Chapter 57

One morning Aizawa-sensei walks into the classroom in the middle of Midnight's history lecture. He doesn't say anything, nor make any noticeable gesture. But as soon as he steps inside, four members of the class quietly get up, pack their things, and follow him back out. The rest don't think much of it; internships are internships, and it's not the first time it's made them miss class.

Uraraka and Kirishima keep shooting glances at each other, at Aizawa, at Midoriya and Asui. Their energy is high, and it shows. Asui is as calm and silent as Aizawa, facing forward with a stony expression.

Midoriya's eyes flicker from side to side. His lips move, as if he's trying to voice his thoughts aloud.

It's time.

One would think an abandoned Metro tunnel to be the perfect spot for a villain's lair, but it serves the heroes' purpose just as well. Years of disuse show in the entrance alone. It's filthy and dank. This place hasn't been touched by a janitor's broom in a long time.

Past an unassuming door with a coded, fingerprinted lock, the place transforms. The filth is gone, the air is clean, and beyond the first hallway it opens up to a proper hero facility. The old tunnels have been renovated in past years, shaping the formerly derelict tunnels into a hidden base of operations.

It's a pity that today's events will most likely expose its existence. But if that's the price for bringing down a man as dangerous and ruthless as Overhaul, then the heroes will happily pay it.

There is only one point of entry, and Ochako can see it from where she stands with Tsuyu, Nejire-senpai, and Ryukyu before them. For all intents and purposes, they're on the front lines. When Overhaul and his people come calling, they'll be the first to know—at least according to Sir Nighteye's intelligence reports.

Deku hasn't said it outright, but she knows that most of that intelligence has to come from him. And yet no one is surprised about how much Nighteye knows about what's to come. Deku is scary, but Sir Nighteye must be pretty scary, too.

She takes a deep breath to settle her nerves. It's a mixed blessing to be at the front of the action. They're guaranteed to be in danger, but the escape routes are easiest to reach from their position. The deeper you get into the base, the easier it is to get stuck in the dark with no way out. And that's where Deku, Kirishima, Togata-senpai and Amajiki-senpai, Aizawa-sensei, and most of the other heroes in this operation are.

The warning goes out—" Villains incoming, brace yourselves, "—before an explosion reaches Ochako's ears, and a towering juggernaut of a man bursts in at the head of a wave of villains.

Ochako braces herself, readies her quirk, and takes her position as Ryukyu grows, and grows, and grows.

There's a reason they were put in this room instead of deeper in. It's the only one that can fit the Dragon Heroine's full wingspan.

Just a few minutes ago there had been a very unassuming door with a rusted keypad that looked decades old. Now there's a gaping hole big enough to fit ten men standing shoulder to shoulder. Masked yakuzas pour through, most of them with their quirks already activated. There's a lot of hooting and hollering involved. Not so much organization.

Himiko watches them thunder into the hero base, pushing and shoving and climbing over each other for the chance to get in first, and blows the longest, loudest raspberry she can.

" Laaame ," she says, and if it weren't for the fact that Tomura was standing so close, he wouldn't be able to hear her over all the yelling. "I can't believe Overhaul has that big, fancy quirk, and all he's using it for is opening doors."

Tomura grunts. "He's leaving all the hard work to the NPCs," he says. "Pretty simple. Bring in a bunch of cannon fodder to make a lot of noise, make everyone think that's all you got. Hide the bosses in the grunts so the enemy team can't tell which is which 'til it's too late."

"Ohhhh." She draws out the noise, as loopy and sing-song as she can make it. "That's pretty smart," she says, reluctantly.

"Not really," Tomura spits. "Didn't work when I tried it. Don't see why he thinks it'll work for him." He snarls quietly. "He thinks he's better than us."

"Yyyep," Himiko says, popping the p between her lips. "I bet that's why he's trying to be our boss, huh?" The thought gives her the giggles. Overhaul, boss of the League of Villains. It's really kind of funny!

Even funnier is that they said yes, and Overhaul even believed them, after what he did to Magne-chan. One second she was talking, and the next she was a pair of legs and a splatter on the wall, before anyone could blink. He did that to her, in front of them, didn't try to fix it or even say sorry, and he thinks they're going along with him just like that.

That's the problem with people who use lots and lots and lots of pawns. Sometimes they forget which ones are important, too.

Tomura grunts again. "You know what to do?"

It's a good thing the yakuzas are yelling so loud. It means that none of them see Himiko's excited little dance, or hear her sing, " Sabo-taaage! "

Their main goal, Tomura says, is to take out the competition. And hey, why not grab the anti-quirk serum and kill a few heroes on the way out?

Plus, Himiko thinks, plus , she has enough of Izu's blood to take the little girl, too. The Doctor may be gone, but the doctor was nobody special, just a man who was very smart and very ambitious, and smart, ambitious men are a dime per dozen. The Doctor was one and he's gone, Overhaul is one and he'll soon be gone, too. They're bound to find someone who knows what to do with little Eri-chan.

"Ohhh, I wish Mr. Compress was here," she says. "It would be so easy with him." He's so quick, and his quirk would make it easy to take Eri-chan out from under everyone's noses.

