12:00 am.
Sleeping soundly on their respective mattresses, the others were being watched by Mineta and Kaminari as they currently stood guard. Mineta took the front while Kaminari took the back.
In addition, they decided to put out the fire so as not to attract unwanted attention. Instead, they decided to set the lanterns Yaoyorozu had packed.
What they didn't take into account, though, was the hole in the roof. After smelling something fowl in her sleep, Ashido opened her eyes and came face to face with Tokoyami.
He moaned.
She screamed!
Instantly, Bakugo awoke and blasted Tokoyami into the kitchen, where Kaminari was sleeping soundly, knocking over some lanterns and waking everyone up as a result.
"What the heck?!" Kaminari tiredly woke up.
Bakugo grabbed his gauntlet and chased after Tokoyami, who directed his red eyes away from Kaminari and snarled at Bakugo.
"Move, Denki!"
Kaminari yelped and narrowly avoided Tokoyami getting blasted outside. Bakugo gritted and closed his eyes. He didn't know where Tokoyami came from, but he was going to finish this.
Once and for all.
He jumped at Tokoyami, lighting up his palms. Then, everything changed when Dark Shadow popped out.
"WAIT!"
Bakugo's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Did he just talk?!"
Suddenly, without a moment's notice, Tokoyami was pulled away, making Bakugo blow up the ground. What followed was a long and shard red feather being held at Tokoyami's throat while a sniper aimed at his head. Before long, Bakugo gasped at the sight of Aizawa.
"Dammit, Hawks! You were supposed to watch him!" Aizawa shouted, canceling Tokoyami's quirk.
"My bad," Hawks awkwardly admitted.
"Sensei? You're alive..." Bakugo cracked, oblivious to Hawks and Nagant.
"Yeah! I'm glad you're alive too, kid...!" Aizawa struggled to say due to him tightening the reigns around Tokoyami.
"Shota!" Mic rushed out of the bushes.
"We saw what happened with Tokoyami. Is everything -?" Running with her shotgun, Midnight stopped in her tracks.
"Oh." She noticed Bakugo and the others.
"No way... It's Hawks!" Kaminari laughed.
"Thank goodness!" Hagakure cried.
"We thought you were goners!" Her and Yaoyorozu jumped into Aizawa's arms.
"Yeah, well, you can thank Hawks for that..." He glanced his way respectfully.
"Young Bakugo!" All Might and Shinso were the next ones to appear.
"Shinso!" Kaminari laughed in disbelief and hugged him to his annoyance.
"Ugh! You're squeezing too hard, bro..."
"I'm glad you're safe! I was worried sick after we got separated!" All Might went to hug Bakugo until he held out his hand and stopped him right in his tracks.
"Sorry... I'm glad you're alive, but... We're not there yet," he awkwardly said.
"Oh... Of course." All Might quickly made room and awkwardly tapped his foot when the sight of something gave him goosebumps. "Well, I'll be damned..."
"Mr. Aizawa..." Kirishima uttered.
A chill ran down Aizawa's back when he spotted a boy with black hair and remnants of red dye from the corner of his eye. Along with a pink girl with horns, Jiro, and Mineta, who was unusually tall. For a second, his breath was taken away, and he wanted to pinch himself to find out if he was asleep.
But he knew otherwise.
"Kiri..." Aizawa covered his mouth in complete shock. "You're... Alive...?" He stumbled back. All the while, Fat Gum, Rock Lock, Manual, Mic, Midnight, and Shinso watched in utter disbelief.
"Yes. We're alive," Kirishima assuringly smiled alongside the others.
"Last time I saw you all was in the mall..." Aizawa explained, directing his attention more so to Jiro.
"Yeah... That seemed so long ago, doesn't it?" She laughed emotionally when Aizawa noticed something about Ashido.
"I know... My hair grew out."
"Ha! It did..." He shook his head in disbelief and smiled uncontrollably.
