Rule #5: You don't waste good

'Of the forty students in attendance at the UA training camp, fourteen were found unconscious & in serious condition, eleven were injured, thirteen were unharmed and two were missing…Reports say that of the Pro heroes, Pixie Bob sustained a serious head injury and Ragdoll has gone missing with concerning amounts of blood left at the scene…' The television prattled on as Shigaraki flipped carelessly through the channels; not one of them was without notice about the latest League of Villains attack on UA. '…Three villains have been apprehended, but others are still at large…It would appear that the criminals behind the attack call themselves the League of Villains Vanguard Action Squad. The League was previously involved with the USJ attack and the Hosu incident…' Toru—bound and zipped into a modified hazmat suit (on account of the information relayed by the Nomu to the League upon their arrival last night)—grit her teeth so hard that she thought they were going to break. Following their harrowing capture, the two teens had spent the rest of the night inside the converted storage room—Toru curled up at one end and Bakugou at the other.

When morning had broken, the pair had been fed relatively well considering the situation—mostly just an assortment of bar snacks that had been scavenged from behind the counter. Next, the two had been separated for individual…"interrogations" Ones for which had left Toru's confused thoughts reeling, Are they trying to recruit us? I mean, I can see why you'd think so…but why? All in all, the two heroes-in-training had been treated fairly well, considering the situation. '…Youngest victim of the training camp attack was reportedly the son of Pro Heroes: Water Horse, killed by Muscular in a tragic…It's perfectly obvious to me that there's some sort of problem with UA's current management. If I had a child who wanted to become a hero, there's no way I'd enrol them in a school that'll—'

"Hehehe!' Shigaraki giggled as he muted the bar's TV and swivelled around on his bar stool to face the two teens who were bound before him. "I'm so grateful to the media for all the free publicity lately! Right? Isn't it nice, Bakugou Katsuki?" His one free eye was pinned on the blonde strapped into the chair with both his hands bound in a metal casing and shackled together for good measure. "But then again, I'd s'pose you know all about that wouldn't you, Hagakure Toru?"

It then rolled over to Toru who was similarly bound next to him and resolutely refusing to even glance at her explosive peer. Despite the situation, half her mind was more focused on the All Might novelty USB stick that Twice had shoved into her hands as she was wheeled out to the bar and what it meant for her. The other half of her mind was trying to focus on not going supernova like she had done when she was younger, even as she felt her skin bubble and bulge painfully with the power of it.

Toru had always been a late bloomer, even as a child, and until her sixth birthday everyone (including herself) thought that her invisibility would be the only faucet of her quirk. At least until she had lit up the kitchen like a firework, blinding everyone within her radius. She couldn't remember much about the incident, only that she had been arguing with her brother over something stupid & inconsequential, and then the next her world had exploded. It had been too hot, too painful, too light. So much so that she thought her heart was going to give out-and it did, but not until she was 10 years old. It would seem that her body hadn't quite adapted as well as one would have hoped over those four years and they had been extremely lucky that her new heart has held out as well as it has.

But whatever the Nomu had done to her in the forest had paused the process if only momentarily, but now it was back and with a vengeance. Y'know, I know that transplant recipients only live a certain length of time afterwards, but I'd hoped to get to graduation at least… Tears welled up in her eyes, blurring her vision behind the hazy plastic of the suit and her mother's voice flittered through her head as they told her monstrous tales of relatives going out the same way. Soon enough, the sound of the villains' monologuing became background noise in favour of the television's volume which had been switched back on at some point.

'…Let's return to a short clip from the UA high school press conference that just wrapped up…' Toru's head absentmindedly flickered back to the TV where she found Nezu, Aizawa and Vlad King all dressed in black tie suits and were bowing to the camera. Sensei? But he hates being on TV! '…We are here to apologise. A recent incident allowed harm to come to twenty-seven first year heroes and we staff were ill-prepared. We take responsibility for any trauma caused by our negligence; it's our duty to train heroes, but also to protect heroes-in-training…' Cameras flashed like torches in the night as the teachers bowed once more. Toru had only ever seen Karasuma-Sensei looking that serious before—of course, that was his default setting. '…Alright, I'll take the first question—' A well manicured hand shot up into frame, belonging to one of the reporters, '—since the beginning of the year, UA students have had four encounters with villains. This time there were students who were gravelly injured, how did you explain this to their families? What are some of the specific steps you're taking to ensure their safety in the future?' Toru's brows furrowed at that, especially when Nezu's response about increased patrols around the school earned a scoff from Dabi in the corner. Those questions…it's like they're being treated as villains… Her eyes then grew wide as her mind turned to the other half of the questions, Oh shit! I didn't even think how Mum's gonna react! She's gonna kill me! AHHHHHH! I'm sooooo dead!

