This document beta'd by Poliamida and kylekatarn77
To Be Lawful, or Good
Heroism means doing the right thing regardless of the consequences.
-Brandon Mull
Stumbling into the rubble of the camp, Izuku looked around, feeling sick and dazed. His eyes burned and his lungs still ached from the combination of smoke and gas. His head pounded and his body was sore from being compressed, but that wasn't what made him feel truly sick.
Mei was gone.
They had retrieved Tetsutestu and the two other girls from their hiding place, but Izuku barely noticed when Mandalay ran over and began giving first aid. She dismissed him quickly enough, noting that he could wait at least a little while.
The list of wounded was long, with Akai being the most grievously injured. She'd been teleporting her classmates out of harm's way with the aid of Ragdoll when Moonfish had fallen on them. Akai had been stabbed in the abdomen, but Ragdoll was missing and couldn't be found. Most of Class B had serious smoke or gas related injuries and a few had suffered burns.
Shinso, as it turned out, was fine. He had run back to camp, just in the knick of time to save Akai from Moonfish.
"He came out of nowhere," Shoji explained. "I thought we were dead. Akai was down, and I could only dodge while carrying Kendo and Yanagi; they'd been knocked out by the gas. Then his voice echoed out of the woods like a spirit's, demanding if he wanted more flesh. Moonfish answered, and then it was over. His teeth retracted, and he just lay there. Shinso came out of the forest, and we managed to get away."
"Where is he now?" Bakugo demanded. Shoji wearily pointed into the camp, and Bakugo and Izuku ran on.
"The hell were you thinking, running off like that?!" Bakugo demanded of Shinso when they came upon him sitting on the smashed ruins of the bunk house. He was holding his phone, staring at it with a dazed expression.
"It's all my fault," Shinso said, still looking at his phone. "Everything...it's all my fault."
"It's not your fault that Mei was...was taken," Izuku said, biting back a choked sob.
Shinso looked up, tears running down his cheeks, his face a mask of anguish. "But it is! Don't you get it? They were here because of me! I was bragging about coming to this camp on the message boards! I told them where I was!"
"Yeah, we know," Bakugo said wearily, sitting down by Shinso. "You screwed up."
Shinso knelt before Izuku, grabbing on to his shirt. "It was my fault! Mine! I am a villain, like they always said I was! I'm-"
"No you're not!" Izuku cried, grabbing onto Shinso's hands. "You're a hero! Uraraka told us how you saved Bakugo from Muscular. And Shoji told us that you saved him, Akai, and Kendo and Yanagi! You could have left them to die, or handed them over to the real villains."
"You don't understand!" Shinso wept, burying his face in his hands as he let go of Izuku. "I told the villains about this! I bet they have all sorts of information from me that they've gathered! I thought I was using them for information, but they were using me the entire time."
"You were getting information from the villains?" Bakugo demanded.
Shinso nodded dumbly. "They told me they'd recruited some elites, Muscular and Moonfish. I thought it was just rumors on the internet. But...but now I think I was in contact with the League of Villains."
Izuku sank down next to Shinso, his mind reeling. How, how could Shinso do this?
"Don't be weak," Bakugo spat, a bit of blood and phlegm shooting into the dust at his feet. "You screwed up, yeah. But now you get a chance to make it right. Make it count. Don't be an idiot like I was. I couldn't save Mei, even though I was right there. I thought I had failed to save you too."
"That's...that's not your fault," Izuku said, resting his head in his hands. "We've got...we've got to find a way to save Mei. And Ragdoll."
Before they could talk further, EMS and the police finally arrived. The students were loaded up into ambulances, save for Akai who was medevaced on a helicopter as her wounds were life threatening. Izuku had his lungs, bruises, and scrapes treated as they rode to the hospital, where they were met by Recovery Girl and other doctors. Izuku was passed over after an X Ray showed his lungs were fine, and a few treatments of albuterol had cleared his breathing. They still wanted to keep him overnight for observation, however.
Then came the interview with the police. Izuku couldn't give them much. He only remembered passing out in the forest, then waking up with a feeling of tightness, like he was in a nightmare. Then falling onto the ground by Bakugo. He almost told the police about Shinso, but decided that he'd let the other boy tell his own story.
At last, Izuku was allowed to sleep. He managed a few hours of fitful rest, but then couldn't remain in bed any longer. It was already well after sunrise, so the nurses allowed Izuku to go out to the garden to get some fresh air. He found Bakugo nervously pacing the grounds, his hands twitching nervously at his side as he was still forced to wear a hospital gown.
