"Ow! Watch where you're driving this thing, you dumb nerds!"

Bakugo rubbed his bare toes that were just smashed into the swinging doors of the hospital wing. Lloyd pushed the wheelchair with Bakugo still in his hospital gown.

"Everybody make way!" Lloyd shouted down the hall. Patients fell over onto the walls with nurses jumping out of the way. Folders of charts fluttered in the air and scattered around the walkway.

Next to him, Aslovee and Isabel rushed on either side like bodyguards and pushed away any doctors that tried to interact with them.

Right as they got to the exit of the wing, a rotund, elderly nurse popped up in front of the door and held out her arm.

"Halt," The Nurse shouted. "Who the fuck do you think you are screaming in the hallway?"

Lloyd pulled back on the wheelchair to halt the device. Bakugo gagged with his neck thrown backwards and whiplashed to hit the edge of the wheelchair's back. He groaned in pain and rubbed the back of his aching head.

"Miss, we must take this man to retrieve a very valuable item. The fate of the universe depends on it," Lloyd screamed.

"The fate of the universe doesn't stop discharge paperwork," The Nurse said. "If you're trying to kidnap one of my patients, you got another thing coming."

"He's not kidnapping me," Bakugo said. "We just gotta go!"

"Oh, really? So you just let minors take you out of the hospital and hang out with them all day? I bet you make them do your hero work for you, don't cha Mister Dummymite?"

"Look, lady. We have like thirty minutes to get to this guy so he can get me my suit. So get out of the way!"

"You want out? You'll have to get through me."

Aslovee rolled his eyes. He turned to a Isabel and gave a quick nod. She returned it and reached for her pocket. She whipped out her gun and pointed it at The Nurse. Aslovee pulled out his swords and pointed them at The Nurse. When the flashed their weapons, Lloyd grabbed his pants belt and whipped it off. He squeezed his fists around it and morphed it into a lags of dust. Bakugo raised up both his hands and ignited twin flames that rose in prominence to illuminate The Nurse's face.

"Have a nice day, sir," The Nurse moved to the side.

"It's not here!" Megan shouted.

Anton sat on Robyn's bed and sighed. They had turned the room inside out and had found nothing. Robyn herself was still attached to the blood machine, her pale body just slumped in a heap on the ground.

Across from her Toga's smashed face was still bleeding on the floor. Most likely, she was dead but Anton didn't care. What he cared about was that the missing pages of the Sea Scrolls were still not found.

Megan slammed the desk drawer shut and leaned on the desk. She groaned out like a dying iguana and kicked the wardrobe next to her.

"I thought we would have it. Toga must have taken it when she pretended to be Robyn and gave it to someone else," Megan said.

"But I thought this chick was in jail already," Anton said. "I saw it in the news a few years ago. How did she break out?"

Megan tapped a few buttons on her phone. "I have no idea. Maybe somebody broke her out? Then, we have other people working together for this. Ugh, I wish The Syndicate told me more."

Anton tapped his finger on his knee. For all the conversation about how important the missing pages were, he looked over to Robyn's body on the floor.

"Should we…do something for her?" Anton asked.

Megan tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…Robyn is still laying there. She's breathing."

"Anton, we have very little time. I already called the Syndicate to bring over some medics, but we have to get a move on."

"And where are we going to go?"

"I don't know," Megan snapped. "I have nothing right now! This is my first big mission, and I'm completely in the dark. This was my one lead. We'd have to track every step Toga has taken in the last few months, and that will take too long."

Hey boss. Tell her about that dream.

"What dream?" Anton muttered.

The dream you had. In the desert.

Anton bit his lip and looked down at his fingers. He didn't want to give Megan any information that would go nowhere, but it was their only bet to stop whatever would be occurring soon.

"Hey, Megan. Can I tell you this dream I had?"

Megan grunted. "I don't have time for psychic mumbo jumbo, Anton."

"But this wasn't a dream," Anton said. "I think it was a vision."

Beep. Beep.

"Mohammad. Montserrat. Ivanovich. Mohammad. Montserrat. Mulholland. Protocol Three. Protocol Three. Eight."

