Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 125:

"Hey, Uraraka," Midoriya stood just outside the room of one of his best friends in Class A. The door had opened and the shorter girl on the other side was looking out at him, and she moved to the side and motioned him in with a motion of her head though with her lips pursed and dipped down at the corners. "You, wanted to talk?"

"Mm-hm," Uraraka hummed with a nod of her head. She closed her door behind her and then walked over towards her desk chair and sat down. Midoriya was left standing awkwardly next to the small coffee table she had in the middle of her room, but Uraraka motioned towards her bed with her head in a hesitant way. "You can, sit," she said.

"Ah- oh, um, thank you," Midoriya started walking towards the bed. "Thank you?!" He felt like smacking himself in the face, but the nervous boy just went to Uraraka's bed and sat down on the edge of it. "So um, what did you want to talk about?" Midoriya asked the brown-haired girl who pursed her lips again and looked away at the question.

"Well, I wanted to… how was your trip to Italy?!" She asked fast and loudly, and then she lowered her gaze down with a sad look in her eyes. That's not what I want to say.

"It was…" Midoriya started. Uraraka turned back to her classmate who had not said much about the trip so far. He and Tokoyami had both been pretty quiet about it, and she only heard about it from Tokoyami which was one of the reasons she was upset right now. One of the many reasons, the girl in front of Midoriya started frowning at him more at how long a pause he had after starting that sentence. "Hawks, fired me," Midoriya said after looking up and seeing Uraraka staring at him so expectantly at him like he was trying to hide something from her.

Uraraka pulled back on her desk chair in surprise. She had thought his hesitation was for a different reason, and now she felt a bit sorry for giving him that look. "Oh, why did he do that? Did something happen, Deku?"

"The… You heard about the, Army of Death member who got broken out of prison in Italy," Midoriya said it more as a start of a statement than a question since he knew she had heard about it. Everyone had heard about it already. She nodded at him slowly, and then her eyes opened wide as Midoriya continued in a lower voice, "I was the one who, arrested him."

"You did?" Uraraka whispered. Midoriya nodded his head. Uraraka paused and her softened eyes started to narrow, but she loosened up her expression again as she gave him the benefit of the doubt. After a few seconds though, Uraraka asked in a quiet voice, "Why?"

Midoriya stared back into her eyes and he curled his hands into his thighs that he had them resting on the sides of. "Because," Midoriya started, shaking his head at her because of the question she just asked. "Because, he was a…" He paused and his eyes got softer while looking into his friend's, and then he said while lowering his gaze down, "Because I thought he might be Zach. I, really wanted it to be Zach, when I saw them there. He looked like him too in that dark costume with the swords and-"

"You mean, Death?" Uraraka asked. "You still think they're the same person?"

Midoriya nodded and looked back up in her eyes. "I do," he replied. Uraraka frowned back at him and Midoriya could see on her face that she did not think the same. He continued while looking away again, "Hawks fired me for, arresting a villain. It doesn't make sense to me."

"It doesn't sound fair," Uraraka agreed softly. "What was the guy doing?"

"He was," Midoriya started off strongly. He hesitated and then ground his teeth before saying, "Does it matter?"

"I guess not," Uraraka whispered. Midoriya turned back to her in surprise as he was expecting her to push that issue. She just shook her head though and looked down at her floor herself. He would have responded differently, if they were doing anything bad. He would have said they were fighting heroes or committing crimes or… but he just went after him because he thought it was, Zach. Uraraka's eyes lifted up from the floor and she took in a deep breath as her eyes were locking onto her classmate's. "Deku, you really hate Zach, don't you?"

"Of course I don't hate him," Midoriya said, shaking his head fast back at the girl across a small gap from him. He leaned forward as he said it and pressed his hands down on top of his thighs, "Why would you say that-"

"Whenever you talk about him you're always, you always talk about him like he's a bad guy. A villain who needs to be caught."

"That's because, he is," Midoriya countered. He hesitated for a second but finished strongly which just made Uraraka frown more at him. Midoriya lifted his head back and he started frowning back at her after a few seconds, "Don't you remember what he did?"

"I do, and it was-"

"Then why are you made at me for remembering that?" Midoriya asked defensively, and looking hurt as he did. "Zach killed those villains. And he lied to all of-"

"Lies?" Uraraka asked, and she clenched her fists hard at her sides. Midoriya froze as the girl in front of him was shaking in her seat and he could see why she really wanted to call him in here now. She stood up off her chair though as that was combined with this now, and she said louder and in an angrier voice, "You lie too! Deku, what about your lies about All Might?" Midoriya pulled back on the bed and he looked hurt but at the same time turned away as he could not say anything to her.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I told you it was just Raijin-"

