Melina hesitated in front of the door clutching the mask wrapped in plain white linen cloth. Research and Development Laboratory was printed in plain two inch tall black letters on the clear glass panel in the steel door. She could see Mei in the distance inside the room with her back to the door. Despite the early hour, the girl sat at a desk, hunched over, and concentrating on whatever she was working on.

Her willingness to trust Mei with mask wavered. Her misgivings stemmed from the possibility that she could be putting Mei in an exceedingly dangerous position. She did not want an innocent child to be implicated should anyone come around asking questions about the incident at the villain's hideout. Heaven forbid, the League of Villains mistake Mei for a new Grey Ghost should they show up here again and find her in possession of the mask.

Changing her mind, Melina decided to walk away. But it was too late.

"Miss Zusa?" Mei called after she had taken only a few steps down the hall.

Melina turned around, placing the mask behind her back. Mei stood at the door, the upper half of her body extending out into the hallway.

"Morning, Mei. I'm here to see your lab. Is that all right?" she asked, hoping to divert the girl's attention.

"Come on in," Mei happily invited her, opening the door wide.

Melina walked in, passing in front of her, not anticipating the girl snatching the mask right out of her hand.

"Ooooh, what is this?" Mei inquired, unwrapping the cloth to reveal the cracked white mask.

"That is something very special to me. My father made that. I'm afraid I did something very stupid and damaged it," she admitted without going into details.

Melina doubted the entranced girl would have heard anything else she said. She watched Mei as she stared at the mask with the fascination of a child lost in wonderment and the concentration of a genius when the gears of thought are turning. Her father would get that same expression on his face quite frequently during the process of working on his projects.

"The optical sensor is broken. A bullet went through it and is still lodged in the mask," Melina advised the girl so she wouldn't be shocked when she found it.

Mei never even looked up as she continued to examine the mask. The only indication she gave Melina that she had heard her was when she turned over the mask to follow the crack to the optical sensor with her finger.

"I can fix this. It will be easy. Don't you worry," Mei told her, placing the mask on her work table strewn with sketches and gears and hand tools. "I'll do my best to repair the cracks, but I have to warn you the damage has probably ruined the over all integrity of the mask as far as bulletproof protection goes."

"Yeah. I figured that. Repairs can only do so much when there are structural flaws in the foundation," she returned, garnering the girl's full attention.

"Why can't you fix it? You seem familiar enough with the technology and obviously you're intelligent."

"My knowledge of something that sophisticated is limited. I trust you to do a much better job than I could." Melina smiled when a bright crimson red blush of astonishment at the unexpected compliment spread across the girl's face. "This is one my father's most important inventions. His baby, if you will. I don't want to completely destroy it."

"Wow," Mei sighed, caressing the mask as if it were a fine work of art. To her it was a work of art made by an unknown master she would never have the honor of meeting. "Thank you for trusting me with this."

"So how about that tour?"

Mei took Melina by the arm, leading her around the large room full of work tables, heavy machinery, and power tools. Endless bins of various sizes covered an entire wall from top to bottom and side to side. They were full of parts ranging from screws and washers to massive sheets of metal and what appeared to be scavenged prosthetic limbs.

Blueprints, schematics, and wiring diagrams covered the walls. Sketches of hero costumes along with drawings of gadgets and weapons lay in haphazard piles on desks. Some of the pictures had fallen to the floor but were left where they lay like leaves that had fallen from trees.

Inventors were messy and scattered both physically and mentally, generally leaving chaos in their wake. They had too many thoughts, too many brilliant ideas to get out of their heads, to take time to clean and organize. Super smart people also had a tendency to forget the basics of self-care. They forgot to eat and to sleep, often collapsing from a severe lack of both if there was no one to help take care of them.

"Thank you, Mei. I enjoyed being here," Melina told her at the door. "It reminded me of being in my father's lab. I wish you could have met him."

"Me too," the girl returned, her eyes becoming sad. "I should have this fixed by tomorrow. I might even finish it by this afternoon."

