Ochako awoke gradually, her mind hazy and muddled by extensive sleep. She opened her eyes and winced, the bright light blinding her. She groaned and shielded her eyes with one hand, hissing at the minor achy pain it caused. She ached all over, though it wasn't bad. She did a little stretch to see how things felt and apart from the discomfort of moving muscles that hadn't moved in a couple of days she felt fine. She slowly sat up and after adjusting herself to be more comfortable doing so, her eyes finally adjusting to the light and the haze fading from her mind.

Just then the door opened and Dr. Okimi entered. She grabbed the PDA at the end of the bed and started to make notes on it while she talked to Ochako.

"Well, you'll be pleased to know that you're right as rain after my treatment and your friends are also fine. The sedative they were hit with wasn't anything dangerous, just something to keep them unconscious for several hours. They were discharged a couple of days ago while you have been sleeping during that time. You suffered fractures across most of your body, a concussion, two deep stab wounds that damaged your intestines and kidneys, and a minor laceration to your temple. Any questions?" she said looking up.

Ochako had to take a second to process all of it before asking, "What happened after I lost consciousness? Last I recall I broke the woman collar and then passed out."

"She plugged your stab wounds with a mass of her own congealed blood. Were not sure how that aspect of her quirk works, or how most of her works for that matter but were working on it. As for after that, she essentially ripped the rest of the mercenaries present into near literal ribbons, while tearing one body up into literal unidentifiable shreds. When heroes and QSU arrived in response to a cut-off distress call presumably from the mansion staff, they found the woman lying unconscious in a literal pile of blood and viscera. You and your friends were laid to the side, and with the exception of you, were all restrained in Quirk suppression cuffs. There were also the intact mercenary bodies found nearby, likely moved at some point during your struggle with the woman inside the mansion." Said the Doctor, while making a few more notes on the PDA.

"And what about the woman? What happened to her?" Asked Ochako.

"Well for starters we've identified her as Aria Lin, and she is currently restrained in a maximum-security cell at New Tartarus after she nearly broke out of the prison single-handily. She crushed the throat of Ryukyu, and fractured, nearly snapping Mirko's spine after slapping her several feet into the concrete wall, while Nezu and Aizawa were nearly trampled to death by her. Then she tore a good chunk of the interior of the prison to pieces, before finally finding what she was looking for, having a complete emotional breakdown, and falling asleep in the evidence lock-up. Fortunately, I was present and was able to heal Ryukyu and Mirko before either of them died." She replied in such a matter-of-fact tone of voice that one would think she was talking about the weather.

Ochako just stared at her, mouth slightly agape at the ridiculousness of it all. She had to take a minute to let all that settle in her brain. Apparently, the good Dr. excelled in being blunt and direct to a near-fault. Which, she supposed was a good trait for a medical professional to have.

"Okay... Okay... uh... what was Nezu and everyone else doing at Tartarus, to begin with?" She asked next.

"We went there to talk to Mrs. Lin. Nezu thought her capable of being communicated with and wanted to try to learn as much as he could with the aid of Detective Naomasa. What was discussed and is presently being discussed with her as we speak is something you'll have to take up with Nezu after he returns from his trip to the prison again," replied Dr. Okimi, who pulled a water bottle out of a coat pocket and took a drink.

Ochako made a mental note to ask Nezu about it. She tried to think of anything she might want to know but all of the rest of her questions would be better directed towards Nezu she reasoned. So that left her with only one question to ask.

"So how long do I have to stay?"

"Well physically, you're perfectly fine. We've been keeping a loose eye on you this entire time in case something unexpected happened but we haven't observed anything abnormal. If you were a civilian I'd advise another day or two, but knowing you, you'll probably be fine. So as far as I'm concerned you can check out today. Either way, I'll be informing your contacts that your good to visit, but you're going to have to leave by tomorrow." Replied Dr. Okimi with a small shrug. She hung the PDA back on the bed end and got up, heading out the door.