"And I pretended I was fine with what you 'told me,' but I'm not!" Uraraka's fists shook at her sides and she stepped closer to the bed Midoriya pulled farther back on at how close she was getting. Then Uraraka stopped though. She stopped and her fists started to loosen, and she just frowned harder at him though as he sat there looking back defensively at her but keeping his mouth shut. "Because, because I liked you, Deku. I liked you a lot, because of how earnest you were. How trustworthy," she started shaking her head and her face got pained as she said the word while looking at the boy whose face was covered in shock as she said this to him. She pulled her head back after shaking it to the side again, and she snapped, "But you lie. You lie when you tell me that Kaminari was just, saying it because your Quirks were similar. I noticed how close you and All Might were a long time ago so you can't just pretend…"

"Uraraka, I-"

"No!" Uraraka called out, shutting him up and leaning back towards him with a frustrated look on her face. "You, you get mad at Zach for his lies despite being a total hypocrite! Despite the fact that you lie to all of us, to me, straight to my face."

Midoriya's hands curled into the blanket he was sitting on as she said that to him. He felt his heart tearing up and it was not a good feeling, and he leaned back forward himself and said in a defensive tone, "How can Zach do it and you not be mad, but you be so mad at me? You're defending him so-"

"I am mad at Zach too," Uraraka said, shaking her head at him for putting words in her mouth. "That he lied, as much as Kaminari." Her face covered in pain and she shook her head again with her eyes getting watery, "He lied to us the entire time, for months and semesters he lied, and I felt like I didn't even know him anymore after that night in the forest." Uraraka's eyes shifted to the floor, and she continued softer, "I got so scared of him with all those things he yelled, things that I realized then meant that he had lied about everything for so long… but Zach's gone." Her eyes lifted and looked into Midoriya's without anger in them, at least not directed at Zach. "And I'm not going to be mad at him when he did what he did for peace, for everyone else, and when telling people secrets before got everyone he ever loved killed."

Uraraka said it in frustration while looking straight into Deku's eyes. Then she pulled her head back. She pulled back and she looked at the curly-haired boy who was grinding his teeth in so much frustration himself, and pain too, and like he was holding so much back but could not say anything. And what she just said echoed in her own mind. "Deku though, you just, Deku… I know, you might think the same will happen," she tried to make her voice sound sympathetic, but she started shaking her head again with anger reappearing all over it. "But that still doesn't make me accept it!" He looked into her eyes looking desperate for her to have said something else there, but she shook her head at him. "Maybe that makes me a bad friend, but so does lying," she said in a cracked voice, tears in the corners of her eyes as she looked at the boy she had had a crush on for years.

"Uraraka… I don't," Midoriya paused and he could not think of what he was supposed to say there.

She continued fast when he could not though. "I always knew Zach was hiding things," Uraraka said. "Being secretive was who he was, and I accepted that and was friends with him anyway. We all knew the whole time that Zach was hiding stuff but that was who he was from the first day of class. When he wouldn't even tell us his Quirk, when he was the mystery kid with a glove hiding his hand…" Uraraka shook her head sounding pained as she brought up that time so long ago. Then she continued in a stronger, and angrier tone, "But Deku, I never thought you were like that. So even more than Zach, you've betrayed my entire idea of who you were." Uraraka shook her head at Midoriya's pained look that was hoping she would just change her mind and understand from his side.

Midoriya saw her shaking her head like that, and he couldn't hold himself back. "Uraraka, I- All Might-"

"I don't care about what the secret is!" Uraraka shouted. Midoriya froze with his mouth open and Uraraka just shook her head at him more with her eyes narrowed and her eyebrows cutting in towards her nose at how he tried to get out of this just by telling her there. "I, I just care that you kept it from me, and that you decided to lie about it instead of just keeping it." Uraraka sounded the most hurt out of either of them through the whole conversation as she said that. She stepped back and she looked to her left and down at the floor. "That you chose to do what Zach did, because that's not who you are." Midoriya stood up in front of her and reached a hand forward, but Uraraka pulled to the side and grabbed her left arm with her right across her body. She looked betrayed, and hurt, and Midoriya's hand shook but lowered down as his own eyes watered just watching her look this hurt by what he had done. "That's not the Deku I know. Who I knew- who, I thought I knew… Or who I was in…"

"Uraraka…" Midoriya lowered his head and he whispered softer, "I'm sorry. I'm so, sorry. I never meant to hurt you. And, I never should have lied just to-"

"No no no," Uraraka started shaking her head and rubbed her eyes fast with her hands. She lifted her head and had a half-smile on it as she looked back at him with less of a pained look as a moment ago. "I'm sorry," she shook her head still with tears in her eyes. "I said too much- I put you on too much of a- I shouldn't have called you in here just to get mad at you for, for nothing. I'm sorry."

"Uraraka it's alright I-"

"No, really. It's fine." Uraraka waved her hands in front of her and then lowered her sad gaze down for a second. Her smile dipped a bit but she said still with it partially on her face, "That's all I, wanted to talk about, Deku. I just wanted you to… know, I guess. It's fine though. I'm not really mad. Not, anymore." Midoriya looked away and he bit down hard behind his lips. Uraraka saw that look and she pulled her own head back with a similar scrunched up look on it. She turned away herself and just said softer, "Some people just have secrets. I think I need to learn to accept that. I'll try to, Deku. I really will."

