Chapter 77: Becoming Untouchable

"Katayama," Tokoyami said. "Tell me what's wrong."

"I…I can't. I shouldn't."

They were sitting cross-legged across from each other inside Mirko's gym. On the other side of the room, Mirko was training with Mina. The sounds of their combat were loud, but both of the boys were tuning them out - Tokoyami out of discipline, Doko out of distraction.

"If you don't activate your Quirk more than that, then we won't really make any progress," Tokoyami said. Dark Shadow was out and about, sniffing around near the wall behind the bird boy. Tokoyami seemed completely unbothered by this, however. Unbothered as always.

Doko ground his teeth. He was only letting a little bit of his Quirk out, his muscles flexing ever so slightly as the faintest of purple shimmers surrounded him. He had used far more of it during he and Tokoyami's training before…which is what had made him confident enough to go so far with it at Tartarus in the first place.

And now he was in a mess. A possibly catastrophic mess.

"Katayama, please. Tell me the reason you're holding it back like that. It can't be healthy."

"I…I want to tell you. I…should tell someone, really." The top heroes. Mirko, for a start. He glanced back at her, as she used an axe kick on Mina, who spun out of the way. "It's…really, really important. I think. But I need to figure out how to tell it. Because if they don't take me seriously, then…" He clammed up, unable to continue.

Tokoyami looked more concerned than before, and Dark Shadow snarled in the background. "Katayama, we've already established that holding your Quirk in too much might cause it to lash out like it did at joint training. And that's what you don't want, right? Even if you've learned some new information, you have to take a little bit of a risk. Ride the line."

If only you knew the risk I'd be taking. Tokoyami had a point, though, or as much of a point as he could have with his level of knowledge about the situation.

Doko shut his eyes, and took a deep breath. "Okay. Just…give me a moment."

He heard Tokoyami hum in approval.

Think. From the top. There were beings outside their universe, in a place that Doko and Kurogiri could access with their Quirks. These beings wanted to come to Earth…to…invade? Destroy? It didn't matter. Their intentions were absolutely malevolent.

And they had created Quirks. They had started the Quirk "disease" and waited for someone like Doko to be born. My family…must have been mutating for a long time, until my mother and father's Quirks combined into mine.

That was another thing. His father, who All For One supposedly had "with" him before he'd been captured at Kamino, had a strange black goo teleportation Quirk, while his mother had a Quirk that opened portals. How had they met? Come together? Was it just fate? The void creatures pulling the strings? Or…

Does All For One know about the creatures? It would make some amount of sense, he supposed. The man had displayed an obsession with Quirks and their nature…maybe he had discovered their origin somehow. And he brought my parents together. Is that what his true plan for me was? To unleash the void, somehow? How would that benefit HIM?

And didn't such a plan contradict with his plans for Tomura Shigaraki?

"Katayama?"

"Hmm?" Doko opened one eye.

"You're discharging quite a bit of energy now."

It was true. The glow around his body had increased in saturation and brightness. It was not nearly up to the level he'd gotten before, but…

I can do this. I can hold it here. Think. How might the creatures possibly…enter Earth, using me? Definitely possible if I do what I did at the prison again, but the energy I'm generating right now is nowhere close. And what about when I teleport objects? That creates an invisible tunnel through their dimension, every time. And the openings of that tunnel open to Earth on either side. But most things I teleport, including myself, probably don't open up a big enough tunnel for…them.

It was still possible for him to use his Quirk in normal capacity, he supposed. But was that irresponsible? It was such a strange flip of what he'd been thinking for the past year. His whole reason for wanting to try for UA in the first place was because it felt irresponsible not to use his Quirk, and end up in some office job while people were out there dying to groups like the League…

"Hey, Tokoyami?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think of your mentor's ideals?"

"Hawks, you mean?"

"Yeah. That whole schtick he has about making a world where heroes can be lazy, and all that."