"Hehe! Isn't that strange?" Shigaraki chuckled turning to face the pair once more, "The heroes are becoming the bad guys. Seems like they're not dealing with this very well at all. So much criticism, but everyone makes a mistake or two, right? Everyone gets their hands dirty at some point, right Hagakure?" Toru growled in the back of her throat at the insinuation, even as she felt multiple eyes turn to her. "But anyway, it's not like they're supposed to be perfect; modern day heroes sure have it rough. Don't cha think, Bakugou?"

"Once a hero receives payment to protect people, they aren't a real hero anymore. That's what's Stain's actions taught us" Added Spinner from where he leant against the exposed wall

"Awe…" Toru grit out through pained teeth, as she tried her best to fake the sassiness she wasn't feeling. "Are you pouting big baby boo? Did someone not get enough hugs?"

"Why you little—!" Spinner's reply was drowned out by Twice's hysterical belly laughter as he collapsed against the bartop.

"A hero in this current system only cares about money and glory—" Shigaraki lectured.

"—How is that any different from you guys?" Toru questioned, though she was pointedly ignored.

"And since society buys into those idiotic rules, anyone deemed a loser is shoved aside—"

"—Y'know you just inadvertently called yourself a loser, right? Wait, are you calling us losers too?"

"So, we want to pose some questions—" Shigaraki glared at Toru who merely grinned in response.

She was tired, hungry and on the point of—quite literally—blowing up; at this point, she didn't really give two fucks about what these villains thought of her; instead she was far more focused on how her feet burned like she had been walking on burning embers. "—What is a hero? What is justice? Is the society truly fair? Soon everyone will be asking, that's when we'll know we've won! And you like winning, don't you?"

"Well, duh" Toru rolled her eyes and ignored Bakugou's look for her to shut up, "Who doesn't like winning? But to answer your other questions: a hero is literally defined as someone who saves another, justice is moral revenge or vengeance taken upon someone—usually through the legal system. And for your final question, it's quite simple: society is and has always been chaos personified. It cannot be contained, cannot be controlled—no matter how much you want to—and doing so would be a total waste of effort. Why do you think we have religions? 'Cause more than 150 people in one group tends to make people go a little nuts, hence the omnipotent & wrathful God(s)"

"And how would you know all that?" Twice questioned, going from interrogator to best friend in a split second. "I love it!"

"I have this magical thing called a brain! Wah!"

"Will you shut up!" Bakugou hissed at her.

"Y'know the only reason your in this mess is cause of your stupid catchphrases, right?" Toru turned as much as she could in her bindings to face Bakugou. "I mean, what hero yells 'die' or 'murder' or 'kill'? It's no wonder they picked you up, I mean, c'me on!"

"Yeah, and why'd they grab you then, Sunshine?"

"What is it with you and nicknames?" Toru blatantly switched topics, bypassing the question. "Can you not remember anyone's real names? It's Toru! To-ru! T-O-R-U! Toru! Are you thick or something?"

"Me? What dumbass spells out their name in front of villains?!" Bakugou nodded towards the group who were watching the childishly squabbling teens like it was a tennis match with varying looks of amusement.

"They already know who we are, dumbass! Or did you miss that bit when you were brooding? Huh?"

"What d'ya say?!" Bakugou seemed to be trying his best to keep his temper in check, despite Toru's needless taunts. His eyes narrowed on her bound figure and his nose twitched at something only he could smell. Can he smell my burning flesh?

"Hard of hearing?"

"Fuck you!"

"I'd rather not, thanks. Why don't you ask Kiri?"

"Wha—! You—!" Bakugou spluttered and choked on his spit as he burnt crimson.

"Thought so" Toru smugly sat back in her seat, looking very much like the cat that had caught the canary.

"Dabi" Shigaraki interjected, "Let 'em go"

"Huh? Y'know we'll just end up fighting?" Dabi retorted.

"It's fine!" Shigaraki sighed. "We're recruiting them, so we should treat them as equals. Besides, they're smart enough to know we can't all be taken on at once, right? After all, UA students are so clever"

"Hey Twice" Dabi then turned to the clone villain, "You do it"

"Sure thing!" Twice cheered before crossing his arms, "No way!"

"Do it"

"Aw man!"