Deku looked back towards Uraraka and he gulped but then nodded his head in a steady way at her. I can't say. Don't, just put her in danger for no reason. That would have been stupid. Just, just go. "Okay, and I'll, I'll stop lying… to you. I promise." Uraraka hesitated as he said it, and then she nodded at him. Deku then turned towards her door, and he headed out of Uraraka's room with his heart racing and his face full of pain. This is what it takes. The sacrifices… All Might, how did you decide who to tell? In all the years as the Symbol, only a few people ever knew… I already have, so many. The villains Shigaraki told after All For One told him, Bakugo, and… Zach. Zach told his secrets to one person. And one person was too much in his case. This is too dangerous. Uraraka, I want to tell you. I've always, wanted to tell you. The look on Uraraka's face when she started shaking her head and looking up with a fake smile reappeared in Midoriya's mind. It gripped his heart for a second but then loosened up, and Midoriya steadied his look too after scrunching it up again. This is better. It will be better for both of us.

Midoriya's fists clenched as he walked into the stairwell to head back to his room. His eyes narrowed in determination, If I truly want to become the Symbol of Peace, I can't have distractions. I don't have the luxury for, for… I have to give some things away. I have to make certain sacrifices. In order to become, the Number 1 hero.

"Sir, we've been cleared for a landing," Olympia called out. She stepped out of the cockpit and closed the door behind her, then she walked farther back in the private jet towards Endeavor, and his youngest son who sat across the aisle from him. "Shoto, how're you doing?"

"Fine," Shoto Todoroki replied to his father's sidekick. He kept looking out the window on his side of the jet while responding, looking down over the snowy landscape outside. Switzerland. We're right in the middle of the Alps.

"Shoto," Endeavor stood up from his seat, and his son turned at the sound of his father's voice. "You are coming with me inside. Olympia, keep watch over the plane. Security is tight inside. Come get me if something happens, I will not have my phone."

"Understood," Olympia replied with a nod.

"They'll even make us turn over our phones?" Shoto asked the muscular man at his side who grunted in annoyance as he agreed that it was unnecessary.

"This bank is especially strict with its security, but after the robbery," Endeavor paused and he frowned deeper. "We can be sure of even more checks than usual, even on heroes." Especially on heroes, Endeavor thought with his eyes narrowing more at the door on the side of the jet that had a wider window he could look through down at the bank below.

Todoroki saw his father's eyes narrow and he looked out too. The seventeen year old frowned at the bank they were flying down to the side of where there was a long runway built for clients coming from far away. The bank was in a secluded part of the country, and Todoroki had not seen many other buildings around the mountains the bank was situated on in a valley between two tall ones. There were some wooden shacks set up on the mountains at their sides, but to Todoroki they looked like guard posts with balconies on the outsides of them that there were people on. There were some houses farther down the mountain too, but so few that Todoroki wondered if they were just for the staff of the bank with maybe a town set up near them so they could get by.

Swiss banks are the most secure in the world, Todoroki thought, though he kept frowning and did not shake his uneasy feeling at the powerful presence he felt from his father stronger than usual. Why call in Dad for a robbery and not Swiss heroes? The perpetrator might be an international criminal robbing one of the most secure banks, or maybe they already know it's a Japanese villain. "Just watch and listen, Shoto. This will be a good experience for you… Keep your eyes peeled on everything around you."

Are we in danger here? Shoto darted a look up at Endeavor but the pro was not saying anything else as they landed. Endeavor reached forward and he grabbed the handle on the side of the private jet that slowed down quickly on the runway while pulling to the side where some people were waiting for them. Endeavor leapt out of the plane, and Todoroki stepped forward after him and then jumped out too. Endeavor made flames come out of his feet and he lowered to the ground fast but without hurting himself or stumbling on the landing. Shoto Todoroki swung his right hand and slid down an ice ramp, then he pointed his left hand behind him and fired flames at it to melt the ice instead of leaving it on the runway.

Todoroki jogged up to his father who was not waiting but walking right up to the five men awaiting them on the runway. None of those men had reacted strongly to the way the two of them just leapt out of a moving jet, though the man in the middle did look frustratedly down at his watch before lifting his gaze back to Endeavor who was walking his way instead of hurrying more. Shoto frowned at the man's impatient attitude considering they did just jump out of the plane instead of waiting for it to stop and them disembarking in a calmer fashion. The man ahead of them called out in Japanese towards them though, "Endeavor. You have arrived. Thank you for coming."