A pause. And then, "I think it is admirable. Why do you ask, Katayama?"

"Just because…I guess I'm coming around to it, a little bit." Maybe I SHOULD stop using my Quirk. Maybe after the League is defeated for good, I can just have a normal life, and keep everything held in me until I die of old age. Considering how rare warping Quirks are, how long will it take for fate to bring another one like mine into the world? I could buy humanity decades of peacetime…just with an early retirement.

Shigaraki had to be stopped first, though.

"Katayama? You seem very…zoned out."

"Ah! Sorry, I'm just a bit lost in thought."

Tokoyami chuckled. "That's good, though! It's like you forgot you were even using your power. And it was staying put, too. Not lashing out at all."

He pulled Dark Shadow back to himself. "Maybe we could try sparring a little? That is, if you're up to it…"

"Hey!"

Both boys stood up abruptly and turned around. Mirko was walking toward them. "What was that?!" she demanded.

Tokoyami raised an eyebrow. "What was…what?"

"I wasn't talking to you, birdbrain. Bad enough I have to babysit you while your actual mentor is off doing who-knows-what. Everywhere, what was that you were just doing?"

Doko made a face. "Meditating?"

"Nah. With your QUIRK, doofus! I saw it! You surrounded yourself with your Quirk, like an energy shield!"

"...Huh?" Oh, he thought. I suppose that's kind of what it is. But…

Mirko suddenly crouched into a fighting stance, preparing to leap. "Do it again!" she snarled, grinning. "I wanna see what it's capable of!"

…

Shota Aizawa laid out on the floor of the office, papers scattered around him in a circle. He picked up another hospital file languidly, blinking his eyes slowly. The harsh white lights of the office were making it hard to keep them open. "Shouldn't have left my eyedrops at the apartment," he muttered.

Tsukauchi looked up from the computer. "What'd you say?"

"Nothing of note. Just like there's nothing of note on this report. Just like the thousand other reports I've looked through."

The detective turned back to the screen, his back to Shota. "Well, we don't know which medium a lead will turn up on."

"I'm inclined to think that if you can't find it in the digital database, then there's surely not a physical copy, either."

"I wouldn't be so trusting of the Internet, if I were you," Tsukauchi muttered with a half-smile. "I thought you were supposed to be cynical, Eraser."

"What can I say. With technology, I'm a bit behind the times."

"You and me both," said Gran Torino in his gruff tones as he re-entered the room, his hand buried in a bag of chips.

Shota didn't feel like sitting up, so he just stared at the elderly pro hero with his head upside down. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Vending machine," the man grunted as he sat down at the second desk in the room, across from Tsukauchi's.

"You were gone for like, two hours."

"I don't walk fast, ironically enough. Happens when you make it to your eighth decade." Torino swallowed another chip and asked, "What have you figured out?"

"Nothing," Shota groaned, but Tsukauchi said a bit more brightly, "We figured out what to look for in the hospital records. Doko Katayama's birth."

"Hmm?" Torino raised his bushy white eyebrows. "What's the boy got to do with it?"

"He said the one who told him about the Nomu lab being in a hospital was his mother. Maybe it was the hospital where she gave birth to him. After all, he was switched into another family by All For One." Tsukauchi leaned back, and folded his hands. "It stands to reason that All For One had full control of whatever hospital this was, to perform such an act in our modern era. AFO told the boy at Kamino that his mother died in childbirth, right? Her body probably never left that hospital. It was probably put right into the experiment that would become Kurogiri, in the very same facility."

"Along with Shirakumo," Aizawa muttered.

Gran Torino spoke through chewing. "So we find what hospital the boy was born at, we find the Nomu lab. What are we waiting for? Why is it so hard to find?"

Shota shrugged. "You tell us. We haven't found anything, and we've combed through tons of hospitals."

