"Before we decide on anything, I want to make sure that you know you don't have to get involved." The mall had gone silent after the last explosion, but that didn't meant that the Terror Twins weren't still out there doing who knows what to torment the hostages. Izuku couldn't sit still and hide out of danger while all of those people were being threatened. It just wasn't who he was, wasn't what he had spent the last year training to do. If he didn't try to find some way to help them from the inside while the heroes outside were stuck figuring out how to get the barrier down he would never forgive himself.

Mei, on the other hand, wasn't trying to get into the hero course. She mastered every piece of tech in her mother's shop, but she had no intention of actually using it outside of the workshop. Even if she did, they didn't have any of it with them. Izuku had the rods and a years worth of training to back him up, and the odds were still overwhelmingly against him having any luck against these villains. Mei might be a genius, but she hadn't prepared for a situation like this. Not in the same way Izuku had. He couldn't ask her to put herself in danger just because he refused to sit safely out of the way.

"If you think that I'm going to stay here while you go out there by yourself you're an idiot, Midoriya Izuku," Mei said. Izuku couldn't see her expression through what little light filtered in around the closet door, but he didn't need to see her to be able to image what her face looked like in that moment.

"These people are dangerous, Mei," Izuku tried to reason, already knowing before the words were out of his mouth that they wouldn't do any good. Hizashi liked to joke that Izuku got his stubbornness from Aizawa, that no one could be as hard headed as the two of them when they got their minds stuck on something. He had only met Hatsume Mei a handful of times though. Certainly not enough to see the truth- Aizawa and Izuku were nothing compared to Mei's sometimes ridiculous levels of single mindedness. If Mei had already decided she was going then nothing he said would change her mind.

He would have to try to convince her anyway.

"And that's exactly why I'm not letting you go by yourself," she answered just as fiercely as before. "If you go out there and get hurt because I wasn't with you I would never forgive myself."

Izuku started to say that that was the exact reason he wanted her to stay, but quickly thought better of it. Mei would not appreciate the sentiment. "You don't even have a way to fight back, Mei. And you might not forgive yourself if I got hurt, but you know your mom would kill me if anything were to happen to you. She has plenty of ways to make it look like an accident too."

He could feel Mei rolling her eyes even if he still couldn't see her. "That's ridiculous and you know it. You don't really have much you can do in this situation either. Unless you want to get arrested for heroics without a license, of course."

"I can't use a quirk I don't have, Mei." Izuku pointed out.

"Escrima rods still count as a weapon, Izuku," she responded, poking him in the chest. "I know Aizawa-san has to have gone over the specifics of that law with you. Use a weapon like that against another person and it'll still count as heroics without a license. Quirk or no quirk."

She had a point, although Izuku hated to admit it. Aizawa had made sure to go over the law with him almost every day for at least a month, knowing that he was bound to end up in a situation where it was relevant eventually. Even if he had the rest of his gear with him he wouldn't have been able to use it without getting himself and Aizawa in trouble for it. Not that that would have stopped him if he needed to get involved, of course, but he felt almost glad that he didn't have to make that decision. Aizawa had done so much for him, Izuku didn't need to cause more trouble for him than he already did, and breaking the heroics law when he wasn't even officially enrolled in a course would be bound to have steep consequences for his mentor.

"Well, it's not like I planned to take all three of them on myself," Izuku said finally. As much as he wished he could have this problem solved by the time the people outside managed to get the barrier down, he wouldn't lie to himself by thinking it would be possible. The Terror Twins had gotten away with their attacks for so long for a reason. They were organized, and they knew how to work together to cover as many of their weaknesses as they could. Only All Might had been enough to surprise them into making mistakes, and as far as he and Mei were concerned they would need to assume that the number one hero wouldn't be able to reach them anytime soon.

"Then it shouldn't be a problem for me to go with you. Since you're saying to aren't going to fight them. Right?" Mei's eyes flashed in the low light, and Izuku groaned, leaning to rest his forehead against the wall. Mei wouldn't be letting this go until he agreed, and they were wasting enough time arguing as it was.

