or not. He could scare the bats, no doubt, but if Hawks didn't catch him, he'd also die... unless he could make ice fast enough to catch himself, but a chunk that big would break some buildings and cover some people for sure.

"Shine!" Momo could barely see through the bats. "We have to help Todoroki! He's getting kidnapped."

Shine glanced around. "Neither of us is a tracker. Hawks will probably catch up to him in a moment."

"What if that's too late?" Momo said.

Shine nodded. "I already thought that-- but hang on. I need a moment to ask."

"To ask...?" Momo said.

Shine closed her eyes.

A second later she said, "Jabba Street, 467..."

"What?" Momo said.

"I need a picture." Shine pulled out her phone and opened a maps app quickly. A moment later she said, "Aha, there it is." She ran down the street, where people were wisely clearing as they hid inside. Momo ran after her. The bats chased them as they seemed to be aiming for any moving target, but Shine waved her sword and it flashed light, and the bats all flew the other way.

"Get ready to jump," Shine said.

Momo looked ahead and was almost inside the purple doorway before she knew what it was, then she jumped.

Why the jumping part was necessary was unclear. You could just walk through, but Shine had once told the students that the shock of the doorway just seemed a little less if you jumped in all at once, instead of trying to slowly ease into it.

They came out landing squarely on their feet in front of a tall, dark parking structure.

"I guess this fits," Shine said, "The bats must live in here somehow. It looks like it's been abandoned; there must have been an attack here." She might well say this: a huge chunk of the floors had caved in like an earthquake had hit them.

"Why are we here? Where's Todoroki?" Momo didn't see him.

"Patience, Momo. I'd say we have about 2 minutes tops," Shine said, looking at the sky, "Get ready, by the way. Make something."

Momo stepped behind a pile of concrete in order to do so.

Shine was still watching the sky when she heard someone say, "Likstar? What the h--- are you doing here?"

She turned, not happy. "Excuse me?"

It was Dabi. He was standing in the street, giving her an annoyed look.

Momo froze... holding her breath. Why was there another villain here? This was bad!

"Don't tell me you have something to do with this," Shine said.

"I was just about to ask you the same question," Dabi said, "What about not interfering?"

"What about not hurting people?" Shine said.

"Ah, ah, ah, that was only the students, remember?" Dabi said smugly, "not heroes. I know you have a thing for fast, stupid looking types, but he's off the table."

"Please, never say that again." Shine was repulsed. She hoped Momo was smart enough not to make any noise.

Momo was that and also smart enough to realize Shine and Dabi seemed to know each other better than one chance encounter in the woods, which ended in him running away, would have made them able to. But with Shine it was hard to tell if her familiar way of speaking was her usual sass or if it meant more. Was she only referring to when she'd met him and saved Momo before?

"I'm not talking about Hawks, though you should leave him alone too," Shine said, "I mean Todoroki. As in, Shoto Todoroki?"

"What are you talking about? That little brat is probably miles away from here, sucking up to the Pros at that stupid school--" Dabi was cut off by the bat villain appearing with Shoto still in his grip.

Shine gave Dabi a look.

"And just what the ---- do you think you're doing?" Dabi asked the Bat Guy sullenly.

"Had a little change of plans." The Bat Guy clearly thought Shine was with the LOV (and she was just standing there not doing anything to Dabi, so the assumption made sense). "The number 2 hero ended up being a little hard to wrangle, but I thought to myself, 'this kid is even better'. This is the NO#1's son. If we kill him, it'll hurt hero society way more... We should do it now before that Bird brain finds us. Then we make our example."

Shine looked at Dabi.

Momo slowly resumed making the only thing she could think of that would be useful.

Dabi eyed Shoto, who glared at him. "Well, it's a tempting offer, but it wasn't the one we agreed to. The LOV isn't ready to make a move on that SOB just yet. And now you've made a problem for us, haven't you?"

"It's a minor problem," The bat villain said, "and it's worth it... Besides, Hawks is not going down that easily. He's tougher than he looks."

