Beta'd by kylekatarn77 and Poliamida

56. The Most Important

When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,

He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.

But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail.

For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

-The Female of the Species, Rudyard Kipling

Mei ran through the streets, clutching her baby to her chest, blindly following the map in her mind. The bad guys had Izuku. They had not had any cute babies, they had lied. They were scary bad men, just like the MLA, just like the Hand Man, just like the Mask. And now they had Izuku, and their baby was broken by the bad men and Mei did not know what to do.

In the background, Mei heard screams and cries of panic. People reacted that way to her babies sometimes, but Mei did not put her baby away. There could be more bad men, and the flamethrower was very practical for stopping them. But it hadn't saved Izuku. Not even the cute baby she had made just for him, the one that reminded her how much he loved her, had saved him. Mei's babies were useless if they could not save Izuku. That left only one thing: her friends.

The people around Mei continued to make noise and scream, but they got out of the way when she pointed the flamethrower at them so that was alright. Could she go to the police? No, they were bad men too, they had taken away Fire Beard Endeavor who was Fire and Ice Shoto's dad and been mean to Joke Man Togata and made Sister Hari cry. But she had to save Izuku.

She could not save Izuku. Her babies had not worked. She needed her friends.

A person did not move out of Mei's way, instead running towards her. This person looked funny, like a cow. Mei had seen Cow Lady before, but she had been bigger then and now she was small.

"Hey you! Stop right there, or-oh my God, Mei Hatsume?! Sweetie, put the gun down, what's going on?"

"Go away!" Mei shouted, planting her feet and trying to point her baby at Cow Lady. Mei had remembered now, she was a Hero. Heroes had been there to hurt Fire Beard and Joke Boy and make Hari cry and that made them bad people too. "I need to get my friends!"

"Sweetie, you're scaring everyone," Cow Lady said, putting her hands up and moving forward. She was still small, but Mei was ready if she got bigger. She could run away while Cow Lady got big and find her friends. "Remember me? I'm Mount Lady. I was there, at Kamino. You kids saved my life. Please, put the gun down, let's talk."

"No talking!" Mei cried, her arms shaking. That was right, Cow Lady had been there and fought the Mask and Hand Man. She had tried to help Mei. Was she a good hero like Lie Teacher Aizawa and Fire Hair Burnin? "Are you a good hero? Or are you one of the bad ones that likes the MLA and hates Endeavor and my friends?!"

Cow Lady paused, grimacing. She looked around, but the street was now empty and that seemed to make her happy. "Look, I'm on you kids' side. What happened to Endeavor was wrong. Being in the MLA should be a crime, and he was just doing his job. Yeah, Feel Good was rough, but I've been in bad spots too. Sometimes there is no good answer. So yeah, I'm one of the good heroes."

"I need help," Mei whispered. "Izuku is in trouble. The bad men have him, the yakuza. He told me I had to save him."

"Son of a- OK, we'll need to call the police straight away, this is-"

"NO!" Mei cried, waving her flamethrower frantically. "Not the police! One of them is with the yakuza! He helped them before, just like the police helped the MLA!"

"Crap, dirty cops? That would fit the pattern. Ok. Let's get you to UA on the double." And then the Cow Lady grew to be big, like she had been before. She bent down, picking Mei up. "This had better be worth it, the road damage is going to cost me a fortune. Hold on kid!"

And then they were running, the wind blowing in Mei's face. She should have worn her eyes. That way, she could see.

Her eyes. Izuku had said he loved her eyes before. But Mei had thought Izuku did not like her eyes, because he did not like quirks because he did not have one. But if he loved Mei even if she had her eyes back...She thought of baby 81, still back in her old laboratory. But no. Her eyes didn't matter. What mattered was getting Izuku back. He was what was most important. More than babies, more than friends, more than even Mei. Izuku was what was important.

The big Cow Lady was fast, and they soon arrived at UA. Alarms blared as the Cow Lady jumped over the wall around the school, but she shrunk as soon they were inside.

"What in tarnation!" Gun Teacher ran out, holding his babies high in the air. "Mount Lady? Hatsume? What in the name of Sam Hill is goin' on round here?"

"No time Snipe, Midoriya's been captured," Cow Lady panted. "Hatsume says she barely got away."

"What? Mei, what do you mean, Midoriya's been rustled?" Gun Teacher demanded, bending down to look Mei in the eyes. It was hard, because he had on the mask for when you worked with bad chemicals, but Mei knew that social skills were important and tried to look him in the eyes.