"It's your decision. Just… be careful, okay? I'm not planning on getting their attention until we absolutely have to but you know how things usually go." Disaster always seemed to strike the moment Izuku needed it the least, and he had a feeling that habit wouldn't be going away anytime soon. The only way to handle it was to prepare as best he could and hope that everything worked out in the end. If it didn't...he would worry about that when it became a problem and not before.

"I'll be as careful as you!"

"That doesn't make me feel any better, you know."

"Now you know how the rest of us feel all the time."

Izuku's protest was interrupted by the sound of another explosion, larger than the one before. If they were going to do something to help they needed to move quickly.

"They may have put the barrier up around the entire mall, but they can't keep everyone inside in one place. The mall is too big, and there are too many people. The explosions might have everyone terrified, but there are only three villains. They can't be everywhere at once. They probably picked the most crowded place in the mall to make their stand. And what's always the most crowded area of the mall?"

"The food court."

"Exactly," Izuku nodded. "Open area. Maximum number of people. That's the only place they would be able to have total control. Everyone else is probably hiding out in the stores around the ends of the mall until this is all over. Ancile shouldn't be able to move much while he's keeping the barrier up. That's usually how quirks like his work at least. Out of Sans and Kell, Kell is the one we need to worry about."

"Not the one with the explosions?"

"We aren't going to be able to do anything against her. Not when I don't have any of my gear. Her quirk would keep us from getting too close, and anything we do to her might put the hostages at risk. Kell though…" Izuku grinned. "When he's not teleporting he's just as quirkless as I am, and I bet I've got the upper hand when it comes to quirkless fighting. They know that All Might is able to break down Ancile's barrier so they're probably going to try to get him here as quickly as they can. Unlike last time though, if Kell manages to get them out there won't be a team of pro heroes waiting to catch them at their base. The best thing we can do for now is to prevent Kell from being able to use his quirk."

"So we need to distract them and separate him." Mei turned to look at the cleaning supplies lining the walls. "I think I have just the idea. Why don't we fight fire with a little fire of our own?"

Izuku didn't come to the mall often, but even he felt thrown by the stillness of everything when he and Mei still carefully out of their hiding space. No explosions rocked the building as they carefully traced their way back through the empty corridor, so they could only assume that the villains were finding some other way to terrorize their hostages for the time being. Shopping bags littered the ground where people had dropped them in their haste to get away, and Izuku made sure to step carefully around them as they walked.

Not a single other person was visible in the halls, although he thought he had glimpsed a few through the shop windows. If anyone saw them as they made their way to the department store that connected their branch of the mall to the food court no one tried to stop them. If it had been anyone else in their place Izuku would have been disappointed. Two kids walking straight into danger? Someone should have said something. As they turned the corner moving closer to towards the end of the hallway, he made a mental note not to mention detail to Aizawa later. His mentor would be furious.

Hefting his backpack higher on his shoulders, Izuku gestured for Mei to step closer. The inside of the department store was even more eerie than the corridor. Closer to the center of the mall and therefore the food court, the sound of the original explosions must have been even more shocking. Like the rest of the mall, bags were strewn haphazardly across the floor. Clothes were left in uneven piles around the registers. On the other side of the store Izuku could see where a stand had been tilted on its side to act as a shield for the people huddling just visible behind it.

"Kid!"

Izuku flinched, reaching out to grab Mei's arm as he whirled at the sound of a harsh whisper. Beside him, he could feel Mei stiffen.

"Kid! What are you doing?" The whisper came again, and Izuku locked eyes with an older woman crouching behind a display stand a short ways from the checkout counter, her mouth pressed in a thin line as she looked between Izuku and Mei. She waved at him to move closer to her.

He glanced at Mei who shrugged, gently pulling her arm back from Izuku's tight grip. They didn't have time to talk to her, whoever this woman was, but the moment they started to turn away she called out again a little louder this time. "Get over here! Now!" So maybe someone would be trying to stop them from getting involved. Aizawa would be proud.