Drake and Blake stared down at the radio as it interrupted the station. The weird words barked out of the speakers before the ominious beeping noise honked over the room. Chills ran down Drake's spine as he gazed at the cucko clock on the wall above the now empty counter area.

"The number changed," Blake said.

"It was going down before," Drake crossed his arms. "But only one number at a time. Now it's eight. Why?"

"I thought it was a countdown," Blake said. "Every hour it went down one."

Drake faced the shorter boy. "So…does that mean the deadline is now eight hours away instead of thirty-two?"

Drake grunted and whipped around towards the scattered books on the ground. He seethed and placed a hand on his shoulder where the wound from Alistair still bled. He kicked a few tin canisters away from him and rummaged around the debris beneath his feet.

"We need to find that book. The one with the ISBN number."

"Drake, as fun as uncovering secret plots is," Blake said. "Maybe we should just go to Deku."

"No, the book is in here," Drake said. "We can find it."

Blake knelt down next to the red-haired student. He stared at Drake as he started to push books away and scan every spine on the hardbacks. He tossed each one that didn't match behind his shoulder. The sunlight drenched over the floor, the room had an auburn tan to it that made Blake narrow his eyes from the brightness.

"Drake, are you trying to prove something? To me? Or to someone else?"

"I just want to solve the puzzle."

"No, that's a lie."

Drake stopped and snapped his sight to Blake. The black-haired boy stared down at Drake.

"What are you talking about?"

"I heard what you said to Lazuli," Blake said. "You really want me to believe that?"

Drake dropped a book in his hand. It thunked on the ground as he consider the boy. "What are you saying?"

"There's something else, isn't there?" Blake asked. "Something that happened back home."

"Why do you care?" Drake asked. He shook his head and turned back to the pile of books. "We're wasting time."

Drake got up and looked over at the bookcase. A couple of books remained on the racks. Some were thrown about and split open. Others simply rested on the neighboring book. He ran his hands over the back of the bookshelf. The thick plywood scratched at his fingers.

"It's not good to bottle things up," Blake said. "You won't be able to forgive yourself."

"Leave it alone, Blake," Drake said with his bro furrowed.

"Keeping a secret is just killing yourself every day," Blake said. "My parents told me that."

"Oh, the same parents that are in Tartarus right now?" Drake spat out.

"Wha-? Drake, what are you talking about?" Blake said.

"Oh, please," Drake rolled his eyes. "Everyone knows abour your parents. The Spectrals. They tortured people to death every night."

"So?" Blake asked with indignation. "That has nothing to do with me."

"I bet you liked that about them, didn't you," Drake said. "Getting to see all those pictures and video of what they did."

"Like your any better. At least I haven't killed somebody."

"It was a caribou. I don't kno-."

"No it wasn't. It was one of your classmates," Blake shouted. "I saw it in your file."

Drake's eye twitched. "My file? What we-."

"I saw a text that Mister Bakugo sent to Deku about me," Blake said. "So I wanted to see what else they knew. And…I saw the other folders there when I snuck into Principal Tommy's office. Abel and the others were going to break in one day to find out more about Deku's quirk, but I decided to do it myself. And I read about everyone. Katsu blowing up his house. Martel being a robot. It has all the secrets."

Drake rushed for Blake. He flicked his hand into a dragon claw and wrapped his talons around Blake's throat. He lifted him up and shunted him into the bookcase. Blake gagged with his legs swinging underneath him.

"It's a lie," Drake, his normally even voice spiking into a shout. "Whatever you read, just forget it."

"How could I?" Blake said with a wry grin. "The picture in your student profile is your mugshot. Heh."

Drake squeezed harder. With hit other hand, Drake balled up his human fist and threw it at Blake. He punched him square in the nose.

Drake's head flopped back right at the impact. The anger in his blood bubbled and muted the impact of sudden pain in his face. He wheezed from his airways being blocked by the punch. He dropped Blake and changed his hand back to its human size.

"That felt good," Blake said. "Wanna do it again?"