Tsukauchi nodded. "It's not as if all evidence of the boy's existence has been erased. He has a registered ID with the government, and a provisional hero license via the Hero Commission, so he shows up on the HN. His old school records, and even family records from the people he lived with prior to being taken from that home are still findable on databases, despite being outdated. And yet…no hospital records."

"Maybe he wasn't actually born at a hospital," Gran Torino suggested. "That was more common back in my day. Some kids get born in the car on the way there."

Shota rolled his eyes. "No, this is obviously an example of someone tampering with the data. They've covered their tracks well. Katayama, like Kaminari, was a weapon aimed at us, sent into our midst. They made sure that if we went digging after either of them, then we wouldn't find…"

His eyes widened. He sat up like a bullet, his hair flipping around wildly.

Tsukauchi met his eyes sharply. "What. What did you figure out?"

"Kaminari. His father. Is in a hospital. In a long-term care ward. Isn't he?"

The detective gasped. "And unlike with Katayama…we actually know what hospital that is."

…

Deep inside the Gunga Mountain Villa, AKA the mansion being used by the Paranormal Liberation Front, they surveyed a sleeping Gigantomachia.

"Why won't he wake up?" Kasumi Yamishiwa asked, edging slightly closer to the giant with a somewhat nervous expression. He had a clipboard in hand.

"He only responds to commands from Shigaraki and All For One," Twice explained. And then, he babbled, "Because he's tired, asshole!"

"Hmm. Well, I suppose this is good." Yamishiwa scribbled something down quickly. "Until Doctor Ujiko and I finish our work with Shigaraki, the original version of the giant cannot mobilize. Does that extend to his clone?"

Twice put his hands on his hips. "Listen, edgy doctor guy. You're getting a bit ahead of yourself. Presuming I CAN make a clone of a guy that's his size, presuming I CAN get all the measurements right while he's laying down in this position, then…to be honest…" He threw up his hands. "I really don't know!"

The other PLF commanders were standing some distance away. "Oh, Twice," Compress sighed in a fatherly way. "Can't you see that's not what our dear scientist man wants to hear?"

"It's perfectly alright," Yamishiwa reassured, holding up one hand. "We won't know unless we try, isn't that right, Bubaigawara?"

"You can do it, Jin-kun!" sang Toga. Dabi rolled his eyes.

Twice still seemed hesitant, taking another slow step toward Gigantomachia. "Gee…" he muttered. "I dunno…"

Re-Destro tapped his chin ponderously. "You said you were powering up Shigaraki in a lab setup, correct? And this convoy is to move your lab equipment from one hospital to a different one?"

"That's correct," Yamishiwa clarified. "We cannot continue to operate at Jakku hospital, because the heroes are getting close to figuring it out. We're moving to Iwate, which is Haijima-owned like Jakku. All For One has done operations there in the past. There is one possible connection the heroes could make to Iwate, but it has been erased from records. So there will be nothing to worry about. We only need to remain secretive for as long as it takes for Shigaraki to finish his powerup."

"But my point is, Shigaraki will be aboard this convoy," said Re-Destro. "In a vulnerable state. If you make it clear to the Gigantomachia clone that he is protecting the convoy to protect Shigaraki…"

"That might work," said Spinner. "Only…the big guy only listens to Shiggy and AFO in the first place."

Twice, meanwhile, was using a long strand of measuring tape along the length of the giant's body. "This guy's breath stinks!" he complained.

"Re-Destro!"

The commanders all turned. A loyal PLF member had come running up to them. The place where Giga was sleeping was the big underground area built beneath the mansion, but it was pretty clear of people this time of day.

"What is it, loyal soldier?" Re-Destro asked.

"Hawks is back."

They all walked up out of the cavern, leaving Twice to do his measurements. It would not do to meet Hawks down there where he could see the giant. Gigantomachia, Shigaraki, and the convoy plan itself was still being kept from him, as he couldn't quite be trusted just yet.