Worried about what she would do if they kept walking, what kind of attention she might bring them if she got any louder, the two of them did as she asked. Maybe they would The moment he was within reach the woman's hand shot out towards them. Izuku jerked back, tripping over his own feet as he moved out of reach, but Mei wasn't fast enough. The woman managed to grab the end of her sleeve, pulling the younger girl behind the stand as well.

"What are you doing?" Mei hissed, snatching her arm away much harder than she had from Izuku moments before.

"I think you mean what are you two doing?" The woman snapped. Now that they were closer, Izuku could see that she was wearing the store's employee uniform. A manager maybe, from the way she was trying to take what little control over the situation she could.

"We know what we're doing," Izuku responded dryly. They really didn't have time to waste if they were going to go through with their plan before it was too late. "We don't need to ask that."

"Smartass," the woman said, mimicking his tone. Izuku found himself smiling despite the circumstances. "You know what I meant."

"It's the Terror Twins," Mei said hurriedly."They're-"

"I know who they are. I thought they were supposed to be in jail."

"They are, but somehow they're here." Izuku hesitated for a moment before continuing. If he told her the truth she would most likely try even harder to stop them from going, but if he lied and she didn't believe them it would be even more precious time lost. She was going to try to stop them from going either way. Better to cut straight to the chase, he decided. "All Might is probably already on his way here to break down the barrier around the mall, but it's not going to do any good if they are able to just teleport away."

"We've got a plan for separating Kell so we can make sure he can't help them escape," Mei added.

The woman didn't respond right away, staring at Izuku for a moment before turning to look at Mei. "And you really think this plan will work? Two kids against three villains?"

"We only need to fight one villain," Izuku countered. "I've been training with a hero for a year. She and her mom make support items. We know what we need to do to help. That's all we want to do."

"And what about all of these people?" The woman asked, looking behind her where Izuku could see other shoppers clustered behind shelving. "Let's say I buy that you two have some sort of plan, and that you're not going to get yourselves killed. What happens to them when you shift those villains' attention elsewhere?"

"If someone doesn't stop Kell from getting them out then this is going to happen to more people," Izuku answered. "No one is prepared for them this time. If we let Kell use his quirk then who knows how long it will take for them to be caught this time."

It wasn't an ideal situation, he knew that. There was always the chance that he and Mei would be making things worse, but as long as they cleared the area around them… Well. Izuku would just have to make sure that they made themselves large enough targets that Kell wouldn't be able to worry about any of the other people hidden throughout the mall.

The woman hummed. "You!" She pointed at Mei. "You make support items. Is Hatsume Natsumi your mother?"

"You know her?" Mei asked, surprised.

"I know of her. And you said you're training with a pro?"

Izuku nodded, unsure of where she was going with this. "I've been working with Eraserhead."

"Never heard of them," she said, looking between the two of them. "I really should stop you. I have no reason to believe that the two of you are capable of what you claim, but I get the feeling there's nothing I can do to stop you. Is there?"

Not for the first time, Izuku wondered how many times he would be able to get away with a crazy plan because strangers recognized that he was going to go through with it anyway. Izuku may have been regretting Mei's stubbornness not too long ago, but no matter what Hizashi said it did have its uses.

"There's an evacuation protocol for villain attacks like this. Give me twenty minutes and I'll have this store clear for whatever you have planned."

"Really?" Izuku couldn't help but ask. She was going to let them go. Just like that.

"It's not my job to stop you," she shrugged.

"Twenty minutes?"

"Twenty minutes."

Mei stood up slowly. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Literally. I never saw you. We never had this conversation." The woman stood as well.

"Do you mind…Can we ask your name?"

"Yeah, you don't need to know my name," the woman said. "You never met me, after all."

Twenty minutes hadn't seemed like a long time when they agreed to it, but as the clock ticked on it seemed to never end. The explosions started up again as they waited. Five loud bursts in quick succession. Izuku started towards the food court entrance, but Mei held him back.

"We promised her twenty minutes, Izuku," Mei said gently, hand on his shoulder to hold him back.

"I just want to see," he argued.

"You know if we go see what they're doing you aren't going to want to wait. I hate it too, but we need to give her time to get everyone else out."

