Izuku followed the blue flame circle around the forest. "Dabi must have trapped the Pussycats." So Toga and him would already be gone. 'Did Stain kill Pixie-Bob?'

He landed in the middle of the forest inside the flame. On a branch, he heard the hurried run of two.

He gazed down at them, his eye reflected the embers. 'Kota told me Mandalay from the Pussycats was his aunt.' And there she was.

She was running alongside Tiger who was carrying Pixie-Bob.

"I guess Stain stabbed her and left them to the fire." Izuku stood on the branch before he lept down. "Excuse me." A polite, cold voice.

The two stopped, turning in their tracks. "A student?!" Tiger assumed. They hoped all of them evacuated. Mandalay recognized him from the news.

"No, he was the one who attacked a U.A. student. The only one not at camp." Mandalay pointed her paw out. "Is he associated with the league, or not?"

Izuku rubbed his mask with his thumb and index finger. He brought it because of the smoke and his mask had filters. "Don't worry I'm not allied with the league." He lowered his hand slightly, pointing right back at Mandalay. "I only came for you."

Tiger's eyes shadowed, laying Pixie-Bob down. "The class rep? I heard he was Ingenium's little brother. He was an aspiring hero. I visited both him and his bother in the hospital. Did you know there are sharing a room! Two good men brought down by Stain, now Ragdoll and us! Unforgivable!" Rushing straight for Izuku.

"Oh... Sorry."

"All you can say is sorry?!" Going for a mighty swing.

"Anything else would only anger you. Like, where was the Pro sponsoring him? Or how the student was purely out for revenge. Why else would he intern close to the hero-killer?" Izuku did a swift step spin, avoiding it.

"Shut up! You know nothing!"

Tiger, you need to calm down and retreat. We have to focus on Pixie-Bob!

Izuku heard. He expected Tiger to agree, but instead, he continued his attack. He lept back until a leg swept under him. Izuku grew a wide eye, falling back. Two paw boots uppercut dropkicked him. He turned his head to the right, trying to look down. 'She sent me a fake plan and Tiger a real one.' Izuku was rocked up. Tiger was in the air waiting for him.

Izuku rose an eyebrow. "They didn't notice my wing?" He was about to fly away, but a hand wrapped around his leg. Izuku glared at it. Tiger's hand stretched back, holding Izuku's leg. He yanked him back towards him. A huge hit in Izuku's gut, adding force from the momentum. Izuku's expression only shifted to pain for a moment.

Izuku held out his palm open in front of Tiger.

Watch out it's an attack! Mandalay warned Tiger. She also tried to distract Deku with her mind games. She lept high from a tree.

"What?"

Both Izuku's and Tiger's eyes grew at the twinkling feathers surrounding them. They ignited in a cluster of mini combustions. His grip loosened around Izuku and he used that opportunity to kick and flap away.

Tiger was falling with minor burn wounds across his body. Izuku landed on the ground beside Pixie-Bob. Tiger was still standing, determined.

Izuku's eye glazed a line of fire, turning to the sneaking Mandalay. She was bombarding him with lies of strategies that would remain in his subconscious to trick him.

She was on the offensive. Out of all of them, she was the fastest.

"I'm just trying to get you out of here. You'll die."

Really! Please save me.

"Sure." He reached out his hand.

She breezed right past him. A huge claw slash over his stomach. "Like I'd leave with you!"

"Ow." Izuku dropped his hand. "Lies hurt." Knowledge and experience were completely different. "I'll save them too if you like?" Trying out a lie for the first time. Would it hurt her?

Mandalay gritted her teeth, ready to lunge like a cat.

"Kota asked me to."

She grew orbs, halting her action. "Kota... Where is he?!"

"I can take you to him if you want?"

"Don't listen to him!" Tiger walked with hazy steps. He fumbled but faced down Midoriya. Izuku's red boots gritted on the dirt, turning to Tiger.

"You think I'm lying? Kota is safe." He rose the same hand that reached out for Mandalay.

"Even if you might not be? It is surely a trap!"

"Y-Yeah." Mandalay refocused. "We'll escape and reunite with Kota and the students." They were specifically targeted by three villans and were pushed away from everyone. Pixie-Bob was stabbed from behind by the hero-killer and Ragdoll was missing. It was the worst possible situation for the Pussycats. She had to guide them through this.

Tiger and Mandalay attacked him simultaneously.

Izuku sighed.

Tiger took a starting step to leap. Mandalay lunged for Izuku, his only wing defended against her.

Stab...

His only eye grew emerald with crackling flames. He tossed Tiger aside, a vicious whiplash, yanking out the condensed blade.

Mandalay froze with a gasp of dread. "T-Tiger!...How? He didn't even use his wing?" Her eyes grew seeing another flame emitting from his lower back. "A tail?"

Tiger crashed, hitting a tree. He reverberated off with a splash of blood. He wheezed out a desperate cough, trying to get up.

Izuku rose his shoulder, turning his eye to the sound of attempts. "He'll die soon." His eye scanned Pixie-Bob. "So will she..." He eyed Mandalay, a narrow uncaring glare. "It's the end of the Wild, Wild Pussycats. What will you do?"

"You bastards..." Mandalay bit her lower lip, with hopeless eyes. 'Kota...' "Why are you guys after heroes! We just want to help people..." Mandalay couldn't leave Kota or any of the Pussycats. "I'll keep fighting until the end."

"Is that so?"

His other wing burst out. He blasted straight at Mandalay. His grip clinched her throat instantly. He flew up, avoiding everything. Her windpipe was being crushed and she was blacking out.

All it took was a faded out blink.

One of her eyes was wide, the other shut. He flung her across the ground, she skidded on the dirt. Someone ran up to her, hugging her in relief. "There you go, Kota..." He was at the edge of the cliff.

Mandalay tried to glare at him. She was supporting herself with one arm, rubbing her throat with the other. Kota was crying on her shoulder.

Her eyes were mesmerized by the angelic aura of death around Deku. His wings were casting out gentle feathers over the cliff, embers burning out before they lit the forest. The radiant emerald flames contrasted the blazing blue night.

"Th... Thank you!" Kota yelled out to Deku.

Both Mandalay and Izuku grew wide eyes. Izuku ignored it, narrowing his eye downcast. Mandalay bit her lower lip, staring away at the ground. Did he honestly try to save her, simple and clean? 'Did we needlessly attack him..?' She clutched her throat and released it, staring back up at him.

He was gone.

Izuku walked up to his tent. His maskguard fell around his neck. He entered it, "Toga?" She wasn't here either. Nobody was. He saw a note on their sleeping bag.

Surprise waiting for you at home! Written in blood. Little hearts drawn around the words.

He closed it and climbed out. "They went back, huh?"

Back to the city.

"Can't you wait for Izuku to come back?! Ne, ne, I bet you can't!" Toga waved around her knife. Her eyes grew dark, sliding the blade against her skin. She instantly perked up. "I mean, you get to say thanks in person! Oh, I bet Izuku will love my surprise!"

Toga's musings of torture drowned out her hysterical tears and muffled cries of agony...