Chapter 3

The next week, Misa met Kaiya at the mall for their monthly shopping trip. "I don't know Misa, I feel as if he should be proposing soon! We've been together almost a decade now." Kaiya whined as they circled around her favorite jewelry store, looking at engagement rings. "I gave him some options…"

"Kaiya, you know Todoroki analyzes everything. He is probably planning something huge and beautiful because he loves you so much." Misa told the worried elemental hero. "Just be a little more patient with him."

"But it's been ten years, Misa." Kaiya pouted. "What is taking him so long?" Misa's eyes danced over the twinkling rings on display, a creeping feeling of want bubbling in her chest as she focused on Kaiya.

"Kaiya. Remember you're only twenty-six. This is the normal age for people to get engaged. You just feel like it's taking forever because you've been with him since high school. Technically he's on the right schedule." Misa tried to explain to her friend. Her words seemed to work as Momo took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Thanks Misa. You're right; I'm panicking for nothing." She smiled and walked out the store with Misa in tow. They walked for a while giggling over Kaiya's latest gossip when a cell phone stand caught Misa's attention. She jogged over to the salesperson and pointed at a simple, white phone on display.

"Why are you buying a flip phone? Seems a bit cheap for you." Kaiya asked Misa when she came to observe.

"There's a little girl in Bakugou's training class that I think is being abused. I want to make sure that she can call for help if anything was to go wrong." Misa explained and paid for the phone while Kaiya clutched her chest in sorrow for the girl.

"You can't do anything about it? Get her out?"

"I don't have proof that she's being hurt, just the bruises."

"Wait, how do you know about this? Are you guys hanging out again?" Momo asked as the sale was finalized.

"We hung out last week, yeah. You all act like we haven't seen each other since high school. We hang out a lot; it's just not public knowledge." Misa groaned as they continued walking.

"Well, you two have a bit of a mixed history." Kaiya reminded her which caused Misa to narrow her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"In high school, everyone thought you'd end up together, but nothing happened. Then after graduation, everyone was hoping it would happen then, and if I remember correctly you did have a little crush on him."

"I admitted that only because you and Jirou cornered me…" Misa blushed before Kaiya giggled at the memory. "But the crush was just...fleeting. I started dating Shinso and I forgot about it. Besides, Bakugou never felt that for me."

"You never asked." Kaiya pointed out, silencing the argument immediately. Misa groaned and bit her lip to stop the next thought that popped into her head. I was scared to ask. Her phone vibrated and she saw a message from Ayami asking her to come in. "I hate this guy."

"It's your day off!" Kaiya squealed unhappily. "Shoto will hire you as soon as you are done with this contract."

"Thanks Kaiya, but I want him to actually need me. Not just because he's a friend." Misa reminded her. "I'll see you later."

Misa ran to Ayami's agency as quickly as she could only to find no emergency to be found. "Why am I here Ayami?" Misa asked through gritted teeth. "It's my day off and you made it sound like Japan was sinking."

"I thought you'd appreciate the over time." Ayami smirked, shuffling paperwork on his desk. "This needs to be filed. Would you be a doll?" Misa's claws burned in anger behind her back as she stifled the frustration in her throat. "Then I think there's some old cases that can be thrown away also in the file room."

"Which ones?" Misa asked, taking the folders from Ayami. "There's thousands in there.'

"I don't remember. Whichever ones that are over five years old can be tossed. Comb through them all." Misa's temper almost got the better of her before a phone call saved Ayami from her wrath. "Go. You'll be busy tonight."

"Isn't this a task for the admins?" She asked, backing out of the room.

"I think you can handle it." Ayami sneered, dismissing her once again.

Beneath piles and boxes of files, Misa bit her tongue to cease the pooling tears in her eyes. "I fucking hate it here." She whispered as she sorted out the trash pile from the keep piles. Suddenly her phone buzzed and Bakugou's name popped up on the screen; her heart telling her to answer it. "Hi Katz."

"Hey, what are you up to?" He asked, sounding out of breath.

"Buried under years of cold cases. You?"

"Running. I thought you were off today?"

"Yeah. Me too. Turns out this dire file emergency will take a few days." She grumbled, biting back her increasing frustration. "Why are you calling?" Her tone was more clipped than she wanted.

"Just wanted to check on you. Todoroki is looking into your contract to see if he can get you out of it. Fingers crossed. He really wants you on his team." He told her through heavy breaths.

"Thanks Katz. I'll take being his assistant at this point." Misa grumbled quietly so no one could hear her. "Sorry. I'm in a mood."

"It's okay. You're allowed to be annoyed; your boss sucks. Remember to eat tonight."

