When the wall crumbled and the blue flames rushed in, to say Denki was surprised to see Neito rushing through, cackling, would be an understatement. Neito's eyes locked on Denki's, and Neito beelined for the bars, ignoring Full Throttle who was calling for Phantasm, as if she wouldn't have been alerted by all the noise already. No one made a move to stop Neito from getting to Denki. There were plenty of others to occupy Full Throttle and Phantasm as Hitoshi, Shigaraki, Dabi, Twice, Toga, and Spinner made their way into the room.
Neito grasped each bar in his reach as they dissolved to dust under his touch until there was enough room for Denki to slip through as he yelled across the room to not worry about Phantasm because she won't use her quirk if she can't leave the area because it affects her, too. Grabbing onto Denki's wrists, Neito put Shigaraki's quirk to work dissolving the quirk canceling cuffs, quick to adjust his grip to not lay all five fingers against Denki's skin as the cuffs gave way.
Denki opened his mouth to thank Neito, or maybe to give recognition that they understood his hints, or maybe to confess his undying love. Neito would never know because he used his grip on Denki's wrists to yank him forward, releasing his wrists only to press his palms against either side of his jaw, careful not to allow all his fingers to touch, and pulling his face closer to finally connect their lips once again. He had wondered if it would feel different, now that he knew that Denki was his soulmate, but it didn't. It had always felt so right, so perfect, just now there was a known reason for why it had always felt that way.
"Way to save some of the action for me, guys," Neito pouted.
"Well, if you weren't so concerned with hogging our soulmate, then you would have been involved," Hitoshi sassed back.
"Our soulmate," Neito parroted dreamily, gazing lovingly at Denki with a dumb smile stretching over his face. Giddy butterflies filled Denki's throat as he mirrored Neito's expression.
"Besides," Hitoshi continued, "it was two against eight. Not exactly a fair fight that was drawn out long enough for you to get any hits in, anyway."
With Full Throttle and Phantasm tied up in Hitoshi's capture weapon, Hitoshi stood, swiveled, and stalked forward toward Denki, and Denki ran the few steps to meet him halfway, unable to wipe the smile off of his face, even as his lips pressed against Hitoshi's.
"How'd you figure it out?" Hitoshi asked.
"Full Throttle did, actually," Denki admitted. "He had records from when we were all admitted to Fields Mental Hospital and the testing they did on Unit Beta, and he connected the pieces that no one else had before."
"Okay. And why didn't you tell us about Dabi?" Neito butted in before Hitoshi could continue with that line of questioning.
Denki paled, paused, laughed nervously, rubbed the back of his neck, and looked around the room for someone to act as his hero in the room full of villains.
No such luck.
He sighed, resigned. "How was I supposed to tell you that Touya was still alive, but that you couldn't go see him for yourselves?" Denki asked. He chewed on his bottom lip as he looked between his soulmates. "I thought about it, and he never said that I couldn't tell you guys, but if I was in your position—I don't know. I'm really sorry."
"Forgiven," Hitoshi said easily, pulling Denki in for an embrace.
Neito sighed and rolled his eyes. "I hate when you make sense. Nothing to forgive," Neito said, then added pointedly, "grudgingly, though." Then he wrapped his arms around his soulmates who both pulled out an arm to include him in their huddle.
"What now?" Full Throttle asked from where he and Phantasm were tied up, leaning back against the wall, looking around at their captors, helpless to do anything about it. "You going to walk up to the Hero Commission, say that the villains and heroes worked together, and hand us over?"
"Well, not exactly. The Hero Commission doesn't like me as it is—but that's beside the point. What do we do from here?" Denki asked, looking around the group. "I didn't exactly expect all of you to show up at the same time, and I my planning was kind of banking on one group getting here before the other."
"I have a few ideas," Shigaraki said, sending a glare in Full Throttle's direction.
Full Throttle flinched, but held his eye contact, moving forward slightly as if to block Shigaraki's view of Phantasm, like he might forget all about her involvement if he couldn't see her.
