The third day, everyone concerned in the matter woke up after a fitful night's rest. Even Camie texted Bakugo and Momo early that she was "strung out."
But they didn't have any words of comfort.
Given how often they went out for work studies and training, they often had access to their costumes, but Momo still felt 100% guilty when they snuck into the classroom and got them out.
How Camie got hers she never told them, but given her quirk, it probably wasn't too hard.
Shine and Wally didn't have costumes, at least there, but as if to suit the mood, Shine did put on all dark colors.
Momo really wasn't sure this plan was going to work. There was one aspect of it she didn't understand.
They were waiting by the gate of the school, and Todoroki commented darkly on the same thing.
"Why do they think they can just walk into the office, and the mole here will just know what they say? I mean, it's so far fetched."
"According to Shine, that's all it took for them to target us last week." Momo tugged her hair. "That's kind of concerning, if this plan does work."
"What if someone sees us out here?" Todoroki muttered.
"No one ever guards this fricking gate," Bakugo said, "How else did Hands-Face get in here before?"
"It's the front gate and no one guards it?" Todoroki said.
"That's what cameras are for," Momo said.
"It never struck you as weird the cameras didn't pick that up, then?" Bakugo retorted.
Pause.
[I know-- mind blown, right?]
Meanwhile, Shine and Wally were in the office. "Why do you want to take the students out after last week?" Nezu said.
"I met some Pros who are interested in helping them out," Shine said, "while I was out yesterday. And Endeavor wants to visit with his son anyway...so we'll kill two birds with one stone."
"You're not authorized to call in Pros," Nezu pointed out.
"No, but the kids are authorized to talk to them. I didn't call in anyone-- they offered," Shine said.
"It couldn't hurt to have more people watching out for UA, could it?" Wally said, "If they hear anything, you know...it would be useful."
Nezu sipped his tea. "I suppose you have a point... Well, if it's around Pros, you'll be safe enough, right? Though perhaps you should go with another staff member."
Shine had thought this suggestion might be made.
"You want to join us?" she asked with a very innocent smile.
Nezu almost choked on his tea. "I? Miss Likstar, I might have a quirk, but I'm hardly a fighter, unless I had some equipment."
"So bring it," Wally said.
"Yeah, you don't have a class or anything. Why don't you come?" Shine said.
Nezu seemed at a loss. "Well...uh...but I am very busy today. I have meetings. Wouldn't it be better to take a teacher?"
"I suppose. That's a real shame," Shine said, "Maybe some other time, then... So, who would be good...? I can't think of anyone who's available. Hound-dog, maybe?"
"Ah, that's the perfect suggestion," Nezu said, "He's our security anyway."
They nodded.
After walking away, Wally said in disgust, "What do you want to bet Hound-dog is in on this?"
"I'd bet money on it," Shine said, "but you never know. The guy doesn't strike me as very bright. Does he even talk?"
"He can talk, but he barks a lot..." Wally said.
* * *
Hound-dog met them at the gate and barked some kind of greeting at them that no one understood.
"How can we pull this off with him?" Todoroki grumbled.
"We can lose this guy easy," Wally hissed, "No problem. But for now, it's cover."
"Nezu turned us down," Shine said dryly, "but no big deal."
They met up with Camie then. Hound-dog asked (this time in speech) why she was there.
"She's helping us," Shine said.
"What did you tell Nezu?" Momo asked Wally aside. Wally explained.
"Why did you tell him the truth if you think the mole is going to hear about it?" Bakugo said.
"Because that's our plan. Truth is safer to plan off of than a lie, you know," Wally said, "But I say we give it a while for the mole to make their rounds."
So they stalled meeting up with the Pros, but they finally did.
Miss Joke and Mirko were hanging around a very ordinary street corner.
Mirko was drawing a crowd of fans-- Miss Joke had a few...and they were having a hard time coming up with a reason not to move.
Mirko had left at least 6 times to stop a crime, and each time Miss Joke thought she was going to forget to come back, but she finally did. She was getting impatient though.
"What is taking them so long? They're moving at the pace of a carapace," she griped.
[Carapace means shell, like for a turtle or tortoise.]
"Nice play on words there," Miss Joke said.
Mirko stomped her foot like Thumper from Bambi. "Not making me feel less annoyed though."
"Oh, look, there they are." Miss Joke waved at them. "Oh...well, I guess he did come... Hmm."
"What, you wish it was Eraserhead?" Mirko jibed.
"No...I wish they had come alone." Miss Joke took it seriously.