Drake, not thinking rationally, lunged forward and smashed his fist into Blake's cheek. They both fell to the ground in groans of pain. Drake's cheek throbbed from the injury, but he could not care less with his only objective to erase the memory in his mind. Flashes of the white snow drizzled with blood. A severed hand separated from a person. The lights of the cop cars surrounding him. No, it needed to stop.

Drake crawled over and grabbed Blake by the collar and lifted him up. Blake, already with a bruised eye that held exploded veins within, let out another chuckle staring into Drake's gold eyes.

"That tickled, Drake," Blake teased. "I didn't know you were that weak."

Drake twisted Blake's body backwards and grabbed the back of his head. Pulling on his hair, he reared back Blake's head and then threw it forward on the edge of the bookshelf.

Smash! Blake's head went clear through the wood splintering it with books collapsing on the ground. Drake shouted in pain and fell into his back nect to Blake. The remnants of the wood splintered onto them with sawdust coating their bodies. Only their harsh breathing filled the room with both of them twitching in the ground from the pain splintering their nerves.

Drake stared at the ceiling, clarity filling up his brain and assaulting him with shame. After a whole year of keeping to himself, he had betrayed his own soul to fury yet again. He narrowed his eyes, fighting the tears that started to threaten the corners. His arms splayed out on his side, he choked on his own spit and sucked out more hot air. Suddenly, his body felt extremely frigid as if he were frozen to the ground.

The seconds stretched to what felt like years. Drake had no strength to turn his head, but he felt the mercury warmth of blood oozing from Blake's head over towards him and pooling around his head. His ear twitched from the viscous liquid with his left arm completely submerged in it.

"I lost control." Drake said. "I was never popular in school till my last year in Whittier. I heard gossip. People actually interested in me. I had friends for once. And one day, they bet I couldn't go into my full dragon form. I had never done it, and I still have trouble even controlling more than one aspect of my quirk at a time. So, I decided to do it."

Drake saw from the corner Blake remaining motionless. He quieted his breathing and blinked away a tear.

"I lost control. Set fire to the apartment building we all lived in. Everyone got out okay, but part of the building collapsed. And the debris fell…on my grandpa."

Drake struggled to turn to his side. Blake stared upward with an unreadable face.

"These quirks we have…they're curses, aren't they?"

Suddenly, the pain subsided like an extinguished candle. Drake blinked and stretched out his legs. He sat up in the blood leaking from Blake's wounds and craned his head towards him. The big, half his face covered in the dark red fluid, coughed out.

"I don't even wanna be a hero," Blake said. "I'm just here because of my guardian. Because I want to learn what I can do to break my parents out of prison."

Drake cocked an eyebrow. "So they can kill again?"

"Maybe. I can't control what they do. I just want them back."

"Would you join them?"

Blake coughed some more blood. "I think that's also why I'm here. To find that out, too."

Drake scooted himself over the blood staining the wooden floor. He groaned and grabbed Blake by the shoulders. He dragged him to the destroyed bookshelf and propped him on the back of the structure. He wiped away some of the blood from Blake's face and stared into his glazed eyes. Drake, with a serious frown, squeezed his hands around Blake's shoulders.

"I'll help you."

Blake blinked. "What?"

"I owe you. For this," Drake said. "After we solve this, and after we graduate, I'll help you break your parents out."

"No, Drake. You're not…you made a mistake, but you're not like that. If they caught you, you'd be in Tartarus forever," Blake said.

"I owe you. A blood debt," Drake said. "But it's only after we graduate. And you have to promise me that you won't become a villain. You won't turn out like them."

"Heh. You know I can't promise that," Blake said with a sad smile.

"Just think about it," Drake said. "We're almost done with this mystery. I can feel it, so juts promise to think about it."

Blake held out his hand. "How about this? If I become a villain, promise you'll try and stop me."

"Do you mean convince you to stop," Drake asked. "Or defeat you?"

"Yes."

Drake have off a rare smile. He grabbed Blake's hand. It was less a handshake and more holding them together. Blake's teethe chattered from the freezing hand that soon warmed from Blake's grasp. As he looked at their hands joined, Blake saw a single book hiding in the corner of the bookshelf.

