The wind's sharp sting against her face, the way that it blows through her hair and brushes against her clothes, it doesn't feel the same anymore. There's no exhilarating rush of adrenaline as she bounds from one roof to the next. She feels the strain on her ankles when her feet make an impact. The full weight and pressure of bending her knees to push off and continue moving extracts a heavy toll of oxygen. Without the proper energy to endure this type of physical activity, the harsh reality of how much effort the body requires to pull it off really settles into her flesh and bones. In the back of her mind, the blonde wonders if this is some form of depression that has weakened her. It's not the first time that she's been abandoned and left alone. But it is the first time that she's been unable to recover and bounce back.

A flock of pigeons disperse from a nest that they've made atop a chimney as she sprints by. Feathers float gently down behind her as she carries herself from that building to the next. But her descent is not as soft and delicate. The girl's foot catches the ledge and she flips forward, arms bent at the elbow to brace herself unconsciously. She instead lands on her side and rolls onto her knees, skin scraping off and exposing raw red flesh. The blonde hisses through her pointed teeth, seething in both annoyance and pain from making such a stupid mistake. Stopping, and so suddenly, has also taken the metaphorical wind out of her sails. If she had been exhausted and breathing heavily before, then now she's practically wheezing on the verge of comatose. A stray lock falls over her forehead as she wipes away a bead of sweat.

She curses under her breath, damning everything. She's not sure whether she had been running toward or from something or what that would have even been if anything at all, but now it's finally caught up. It's been a number of weeks now since her boyfriend disappeared. Not just days anymore. And he hasn't once tried reaching out to reestablish contact with her. To be fair, he must have been hurting just as much as her after the Kamino Ward incident. It took the first week for her to recover and heal most of her injuries. But now, especially with his quirk's healing factor, she had expected him to return to her. Yet.. he hasn't. She closes her eyes when tears threaten to spill, the waterworks brimming at the edges. She won't allow herself to cry. Not anymore.

From up high, she can hear the hustle and bustle of nightlife below. Car horns honking. Trash bins being loaded. Pedestrians crossing the street. Families and friends laughing. That last one pulls at her heart just like the sole thought of her missing boyfriend does. Friends. They seem in short supply. She wasn't even sure if she could trust Dabi anymore after what had happened. During their recuperation, the surviving stragglers of the League Of Villains had a thorough discussion about the events that had taken place. Well.. more-so an argument than a conversation. Fingers had been pointed. Blame had been casted. It was a matter of who could shout profanities louder than the other at some points. And yet, the entire bull session replays in her mind as clear as day.

Out of everyone that could have asked the question on all their minds, she hadn't expected Tomura to be the one who had addressed the matter. And he had put it so eloquently too. Shouted through his chapped lips was the brilliant formulated sentence structure, "What the fuck happened back there?!"

As always, Kurogiri scolded the manchild like the parental figure of the group that he is. "Language, Shigaraki", the misty member of the team had sounded more exasperated than usual too. Just enough to seem suspicious to Tomura.

"Did you know anything about it?!", Tomura spat like the drops of saliva were venomous. His hissy fit was much more than a tantrum that time. If everyone weren't still recuperating at that point in time, his rage would have no doubt triggered a fight of some kind. Instead, the danger simmered under the surface of angry expressions.

"To what are you referring? The heroes? Of course not. Don't be preposterous", though Kurogiri had to mostly express his own frustrations through his tone considering his face is pretty obscured by the purple smog enveloping his body.

"He meant Mikumo, dipshit", it was at that point Dabi ran out of patience and lost his own temper. Or in hindsight, it could have just been an outburst from the aggravation he had over having to re-staple his burnt and sagging flesh.

The blonde recalls her own outburst being based on pure emotion though. She knows that for a fact. She had been pissed. "YOU definitely had something to do with Akatani. That icky gray goop was your quirk!", she had accused Twice of being involved with Akatani's absence considering the way there had been two of the ghoul.

"Me?!", and Twice had the gull to act innocent. Even behind his mask, he feigned complete shock when it came to being blamed.

"The psycho bitch is right. You cloned him", though she had been grateful at the time for Tomura backing her up. He had even gone as far to force himself to his feet, hands twitching at his sides with the urge to turn the supposed traitor to dust. "Why?!", Tomura demanded answers for both herself and him. Likely he had been more-so thinking of himself though.

"I didn't!", Twice denied his involvement with Akatani's absence at first. But was just as quick to fold and confess, "Okay, you got me!"

After being silent for so long, Compress sighed and finally chimed in. "Enough of this. Now that he's gone, I can tell you", and his input had silenced everyone since he knew more than he had avoided letting on. He looked at Tomura while admitting, "Your master put us up to it."

"Sensei.. ?", Tomura hesitated with that information. He was shocked.