And…

"Izu-chan's here," she says, a breathy little whisper that's almost a giggle. "I know it. Mr. Compress is so good at making him behave." Izu is so tricky without Mr. Compress around. She thinks—knows?—it's so obvious —Izuku knows her. She's not sure, she doesn't have proof, but she just knows that no matter what face she wears, he'll always know her.

"Later," Tomura snaps. "Kurogiri's working on it. Focus on what we're doing here."

"Okay," she says. "Can I go in now? I wanna catch up to Twice already."

He grunts a third time, nods, and watches her slip in among the howling mob. She steals some blood here and there as she goes, just in case and just because.

She won't need it. She has all the blood she needs for what's coming.

The call goes out, and word spreads via radios and earpieces. The villains have made their move.

Instinctively, Shouta reaches out to rest his hand on Midoriya's shoulder. He knows that his student has promised to behave, but he also knows that Uraraka and Asui are closest to the villains' point of entry, and if anything bad happens to them, Midoriya will find out before he does.

"It's Katsukame Rikiya," Midoriya says. "One of the Eight Expendables. His quirk is Stamina Absorption. Overhaul likes to use him to break through defensive lines. Chuuza says he's probably carrying a dose of Trigger just in case he needs that extra boost."

Shouta nods, and passes the information along.

At the moment they're alone (ghosts notwithstanding) and waiting for more information. The yakuzas will get past the first line of defense: they're supposed to. According to Nighteye's plan, the heroes are divided into teams and positioned at strategic points throughout the base, in order to filter out more and more villains as they make their way deeper into the tunnels. The exceptions to this are Nighteye and Centipeder, who have Eri at the point farthest from the main entrance but closest to one of the base's many secret exists, Lemillion whose quirk allows him the mobility to run interference throughout the base, and finally Shouta and Midoriya. For now, they're hidden, so that Midoriya can keep feeding them with information from his network, and Shouta can wait for someone to get eyes on a priority target.

Their top priority is Overhaul himself. Right beneath him is Irinaka Joi, codename Mimic, who can inhabit and control objects—and under the influence of Trigger, can do the same with entire locations. And beneath both of them, but above the rest of the Eight Precepts footsoldiers, are the League of Villains.

Apparently, rumors of collaboration between the two forces are more than mere rumors.

In any case, Shouta's quirk makes him the best man for capturing any of these targets. Overhaul's quirk alone is far more potent than any other player in this conflict. The goal is for Shouta to get eyes on him as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, he's also rather unwilling to let Midoriya out of his sight. But they'll cross that bridge when they come to it.

The area they're in is empty to Shouta's eyes, but if Midoriya's near-constant stream of mumbling is any indication, they're absolutely swimming in ghosts.

It's almost comforting, in a way that Shouta tries not to read too much into. Is this how Midoriya behaves when no one's watching?

Then he remembers the muttering, and the half-disguised hand motions that Present Mic said were signs and fingerspelling, and all the times that Midoriya has laughed or switched moods for no apparent reason.

So maybe it's how he behaves when people are watching. Why would it matter? Of course no one's going to look at him and think, ghosts . They're just going to think he's weird.

"Mimic's in Tunnel 4W," Midoriya says suddenly, jarring Shouta out of his thoughts.

"You're sure?"

"At least in the last five minutes." His student's eyes are bright and intent, focused on someone Shouta can't see. "They didn't see his body, but he's making his way through by inhabiting a cloak and mask."

Shouta hesitates. Logically Mimic's body shouldn't be far from the objects he's possessing, but…

His thoughts are interrupted by Lemillion, who emerges from a nearby wall and zeroes in on Eraserhead. "Oh, there you are!" he says. "Mimic has been spotted in Tunnel 4W."

"His body?" Shouta asks.

Lemillion smiles grimly. "Rock Lock found him. As far as we know, he hasn't taken any Trigger yet. But Rock Lock's radio was damaged in the fight, so he sent me to get you." Lemillion doesn't have a comm of his own; he can't take any equipment through solid matter that isn't made of his own hair.

"Deku," Shouta says.

"I'm right behind you."

"I'll check in with Sir," Lemillion tells them. "Good luck!"

Tunnel 4W isn't far. It's roughly halfway between the entrance and the chamber where Nighteye is holed up with the girl—that's probably why Lemillion wants to check in with him. The villains are progressing, and Nighteye needs to be kept abreast of how close they are to reaching him.

If Mimic is that close, then Overhaul can't be far away.

Midoriya starts to pull ahead. It's not that he's trying to take the lead, just that he doesn't need to follow Shouta to know where to go. Whether it's because of ghosts or because he, like Shouta, memorized the layout at the start, isn't clear. Either way, Shouta reaches out to stop him before he overtakes him completely.

"Don't rush ahead," Shouta warns. "We can't know for sure what's around the corner."

" I can," Midoriya points out.

It's that kind of casual confidence that can easily turn cocky if it isn't checked. "Don't put all your faith in informants," Shouta tells him. It's not really the time for a lecture, but it's not not the time, either. "Could a ghost lie to you, if it wanted?"