Not knowing what to say, Mineta decided to blurt out, "I got my growth spurt! In case you didn't notice."
Without hesitatio, Aizawa pulled them into a warm embrace and cried tears of joy. He was so happy to see them alive after all this time, and no doubt, so were they. Meanwhile, the others made sure not to shed any tears.
"Aww! How sweet," Dabi smirked.
Instantly, Bakugo and Todoroki wiped around and froze at the sight of the man that brought about the events that led to All Might's retirement. They were sickened to see him there.
"Dabi!" Bakugo softly growled.
Without hesitation, Todoroki burned the shrub behind Dabi after he nonchalantly dodged his attack.
"Ha! I'm impressed. Your flames are hotter than I remember... Little Shoto."
"Don't call me that!" He attempted to attack again only to fall on his knees and grasp his side painfully. Yaoyorozu, followed by Aizawa, ran to his aid.
"What's wrong?" Aizawa asked.
"His ribs! They were badly hurt during his fight with Midoriya-san," Yaoyorozu explained, prompting Hawks and Nagant to share a nervous glance.
"I'm fine...! I... Just need rest..." Todoroki brushed it off only to wince again.
"No, you need help!" Yaoyorozu added worryingly.
"Is he infected?" Stain blurted out.
"Huh?" Everyone turned around and saw Stain and the League. As well as a boy with a black cloth wrapped around his face, which Hagakure noticed.
"Stain? The League?!" Kaminari cringed.
"Greetings, children!" Compress tipped his hat respectfully.
"What are they doing here?!" Bakugo grunted.
"Isn't it obvious...?" Stepping into their line of sight, the shithead himself began.
"To find a lost child," Overhaul uttered.
"Overhaul?!" Yaoyorozu gasped.
There, standing at the front of the group, was the piece of shit himself, wearing his stupid mask and prosthetic hands. The sight of the scumbag made them equally want to puke all over him.
"No... I know what this is, and we're not doing this! I refuse!" Bakugo shouted.
"Bakugo... I know you're angry, but hear me out," Aizawa began.
"Hear you out? Tch! Now I know you're on drugs!" He retorted.
"You can't be serious, Sensei! They're the same shits who knew of Eri's suffering and allowed it!" Kaminari argued.
"They attacked us at the camp!" Yaoyorozu added.
"And kidnapped Bakugo and gassed Jiro and Hagakure..." Todoroki winced, prompting Stain to grab his sword.
"Don't!!!" Aizawa threatened.
"Wait, Stain! He's not infected. He would've turned by now if that was the case," Hawks rationally reasoned.
Stain grunted in agreement and placed his sword away. Once the tension died down, Hawks sighed in frustration and stood between the two groups.
"Look! I get it! Overhaul is an asshole and the League hurt you! Fine!"
"Hey!"
"But they're helping us whether you like it or not. I trust Kirishima told you the rest?" Hawks finished.
"What?" Aizawa did a doubletake.
"You knew...!" Bakugo yelled, looking him in the eye as he waited for a reply.
"Yeah, bro... We knew from the get-go..." Kirishima awkwardly said.
Bakugo scoffed in disbelief, shocked at the fact that they of all people were okay with this, but before he could continue, Hagakure quietly walked past.
"Ojiro?"
Class 2A, excluding Shinso, became confused when she uttered the name. It was only until they noticed the unknown person in the back that they put two together. Meanwhile, the League allowed Hagakure to pass through.
"Is it. Really. You?" She asked.
Feeling the coldness of her hand on his cheek, Ojiro closed his eyes regrettably and slowly loosened the cloth around his face. Each passing second felt like an eternity until she saw his face.
"Hey, Toru... How's life?" He blushed when suddenly, she embraced him and squeezed for dear life.
The girls smiled at the reunion while the boys nodded. From their point of view, it was a heartfelt moment that was well overdue.
If only Bakugo had felt the same.
"Hey! Isn't that the Sludge villain kid?!" Twice broke the silence.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~
"When were you going to tell me?!" Aizawa shouted.