"There's no rush. Take your time. Don't forget to eat," she reminded her. "I'm sure your teacher runs you out of here at night to make sure you go to bed."

"Yes," she chuckled. "He does. Don't worry. Your father's invention is in good hands."

"I know." Melina couldn't agree more.

~\..'../~

Melina left a note on the whiteboard for her students to meet her on the roof. At the bottom she had written Except for Koda in capital letters using a red dry erase marker. She adopted a kitten from the animal shelter this morning for him to care for while the rest of the class observed the bees and honey gathering.

The kitten would no doubt become the class pet. She hoped Aizawa wouldn't be too angry that a cat would be added to the household as well. She still wasn't sure how he felt about her moving in. He would probably be more of accepting of the kitten than her, but he seemed to be more tolerant of her presence than before. They both needed more time before she moved into the dorms.

Melina waited for all of the students to gather on the roof. She made sure each one was clothed in the beekeeper's coveralls and hat complete with netting she had left for them on their desks. She didn't want anything, not even her bees, to hurt these kids. Her students were amazed as she stood in nothing but her jeans and t-shirt, completely unfazed as the bees lazily whorled around her or landed on her for a rest.

First she lectured on the basics of bees; their body structure and colony social structure. Secondly, she spoke about the literal structure of the hives using one of the frames to show them visually. The third part of the day's lesson involved her scraping off the wax and comb to gather the honey.

"Is honey sweeter than sugar?" Sato asked, notepad in hand. "What is the ratio for substituting honey for sugar in recipes?"

"Honey tastes sweeter than sugar because it's denser. Therefore, you use less of it. For every cup of sugar, you would substitute one half to two thirds cup honey," she replied to answer his question.

Melina blinked when one of the bees wiggled his body a little too close to the corner of her eye. Reaching up, she gently nudged it away with her forefinger.

"Does it bother you or scare you when they crawl around on your face like that?" Uraraka questioned her. She visibly recoiled when a bee moved over her teacher's bottom lip.

"I don't fear them. As odd as this sounds, they're my friends. I know they won't harm me. They gave me a special gift by giving me my quirk," she explained, carefully replacing the scraped frame into the apiary.

Midoriya piped up with a question. She would have been disappointed if he hadn't asked at least one question.

"Could you tell us more about your quirk and how it relates to the bees?"

Damn. Good question. Melina thought for a minute. Would she be telling them too much to explain everything? Probably not. These kids trusted her implicitly, and she should trust them just as much.

"Well, I honestly don't know everything about it myself. What I've learned, I have over time, making logical deductions and lots of educated guesses. I understand it to be a mutation. It is also sort of a contract, an agreement between myself and the bees. It requires both parties to work together for the quirk to work. Or perhaps it's more of a symbiotic relationship," she corrected herself, placing a pot of recently bloomed lavender on top of the hive to draw the bees away from her. "I believe ours would be considered commensalism which is where one of the organisms benefits greatly from the symbiosis. The other is not helped or harmed by partnership."

"You're saying only you benefit from the relationship?" Toykoyami asked.

"Yes, it seems to be that way," she admitted. "I have the power to bring people under my control like the Queen Bee does the bees of the hive. I also gather their honey and beeswax. What do they gain in return?"

"A safe place in the apiary rather than being left to elements. You give them flowers for pollen and nectar," Yaoyorozu helpfully supplied in her defense.

"Thank you for that."

"Hmmm," Midoriya hummed pensively, commencing to muttering to himself under his breath. "So, Miss Zusa, is the contract, or the symbiosis, broken only if something drastic happens to either one of the parties?"

"Yes, I believe so," she replied.

Melina had come to the conclusion not too long ago that the only way to get rid of her quirk was if she died or the bees died. One day, thinking back, she experienced the epiphany that the bees had passed the quirk onto her mere hours after grandmother's death, choosing her to be their new queen.

What if she had not gone near the hive that day? A colony can't survive without a queen. Perhaps they did need her as much as she needed them. Could the bees have waited until she did come to them? Would they have flown away to find another queen? Who knows? She was there, they choose her, and she received their blessing/curse whether she wanted it or not. So the what if doesn't matter.

