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Chapter Text

The fire alarm was really annoying. Tomura had just wanted to buy a stupid game but in addition to being loud, the alarm menat that the workers were shutting down the store and sweeping everybody out. There probably wasn't even a fire, it was most likely just a bunch of dumb kids who'd pulled the fire alarm to be funny. It was pissing him off. 

Tomura shoved his hands in his pockets and kept his head down as he made his way toward the door. He wouldn't be getting his game today, so there wasn't any point in sticking around until the fire department decided to show up and investigate. He'd better be getting back to the league anyway, even if the new push for recruitment left a bad taste in his mouth. All for One was going to do whatever he wanted anyway, so what was even the point in Tomura pretending he even had a say in any of it?

There was a commotion as someone forced their way into the store and Tomura barely had any time to recognize Todoroki before he was grabbed by the arm and dragged behind one of the shelves, "Are you really attacking us right now? Seriously? If you are, I swear to god, I will…"

"What?!" Tomura yanked his arm away and looked at Todoroki in disbelief, "I'm not...what are you even talking about?! I'm just here to get a stupid game!"

Todorki narrowed his eyes, "So you and your little gang aren't here to target our class?"

"I'm the only one here, you idiot." Tomura snapped. "Well, unless that little creep...no, we agreed no spoilers. Whatever, why in the world would I be attacking you? I didn't even know you'd be here!"

"Thank god." Immediately, Todoroki deflated in relief. "Then you need to get out of here. Now. Somehow, Cheat Code caught sight of you on the cameras and everyone thinks it's going to turn into another USJ. The heroes are already on their way."

Mineta fumed silently as Kaminari listened raptly to Uraraka's report. What did that stupid gaming geek think he was doing? Launching an attack just days before the actual attack they had planned?! He was going to show their card and ruin everything! Mineta seriously had no idea what All for One saw in him anyway. Beyond the destructive quirk, he never even did anything! He didn't deserve to be sensei's successor!

Uraraka disappeared and Kaminari's hands sparked nervously, "Do...do you really think we're gonna have to fight again?! Last time I ended up useless!"

"Why would the league attack now?!" Mineta forced himself to stay in character. "Our class totally isn't ready!"

Nothing was ready, the timing was totally wrong! If Shigaraki actually attacked now...wait, did that idiot actually plan this or did he just get angry and decide to dust someone just because? Of course he couldn't kill someone when it actually mattered, but when it messed up all their plans, it was no big deal. That guy was such a child sometimes, seriously. 

He followed a step behind Kaminari until they ran into a group of people that was large enough for Mineta to pretend he'd just gotten separated in the crowd. Would they even be able to attack the camp after this? Or worse, would this just make the league a laughing stock? They already had one failed attack under their belts thanks to Cheat Code, but if word got to the media that Shigaraki was here and pretty much no damage was done, it would make it seem like they weren't dangerous at all! They couldn't' afford that, not when they were just barely seeing the recruitment results from their alliance with Spinner. 

Mineta pulled out his phone and almost did a double take when he saw that Shinso had added someone named Cheat Code to the chat. He had Cheat Code's number now...he shook his head. He'd figure out how to use that to his advantage later. The important part was that he had confirmation that Shinso was close to Cheat Code and he'd be able to know the heroes' next moves if he kept his eye on the chat. For now, he just had to make sure he was on the same page with the rest of the league. 

"Ah, yes, Trapper." Kurogiri answered quickly, thankfully. "I had thought you were simply maintaining your cover today."

"That's what I thought as well." Mineta hissed. "But apparently Sensei's little brat had other plans. Did you know that the league is attacking the mall today?"

There was tell-tale silence on the other end of the phone for a long moment, "I...had not been made aware, no. I had thought Young Tomura was simply on a walk to clear his head."

"Yeah?" Mineta scowled. "Well apparently he got himself spotted and now my entire class is preparing for USJ, take two."

