Bakugo glares down at his hands, shaking with effort to get his quirk to blast through the prism's power – but to no avail. He looks back and watches as Mia's head bobs as she shifts and stirs, waking slowly and grunting in pain. Steven Starling sits beside his sister.

Stella Starling is beautiful and deadly. Raven colored hair, thick and shiny, reaches her waist. She has big, doll-like eyes that are the same color as an overcast sky. Her skin is soft and pale, but if you look closely you can see the lines of age forming at her eyes and the corners of her mouth. She wears her golden corset under the black tailed coat. Her long legs are covered with fishnet stockings and tall, shiny black boots. A garter is holding an embellished dagger against her thigh. Stella smirks at Bakugo when his expression hardens.

"We returned the thief, now let us go." Bakugo demands. Stella's thin eyebrows dart upwards. She lounges back on her couch and sighs.

"Yes, I know, and I'm very grateful," she holds out a hand. The bald woman is there in a second with a glass of sherry. Stella chuckles, "You have no idea how much this little virgin is worth."

"Witch," Mia hisses groggily. Her insult just makes Stella's eyes twinkle while she takes a tiny sip from the glass. Her lipstick leaves red marks.

"You see, boys – Oh! Sorry, how rude of me. I didn't even ask your names."

"Yeah as if we'd tell you," Kirishima barks. Stella sighs again.

"Alright," she speaks slowly, as if they cannot understand her, "I'll show you how. My name is Stella Starling and I own this Circus, and all the people and what-have-yous and beasts within it."

She waits for them to reply, but they remain silent. Bakugo's eyes are harsh as he watches her. Her once gleaming expression fades to an intense stare, her eyes bearing into him.

"You two could be a pretty addition to our company," her eyes flicker to Kirishima as she says this.

"Just let them go, Stella!" Mia snaps at her, tugging against her binds, "You got me back so let them–"

Stella is up, eyes wide with terrifyingly intense rage. She splashes the sherry in her face and screams viciously, "SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!"

Mia rub the alcohol from her eyes with her shoulder, blinking hard against the sting. Stella's eyes are on her, unblinking. Without breaking eye contact, she slowly sits back on the couch. Finally, her eyelids flutter and she seems to have snapped out of the rage, "You," she begins in a low voice, "have made a very big mess tonight."

"Think of what we've done for you," Steven growls, "We adopted you, fed you, clothed you, gave you a place to call home-"

"You USED me!" Mia's voice is thick with emotion. "This isn't a home! I'm not your daughter, I'm your prisoner! You took advantage of outcasts and orphans and made them your pawns to cover up all your dirty work!" She looks to Bakugo and Kirishima, "They've been helping the League of Villains!"

A pit formed in Bakugo's stomach. Kirishima let out a surprised gasp. That's why she tried for force us out, Bakugo thinks, She saw them in my past.

Stella and Steven Starling both just beam with wolfish grins. Mia continues.

"They've been smuggling black market items across the world for years. But now... they've been trafficking humans with certain quirks to the League of Villains for an army."

"An army?" Kirishima repeats in disbelief.

"Telling them this doesn't make a difference, Mia, baby," Stella laughs, "They'll be coming with us. They are from UA after all, I'm sure the League will be very pleased with us."

"No," Mia defies through grit teeth.

"No? Are you going to stop us? You going to play hero?" Steven says through chuckles. "Haven't we gotten that through you pretty little head, Mia? Girls don't get to be the heroes. You just sit there and look nice and leave the hard stuff to the big boys, hm?"

Stella stands up again, her gray eyes not leaving Mia's face. Her movements are unsettlingly slow as she saunters over and kneels in front of her. She puts a pale hand to her cheek, "Your only purpose is to make us money," she mutters, the strange sensuality still thick in her voice. She caresses Mia's cheek, then runs her sharp fingernails up and down her jawline. "Poor Mr. Shephard would have been so sad if you didn't come to American with us."

"I won't!" Mia cries. Stella smacks her upside the head and Mia leaves her head bowed.

"And what can you do to stop us?" Stella snarls. There's a pause.

"C'mon, Stel," Mia's voice has changed. It sounds casual, nonchalant. "You're the one who taught us all the magic tricks."

Mia grabs Stella with both hands and thrusts with all her might, rolling over and landing a heel in Stella's stomach as she hits the floor. Mia then lunges across the table for the bald woman who set the prism on Bakugo and Kirishima, but Steven Starling unsheathes a small dagger and stabs it right through Mia's hand and into the table. Mia howls and screams in pain.

"You little bitch," Stella gasps, trying to catch her breath. "How did you get free?"

Mia takes deep, jagged breaths, watching the blood pool around her hand. She whimpers as she takes the dagger handle with her free hand and yanks it up. Blood pours out onto her lap. She looks at Stella, "Circus trick 101. Everyone here can do escape acts. It's as easy as card tricks."