Melina glanced around at the kids who had gone completely silently. She could tell by the varying expressions of sadness and concern they understood what that something drastic would be to break the symbiotic relationship.

Todoroki wore a different expression. He was angry. Knowing the villains were after her for her quirk, his mind went in a completely different direction. Not only could she see it in his face and the way he glared at the beehive, she knew what he was thinking by the way his fingers flexed. They half curled then uncurled, the same way Dabi's did before he formed a flame in the middle of his palm.

Clapping her hands together loudly to startle them and dispel the negative black cloud that had formed over their sunny day, she brought their attention back to the present and away from dire possibilities. She went to the roof door, opening it as a signal the time had come to go back to the room.

"I'm afraid tomorrow will be a boring classroom lecture," Melina announced to the students as she herded them down the stairs.

A collective groan of disappointment rose from the class.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she sympathized. "Not everyday can be exciting. Actually, to me, the boring, mundane days...the quiet ones are the best. Don't take them for granted."

Melina made eye contact with Shoto when he paused in front of her.

"I have the feeling no day is boring with you," he said.

"You better not be thinking what I think you're thinking," she said in a low warning tone.

"I have no idea what you just said," he rejoined.

"Yes, you do," she snapped impatiently. "Don't do it."

"But the villains would leave you alone. You would be free from worrying about them hunting you down or killing you," he rejoined, his voice barely above a whisper despite the two of them being the only people left on the roof. His eyes lowered to her lips. "You would also be able to kiss someone...I mean really kiss them, without turning them into a mindless slave."

"Wow, that was harsh," she returned in a breathy voice. "As many times as I've thought about getting rid of my quirk, I've never wanted to go that far. I've made peace with it. Whatever it is, a blessing or a curse, it's mine."

Her hand cupped his cheek as she studied the scar on his face. Her thumb skimmed across his cheek, tracing the lower edge of the scar.

"Don't tell me you didn't spend years wishing, hoping, praying to get rid of this part of you. You hated him and you hated that part of him in you. But eventually, you learned to embrace it as a vital part of you separate from him. You are who you are, and not your Father...no matter what."

"Yeah, you're right," he begrudgingly agreed, grasping her wrist to pull her hand away from his face. "I get it. I won't burn the damn bees."

Melina observed him carefully as he walked away; his back ramrod straight, shoulders stiff, and head held high. She had been pretty harsh herself in return, but she knew he could take it. Also, she had to make him understand how she felt so he wouldn't burn the hive and destroy her bees to set her free from her quirk.

~\..'../~

In the afternoon, Melina sat in her classroom going over her lesson plan for tomorrow. She would be giving a lecture on flowering plants. A lily might be a good example to use in order to point out the basic structure. As she was thinking, there was a knock on her door.

"Come in," she called.

Mei entered the room, hands held behind her back. The big smile on her face showed that she was extremely pleased with herself.

"You fixed it?" Melina asked, sliding off her stool to put both feet on the floor. Joyful anticipation made her blood pump faster through her body.

"I did!" Mei exclaimed, holding it out to her.

Melina's fingers trembled as she took the mask. The cracks were gone. Mei had fixed them so well there was no trace they had ever been there. Holding the mask up to her face, she activated the sensor by blinking. It immediately turned on for both eyes. She cycled through each mode to test them. The visibility seemed clearer, sharper.

"I tweaked it a little bit. I hope you don't mind," Mei said after she pulled down the mask.

Tears formed in Melina's eyes and ran down her cheeks.

"Did I do something wrong?" Mei asked, her eyebrows drawing together in worry.

"No, you did everything right and then some. Thank you so much, Mei," she said, swiping at the tears impatiently.

"Thank you for allowing me to fix it. It means so much you that you did. If possible, could I have it again sometime, just to study it?"

"Sure thing. There's a whole suit that goes with it. I'll bring it in."

"Great!"

There was a knock on the jamb of the open door. Who was it now? Both student and teacher glanced toward the door.

"Am I interrupting?" a red faced Todoroki inquired.