"Yeah, I knew that," Dabi said, "I say we just dump the kid in a trash can, where he belongs, and get out of here."

"Are you serious? Come on, at least we have to cut off an arm or something," The Bat Villain said.

"Vamp, you're an idiot," Dabi said.

Dabi must have seen coming what Vamp didn't. Shoto shot ice backwards at him and broke free-- then ran to join Shine.

"Why are you just standing there! Get us out of here," he said.

"We're missing a player," Shine said in a flat voice, so the villains wouldn't take notice of it.

Todoroki looked around for Momo, but she wisely remained hidden.

"Gah!" Vamp swatted ice away from himself. "You think that's all it takes to stop me!"

He spat venom toward Shoto, who was still looking for Momo. Shine pushed Shoto back and held up her word. The poison seemed to glance away from it like it was force field. Some splattered at her feet, but she didn't act like it hit her.

Then Dabi shot blue fire-- at Vamp, who began screaming and swatting.

Shine gasped.

"You didn't follow orders," Dabi said in a dead voice, "and the LOV can't work with people who don't follow orders, Vamp. Sorry, but you're not worth the investment."

"Dabi!" Shine said sharply, "I won't watch this!"

Vamp howled.

Shoto shot ice at him and smothered the fire... but it had done a sizable about of damage to Vamp's left arm, wing, and side. He fell over, moaning.

Dabi did nothing to continue his evil barbecue. "Weak," he said carelessly, "This garbage is better off as fuel. You should realize that by now."

"You monster!" Todoroki was furious. "Even if he was a villain, he was working for you!"

"Ah, little Shoto Todoroki can't handle seeing a little fire?" Dabi taunted, "I'd think you'd be used to watching people burn by now, Snowflake."

"Snowflake?" Shine said, grabbing Todoroki before he could do anything, "Todoroki, listen to me. Don't fight this guy. You can't take him."

"I think I can. He's not that strong!" Todoroki said.

"He put your dad in the hospital. Don't you even think about it," Shine said, "I will force you to stand down if you don't do it willingly. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah, that's right. Keep your leash on 'em," Dabi said.

"And if you don't want to get encased in ice, I suggest you shut up too," Shine said to him fiercely, "You've done your part. Get while the getting is good. Hawks will be here any second."

A red feather hit the side of the building right then.

Todoroki glared at Dabi. "Why did you try to kill Endeavor?"

"Why wouldn't anyone try to kill Endeavor?" Dabi said. Black goo appeared around him. "See you around, heroes." He vanished.

                                                                                * * *

Momo came out of hiding. "I'm sorry, Shine. I was waiting for an opening. I didn't expect him to attack his own ally."

"There was nothing you could have done to stop that," Shine said, "It was interesting, though, wasn't it?"

"It was horrible..." Todoroki said.

Vamp coughed and then said, "D--- heroes!" and spit venom yet again.

Todoroki made ice to block it, but he only had time to block himself. Momo tried to dodge, but it splattered so widely some hit her arm... She was very lucky it was not her face... It only lightly stung her skin, but she had a cut that was still healing from training, and that started to burn and break open again. She yelped.

"Why, you!" Todoroki made a move at Vamp, but Shine blocked him with her sword. "Stop it. It won't make it any better."

She looked at Vamp. "How deadly is your toxin?"

Vamp tried to laugh, and succeeded only in hissing in pain. "Depends on whether it gets into your blood or not. Better rush her to the hospital..."

"Where is Hawks?" Todoroki cursed in a way that made Shine stare at him.

"My babies might still be giving him hard time..." Vamp said.

Momo began feeling a little dizzy. "I think it got into my blood..." she said.

"Sit down," Shine instructed.

"Shine, take us to a hospital!" Todoroki demanded.

"Shoto Todoroki, shut up," Shine said sharply.

He blinked at her. She'd never taken that tone with him. No one had, probably, since he was little.

Shine took Momo's arm and looked at it. It was looking pretty nasty. "Try to stay calm," she said, "Deep breaths, slow your heart-rate."

Momo bit her lip and nodded.