Ochako let herself fall back into her bed and let out a sigh. It was good to know that everyone was all right, she had feared something worse may have occurred but a few hours of unconsciousness wasn't too bad all things considered. She thought back to her fight with Aria, she knew she was strong from her own fight with the woman, but nearly killing Ryukyu and Mirko was no mean feat. Let alone nearly breaking out of New Tarturas, she had seen firsthand the quality of restraints they had and she was surprised that the woman had been able to escape. The fact that they had put her in a maximum-security cell meant that she was on the same threat level as some of the strongest villains ever seen. She remembered the woman's plea for Ochako to kill her, and she felt goosebumps go down her back at the memory.

Ochako sighed then got out of the bed. She did a few stretches to check for any particular soreness and after ironing them out some she looked around the room for any of her possessions. She spotted her wallet, phone, and even a change of clothes folded on a nearby table. So shewent to the door and locked it, then went to change.

"Thank you Tsu." she muttered as she started to change into the clothes Tsu had brought. She had given Tsu a copy of her apartment's keys in case of emergencies and she was glad she had done so. She had no doubt her previous clothes were torn, bloody, and covered in dust. After she was done, she unlocked the door and gathered her phone and wallet, and headed out to the lobby to check out.

After waiting for a couple of minutes she managed to get herself cleared and walked out of the hospital. She did another stretch and gave the outside warm air a nice big breath. It was a good day, her friends were safe, and she had come out of the fight alive. It was indeed a good day.

She shot a group message to everyone letting them know she had left the hospital and would be relaxing at her apartment for the rest of the day. After a chorus of people asking how she was, and her reassuring them she was fine she finally got to her apartment. She unlocked the door and walked in, quickly removing her shoes as she stepped into her living-dining room only to be brought up short when she noticed the windows were open and a slight breeze was wafting through the apartment. She noticed there was a smell on the air and was about to give it a sniff when Tsu poked her head out of Ochako's kitchen.

"Tsu! What are you doing here? I thought you'd be at the school." Said Ochako surprised and happy.

"Nezu gave me the day off, so I thought I'd come by and make some tea after Dr. Okimi contacted me, ribbit." Said Tsu as she walked out of the kitchen holding a small pitcher of steaming tea and two mugs.

Ochako felt a smile spread across her face as her eyes lit up at the sight of the tea. She quickly sat down at the balcony table with Tsu who had started pouring the tea. After having the warm mug in her hands and a long sip that she savored. She turned to Tsu and said,

"You are amazing Tsu, thanks for going through all the trouble I really appreciate it." She said.

"Don't mention it, I figured you'd want some after everything." Replied Tsu.

"Yeah... I needed this." She said as she just looked out over the city.

There was silence for a bit as they just sat and sipped on their tea while overlooking the city. The sound of the breeze and the city the only things audible. As she overlooked the city, a profound sense of melancholy came over her. She set her mug down and walked over the railing, resting her hands on it and leaning out some she felt the breeze more strongly on her face. She let out a great sigh, her smile slipping from her face.

"This is it, isn't it? Everything is going to change again." She said, clasping her hands together with her elbows on the railing.

She heard Tsu set her own mug down and join her at the railing.

"I thought, that after the war was over, that would be the end of it. No more crises, no more senseless slaughter, no more hard choices. I never expected it would be easy after it all, but it had started to look like we might get some peace and quiet at last. Instead, here we are, just after an attack on us, and a battle with a new modified human." She clasped her hands tighter together, as her memories brought to mind the war.

"It never ended, did it? The war was just put on hold, while it waited for someone like Zeus to show up. Now here we are again, on the brink of the war flaring back up." She said.

There was silence again, Tsu not saying anything, but she did reach over and force Ochako's hands apart so she could hold one in hers before speaking.

"We'll be all right, this isn't the war, the city isn't in danger of being destroyed, armies won't be laying waste to the countryside, and no one is going to die. We'll be okay, ribbit." Tsu said, squeezing Ochako's hand at the end to emphasize her point.