"Hey," Blake let go and reached for the book. He brushed off the sawdust and read the cover. "It's the Quran."

"The Quran?" Drake asked.

"Pretty on the nose of this is what the radio message means by Mohammad," Blake said. He opened the book and frowned at the interior. "Look, it's a false book."

"Blake, we should respect all religions," Drake said.

"No, I mean there's' nothing in here," Blake turned the book to Drake. Within the cover was a carved out section in the middle.

The center of the book held a single red button that blinked.

Cool fingers brushed through Moxie's silk locks. She let out a quiet moan and felt warm denim on her cheek. The soft rumble of air flowing out of the vents above her blended in with the soft breathing above her.

Moxie opened her grey eyes and saw the ceiling of her bedroom. She rubbed her eyes and craned her head up. Above her, a head of black hair and multi-colored eyes gazed down at her.

"Hey, otter," James said.

Moxie yelped and shot to a seated position. Her forehead swung upward and smashed into James' nose. He screamed and fell onto his back on the pink comforter of Moxie's bed.

"Wah! James, what are you doing here?" Moxie asked.

James writhed on the bed. "Ah, I got a bloody nose!"

Moxie huddled in the corner of the bed and grabbed her pillow. She held it out like a shield in front of a rhinoceros. "I'm supposed to wait until marriage, James. Why are you in my bed?"

"Stop shouting!" James yelled. "I didn't do anything!"

Moxie hugged the pillow around her. "My daddy will stab you with a sharp-toothed carp if he found out. Did you record us?"

"Record us?"

"Y'know, what we just did?"

"We didn't do shit. Just calm down."

Moxie dropped the pillow to her side. She stared at James who uncovered his nose to reveal a trail of blood trailing down his nostril. She caught her breath and scrunched her toes on the soft covers.

"Oh. Sorry, James."

James scowled and wiped the blood on the back of his hand. "Sorry? That's all you can say?"

"I have a lot to think about, James," Moxie said. "My head is hurting from all of it."

James sighed and scooted over to her. He reached and arm out and wrapped his arm around her. She sighed and placed her head on his shoulder.

"Look, Moxie," James said in her ear. "I really want to believe the craziness you told me and those other manatees, but it's just really weird."

"I know it is," Moxie said. "That's how you know it's real."

"A wizard from another universe?" James asked. "And all that about skipping the last three months?"

"But we have," Moxie said. "Tell me what you remember about our school?"

"I-I have a bad memory."

"No, you don't. You just don't wanna admit what I'm saying is true," Moxie said.

James sighed. Ever since Moxie had been found on the floor, she had been raving about this strange person that lived inside the red crystal hanging around her neck. She had suddenly realized they had all been misplaced in time, and she made it a point to blab in James' ear about it the past day.

Frankly, James didn't want to be bothered by it. He just wanted to have a nice Christmas with his new girlfriend. As much as he loved doing hero activity, he had not been able to spend quality time with Moxie. He smirked and raised a hand up to Moxie's cheek, her face blushing with the warm touch of his fingers.

"Well, let's say I did believe you," James said. "Does that mean some British guy has been following you around all year."

"Well, he's been really nice to me," Moxie said. "He floats around and asks a lot of questions and that's it."

"Really, so you think about him a lot?"

"Not like that," Moxie let out a small giggle. "He's kinda like a little cat. He gets a little annoying at times, but he really is sweet and he's nice to talk to."

"Maybe then I should help you…forget about him for a minute," James said with a grin. He leaned in and smacked Moxie's lips with his own.

"James!" Moxie laughed. "Please stop kissing me!"

"Don't sound like you want me to stop," he said.

"James, please," Moxie said. "We need to go and help him. The…fate…of the…world is…."

She trailed off and returned James' kiss. She couldn't help but smile into it as she wrapped her arms around him. With her, he was gentle and sweet compared to the anger he normally showed. Soon, her concerns about Alistair have way to the ecstasy of the kiss.

She opened her eyes. James' handsome face was right on her own. However, from the corner of her vision, right in the center of the bed was a random head!

"Moxie!" Alistair shouted.