"Yes sir." She grumbled back, hanging up the phone. She didn't want to hold on to the hope of Todoroki saving her from the hell that was her contract. The disappointment would be too hard to deal with if something were to happen. He claws dug into the file in her grasp, her temper rising with each moment. "This is not hero work."

Nearing two in the morning, Misa called it quits with the file task. She dragged herself up the stairs to her apartment, shrugging off her hero outfit and purse, ready to wash the day off her body. Her stomach was growling, she hadn't eaten like Bakugou told her too; but she was too tired to care. She welcomed the hot shower and her cold bed, eager to get some rest.

Early the next morning, Misa sat at her desk with a cup of coffee and some fruit. Her stomach was still growling, but fruit was all she could bring herself to eat. Her head was pounding and she hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before, earning her the worn out appearance she dorned. Maybe her depression was acting up; she'd been off her medicine for a year now but maybe it was time to start the prescription again. She pulled out her phone to call her doctor for an appointment before she was interrupted.

"Shira!" A loud voice sounded behind her. Her teeth gritted as she plastered on her fakest smile she could muster. "How is the filing going?" Ayami asked her, waddling over to her.

"It's almost done. I have two boxes left." She answered him, sipping on her coffee. The heroes around the two of them snickered to themselves as Ayami shook his head. "What?"

"I thought it was a simple task. Can you not handle it?" His smug expression burned into Misa as she fought the urge to hiss at the man.

"I stayed here until two o'clock last night. I needed to sleep in case any real danger happened."

"If any real danger happened my dear, you would not be the first to call. We leave those emergencies to the professionals." Ayami told her, eyeing the admin, who sat behind Misa. Misa followed his gaze and saw the barely legal assistant avoiding Ayami's glare. Misa moved further into his eyeline to block the girl and spoke.

"Professionals? Hmm, I'm sorry. I believe I am the only UA graduate here who has more experience dealing with villains than anyone here. I went through a war before I was eighteen. Who else is more qualified than me?" She challenged Ayami, who gasped at her tone.

"I say who is more qualified. Not you. You do as I say, when I say. That is, if you want to continue working in this town?"

"I can quit here and be done with you." Misa snarled, but Ayami laughed at her.

"You do that and you're breaking your contract. It will cost you more for breach of contract than what you make in a year. Don't be stupid." Misa growled in frustration as Ayami turned from her, chuckling as he did so.

"I fucking hate you." She whispered, sheathing her claws against her desk.

"Oh and Shira? Finish that filing before you leave today. There may be more in the archives downstairs for you to sort through." Ayami told her before closing his office door. Misa squeezed her eyes shut to stop the tears from pooling.

"Fuck."

A few nights later, Misa was buried under piles of archived cases when she was alerted to stop a serial robber from taking down a jewellery store. No surprise to her, she had no backup when she arrived on scene, so she called Bakugou and Todoroki. "We'll be there in five." Bakugou told her. Misa's eyes danced over the room from her vantage point across the street in utter darkness while she waited. The roof was relatively short, so she could climb up and into the building; but the villain could notice her. Maybe if she created a distraction before? She noticed the large villain pace in the building, his hands and arms morphing into different weapons to threaten whoever was trapped in there.

"How do I get to you?" She whispered before she smelled the nitroglycerin scent behind her. "My god you two are fast." She said, hearing Bakugou and Todoroki approach her.

"We were literally around the corner. What's the situation?" Bakugou asked her.

"Only one guy but his hands can morph into guns and knives. Not sure how fast he can move." She explained, pointing at the massive guy inside. "But he is massive."

"Hostages?" Todoroki asked.

"A handful from what I can see. It's closing time so mostly the shopkeepers and one or two customers." Misa answered, straining her ears to listen in to the villain. "He's getting impatient with one of the workers. She can't open the vault."

"He'll probably threaten to kill someone until someone manages to open it." Bakugou thought, analyzing the scene.

"Those vaults only open at certain times of day for reasons such as this. It's an insurance thing." Misa told him, hearing Bakugou suck his teeth in frustration. "We have to be faster than him. Todoroki? If I distract him, can you subdue him with ice?"

"I can but that puts you without a defense." He told her carefully. "You just plan on walking in?"

"Actually, I was going to sneak through the ventilation shaft since I'm agile and jump down and get the hostages out. If he attacks, use your ice to protect the civilians. Don't worry about me."

"What about me?" Bakugou asked, understanding the logic in Misa's plan. She had always been smart and thought quickly on her feet.

"I need you to cause a loud disturbance to make him think someone else is breaking in. That'll shift his focus away from the hostages and me until I get close….hopefully." Misa told him. "Once he is distracted, help me keep his attention until the hostages are out and Todoroki can safely get close enough to subdue the guy without causing a lot of damage. Sounds like a plan?" Both men nodded their agreement and got into place.