The man stepped forward quickly instead of waiting for Endeavor to reach him. He walked in front of the two burly men in black suits in front of him on his left and right corners of the square the four guards had made around him. They were wearing black suits just like the thinner employee who stepped between them, but those two men had on black sunglasses hiding their eyes and they had pistols down on their waists that Endeavor noticed already just like his son. The employee of the bank stepping towards Endeavor froze as the Flame Hero before him said in a deep tone, "Your men have firearms on them. What is the meaning of this?"

The guards behind the employee trying to reach up and shake Endeavor's hand all tensed up as Endeavor glared around at them. The man closest to Endeavor shook a hand around in front of him and said, "Those aren't- we had to buff up our security after this recent break-in! Those aren't guns though, not real ones at least-"

"Let me see it then," Endeavor said.

Todoroki's eyes darted up to the guard boxes on the sides of the two mountains closest to the bank. The valley they were in had been flattened out a lot, and it was a very wide area big enough for a bank, a road, a whole private airstrip. And on that wide area and on the mountains on the sides, Todoroki saw a lot of guards who he frowned at the sight of them all looking their direction or back towards their plane which had finally stopped on the runway.

"We called you here so that-"

"Shall I take that, as you are denying my demand to see that firearm?" Endeavor questioned the thin employee whose eyes shot open wide at the threat Endeavor just made. The thin man had combed black hair parted mostly to the right, he was clean-shaven, he had brown eyes and an inconspicuous boring appearance of what a man might look like if one were to search a 'Caucasian male' on the internet.

"Of course not. Hand Endeavor your gun, hurry it up," the employee turned and motioned at the guard on his right up to Endeavor.

The guard stepped forward while pulling out his gun. He flipped it around and held the barrel out so Endeavor could grab the grip, and Endeavor pulled the gun back and then aimed at the floor. Endeavor fired without delay, and the gun did not make as loud of a noise as he expected. He reached down to the floor and picked up a round black ball, and he lifted up the shot that was hot but nothing he could not handle. "It's not rubber," Endeavor said.

"It's not a bullet either though. And it's non-lethal," the bank employee said, his voice speeding up with a sense of urgency in it. "Of course we would not violate international gun codes here at The Omnibank. Now please Endeavor, if we could get to what we called you for."

Endeavor frowned at the gun he was holding and the employee behind it. He turned and pushed the pistol back out for the guard awaiting his piece. The guard took it and then stepped back to the side, and Endeavor started forward and right past the employee who spun looking frustrated but trying not to let it show too much in front of the intimidating hero. Todoroki followed after his father, while the employee ran up on Endeavor's side and speed-walked to keep up with the muscular man's strides. "Endeavor. My name is Mr. Copper. Here at-"

"Explain what happened, Copper," Endeavor said, not going to wait for the man to make some sort of big introduction or anything.

Dad's treating them all with a lot of disdain right off the bat. I've seen him at work recently, though this is the first time I've interned with him for a while, but I know he's trying to be different than this. It feels like I'm seeing the old Endeavor right here. But, I don't believe he's reverted. Shoto frowned more at his dad's back but shifted his gaze around for another reason to explain his attitude. Is there no need to be respectful or friendly to these people then? Bankers and security guards? It's a private bank, and it looks sketchy I'll admit, but we are in a foreign country and should be-

Copper composed himself after being cut off before he could start his planned speech to the hero they had called in. "Our safe was broken into. Every security measure we had was bypassed. And, several of our valued customers have been robbed of everything they had here at The Omnibank."

"Only several? Could they not take it all?" Endeavor asked.

"Only, specific accounts were taken from. However, those accounts made up a large portion of our clientele. The Army of Death has crippled The Omnibank with-"

"The Army of Death?" Shoto asked, looking to the banker and then back at his father who glanced sideways over his shoulder and nodded once. Todoroki frowned more as it seemed like Endeavor knew who the perpetrators were before already, but he quieted down again and remembered what his dad told him before they got off the jet. That's why they called in Endeavor. It makes sense. But, the Army of Death stealing from a bank? Todoroki's eyes narrowed more and his fists clenched at his sides. I shouldn't be that surprised. The member caught in Italy, Midoriya said he was crazy.

"They have taken the patronage of many of our valued clients. You must track down the one who did this."

"The 'one?'" Endeavor repeated. Copper frowned more at his side and the thin man's fists clenched hard at his sides with a furious look spread over his face. Shoto and Endeavor both darted their eyes to the enraged look covering that skinny banker's face for a second there. Copper re-composed himself a moment later but the Japanese with him were more cautious of him now.

"I will show you the surveillance footage once we are inside," Copper said, his voice calmer again but with that hidden anger laced in his voice.