The girl screamed and shunted her face forward in panic. James cried in pain with his nose taking another blow. He fell off the bed and smashed his side onto the ground.

Moxie leapt to her feet as the strange blonde boy arose through the bed like he was a ghost. Once through, his body became solid and he plunked himself on the edge of the bed.

"Alistair!" Moxie said with a laugh. She launched onto him and wrapped her arms around the boy.

"Oof, Moxie please. It hurts," Alistair grabbed his middle and keeled over.

Moxie looked down at his school uniform. In the center of his white button-down dress shirt was a large splotch of blood staining the fabric.

"Wah! Who did that to you?"

Alistair gave off an assuring chuckle. "It's alright. I healed myself but it still aches. I was never good at those spells."

James sneered with disgust as his girlfriend hugged the odd British teenager. He rose to his feet and balled up his fists. An orb of neon emanated around his hands that grew and flashed a lavender tint on Alistair's green eyes.

"Who do you think you are popping in my girl's room like that. Explain yourself, fuckface!"

Moxie stood up and lunged for James' hand. She grabbed his wrist and activated her quirk. The orb died out with the neon energy evaporating in James' veins.

"James," Moxie said. "This is Alistair. He's the wizard from another universe."

"Cheerio, Mister Lightbulb," Alistair waved at the fuming boy.

"You've been haunting Moxie all year," James shouted. "She told me everything!"

"You didn't even believe me," Moxie said.

"You're right," James said. "Then this weirdo decided to pop in here like a creepy stalker!"

"You're the stalker," Alistair said. "You followed Moxie around the entire school for months before you grew a pair and announced you fancied her."

"Wha-? That's a lie," James said.

"I saw you follow and stare at her wherever she walked. You would go to the library whenever she was there. You fancied her from the start"

"That's a lie!" James roared. "And who says fancy, you dumb snake."

"Say that again," Alistair pulled out his wand and pointed it at James. Flashes of emerald sparks flung off the tip. "I'll turn you into a slug!"

Moxie stood between them and held her arms out to both of them. "Both of you get a grip. Y'all are acting like two greyhounds that just drank a pint of absinthe."

"What?" Both of the students asked.

Moxie turned to Alistair. "What's happened to all of us, Alistair? Why are we suddenly in the future? Why can't we remember nothing? What's supposed to happen? And how can I suddenly touch you?"

Alistair set down his wand and sighed. "I'm sorry, Moxie. I should have told you much sooner."

James stepped up next to Moxie and glared down at the wizard. Outside of the strange stick in his hands, the boy seemed harmless enough. Quite handsome with a shock of blonde hair and green eyes brighter than his own. Not particularly muscular, James felt he could take him if he decided to fight.

"I am from a different universe. It's a world not unlike your own. Except some people have…quirks that are called magic."

"Like some voodoo guy?" James asked.

"I guess," Alistair said. "Well, I died and ended up in a strange house where a man called The Creator told me my purpose. And if I were to fulfill it, I would be able to return home. However, I needed the power of your quirk magic, if you will, to become corporeal in your world. Throughout your school year, I have been siphoning energy away from various people in order to do so. Fortunately, a glitch in your universe has sped up the process so I can now effect your world as if I were here all along."

"A glitch?"

Alistair looked up at Moxie with a sad downtick in his eyes. "Yes, a glitch. Each universe has their own set script they are to follow. However, The Creator noticed that, for some reason, each universe had more and more skips. Things that weren't supposed to happen. Your time skip from the Sport Festival to Christmastime is the most dramatic one which leads us to believe that this universe is where the Synchronization will happen."

Moxie grabbed James' hand. "But who is doing this? If The Creator sent you here to help stop it-."

"Two main people are reponsivlenfor this. Neither are form your universe," Alistair said. "But my goal…I have to kill Deku. And take his quirk."

James scoffed. "Like hell you will."

Moxie's jaw dropped and she clutched her chest in a melodramatic fashion. "What? But Alistair…I-I know you. You wouldn't do that."

"Moxie," Alistair said. "This mission is too important to fail. If I don't succeed, not only can I not go home, but all of our universes are destroyed."

