61

Izuku wrote down Ochako's current position as Hitoshi hurried through the tunnels. Even though they were all spread out throughout the school, Izuku had given them all comm links so that they could still communicate easily. He'd even given Mei one so she could still participate while she was fine tuning some new toys for Tensei's wheelchair outside in the lab while Izuku was on the computer in his workroom. If all went well, this experiment would both help Ochako improve her quirk and gather invaluable information on how warping worked so Izuku could use it to find a way to track Kurogiri. 

"Your accuracy has improved a lot, ochako." Izuku rambled. "But I'm really curious about how much control you really have when you warp, so we need to test your limits!"

Izuku watched over the cameras as Ochako nodded, "That's why you're having Hitoshi hide, right? You want me to focus on finding my anchor."

"Kinda." Izuku hummed thoughtfully. "Assuming that you're actually warping gravity like we think you are, then what I really want to know is if you can appear anywhere your anchor's gravity is affecting. If you can, then theoretically, you might even be able to appear behind a combatant during a fight!"

"That would be convenient." Hitoshi drawled. 

Izuku laughed, "Ueah, I thought so too. That's why Hitoshi is going to stay in the tunnels and you, Ochako, are going to try to end up in the hallway outside, instead of in the tunn...no Ochako, I said not in the tunnel!"

"Sorry!" Ochako yelped. "I didn't mean to work, but I got distracted and...oh, sorry Hitoshi! Did I hurt you?"

Izuku stifled his laughter as he Ochako tried to untangle herself from Hitoshi. She had appeared pretty much directly on top of him, which wouldn't have been an issue if he had been crawling through one of the larger passages. Unfortunately for Hitoshi, he'd been crawling through a tunnel that barely had enough room for one…"

"Ocha...ow!" Hitoshi yelped. "You're elbowing me...maybe a little to the left? Just…"

"Sorry!" Ochako was really trying, but there really wasn't enough room in the tunnel to maneuver. "Uh...at least we know that I won't teleport into anything."

"Oh joy." Shinso deadpanned. "Because I definitely wanted to be closer to you than I am at the moment. Move your foot, you're kicking me! Izuku, stop laughing! This isn't funny!"

Izuku snickered again, "It kind of is, actually."

"Just have gravity girl teleport to somebody else." Mei suggested. "It's probably quicker than whatever gymnastics you two are trying to do."

Instantly both Hitoshi and Ochako stopped squirming, "...oh."

Izuku heard a thud as ochako landed on the floor by Mei's desk. Hitoshi glared around the tunnel, obviously looking for whatever camera Izuku was using to spy on them, "You couldn't have mentioned that earlier?"

"Nope!" Mei chirped. "Now get going! Izu-kun needs data for his program!"

"And try not to land on Hitoshi this time." Izuku added. 

Ochako winced, "My bad." 

She took a deep breath and Izuku was gathering all the data he could as she disappeared. There had to be some identifier that was unique to every teleporter, he just had to find it. By studying Ochako's jumps he could find her identifier and then theoretically, he should be able to extrapolate that data and use it to find other teleporters. At the end of the day, to find Kurogiri, he just had to figure out what made him different from Ochako!

"Good Job Ochako, you're just a few hallways away from your target." Izuku hurried to write everything down before the next round. "Hitoshi, find a new position. Let's do this again."

"I really don't know why you all find this so entertaining." Shouto said calmly, his character getting eaten by a zombie yet again. "You're just watching me die twenty times in a row."

Shigaraki snorted, "We just like watching you make a fool out of yourself. It's like watching a guy get hit in the nuts, it's funny."

"Wow…" Shouto deadpanned. "Maybe I should have streamed my childhood. You would have found it hilarious."

Shigaraki rolled his eyes, "Is your old man letting you back in the door yet? It's been a while since he kicked you out, right?"

"Oh, I can go back at any time," Shouto shrugged, "but that would involve apologizing to him, so no thank you."