"We went to meet with the yakuza to stop the MLA and then they said they wanted to get rid of quirks and Izuku told me I had to save him and I fought the bad men but then there were more bad men and I ran away because Izuku said so and we have to go rescue him!"

"The yakuza!? Jerusalem Crickets what were you kids thinking!? No, don't answer that. Let me get Aizawa on the horn."

Mei ignored him, and ran off towards where Sister was. That made Gun Teacher swear and Cow Lady cry out, and they both ran after her, but she was very fast thanks to practicing with Invisible Girl Toru and her other friends and they did not catch her. Mei ran all the way back to Home and sprinted up the steps where she ran right into Weightless Ochako.

"The bad men have Izuku!" Mei gasped, grabbing on to Weightless and shaking her. "We have to rescue him!"

"I, what? Izuku? How? Where? I- KATSUKI GET OUT HERE!"

"WHAT!" Explosions Bakugo demanded, sticking his head out from the kitchen. "I AM RIGHT HERE WOMAN, WHAT ARE YOU-"

"Izuku's been kidnapped!" Weightless bellowed, running into Home. "Everyone up! Izuku's in trouble!"

And then all her friends came, almost before Gun Teacher and Cow Girl caught up with her.

"Oh hell," Gun Teacher muttered as he stood on the steps, hat in hand. "We're in for it now."

"Mei, what happened?" Sister demanded, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Are you ok? Where's Izuku?"

Tears filled Meis eyes, and she hung her head. "We lied to you. We did not go on a date. We went to meet the Glove Man from the yakuza because he said he could make cute babies to stop the MLA's quirks and help get Endeavor out of jail."

"Oh God," Sister groaned. "Of course you did. Christ, don't tell me you met with Chisaki?"

"Izuku got taken by OVERHAUL?" Gun Teacher demanded. He stuck his hat back on his head, then said several words Mei was certain that teachers were not supposed to say. "I'm callin' Nezu. This is bad."

"I warned Izuku," Iida said, his voice scary and his glasses flashing in a way that made Mei want to cry even more. "He thought that Chisaki was seeking to redeem himself, but I knew he was lying."

"We have to go rescue Izuku!" Mei pleaded. "I know we were dumb and did a bad thing but please don't let him get hurt! You saved me, you have to save him!"

"Darlin', it ain't that simple," Gun Teacher said with a heavy sigh. "We can't just form a posse and break into a yakuza base. Y'all are all on probation and-"

"It is that simple," Explosions growled. "We're gonna find where Izuku is, and kick the teeth in of anyone who gets in our way."

"Son, if you kids try what you did at Kamino, Midoriya is gonna wind up dead, or worse. We've got to call the cops, get a warrant and-"

"NO COPS!" Mei shrieked. "The bad cop took Chisaki the first time! The cops work for him!"

"It's true," Sister said, sounding scary. "There was a corrupt cop who took Chisaki away. We go to the police, they're going to warn them we're coming. And I don't trust many other heroes. What about her? Can we trust Mount Lady? She's a primadonna glory hound! What if she's in with the yakuza just like Slindin' Go was in with the MLA!"

"Now hold on, just because I need to pose for the cameras to pay the bills does not mean I'm a sell out, honey!" Cow Lady argued. "Look, you need some muscle on this job? I'm in. I don't give a rats ass if I get in as much hot water as Endeavor did, they can lock me up! You kids saved my neck at Kaminio, and that means I owe you one. I can get Kamui Woods and Dead Arms here too; we've formed our own Team Up after seeing how well it worked out for you kids. They were at Kamino too, with All Might and-"

"Me!" Joke Man appeared out of nowhere like he did sometimes. "I heard what happened and ran over from my dorms. I already called Sir Nighteye. He's on his way. We might be able to help track down the yakuza."

"No more talking!" Mei said, waving her arms frantically. "We have to go save Izuku! NOW!"

"Mei, it's OK," Pink Ashido said, giving Mei a hug. "We can't just run off with no plan. I mean, usually that's Izuku's thing, so we'll have to come up with one on our own, but we're going to save him, OK?"

"Ok," Mei said, tears filling her eyes. It was going to be OK. It had to be OK. Without Izuku, what could she do? He was the most important.

And to get him back, Mei would kill every last one of the badmen. She would burn the city to the ground. She would tear the world apart, and put it back together. Because she had to get Izuku back.