"No. Come in," Melina called to him, lowering the mask under the level of her desk so he could not see it. "Thank you, Mei."

"Any time! See you later," she called as she headed toward the door. "What's up, Todoroki?"

"Mei," he acknowledged her.

Melina watched in disbelief as Shoto Todoroki actually turned his head and followed Mei with his eyes as she walked to the door. While he was distracted, she shoved the mask into her purse.

For a second, jealousy flickered through her, hot and violent, tightening her chest and compressing her lungs. Walking toward him as he continued to watch until the girl disappeared, she reached him about the same time he turned around toward her. Before he knew what hit him, she did, punching him in the bicep.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?!" he yelled, rubbing his sore arm.

"Did you seriously just check her out?"

"Jealous?"

"Hah," she scoffed, whirling around on her heel and stomping back to her desk.

"Oh, my god! You are!" he exclaimed way too happily.

"Oh, stop, I am not," she countered irritably, snatching her purse from under her desk.

"Why are you blushing?" he asked, trapping her body between his and the side of her desk.

"It's hot in here. Why the hell is it so hot this spring?" she groused, placing her palm on his chest in preparation to push him away. "Move. I need to go."

"When are you moving into the dorms?" He placed his hand over hers and refused to budge when she applied pressure with her palm.

"Soon. Shoto, I need to go," she insisted, pushing harder but it was as if he was glued to the floor.

"Where are you going in such a big hurry?"

"My hotel room. I have an exciting evening of room service, a hot bath, and reading a terrible romance novel planned."

"Can I join you?"

"Hahaha...no," she flatly refused, shoving him away from her.

"Awww, you're so mean," he whined, walking after her.

"And you're so weird. You're a completely different person around me than when you're around your classmates or other teachers," she said, walking briskly down the hall.

"Yeah, there's a reason for that," he shot back, picking up the pace to keep up with her.

"If I told them how you acted, they'd never believe me."

"For you to be so short, you sure do walk fast."

Melina stopped dead in her tracks requiring him to halt abruptly which made his sneakers squeak on the floor.

"Was there something you wanted to ask me?" she demanded, glaring up at the boy who was at least half a foot taller than her despite him being only sixteen.

"Yes. I'm going to visit my mother tomorrow," he told her, staring at the white toes of his converse sneakers.

"And?"

"I want you to come with me...to meet my mom."

"Shoto, I can't. I'm just your teacher. There's no reason - "

"You're more than that to me, and you know it," he said sternly.

She was too tired to argue with him about the many things wrong with his statement. They had been over all of them before.

"I can't," she flatly refused.

Melina turned away from him, proceeding down the hall without saying anything further. Meeting his mother was a big deal. A HUGE deal, that she was just not ready for. Also being introduced to her by her son, hinted at Melina being a hell of a lot more than his teacher or his friend. Of course, he had no problem whatsoever with his mother seeing her as more but she did.

Meeting his father had been by complete accident and inevitable. She would have met him sooner or later considering she is a teacher at UA, and he is the number one hero who would have to visit for one reason or another. However, Shoto would never allow his father to know her as anything more than a teacher at the school.

"Please?" he begged, his voice echoing inside the vacant hall.

"I will," she promised. "Soon."

Purposely being vague about the time frame, she hoped it was enough to quell his persistence.

"Tomorrow?" he pressed.

"Ugh. Good night, Todoroki! See you in class tomorrow!"

~\..'../~

Melina spent an uneventful evening at the hotel, remaining delightfully alone all night long. She took a bubble bath and drank champagne, simply because she could. She ate steak and french fries and chocolate covered strawberries for dinner before curling up in bed to read a perfectly awful story about a sadistic, domineering boss who chose his bashful, wilting flower of an administrative assistant to be his newest sex slave.

In the morning, she arrived early to get the lily from her rooftop garden to have it ready in the classroom. As she was studying her notes for the lecture, adding to them or editing facts, All Might walked into the classroom without knocking.

"Good morning!" she called out with such a cheery disposition she stunned herself.

"Morning," All Might returned, his face unsmiling.

