"Apocrypha." The Grand Commander gripped her shoulders, the pain in his thumb all forgotten. His smile was benign, eyes blazing with pride. "Your meta ability...it has awakened. And to think it was your concern for me that triggered it. I truly am touched."

"Come, we must announce this to the Army. You are an exemplar for them to follow. Your special ability has made it so."

She had only smiled. That was ten years ago, and she still remembered every word that he had said. It was her crowning achievement, to have done what Destro had proclaimed. "The strength of a person lies in their meta ability, to awaken it is to strengthen oneself."

Her strength was her Cryokinesis and her very reason for existence. And it was gone. What do I do now?

––––––––

"Get out, I'll deal with him." Dabi growled to her. She got to her feet and scrambled back, as Dabi stood between her and the muscular form of Shingu Takame, eyeing the two of them the way she did to her inferiors.

Then Dabi's voice was whispered over the earpiece, barely audible over the noise of crates crashing to the ground. "I'll throw down a wall, then run into the maze, where I was. We'll lose him for a while."

"Ok." She whispered back.

"THOOM!" An incendiary wall sliced the room into two, cutting their view of Takame, but it worked in favour of them. The two turned and ran into the labyrinth of darkness and storage crates.

"What happened back there?" Dabi said. "Who attacked first?"

"He ambushed me, leapt down from the second floor, maybe," Geten gasped, struggling to keep up with Dabi's agility as he weaved through the narrow corridors. Sparing a split second to look behind her, she saw Takame barging through the flames, seemingly unharmed, about ten paces behind.

"That means you saw something. What was it?" Dabi demanded, grabbing her hand and dragging her to the left.

"I –" She spluttered. Dabi looked back at her, slowing down his pace. "It was someone else."

"Then that's our target. You find that person. I'll draw Takame away. Ready?"

She nodded vigorously.

"Go." With that, Dabi sent a careening bolt of fire upwards, like a flare. There was no way Takame would miss that. As the crashing sounds closed in on Dabi, she took a long route back towards where they were.

That person. It was...a girl? How was she involved in all this?

When she reached there – a small room in the back, it was empty. She looked around and saw the door closest to her, marked by an EXIT sign. She wrenched it open to see the large courtyard with orderly rows of containers, and the girl holding a suitcase and sprinting away.

She took off running after her. A foot chase. She hadn't done something like that in forever. And it was showing, judging by how the gap between them was widening.

Damn it, do something! Scanning the ground, she rushed to pick up a pebble. She threw it. The girl gave a yelp and stumbled to the ground as the rock collided with her head.

Closing the rest of the distance, Geten tackled her, placing her knees on the girl's legs, while grabbing her arms and holding them behind her back, as the girl struggled. "Let me – go!"

"Shut up," Geten said. "So you're our target? Who are you?"

"None of your business, Apocrypha." She spat.

Geten growled. "Tell me, or I'll break your arms."

"Why aren't you killing me already? Am I that worthless of a target you won't even use your quirk?"

"We're bringing you in," Geten lied.

"The rest of you – you bastards tried to kill me. Why would you be any different?" The girl coughed on the scattered dust from the ground.

Geten pushed her knee deeper into the girl's back, eliciting a hiss of pain. "You answer my questions."

But the girl continued, "You didn't even use your quirk to capture me. Don't tell me…" She chuckled, "you're at your limit? Can't use your quirk, huh?"

"Shut up. I don't need my ice to break your neck, so you'd do well to answer me." Geten's nails dug deeper into the girl's skin. "Who. Are. You?"

She huffed. "You wanna know who I am?" The hit came faster than she had anticipated. Geten felt a dizzying pain, followed by a sharp one in her mouth, as the girl threw her head back to hit Geten in the chin, making her bite her tongue. She hissed, but her grip was off with the sudden attack.

Then she felt a blunt force in her stomach and she was thrown off the girl. She kicked me. Through the haze of pain, she heard the girl yell something as she got to her feet and kept running into the maze of metal cargo.

Father? The word she shouted murkily swam to the forefront of her mind.

There was a roar as Shingu Takame burst through the concrete walls of the building and barrelled straight towards Geten. Behind him, she made out the dark jacket that belonged to Dabi. He was shouting something...was he looking at her?

"Get up! He's coming for you!" Dabi's voice shouted through her earpiece.

Get up, she repeated, but her head spun. Her gut screamed in protest. The kick hurt. I...can't.

Then she heard a bone-snapping crack. Her eyes widened as she saw Dabi's limp body sent flying and slamming against the wall, a well-timed surprise attack. Shingu retracted his fist and turned back to face her, and started walking.

No.

She struggled, pushing her arm up for leverage. She stumbled to her feet, dragging them back as Takame ambled towards her, his impassive expression returning. At the corner of her eye, she saw his daughter run towards him.

"Apocrypha!" He bellowed. "I'd appreciate if you would stop moving. You're not going anywhere while your co-leader is behind me. Unless you truly are as heartless as the stories I've heard."

She stopped. I need to buy time. The motion elicited a smile from him, but it was mixed with anger as he tended to her daughter's injury with a caring rub on her head. Geten was startled at their similarity in appearance. Both wore the same hardened expression, with a sharp chin and athletic build, even despite Shingu's age.

"You hurt my daughter? You'll pay for that," He said.

"You'll pay for your treachery to the Front."

"So says the murderer. Don't act like you're loyal to the army. Please, spare me the pretense." Shingu's eyes narrowed at her. She didn't respond.