Misa crawled through the ventilation shaft quietly and heard Bakugou's explosion from the other side of the building. It successfully distracted the villain as he went to check it out. She jumped down into the lobby and prayed the hostages would remain quiet when they saw her. "It's okay. I'm here to help. Hurry, come out this way." She whispered and led the hostages out to the street where Todoroki was waiting for his signal.

"Not so fast Shira." A loud voice sounded behind her as a bullet shot by her face. The villain had the last hostage in his grasp with a gun pointed at the shaking man. "One move and this guy's brains will be on the floor."

"You know you can't get into this vault. Why are you doing this?" Misa asked, bracing herself for a fight.

"For fun. I get to play with the kitty." He purred, sending shivers up Misa's spine. "I know where your patrol runs through; so I staged this robbery to play with you."

"Sorry. I'm not in a playful mood today." She seethed, baring her fangs and claws.

"You're alone sweetie. You're out gunned." The villain retorted, cocking his gun next to the scared hostage. Misa smirked and shook her head as nitroglycerin filled her nostrils.

"No she's not." Bakugou's voice sounded behind the villain, his gauntlets aimed and ready to shoot. "One step and you're toast." Misa jumped and clawed the villain with her burning claws enough to loosen his grip on the hostage.

"Go! Shoto is out there." She instructed the shaking man when the villain grabbed her roughly. "God damnit, you're quick."

"You will play with me!" He roared while Misa struggled in his grasp.

"Let go of me you moron. That dude's gonna blast you if you don't." She hissed, watching Bakugou analyze the trajectory of his blast.

"If he does, you're dead." The villain threatened, arming his other hand with a knife against Misa's stomach, cutting into her slightly. "Try me explosion boy." Bakugou snarled at the threat and saw Misa clawing at the villain's tight grasp, seething at the pain in her stomach. Bakugou knew the paralyzing poison Misa secretes at will would take effect soon but he was worried the overzealous villain would jump the gun and hurt Misa more than he already had.

"You don't know who you're messing with." Misa gasped through the tightening grasp. Looking around before her eyesight became cloudy, all hostages had managed to get to safety. "Now Shoto!" A layer of ice covered the lobby and engulfed the villain in a tomb of ice; stopping before reaching Misa. Todoroki stood in the entryway with a crowd of police behind him. "Thank god." Misa sighed, breaking free of the villain's grasp, allowing air into her lungs again.

"Cutting it kinda close there Shira." Shoto commented as Bakugou's gaze ran over Misa in relief. Sirens painted the scene as paparazzi and police took over.

"I was fine; thanks for the save though." Misa smiled, rubbing her neck softly.

"Your stomach." Bakugou pointed out. Blood trickled through the torn fabric as Misa tried pressing the wound.

"It's not deep. I'll be okay." She smiled, leading the men out of the bank, trying not to wince at the shooting pain in her abdomen..

Watching the scene of police and news crews take over the bank, Bakugou, Todoroki, and Misa hung back away from the noise when Misa spoke again. "Thanks for coming guys. I couldn't have done it without you."

"Anytime. It was a good plan; it worked out well." Todoroki nodded to her. "You don't have a backup you can call?" Bakugou winced at the question, already knowing the answer.

"No. Ayami won't allow me any help unless it's a huge thing." Misa answered, her voice rougher than usual due to the villain's grasp.

"The Russian Cartel wasn't a huge thing? You took that on yourself." Todoroki pointed out.

"Yeah. He's an ass. I can't do anything about it. I have literally spent the last four nights sleeping in my file room because he hates me. He doesn't respect me as a hero after all I've done for him." Bakugou took this moment of silence to note Misa's appearance. Her waist looked slimmer from their hangout before and her eyes had lost their spark from exhaustion.

"You're making yourself sick with all this Misa." Bakugou interjected. Misa's tired eyes met his and nodded her head. "Take a few days off. Come with me to the kids' training tomorrow. It's Rin's birthday, remember."

"He won't let me off." Misa argued tiredly.

"He can't fire you for calling in sick." Todoroki told her, placing a warm hand on Misa's shoulder. "Take care of yourself Misa. We're all worried about you. Kaiya would kill me if I let you drop dead due to exhaustion." Misa felt tears pool in her eyes at the tenderness in both men's voices.

"Thank you guys. I gotta go report in. I'll talk to you both later. Oh and I'll be there tomorrow Katz." Misa nodded, taking off towards her agency.

"Think she listened to us?" Bakugou asked Todoroki who shrugged.

"If I know anything about Misa, it's that the girl is stubborn as hell. She won't stop until she drops."

"That's what I'm worried about." Bakugou sighed.