"What's wrong?" she asked, feeling like a balloon that had been pricked with a pin and was slowly deflating.

"Melina, I need you to come with me," he stated grimly. "A friend of mine would like to speak with you. He's waiting in Principal Nezu's office."

A lump formed in her throat. Nausea swam in her stomach like a fish, tickling her digestive tract all the way up her esophagus. She feared she might throw up. That would be humiliating.

"Is he waiting with the Principal and possibly Mr. Aizawa?" she asked, continuing to stay seated due to her weak knees. When he nodded, she exhaled noisily, then asked one more question. "Is your friend a police officer?"

"Do you know what this is about?"

"I have an idea."

Melina forced herself to stand, plodding along behind All Might all the way to the Principal's office. God, this was frightfully reminiscent of her high school days. However, this time she would be answering for a hell of a lot more than setting off a small explosion using nitroglycerin.

When they arrived in the office, there were three people gathered around the coffee table: Principal Nezu, Mr. Aizawa, and a man with an appearance that screamed police officer. The man in a black suit, white shirt, and black tie, stood up to greet her. The officer with black hair and black eyes, a good looking but nondescript face, extended his palm to her.

"Miss Zusa, my name is Naomasa Tsukauchi. I'm a detective with the Police Force," he introduced himself.

"I would say nice to meet you, but considering the circumstances, I'm afraid I cannot," she said tonelessly, taking his hand.

His grip was firm but gentle, squeezing her hand briefly then letting go. When she sat down, they sat down.

There was a laptop computer sitting on the table between them, open and facing the detective who sat by All Might. Aizawa had taken a seat beside her. Mr. Principal had pulled his desk chair over to sit at one of the table.

"Miss Zusa, recently we obtained a video from an confidential source," Detective Tsukauchi said, pressing a button on the computer before flipping it around so she could see the screen.

A video in vivid color showed her in a back alley, surrounded by four men. This wasn't the video Melina expected. She had anticipated seeing herself on top of a building dressed in her grey suit.

Three of the five people in the room did not know it was her on the screen yet due to old-fashioned movie star suit and the wide brimmed hat she wore hiding her face. However, they would know soon enough when she raised her head to reveal her face to the camera.

That night still haunted her. That was the night her life started its official uphill climb to set off an insane roller coaster of events. Although she wanted it to end, she feared that out of control ride might soon be coming to a sudden stop in a way she had not anticipated.

On the screen, her chin slowly tilted upwards so she could look at the face of the man who approached her. Astonishingly, there was no reaction, not even a gasp.

Melina looked down, staring at her toenails painted a light lilac color. She shielded her eyes with her hand to avoid seeing the video since she already knew what would happen next. Her body quaked from the inside out as they continued to watch the events unfold. She wished it had been the video proof of her bombing the villain's hideout.

The silence was deafening, so profound her ears started ringing. The click of the detective hitting the key on the computer to stop the playback was as loud as an explosion. Or maybe that was preemptive explosion in her head before her life went up in flames again.

Lightheaded, struggling against the oppressive atmosphere in the room making it hard to breath, she inhaled deeply, preparing to speak.

"Let me guess, this video was mailed to you with no return address, no prints on the package, no anything for you to ascertain the sender's identity?" she ventured, meeting the intense gaze of his black eyes.

"Well...yes," he hesitantly answered, confirming her theory which was absolute fact. "But how did you - "

"Because this was sent to you by Tomura Shigaraki," she said. "If you'll check the address of this location." She stood up, leaning over the computer to point at the painted numbers and letters on the dumpster in the alley. "That alley is behind the bar where you answered a major disturbance call relatively recently. Do you have video from that night too?"

"We might...but how did you - " The poor detective was thoroughly baffled as to how she had so much more information than him. He had no idea just how deep her involvement in this mess went - but he was about to find out.

"Because I was the one who called in the tip then bombed the hell out of those fuckers, smoking them out of their hideout so you could arrest them," she said.

All Might's jaw dropped at her brusque language as much as her confession. Aizawa snorted in his attempt to suppress a chuckle, and Principal Nezu issued a soft and shocked, "Oh, my!"