"How do you know that?" Moxie asked. "There has to be another way. Maybe we can figure it out!"

"If there was, The Creator would have found it," Alistair said. "Humanity's exist is too important for Deku to live."

James had enough. He slammed his hands down beside him and flashed two orbs of neon. "You stupid snake. If you think you can come in here and try to kill our teacher, then you're gonna have to go through us."

Alistair stood up and twirled his wand in hand. "Please don't try to stop me. This is the only way for all of us."

James smirked. "Oh, yeah. Try me," he said. He pulled his arm back and aimed right at Alistair ready to fire off a blast of neon.

"Avada Kedavra."

Bap! A ray of green light flashed as fast as a lightning bolt and slammed into James' chest. The energy around his hands flickered like a dying flashlight until it extinguished into nothingness. His eyes glazed over with no movement and his limbs flailed with no control. He fell backwards and crashed onto the ground with his heterochromic eyes staring upward at the heavens.

Moxie saw the trail of blood around his neck and the paleness of his normally tan skin. She rushed over and fell to her knees next to him.

"James! James, what's wrong!" Moxie touched his arm and gasped. His skin was stone cold and limp. She shook his torso only for his body to betray no resistance on the beige carpet.

"James!" Moxie shouted. "James, why are you cold?"

She spun around to Alistair who stood with a mournful look on his face. "Alistair, what did you? Please help me!"

"I'm-I'm sorry, Moxie," Alistair said. "But our time together is over."

Moxie looked down at James' lifeless body. She grabbed his shoulders and let out a harsh cry. Tears streamed down her face as she choked on the cries that racked her stomach. Her head felt dizzy with the world spinning, and she gagged with her shoulder shaking from the turmoil.

"Moxie," Alistair gave one last look. "I hope one day…we'll meet again. And we'll be free."

Alistair disappeared. Only Moxie and James' body remained in the room. Her cries could be heard outside the room with her hands squeezing around James. She presses her face next to his and felt his soft hair. She tried to control her breathing, but her nerves only made her more hysterical with the anguish suffocating her.

"Please, God, help me," Moxie said. "Please show me that you haven't left me!"

Other than her cries, silence.

Moxie buried her face into James' neck. Despite the short time they had together, James had been a person that she had shared the most experiences with at the school. Ever since she caught him at the hospital, there was a strange bind between them. James, for as rude as he could be, seemed to be much kinder to her despite the occasional outburst. It was unfair to the highest degree that her one relationship had to be ended so fast.

Most importantly, it was a human being. Now dead in front of her. A person with so many thoughts and emotions that had yet to be shared. A man she admired very much from just how dedicated he was to becoming a hero. Despite the short months, she might as well have known him for years.

Then, a strange pang stabbed at her heart. No, it was more like her chest. Around her throat. A weird warmth that grew like a second heartbeat. From her closed eyes, she could see the weird scarlet glow that pulsed from underneath her face.

Moxie opened her eyes and looked down. She let go of James' hair and saw the red light glowing from her neck.

In the pawn shop, Drake and Blake, with the book on the floor between them, pressed the button at the same time.

Underneath the crucifix that normally sat around her neck was the crystal. The red crystal that arrived in Steve's house all those months ago. It was a comforting light, and it was one that erased the tears from Moxie's cheek.

Then, a female's voice.

Are you ready?

Blake fell backwards. The wooden back of the bookcase slid open with a hydraulic hiss. His back smacked into the tile floor, and Blake stared into the fluorescent lights of the clinical room revealed in the false back of the room. A hidden room that revealed something breathtaking.

Drake gasped. "What is this?"

Moxie gasped and touched the crystal. Doing so, energy coarsed through her veins. A red glow ran around her figure. The pain in her heart gave way to resolve, and her limbs regained the strength of a hundred men. The electricity waved over her body and forced Moxie to stand up. Despite her having little control, Moxie paid no mind as the sadness left her. Instead, her eyes narrowed as she reached full height.

Who are you? Moxie thought.

I am who you need right now. So, Moxie Lee…are you ready?

Moxie's grey eyes blinked. When they opened again, they were revealed to be colored red.

"I am."