"Usually," He continued, "I would have killed you and him by now. But it's not everyday you're allowed a conversation with a lieutenant of the Liberation Front. And it's certainly a rare moment for you to not be able to use your quirk. I don't know what the reasons for that are, so once you give me what I want, I'll finish you and him off."

"Then you wouldn't mind giving me information I want?" Geten said.

Takame looked back at his daughter. "They're not watching us, are they?" He said, quieter, but Geten heard it. She shook her head, tapping her briefcase.

So she's responsible for both the chatter and the signal disruption? That's why Skeptic couldn't find them properly.

Turning back, he shrugged. "I have no qualms giving information to a dead person. First question, who knows about tonight?"

Before she could respond, he added, "Oh, and don't try to lie. My daughter's quirk can discern the truth from any statement."

Liar...right? It was a strange combination of meta abilities. What was her mother's?

She played along for now. "Only the lieutenants and Shigaraki. My question now."

"No." Takame cut through. "Next, where is –"

"What drove you to betray the Front?" Geten raised her voice. She didn't need to know this. She just needed time. Either for her to get to Dabi, or for her meta ability to reactivate.

"Where is Skeptic's data stored?" His voice was as cold as ice. Damn, he's not one to waste time. I need to get him to talk more...She placed a hand in her pocket. The ice still had not melted. A few hours...it's barely been one. How do I get out of this?

"You must have a reason." Geten stared at the man, refusing to waver her gaze. "You wouldn't put you and your daughter through this hell. Living in factories, running from place to place to evade us...It's personal."

"Where is Skeptic's data stored?" The question came again in apparent disregard of her statement, but she knew she struck a nerve.

"Is it about your wife?" Just as she uttered the word, she saw a blur of grey and beige. The punch to her face made her stagger back and spit out blood.

Okay, I definitely struck a nerve. The bruising pain stung her cheek, but she found herself grinning, as crazy as it was. Takame drew back his fist, a vein on his forehead pulsing.

"Is she dead?" She taunted at the incensed Takames. "The Liberation Army killed her?"

"Shut up!" The girl shouted. Shingu held her back. "Mihara...calm down. I'll handle this."

"Mihara?" Geten's memory brought forth two names on an old list, many years back. "Oh…" She smirked. "So you were lying about her quirk. Mihara doesn't even have one, does she? Neither did your wife, Osaki." She wiped the blood on her sleeve and stood back up.

"Come on, Dabi. Get up,"She whispered into her earpiece, to no avail. Please. I can't...I can't do this alone.

She saw Shingu take a few calming breaths, the tension creeping upwards with the silence. "You're not going to give me what I want, I see," The Takame head observed, his voice dripping acid. "I'll give you one last chance to tell me everything I need to know."

She wore her smirk facing him. "You have some revenge plan against the MLA for killing her," Geten rattled on, hoping she was correct in her guesses. "You, alone? You think your quirk will do anything against the entire Deika City, or Shigaraki? Your plan was doomed the day you conceived it. I assume, the day your wife died."

The punch came as predicted. Geten swerved her head to the side. She let out a giggle. "What, did we kill her? Not me, surely? I would remember a person like you. It must mean your wife was quirkless. It's no wonder we killed trash like her."

She jumped out of the way to dodge another smash. "So you joined the MLA to take out Re-destro." She forced herself to laugh, her voice rising in tempo, as she laid out Takame's plan without him even telling her. "But, let me guess, the League of Villains ruined your plans, didn't it? And now you and your daughter can't do anything but cry using the news. All because we killed your wife."

The vein in Takame's temple was nearly popping – Geten could see it from a few feet away. His breathing was heavy, his shoulders heaving with anger on the verge of erupting. He opened his mouth, perhaps to say something vitriolic.

"You...you monster." Geten's smile slid off her face at the emotion in his tone. It sounded as if his heart tore with every word he spoke.

"We...we did nothing to you." Takame said, looking at her with a dying rage, his impassive expression fading, leaving one that spoke of uncountable volumes of pain. "But you...your self-righteous, quirk-abusing, hellspawn of an army seeked out the quirkless. You took Osaki – away." His voice shook, cracking as he talked about her.

"I…" Geten's voice trailed off. Perhaps she was too good at buying time. Moving her hands, they felt empty, lacking the imbued power of her Cryokinesis, that up till an hour ago, had never felt that way. Was it what Osaki felt? But...no, I have a meta ability. I'm not –

A second hit slammed her into the ground, in that split second of hesitance. Her body seized up on its own, even as she screamed at it to move out of the way of the oncoming assault.

The third punch sunk into her abdomen like a bullet, curling her up into a fetal position out of instinct. She choked out a cry, tears staining the gravel centimetres away from her face. Or was it blood?

"You're no human." Through the dust and the spots in her eyes, the ringing in her head and the pain wracking her body like a thousand hammers, she heard Takame's voice clearly. She saw him standing over her, fists clenched. He drew his right arm back.

"You don't deserve a life." The fifth punch cracked a bone. She heard it. Arm? Rib? Every inch of her body was numb with agony.

"Everything...everything I've heard about you is true." Takame snarled, the Reaper's shadow looming over her. "You're a demon, a demon with a frozen heart."

A whimper escaped her mouth. That was all she could do – whimper, cry, choke on her tears, and nothing more. Her vision faded in and out of darkness – a broken flashlight. She coughed up more blood, shivering like a newborn infant, as Takame stopped the pummels for a second.

She braced herself for the last barrage.

But the second lasted another second. And then…another. She kept her eyes closed. Maybe she was already dead? She didn't dare open her eyes.

"Stay still. Don't move." A voice – a familiar one, murmured. "They're on the way."

A warmth was the last thing she felt before unconsciousness overtook her.

–––––