Hound-dog woofed at them, and Mirko's ears stood straight up. She jumped several feet away. "I'll just wait till you sort this out."
Huh? Was she scared of dogs? Miss Joke thought that was odd. (She didn't stop to think it might be how loud he was.)
"Let's sit inside." Shine pointed to a cafe.
So they did.
"Hound-dog, would you watch the door?" Shine asked nicely, "Make sure no one suspicious comes in."
Hound-dog barked, saluted, and went to stand outside the door.
"That was too easy," Wally said.
Mirko snorted a laugh. "What a moron..."
"He's just doing his job," Momo said.
"Yeah...like a moron." Mirko pulled out a carrot and started nibbling on it. "All right, can we get to the point already? Is this going to work?"
Shine held up her ID. "Should be a matter of time. We have to go to the correct area first."
"What area? Where are we going?" Camie asked.
"I staked out some good places," Wally said, "and we picked one. You all remember what to do, right?"
"We're not stupid," Bakugo said.
"Aren't you the one who won that sports festival?" Mirko eyed him.
"Yeah, so?" That was still a sore point for Bakugo.
"I liked the part where you said all the other were just stepping stones to your victory," Mirko said, taking a bite, "Expecting others to take it easy on you is bs."
Bakugo was about to say something rude that would probably have gotten him in big trouble with her, but Camie cut in. "I remember that part. I died. Geez, I forgot that was you, Bakubro."
Bakugo was distracted. "Well, at the time it made sense..."
"Let's just go." Shoto got up coldy. "I want to get this over with." He walked toward the door.
"Uh, Shoto, go towards the back..." Shine pointed.
"Right." Momo got up. "That makes sense..."
"We're losing him like airline luggage, as a friend of mine would say," Wally said, nodding at Hound-dog.
They all slipped out the back and then portaled. Hound-dog no doubt didn't even miss them for quite a while after they were gone.
* * *
Dabi was waiting around, not sure for what...just...waiting.
Then he got a tip from their contact at UA.
"Dirty scum. Could stop betraying kids for like a whole week at least," Dabi muttered, "Hey, guys...ready to rumble?"
"Ooh, let me come this time," Toga said.
"You came last time, Crazy," Dabi said.
"Yeah, but I want another stab at it."
"Our plan should be simple, right?" Compress said, "I wouldn't mind taking another crack at it myself."
"You fools!" Shigaraki heard all this. "That's never going to work. Our plan before was detailed, and it still didn't work."
Only because Dabi chickened out, but he didn't say that.
"Well, what else can we do? They're not the easiest people to kill," Spinner complained, "Should we use our newer recruits?"
"Even that won't be enough," Shigaraki mused, "Well, they say if you want something done right..."
"Wait...what?" Dabi hadn't planned for this. "But you never actually participate. Are you sure you should risk it? What if they call the fuzz?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Dabi. If they were going to do that they would have been here days ago," Shigaraki scoffed, "They're stupid enough not to, and we're going to exploit that. And you don't think I'm capable? I was in the first attack at the USJ, you know, and without that stupid piece of crap showing up, I would have succeeded."
"Well, this should guarantee our success," Compress said, "As long as no Pros show up other than...uh, who was it, Dabi?"
"Just the mutt. There's no way he'd be a threat," Dabi scoffed. He felt kind of sick.
"There you go," Compress said.
Dabi hadn't mentioned that Wally was also with them. Either he'd forgotten, or he just didn't want to.
* * *
The group made their way to an ordinary enough set of back alleys.
"This is too obviously a trap..." Shoto said.
"It is..." Shine said, "but then again...we do like to frequent these types of places... Let's walk."
Mirko rubbed her stomach. "What was that thing we just went through? A warp gate?"
"Nope, a portal. Much safer," Shine said, "Can be a bit of a shock the first time."
"That's OP..." Mirko muttered.
"All the bad stuff aside, I can't believe we're working with the no #5 hero!" Camie hissed to the others excitedly, "This is so cool!"
"We work with the former no#1 hero all the time," Bakugo said.
"And my dad is the new no#1," Shoto said.
"But it's still exciting, I suppose," Momo tried to be sympathetic. "At least...it's better than Uwamabi." She shuddered.
"Oh, her? I love her style," Camie said, "but the Rabbit Hero is just so cool! I mean, she's like pow! Kick! And all that. Who wouldn't want to be like that?"
"I don't know. I think she relies too much on brute force," Shoto said.