"And that video," she said, pointing at the screen,"is me killing the four men who intended to gang rape me."

Melina stood up, extending her hands toward him, wrists together and palms up in surrender.

"So arrest me, Detective. I do not regret murdering those reprehensible bastards who had probably raped other women and who I'm sure would have raped others had I not killed them. The one thing I do regret is ever accepting that invitation from Tomura Shigaraki," she confessed.

Naomasa Tsukauchi closed his gaping mouth with a snap of his teeth. He cleared his throat and straightened his tie, doing his best to regain his composure. This interview of a murder suspect had taken a turn he did not expect.

"Sit down, Miss Zusa, I think there is a whole lot more we need to discuss," the detective said, scrubbing his hand over his face. "Principal Nezu, may we continue to use your office? I don't think police headquarters would be a good place to discuss this matter."

"Yes, Detective," he replied. "All I ask is that I am able to remain as an observer since I'm Miss Zusa's employer."

"I should get to my classroom. The students will be waiting on me," Mr. Aizawa announced, standing up to leave. "I'll take care of your students today for your class, however, I expect you to be in class tomorrow."

Melina nodded, giving him a smile on quivering lips. Aizawa's unspoken confidence in her being above reproach in the entire screwed up situation meant a great deal to her.

"I'll stay too," All Might volunteered, moving to sit beside her after Aizawa left the room.

"Now, Miss Zusa, please start with the events that began after you received the invitation," the detective requested.

Melina took a deep breath to begin. This was going to be difficult. All Might and Mr. Principal staying with her, to offer her their moral support, gave her the courage she required to tell the detective her story all the way up to the point when a reliable but anonymous source told her that Shigaraki planned to kidnap her and take her to All for One for him steal her quirk.

"They plan on breaking into a high security prison?" Detective Tsukauchi questioned her to clarify his understanding.

"That's what I was told. And I believe it," she added considering her reliable source was Dabi.

"What do we do now?" All Might questioned his friend the detective.

Naomasa Tsukauchi thought for several tense minutes that seemed like anxiety riddled hours before coming to a possible solution.

"Miss Zusa, would you mind acting as bait in a trap to catch a very important mouse?" he inquired her directly, making eye contact with her. "If you help us, I'll make sure all charges against you are dropped and this video disappears."

Too bad erasing it from existence could have happened before Shigaraki ever saw it.

"What do I need to do?"

"It's going to be extremely dangerous," the detective warned her.

Melina resisted the urge to laugh.

"You should move in to the dorm," All Might interjected. "We can keep you safe here."

"But that will be putting you and the kids in danger," she protested.

He smiled broadly at her. Melina could tell she made him want to laugh in the same manner the detective's warning had amused her, appealing to the dark side of her humor.

"Think of it as house arrest if you have to," All Might said to her. He switched his gaze to the detective. "We can keep an eye on her for you."

Melina didn't like the way he made her sound like a criminal who was a flight risk, but she kept her mouth shut because she knew he had her best interests at heart. She never would have dreamed one of the heroes she hated would become her greatest advocate.

"Well, we already know they will be coming to abduct you. What we don't know is when. At least now we can control the where. I guess we start from here to formulate a plan. We have to be ready when the villains come," Detective Tsukauchi said.

"This plan better be a damn good one, Detective. I don't care what happens to me, but these kids - "

"Don't worry," All Might said, putting a massive hand on her shoulder. "These kids are stronger than you think. They won't let anything happen to you either."

"I know I said I was staying as an observer only," said Principal Nezu, the master strategist. "I believe the time has come for me to say something. This is my school after all. As such, it is my duty to protect everyone, students and teachers alike. The first thing we need to is control the time line on our own terms so we're ready to strike. We force them to act so we know when they will abduct her."

"How? What do we do?" Detective Tsukauchi questioned the principal.

"We should set up a public event. Something big and flashy," suggested Principal Nezu. "A meet the hero event. We could stage a confrontation between Miss Zusa and a hero. Make it a mock battle that will draw attention and paint her to be a traitor who turned against the heroes."