Midoriya frowns. "Why would they? They're dead, what could they possibly gain from—"

The floor pitches beneath them, sending them both airborne.

Shouta manages to land on his feet; Midoriya hits the ground and rolls to a crouch close by. The tunnel shudders and rolls all around them, bowing inward and outward as if heaving for breath. When it finally settles, it's in an entirely different shape than it was before.

"Oh, balls," Midoriya mutters.

Shouta steps closer on instinct, mind racing. This can only be Mimic, meaning he's slipped free of Rock Lock and taken Trigger to enhance his power. If he has enough control to twist the tunnel around them into a new shape, then he definitely has enough to separate them if he wants.

Reports come in over the radio frequency. There are others in the area experiencing the results of Mimic's quirk, and Shouta calls in with one of his own. As far as he can tell, the damage has reached Tunnels 4E, 3W, and 2W. Beyond that, heroes only report noise and rumbling, but no physical change.

"Keep an eye out for Rock Lock," he advises. "His comm is damaged, and as far as I know, he was the last to see Mimic's body."

Acknowledgements crackle over the line; other heroes have heard, and will pass on the message if need be. It's all that he can do, for now.

Ochako lifts her visor just long enough to spit out a mouthful of blood, then rolls out of the way and springs back to her feet.

Katsukame Rikiya is as big as Fatgum if not bigger, hopped up on Trigger and filled to the brim with stolen vitality. He's massive, strong, and way faster than someone his size should be. They can't afford to stay still for a moment.

Well, okay, maybe Ryukyu can, but Ryukyu's twice his size and a dragon, so she doesn't count.

Ochako isn't like Deku. She's not a numbers girl, and she can't tally up stats and pick apart the minutiae of a fight as she's participating in it. But, that being said, she knows they can win this, with that firm certainty she feels when taking a test she's studied for.

Her tongue still throbs and bleeds from where she bit it when Katsukame knocked her into the wall. She thinks her shoulder might be sprained, but she can still use it, for the most part. Tsuyu looks mostly all right even with one eye slowly swelling shut. Nejire is doing better than both of them, because she's been careful not to let Katsukame touch her. Her quirk runs on vitality, and Katsukame's lets him drain it away.

Thanks to the limited space, Ryukyu's size, Katsukame's size, Katsukame's speed, and the constant motion, Nejire hasn't been able to get a clear shot yet. But they're getting there. They just need to pin him down in one spot for a few seconds, and this fight will be over.

An opening appears, and Ochako locks eyes with Tsuyu. Katsukame's rampage has left plenty of rubble for them to work with. In a split second she and Tsuyu are airborne, raining hell down on Katsukame's head. Katsukame tries to dart out of range. A smack from Ryukyu knocks him back into it, but there's only one of her and one of Nejire who's too small to cover the rest, and Katsukame escapes.

Winning this one fight won't solve all their problems, especially when Katsukame is wearing them down in the process. Once Katsukame is down, they have to head deeper and help strengthen the trap. That means more twisty corners, more tight spaces, more risks, more villains. If they go in battered and exhausted, they'll be no help to anyone. This one villain is giving them enough trouble as it is, and they have to assume there will be more of them.

The moment that thought crosses her mind, there's a blur of motion, and a familiar dark figure darts into their midst.

"Oi!" Katsukame roars. "What the hell are you doing here, Twice? I've got this handled!"

Ochako's heart plummets. Twice, of the League of Villains. The one who copies things.

Copies people .

"Hey, don't yell at me, I'm just following orders!" Twice whines, before his voice shifts to a guttural roar. "Don't tell me what to do, you stupid bastard! Especially when you're getting your ass kicked!"

Katsukame snarls and shoves past him, barrelling toward Ryukyu to fight her head-on. Twice charges after him, one hand outstretched. Ryukyu lunges to meet them both in the middle.

There's a flash, and suddenly the chamber gets cramped. Ochako braces herself, reaching out to grip Tsuyu's arm.

And then her mouth drops open, and she hears Nejire squeal in excitement.

A second Ryukyu-dragon stands beside the first, towering over both villains and looking very surprised to be there.

"Oops," Twice says faintly.

"You IDIOT!" Katsukame roars, but Twice is already fleeing into the dark.

"Shouldn't have shoved me!" he yells over his shoulder, and then he's gone.

Katsukame stares up at the two Ryukyus grinning down at him, showing two identical sets of very, very sharp teeth.

"Would you like to surrender?" the original Ryukyu asks. "Or would you rather draw this out further? It's all the same to me."

By some miracle, Kirishima is still on his feet. Actually, it's mostly because he's propped up against Amajiki, but it's still quite a feat given the beating he's taken, by Taishiro's reckoning.

Mentally, he takes stock of things. He's burned through about a third of his reserves of fat, so, not super great, but not terrible, either. Kirishima's been blocking and countering with Unbreakable, but he's running on fumes and Taishiro can see the spiderweb of cracks running through his hardened skin. Amajiki's taken a few hits, so he's not exactly fresh, but Taishiro knows for a fact that he has at least one Chimera Kraken attack in him, and he's waiting for the right moment.