Shine held up her sword and passed the blade over the infected area, murmuring something.

It wasn't like an anime where black smoke issues out of a wound, or light glows around it. Instead, neither of them even saw what happened. One minute Momo felt pain, and the next, she didn't. It was gone completely, and her arm looked normal. Even the original cut was gone.

"What...?" She blinked.

"What the---?" Vamp sputtered. Why hadn't he spit more?

"That was the last of your poison, wasn't it?" Shine said, "It takes time to replenish it, I'm sure, and you used a lot back there. Should have thought of that before. She's just a kid, you scoundrel."

"Like heroes are regular kids," sniffed Vamp, "And I'm in too much pain to care who I kill as long as it's one of you."

"You can't hurt the one who did that to you, so you hurt us instead? How predictable," Shine said.

She motioned for Todoroki and Momo to stand back, then she knelt by Vamp, and he tensed, like he expected her to finish him off.

"You deserved what Dabi did to you for trying to kill an innocent person who never did anything bad to you. I don't care who his father is," Shine said severely, "but I hate to watch anyone suffer. Would you like me to help you?"

"I don't want you touching me with your magic stick!" Vamp sputtered, "You've got some strange healing quirk. It's creepy."

"If you want to keep suffering, then that's your choice," Shine said, "but those burns could very well kill you still... At the very least, you'll be crippled for life. Is that what you want?"

"Shine, you can't heal him. He's a villain," Shoto said, "And we should leave."

Hawks had found them now, but he stopped short when he saw what was happening, and none of them saw him yet.

"Be quiet, Shoto," Shine said.

"Screw it," Vamp said, "I ain't got nothing to lose, lady. Knock yourself out, if it floats your boat."

Shine nodded and closed her eyes. After a brief moment she opened them again and spoke,"I command healing of this flesh..." She used a name they weren't familiar with. Or was it a group?

Vamp didn't look impressed, until suddenly he yelped and moved his injured side with far more ease than he should have been able to. They now saw what had burned up was now in place. It should have hardly been bones... but...

There were still blisters on it, and his wing wasn't extending fully.

Shine saw Hawks right then.

"I maybe could heal you the rest of the way," she said, standing up, "but it occurs to me you might abuse that. You should be able to live a normal enough life with this much-- but no more flying around and hurting people. And if you persist in doing so, don't expect mercy if you get hurt again. Stop acting like a monster, and you won't feel like one anymore. Come on, kids." She stepped back.

Hawks landed in front of them. "So we meet again," he said, "What's going on here? What'd you just do?"

"My job. Adios," Shine said. She vanished into a portal, without either of the students being with her.

"Do you know that woman?" Hawks asked them.

Todoroki began to answer, but Momo cut him off. "She saw what happened and stepped in. She saved our lives."

"Is that so?" Hawks said, running a feather through his hand, "Well, look, the police are already cleaning up things back on 5th street, so you should head back there. Wait for me. You'll need to give a statement."

He paused. "Did you ever meet that lady before?"

"No," Momo said, "We don't know her."

Todoroki stared at her oddly. Hawks glanced at him.

"Uh... no, I don't think so," he said, "If I did, I wouldn't have recognized her."

"Well, that's a dead end." Hawks was terrible at picking up on lying. He picked up Vamp with his feathers. "I'm taking this nut job to jail... Sorry about before-- Shoto Todoroki, right? Please don't tell your dad about this little incident. He'll cook me alive and eat me for dinner."

"I don't want to tell him anything about it," Todoroki said honestly.

Hawks flew away.

Todoroki and Momo hurried away back to 5th street.

"Why did we lie to Hawks?" Todoroki asked Momo.

"Shine acted like she didn't want him to know who she was," Momo said, "And think, how would we explain her being with us? No one else knows about her supervising us."

"My dad does, and Hawks could mention this to him," Todoroki said.

"I don't think he will," Momo said.

She was far more right than she knew. Hawks would not have dreamed of mentioning Shine to Endeavor, because he would have had a hard time explaining how he met her.