"I'll do it," All Might volunteered enthusiastically.

Melina's face turned red considering how she had to invoke her abilities, and his bubbly eagerness to offer to be the hero decoy.

"What about Aizawa? His ability erases quirks so she wouldn't have any actual power over him," said the detective.

"Well, there's a problem with that. Her quirk is a mutation. His erasure ability doesn't work on mutations," explained Mr. Principal. "She needs to seize their attention. It should be our number one hero, Endeavor."

"WHAT?!" Melina screeched, jumping to her feet. "I am NOT kissing Endeavor!"

All three men stared at her, blinking silently in awe of her loud and violent outburst.

"You won't have to. You only have to pretend to kiss him to use your quirk," Principal Nezu told her.

"Oh." She sat back down, staring at her feet again to avoid eye contact.

Her face felt as if it had been set on fire she was so embarrassed. If she could spontaneously combust, now would be a good time to enable her to escape her humiliation. Too bad for her there were no cases ever of someone dying of embarrassment.

But in order to fake a kiss, getting uncomfortably close to Endeavor would be a requirement. Ew.

"A tracking device or wire can't be placed on you. They'll find that too easily. Besides, we already know where they're taking you. Unfortunately, you'll be on your own during the time in between when they kidnap you and when they take you to the prison," Principal Nezu informed her.

"I'll be all right. I can protect myself," she assured them.

Maybe she should talk to Aizawa about that little team building exercise with the students so she could get some practice and test out her skills to make sure they are up to par.

"I'll speak to the prison and have some of my own men, including myself, posing as guards at the facility once you're taken," Detective Tsukauchi added, pounding away at the keys as he typed. "We have a basic plan."

They continued to discuss ideas for hours to develop a more specific game plan. To take a break from the intense conversation, the detective went through the department database to find footage of the night they answered the call for the disturbance. There wasn't much to see except for lots of smoke and panicked villains running through the streets.

For a few brief seconds, a small individual in a grey suit and the recognized villain Dabi could be seen on the roof a building before both of them dove in opposite directions to run away. Detective Tsukauchi had been the one in the helicopter speaking over the megaphone that night.

"I don't know whether to be amazed or frightened," All Might said, glimpsing at the little woman sitting beside him.

Lunch was brought in by Aizawa who quickly left without asking questions. Some time after that, they decided to call it quits for the day since the school day had ended.

"Miss Zusa, you look exhausted," noted All Might. "You should go to the dorm to rest. Myself and a few of the kids can go to your apartment to get your things."

"Uh...about that. I vacated my apartment to go to a hotel when I was told about Shigaraki's plan," she informed him, receiving questioning stares from all of them.

"Well, we will go there then."

"I'll go with you," the detective offered. "Can't be too careful."

"I'll walk you to the dorm, Miss Zusa. Mr. Aizawa should be informed of what's happening as well," Principal Nezu said.

"But can't I just have one more night to prepare? I really am tired. I don't know how much sleep I'll get in a dorm full of kids," she argued.

"I'm afraid not. This has to happen now for your safety," he insisted, sliding off the edge of his chair. "And that of our students. We don't know when the villains will strike. At least if they take you from here, we can respond faster knowing immediately that you're gone rather than figuring it out hours or days after you don't show up to class."

Melina couldn't argue with his line of reasoning. If they took her on a Friday evening, it would be quite a while before any discovered she was missing. She followed the principal to the door. On their way to the dorm, they encountered Todoroki on his way to see his mother in the hospital.

"You weren't in class at all today. What's going on? What's happening?" he asked. His eyes moved nervously back and forth between the principal and Melina as he waited for an explanation.

"Miss Zusa will be moving into the dorms tonight, that's all. Nothing for you to worry about, Mr. Todoroki," Principal Nezu assured him in a light hearted tone.

"Surprise!" Melina said with mock excitement.

She was too tired to fake it. Besides, Shoto was too perceptive and could see right through her bullshit anyway.

"I am surprised. I can help," he quickly added.