"Hey," Izuku said, going over to Bakugo. "Thanks."
"For what?" Bakugo snarled, glaring at Izuku.
"For saving me. And...and for trying to save Mei. You've changed."
"No I haven't. The rest of you idiots have just stopped being so stupid," Bakugo snapped.
Izuku shrugged. "Well, thanks anyway. I… I don't know what I'm going to do now. But I have to save Mei."
"How the hell are you going to do that?" Bakugo demanded. "We'd have to know where the League of Villains is, but no one knows anything about them."
"Shinso said he talked to at least some of them online," Izuku sighed. Then he blinked. He looked up at Bakugo. Then together they ran back inside.
Shinso was in his room, sitting and staring dully at the wall. He looked up when Izuku and Bakugo stumbled in, then lowered his gaze.
"Shinso, do you still have the contact information for the League of Villains?" Izuku demanded.
"It's not like I ever was a part of them, or wanted to be!" Shinso snapped, looking up with a glare. Then his gaze fell. "But...but I guess I was. I played right into their hands."
"No you idiot, listen. You have to have something from them. Screen names, or whatever. You think you can trace it back to them?" Bakugo demanded.
"I mean, yeah, I think I can figure out who the League Members are," Shinso said with a shrug. "But I gave my phone and all that to the police to help with the investigation."
"Take mine you idiot!" Bakugo snapped, tossing his phone to Shinso.
After navigating through the web browser for a bit, Shinso logged in to a private forum. Sure enough, his username was AssumingDirectControlN7.
"These are users I think are League of Villain members," Shinso said, turning the screen so Izuku and Bakugo could see. "LegacyStain, Thirsty4U, and HandOfDeath."
"There's just names, no pictures," Bakugo grumbled. "Why do you think they're part of the League of Villains?"
"Well, HandOfDeath was always talking about how much he hated hero society and All Might especially on a lot of boards," Shinso explained. "He goes by some other names too, but that's the one I know him best by. He started privately messaging me when I...well, when I went on some rants about a year ago about how biased hero society is against certain quirks. And, well, we started talking a lot. He introduced me to LegacyStain and Thirsty4U. LegacyStain...I thought he was cool. He went on about how Hero Society needed to be reformed and how Stain was doing some good. And...and I kind of agreed with him."
"What about this Thirsty4U person?" Izkuku asked.
Shinso shrugged. "She's kinda weird. Posts these really creepy images and talks about knives and cutting people a lot, and how people won't let her just be herself. But, I mean, we got along. This is our own private board here. Only certain people get invited. I was one of them. They said..they said if we ever wanted to do something to really change the world, we should contact them."
"Do it," Bakugo ordered. "Send them a message and see if they'll tell you where their hideout is."
"Ok." Shinso tapped out a few quick messages, going over to some other forums to send messages that way too. "I've done what I can."
"Can we track their address?" Izuku asked. "Find out where they're sending the messages from somehow?"
"Maybe, but I don't have a clue how to do it," Shinso said.
Bakugo frowned. "I think I know who we can ask. Come on."
Shinso put on some pants under his hospital gown, and they went down the hall to where Iida was staying. He had only minor injuries as well, but like the rest of them was staying overnight.
"Hey, Iida, you know anything about tracking phones and crap?" Bakugo asked.
Iida looked up from the book he'd been reading. "I might. Why?"
"We might have a way to track down Mei," Izuku said, pushing himself into the room past Bakugo.
Iida's eyes widened. "Really? Give me the information! I'll send it to my brother. He still has contacts that could find it for us."
"It's on here," Shinso said. "This is all my account information, and the ones I think are connected to the League of Villains."
"Did you give this to the police?" Iida asked, paging through the information.
"Yeah. Everything," Shinso agreed. "We just...we want to try to help. I...I feel kinda responsible."
"Your involvement with the League is regrettable," Iida agreed, which made Shinso cringe. "But it seems like you made a mistake, and now you're trying to rectify it. I respect that. Hold on, I'm sending my brother the information. It's early, but if I tell him it's urgent he'll get right on it."
"So, now what do we do?" Shinso asked, looking around nervously.
Izuku's hand tightened into a fist. "Now we find a way to rescue Mei."
"What?!" Iida gasped. "That's insane! I thought you were giving this to the police!"