Todoroki frowned more as he heard that, and he narrowed his gaze at Copper as they headed towards the huge, beautiful but fort-looking bank. "If you caught them on surveillance, how did they manage-"

Copper shook his head and his frown dipped deeper. "The security systems could not be damaged further than they were or our alarms would have went off. They could not be shut down completely, but what the guards on duty watching could see was only looped footage from earlier in the night. They could not even stop the cameras from recording as it would have set our fail-safe alarms, but during the transfer from the cameras to our security room they… they knew exactly how to get around our security. They finessed it," Copper's fists shook at his sides more. "You will see when we get inside. But first, I must ask that you go through our security check to ensure…"

The Todoroki's went through security faster than Endeavor expected they would. The guards rushed it though at Copper's orders, as the banker was intent on getting them to the security room as quickly as possible. He brought Endeavor and Shoto in, and he dismissed the guards around them before playing the recordings they had discovered only after their thief had slipped away. Copper put the video up on a big screen covering the opposite wall as the security screens and the three of them started watching a recording from the night before. Todoroki saw the time-stamp on the bottom left corner of the video and he was surprised they had come in so fast for this. The Army of Death moves around so fast though, that there would be no point in following up leads any later. So soon after, if we find out who they stole from, we could actually figure out what the Army of Death is currently up to.

Shoto's eyes focused more on the screen and he darted his gaze around the different camera angles set up for them to watch. "There!" Copper paused the video and pointed at a screen that he enlarged with the remote he was holding. The video showed outside of the bank, someone in midair dropping through the sky near the top of the recording. "We have radars that should be searching for vehicles above, but they did not catch anything there at the time and they weren't tampered with! How can the Army of Death have such-"

"Keep playing it," Endeavor said. I don't feel like explaining how good their tech is. Not to you, Copper. "Let me see the rest."

Copper frowned but nodded his head and then started playing the video again. The camera angle pointed out towards the runway they had just arrived on showed a dark figure in all black falling through the sky that was tinted green in the camera angle that had night vision. There were bright lights moving around coming from the mountain in the direction the camera was aimed, and one of those beams of light was dragging across the sky at the perfect angle that the falling person was going to fall right into it in a second. The light hit them and they lost sight because the night vision made that part of the sky far too bright to see anything, but the beam kept doing a scan around before aiming higher up into the sky again.

"Where'd he go?" Todoroki asked, looking closer at the screen around the spot where the person had been falling only to vanish.

"Not 'he,' she," Copper countered, and he pointed down at the bottom of the screen and in some snow on the ground at the edge of the runway where a silhouette was prone to the floor. That dark shadow rose up and started sprinting while staying low, sticking to the shadows and making their way up towards the bank that had even more security up on the walls and around it. Shoto frowned as he saw another angle showing him the top of the building looking down over its own walls and to the outer perimeter around the place where there were some guards moving about in patrols.

"Those are all the same kind of weapons as your guard's, I hope," Endeavor said, shifting his dark gaze back to Copper who just nodded while still glaring at the recordings. Endeavor frowned deeper but did not say anything else about the rifles the security forces around the bank were holding.

"Yes," Copper replied in a dark voice. He glared at the woman they saw on the screen who was darting around in the cold exterior of the bank, and disappearing to appear behind guards who were heading the other direction towards where she was coming from. She sprinted up to the wall, her helmet lifting up a bit and looking for something which they could tell by the way it scanned around. Then her head lowered back down and she changed course a bit, sprinting to the right and then moving faster as some flashlights were coming around a wall of the building. She kept low to the ground, ran towards a protruding corner of the building but five meters to the left of it. "Look at this," Copper said with an angry shake of his head.

He pressed something on his remote to pull the angle back from the zoomed in way it was watching the slender woman in thick black armor that still showed off her curves. She ran right up to the building as fast as she looked like she could because of that patrol coming around, and then as she was about to slam into the wall she vanished. Copper paused the video and switched to a different angle inside the building. "This angle," he started while looking at the paused clip of a woman coming out of mid-sprint in an empty hallway, "still looked like that when she came in here." He pointed behind him and the other two in the room looked back at one of the surveillance screens he was pointing towards that had an empty hallway in it.

Copper continued, "Already past the first security checkpoint, this is a long hall we would walk down before the second check where there are no guards. The inner safe is not protected by man, as there is the possibility for human error or an employee betraying us. We have top of the line technology to protect our-"

"Continue the video," Endeavor said to the man who was defending his bank's security tactics like he was pitching the safety of their bank to a new customer. Endeavor figured the man had been doing that a lot recently due to the loss in credibility they were sure to get after this robbery. Endeavor's eyes just narrowed on the woman he was looking at though in that hallway, Slipspace. I recognize the Quirk from Ryukyu's description. A teleport ability, with the ability to move through walls. Maybe just to move through a certain amount of space at one time be it empty space or a thick wall.

Copper played the video again, and the woman in the hallway started running down it towards another large steel door like the one that had been behind her right when she slipped in from outside. She neared that door, then she froze while getting close and turned her head to the left. She walked up to the wall on the left and then slipped through it onto the other side. A new camera angle appeared on the screen as Copper switched with an annoyed look on his face. "A panel in that wall with a retina scanner that will open up after the handprint. Worth millions…" he was muttering under his breath and his fists were clenched furiously again as he watched the woman who kept close to that wall while turning her helmet and passing her gaze over everything in the next hallway that cut farther into the bank's middle.

