A/N: Heyo, I'm back. This chapter was supposed to be much longer, but I decided to split it in two so that you guys get something now, because things have been real busy on my end. Lmk if you'd prefer longer chapters or faster updates with chapters split like this. I have a lot of future stuff written in various spots, but I'd say some of the chapter lengths are a bit ambitious which may lead to slower updating. Being able to split them up might ease some load, but also makes each chapter a little less encapsulating. Which… might be more fun, in some ways? The agonizing feeling of suspense is fun, right?

Note: there are a couple of small retcons I also need to do regarding the biological aspects of the story (in ch21, Leorio said that Vitamin F is fat-soluble, but this is impossible given the intended function of Vitamin F) and in ch22 Gon did also get some Vitamin F pills from Doctor Kusai that should be mentioned again. I had forgotten I had said this first bit when I finished sketching out the full biochemical implications between the worlds (sort of still a WIP honestly due to the sheer size of what can be explored here, but anyway most of the main points are down). This is just a heads-up; once I actually make the changes in the previous chapters I'll make a note of it another A/N.

Basic retconned fact: Vitamin F is not toxic to Zezu or other MHA humans, especially in small amounts, but is necessary for HxH humans to survive in the long-term. Stuff like organophospholipids are however toxic to ZezuMHA humansreal life humans, plus some arsenate poisoning (more on that later).

Sorry for any interested biochemists out there for changing the details. :) All other relevant story details should remain the same. The relevance of the biology should also become clearer as the story goes on.

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Guest: Here's that new chapter!

binger: Honestly, that analysis of Hakira makes me pretty happy. Yup, she does have the tendency to just burrow her head in the hand and blame other people. Unfortunately, adults, maybe even especially adults, aren't immune to that sort of behavior - she isn't exactly the epitome of maturity despite being one of the oldest characters in this cast. And otherwise, I'm really glad you've been liking the story, thanks for commenting your thoughts here.

Chapter Four: Escape, Part 1

Half an hour earlier...

Sasaki Mirai, also known as Sir Nighteye, was feeling grim.

He stared off after the departing trail of Bakugo Katsuki, before sharply turning to his new hero intern, Midoriya Izuku, who happened to be long childhood friends with the target and also the ninth wielder of One for All. Despite Mirai's personal vow to make the boy relinquish his quirk to one more worthy, he had proved himself a worthy asset.

"Good job," he said briskly, his mind already targeting and planning out their next steps based on what he had seen. The original plan had been to approach this carefully, but now –

They had anticipated his countermeasures. He fast-forwarded his future vision to hours in Bakugo's future, like a sped up movie rail. After boarding a train to Jaku, the party of four children would speak, discuss rumors behind his future vision, and ultimately blindfold and put earplugs on Bakugo. Everything in the rest of that day was useless to him, and Mirai didn't dare to look further, lest he tempt fate. It was upsetting enough that children had figured out countermeasures to his quirk based on rumors he had tried to suppress. He didn't want to risk any worse outcomes today.

Almost as alarmingly, his visions also confirmed Bakugo's and Zoldyck's involvement with the League of Villains. Both the mysterious fire villain "Dabi" and Himiko Toga had spoken to both of them. And Toga –

Nighteyes frowned, momentarily returning his attention to the intern. The boy stiffened under his gaze, shoulders raising until he resembled a stiff rectangle, and eyes widening like a raccoon's. Truly, he had no composure.

"Midoriya," he snapped. "What business does Himiko Toga have with you?"

If he hadn't seen it, he might have thought the sight impossible – the boy's eyes widened even further. Mirai mused for a moment, and wondered if the sight could be considered comical. In the moment of reflection it took for his intern to muster a response, Mirai had to admit that yes, it was slightly comical, the efforts that his intern went to. A grudging point in his favor.

"I-I don't know," Midoriya admitted, before he gained some composure, eyes taking on a serious slant. "She seemed unusually interested in me, Sir, after meeting me at the Forest Training Camp. But at the time – I was more worried about Bakugo and Tokoyami being kidnapped. I only learned her name in the debriefing afterward." Then he leaned over, peering at Mirai with a curious but troubled gleam in his eyes. "Did you see something, Sir?" Then, "Did Ka–Bakugo meet with her?"