It's the damned barrier, that's the problem. Unlike Kirishima's Unbreakable, the villain whose name Taishiro can't remember seems perfectly able to keep it up as long as he wants, and only drops it so Rappa whatsisname can get in an obnoxious amount of rapid-fire hits before it goes up again.

Actually no, that's not the only problem. The other problem is that Rappa won't shut up.

"What's the matter with you?" the villain roars, winding up for another flurry of blows. He may be masked, but Taishiro can tell the villain's eyes are fixed on him. "You think I can't tell you three are pulling punches on me? It's like you're not even trying to win, cowards."

Taishiro grinds his teeth. They aren't pulling punches. They can't afford to pull punches, because holding back against these two means death. They're just not out to kill anyone, that's all.

But Rappa doesn't seem to see a difference between winning and killing.

And then, as if things can't possibly get any worse, reinforcements arrive—for the villains. Another masked figure, one that Taishiro hasn't seen yet, materializes from the shadows and slips behind the shield.

"The hell are you doing here?" Rappa snarls.

"Don't yell at me, I'm here on Overhaul's orders."

"He knows best," the barrier villain says. "Are you armed?"

"I figured I'd need it," the newcomer replies, pulling a wicked-looking knife.

This only enrages Rappa further, and he chafes against the shield holding him back. "Have you no pride?" he spits—literally spits, Taishiro sees saliva fly from the mask—and punches the barrier in a fit of fury. "There's nothing more tasteless than bringing a knife to a fight. What's the matter, can't win without a weapon?" He tosses his head, winding up his right arm experimentally, as if checking that his quirk still works. "That ain't a real fight. Men're meant to rip each other apart with their own hands. You feel me?"

"Yeah," the newcomer says cheerfully. "I feel you."

And as the heroes watch, they step right up to the barrier villain— Tengai, that was the name—and draw the knife blade across his throat.

It's quick, effortless, and downright anticlimactic. Tengai slumps to the ground like a puppet with cut strings, and his barrier flickers and vanishes. The knife falls to the floor with a clatter. The villain previously holding it melts like candle wax, before vanishing with an almost girlish giggle.

Rappa spares the briefest glance for his comrade, then settles into a fighting stance. He's probably grinning behind that mask.

" Finally ," he says, in a voice that trembles with joy.

Kirishima gapes at the dead man in blank shock. Taishiro draws him closer, and Amajiki explodes into a blur of hard shells and lashing tentacles.

This is one of the worse-case scenarios Shouta has been dreading. Having the layout of the base memorized is absolutely useless when one of the villains can shape it to his will.

It means he's now relying on Midoriya to lead the way, which was one of the many things he wanted to avoid today.

But Midoriya says he knows the way, and second-guessing allies in the field hinders more than it helps. So Shouta follows him, waits when he deliberates, and stamps down on the teacher in him that chafes at being told what to do by a student. They aren't teacher and student here; they're heroes in the field, and seniority doesn't count for much when Midoriya has the quirk advantage.

"Talk to me," he says. "I don't like flying blind. What are we looking at?"

"The tunnels aren't destroyed," Midoriya replies. "They still lead from one place to the next. They're just different. There are more points of intersection, and he added trick hallways that loop back around or lead to dead ends. So the way isn't blocked off, it's just a maze now."

"Fantastic. Are there any—"

Midoriya goes still, one hand out to stop Shouta from going forward, and Shouta bites tongue and listens. There are footsteps coming, and uneven step-shuffle that indicates injury, and before he can ask if it's friend or foe, the newcomer is already upon them.

He sighs with relief. It's Rock Lock, limping and looking rather worse for where. But he's alive, and that was Shouta's main concern, so he allows himself an increment of relaxation.

"What happened with Mimic?" he asks.

"He got the drop on me," Rock Lock trumbles. "But I know where his body is. The three of us could—"

He doesn't get any further than that before Midoriya punches him in the throat. His student looks to him for a split second, and Shouta hasn't seen him look like that since…

since the end of the provisional license exam.

His capture weapon snaps around Rock Lock's wrists and torso, and a powerful yank sends him crashing to the floor with a startled cry. He lands face-first on the ground, and when he raises his head there's an unsettlingly wide smile on his face, even as his features are melting away.

He takes a step toward Toga, toward Midoriya.

The tunnel shakes, and a wall forms between them, shutting like a camera iris inches from his face. Shouta is left alone in the tunnel, holding half his ruined capture weapon in his hands.

"I knew it." Toga's voice, caught somewhere between Rock Lock's and her own, trembles with delight. There's something about the uneven timbre, the razor-sharp smile, the way her tone pitches and vibrates with unrestrained glee, that fills Izuku with visceral, bile-churning horror. "I knew it! You do know me! Don't you, Izu-chan?" Her voice finally settles at its usual high, breathy pitch. She gets smaller as she sheds her disguse, and the remains of Aizawa's capture weapon fall away. Her smile doesn't change, even as her false face sloughs off.

The horror turns to revulsion. The real one is twisted, and not just from her smile. Izuku can see how the line of her nose curves and bends in ways it wasn't meant to, bordered by scars of deep bite wounds that healed poorly. Her skin is rough and patchy with marks left by burns. Izuku can almost recognize the pattern of them.