"That coming from you?" Bakugo scoffed.
"No, but, she's not very good at working with other people," Shoto said, "Tends to steal the win... You know, it's just not good PR."
"Like you know any better," Bakugo grumbled.
"Coming from you, Bakugo, I really don't see any reason to take that," Shoto said, with some annoyance.
"Please don't fight..." Momo said, "We'll look bad."
"FYI, I can hear all of you." Mirko tilted one ear. "You got a problem with me, Son of Endeavor?"
Shoto was not in the mood for that. "Not particularly, just a comment."
"Keep it to yourself, then," Mirko said dismissively.
"Nice going." Camie gave Shoto a thumbs up
"You know, on that note," Shine spoke to Mirko herself, "I hope you aren't planning to try to steal the win if the LOV does show up."
"I'll handle it," Mirko said confidently, "Relax. They're no match for me."
"You think you can single handedly take all of them?" Shine said.
"Oh, it's not like they're even that tough," Mirko said, waving, "They just always have the element of surprise."
"I see..." Shine said oddly, "And you think we all can't be surprised today, huh?"
"What's the surprise? This is our plan." Mirko tossed her hair.
"Mirko, I can't tell whether you're the most confident or most stupid hero I've met so far," Shine said wryly.
"Look, you can't waste time worrying about stuff like that. You just have to give it your all," Mirko said, "Stop being such a wuss."
"A wuss, huh?" Shine was amused. "Well, I'm not afraid of you, am I? But sure, think what you want."
"I will think what I want..." Mirko looked around, then she wiggled her ears. "I think I heard something...maybe not a villain, but something."
"Could be a rat or roach?" Wally eyed the garbage along one street.
"Wally," Shine's eyes suddenly glowed, "I just got the strongest impression you should get out of here."
"What? Why?" Wally said.
"Do I look like I know? Just go," Shine said.
"But where am I going?" Wally said.
"I don't know. You ask yourself. Just go," Shine said.
"Right, right. Fine." Wally disappeared.
"Where did he go?" Momo said.
"Kids, take cover," Shine said.
"Cover from what?" Camie asked.
"Just cover." Shine looked around.
"I don't hear it anymore," Mirko frowned, "That's suspicious..."
Momo slipped behind a trash bin, and Camie followed her, but the boys were hesitant.
"If we're supposed to be the...you know, then why should we hide?" Shoto said.
"Shoto," Shine said in a tense voice, "do not make me repeat myself."
Her tone was enough to cow him. Angry as he was, he didn't want to cross her at such a time. He moved. Bakugo did too.
Still, Shoto permitted himself to complain a little. "This isn't going to work, I don't think... I just...don't get what the point of all this was...or why they think it's worth it to spare villains."
"It's just the plan," Momo said. "We all agreed to it."
"Yes...well, if I'd known before, I might have not agreed. We might not be in this mess," Shoto said.
Momo bit her lip.
"Are you just gonna keep bringing that up?" Camie said.
"You should talk. You already knew too," Shoto said, "All of you kept me in the dark on purpose. Just because they asked you to. I thought we were friends."
"We are..." Momo was wounded by that. "It wasn't about that."
"Who said we were friends?" Bakugo said.
Camie elbowed him. "Not the time, bro."
"Don't tell me what to do!"
"I didn't. I just said it wasn't the time. If you want to be stupid and do it anyway, go right ahead," she retorted.
Bakugo was silent.
"I didn't tell you because I didn't think it was any of my business," Camie shrugged, "But you know, aren't you kind of taking it personally?"
"It's hard not to if I was the only one kept in the dark."
"You wonder why that was?" Bakugo muttered, "It's because of crap like this. A smarter person would have understood it was something touchy and not gotten offended over it."
"I'd like to see you follow your own advice one of these days--" began Shoto.
"Shh," Momo said, "Please."
"Yeah, or she'll gag you," Camie said.
"What? No, I won't," Momo said.
"Girl, I can't be intimidating on your behalf if you're just going to undermine it right off..." Camie said.
"Did I ask you to be intimidating for me?" Momo said.
"Great, now you two are starting," Bakugo said.
"We're not starting anything," Momo began.
"Shh." Camie sat erect suddenly. "What was that?"
They all went quiet.
"Stay where you are," Shine said, not even looking at them, "If all goes well, you won't need to fight at all. Don't show yourselves. Only fight if one of you is threatened."
They didn't know what that meant.
Miss Joke rubbed her arms. "It's chilly just standing here... I wonder why nothing's happening. I thought you heard something."