They met him in the meeting room, where he stood casually, flexing his wings a little. "There's been a roadblock," he announced loudly and lazily when he saw them enter. "Sorry, Doctor Yamishiwa. Your loose end that you wanted tied up has gotten a bit frayed."

"What, Kaminari? You were sent out to kill him, remember."

"I am aware." Hawks blinked, and tossed a photo toward them. Toga caught it.

"Unfortunately, some other heroes got to him first. And they didn't kill. They captured."

Toga's cheeks flushed red. "My dear Izuku and Ochaco…it was them?"

"Let me see that!" Yamishiwa snatched the photo from Toga's hands. She pouted and ran her fingers over the hilt of her dagger.

The scientist frowned. "Damn," he swore. "Nighteye and Ryukyu, hmm? And some UA students. This is unfortunate." He looked back up at Hawks. "You failed."

The number two hero looked appalled. "You can't possibly blame me for this shit. It's been what, a couple of days? How was I supposed to know they would find him so fast? They caught him on the other side of the damn country!"

"He has a point," Re-Destro sighed. "Yamishiwa, it is regrettable that the heroes will be able to interrogate the boy, however…"

It wouldn't matter soon. They were moving all the lab equipment out of Jakku in a matter of days. The heroes, if they made the Kaminari connection, would pull up to a building clear of villains.

Not that Hawks knew that, of course.

…

"High!" Mirko shouted at him, and axe kicked him from above. Doko warped out of the way.

She landed, leapt sideways, and bounced off the wall. "Side!" He warped out of the way again.

"Ggrhh." She clicked her teeth in annoyance. "Stop doing that! High!"

He dodged again. "I can't! You're going to hit me if I don't!"

"That's the point! I'm trying to see…LOW!"

She tried to sweep his legs with her own powerful ones, but he warped up and then back down.

"Right! High! Right! Left!"

Tokoyami and Mina both watched from the sidelines. "This is chaotic," he commented.

Mina shrugged. "I think I've gotten used to it."

He gave the alien girl a sidelong glance. "You seem…more serious. Than usual."

She smirked wryly. "What, afraid I'll take your schtick away from you?"

"Okay, that was more in character. What's the deal?"

"I'm just trying to focus," she muttered darkly. During her most recent bout with Mirko, she'd panicked and accidentally sprayed acid from her shoulder. That had been bad. She hadn't sprayed acid from any of her pores besides those on her palms and feet since she was a little kid. A little kid who couldn't control her Quirk. I can't believe I'm regressing.

Meanwhile, it seemed like Doko was right on top of things, like usual.

Doko, for his part, did not feel very on top of things.

Mirko, I get what you're trying to do, he thought, warping and dodging her attack again as she screamed at him. But…I just don't think it works like that…

"Your Warp Field is too big!" she snarled. "RIGHT!"

He dodged her. I KNOW.

"If you only have it to use as a last resort, then you might kill someone in radius!"

I know that too.

"Isn't there anything else you can do?" she taunted. "Any other way you can face me head-on without dodging?"

I…I…

She folded into another diving kick, aimed straight for his head. Time seemed to slow. It was like that time he'd saved Mirio Togata from the Quirk erasing bullet. All sounds faded out except his own breathing. He felt in tune with his Quirk.

He thought back to when he interned with Endeavor. How Endeavor had advised him to keep his Quirk on all the time. That had led him to figuring out Warp Field, which was not exactly the same thing…and was sort of a mess. A messy move that snowballed a series of events leading to him coming face to face with the void monsters.

That thing I've been doing with Tokoyami the whole time…where my Quirk creates a field that just swims on my skin…that is way closer to what Endeavor originally intended, isn't it? But…

…If I do that, and it fails…

…What happens if Mirko lands this kick on me?

He had to trust her. Mirko would not kill him. Her instincts as both a rabbit mutant and a top hero would prevent that. Even if he failed the move, he'd be fine.

I'm going to be fine. Even with everything that's happening…I have to stay calm. Calm is how I will BEAT them!

