The LOV was angered at how their little stunt with the Vamp had gone.

"Find a guy who can stay on target and not take such stupid, unnecessary risks!" Shigaraki said to Dabi angrily.

"It's not my fault he was an idiot," Dabi shrugged.

"Well, get a better guy!" Shigaraki snapped.

"I could just off Chicken Man myself," Dabi suggested.

"If you do it, you'll get more attention from the Pros. You're too recognizable. We don't need even more people looking for you," Shigaraki snapped.

"Are we not going to talk about the other problem?" Compress held up his hand. "That woman showing up at such a bad time nearly cost us our escape."

"Seems to me if Dabi didn't try to chit chat, it wouldn't have mattered," Spinner said snippily, "Perhaps he has a soft spot for the wench."

Dabi gave him a warning look. "Maybe she just got to you, Lizard Man."

"Stop calling me that, you burnt potato!" Spinner shot back.

"Oh, wow, that one hurt," Dabi said stoically.

"Both of you cut it out," Shigaraki grumbled, "If you weren't necessary, I'd kill every last one of you."

"Wow, I'm touched." Dabi seemed to be trying to get himself punched today.

But Shigaraki ignored him. He was nervously scratching.

"Perhaps it's time to just eliminate her-- and that foolish deal," Compress said, "We're not benefiting from anything about it. The students may even have figured it out. They'll tell the Pros, and one way or another they'll find us. I'm concerned about the body guard, but perhaps Dabi can convince her to meet without him. Perhaps, he could pretend to be warming up to her... and then we drop the curtains for Likstar."

"Oh, come on, she'd never believe that," Dabi said, "She didn't believe I was helping Hawks for a second. Whether you like it or not, the b--- isn't stupid, just nutty."

"Very nutty," Spinner said.

"Like you're one to talk, Donnie," Dabi said snarkily.

Shigaraki muttered, "Perhaps it is time to eliminate her... and maybe a few kids while we're at it, just to really make an impression. Finally get that troublesome school closed down."

"Perhaps, but if they all leave, it'll be harder to target them," Compress said.

"We won't have any reason to target the kids if the school isn't backing them up," Shigaraki said, "They won't be any threat on their own. They're just little brats."

"Well, those little brats have almost caught a few of us once or twice," Dabi said, "I wouldn't underestimate them. And it was because we kidnapped that one twerp that we almost got busted before. Is messing with UA even smart with the numbers we have now?"

"That is why this plan is the perfect opportunity," Shigaraki said. He straightened. "Yes, time to eliminate that nuisance once and for all. No more of these foolish notions to distract us."

"You were finding it distracting?" Spinner said with some surprise.

"Of course not, you dolt! I meant the rest of you!" Shigaraki snapped, "Dabi is clearly having too much fun with it. He won't do what needs to be done."

"Hey, I'll do whatever I need to achieve my goals!" Dabi said in a deadly tone.

"Good, then use our contact at UA to set a trap," Shigaraki said coldly.

"Why do I have to do it?" Dabi said "I'm the most obvious pick. They'll know it was me for sure, and I'm the only one that Todoroki brat saw, so he'll be suspicious."

"It won't matter without proof, and no one else has the, shall we say, rapport, to pull it off," Compress said, "Though, I do question if you're acting skills are up to the task, but I certainly can't do it."

"And you have the fastest quirk, next to the boss," Spinner said, "Though Toga is probably better at killing people... but she's awfully afraid of Lisktar for some reason-- says she think she'd die if she was around... and Twice could be more useful taking her down, but he's just the same."

"Why is that, I wonder?" Compress mused, "Shared inhibitions about people with swords perhaps?"

That didn't make any sense-- Toga liked Stain after all, but Dabi didn't care to investigate the recesses of her twisted mind and figure it out. Crazy gave him the creeps.

"Which kids do you want... eliminated?" he said aloud uncomfortably.

"Well, the ones already around her would be easiest to catch," Shiragraki said, "I don't like that Midoriya kid, but he's going to have to wait."

"We can't kill him-- Stain let him live!" Spinner said.

"Technically, Stain also let the candy cane punk live too," Dabi said, "So doesn't that rule him out?"

"Yes, it does," Spinner insisted.

Shigaraki made a noise of frustration about to turn into rage. "I make the calls here...! Well, we only need one or two of them. Try to get the girl or that brat Bakugo away. He should pay for refusing our offer anyway. I don't like him at all."