"Yes," Mirai answered. "We will have to call the police to aid the trail, as they counteracted my quirk. We now know the location of their hideout, but they are planning on leaving immediately. I will call Mirio and we will intercept." He hesitated for a moment, looking down at the green-haired boy. The details of the vision were vague, the outcome only suggested at – "You will stay with Mirio at all times."

Midoriya nodded, and it was settled. Without another word, striding briskly forward towards their destination, Sir Nighteye pulled out his phone to the backup police line he had prepared for this night in a cautious preparation for success, and rattled off instructions and coordinates. Their important task and instruction would be to attempt to implant a tracker in any of the escaping villain's belongings, rather than a confrontation. In addition, they would arrest the yakuza residing at the villain's hideout for harboring criminals. Given the actively fleeing villains from the premises and what Nighteyes had seen in his future vision, they would have the authority to act and make arrests. These major goals worked within the jurisdiction of the vision.

Call made, he contacted the hero on patrol in the area of the hideout; he had prepared a list of contacts ahead of time by memorizing the patrol schedules of heroes in the vicinity and by encouraging familiar several heroes to broaden or shift their patrols into areas he considered most likely for discovering the group of runaway villains. He was lucky tonight – not a feeling Mirai dealt in often – as he felt this hero, in particular, was particularly suited to the task. The hero would arrive there within minutes to monitor the situation, long before Bakugo returned.

Finally, he contacted Mirio. His favorite pupil, the one with a constant easy smile on his face and a puerile joke, a good nature and a quick mind –

"Lemillion," he intoned over their comms, feeling somewhat hesitant for an instant before charging forward. Mirio, had, after all, known Zoldyck. But he knew that Mirio would still be able to function appropriately. "We found Zoldyck. I want you to watch over Midoriya as we proceed towards the target. The operation will begin fully in 21 minutes from now... sharp. The League of Villain members Dabi and Himiko Toga, but they will not be our focus. Try to avoid them. Your primary aim will be observance and uncovering future leads."

"I was listening over the comms, Sir," the boy responded, and Mirai could practically hear the tight smile on his face, and had to marvel at his determination once again. "I'm already on my way. Where should I meet you?"

Mirai's corner lip twitched upward, and he gave Mirio the precise street address and coordinates where they would wait unseen, at a distance sufficient enough to not be detected by either Zoldyck's or Freecss' eerily sensitive detection quirk. Another piece of information Future Vision had revealed. As he continued walking, he found himself retracing over the parts of the vision he had deemed safe to view, with the remaining half-hour he had left of Bakugo's vision, trying to glean as much information as possible.

Once he had arrived at the agreed upon meeting place, however, he found he could not occupy his thoughts any longer. At 16 minutes and 47 seconds before the operation began, he had already extracted all relevant details. Instead, in the temporary relief before he would need to conduct his next action, he found himself inspecting his intern, who had trailed after him silently all this distance.

Abruptly, he felt pity for the boy.

Struck by the strings of fate, another hapless tool for whom conflict could not be avoided. He regretted that the need for use for his Future Vision had come within the same day of mission action; he preferred his operations to be distanced from his use of the quirk, and only using the quirk for information gathering or for immediate fighting predictions against a single dangerous enemy. However, the time constraints had necessitated it.

Not for the last time, Mirai wondered why his Future Vision had dictated this path, and left Mirai unable to forge his own path. His visions always came true, in one way or another, and through his arduous training, he had learned never to fight it, but to instead work within the parameters of what his future had predicted of him.

Turning away briskly, Mirai hoped that, despite the fact that there was a far more worthy wielder of One For All available, that the boy would survive his next encounter with the League of Villains.

.

Killua knew it the instant the pro hero had perched itself on the rooftop next to them, like a hawk watching down on their building. Even if the hero hadn't given away his position by his flurry of motion as he entered his hiding spot, his presence was practically blaring - even if Killua's finely-honed perceptions could only rudimentarily sense his positions, the frequent shuffling and shifting of fabric was enough to give him away. It was almost amusing, in a way; Killua had been able to get close enough to see the details of the hero's mask without giving himself away, having used silent step and zetsu to quietly scout on the opposite building. The hero clearly wasn't well trained in subterfuge.