"Kamino! But things got heated, so I made the call to withhold the information. Given the circumstances, I think you would've preferred if you had fewer distractions..." Hawks answered.
"Fewer distractios?! You coerced my KIDS into doing your BIDDING! I should've known from the start!"
"For the record...! I didn't coerce ANYBODY. I offered a choice... Those kids, as you call them, simply chose to do the right thing..."
"How long have they been arguing?" Twice asked on the back patio, looking up at the stars as they watched the perimeter.
"Ten minutes," Stain tiredly muttered.
Kaminari made lip bubbles to drown out the shouting while Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, Jiro, and Mineta fought the urge to sleep.
Fat Gum and Kirishima were catching up on life, and Pony, Shinso, Shindo, Toga, and Giran fell into a deep sleep. As for All Might, he had to contend with overhearing the argument while Ashido begrudgingly stared at Overhaul.
"Do you mind?"
She continued to stare angrily.
"Parasite..." He whispered.
Unlike the others, All Might and Bakugo couldn't ignore the others. After all, there was too much shouting to just simply ignore. Even so, Bakugo and Ojiro shared a brief moment of acknowledgment when he nodded at him from across the room while Hagakure slept on his shoulder.
"Regardless...!" Aizawa paced the landing overlooking the living room.
"After what happened with Tetsutetsu and Rin... It doesn't justify putting the children in the line of fire!"
"Says the one who brought them on the mainland in the first place," Dabi retorted with his arms crossed.
"Why, you little!"
Without hesitation, Rock Lock and Mic held Aizawa back while Dabi smirked.
"Alright!" After calming down, he shrugged them off. "I'm done..." He submitted to Dabi's amusement.
"Atta boy."
"Look... Ignoring the obvious issues at hand, I think we can ALL agree that from here on out, the kids are out of it... The last thing we want is Shigaraki adding more children to his army," Midnight decided to bud in which Bakugo did a double take.
"Agreed," Nagant said.
"I'm not against that. That was part of the original arrangement anyway," Hawks looked at the kids.
"And the zombie bird? What do we do with him?" Spinner addressed the elephant in the room.
Simultaneously, zombie Tokoyami was eavesdropping from his tied up position in the kitchen where Monoma was currently watching him with Aizawa's quirk and Manual watering his eyes. They both were fighting sleep.
"He stays," Hawks stated.
"Are you insane?" Dabi scoffed.
"He's not a threat so long as we keep an eye on him! Besides... Since he's been with us, Koda and Deku have backed off! Oddly enough, his presence scares them... That can benefit us in the days ahead," he reasoned.
"For once... I agree with you..." Aizawa almost couldn't believe it.
"So... Is this settled then?" Midnight was the first to step forth.
"Sure thing," Nagant nodded.
"Mhm!" Dabi shrugged.
"Of course," Compress bowed.
"Good..." She smiled in relief.
As they made their way down the stairs, oddly enough, Bakugo was waiting for them. The others watched on the floor.
"Shigaraki is the zombie king Gentle talked about... Isn't he?" He blurted out.
Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, Hagakure, and Kaminari looked at Hawks in confusion and wondered what Bakugo was referring to. Realizing they were left in the dark, Hawks reluctantly stepped up.
"I think it's high time you kids learned the truth... Wouldn't you say?"
~•~•~•~•~•~•~
"Let me get this straight... Shigaraki is patient zero, the doctor with any knowledge of what happened is missing, and the only way to find Eri is by locating the tracker this shithead put into her?" Bakugo sternly asked.
"You pretty much covered it, yeah," Hawks casually responded.
Bakugo had no more words. He expected as such from Hawks to hide the truth, but never did he imagine this. Especially the bit about Overhaul.
"If Shigaraki's the only one capable of turning you into an alpha, then that explains why the Prowlers don't infect us," Yaoyorozu concluded.