"Two possibilities-- either it was a false alarm...or someone moved as soon as they saw us," Shine said.
"Then this was a colossal waste of time," Mirko said, as if finally losing her patience, "I'm done with this."
"Hey, stop!" Shine warned, "Don't do anything stupid."
"Stupid? Stupid is standing around here." Mirko jumped away and cleared a low building.
"Is she leaving?" Miss Joke asked, not sure herself.
"I can't tell," Shine said, "I wouldn't think she'd be the type, but I just met her, like, two days ago..."
"Well, well, look who we have here," a familiar voice said behind them. Compress.
He'd somehow snuck up on them.
Shine bit her lip. So, the plan had worked--thus far.
* * *
Compress faced them. "You don't really learn, do you, Likstar?"
"I could say the same to you, Compress... I hope you have a better plan this time," Shine said.
"I think our mistake before was clear," Compress said, "But don't worry, this time we won't be giving you a chance to escape."
A marble came flying at them and became a large cage-like thing...or was it an actual cage?
Miss Joke and Shine both tried to leap out of the way, but it was too large, and it crashed down over them, trapping them.
Shoto started to get up, but Momo held him back and shook her head.
Come on, I'm sure that's nothing you can't handle, she thought to herself.
"Dabi, your cue," Compress said.
Dabi stepped out of the shadows. He looked...kind of stiff.
"Well...I guess this is the end of the road..." he said.
Privately he thought, why wasn't Shine just leaving?
Shine had her sword out.
"You know that a cage isn't going to stop me, Compress."
"Oh, I know, Miss Likstar. This was more for your friend," Compress said, "But it did distract you."
Shine's eyes widened as black goo appeared around her. "What?! Not this again!" She vanished.
"Now?" Shoto said in a barely audible voice.
"Just...wait..." Momo said.
"No, this is not going the right way. I'm not just going to stand by and let that monster kill another Pro." Shoto broke out of her grasp.
Dabi was preparing to light the cage on fire. Compress had poured some gasoline.
Dabi had no reason to spare Miss Joke, though he wasn't thrilled about it, but he supposed there was no deal involved here, so he was actually going to go through with it.
Miss Joke was legitimately terrified. She couldn't budge the cage at all, and it was such a pathetic way to go out, too!
Where was West? Why wasn't he here?
* * *
Mirko had not actually been going to ditch them. Pissed as she was about it, she had every intention of circling back and making sure they all got home safely. But before she had gotten enough frustration out by bouncing around, she heard something crash.
"What the--?" She looked back. "A cage? What the frick?" She turned around and began to bound back.
Something reached out and grabbed her by the ankle.
Nothing had been there a second ago, but now a huge bird-headed monster was there... A Nomu?!
Wait, no one had said there would be zombie bird men there!
Mirko didn't waste any time. She kicked at it with her free foot and broke free, flipping and landing on her feet on a roof.
Where there were Nomu, there was almost always the LOV right behind it... She looked around.
The Nomu didn't seem all that powerful, if she'd broken free that easily. But it was still dangerous. It charged her.
Mirko evaded it with ease, jumping over its head and smacking it into the roof. It was one hard enough to destroy it... Oops...
Well, at least the building looked abandoned... West had checked that out when he selected this place.
A chunk of roof then almost hit her in the head, but then it just hit the Nomu anyway.
"What a pushover," she said, distastefully, hopping back out, "Piece of carrot cake. Now, where to find the rest of you scum..."
She didn't have to wait long to see at least a sign of one. A black pillar of something like goo appeared a few rooftops away, and the Likstar woman popped out of it, holding a sword... Where did she get a sword?
* * *
Shine coughed on the black stuff. "I hate this so much."
"Makes sense," a nasally voice answered her, "To think blocking you quirk was that simple the whole time."
Shine looked up. "Shigaraki?!" She was not faking her surprise. "You? Why are you here? You never join in these attacks."
"Well, I had to make an exception because your little group was being so difficult," Shigaraki said, "And I decided to take on the task of killing you myself, since apparently no one else can pull it off."
"This...this is really happening?" Shine was a bit dumbfounded. "You're actually... You do remember I blocked your power before, right?"
"Yes, well, I thought of that." Shigaraki pulled out a gun. "No time for long speeches, Likstar. This is going to be quick. Any last words?"
Shine blinked. "Look behind you."
"You seriously think this is the time to make jokes--?" Shigaraki was cut off by someone slamming him into the roof at a speed almost hard enough to break his ribs.