As odd as it was to talk about his family life with a villain, it was actually one of his favorite parts of the whole thing. Their watchers didn't seem to care what they talked about, more focusing on how they interacted rather than what the content of their conversations, so they mostly just talked about about whatever. They had to avoid any topics that were too closely linked to their idenitities, which meant that Shouto didn't get any info on the league's movements and Shigaraki didn't get any info on UA, but Shouto had enjoyed having a place ot share his conspiracy theories, so he didn't mind too much. It was kinda fun actually. 

"You're really choosing to sleep in an alley when you could be in a bed?" Shigaraki asked. "You must be crazier than I am."

Shouto shrugged, "It's not too bad. I probably need a job, though. My sister taught me how to use a laundromat, but the money the old man gave me when he kicked me out is almost gone. Then again, he was planning on me crawling back after less than a week, so whatever."

Shigaraki gave him a look, "You do realize you already have a job, right?"

Shouto frowned, "Are you talking about my internship? That was only a week and I didn't get paid…"

"Ugh, you are such a noob." Shigaraki huffed. "We make money from streaming you know. If you need more we can start a merch line or something. I'm sure at least some of these npcs would pay for a sweatshirt or something."

Shouto blinked, "Oh...cool."

Shigaraki rolled his eyes, "You're hopeless...what is up with the chat? Why are you all going so crazy?!"

"Hmm…." Shouto frowned and scanned some of the messages. "Apparently they're concerned about my childhood. And yours."

"Why? I had a great childhood after Sensei saved me." Shigaraki paused the game and looked through the chat. "What are they freaking out about? Your childhood wasn't that weird."

Shouto shrugged, "I mean, it was kinda bad. Most people's parents don't hit them trying to make them into the perfect child."

Maybe he shouldn't be saying this, but it wasn't like anyone was ever going to find out who he was, so maybe he was a little careless. Whatever. It was just one more thing that would piss his dad off. Plus, Shigaraki already hated Endeavor like he hated all heroes, so he wouldn't make a big deal of it.

Instead of shrugging his comment off like usual, however, Shigaraki kept the game paused and stared at him in confusion, "They don't?"

Shouto shrugged, "I wouldn't really know, but I don't think so. Most parents see their kids as kids rather than successors. "

Shigaraki huffed and unpaused the game, "Oh, you're just trying to prank me, that makes sense. I'm gonna kill you for that."

Shouto raised an eyebrow, "In game or in real life? I mean, you've tried both already, so…"

"I'm not gonna kill my streaming partner, you idiot." Shigaraki snapped. "Seriously, why is the chat still going crazy? How many people did you get in on this stupid prank IcyCat?"

"Nobody." Shouto said, reading through the chat as his character died again. "But from what they're saying, I think we both had messed up childhoods. Did your Sensei treat you like a masterpiece?"

"Yeah, but that's what a parent's supposed to do." Shigaraki started scratching at his throat. "Sensei needed to train me to carry on his legacy."

"Did he give you a choice?" Shouto asked. "Because I'm sleeping in an alley rather than be forced to further my old man's legacy. And according to...well, everyone , apparently, it's just us."

Shigaraki scratched a little harder, "Shut up! Just...you're lying!"

"No." Shouto shook his head sympathetically. "We're not, but we can drop it if you want. Let's just play the game."

Shigaraki growled, "That's the only smart thing you've said all stream."

Mineta handed the paper over to Kurogiri, who looked at it with an unreadable expression, "Where did you find this?"

"In the support labs, like All for One suggested." Mineta said. "I've narrowed Cheat Code down to two students."

Kurogiri nodded, "And you haven't captured them yet because…?"

"Because if they disappear right after I visited them, it ties their disappearance back to me." Mineta glared at him. "And if you hadn't noticed, I'm not an idiot."

"No need to be so hostile." Kurogiri dismissed. "Just make sure you don't cause unnecessary delays to Sensei's plans."

Mineta rolled his eyes, "Again, I'm not an idiot. Now if you'll excuse me, I have better things to do."

Kurogiri sighed, "One more thing, Trapper. Now that Spinner is gaining some popularity as Stain's successor, it would be beneficial for him to acknowledge his connection to us. We need to add more power to ranks if we expect to fulfill Sensei's vision."

"Don't worry." Mineta didn't flinch away from Kurogiri's gaze. "I'll make it happen."