"We call them Reapers, but Prowlers work too, I suppose," Ojiro shrugged.
"Okay, that makes sense and all, but... Why would you idiots send Nomu after Deku and Ochaco during the outbreak?!" Hagakure addressed the League.
"What now?" Spinner tensed his brow on confusion and looked at the others.
"We didn't send any Nomu," Compress said.
"Then who did?!"
"Shigaraki," Hawks blurted out.
"He sent the Nomu during the outbreak. I know because... We were sent to kill him, but Mirko and your father got infected... Rock Lock can tell you... He was there too..." He looked at Todoroki as he said this.
"Rock Lock?" Aizawa whispered in total disbelief.
"So... You're telling me... We went through all that HELL... Because of... Shigaraki...?!" Bakugo gritted his teeth and clenched his fists till they bruised.
Hawks sympathized with the pain Bakugo was feeling because one way or another, everyone suffered after the outbreak. To add insult to the injury, it was because of the League of Villains. People who hurt them in the past. That was something they had in common.
"I wonder, though... Does Shigaraki control them like a hive mind? Or do they have freedom?" Todoroki asked.
"I doubt it's a hive mind... Otherwise, Shigaraki wouldn't need Koda..." Hawks explained.
"We call him the Stalker..."
"Holy shit!"
Jiro and Mineta scurried behind Aizawa and saw Tokoyami standing behind them, still tied up but no doubt very dangerous. So, Hawks pulled out his sword while Dabi ignited a flame.
"I come in peace!!!" Dark Shadow revealed himself.
"Peace?! You tried to eat Ashido! And where's Monoma and Water Man?!" Bakugo yelled.
"Don't worry! They're sleeping... But I promise! Fumikage won't bring you any harm. I just want to talk..."
"About what?" Hawks lowered his sword once he sensed no danger.
"Why they're afraid of me..."
~•~•~•~•~•~•~
After the tension subsided, Aizawa and Hawks decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he had information to give, they wouldn't withhold it. So, they sat down and began to question him. Meanwhile, Dabi sat in a chair nearby in case he attacked.
"It's kind of hard to explain... After Fumikage turned, he was out of control. Hurting people. I... Had to tame him."
"So, you control Tokoyami the same way he controlled you... Fascinating," All Might smiled in utter awe.
"More like terrifying..." Overhaul whispered.
"Is that why you exiled yourself in the tunnel...?" Nagant budded in.
"Yes. But... I was also hiding from... The monster..."
"M-Monster...?" Ashido gulped.
"A towering giant subservient to Shigaraki. After the war, he sent him to kill me... I only survived because of..." He held back a whimper.
"Because of what?" Kaminari asked on the edge of his seat.
"It's not something we like to talk about..." Dark Shadow said as Tokoyami lowered his gaze depressingly.
"Just spill the beans already... It's not going to hurt you," Dabi scoffed.
"Oh! Says the guy that burned us...!" Dark Shadow hysterically replied.
"So? You attacked us first."
"And that gives you the right to enjoy it?! My WHOLE kind was massacred! My FRIENDS! People like you are the reason suffering exists!" The sudden outburst quickly concerned everyone, especially when Tokoyami tried to escape.
"Kind of hypocritical considering the men, women, and children you no doubt killed," Dabi shut him up quickly.
"Dabi!" Spinner sternly intervened, but the damage was already done. Dark Shadow sighed in defeat and shrunk back to his normal size.
"Ever heard of thinking before speaking, asshole?" Ojiro spouted a snarky remark.
"That was completely unnecessary, Dabi," Hagakure added.
"Roger that, Princess," he retorted, leaning back with one leg over the other and showing no sign of remorse.
"I lost control again... Sorry..."
"You don't have to apologize, Dark Shadow," Aizawa assuringly said.
"Yeah... We know it's hard for you at night," Midnight sympathized.
"If anyone should be apologizing, it's Dabi..." Mic whispered with contempt.