He had the sharp mask of a bird, each feather almost carefully painted on, and broad shoulders. The entire time Killua had watched him, his gaze had remained fixed on the yakuza's building. His sleeves were cut, revealing bare arms, and they looked like they were filled with muscle. But in terms of standing, presence, alertness, his clumsy approach... In all honesty, he appeared weak. And after nearly three months of being stuck in this world, Killua had finally learned again to be able to judge the strength of people on sight.

Silently, having confirmed the intention of the suspicious presence and having made his measure of the hero, Killua slipped away back inside, where Dabi, Toga, and Gon were waiting.

"It's a pro hero," he told them almost boredly, though inside, he felt nervous that this had happened when Bakugo was still gone. Had Bakugo somehow betrayed their location? Deliberately? Or carelessly?

No, there was no point wondering about it. He was tempted to take the chance of leaving Bakugo behind - for his own good - but the truth was it would only cause more trouble if Bakugo returned here, alone, when the area swarmed with heroes and the yakuza were found to live there. And Killua had more faith in his friend than to think that he had been betrayed. Bakugo - just wasn't the type to turn back on his word once he'd already committed to something.

But that meant that they couldn't leave until he got back, which was… frustrating.

"What now?" Dabi asked, matching his bored tone after the long silence. The taller boy looked down at him with inscrutable eyes.

"I don't want to get caught by pro heroes," Toga complained loudly. "If you're planning on doing something stupid, I'm just gonna leave!"

"Don't worry," Killua reassured irritatedly, "he looked pretty weak to me. We'll be able to get past him, no problem."

"Hmm, can I suck his blood then?"

"No. Are you an idiot? Just because he's weak doesn't mean he won't tell the other heroes he saw the League here. And don't kill him."

Gon, for his part, simply hopped on his tiptoes, eyebrows furrowed, as he stretched his arms wordlessly, eyes fixed on the door.

Killua decided to pass the time by finalizing their escape plan, and where they would go afterwards. So far, it seemed that the pro hero wouldn't make a move on their own and hadn't yet made a call for backup - which meant the primary goal was likely confirmation and reconnaissance. Killua was sure that the hero hadn't been able to yet catch a glimpse of any of them through the curtained windows - likely, the hero had been able to track down the yakuza stronghold but hadn't been able to confirm Killua's groups presence there. They had some time to plan their move.

"We should hit Jaku General Hospital first once we're out of here," Killua said after the immediate details were figured out. "And see if Doctor Kusai can give us any more of those pills." He hesitated. He thought Gon would be the best candidate of all of them to go, since the doctor'd be the most likely to work with Gon. And the rest of them were too recognizable, anyway. But he wanted to get his friend's opinion first.

"What do you think, Gon?"

"Eh?" Gon looked somewhat surprised. "Um, why don't we go to All For One?"

Killua paused, and took a second to formulate a response to the unexpected proposal from Gon. He didn't trust magical fairy godmothers who appeared nicer than they were explainative and used grandiose titles in place of a name, but he didn't say that aloud.

Instead, he said quietly, "I'm not sure if he'll take us in, Gon, or send us back to our world. What he said to you – it seemed more of a far-off possibility than anything definite or immediate." He looked at Dabi and Toga, eyes lingering on Toga, who had been the more talkative of the two so far. "Am I right?"

Toga shrugged. "I don't know anything about him!" she cheerfully replied, seemingly already over her previous upset.

To his surprise, Dabi spoke next.

"You're right, kid. He won't be sending you back just yet."

Killua narrowed his eyes at him, but nodded. He then turned back to Gon.

"So we can't risk it," he concluded. "We can't afford a failed attempt at sanctuary, there's not enough time. We need to choose a reliable safe haven, and quickly."

"Why not just go to the League of Villains?" Dabi drawled. "They'd give you protection."