"Put you up to what?", so the blonde villainous had to step up and ask questions for herself again. When Compress had tried avoiding eye contact with her, she had gotten a little more assertive, "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

"I had also known about the plan to swap out Akatani Mikumo", but Kurogiri had bailed him out before she could get stabby. That reveal had shaken Tomura even more, despite his earlier suspicions and accusations. Though it may have helped that Kurogiri apologized, "I am truly sorry for keeping it from you."

"But why.. ?", Tomura wondered aloud.

"Master deemed that the ghoul had a greater purpose", and all Kurogiri had divulged was that single elusive sentence. Hardly an explanation.

"What did he do to him?!", the blonde villainous had erupted again. She remembers pushing past her pain to stand up, challenging the others in an attempt to intimidate them.

"Relax", but Dabi had stepped in to prevent a fight from breaking out. "He told me that your boyfriend would be fine. It couldn't have been that bad", he instead shifted the feelings of animosity towards himself.

"You knew too?", the girl had felt betrayal at the revelation. Even if she hadn't been injured then, she would have still probably staggered and lost her balance.

"I'm sure he had his reasons", Dabi hung his head in shame, "I know I had mine."

"Why didn't you tell me?", the villainous couldn't help but wonder why her friend would keep such a thing hidden.

"I told you! I had my reasons!", and Dabi had snapped at her for it. The anger in his burning blue eyes had the same look as when he would talk about his father. She's sure that had been the reason to which he had referred. But still. She couldn't believe he'd sell out Akatani for his revenge.

"So the psycho bitch and I were the only ones left out of the loop", Tomura scoffed with disbelief as he looked around the room at the remaining members of the league. Practically all of them had betrayed him in his eyes. Tomura grumbled with a roll of his eyes, "Brilliant."

Kurogiri stepped forward and tried placating the league's leader, "We shouldn't devolve into distrust amongst ourselves. The heroes delivered a major blow–"

"And who's fault was that?!", but only received another fit of anger for his efforts. Tomura scanned the room a second time with wary red eyes, "None of you are giving me any reason to trust you."

"Akatani was right. He and I should have never trusted any of you either", the former member of the league recalls that being the moment that she had decided she would leave them like her boyfriend had.

"Look.. He must have ran away for a good reason", though Dabi had tried getting her to stay more than once. That first time had earned him a glare. She shouldn't have expected him to back down. He only glared back while asking, "Or are you forgetting that he left you?"

"He'll be back!", she had protested his claim not knowing that Akatani had indeed left her. At that time, she foolishly believed he'd come back to her and didn't hesitate to give him her defense. Now though..

"So it's settled then. We wait and see if the ghoul returns", Kurogiri took that opportunity to dissolve their first shouting match. He had opted for their recovery over arguing, "Until then.. We lick our wounds."

And the rest is history. A few more arguments. A couple attempts to kill one another. Or, at least, the intent to. And eventually, she left them. She slipped away like a thief in the night. Now, here she is. Terraining the rooftops in search of nothing at all, running from nothing as well. Or, so she had figured. Something to flee from eventually does arrive. In the form of an underground hero. The flash of something yellow is what alerts her to the man's arrival.

The villainous snaps out of her rumination when she senses that she's not alone. In the old days, she wouldn't hesitate to attack. However, nowadays, her fight or flight response leans more towards running. She still hasn't recovered fully from the Kamino Ward incident and she feels already worn down from parkouring that getting into a brawl doesn't seem like a good idea. The blonde turns and flees without taking the time to see more than a glimpse of her pursuer.

"Wait!", there's a shout behind her but she ignores it and bounds across the gap of buildings. This time, she doesn't tumble or grate her knees. Her feet slap the rooftop that she lands on and carry her across to the next ledge. Behind her, she hears another pair of shoes smacking the roof's surface.

There's a few gasps of commotion from the sidewalks below. The villainous is giving the civilians quite the spectacle, crossing entire buildings in single bounds. A few lucky guys even get a glance up her skirt. Until she takes a sharp turn and drops into an alley in order to shake off her chaser. There's an electrical wire hanging overheard that she has to twist and avoid before landing on the lid of a dumpster. More started shouts from pedestrians come from behind her before she takes off towards a chain link fence.

She doesn't bother looking back as she hops the gate and lands on the other side. She's sure that her pursuer is still on her tail if they aren't an amutear. So she tosses a garbage can aside to spill its contents in her path for extra measure. It won't stop her chaser, but it might slow them down. As well as the street intersection full of cars slamming on their breaks while she runs through.

The blonde comes into another alley, this one with turns to take. After two, she starts climbing a brick wall by using its crevices as handholds. She thinks this is where she'll lose her pursuer. They'll likely run by and not know where she went. When she puts one hand over the other and scales the ledge, she isn't expecting to find the person chasing her already on the roof. He's an underground hero, waiting for her from a perched position on a ventilation system.

"Himiko Toga", Eraserhead addresses the girl he's been following with a small nod. His capture cloth billows in the wind like a regular scarf. For a moment, Himiko thinks that he's going to use it on her. Instead, he says, "I think you and I need to talk."