She lifted up a canister from her belt where there were several tools. She had a black backpack on too that was pulled tight to her slender body, but the tool she needed now was one she had ready at her right side. Slipspace rose a canister and pressed down on a button on top that she sprayed something out of into the room in front of her. The camera picked up a glittering gray dust spreading out over the room so thin it was barely visible. All that dust started settling down to the floor, though some of it was getting stuck on the red lasers covering the room. The woman near those lasers turned her head and looked around the room some more, then she started shimmying to her right towards a spot with a hole in the lasers.

"This takes quite a bit of time," Copper started, and though his voice was not as angry as before he was still clenching his teeth after saying it. He started fast-forwarding the video, and Endeavor hummed to himself while watching the nimble woman in a tight costume start doing gymnastics through the red lasers. She slipped around them and dove through loops before sliding under other ones, and she navigated the maze masterfully. Todoroki was staring in silent shock as he had been for most of the time he had been watching this. The woman used her Quirk in a few places where there were no easy ways to navigate through the lasers, and Copper stopped fast-forwarding when she had reached the other end of the hall that she started in. "She makes it through though, and then…"

He switched to another camera angle. This time, it was inside of the safe. The room looked a lot different from the hallways, darker but with glowing lights coming from the walls and from strange pillars sticking out of the floor all the way up to the ceiling. "The ground in this room has weight sensors. And so she," the woman appeared through the huge round steel door that had been in the video of the laser hallway too. The dark figure appeared inside the safe, and she kept her feet pointed down with blue lights glowing out of her boots' soles. Out the bottom of the backpack she was wearing too, blue lights glowed and kept her up hovering in midair. She was a bit wobbly at first, but she held her arms out and steadied herself, then she started turning her head around and looking through her dark visor around the room.

"They did not turn off our sensors that would alert us if each vault was being opened," Copper started. "But they did set a delay on it. A delay of four hours and twenty minutes." Copper's fists shook violently at his sides, while Todoroki glanced in at the man wondering if he was serious about that.

"Did they steal from sixty-nine of your clients?" Endeavor asked.

Copper spun towards the hero and opened his mouth to shout 'Do you think this is a joke?!' Endeavor's face was completely serious though and made Copper pull his face back as he wondered himself if that was a serious question. "Ah- no, they stole from fifty-three." He brushed down his suit and turned back to the screen, feeling he needed to compose himself after almost snapping at one of the strongest men in the world right there.

Shoto looked up at his dad wondering if he was being serious about that too. Then he looked back at the screen though and he frowned deeply, It sounds like, they're trolling this bank. Four-twenty? And we heard they only stole from a certain number so it isn't a far jump to guess sixty-nine… I suppose. Still Dad, that was… "What is that?" Shoto asked, looking at one of the glowing panels that the hovering woman just floated over towards while Copper was talking about the delay on their "vaults."

"That, is how money is stored here at The Omnibank," Copper said. There was a small amount of pride in his voice as he started that, but his voice got darker as he continued like he knew there was no reason to be proud of this system anymore. "Hard cash is not this bank's specialty. Currency can always diminish in value, as can the price of precious metals like gold and silver. Instead, our electric bonds and cryptocurrency store the amount of cash for its worth when put in, and that much is immediately converted to its same worth when it is taken out. There is not interest to gain here. This bank stores money, and nothing else. No loans, no checking accounts, only a secure storage for…" Copper ground his teeth in frustration as he mentioned 'secure' again, because he was watching as the woman on the screen plugged a flash-drive into the special vault and drained it of everything inside.

"How much did she just steal?" Endeavor asked, as Slipspace pulled the drive back and then backed away from the wall she pulled the vault out of completely. She turned it over and found a small panel on the bottom, and she pried that open with a screwdriver she pulled off her waist too. "And what is she doing now?" Endeavor asked in more confusion.

"Destroying the record," Copper said in a low voice. The other two turned to the banker who continued with a big frown, "As for how much she took, I cannot tell you due to what she just did."

"You don't hold records?" Endeavor asked, his eyes narrowed at the banker next to him.

Copper shook his head once. "The Omnibank offers ultimate anonymity for its clients. There is no need to bring physical cash to the bank when setting up an account. They are to put their cash into cryptos before they arrive, and they can then transfer the amount those cryptos are worth directly onto our vault-drives. It costs a large fee to start an account here at The Omnibank, and our clients enjoy a high-degree of privacy."

"You have no idea how much they stole," Endeavor said. He said it in a dead-pan tone and glared down at Mr. Copper to see if that was what he was telling them.

"We know that it was at least fifty-three million dollars," Copper said, glaring back at Endeavor. "The minimum amount that a client can hold in an account here is one million in U.S. dollars." Todoroki's bottom lip lowered and he stared at the banker in shock as the man continued, "They stole hundreds of millions. Maybe even billions."