He took a deep breath, let his Quirk flow a little, and stood his ground.

Mirko's foot came smashing down millimeters from his face, and struck against the glowing violet outline with a BZZZZZZZZZZ!

She gasped, and got warped backward several feet, tumbling in midair, and planting her feet into the floor of the gym. SKIIIIIIIDDDD! She pressed one hand flat against the floor, slowing herself down, her hair stringing out behind her.

Doko remained standing. He hadn't felt her kick at all. It had been stopped…stopped by the energy field his Quirk was creating on his skin.

Tokoyami gasped. "It's like my Black Abyss…I have Dark Shadow cover my body like armor…"

Mina gaped, her jaw dropped.

Mirko stood up, smiling widely. "You did it, kid! Look at you! You're still holding it!"

Doko raised his fists and clenched them. It was a third ultimate move, cultivated at last. "Warp Shield!" he declared, naming it. "With this…no one can touch me!"

They trained for a bit longer after that, Mirko attacking him from different angles, and getting bounce-warped back every time. She did not seem the slightest bit angry about this, though.

Mina, on the other hand, was more subdued than ever. When they finished training, Doko walked over to her, and she looked down at her phone.

"Huh?" All three of the students' phones went off at the same time. That meant a message from the group chat.

Instead of pulling their own phones out, Tokoyami and Doko leaned in on either side of Mina, staring at her screen.

Mina hissed through her teeth. "Holy shit," she muttered.

It was from Tsuyu.

Tsuyu: we caught kaminari. me, midoriya, and uraraka.

…

Aizawa, Tsukauchi, and Gran Torino stepped up to the glass window, peering into the cell. Inside, Denki Kaminari was slumped over in the chair, bound and Quirk-suppressed.

Further back, Nighteye and Ryukyu stood, their arms crossed. "He was harder to catch than we anticipated," Ryukyu muttered. "My hair still feels static-y."

"It was all thanks to the five students, in truth," said Nighteye. "The two of us were taken out shamefully quickly. The boy used a point-and-shoot setup to aim focused ranged attacks. Support gear he took from the other villain that we captured."

He learned ranged attacks? Shota felt a twinge of pride, but then chided himself. He is not your student anymore.

He turned back to look at Kaminari, who lifted his head a little. "Is this Tartarus?" he mumbled. "Is it even legal to lock me up here when I'm still a minor? Awfully humane of you, heroes." He shifted in his seat a little. "At least it's warm…"

"Your Quirk was deemed too unsafe for you to be locked up in any of the other major prisons," Shota told him. "If it were up to me, you'd be in a place more fitting for your age. But it was not up to me. So here we are."

Kaminari chuckled. "Aizawa-sensei, is that you? Of course it is. Who else would be so quick to absolve themselves of any blame for the situation. Just like…just like the training camp disaster."

"You caused that disaster," Shota reminded him. He is like the other villains now. They always blame the heroes for responding poorly to situations, instead of blaming themselves for starting them. It was disappointing.

"Thanks for feeding me, I guess…" Kaminari continued. His yellow hair hung over his face, shading it. "For the first time in a while, my stomach isn't crying to me. How's Uraraka? I didn't kill her, did I?"

"Not even close," Ryukyu snorted.

"Okay, well…" the boy coughed. "Why are you guys here, then? I don't have any information."

"Your father is in Jakku hospital, isn't he?" Gran Torino said gruffly. Straight and to the point.

"Uhh…yeah." Denki grinned a little. "All For One saved his life and gave me my Quirk. But my dad's still in poor health, unfortunately."

"Did you ever visit him, while you worked for All For One?" Tsukauchi asked. "Or perhaps, did you visit some other place within Jakku hospital? Ever see any interesting doctors? Or Nomu, perhaps?"

Kaminari chuckled. "You're after the lab. Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I was never shown it. My master kept his different areas of interest fairly separate from each other."