Ochako felt her quiet fear lessen, she took a deep calming breath and nodded. Tsu was right, this wasn't the war renewed, and they were all going to be fine. Zeus, for all his power, was no Shigiraki, and Aria as strong as she was, was not a Nomu. Things were different this time around, they had held the advantage and Ochako swore to herself that she wouldn't let any of her friends down.

Ochako squeezed Tsu's hand back before releasing it. She stepped back from the railing and sat down again, pouring herself more tea she took a long drink and gave a relaxed sigh. A small smile found its way onto her face again and she truly grateful to have a friend like Tsu, though at this point sister was probably more apt. Ochako didn't have any siblings but she imagined her relationship with Tsu was probably as close one could get to it.

"Thanks Tsu." She said.

"No problem," replied Tsu.

They spent the rest of the afternoon just relaxing, they ordered some food and decided to just watch some TV together. They hadn't hung out like this in a while, and while it was unfortunate that the reunion had been cut short, this at least was something. Eventually, the day wore on, and before long night had fallen. Tsu excused herself and left to head back to her own apartment, while Ochako decided to go to bed early. She felt exhausted, and she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.


The summons from Nezu had come late the next morning. Class-1A was to meet at the U.A. Staffroom to discuss recent events. So here she was, sitting in a chair at the relatively large table surrounded by her classmates while they waited for Nezu to arrive. It was unusual for Nezu to be late, but with all the chaos in the H.A. due to the attack she wasn't surprised. Despite what Nezu might have wanted, he had become a prominent figure within the association. He had even been nominated for the presidency at one point but he declined, preferring to remain the principal of U.A. instead. This caused a bit of a divide in Nezu's relationship with them, but despite many within the H.A. held him in high esteem and took his suggestions and plans seriously.

Ochako looked around at everyone, the mood was dark and gloomy. Nobody was smiling or laughing, instead, most of them were either lost in thought or having small quiet conversations with others. She saw Todoroki and Bakugo discussing something over at the window overlooking the campus with Momo occasionally saying something. The three of them held grim expressions with Momo looking more worried than grim. Tokoyami was talking with Shinso who was seated next to him, with Shinso looking decidedly annoyed at the topic they were discussing. The thing that really set the mood though was Ashido who was just sitting in Kirishima's lap, leaning against him while he whispered to her as he played with her hands with his. She saw that Ashido must have been crying, her eyes were a dark pink and a bit puffy. She knew to let Kirishima handle dealing with Ashido, only he would be able to lift her mood. Tsu alone looked to be taking everything well, though Ochako knew she felt a responsibility to keep a strong front up for the sake of the others. Her older mindset and maternal instincts shining through at times like this. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Tsu was like the older sibling to the entire class. Ochako pulled herself away from her observations of the others and re-focused on her conversation with Tsu, Jirou, and Kaminari.

"I know I wasn't around a lot during it but was this sort of thing common during the war?" Asked Jirou a mixture of anxiousness and fear on her face.

Jirou wasn't taking the attack well, not being as jaded and hardened as the others this sort of thing was new to her.

"It happened a few times during the early stages. Shigiraki and Re-Destro had planted some spies in our ranks and they did a lot of damage to slow us down. They poisoned us a few times, destroyed supplies, and attacked us a few times before we managed to root them all out." Replied Tsu.

"It won't happen again though, since Zeus's plan failed and he's showed his hand he won't try this sort of tactic again. The attack relied on subterfuge and careful planning and manipulation, it was probably in the works for quite a while. He must have been keeping tabs on everyone for a while now, and when he discovered we would all be in one place with our guards down he must have started getting his people into the Yaoyorozu staff so they could drug the food." Said Ochako.

"My memories pretty fuzzy on a lot of the details, but wasn't the event that led to my amnesia a trap set by the League?" Asked Kaminari, his memory apparently jogged by the attack.