"I do apologise for such forceful methods" Compress began as Twice set to work unchaining the two teens. "But please understand we aren't some kind of unruly mob committing crimes without a third act in mind. We didn't kidnap you by accident"

"Even though our backgrounds are different everyone here has suffered because of people, rules and heroes who try to hold us back. I'm sure you're the same" Shigaraki stalked forth as Twice moved from her to Bakugou, quickly freeing him.

"Quick question" Toru piped up as she pulled the hood off of the suit, and unzipping it, pushed it down to her waist. "Did you practise that speech in the mirror this morning or is this all just off the cuff?"

"I've about had enough of your little quips, girlie. Maybe we should just kill you" Shigaraki narrowed his gaze at the pulsating girl, now only wearing half the modified hazmat suit. Toru's eyes gleamed at the word 'kill' and before anyone could blink, she was up in Shigaraki's face, with a burning hand clasped around his throat. Her voice was silky smooth and her smug grin cat-like as the nails of her spare fist dug into her palm, cutting small crescents into the skin and pulling forth droplets of blood as she fought a losing battle against the pain. Well aware, that she was flickering in and out of sight, she tried to keep her expression as pain-free as possible when she replied, letting her pulsing hand burn the villain and his her pain as best she could. "Y'know Stain said the same thing" She let her eyes rove over to Spinner who had perked up at the mention of the deceased villain & his idol, "And then I ripped out his beating heart" Her gaze drifted over the tense forms of the villains around her, before coming to land back on Shigaraki. "Maybe I should do the same to you. What's one more, right?"

The room stood for a moment in tense silence as nobody dared move nor breath. Then—hyperaware as she was in that moment—Toru picked up the familiar whistling and wailing noise that came before Bakugou's explosions as he jumped into action. Quickly ducking out of the way, Toru was able to miss the explosion as Bakugou attacked the League of Villains figurehead and blasted him away.

"SHIGARAKI!" Twice cried as Toru popped up slightly behind Bakugou, and waited for the smoke to clear.

"I'm done listening to your endless babbling. Can you not get to the point or do you just like the sound of your own voice? Basically what you're saying is you want to cause some trouble and you want us to join you? Well, screw you!"Bakugou snarled, standing squarely in front of his classmate whose lip had started to bleed when she bit to hard to hide the pain she was in. "I want to win, I wanna win just like All Might—!"

"Again with the All Might obsession!" Toru muttered under breath with a roll of her eyes.

"—No matter what you have to offer me! That'll never change, do you understand?!" Bakugou continued on. "I'LL NEVER JOIN YOUR LEAGUE OF BASTARDS! WE MAY NOT BE AT CAMP, BUT I'M STILL ALLOWED TO FIGHT!"

"He must've figured they're important to us" Magne concluded, "What a clever boy"

"No, he's a fool" Dabi corrected.

"Let me stab him!" Toga pleaded.

"A clever performer would've acted like we were winning him over, now that he's broken character, he's finished" Compress added.

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Toru muttered, suckling on her bleeding lip as her eyes roved over the tense forms in front of her. The door was at her back, but there was no way to flee without alerting the villains.

"I only ever do what I want to and I refuse to pretend otherwise—"

"—Wow, it's a wonder you passed your classes with that attitude—"

"—And I'm tired of being surrounded by a bunch of lame ass wannabes!"

"Fa~ther!" Shigaraki rasped, eyes still locked on the fallen hand and his own hand slowly raised.

Something which seemed to put Kurogiri on edge, and Toru knew if his own allies were worried then she should be too.

"NO! Shigaraki Tomura! Be calm!" Kurogiri ordered, his Quirk flaring to life in his controlled panic.

But instead of attacking like they had thought, he simply raised his arm out as if to stop the others from attacking the teens.

"Don't lay a finger on them, any of you" Shigaraki calmly bent down to retrieve the hand which had been blasted off of his face and reattached it over his nose. "These heroes are still valuable pieces. I wish you would've listened to what I had to say, I thought we could come to an understanding"

"What? You think we're the same?" Bakugou growled. "Not a chance!"

"Then I have no choice" Shigaraki sighed, "The heroes said they'd continue their investigation of our group, so we don't have time to stand here and talk. Master?" He turned to the TV which now displayed the words: 'AUDIO ONLY' in neon purple lettering. "Lend me your power"

"A master, huh? I thought you were the boss around here but you're just a sidekick"

"Kurogiri, Compress it's time to put them back to sleep"

"What? Are you still pissy that I kicked you in the nuts?" Toru taunted as she watched Compress stride forward as he pulled at his gloves.

"Seriously?" Toga laughed as she leant over the bartop with a wicked grin on her face.

"Hey, if ain't broke" Toru shrugged nonchalantly.

"Now" Shigaraki stated sharply.