"Your father is still employed by Haijima Industries," said Tsukauchi. "A corporation that was exposed for working with All For One and then formally pardoned. Do they still work with him now?"

Kaminari shrugged. "With All For One, you mean? Hard to work with a guy that's holed up in here." He shifted in the chair again. "But if you're asking if they still own Jakku hospital and are complicit in my master's interests being fulfilled there, then…" He shrugged again, infuriatingly. "There are other Haijima-owned hospitals all across Japan, you know. And other corporations that my master was allied with. But your Hero Commission pardoned most of them because the government's more interested in the money that those corps can make for the country. It all comes down to money and franchising and brands, whether it's heroes or anything else, doesn't it?"

I won't deny that the Commission and the government can get sketchy at times, Shota thought. But…UA still has a good heart at its core. I believe that.

"He can't help us," Ryukyu said. "Best give it up."

"Can't, or won't?" Tsukauchi asked her. He had taken his finger off the mic button, so Kaminari couldn't hear them.

"Doesn't matter. He's lost. Just like the portal villain. They're all lost, and this won't get us anywhere."

The five of them walked back out of Tartarus, giving up for now.

Outside, sea spray filled the air. The whole prison seemed to sway back and forth in the wind, as they walked out toward the bridge.

Ryukyu lifted her head. "Oh, joy, look who's here."

Hawks was descending down onto the platform, his flapping wings briefly blotting out the sun. "Yo, yo!" he called, waving as he landed. "What'd you all figure out from the electric kid?"

"Nothing we didn't already know," Nighteye answered.

"Hawks, what's your opinion on us charging into Jakku Hospital?" Tsukauchi asked. "With as many heroes as we can gather. Considering you are the highest ranked here."

The winged hero scratched his ear. "Seems a bit reckless, without enough info. It would make sense for the Nomu lab to be there, but that doesn't mean that it is for a fact."

"And the boy did mention other Haijima-owned hospitals," Gran Torino commented. "Maybe if we widened the search…"

"The search is already too wide," Shota groaned, rolling his eyes. "Without Katayama's birth records, and without any more cooperation from Kaminari in there, we can't really get anywhe…"

Tsukauchi's phone buzzed. He pulled it out, read the text, and gasped.

"What is it?" Ryukyu asked him.

"One of my assistants found something. On the Jakku hospital's master schedule for the next week of activity."

Hawks perked up. His face went deadly serious. "And?"

"Amounts of equipment…of undisclosed quantity and nature…are being transported on an express train line from the hospital. To an unknown location."

"That's just vague enough to be annoying," Ryukyu said. "Why all the mystery? Isn't the point of a schedule like that to be as specific as possible?"

"Not if they're trying to hide something. And what's more, they're using a private train on this express line. That would be way too unnecessarily expensive for a hospital to use just for some normal transport job…but the hospital isn't paying for it. According to the records my assistant found, it's being paid for by Detnerat Industries. That company that recently broke into the hero support sector."

"Detnerat?" Nighteye repeated aloud. "Not Haijima? That's…strange."

"Yes," Hawks muttered, his eyes far away. "Very strange indeed."

…

An hour had passed since Doko had figured out Warp Shield and they had received Tsuyu's message.

Mina had tried to call her, as well as some other people from their class, but no luck. Everyone was busy with their own work studies. Kaminari's capture had begun to appear in the news, though, so it wouldn't take long for everyone to find out, Mina supposed. Still. We really should talk it out as a class. I think that would be helpful. Ever since the festival, she felt like she viewed herself as important to the class's well-being as a whole. Almost like her own brand of class rep, separate from Iida and Momo.

It was a shame that everyone was so split up and occupied right now.

About twenty minutes ago, Mirko had loudly declared to Tokoyami that she wanted to fight him out of pure boredom, so now they were sparring. Doko, who had been granted a break for figuring out his new super move, walked over to sit down next to her.

He smiled wearily. "It's gonna be okay," he said. "We'll all be back together soon, and able to talk about it."