"You don't have - " Melina began to be cut off by the principal.

"That would be great. Please gather up a few more volunteers. All Might will be waiting for you at the front gate," Principal Nezu informed him.

"But you're going to- "

"Tomorrow," Shoto interrupted her, capturing her eyes. "It can wait until tomorrow. That will be a better day anyway and you will come with me, right?"

"Right," she agreed reluctantly, catching his meaning immediately.

This damn kid...he might be the death of me before the villains, she complained internally.

Melina and the principal entered the building that was five stories tall, taller than any of the other buildings on the main part of the campus. Several of the class 1A students were sitting on the couches in common area on the first floor. They jumped to their feet and greeted her. There was no need to ask her why she was there because they already knew she was moving in at some point.

Melina and Mr. Principal took a quick impromptu tour of the first floor, not only to show her around but to find Aizawa as well. There was a large living room area with a television. There was a dining room set up with many small tables rather than one huge table for cozier dining arrangements. The washers and dryers in the laundry room did require coins which was nice. The bathrooms provided private showering stalls but a common bathing area set up like a gigantic hot tub.

Last but not least, they entered the large, restaurant style kitchen complete with over-sized appliances and shining steel tables for food preparation. There they found Aizawa and a few of the students preparing dinner.

"Mr. Aizawa, we should show Miss Zusa to her room," Principal Nezu said.

"Sure thing," he responded, pulling off his hair net and white apron.

"I'm disappointed there are no frilly ruffles. Pink would be a good look for you as well," Melina joked with him as they made their up the stairs to the second floor.

"Shut up," he muttered in annoyance. "I'm glad your sense of humor is intact despite what you've been through."

"Yeah, well, at times it's the only thing that's kept me sane, finding humor, no matter how dark it might be, in every situation," she returned.

"Thanks for the additional house guest besides you, by the way. The kids named her Mellie in honor of you."

"Aw, that's cute. So you like the kitty cat?"

"I like the cat. Her namesake seems to be a lot of trouble though."

"Hmmm," she groaned.

Aizawa opened the door to a room with a gold plate imprinted with Resident Adviser in black on it.

The room was like that of a standard university dorm. There was a twin size bed with a bookcase headboard and a matching four drawer dresser along with a desk and chair. To her right behind a door, was a half bathroom with a sink and toilet. The room boasted a private balcony which she liked.

"The refrigerator is not for wine and beer," Aizawa informed her when she opened the stainless steel door of the mini fridge to look inside.

"Well, damn," she muttered. Not that she would ever bring alcohol into a house full of teenagers.

"I'm sure it's not the type of accommodations you're accustomed to, but this is it."

"It will do just fine, Mr. Aizawa. Thank you. Well, I suppose I should go shopping. I think you gentlemen need a moment to talk."

Melina took her exit quickly and gracefully. Downstairs, she bumped into Iida, Bakugo, Midoriya, and Todoroki.

"Go on ahead guys, and I'll be there in a minute," Shoto said as they walked outside. Taking her by the wrist, he pulled Melina around the corner of the building. "What the hell is going on?"

"I just decided there was no time like the present to move in," she lied, shrugging nonchalantly.

"The hell you did," he hissed, keeping his voice low in case fellow students walked past. "Fine, don't tell me. I guess I'm glad you're here whatever the reason."

"No jumping the fence either mister and coming over to girl's side. You hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I don't want you to get into trouble."

"Ironic I'd be the one getting into trouble considering you're the relentless pursuer," she huffed, folding her arms across her chest.

Shoto smiled at her. Mischievous, handsome, just a little mean and whole lot of sexy as the warm spring breeze ruffled through his dual colored hair. Life really was completely unfair sometimes. He had a power over her exactly like his brother. Damn them both.

"I want to talk to you about this later," he said.

"Yeah. I know," she returned. "They're waiting for you."

"Hey! Todoroki! Where the hell are you?" Bakugo bellowed from a distance.

"You need to go," she said when he hesitated. "Later."

She really needed to go shopping anyway. She didn't own twin sized sheets.