Both he and Bakugou left their marks on her in Kamino. He can almost taste the blood in his teeth again.

"Watch out," Arai warns. "She's faster than she looks, and she won't let you grab her." Toga's former victims stand at a distance to keep from hampering Izuku's movement. He appreciates the gesture, and the advice. He's glad that he isn't alone.

"I knew I was right." Toga lashes out in a blur, cutting a harmless slit in the top layer of his costume. He jerks back just in time to keep the damage to the top layer of material. The slice spans the width of Izuku's chest, but doesn't touch skin. "You can't deny it, can you Izu-chan? Can you?" She giggles, high and bright with joy. "No matter what I look like… no matter whose face I'm wearing, you know . You always know me! That's never happened before! I've never met anyone like you!"

"Luckily, the feeling's mutual," Izuku says flatly

Toga's next knife swing cuts off a lock of his hair as he ducks away. "I know you haven't. Of course you haven't, it's fate . You feel it too, you have to."

She flies at him again, and he knocks her back by a roundhouse kick he learned from Iida. He has to shut her out. What she's saying doesn't matter and can't hurt him, especially if he can take her out here.

One of the ghosts passes through the newly-formed wall. "He's still there," she says. "He hasn't left. He's trying to find a way through."

Izuku turns and slams into it with all his might. It's not a sturdy wall; even with one blow, he feels it start to give.

"Behind you!"

Izuku whirls around at the warning and catches the next blow on his shoulder instead of across his back. This one does draw blood, and he's treated to the sight of Toga licking it off the blade like honey off a comb. Another disguise slides into place, and suddenly it's his own face looking back at him, smiling that smile.

"You're mine, Izu-chan," she sing-songs in his voice. "You've always been mine. I don't even have to become you, because we're already the same. You even smile like me, see?"

She smiles, and it's almost the same as his. The only difference is that it's the only smile she has.

Izuku punches it, and doesn't smile back.

" Does anyone have eyes on Rock Lock? " Eraserhead asks over the radio, and Nighteye shuts his eyes and rocks back and forth slowly. The best.laid plans go awry, but he would have liked them to go awry without killing his colleagues.

Eri sits quietly beside him, clutching a plush toy for comfort. She hasn't made a sound since all this started, and Nighteye's not sure if that's a good thing or not.

"What's your status, Eraserhead?" he asks.

" Mimic took control of the area around Tunnel 4W. I'm close to Deku but cut off; there's a wall between us, and he's fighting Toga on the other side. "

It's almost reason to hope, Nighteye thinks. The boy fought her to a standstill once, and it took another villain exploiting his fears to turn the tables. If they're fighting alone, then Midoriya has a chance.

He says as much to Eraserhead, choosing his words carefully so that Eri won't overhear.

Midoriya is too far away to touch. Nighteye only hopes he isn't misjudging his future.

The back of Izuku's head hits the wall hard, and his vision goes gray and dark. In the literal blink of an eye he's blind, and reliant on the the ghosts to shout warnings and pull him out of the way of her knife.

But they can't warn him when the ground pitches beneath him, destroying his steady balance. Toga sees her chance. The world flips and careens, and Izuku's back hits the ground with punishing force.

Dazed, he loses his grip on One For All, and the voices of the dead fade into the background. The dark spots still cloud his vision, but he can feel her straddling him, knees pressing his ribs tight enough to bruise. Her hand is at his throat, squeezing, and it takes both of his hands just to loosen her grip so he can breathe.

He feels the tip of her knife trace around his face, the outline of the scarring on his eye. "Your scar is so pretty," she whispers. "Who hurt you, baby? Tell me their name, and I'll kill them for you. Would you like that? I would. I always kill the things I don't like." He struggles, teeth gnashing as he tries to reach the arm holding his throat, and she bounces the back of his head into the floor again. "Or, or… I can make new ones! Just like the ones you left on me. I was looking at them in the mirror, and I realized… you kissed me, Izu-chan. That was our first kiss." The blade slides toward his nose, stinging without drawing blood. "Can I kiss you too?"

"Get off of me, " Izuku chokes out. One For All crackles to life again, and he wrenches her hand away and lashes out with his fist. He's half-blind, but he catches her in the mouth. Her fangs catch on his glove, without piercing it, and he hears something break.

She hits back, and he sees stars. When they fade, his vision starts to clear again. Something drips against his face; her disguise is changing again, and when she speaks, her voice—his voice— starts to shift as well.

"I like you," she says. "And you're going to like me too. It'll be easy! I can be anyone you want to be!" Her dark hair pales, and her stolen face drips away. There's a scar underneath. It's not his scar, and it's not hers either.

"How about this?" she asks—with Shouto's voice, with her broken, bloody smile on his face. "Do you like this better?"

Izuku freezes.

"You do! You do like this better. I knew it. I thought so." Her fingers squeeze around his throat again. "That's why I took it. But I only got a little. I'll have to get more. So, so much more."

Izuku's fingers curl around the thumb digging into his pulse point. Dark spots fill his vision again as he grips it and wrenches it back until it snaps.