Once again, Mei was right. He had read all of the files on the Terror Twins that had been made public. He knew the kinds of things they did, the games they like to play with the people they had taken hostage. If they were to go and see them first hand, Izuku wouldn't be able to wait until their twenty minutes were up. He wouldn't be able to deal with knowing exactly what was going on and not being able to do a thing about it. He felt sick to his stomach just listening to the sounds as they echoed through the empty store.

Mei grabbed his hand, giving it a comforting squeeze as they watched the time slip by. When there was only five minutes remaining until the woman had promised they would be clear Izuku couldn't wait any longer.

"Come on. We need to see what they're doing and set up," he said, pulling Mei after him. This time she didn't move to stop him.

As the got closer to the store entrance the sounds got almost impossibly loud, a laugh cutting clear through the yelling that rose as another explosion went off. Izuku and Mei moved slowly onto the carpeted floor towards the front display window, leaning carefully around the hanging display to catch a glimpse of the still crowded food court.

The unfortunate shoppers caught in the middle of the attack were sitting together in the middle of the floor, tables and chairs pushed to the sides of the room. Izuku scanned the room, trying to take in as many details as he could. Ancile stood at the very back, hands raised towards the large windows that lined the farthest wall. A faint glimmer was visible through the panes, pearly white through the clear glass. His barrier.

Kell faced away from the on their end of room, arms crossed as he watched the hostages. Izuku couldn't see his face, but his shoulders shook as he laughed. "That was a good one! Do that one again."

"Anything for you little brother," came the reply as Sans shot him a grin. Izuku and Mei jerked back away from the window, breathing hard as they waited. Had they been seen? They hadn't made a plan for that. Why hadn't they thought made a plan for that? It seemed ridiculous in hindsight, but there was nothing they could do about it now, pressed against the wall as they were, hoping they hadn't been spotted.

"You with the hat," Kell said, and Izuku let out a shaking breath. They were safe. They hadn't been seen. Mei's grip on his hand tightened as they leaned into the window again to see Kell pointing at a man sitting on the ground. His head ducked low, red hat obvious from a distance. The man stood on unsteady legs, his movements lurching as he walked to towards Sans. She smiled.

"And why don't we have you four as well?" She laughed, gesturing towards a group sitting together.

Izuku and Mei could only watch in horror as she line the five of them up in front of her, reaching into her bag to pull out a handful of large, glass marbles. Gently, she placed one in each of their shaking hands.

"One of these is a bomb!" Sans said cheerfully, bag rattling as she twirled. "Four of them are not! Isn't that exciting!" She stopped turning, walking down the line. "I'm sure you remember how this works!" Reaching the end of the line, she lunged, knocking the marble out of the closest person's outstretched hands. They flinched back, falling to the ground as they scrambled to move away.

The marble clattered harmlessly to the ground.

"Did you see his face?" Sans laughed, skipping back. "Ancile! Ancile, did you see?"

"I'm a little busy at the moment," came the gravely reply.

Sans pouted. "Well, you aren't any fun." She turned back towards the remaining four people. "Now who should go next? Hmmm?"

Mei jerked Izuku back out of the window as he started to move forward. "The plan, Izuku. It's been long enough. We need to go set up." Izuku did as she said, letting her pull him away from the window, the sound of Sans' laughter following them back into the store.

Izuku had never considered himself an angry person. After being around Bakugou for so long, even if he had been one to anger quickly he was sure he would have gotten it under control by that point. Looking at what the Terror Twins were doing though, having to walk away…He felt numb with it. Fury he had never felt before. How they could stand there and laugh at other people's fear-Izuku couldn't understand it, but they wouldn't get away with it this time. Not if he had anything to say about it.

AN:
Sorry this is so late. Internet has been a little hit and miss at my house. As for the references from the last chapter- Ancile is the shield of Mars, and Kell is another DC character. I know absolutely nothing about Undertale or the characters, but Sans was meant to be a reference to Betty Sans Souci/Plastique.

Next week will be the end of this arc and the start of the demonstrations! Thanks to everyone who commented!