"Heh, I can't believe their such bad audience members" Compress sighed. "It's almost impressive"

"IF YOU WANT ME TO LISTEN, THEN GET ON YOUR KNEES AND BEG!" Bakugou yelled. Our only reliable is exit is through the back door. Toru's gaze slid over the room they were in as Bakugou kept the villains busy, But that Kurogiri guy is quick on his feet. Who knows if we'll even get through the door if we get it open?

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Er…" A masculine voice sounded through the back door and all eyes snapped to it with varying levels of confusion written across their features. "Hello? Pizza delivery" There was a beat of silence as everyone tried to figure out what was going on, before they had to suddenly duck away from the flying debris.

"SMASH!" All Might cried as he suddenly broke through the brick wall, sending debris flying everywhere.

"What the—?" Spinner cried from the floor as Toru sat up, coughing and hacking up the dust in her lungs. Above her, Bakugou stood—not quite touching—but sheltering her all the same. It seemed he still remembered her plea from earlier not to touch her, but had still moved to protect in that moment. Toru wasn't sure if he had even noticed he'd done it.

"Kurogiri! Gate!" Shigaraki ordered as the warp villain's Quirk flared to life.

"Preemptive Binding: Lacquered Chain Prison!" Kamui cried as he swung in after the blonde hero and wrapped the villains in his wooden limbs.

"Huh? That's it?" Dabi scoffed only to be thwarted by yet another hero, this one being the much older Grand Torino.

"Don't do anything foolish" Grand Torino kicked Dabi in the head, swiftly knocking him out. "It's in your best interest to co-operate with us"

"Just what I'd expect from a competent new hero!" All Might praised, "And a veteran pro who moves faster than the eye can see. You can't run anymore, League of Villains! Understand? Because we are here now!"

"Right after the press conference?" Compress exclaimed. "They had this ruse planned the whole time!"

"Tree man you're hugging me too tight!" Twice complained before his voice took on a husky tone, "Harder!"

Off to the side, from the cracks of the closed back door emerged another hero: Edgeshot. "One tends to neglect defence when they're the offence. But we didn't come alone, take a look" Unlocking the door and swinging it open revealed rows upon rows of heavily armed officers in riot gear. Did they all come for us? Toru frowned, Are we really that important? "You're surrounded by the police, not to mention powerful heroes like Endeavour" Eurgh! Not that guy!

"Ah! You must've been scared! But you stayed strong" All Might turned to the two teens, "I'm sorry, you're safe now, young ones"

"…Was the monologue really necessary?" Toru quirked an eyebrow up at the blonde hero as she tried her best to hide the pain she was in but unable to stop the hiss that escaped through her clenched teeth. Her invisibility leant itself to her in that moment, allowing her to hide the majority of her movements and facial expressions, but not all. Her question was left answered, and mostly drowned out by Bakugou who exploded next to her, lips still wobbling and wide eyes staring at the Symbol of Peace.

"WHAT?! I WASN'T SCARED! NOT EVEN CLOSE!" Bakugou shouted, though he wasn't really convincing anyone.

"KUROGIRI! WARP OVER AS MANY AS YOU CAN!" Shigaraki suddenly shouted from his bindings.

"The Nomu, right?" All Might sneered.

"What are you waiting for, dammit?!"

"I'm sorry, Shigaraki Tomura" Kurogiri bowed his head, "The Nomus were supposed to be in a fixed location, but…they're gone!"

"Huh?"

"It seemed you have a lot to learn, Shigaraki, you're still green" All Might clamped a heavy hand onto Bakugou's shoulder, as Toru remained seated on the floor at their feet. "You're little league underestimated all of us: the souls of these young heroes, the police's diligent investigations and our righteous fury!"

All Might's prideful decrees teetered out into static as Toru became more focused in on herself. By this point, sweat was pouring from her brow and the scene in front of her swayed and blurred, making her blink rapidly in an attempt to refocus. Shoving her palms into her eyes, she rubbed at them until fuzzy stars exploded at the corners of her vision and tears bled from the corners of her eyes as she tried to reassure herself that her deceased senses weren't seated at the bar. Even Shigaraki's retort went unheard as one of the multiple warp gates sprung up around her.

Pure darkness enveloped her already fading vision as treacle-like tentacles moved at a speed which should not have been possible. Swarming across her shoulders and down her legs, it enveloped her in its hold, diving deep into places it should not be as she was sucked inwards. Her nails dragged uselessly across the wooden flooring and a single yelp full of pain and terror escaped her as the last thing she saw was Yukimura-Sensei seated at the bar with a glass in her hand as she toasted to her late student.