Toga screams. The knife comes down again. The burst of fiery pain in his shoulder is so distant, it might as well be happening to someone else. His ears ring with Toga's screams as he tears her broken hand from his neck and finally gets one leg between them to kick her away.

Muted explosions draw his attention to the half-crumbled wall. Dust clouds billow out, and the rest of the wall comes tumbling down. Aizawa must have brought charges with him, and now he's free to help, but his capture weapon is cut in half and Toga is well out of range.

The knife is still in her hand. There's a crazed gleam that doesn't belong in Shouto's eyes as she lunges again—

She stops in her tracks, face freezing in its grimace. Small, pale hands clutch the sides of her head, and behind her, a mass of tangled black hair writhes and twists in the dark.

Rei hovers behind her, a pitch-black shadow with two points of pale light for eyes. Toga has a split second of surprise.

And then the screaming starts again.

Izuku presses his hands over his ears, but it's not enough to block out the sound. This isn't pain. Toga screaming when he broke her hand—that was pain.

This is terror .

This is what haunts him at night. This is what he faced eight years ago in a closet just two hallways down from his second grade classroom. This is primal fear, encoded into the deepest pits of the human psyche, and Izuku's watching his sister reach down, tear down its barriers, and let it flood.

Toga's eyes meet his for a split second, wild with panic. She turns tail and flees into the dark. Her voice shifts back into her own as it fades away, until only the echoes are left.

Slowly, Rei fades back to normal. It takes even longer for the other ghosts to come back out of hiding.

Technically, Shouta has seen Midoriya look worse. It's not much of a consolation.

He's shaken as he checks his student over and hastily dresses the wound on his shoulder. It's not every day you see a villain halt mid-lunge and run off screaming bloody murder. Especially a villain like Toga Himiko.

"Ghost thing," Midoriya says by way of explanation, and Shouta lets him leave it at that. "Should we keep going?"

"No," Shouta says firmly. "You're very lucky that she missed a major blood vessel, but she still damaged muscle and tendon. I'm taking you back to Nighteye."

Midoriya bridles. "I can still—"

"The answer is no," Shouta says firmly. "Nighteye and I made an agreement. If you were injured on my watch, I'd take you to wait with him by escape route. I'm not risking your safety for your sense of personal pride."

Midoriya scowls, but follows him. "I'm not a guest here," he points out sullenly. "This isn't the work experience week—you all told me these internships were for real. Am I a hero right now, or just a student?"

"Would you like to become a liability?" Shouta asks, and that shuts him up. "You can continue to relay information from Nighteye's position. You won't be useless."

That seems to satisfy him, for the most part.

"How many are with us?" Shouta asks. He doesn't really need to know, but it's useful to find out, and to keep Midoriya distracted with questions.

"Rei's here," he says. "But she's always here. Narita and Mrs. Kitayama. Couple of police officers, and one of Overhaul's former, uh, coworkers." He wipes a trickle of blood from his face. "There were some others, before. Toga's victims. They followed her when she ran, to keep track of her. They say the League's planning something—plotting against Overhaul."

Also useful information. "Anyone else?"

"Chuuza will probably come around soon," Midoriya says. "She's been making rounds, watching Overhaul's forces for anything or anyone she recognizes."

"Any sign of Overhaul?"

"Not yet," he says. "He's probably hiding as someone else. Shouldn't take them long to find him."

Shouta nods, opens his mouth to reply, and

He can't explain it. He never can, no matter how many times it happens. Call it instinct, experience, or sixth sense—whatever it is, he listens to it every time.

As if in answer to the prickle up his spine, Midoriya's head whips around. "We're being hunted," he says. "Eraserhead—"

The wall tears itself open. Aizawa glimpses masked faces beyond, more than two but less than ten, charging out to flank them. Shouta's eyes burn as he activates his quirk, and is rewarded when one of the villains trips and falls.

One masked face stands at the forefront of the rest, reaching up to pull back his hood.

Movement. A blur. A projectile? An attack? Shouta has less than no time to tell the difference. Villains are closing in, cutting off their escape, and there's something heading straight for Midoriya.

It's not so much a choice as it is a reflex. Shouta throws himself in front of it, and throws his student past the encroaching villains.

Something pierces his costume and stings against his back. Midoriya looks back at him, and Shouta can see the intent in his eyes.

"Get him out," he says, to people who he can neither hear nor see. "Get him to Nighteye."

His jaw locks, and so does the rest of his body. His muscles won't obey commands from his body.

But his eyes still work, and he can see his student dragged to safety by an unseen force, before the tunnel slams shut again, leaving him alone with his captors.

Izuku struggles and kicks, but it's no use. The tunnel is closed, and Aizawa is beyond his reach; the ghosts are pulling him farther and farther away, and they're past feeling pain.

"Let go!" he yells uselessly. "Let go—I can't just—!"

"You have to," Chuuza barks at him. She's the one who showed up at the last moment, told them they had villains on their tail, but too late, too late —

"Midoriya, listen. Listen." Narita's in his face now. "Me and Kitayama—we'll stay with him. If anything goes wrong, we'll raise the alarm and you can have Nighteye send the cavalry."