Tsu nodded as she said, "They had invaded a power station and we thought they planned on destroying it. In reality, Zeus had been hooked up to the plant itself and planned on releasing a blast strong enough to glass the entire facility with us in it. You hooked yourself up to the station in a different area, absorbed the energy, and redirected it into the sky. The facility suffered damage but was repaired, with you being the only casualty of that event. It also made us much warier and perceptive of such traps, ribbit."

Kaminari winced at the memory as it came back little by little, but he looked happy to know he had lost his memory doing something so heroic. Ochako remembered the lack of confidence he had in his abilities for a long time, she supposed that accomplishing such a feat would probably be a significant boost to his confidence going forward. Not to mention the fact that absorbing, redirecting, and surviving such an event could likely come with beneficial side-effects. Without testing his limits, however, it was hard to say for certain. Ochako had no doubt he would return to hero work in time, but whether or not he was ready for the fights that would be coming up in the near future was impossible to say.

That's when the door opened and Nezu walked in, accompanied by Aizawa, Hawks, and Detective Naomasa. Everyone stopped talking and looked over the arrivals as they settled themselves. No one else moved to sit, preferring to stay where they were.

"I apologize, for having you all come here so soon after the attack. I would prefer to give you all time, but I am afraid that time is against us. We know part of Zeus's aim, furthermore, we know the location of the lab he is using."

That got people's attention, everyone seemed to become a bit more attentive at that. The prospect of repaying the attack in kind was foremost in everyone's mind, but discipline kept them all from interrupting Nezu. Even Bakugo seemed content to listen to Nezu.

"Zeus is conducting a large portion of his business out of an old lab set up by Chisaki during the war. We don't know the exact purpose of the lab or what it may contain but we are fairly certain it at least acted as a Nomu production facility. This means that Zeus may have acquired some for his own use, depending on their completeness he may have High Ends, or possibly something even beyond that. We do not know what other experiments Chisaki and Garaki may have been conducting before the wars end." Said Nezu

"Our job then is to secure the base as a whole?" Asked Todoroki

Nezu nodded, "Quite right if he wants the base and the attack was related to it in some way then we need to ensure he doesn't hold it a moment longer. However, there is a problem, not least of which being that we need time to prepare to breach a major stronghold. Best estimates put our ready date at a few days from now. The second more serious problem is that WE don't know where the facility is located."

"So who does." Said Bakugo.

Nezu closed his eyes and let out a small sigh, then he turned to Hawks and said, "Please bring her in."

The door opened, and to everyone's surprise, Best Jeanist came in. He was trailing behind him a series of black shiny threads that he held taught in his hands. After him came Mirko, who was in her full wartime assault gear and who took up a position beside the door while looking out of it. Then to everyone's surprise Thirteen appeared, wheeling a standing gurney into the room with a figure bound in the black shiny threads that were also attached to the gurney, with Best Jeanist keeping them taught. The woman had her hair cut and it was in a ponytail, but her appearance was unmistakable. Aria, the woman that had beaten Ochako to near death, but who had also saved her and her friends by wiping out the rest of the mercenaries.

Ochako's first instinct was to bolt to her feet, ready to fight, but she restrained herself. Nezu wouldn't have had her brought here if he didn't think it was safe. Though it looks like he had the foresight to be prepared in the event she tried to murder them all. Mirko in her full wartime combat gear was nigh unstoppable, factor in Best Jeanist and his Black Silk and they could've kept even Gigantomachia restrained forever. That wasn't even including Class-1A and Thirteen in the equation. All in all, Nezu had prepared himself well, which given the fact the woman had nearly broken out of New Tartarus single-handily was probably wise.

While Ochako forced herself to relax, everyone else merely had frowns, confused expressions, or curiosity on their faces. They had been unconscious during the fight between Ochako and Aria and Ochako was willing to bet that Nezu hadn't said anything until now given everyone's reactions.