Bakugo's fists are shaking. As an aspiring hero to sit there and watch is infuriating. He has never felt this way. Quirkless... Helpless... And none of this would have happened if he had just let her go. A commotion snaps his attention to those in front of him. Mia has the dagger now, and with the blunt handle, she twists herself around and lands it on Steven Starling's temple. The shock makes his body tremble and go rigid before going limp on the couch. Stella and the bald woman jolt into action. Mia pushes herself off the table and does an arial right over Stella's head. She grabs a fistful of her black hair and yanks her to the ground again.

"Damn," Kirishima mutters, "This girl can fight..."

The bald woman is on her, but Mia drops and rolls out of the way. She twirls, handspringing and flipping to avoid any punches the woman throws. The flashy display of movements makes it hard to keep track of what she uses in offense. As she lands in a handstand, she twists and kicks the woman in the head. The prism flickers and vanishes. Bakugo and Kirishima take a stance beside Mia, ready to fight.

"M-my quirk still isn't working," Kirishima says, flexing his hands.

"Neither is mine,"

"Your quirk won't come back for the amount of time you were in the prism for," Mia explains quickly, eyeing Stella staggering to her feet. "They should come back in a few minutes."

"Alright, I guess we're doing this old school." Kirishima puts up both fists. There's a flash of white light at the very top, center point of the tent. The spot turns a grayish-white. As if the tent had become stone. The gray spreads outward, covering the entire top of the tent. Bakugo notices that as it spreads, the ripples in the tent freeze.

"Oh FUCK, " Mia shouts, "We have to get out of here!" She turns and makes a break for the side of the tent, grabbing Bakugo's arm with her bloodied hand.

"What the hell do you mean? We gotta blast this lady to hell!"

"They're teleporting!" Mia points to the consuming grayness, "Anything it touches goes with it. If you want to be sent to the other side of the world, in the middle of fucking nowhere with these people, then be my FUCKING guest!"

Bakugo hesitates. Stella stumbles to the edge, places a finger on the graying tent, and she freezes and seems to turn to stone. It's only then that he races under the tent flap and follows Mia and Kirishima. They weave through the paths of tents, watching as the carnies brace themselves and wait for the gray. Some of them call out to Mia, but she ignores them and races past. They get to the clearing where her backpack still lies in the grass. She scoops it up and onto her shoulder as she passes. Bakugo finally feels a tingling, almost stinging sensation in his hands. He reaches forward and lets out all the pent up frustration and anger from being helpless into one massive explosion against the fence. It's so intense the shockwave nearly knocks Mia over.

"HEY!" A Circus worker charges forward, "What are you doing with Mia?"

The gray is closing in faster than before. Mia sprints through the opening Bakugo made and stops on the other side. Bakugo and Kirishima follow, but remain tense. The man stops inside the fence.

"Mia, what are you doing? Come on!" He holds out a hand.

Mia shakes her head, "I'm sorry."

"You can't just leave us!" He protests, "We're all in it together, remember?"

She closes her eyes and looks away. He shouts her name one more time. But the iron fence before him is gray and he reaches out and touches it. Bakugo then notices the clouds above them. They are swirled and have a small opening in the center, like an eye of a storm. Mia still doesn't turn to watch as the Starling Quirk Circus turns to dust and floats up and into the sky and vanish. The hole closes. Thunder rumbles and the clouds release rain hard and fast.

Kirishima nods to their right, "Looks like everyone is over there."

Their classmates rush inside the bus to avoid the rain, but Mr. Aizawa and All Might remain outside. Bakugo tugs at Mia's backpack.

"Come on," he says and begins walking towards his teachers. As they approach, he can already feel the anger-aura Mr. Aizawa is giving off, but when they draw nearer and they see the shape Mia is in, he pauses.

"What on Earth happened?" He demands, looking back and forth at the unscathed students and the bruised, bleeding gypsy.

"We can explain everything," Kirishima says, "But we need to contact the police... and get her to a hospital."

Mr. Aizawa nods, "Alright. Get on the bus, and out of the rain."

The boys walk up the stairs and down the aisle of the bus. Kirishima has to beckon Mia to follow. They are immediately bombarded with questions from their curious classmates, but they all fall silent once Mia stands before them. They stare at her sherry soaked hair and the bruise forming under one eye. They stare at her sleeve soaked through with blood and how it drips off her fingers and onto the floor.

"You saved someone?" Kaminari wondered aloud.

Bakugo scoffed and sits, shaking the rain from his hair, "Not at all."

"Well... what happened then?"

Kirishima looks back at Mia, who shifts uncomfortably. He turns back to Kaminari and says, "She saved us."