"The princess or the walking time bomb... Great..." Dabi muttered.

[As you can tell, from this point we have officially left canon based material and probably will for most of the duration of the fic. I warn you, it's all wilderness and untamed territory from here.]

                                                                                             ***

Bakugo decided to follow Camie's "suggestion" to just ask Shine directly again about her deal.

It was the day after the mall trip, and he had a chance to talk to her without the others around.

"I get all the crap about beating them without using force, but they're still scum who are out to kill heroes, and even with those ancient rules or whatever, how can you just be okay with talking to them?"

Shine seemed resigned to having to have this conversation multiple times. "Didn't I explain before? It's to benefit you."

"How the frick does it benefit me? Those b------s kidnapped me," Bakugo said.

Shine tilted her head. "I see.... Is that why you don't like it? You have some personal feelings about this, huh? I suspected as much."

"I don't have feelings about it. It just doesn't make sense," Bakugo grumbled.

"You do know that it's more abnormal not to have feelings and more weak, than it is to have them, right?" Shine said.

"Huh? How the h--- do you figure that?" Bakugo scoffed.

"Because to feel things is hard, and it takes courage," Shine said, "but shoving it all away doesn't. I hope you can be strong enough to feel something about it someday, Bakugo... but I can feel plenty myself... enough to not want it to happen again. Anything I can do to prevent that, even if it means talking to people I do not like and have every right to resent for doing that to you, I will do. Provided it's not against my code, and it isn't. Is that so hard to understand?"

"I don't like how it makes you seem like you're the good guy here," Bakugo growled.

"It's the truth. You decide whether it's good or bad," Shine said, "but if I didn't think it was good, I wouldn't do it, you know. Give me some credit for consistency. Have you ever known me to deliberately do something wrong?"

Silence. Nothing came to mind.

"Or to try to endanger any of you?" Shine pressed.

Silence again.

"Or to have an issue with stepping in to protect you if I got the chance?"

For the third time, silence.

Bakugo found he couldn't make a case for it. He slumped into a chair. "All of this is so d--- annoying."

"I think you mean exhausting. I agree," Shine sighed. 

They didn't say anything more for a while, then Bakugo shook his head. "Even if I didn't do anything, the Pros will catch you eventually. What about that bird-brain Hawks?"

"He's really bad at being a... well, secretive person, so I don't think he'll catch me... but all he has to do is see me with one of you a few more times to start realizing I must be working at UA to be around its students. One time is maybe a coincidence... but..." Shine sighed.

"And Icyhot can't know about any of this," Bakugo said.

"I would tell him... but, there's something I really can't go into with him, and I'm afraid this will get me far too close to it." Shine rubbed her face. "Wally agrees too-- it's too risky. It's quite the gamble though, betting on not being caught so we can keep protecting the class. If we get kicked out, the deal with the LOV will probably be off or at least weakened. I don't know how long their patience will last as it is. You cannot count on crazy people to make rational decisions. If you give them something they want, they play along for a bit, but sooner or later, a rabid dog bites. I know that. Believe me, I've dealt with it before."

"Yet, this still is your dumb target," Bakugo complained.

"Well... the outcome before was eventually, the villains began to change how they felt," Shine said, "There were other reason besides me, but I like to think I helped fan the flame... Other times, no, they never changed. But you have to test it before you know that for sure."

"Why would anyone want to change villains? That garbage is better off in the trash," Bakugo said.

"Funny, that's what they say about you," Shine said quite coolly.

The effect hearing what a villain said about him had on Bakugo was striking: He tensed up and glared at her. "Oh, yeah? You discussed it, huh? Screw you, then!"

"They volunteered their opinion on that," Shine said, "And I don't mean you specifically-- the whole school. They think heroes are trash. One side is wrong, one is right. What do you think?"

"It's clearly gonna be villains who are wrong. They're nut jobs," Bakugo said.

"And nut jobs never have a point?" Shine inquired, "It's easy to write off the other side as just being crazy. Tyrants have been doing it more millennia. Works for a while... until the crazy people finally take over... and if they are truly crazy, it's a bloodbath for everyone involved. Look at the French Revolution with Robespierre. they turned on themselves after a while. Once we draw lines between people, we can draw enough to make a checkerboard, or a grid, if that's easier for you. And those lines will never go away as long as we keep looking at it that way. There is only one line that we should draw. Good and Evil.... Everything else, quite frankly, is foolish and a waste of time."

"Then villains are evil," Bakugo said.