She smiled back. "I hope so. And…I hope Tsu, Uraraka, and Midoriya are doing okay."

"They're strong," Doko said. "Stronger than most. I'm sure they'll be fine. But…" he paused for a moment. "What about you?"

"What about me?" she shot back, staring straight ahead at Tokoyami and Mirko's fight. Unable to look at him.

"Mina, this isn't fair. Ever since we first met, I feel like you've always been there to help me out when I'm feeling down. Even in times when I didn't want to talk about it, you persisted, and helped me. Time and time again. So please just tell me what's going on in your head."

"I…" She hung her head shamefully. "I know. You're right. I've always pushed you to get to open up to me in times like this, and now I'm the one who wants to keep it bottled up, but it's because…because I feel guilty…"

"Guilty? About what?"

"I…I have these feelings of jealousy…and I know that I shouldn't…"

"Jealousy? Is this still about the building flip thing?"

"...That, and your new move. It feels like you're just…speeding away from me. And you're doing it even with your Quirk constantly troubling you. A situation that I never bothered to take seriously, might I add." She smiled sadly. "Because I'm just a stupid little girl."

"I'm…I'm sorry, Mina."

"Sorry? For what? Doing well? Don't apologize, you doofus." She kept smiling at him, though her eyes glistened. "It's like I said before. I know what I'm feeling doesn't make any sense, and isn't fair to anyone. Not fair to me or you."

Doko remained quiet for a while. He stared ahead out at the gym. Mirko had just kicked Dark Shadow into the wall.

"Doko? I know Mirko and I both said there's nothing you can say to help, but this is kind of a long bout of silence even by your standa…"

"Mina," he half-whispered, and there was such controlled terror in his voice that she froze solid. "There's something I need to tell you."

"Ah…yes?" She barely held her voice back from trembling.

"...But I can't tell you right now." His shoulders slumped. "I have to figure out the best way. I'm saying this now because I don't think it qualifies as keeping a secret. It's just that I need to say it right and say it to the right people. Or else…we might be in a lot of trouble."

"Well, g-g-geez, okay, Doko. D-don't scare me like that next time."

"I'm sorry. Let's talk about you, then. I know me trying to reassure you won't help, so what can we actually work on? What is it that you want to accomplish, Mina?"

"I…" She looked out at Mirko, who'd just managed to land a hit on Tokoyami himself. "I want…I want something…powerful. I'm already as agile and quick thinking as I'm going to get. But my acid has these limits. I want to break them somehow, but I just don't know how…"

"Do you mean…you want your acid to be more deadly, or…what?"

"No! Not like that, I mean…"

"You CAN do that veil thing where you almost make a Todoroki ice slide out of acid. That seems pretty powerful."

"But that's its upper limit! I can't really make much more than that amount at once…"

"Hmm." Doko tapped his chin. "Well, there's lots you can do with that amount of acid. It doesn't necessarily have to be a veil or a wall or a cascade like you usually do. Maybe a different sort of shape, or a different application of that same amount?"

Mina rubbed her temples. "I don't…I don't want to lose control, though…man, if only I had joined in on your training with Tokoyami or something…"

"Lose control how, exactly? Like, making the acid more deadly?"

"No!" she punched him in the side, pouting. "Why are you so hung up on making it deadlier? No, I mean, like…as a younger kid, I didn't have control of my Quirk as much, and sometimes…sometimes, you know, I would secrete acid out of other parts of my body besides my palms and feet. It would be bad because I had less control of it and I would melt things…"

"Wait," Doko furrowed his brow. "Your acid can come out of all the pores in your body?"

"Uhh, yeah. I swear you knew about this already."

"I mean, I did, it's just…" He turned to look at her seriously. "Mina, what's so bad about releasing acid from other parts of your body?"

"Huh? Because…" She paused. "Because it would always happen as a kid and it was embarrassing…"

"But you were doing it by accident then. What if you did it on purpose?"