"We should head out and let the heroes handle it from here," Spinner said. "I'm sure there's a manhunt for Kaminari right now, so it would be harder to explain how he got away with our involvement added to the mix than if it was like we were never here to begin with."
"First, peacekeeper," Toga said with faux exasperation, putting her hand to her forehead dramatically, "now silent hero in the night? I need to update my resume."
"For what?" Shigaraki argued as he pulled out his phone to notify Kurogiri that they needed his assistance to get back to the base. "You planning on leaving us? Moving on to bigger and better things?" he teased distractedly as he tapped on the phone.
"I don't know, Shigs!" Toga snapped. "Maybe I'll get a side job or something. What else are we going to do? Start a fundraiser? Sell cookie dough door-to-door? What if some crazy person invites me inside and kidnaps me? Then what will you do?"
"They'd give you back," Dabi said, laughing, saving Shigaraki from answering as the warp gate appeared.
"They'd give you back," Toga mocked in lieu of a proper insult to throw back at him.
It happened when the rest of the League was heading toward the warp gate, and Toga was heading in the opposite direction, toward Denki, to say goodbye. Hitoshi and Neito had wandered back over to Full Throttle and Phantasm to make sure they were still secure and behaving themselves.
When the heroes came crashing in from above, Denki and Toga were separated from the others, and the ceiling above them crumbled, collapsing on top of them.
Denki had recognized the heroes and cursed under his breath. He had reached for Toga automatically as the ceiling crumbled. He had to be quick about this.
"Are you hurt?" he whispered.
"No," she whispered back, all humor gone from her voice. She understood as well as he did what kind of situation she had just found herself in.
"I won't let anything happen to you," Denki promised.
Gritting his teeth, he reached out in front of him and scraped his palm across a broken beam.
"Wha—" Toga tried to protest, but Denki slammed his bleeding hand over her mouth.
"You're going to be me. I know you can pull it off. You're going to be me, and you're going to let my soulmates help you, and you're going to let me worry about myself. Got it?" Denki practically growled, pressing his hand harder against her face.
She nodded, blinking her tears back, and Denki quickly explained what she needed to tell the soulmates once they were alone. Villains were easier than heroes to convince in these types of situations. It would be easy for Denki to prove that he was himself once she was out of harm's way. It wouldn't be so easy for her to break out of Tartarus, not even with the League trying to get her out. She was a key player in the breakouts, after all, and they had never went against Tartarus. No one had and succeeded.
"P-p-p-poker face, f-f-fuck her face. P-p-p-poker face, f-f-fuck her face," Denki quickly sang to try to get across the idea to his soulmates of what they had to do as he crossed his fingers that the other League members made it out in time.
That's all the warning that his soulmates would get because hands were pulling the rubble off of him and Toga, grabbing at their arms, and hoisting them up. Friendly hands quickly turned into bruising grips when they realized that there were two Chargebolts where there should have been one.
Denki shook the dust from his hair, and was pleased that when he opened his eyes, he saw Toga doing the same. He knew she could pull it off. She was similar enough to him as it was, and she was observant as hell. She had to be to make good use of her quirk.
"Way to make an entrance!" Denki heard his own voice say from his left.
"Yeah," Denki agreed. "Didn't you take any anti-collateral damage classes?" He glanced toward Toga and made a show of doing a double take.
Toga acted similarly.
Toga laughed. "Nice try, but my boyfriends are here. They'll be able to tell the difference, no problem! Toshi? Nei?" She said, remaining calm and relaxed like it was already decided that she was the real Denki, reaching out a hand to invite them to clear things up.
"Hitoshi," Denki said. "Neito. It's me. You know it's me."
The heroes stood around the room, looking between the soulmates and the doubles, trying to figure a way out of the mess they had found themselves in. No, Denki realized. They were fidgeting, unable to stand still, filled with giddy excitement at having a member of the League of Villains finally in their grasp. A quick glance around the room showed no other League members, and Denki was grateful that everyone else made it back. He sent a silent promise to his friends that he would be sending their missing link back to them soon.