"This is Aria, she was part of the team that attacked you and was the one responsible for sending Ms. Uraraka to the hospital. HOWEVER," said Nezu, punctuating the last word as he saw several of Ochako's classmates tense up. "she is no longer a danger to us. She was a prototype for a new type of Nomu that was being developed during the later stages of the war, as well as being the precursor for a new series of bio-weapons made by Zeus, called the Hounds of Zeus. She herself could not be turned into one, and so Zeus was forced to ensure her obedience via a collar that contained enough electricity to kill a normal human, along with the ability to suppress emotion and encourage compliance. Her accompaniment of the task force that attacked you was a field test for her. So while I understand that you may harbor have ill-will for her, I ask that you keep your judgments in check in light of her circumstances."

That seemed to satisfy everyone, with Bakugo being the only one who still looked ready to kill.

"So you're the one who knows where we can find Zeus's lab?" Asked Todoroki.

"Yes, but I'll only tell you on one condition," replied Aria.

Todoroki and several others glanced at each other, then to Nezu before facing Aria again.

"All right, what do you want." He asked.

The woman didn't say anything at first, she looked past everyone to the far window and looked out to the outside world. Then she focused her attention back on Todoroki.

"I want to come with you when you launch your attack." She said.

That was the breaking point for Bakugo. "Like hell you are!" he shouted, taking a step forward his anger unable to be contained. "There's no way in hell we would even consider taking you with us!"

"Why do you want to come with us?" Asked Momo

"Because my husband and child are being held there." Said Aria coldly while staring dagger at Bakugo. Who stared back with equal intensity.

There was a pause as everyone looked at her with varying levels of surprise and disbelief. Before Bakugo broke the silence.

"Bullshit, she'll just attack us the second we launch our attack." Bakugo all but snarled.

"I think," spoke up Nezu suddenly, "That Detective Naomasa could help us with determining her intentions."

Bakugo still glaring turned his eyes on Naomasa, who stood up and looked straight at Aria.

"Are your husband and child at the same lab we have been discussing?" He asked.

"So far as I know, yes," she said.

"Would you betray us if we were to take you with us during our raid on the lab?"

"No, that wouldn't help get my family back."

"Could you be compelled through some means to betray us against your will?

"I don't know, as far as I know, I can't be, which is why they needed the collar and my family."

"Would you betray us after obtaining what you want?"

"No."

"Would you listen to our orders both before and during the raid?"

"So long as they don't stop me from finding my family, then yes."

"If we deny your request, what would you do?"

"Then I would free myself, fight my way through this entire city, and rescue them myself."

Naomasa stared hard at her for a few seconds longer before turning to face everyone else, "And there you have it."

Ochako glanced over to Bakugo, who still looked livid but whose eyes had narrowed, signaling his internal conflict over the knowledge. Finally, he let out a growling sigh and just fell into a seat with a loud thump. Crossing his arms, putting his shoes on the desk, and scowling all the while he responded, "I don't like it, and I won't be held responsible for whatever might happen because of it."

"But I warn you," he said looking at Aria, "If you take one step out of line, hurt anyone, even look at them funny, and I WILL kill you myself." The grim finality and menace of the statement hanging in the air.

Ochako herself felt similarly, she didn't like the idea of a mentally compromised individual, who had only recently been part of a secret enemy bioweapon program accompanying them. On the other hand, Ochako saw the conviction of the woman and the sense of purpose she had as she spoke. Compared to the woman who had just wanted to die at Ochako's hand when they first met, it definitely meant a change had occurred.

It brought a memory came to her mind, a conversation she and Yo Shindo had been having in the earlier stages of the Angel Project. She'd been desperately holding onto what hope she could find in the world, much like Aria was doing with her hope of rescuing her family years after her initial abduction.

"This society is diseased, it allowed evil to grow in the cracks and never tried to uproot it. They let us stand in the light, blind to the evil lurking in our shadows, blinded by hope... but hope... hope is the first step on the road to disappointment." He had said.

A sad cynical outlook on the world and society, but one she had come to see as true as well. She had let hope slide through her fingers like sand and had let, IT, take root. When the woman lost that last small vestige of hope, what would happen? She didn't want to know.