"They could be killing him right now —"

"They won't," Chuuza snaps. "He's valuable to them. Think, a quirk that erases quirks? That's exactly what Overhaul needs for his goals. They won't kill him. He's more valuable to them alive."

The thought of Aizawa in the same place Eri was—imprisoned, tortured, mined for his quirk—makes Izuku sick.

But she's right. Aizawa's life isn't in immediate danger. Rei gives his arm an insistent tug, and he finally stops fighting the ghosts and starts heading deeper into the tunnels, beyond Mimic's reach to where Nighteye hides with Eri.

"I do have good news, though," Chuuza says. "I found Overhaul. He's hidden among his footsoldiers, over in Tunnel 5N. He has a ways to go before he reaches the girl."

Izuku fumbles for his radio and sets it to Nighteye's frequency. He should have alerted Nighteye as soon as things went wrong.

It doesn't take long for Nighteye to reply. " Status report ."

"This is Deku," Midoriya says. "Mimic's still in control of the tunnels around 4W. Eraserhead's been captured. I'm heading your way. Should be there in about three minutes."

He hears Nighteye inhale sharply over the line. " Don't take any risks, " he says.

Less than a minute later, Togata emerges from the wall. He looks windblown and a little breathless, but Izuku can't see any injuries on him. "Nighteye sent me," Togata says. "He said you were injured."

One of the ghosts snickers. Izuku stares at him, nonplussed. "I didn't tell him I was."

"Yeah, I figured." Togata steps closer, his cape sweeping behind him. It's got a few rips and holes in it; Togata has seen his share of action already.

They reach the rendezvous point in little time. It's an unassuming door among dozens of other unassuming doors; on the other side, they find Nighteye and Eri standing at the entrance to the secret exit.

"I know where Overhaul is," Izuku blurts out as soon as the door is shut behind them. At his approach, Eri, as if drawn by a magnet, moves to latch on to his leg. "He's over in 5N, surrounded by footsoldiers."

Nighteye hesitates. "We're split between suppressing the footsoldiers and taking out the elites," he says. "I just sent Ryukyu's team to track down Mimic."

"I can go after Overhaul," Togata says.

Nighteye shuts his eyes. "Mirio—"

"It's only logical, isn't it?" Mirio's eyes gleam. "His quirk is touch-based, and he's supposed to be armed with his quirk-canceling bullets. My quirk is the perfect counter to both."

Nighteye purses his lips. "I'm sending Centipeder and Bubble Girl in the same direction," he says.

"They're your backup, aren't they?" Togata says.

"They're the only ones who can be spared, and I don't want anyone challenging Overhaul alone." He levels a stern look at Togata. "You will not engage with Overhaul before you rendezvous with them, do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir."

Nighteye nods. "Go. And be careful."

Togata throws a salute that's almost cheeky, ruffles Eri's hair, and vanishes through the door with a flick of his cape.

"How's your shoulder?" Nighteye asks.

Izuku glances at it. "Fine," he says, and Rei hisses at the fib. "I mean, it's about as good as you'd expect—"

It hits him all at once. He's been suppressing it so long and so easily that he barely realized he was doing it at all.

Aizawa's capture. The influx of ghosts that came with the villains. Toga. Toga fucking Himiko .

There are hands on his shoulders, steadying him. A second set of hands grips his pant leg.

"I'm fine," he hears himself way. "I'm—it's just—"

"You are not fine," Nighteye tells him. "You're not supposed to be fine. You're supposed to be on edge, upset, and afraid."

"Oh," Izuku says absently. "That's good, then. Because I am… all of those things."

"I'd be concerned if you weren't." Once he's sure that Izuku won't fall over, Nighteye releases him.

"Can we get Eri out yet?" Izuku asks.

"Not as long as Overhaul is free and his forces are watching the surrounding area," Nighteye says. "Once he's captured, and his men know he's captured, then it will be safe."

"I don't mind hiding longer," Eri says.

"You've been very brave," Nighteye tells her. "But don't worry. It won't be long now."

"It won't be long at all," Chuuza echoes.

Suddenly, Rei jerks upright. She whips around so quickly that Izuku jumps, but before he can ask her what's wrong, she goes for Chuuza's throat.

"Rei!" Izuku steps toward her, confused and alarmed, as Chuuza vanishes and reappears out of her reach. "What's—"

"Hey!"

Izuku doesn't know the new voice, doesn't see who it is until more ghosts appear in the room, one after another, the faces of civilians and police officers and criminals alike.

The speaker is one of the criminals, who's staring around the room in wide-eyed confusion and alarm.

"What the hell are you still doing here?" he demands."Chuuza, you were supposed to warn them!"

"Midoriya?" Nighteye says.

"We need to go," Izuku says, and turns toward the escape route. "Now. Something's wrong."

The words are barely past his lips when the entrance peels back with a deafening shriek of metal, and the surrounding walls are ripped away like cardboard.

Izuku goes for Eri on instinct, shielding her from flying debris. He half expects the ceiling to come crashing down on top of them, but instead, it opens up as well.

When Izuku opens his eyes, he's crouching in a cavern torn into the tunnels, leaving jagged edges and rubble strewn throughout the space. Their escape route is gone.