"This is…unfortunate timing." Kurogiri said carefully. "I will have to discuss this with Young Master Tomura…"

"There's not a whole lot of time for that." Mineta cut him off. "Right now, we need to focus on damage control. Like you said, we can't afford to show our hand, but we also can't afford not to attack, because then it will look like we're nothing but cowards running away from the heroes."

"Ah…" Kurogir's voice was grim. "So we have been caught in a catch 22."

Mineta frowned thoughtfully, "Not necessarily. It isn't the best, but there might still be a way to turn this to our advantage. We have new recruits for the training camp, right?"

"Assuming that Tomura approves it, then yes." Kurogiri replied. 

"Well considering that this whole fiasco is his fault, then he's going to have to." Mineta rolled his eyes. "Get yourself and Spinner over here. That shouldn't give them any new info and there's enough of my classmates around that he should have plenty of false heroes to choose from. If we're lucky, no one will suspect two attacks so close together and we can use this to camouflage our next move."

"A solid strategy, young Trapper." Kurogiri said smoothly. "Sensei will be proud."

Mineta growled as he hung up and ran to catch up with Kaminari, "He better be."

Todoroki kept a bit of distance between him and Shigaraki as they made their way out of the store. On the one hand, he was really glad that they weren't being attacked right now, but on the other, he...he was terrified that Shigaraki wasn't going to get out of this and that scared him. He was supposed to be a hero, he shouldn't be even considering letting a villain like Shigaraki escape, much less helping him. He should have immediately let his classmates know where to find him and cornered him together or even just trapped him in an ice cube immediately. So why was he giving him a chance to run?

Despite everything that he knew he should do, all he did when they got into the hall was nod and start walking in the opposite direction. If it had been an actual attack, then he would have fought him...right? He hoped so, at least. That's what being a hero was all about, but still, why had his first instinct been to warn the villain instead of capturing him?

The gaming store they'd been in was on the second floor, and with mass evacuation from the fire alarm, there were now a lot of people crowding around th4 stairs and escalators waiting to get down. According to Uraraka, their class had been authorized to help with evacuation, so it might be good to make a slide down to the first level to help with the bottleneck. There wasn't any real rush to get everyone out, since this was just a big misunderstanding and not an actual villain attack, but he didn't really have a way to communicate that to everyone and even if he did , how was he supposed to explain how he knew? He didn't really know the words to describe his weird relationship to his co-streamer and if he said that Shigaraki had told him that it wasn't a real attack, his classmates would just get the wrong idea. No, the best strategy when things went wrong in a game was to keep following the rules of the current quest until things calmed down a little more, which would happen as soon as Shigaraki left and everyone realized that there wasn't any real danger. 

Suddenly, Shouto heard screaming in the plaza below them. The screams were loud enough that he could hear them above the sound of the alarms, so he ran to the balcony just in time to see a lizard man with a katana crawl out of a smoking portal and stick himself to the fountain. That portal...that was Kurogiri. If Kurogiri was here, that meant...Shigaraki lied. 

He didn't know why the realization left him feeling nauseous, of course Shigaraki was going to lie. He was a villain, that's what he did. Shouto really didn't have any right to be surprised. God, he was such an idiot!

Shouto's face hardened and he whirled around, ice already coating his arm as he prepared to encase Shigaraki in an instant glacier, only to be distracted by more screams and the railing on the balcony suddenly disintegrated into dust. Everyone who had been leaning against it like Shouto had been screamed and had to jump back to avoid falling, but of course, not everyone was fast enough. Shouto lept into action, jumping off the balcony as a sheet of ice exploded out from his right root and created a ledge to catch everyone who had fallen. He slid along the ice, building underneath him as he went. When he got to the main level, he glided to a stop and took a quick moment to look around and make sure everyone he'd saved was alright, then immediately looked up to glare at Shigaraki before stopping cold. 

Shigaraki looked horrified. His hands were grasping in midair and Shouto could just imagine him running to the railing just like everyone else had and accidentally gripping the metal with all five fingers. His eyes were blown wide, glued to the portal in barely concealed panic and Shouto swallowed as a horrible realization hit him.

Shigaraki didn't know.