"Phantom Thief," one of the heroes said. "Copy one of their quirks and see which one you get."
"That's a great idea, but I'm already at my limit for another thirty-five minutes," Neito said, checking his timer affixed to his costume. "And none of the quirks I currently have copied would help in this situation."
"Toga can't use her quirk, so Chargebolt should just show us that he can use his," another hero offered.
"That won't work, either," Neito said.
Before anyone could argue, Hitoshi explained, "after being around Full Throttle, it's dangerous for him to use his quirk at all until he's cleared, or it could start something that can't be stopped."
Everyone seemed to have stopped breathing at that, imagining the damage Denki could cause if he would ignite his lightning and be unable to stop it. Denki dared a glance in Full Throttle's direction only to see that another hero must have already escorted Full Throttle and Phantasm out.
"I've got this," Hitoshi said, looking between the two Denkis who stood atop the rubble, a hero holding firmly onto each one, ready to take the imposter away. "Where did Neito and I take you for our first date?"
"The waterpark," Toga answered easily.
Denki had opened his mouth and hesitated. "Wait!" Denki argued. "I knew that!"
"There would be no way for her to know that," Neito said. The hero's grip tightened on Denki's arm as he was shoved forward and Toga was released, allowed to run to the waiting embrace of Denki's soulmates. "And only our Denki answers questions without hesitation."
Denki owed them big time.
Dusty, tired, and already missing his soulmates but not having one, single regret, Denki was re-cuffed with law enforcement grade quirk cancelling cuffs that actually connected, restraining his hands behind his back. The hero paused, confused when a worn Toga didn't appear, but another hero came along to explain that some quirks, once activated, would continue until dropped, and could not be turned off forcefully through quirk cancelling technology or drugs. Denki learned something new and laughed in his head because he knew his luck wasn't running out! So that Hero Commission recruiter could shove it! He was then shoved into the back of the waiting prisoner transport vehicle only to come face to face with Full Throttle.
Denki smiled, trying to make it look extra sharp. "Where's the chick?"
"Not going where we are," Full Throttle dismissed, leaning forward and looking at Denki, scrutinizing. "Chargebolt said that the League was looking out for him. Too bad he wasn't looking out for you, too."
Denki didn't miss the fact that Full Throttle seemed relieved that Phantasm wasn't with them, so he figured she was going to a minimum-security prison, or even just into holding for now. Just like how Toga was one less thing for Denki to worry about, Phantasm seemed to be one less thing for Full Throttle to worry about.
"What's your goal here?" Denki asked. "Trying to get me to see the light? Change sides? I'm a Chargebolt stan 'til the end!"
Okay, Denki might have overdone it there, but Full Throttle just scoffed and rolled his eyes, so maybe he didn't blow his cover. It wasn't paramount to keep his cover forever, just long enough for Toga to be out of the line of view of the Hero Commission's heroes who were lurking around. He doubted five minutes in the truck would be quite enough time, but he wondered if Full Throttle would foil their plans if he knew the truth about what was happening right in front of him.
What would he have to lose?
What would he have to gain?
"What?" Full Throttle asked when Denki had been staring at him for too long.
"Why didn't you use your quirk on Kaminari?" Denki asked.
Full Throttle sighed. Denki didn't know why he decided to answer. Maybe he heard the genuine question in Denki's voice, even as Denki was trying to put hints of Toga in his mannerisms. Maybe he just didn't give a shit now that they were on their way to Tartarus.
"My quirk can only be used once before it has to recharge. It wasn't time, yet."
At that moment, Full Throttle's watch started to chime, an alarm going off. Full Throttle met Denki's eyes, and in that moment, Denki understood that his rescue had come just in time. An hour later, and it would have been certain disaster.
A/N: Songs in this chapter
Poker Face – Lady Gaga