There are ghosts everywhere. And they aren't alone.

There are only three men standing where there once was a concrete wall and a reinforced door. This wouldn't be nearly as much of a problem if it weren't for the fact that one of them is Overhaul.

He's dressed very much like himself and not at all like a footsoldier, and he is nowhere near Tunnel 5N. Slowly, as the ice creeps through his veins, Izuku turns to Chuuza.

She gives him a pitying look. "Don't look at me like that," she says. "I did tell you, before. All I've ever wanted was to make things right."

"Chuuza, you fucking turncoat," one of the ghosts snarls.

Her face twists with fury. "How dare you," she spits back. "How dare you call me a traitor when you would turn on the young master so easily—"

"He killed us!" the ghost roars. "He killed you!"

"Because we failed him, you coward!" Chuuza's grimace shifts into a smile that borders on ecstasy. "I failed him, but this… this is my chance at redemption. And it could have been yours, if only you had reached out and taken it instead of abandoning the one you owe your life and loyalty to."

"I don't have a life anymore," one of the others says. "I don't owe him a damn thing."

"What did you think was gonna happen, Chuuza?" says another. "Did you really think you'd get away with all this?"

"It will be worth it," Chuuza says. "What happens to me doesn't matter. I don't matter. It'll all be worth it."

Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku sees Nighteye reach for his comm and grasp at nothing. He feels for his own, but the earpiece is gone.

One of the men flanking Overhaul holds up both devices between the fingers one hand. "Can't let you do that," he says, before dropping them and crushing them under his heel.

Setsuno Toya. Quirk: Larceny. Allows him to instantly transport an object into his hand.

"For all the good that will do you," Nighteye says flatly. "I already… sent away the nearest reinforcements."

Izuku glances at him, wondering what his play is, but Nighteye looks just as confused to have said that as Izuku is to hear it.

"Trying to scare us off with lies?" the third asks. "It won't work. Especially since Overhaul sealed off the area. No one gets in or out until he decides it." He tilts his masked head to the side. "Come now, how do you really feel?"

Nighteye grinds his teeth for a moment, then replies, "Outnumbered." It looks almost physically painful to say.

Nemoto Shin. Quirk: Confession. Forces you to speak the truth.

"Eri," Overhaul says. "You can fix this, you know."

Eri flinches and grips Izuku's leg harder.

"Come now," Overhaul continues. "You must have known this would happen eventually. It's in your nature to bring suffering to those around you."

"Hey, shut up," Izuku snaps.

Overhaul ignores him. "They're going to die because of you, Eri. The only way to save them is to come back."

"I said shut up!" Izuku shouts back. "Now who's trying to scare us off with lies?" He presses his hand to Eri's shoulder, just in case she starts to believe what she's hearing.

"Do you really think you can win?" Nemoto asks. "The two of you, alone against us? Against Overhaul? Do you really think you can come out of this alive?"

He feels the pull of the villain's quirk, as if something grips his tongue and forces it to move.

" I don't know, " his mouth says for him.

"What do you think is going to happen, if you continue to stand against us?" Nemoto's quirk presses against Izuku's throat. "Are you afraid, boy?"

"Yes," comes out of his mouth before it even reaches his brain.

Eri trembles against him. Izuku looks down and finds her crying without a sound.

The room is so crowded, and so quiet, and so very, very cold. Izuku is, too.

"I'm scared," he says, and this is still an answer, so the quirk won't let him lie. "I'm so, so scared of what I'm going to have to do to you."

When he looks up, all eyes are on him. Overhaul glances briefly at Nemoto, then back to him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nemoto demands.

His tongue moves on its own again. He can't stop it from moving, but he can control the shapes it forms. The quirk demands truth, and Izuku has so much truth to offer.

"You can still leave now," he says. "You don't have to die here. I don't want you to have to die. I get so little sleep as it is."

There are so many ghosts in this room, and so many beyond. If Overhaul joins them, then he's going to have to watch what they do to him.

"Believe me," he says, and his voice trembles as he holds back a hysterical laugh. "You—you really don't want to die here. You don't."

Overhaul sighs, shaking his head. "Technical truths. Aren't you a clever one? That's your trouble, you now. From the beginning, you've been far too clever for your own good."

"I'm getting real tired of villains saying nice things about me," Izuku answers.

"Watch what you say!" Nemoto snaps. "Overhaul is no villain. The Shie Hassaikai are proud yakuza!"

Overhaul lifts his hand. "Such a shame this will be over quickly," he says. "I'm going to enjoy watching you suffer."

That triggers a memory that he wishes he didn't have, and this time Izuku does laugh. Part of him wonders what that must look like. "It's funny, you know," he says. "You're so proud of how much better you all are than villains. But you know what? You just said the same thing All For One said before he died. At least he knew he was a worm."

"Do you really think you can win this?" Nemoto asked. "You're outmatched." His quirk demands another truth, and Izuku gives it.

"They tore him apart, you know," he says to Overhaul. "I'm going to watch them do the same to you."

Nighteye's hand closes on his shoulder, his grip firm and steady. Izuku feels his panic in the distance, and shelves it for later.

They're on their own.