"We are," Shinso said, slowly nodding. "But I can't just sit aside and wait. This is my fault. My responsibility. We have to act now."
"Are you out of your mind? This is the League of Villains! We barely escaped with our lives twice now," Iida said. "Worse, if we're caught acting without a hero license, we'll be expelled, or even arrested!'
"Iida, what's going on? Bakugo? Midoriya? Shinso? What's happening?"
Izuku winced as Uraraka came into the room.
"They're trying to gather information to confront the League of Villains and rescue Hatsume!" Iida said, gesturing at the other three boys in the small room.
Uraraka frowned, then looked at Izuku. "You think you can do it?"
"If I can get the Power Suit back, yes. If I'd had it last night...things would have been different," Izuku vowed.
"Those bastards barely got away from us last night," Bakugo growled. "It's time to even the score."
"Uraraka, you can't be seriously considering going along with this?" Iida demanded.
Biting her lip, Uraraka nodded. "Yesterday...I was so close. Kota and I almost managed to get Mei free. We can't just leave her."
"If we go in to fight the Villains, we could be killed or expelled. Leave this to the police," Iida argued.
"You don't have to come," Bakugo snapped. "But what the hell kind of heroes would we be if we just left Mei to rot? Heroes are supposed to sacrifice crap. So what if they expel us? If Mei dies, would you really want to show up to UA the next day and call yourself a hero?"
Iida looked down, squeezing his hands. "You know I was nearly killed by Stain. I felt so alone, so helpless, so useless! I swore I'd never allow myself to be put in a situation like that again. But last night...last night I felt just as useless as I did then." Iida looked up, a determined expression on his face. "Alright. But this isn't just up to us."
"What do you mean?" Izuku asked, confused. "We can't ask the police or our parents, they'd never let us help!"
"No, I mean, this is up to the entire class," Iida said. "We've all been attacked by the League of Villains twice now. Uruaraka, get everyone together. As class rep, I'm calling a meeting. We have a plan to make."
A short time later, Class 1A and Izuku and Shinso assembled in the hospital garden, save for Akai who was still in critical condition. Everyone had at least a few minor injuries from the night before, but no one else was too badly hurt. Iida, Shinso, and Bakugo explained the situation. Izuku didn't feel like he knew them all well enough to say anything himself, looking nervously around at everyone's faces.
"So, you're asking us to come on an insanely dangerous rescue mission, to a location we don't yet know, and even if we pull this off, we're certain to get in trouble?" Kirishima asked.
Izuku nodded nervously along with Shinso and Bakugo.
"I'll do it," Uraraka said, stepping forward towards Izuku. "I couldn't save Mei last time, but I won't fail again."
"Hell yeah. I'm in," Kirishima agreed, coming over to stand beside them. "You can count on me. I didn't do crap last night, I just hung back with the teachers. This time will be different. I won't let you down."
"Yeah, me too," Kaminari agreed. "Hatsume and Midoriya have saved my bacon with their gear. I'm not leaving her with the villains."
"Us too!" Ashido declared, and Jiro nodded.
"Mei's our friend. To hell with the consequences. If they want to kick us out for trying to save our own friend, then I don't even want to be a hero," Jiro vowed.
"It's going to be dangerous," Urakara said, looking around. "We could be killed."
"So could she," Todoroki said, coming over as well. "I'm not backing down. I could have saved her last night, if I had been just a little faster. I won't fail again."
"Guys, are you sure?" Tsu asked, looking around nervously. "This is really crazy, ribbit. We should just trust the police."
"Ordinarily, I would agree," Iida said. "But time is of the essence. If the police beat us to it, all well and good. But our only goal is rescuing Hatsume. We get her, and we get out. Agreed?"
"I'm fine with that plan," Tokoyami said with a nod. "This is twice now we have clashed with the League. This shall be our finest hour."
"I'm really nervous," Hagakure said, her voice trembling slightly. "But I think you'll need me. Someone will need to infiltrate their base and find where Mei is."
"You'll need muscle for this," Sato said, stepping forward. "I'm in."
"Ribbit. I guess I can't sit this one out. I couldn't...I couldn't live with myself if something happened to Hatsume," Tsu said, coming over to stand with the others.
"Eh, what the hell, I was failing anyway," Sero laughed, joining them. "Better to go out with a bang than a whimper, eh Bakugo?"