"No," he said immediately, "I still think you guys are fishy as heck. I don't trust you, either." The fact that all this seemed to align that the League was, coincidentally, the best place for them to find refuge struck him still as incredibly suspicious.

Besides – if they got caught with the League, it would really be over for Bakugo. Killua'd try out any other options first if he could, to give the older boy time to decide what he'd do. He owed it to him, in a way.

"Aww," Toga pouted. "But we've wanted to have you guys for so long!"

"Too bad."

"Then what are you going to do?" Dabi interrupted boredly, eyes sidling away from bickering teens.

"Wait for Bakugo, first." To his relief, he thought he could detect a familiar presence on the far end of his radar. It wasn't a real nen sense, not fully in the way Wing had explained was possible, but -

When Bakugo returned through the door just a minute later, food boxes in hand and knuckles bloodied, looking weary and dead to the world but strangely determined, Killua quickly explained the situation and the pro hero waiting just outside their building. They were going to escape now, but still needed to decide where they would go after Jaku.

"Let's go southwest," Bakugo said immediately and urgently, squaring up his shoulders with a breath. "To the mountains. There are a bunch of small-ass towns there no one knows the name of."

Killua looked at Dabi, who shrugged. While the pro hero watching them hadn't yet moved, sirens had begun wailing in the distance just a minute ago. The sound was getting louder, approached closer. Killua's hypothesis had been wrong, and they now had a time limit. He figured Bakugo's bloodied knuckles had something to do with it.

"It's true," the fire villain said lazily, seemingly not worried about the sirens. "They probably wouldn't look for you there. Not much going on there, though. Definitely not as secure or interesting as going with the League."

"Well, then I don't want to go," Toga pronounced loudly, creasing her nose. "The woods – icky! Besides, then I wouldn't be able to look after Izu-kun!"

"Midoriya's not interested in you," Killua said flatly, and Toga shot him a hostile glare for his words. "And neither are we," he added catishly, side-eyeing her.

"Well, I don't like you either," she said, sticking her tongue out and holding her nose with one hand, knife dangerously in the other. "So there!"

Then she turned to Dabi, putting her knife back into her pocket almost disdainfully.

"So you'll have to go. It's your job, anyway!"

Dabi grimaced. Then he began waving his hand in the air boredly, "Yeah, yeah, fine –"

"Your job?" Killua asked, narrowing his eyes, suddenly interested. He smelled a clue.

Dabi turned a scowl to him.

"Do you really think that now's the time?" he asked flatly.

And he had a point.

Killua supposed they couldn't ignore the impending deadline forever.

"Fine," Killua huffed. Killua turned to the rest of them. "I'll meet you at the checkpoint. You know what to do." Except Bakugo. "Bakugo, you're with Toga and going to the train station. She'll disguise herself as someone else, and you two can pretend to be a couple." Seeing Bakugo's look of consternation, he added with some well-hidden amusement, "It should throw off attention until you get better disguises."

Ready, they all nodded, except Bakugo who shot Toga a look of disgust, which she returned with a sneer. Since not all of them had the same mobility and they had to leave their hands free in case it came to a fight, they had decided the best plan was to split up.

The most mobile would distract and lead them on a goose chase; that was Killua's and Dabi's job. Dabi, however, would act as backup and move unseen so they wouldn't reveal their affiliation with the League unless their hand was forced. Bakugo and Toga would act as a separate unit, disguising themselves as soon as they entered a late-night crowd. Gon would scout ahead for them and help them avoid any heroes, using his own heightened perceptions, and would use his ridiculously superhuman sense of smell and tracking to reunite the two groups.

They would meet at a train station over twenty blocks away, after Killua and Dabi found their own disguises; it wasn't the nearest one, so hopefully it would throw any forward-looking heroes off, but it wasn't so far away that it'd be impossible for Katsuki and Toga to get there on foot without attracting attention. If that failed, they'd meet at Jaku, near the hospital.

It was a plan designed to avoid conflict with the heroes, rather than to confront them.

Killua hoped it would work. And if he happened to lose at least Dabi in the process - all the better.

Exchanging a glance with Bakugo and Gon, he nodded, and then they took off.