Mirko tossed her hair. "That was easy. Well, Likstar, I take it back. This was fun after all."
"Hey, watch out," Shine said, "Don't take your eyes off him!"
Mirko looked down. Shigaraki was already trying to grab her leg.
"Ah, no you don't!" She jumped out of reach. "Wow...I thought that'd knock anyone out."
"Yeah...actually that's weird..." Shine looked at Shigaraki oddly. "You...you don't seem normal."
"I've never been normal. I don't know what you mean." Shigaraki retrieved his gun. "This is such a nuisance... Where's Nomu?"
"Oh, that pathetic hunk of meat? I took care of it," Mirko waved, "Didn't even put up a real fight."
"Mirko," Shine pointed, "You might want to look behind you now."
"What do you mean?" Her ears twitched, and she suddenly jumped, as if on reflex. The Nomu had somehow crawled out of the hole it was in and come back at her.
Shigaraki laughed. "Pros always miscalculate."
But he'd taken his eyes off Shine for too long. She moved quickly and sliced her sword through his weapon, cutting it neatly into two pieces.
"Wow...that's sharp," Mirko commented, jumping over the Nomu again, "I'll knock this thing out in a few moves, just watch. Keep your distance from that guy."
"I don't think--" Shine was going to say that wasn't a good idea, but before she could, Shigaraki lunged at her. That took some guts, considering she'd just cut a steel weapon into two pieces, but he didn't seem to care. He grabbed her by the throat before she could move but didn't put down his last finger.
"You're so naive, Likstar," he said.
Mirko tried to move to help, but the Nomu, with much faster speed than before, grabbed her and threw her into the roof hard enough to break most people. She seemed only winded though.
Shine had her sword ready to strike. "Put me down," she said.
"Really?" Shigaraki held her out over the edge of the roof. "I will if you insist."
Shine would have swallowed, but she couldn't. She started coughing instead.
Below, where Miss Joke was, Shoto had stepped in with ice to block Dabi. Dabi was melting it away easily though. Compress was just waiting for chance to capture him.
"What I don't get is why you were stupid enough to come out in the open like this," Shigaraki said, "I mean, before I kill you, just tell me, why did you think that was a good idea?"
Shine couldn't really talk, but she did something else. Her sword started to flash light like a search-beam.
The Nomu was raising its fist over Mirko, but it stopped and howled like the light stung its eyes. Shigaraki himself flinched. It was impossible not to. His grip loosened, and Shine kicked him. He staggered back and dropped her...off the roof...but she caught herself with her sword. Which wrenched her arm terribly, but at least she didn't fall to her death. The sword dug into the wall.
Mirko moved successfully, panting, but she kicked the Nomu away. "Why is this thing suddenly tough?" she spat.
Shigaraki straightened. "Clever, Likstar, but a little flashlight isn't going to save you." He put his hand on the wall over her. "Maybe I can't destroy your sword, but no one said anything about the wall."
"Wait," Shine said, "I do have one final thing before you do that, if I may."
"Make it fast," Shigaraki said.
Shine took a deep breath. "I don't know a lot about you, you know, and that's partly because you never say anything...but I thought you hated Pros because they do things that are hypocritical, and because they give people a false sense of security."
"And your point is...?" Shigaraki said impatiently.
"I may not have your exact philosophy," Shine said, "but, this is the kicker...I actually care about you weirdos...enough not to turn you in..." Her hand was getting tired. "And, I thought that maybe that would mean something to you... I guess, I just want to know why it doesn't."
Shigaraki recoiled. "Why should it? No one told you to do that. Are you trying to say us killing you is wrong because of a few gestures? That's pathetic. Nothing you could ever do would make up for anything any of us have against Pros. The fact that you thought otherwise...just makes me hate you more."
Shine strained to hold on. "I never was going to claim that, Shigaraki. I just expected you to be smarter than that... Just as much as I protected those kids, I protected you. What do you gain from this? You'll have terrible losses if you do this...losses that didn't have to happen. But you don't care about the LOV, do you? As long as you eliminate pests you don't like."
"You shut up!" Shigaraki put his hand on the wall. "I don't have to listen to this." The wall crumbled and Shine fell.
"Crap!" Mirko tried to dive after her, and the Nomu again moved way faster than before, faster than her now... What the heck? It yanked her back and slammed her into the ground again.
"You can just finish that one off," Shigaraki told the Nomu carelessly, "I think our work here is just about done."