Bakugo gave him a feral grin, and Sero raised his hand. After a moment of hesitation, Bakugo gave him a high five that left behind a small puff of smoke. "Damn straight."
Koda didn't speak, but he stepped forward to stand with the others, standing up straight and puffing out his chest.
"You shall need zum sparkle on zis misshé-on, non?" Aoyama said, grinning and stepping forward. "Ai shall bé ze dazzle zat lights yur wai!" Despite his bold words, Izuku noticed Aoyama's legs were trembling, but nonetheless, the french boy didn't back down.
"I'll be your eyes and ears," Shoji stated. "Count on it."
"Well, I'm just a guy with a tail, but hell, if Midoriya is coming, how can I say no?" Oijiro chuckled.
"Yes. I'm in. Whatever you need, I'll make it," Yaoyorozu agreed.
That left only Mineta, who was looking at his classmates flabbergasted.
"Are you all nuts?!" the tiny boy demanded. "Akai almost got killed last night! I almost got killed last night! You ALL almost got killed last night! How can you even think about this? We're just kids! We should leave this to the cops."
"No, we're not just kids," Iida stated firmly. "We're young, yes. But we've all got the training, the talent, and the quirks. Um, no offense, Midoriya. We're heroes, one and all. We've faced the League twice. I'm done feeling vulnerable and looking over my shoulder, wondering when they'll strike next. Now, we take the fight to them."
"No way," Mineta said, shaking his head. "This isn't worth it! I don't want to risk my life in some insane stunt to rescue Midoriya's girlfriend!"
"Then why even call yourself a man, let alone a hero?" Kirishima demanded. "Heroes risk their lives every day to save people they don't even know! If you can't try to help a fellow classmate, what the hell are you even doing here?"
Mineta continued to shake his head, trembling. "I just, I just-"
"He just wanted to get laid," Jiro said, sounding disgusted. "Of course he won't even risk his own skin."
"He's so gross," Ashido muttered. "Even if he was heroic who'd want to be with a pervert?"
Tears welled up in Mineta's eyes. "Fine! I'll be the real hero! I'll tell the teachers and police what you're planning on and-"
Bakugo leapt forward, using a blast to flip himself over Mineta, landing and blocking the other boys' way. "Do it, and I'll frag you."
"You wouldn't-" Mineta gasped, but Bakugo grinned, lowering his head to the other boy's level, and Mineta fell silent.
"I wouldn't what? I know what you all say about me. I'm an insane bully, right? Hell, I'm just going along with this because I missed a few villains the first time. I fought Muscular, and I'm still here. What did you do, Mineta? Hide under your bed with your porno mags? Don't think I didn't see them in your trunk. I told you to burn that shit."
Mineta let out a sound like air escaping from a tire, and Bakugo shook his head. "You tell anyone, you're dead meat. Besides, they'll expell me anyways. What's another body on the list? And don't bother showing your face in class again. Understand?"
Mineta soundlessly nodded, then fled out of the garden.
"You are one scary son of a bitch," Todoroki commented. "I think I'm starting to get flashbacks to my father."
"Yeah, well, if everyone already believes I'm a demon, why not play the part?" Bakugo muttered.
Uraraka giggled. "I think he's just acting tough. You should have seen him with Kota. It was sweet."
Bakugo narrowed his eyes at Uraraka, but instead of ranting at her simply snorted and looked at Shinso. "So? Do we know where this is?"
"I just got a DM from HandOfDeath. He says that if I'm really interested in joining, I need to go to this address in Kamino Ward," Shinso said, holding up Bakugo's phone. "The map looks like it's an abandoned warehouse."
"That would line up with what my brother sent me," Iida informed. "There's two addresses in Kamino Ward. The others are various VPNs. Looks like Thirsty4U doesn't know how to keep her browsing secure."
"Right," Izuku said, nodding. "The Power Suit is being held at UA, along with a lot of the upgraded gear for all of you Mei and I made. Mr. Maijima gave me a pass key to get in. He...he thinks working on it will get my mind off things."
Bakugo grinned, his eyes gleaming. "It's settled then. We'll all go to Kamino Ward, bust Mei out, and crush the League of Villains once at for all!... What? Why are you all staring at me like that?"
Behind Bakugo, there was a soft gasp, then a sudden crash. Izuku winced as Bakugo spun to see a shocked Hari looking at him, the vase of flowers she'd brought now shattered on the floor.
"What...what are you kids going to do?" Hari demanded, her strange eyes gone very wide.