"Tsuk-... I mean... Dark Shadow." Hawks addressed him. "I'm sorry you went through terrible things... Both of you... But I think it's time we learned why the alphas are afraid of you..."
Pondering over his words, Tokoyami nodded at Dark Shadow. Although blinded by hunger, he was smart enough to know the information was important.
"Well... For starters... I almost killed Shigaraki..." He slowly muttered out. Meanwhile, everyone went speechless.
"Really...? Hawks eventually answered, holding back a devilish smirk. "No wonder Deku and the others backed off... They felt outnumbered," he whispered.
"You almost killed Shigaraki?! Isn't he the strongest alpha, though?" Todoroki made a good point.
"Oh... Don't let that fool you! He's still powerful... He's just not how he used to be... That's why the alphas do his bidding. So he can recover..." Dark Shadow corrected their assumption.
"What is their bidding?" Todoroki asked.
"Find more people. Create more alphas. A family..."
"Family of freaks, you mean," Overhaul whispered in disgust.
"And this war you mentioned... He wasn't killing family then?" All Might called out the hypocrisy.
"The straggler war happened over food and territory! We made the choice to fight! And... We suffered the consequences..." He sighed.
"Where are the rest of the stragglers?" Hagakure asked.
"Gone. I'm the last one... The last straggler..." He confessed with respect for his fallen brothers and sisters.
"Jesus..." Fat Gum said before munching down on a sandwich Kirishima made. The silence in the room, followed by the sound of him chewing, caused everyone, even Tokoyami, to look at him.
"What?"
"Sorry to ask, but how are you a straggler? Based on what we know, wouldn't you be considered an alpha?" Compress stressed.
"No... You see, there's a difference. Alphas are intelligent on an entirely different spectrum. Like Mirko or The Liberator. But even apex predators have weaknesses... Then you have wild cards, like Tsu or Ectoplasm. Stragglers with alpha DNA. Very rare. Very reserved. Until they need to be, of course."
"Then there're stragglers. Who live to eat," Kirishima finished.
"Precisely!"
"And where does that leave you?" All Might clasped his fingers curiously.
"We're the exception... Tokoyami may be a flesh-eating monster, but... So long as he's alive, I have freedom, I have... A soul..." He softly said, which Overhaul found oddly funny.
"What's so funny?"
"A quirk with a soul, huh? If that doesn't spell doomsday theory, then I don't know what does," Overhaul stopped his laughter and stretched his legs.
"Chisaki. Calm down," Nagant kissed her teeth, knowing full well what he was blabbering on about.
"I'm just saying... One day, quirks will become too powerful to control... And when they do... It's game over. That's all..." He finished before departing upstairs.
"He's crazy..." Ashido grumbled.
"Or onto something..." All Might regrettably said, remembering his own knowledge about the quirk singularity theory. Particularly how past AFO wouldn't shut up about it.
"Just ignore him. He spouts that crap all the time," Nagant blew a strand of hair out of her face.
"Well! We better catch some Zs... We only have a few hours left until morning," Midnight pointed out.
"I couldn't... Agree more... Ms. Midnight..." Mineta tiredly closed his eyes and collapsed on the mattress.
Jiro tiredly yawned. "Say... Whatever happened to Mark? Didn't he come with Tetsutetsu and Rin?"
"Shit!!!" Like a deer in headlights, Hawks' eyes went wide open with fear.
"On it!" Compress flicked a marble, and out came a man whom the others recognized as the guy from the mall.
"Oh!!! Sweet Jesus!!! I thought I'd never see the light of day! It was so dark and tight! I could hear every word you were saying! And yet, I couldn't utter a damn word myself!" He kissed the ground and cried out to the heavens.
"Uh... What?!" Bakugo broke the silence while Kirishima and Ashido gave Mark some food and water.
"Well! Time to get some shut-eye, yeah?!" Hawks clapped his hands and smiled at everyone innocently. All the while, Aizawa and All Might shook their heads disappointedly.