"And there's no way for you to reimburse your clients," Endeavor began with a dark chuckle while watching the woman on the screen fly over to another specific box and pull it out. "Because you can claim you have no idea how much was in there. Their money is wiped out…" Endeavor shook his head as he watched the woman carefully destroy part of the vault before shoving it back in its slot. She flew over to one of the pillars in the middle of the room and slid out a larger vault with different panels on top of it, all of which she popped up and started stealing from.

"After this, she slips away," Copper said, and he paused the video and turned to Endeavor. "It's just more of the same from there on."

Endeavor frowned at the employee and then shifted his gaze back to the paused video. That's probably all there is. The way he's been speaking so far she did escape. "I'd like to take a look inside the safe myself," Endeavor started.

"I'm afraid that is impossible," Mr. Copper said. "Only bank employees and clients are allowed inside the safe."

"You're giving me very little to go on," Endeavor started.

"Please, Endeavor," Copper began, shaking his head and looking desperate as he started off. "This is going to destroy The Omnibank's reputation. We are going to lose more clients for sure, and it is all because of the Army of Death who you have been ordered to stop for months now. If you had not let them go-" he froze and then composed himself again before starting in a more professional tone to the scary man glaring at him. "We demand that those responsible for this crime are caught. There is nothing the Swiss government can do for us. We need you to get justice."

Endeavor leaned back and he crossed his arms in front of his chest. He turned back to the recording that was frozen with Slipspace in the middle of stealing from one of the electric vaults. "I need a list," Endeavor started. "Of all the clients whose vaults were emptied out."

Mr. Copper started shaking his head. "It is bank policy to-"

"You won't have a bank soon with something like this hanging over your head," Endeavor said back without turning to the banker. Copper's eyes opened wide and then he ground his teeth and turned away as Endeavor continued, "Knowing who was stolen from will help me get Death, which will reassure your other clients who still do have money in your bank of its safety. Who matters more to you, those clients who were stolen from or the clients you still have?"

Copper turned his head back and looked into Endeavor's eyes. He hesitated, but he nodded his head after a few more seconds and then reached down and pulled a tablet off his side. "I will get you a list," Copper began. "Of course every person on this list is a law-abiding member of society. We do not serve villains here at The Omnibank."

"I'm sure," Endeavor said with a nod at the man. Copper pulled the list up on his tablet, then he took in a deep breath and send it. "I have emailed you the list-"

"Then I'll be off," Endeavor replied. He turned right away and started back for the door of the security room. "We will start looking for them at once. If I am able to locate that drive they transferred the money onto, I will return it to you promptly."

"You have our thanks, Endeavor. Please, find them as fast as possible. The future of The Omnibank is in your hands."

Endeavor and his son headed back through the bank and were led out through security with as tight a check if not a closer one than on their way in. They were brought out and Endeavor told the men who tried walking with him that they would be fine on their way to their jet without an escort. Then he continued walking without waiting for them to respond to him, and the men fell back to just report what Endeavor said which Todoroki looked back to see. Todoroki walked forward and up onto his dad's right side while Endeavor had his phone lifted with a list on it he had just received.

Endeavor scrolled through the list and he hummed at the names he was reading off. Shoto looked from the phone to his dad's face, then back to it again. He frowned and thought back on the videos he had just watched inside the bank, and he looked over towards the area of the runway where he remembered watching that woman dropping down on. A single member of the Army of Death robbed millions. Hundreds of millions. There's no questioning where that technology she had came from, if they can get money like that. Todoroki glared back towards the bank and thought about how she had slipped through walls and safe doors, and the way she had navigated that laser field. She was like a ninja. An amazing bank-robbing ninja. How did she know the layout so well though? Exactly where in the bank to come in? And the one who messed with the cameras and delayed the sensors, who has the ability to do something like that?

Todoroki frowned deeper at the thought of how precise and smooth that robbery had gone. They're powerful. "That list," Shoto began to his father. "How are we going to catch the Army of Death using it?"

Endeavor lowered his phone and glanced to his side at his son for a moment, then he handed the phone over to Shoto who grabbed it and looked down at the names himself. Endeavor began as Todoroki scrolled through it, "The ones on that list will come out now since their cash was stolen. Get aggressive, and sloppy, and the Army of Death will go for them." Todoroki slowed down and stopped scrolling the list, turning his head and looking back at Endeavor in confusion at what he was saying. "We should just go after a few of those names ourselves," Endeavor continued. "Maybe the Army of Death will show up on them while we're there."

"I, don't understand," Shoto began.

The two of them were heading back towards their plane and Endeavor made a motion at Olympia who was watching from the open doorway on the side of the jet. She headed off to go tell the pilot to get them moving, and Endeavor stopped with his son on the edge of the runway to wait for the plane to come to them instead. Endeavor began to his confused son once they were stopped and in the open without anyone around them, "That bank behind us is rumored to serve the underworld. There's never any proof, because there's no proof the bank ever knew the backgrounds of their clients. The really rich villains can send other people to open accounts for them too under their own names, clean names." Shoto stared at his dad in increasing surprise at what he was saying, suddenly realizing why Endeavor had been so apprehensive of everyone since they arrived.