"Is it evil to fight for what you believe in?" Shine inquired back.

"If what you believe in is evil!" Bakugo got more angry.

"That is very true. I'm glad you understand that." Shine was maddeningly calm about this. "But not all of them are quite that far gone yet. It's a pity you can't see for yourself, but I wouldn't do that to you, even if it wasn't too dangerous."

"The frick you think I can't handle it!" Bakugo yelled.

Oh, no... Shine thought.

"Katsuki Bakugo! I hope you are not even thinking what it sounds like you think you're thinking!" she said severely, "Because I am not, I repeat not, taking you with me. Not ever!"

"If you're going to make me keep this dumb secret, I think I should get to be part of making sure it doesn't go south!" Bakugo said.

The argument had worked on All Might like a charm... but Shine didn't seem moved at all. In fact, she was angrier.

"You can do that by staying out of it! Do you know what they'll do to both of us if you show up? They'll kill us! Even if I could protect you, we'll be targets forever.... No... and if you try to follow me, I'll tell them it's over. Do you understand? Don't try to use that logic on me again. I actually think out my decisions, thank you very much. Believe you me, if I wanted you involved, you'd be involved already."

Bakugo didn't have the nerve, to his own chagrin, to argue further.

"Don't blame me if you get double crossed, then," he grumbled.

"It wasn't even a thought in my mind," Shine sassed him, "How about you go do your homework or something before we get too excited here and actually fight?"

"Whatever, I didn't want to talk to you anyway!" Bakugo snapped, storming away.

Shine sighed. "That was close."

                                                                                             ***

After another day had passed, Momo had gotten so far as to think that she needed to know the truth or she would always wonder about it.

So, she plucked up her courage to finally ask Shine about it. Wally too.

Wally didn't know what to say. He was sorry the whole thing had come out.

After Bakugo, Shine was getting used to being asked about it.

"Are you sure you really want to know the real truth?" she asked, "I don't want to put more pressure on you."

"At first, I thought I didn't want to know," Momo sighed, tugging her hair, "but I... I'll never feel right about it if I don't ask... I mean... you know what went through my head? I thought... well... it seems like you've been working with the LOV all along... but then, I thought that couldn't be it... but I can't piece together any explanation that makes sense. If you don't tell me I think I'll go crazy."

"Sheesh..." Wally said, "That's hard to ignore... but isn't it a little over dramatic? Can't you just... you know, trust us?"

Pause.

Momo bit her lip. "But... I have been. Isn't this a little much...? I can't betray my whole class."

"What, you think that we're trying to do that?" Wally got offended, "After all this time, one thing is all it takes to tip those scales?--"

"Wally." Shine put a hand on his arm. "I don't think that is fair. It looks bad... Bakugo has already given me a fair idea what they would all think about it, though."

"You told him already?" Momo said.

"He has a way of refusing to be put off..." Shine said, "There are some people even I can't get around, you know."

Yep, that was Bakugo. But he hadn't seemed to care before. Weird.

"I'm sorry..." Momo felt bad for Wally getting mad. "I don't know what else to do..."

"No one should be put in your position... but here we are," Shine said, "I guess... think about this... we are not just extensions of UA. We are our own people, with our own lives, jobs... ways of doing things. We've tried to blend in here far more than it probably looks like to you. I've never been so monitored in my life... and to us, it's a huge humiliation to undergo it, but we have, for you guys. This thing with the LOV is part of our way that, you guys just can't get, it seems. But it's not wrong in our book. We are following our own code. If that is good enough for you, Momo, how about we leave it there?"

"Any more than that, and you're liable, and you don't need that, Peaches," Wally said.

Momo looked at them for a long moment.

"I... I don't know... Going your own way... that sounds... forgive me, but I'm sure my classmates would call it villainous."

"I guess that's why we get along with the villains better," Shine said dryly, "Because we both don't like letting heroes do our thinking for us."

There were probably three separate burns in that one sentence, and Momo had to take a full two minutes to process all of them. She reddened as she saw it was at least a mild rebuke for her. Why did it remind her of Todoroki?

[If you saw the Two Heroes movie, you might get why it would.]

"You... you think that the heroes are trying to tell you what to think?" Momo said finally.

Both Shine and Wally couldn't stop themselves from bursting into bitter, dry laughter.

Momo felt uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry... I... couldn't help it," Shine said.

"How can she seriously not notice that?" Wally said.