"I…um…" Mina's face twitched. A vision of Doko using Warp Shield flashed through her head. His Quirk covering his whole body. Like armor…

Mina Ashido stood. "MIRKO!" she roared.

The rabbit heroine turned in surprise. She'd just knocked Tokoyami out, and hardly seemed winded. "What, you want some too now, Pinky?" She dropped into a fighting stance. "I'm just gettin' started!"

Mina kept walking forward. "So am I!" she declared…and released acid from all her pores at once.

It felt strange, letting it go like that. Because she wasn't focusing it through her hands, it came drooping out in its undistilled form. Instead of being grey and opaque…it was translucent. Like mouthwash. Goopy, goopy mouthwash, oozing out of her whole body at once, coating her in it.

The acid passed in front of her eyes, filling in like a full body shield, but Mirko's surprised face was still visible.

Mina focused. Focused, focused, focused…

Her feet lifted off the ground, being held up by her own acid. She was completely surrounded by several inches of it on all sides. It was like she was in the stomach of some…some monster. Some alien. Some alien queen.

As soon as she thought that, two acid antennae popped up out of the top of the form, corresponding to her horns. Mirko looked up at it, and let out an ecstatic laugh.

Mina took a jubilant step forward, and the entire form surrounding her stepped with her, glooping out against the floor. Steam rose up where it made contact, but she didn't care. "THIS IS MY SHIELD!" she shouted. "ACID QUEEN!"

"I'd come and kiss you," Doko announced from the sidelines, "but I think I'd die trying to get in there."

She turned to him, and smirked triumphantly.

…

A few minutes later, they had cleaned up the acidic mess Mina had left on the gym floor, with quite a bit of help from Dark Shadow. Mina was sheepish but Mirko promised they would keep working on it until she had full, constant control of the acid "form" that shaped around her. And she and Doko couldn't stop smiling at each other.

"Well," Tokoyami said, arms crossed, "training with all of you today turned out to be more fruitful than I anticipated."

"You are going back to your agency tomorrow, right?" Mirko asked him, chewing on a carrot.

"Yes, I will be out of your hair. And back with the sidekicks, more than likely."

"Even if Hawks isn't around, I hope you can have a good work study, Tokoyami!" Mina exclaimed. "Maybe you can figure out a cool new move, too!"

Tokoyami sighed. "That would be nice."

"You guys talking about me?"

The four of them all turned. Hawks was striding into the gym, appearing somewhat winded. Doko's eyes narrowed.

"Hawks!" Tokoyami exclaimed. "We were just…"

"Training, I hope. You better not be lazing around when we're about to have work to do." He pulled a file out of his jacket, and handed it to Mirko. "We've been given an assignment."

Mirko opened the folder and read the text quickly, clicking her teeth. "This is quite the job to take three students on."

"I believe they're up to the challenge," Hawks said. "Sorry, Tokoyami, you won't be going back to the agency, as much as you probably miss my sidekicks. You're coming with me to north Japan."

"And the three of us, as well," Mirko said, to Mina and Doko.

"What are we doing?" Mina asked. "Is it a mission?"

Hawks nodded. "The League of Villains is moving top secret equipment out of a hospital and toward an unknown location. Likely, it's stuff related to creating the Nomu."

Doko gasped.

"But," Hawks continued, "We've got their train route up to a certain point. The five of us are gonna intercept that train, destroy their equipment, and get out. We don't know what kind of security they'll have aboard, but our priority is ensuring that they will never be able to make Nomu again."

The three students exchanged a glance. "And…when is this?"

"The night after next. We're moving out in two hours, though. Ready up."

…

*intense action music*

New moves for Doko and Mina! I feel like I didn't do well at describing Mina's move, so if you're confused about the visual, then look up "mina acidman". It's just her super move that she developed at the second work study in the manga, but named differently here because I like the name Acid Queen.