"If they work with villains, and we know that-"

"We don't know that, for sure," Endeavor countered. "I don't know, that illegal art dealers, mob bosses, dirty people who are not proven criminals but are under scrutiny for what people close to them do as they stay clean, hold accounts here." He looked at his son and he shared the skeptical look that Shoto just gave him. Shoto's eyes widened as he saw his dad was not saying this because he thought it, but because he was being constrained by something. Endeavor explained, "We can't do any investigation into this sort of thing because of Switzerland's lax laws against banks. Switzerland has not had to deal with big villain problems like the rest of the world. They have maintained a high degree of peace over the years so they have not changed laws or cracked down on anything, allowing private ownership of entire mountains and low regulations on banks that receive no scrutiny."

Shoto started looking around the mountains again in a different light. The government oversight is practically nothing. A place like this has its own security force large enough to be considered more like a private army. And if all the people who were just stolen from are villains, they might need it. But, how can we just assume that everyone on this list is a villain? The Omnibank can't just have villains banking here or something would have come out and…

"Working with suspected criminals," Endeavor continued with a low begrudging grunt. "Means that when those men and women get arrested for real, their assets could be claimed by the private offshore bank if they discover that one of their clients used a different name, or they turned out to be a villain. If their villainous deeds are revealed, the bank could even freeze their account while the villain is on the run, taking their cash and pretending like it was never there in the first place. It's a sneaky business strategy, and dirty," Endeavor glanced back towards the bank himself. "But it means that they aren't technically serving villains. Their rules make it a place where villains are sure to see the opportunity and freedom of storing cash anonymously, but there are risks they take putting their cash in a place like this."

Endeavor looked back at his son, "The 'anonymity' the bankers use is their excuse not to reveal their business practices." He nodded down at the phone Shoto was still holding, and he added, "Most of the names on this list are fake, but some should still give us leads as to where to go based on known underworld names and aliases shared by heroes across the world. Some of those names are real too, but those ones will be less likely to give us anything. We'll look into them to see if any are aides or assistants to big names with a lot of money, or if they're rich guys themselves like Marconi down near the bottom there. Marconi will come up clean when we look into him, but he might get sloppy now that he's been stolen from. I'll put out notices for other heroes to watch these guys closely over the coming days. While we," Endeavor reached out his hand and Shoto slowly handed his phone up to his dad who scrolled back to the top of the list. "Are going to head to Chile. Vincente Morales. He's a big shot I could see Death going after, runs a lot of businesses down in South America. Not all of them are looking legitimate now."

The plane they had flown in on was rolling to a stop in front of the hero and his son. Shoto's fists were balled at his sides and he was still having trouble processing everything his dad was telling him. He thought back on that video they had just watched, of the woman breaking into the safe and stealing from a bunch of different people's accounts. Millions! They stole so much and… and Dad's just- it doesn't even seem like… The Army of Death are the ones we're-

Endeavor looked down into Shoto's eyes and could see the frustration in them. The disbelief and the look up at him like he was being foolish and making too many conclusions right away. Endeavor turned from his son though and stepped towards the jet that just stopped before them. "Shoto, did you really think the Army of Death was just robbing a bank?" He looked back at his son over his right shoulder, and Todoroki stared in shock at the man in front of him. Because Todoroki saw in Endeavor's eyes a bit of respect for the group he just mentioned, and he saw there that Endeavor had never thought for a second that that was all this was.

It's not about the money? Todoroki stared at his dad and his fists clenched even harder at his sides. How? How can he respect- Death?! Todoroki's fists clenched harder as a face appeared in his mind. Zach. I had no idea what the Army of Death had turned into. I still have no idea, but Dad knows. He knows and he… trusts you? Shoto got even angrier, his fists clenching so much harder at that thought. And then he froze and he stared at his dad's back with a strike of pain in his chest. "Dad," Shoto Todoroki started.

Endeavor stopped and he turned his head to his son. He looked back and he got a confused look on his face at the pained and held-back expression on Shoto's face. I'm getting so mad at him trusting Zach, because Zach lied to us for so long. He lied straight to my face when I called him out on having that plan. I knew he did, but he convinced me again with his lie! And yet, I'm, being a hypocrite. Shoto's eyes lifted and looked into Endeavor's in such a dark way. Then those dark eyes got sad for a second which confused Endeavor even more so that he turned all the way around and stepped back towards him. Shoto steadied his face and then began in a low voice, "Dad, there's something, I need to tell you…"

A/N Hey guys! Thanks for reading! Been a nice week of everyday posts, but probably not one coming tomorrow as I'm going to work on my thesis all day. Also, I'm going out rn so no time for review responses. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Leave a review telling me what you think! See ya' soon!