"You don't notice if you've always done the same thing, Wally," Shine sighed, "Like we don't question the need for computers... I suppose..."

"But... I'm sure no one's ever told you you have to do things like heroes..." Momo said.

They gave her incredulous looks.

"I'm pretty sure Tsuyu has said exactly that, and I know Aizawa has," Shine said, "and Iida... and everyone, even you, sweetie, though we didn't take that personally because we like you."

"I?" Momo was astonished. "When did I?"

"All the time. Every time you tell us doing something is a bad idea, the only reason you ever have is that it's not the way heroes do things," Shine said.

"And that always means heroes here," Wally said, a bit miffed, "Which really grinds my gears, because I don't think it's fair."

"Really, talking to the LOV was a welcome break from being micromanaged," Shine said, also miffed, "At least they were honest about it... Look, I assure you, we haven't helped them hurt anyone. Just the opposite-- you saw so yourself. We don't know any plots they are plotting, and it's better that way."

"But... your reason is you didn't like UA?" Momo said.

"Sweetheart, that's the reason most of the villains are villains," Shine said, "They hate heroes, and they hate UA for propagating the image that is crushing so many people under it. We had something in common. We needed to see the opposition to really understand this world. It is always the way. I've never been on one mission I didn't have to meet both the bad and good guys on in order to do what I needed to do. And directly foiling the villains has never been a good idea. We are not here to do that, but to learn about them, and then teach what we can... You cannot go to a foreign country and do a hostile takeover if you intend to create peace. Does that make sense?"

Momo thought very hard. "I don't know if that's right."

"Why is it so hard to explain...?" Wally banged his head on a pillow.

"Let's try another tack," Shine said, "Momo, even here, you have your rules of who can and cannot interfere. Unlicensed people are not supposed to fight villains or hurt them. Heroes can fight them but not kill them. The government can imprison and kill them. Now, we are extraterrestrials. What are the rules for us? What are the limits? We have no Licences to interfere. You see?"

That made a bit more sense, it was true.

"I can see not fighting them, but... just talking to them and not going to the police...?" Momo said, "I mean, have you told them about us?"

"Of course not, I'm not stupid!" Shine said, insulted, "I talk about them and the world. That's the extent of our conversations."

That actually seemed very little to be worth the risk. 

"Isn't it still illegal?" Momo said.

"Not for us," Wally sighed, "I'm getting tired of having this conversation."

"You've had it once. I'm on my... third time?" Shine said.

Wally banged his head some more.

"Momo, this is what it comes down to," Shine said, "Either, you accept that we know our own rules, and we are bound to them, and we are following them, and that's enough, or... you don't... but that means you have to decide what else to do, then.... I'm very sorry to put you there. It wasn't the plan... but neither was that attack. I guess it took a toll on all of us. But we know risks come with the job, and I think you do too.... The risk is either taking a chance on us... or... well, not doing so. It's never really changed, has it? And... forgive me, but, how long can you keep going between two points of view? If we are wrong, then don't side with us. If we are right... then you should support us. No more limbo."

It was an ultimatum no one else would have dreamed of posing to Momo. The hero students lacked the confidence to do so.

Shine didn't like doing it, but she saw clearly enough Momo was never going to have any peace of mind until she made it up, once and for all. And there was no getting past this issue.

But that could mean their time here was up? What would it be like, then? To have to go home for once having not completed a mission... Failed?

Would there be another away to continue, or was that it?

[Shine's words in this part hearkened back to a point in the Bible where Elijah posed a question to the Israelites."Elijah came near all the people and said, 'How long will you be divided between two ways of thinking? If the Lord is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, then follow him.' But the people did not answer him a word." (1 Kings 18:21)

I'm sure there may be a few people wondering why this is really so important for Momo to decide, but the answer ties back into the show. Momo constantly is torn between feeling like one thing is right, but her training and upbringing telling her another thing. She sided with the Bakugo Rescue Squad, but reluctantly, and felt guilty about it. She is not sure in the Two Heroes movie whether she should side with Todoroki and Deku or with Iida. And she is indecisive about taking action many other times.

Though she started off the show without much hesitation, in the USJ attack, it seems in the long run, Momo's damage from all the events of the show is to never feel certain about anything.

Shine is asking her to confront this problem in herself by deciding what she really thinks and not second guessing.

Framing it this way made the most sense for the story, but it is a tricky issue to decide. A difficult time to have to confront that kind of self doubt.

Let's hope Momo makes the right decision in the future chapters.]