The blonde sighs, plopping into a criss cross seated position. Her legs finally gave out, unable to hold her up anymore. "Sure.. Why not?", she surrenders with a tired tone.

Sensing no hostility or intention to flee again, Eraserhead steps down from his own spot. He undoes his goggles while stating, "I've been looking for you."

"To lock me up?", Himiko huffs. She has a poor posture matched by Eraserhead when he also sits down.

The underground hero shakes his head, "Not exactly. This is more about Izuku Midoriya than you" The blonde blinks, showing no reaction to that name other than confusion. Eraserhead tries again, "Or as you know him.. Akatani Mikumo."

"Akatani's real name is… Izukun?", Himiko tests the name on her tongue by twisting it around a little. She's suddenly swept up by another wave of emotion upon remembering her boyfriend. She wishes he were here so that she could hit him for keeping his name a secret. Then she'd tease him a little before admitting that his real name is actually kinda cute. Then hit him again for leaving her and making her cry.

"Have you been in any kind of recent contact with him?", Eraserhead puts drops in to fix his dry eye as he talks, "It's important that we find him."

"I know that!", Himiko can't help but snap at the hero. She's wanted nothing more than to find her boyfriend. She knows how important it is. She simmers down just as quick though, "It's just.. No. No, I really haven't seen him."

"That's a shame..", Eraserhead shakes his head with a disappointed sigh, "I wanted to help him and I believed you were the only one who'd be able to make that work."

Himiko sits up a little straighter at that, "Help him? How?"

"His reputation has been more muddled than ever recently", but Eraserhead is as despondent as ever. The underground hero runs a hand through his long hair in exasperation, "Despite some property damage and going against his probation, he helped bring down a villain instead of aiding and abetting. I think that's worth something in court.. I don't really know anymore. It might be futile."

Himiko stares at the man in shock. And maybe even a little admiration. "Aka- Izuku.. He was right about you", her voice is just a whisper but the hero hears her. He looks up to see the blonde's expression softening, "You're one of the good ones. You seem to actually mean well. I don't think I've ever met a hero quite like that."

Eraserhead offers her one of his rare smiles. Not one of the creepy toothy grins he uses to scare his students, but a sincere smile. "There's a first time for everything", there's an odd sense of humor to his reply that lightens the mood as well.

Himiko smiles back while realizing, "Hey.. You're watching Eri, right?"

"Yeah?", Eraserhead cocks his head in curiosity as to why the blonde is bringing up the girl he's taken in.

"C- Can.. Can I see her?", but it all makes sense when Himiko tentatively requests visitation. The hero remembers the times that Eri would call Himiko her big sister.

"I'm sure Eri would love that", he agrees to the meeting with a nod. But the mild happiness subsides when he thinks about the other elder sibling-like relationship Eri has. "Do you think he'll ever come to see her again?", Eraserhead has a distant look as he glances at the cityline. Himiko already knows who he's referring to.

"I hope so..", Himiko finds herself staring off in that same direction. She wonders if he's out there somewhere. Or if he's someplace else entirely.

"Me too", the hero somberly sighs before his face furrows into a frown, "He seems pretty busy with his new band of buddies though."

Which catches Himiko off guard, "Huh?"

Eraserhead looks back at her with an equal amount of confusion. "You mean.. ? You don't know? The rumors recently. You don't.. ?", he searches for any sign of deceit or recognition to what he's talking about but Himiko truly doesn't understand what he's getting at.

"What are you talking about?", she asks with a hint of urgency to figure out what it is that she doesn't know.

"After leaving the League Of Villains, he's made his own group", and Eraserhead drops a major bombshell on her. Her heart thumps in her chest as he elaborates further, "It's an organization called.. Aogiri."

The cracks in marble floors run with streams of blood. Corpses strewn around the facility continue to ooze more of the crimson liquid. These are the latest victims of Aogiri. A cult group called the CRC which rejects anymore physical abnormality mutation quirks. Pale cloaks have been drenched red, stained permanently.

The League Of Villains arrive much too late to have dealt the killing blow themselves. They walk into the aftermath, the stench of death hitting them hard. Twice lifts up the bottom of his mask, puking out his dinner. They had planned on pillaging the place for themselves, but they are now no more than scavengers here to pick up the scraps.

Tomura scratches at his neck in annoyance. He had wanted to dust something. But he stops when he realizes that the massacre had saved him the trouble of having to exert himself. Admittedly, he's gotten lazier while in hiding. Biding his time has turned into nothing more than survival. He and his small band of misfits get by on scraps. They haven't been able to rebuild what they've lost. Today's just another day they've gotten lucky enough to take it easy.

Or so he thinks. Until the set of double chamber doors slam shut behind him, sealing him and the league inside. "Dabi! Light!", Tomura orders the fire user to spark a flame for them to see in the dark. Whoever slaughtered the cult group didn't leave. They're still here. Perhaps even, this whole thing had been a trap.

When Dabi ignites a blue flame in the palm of his hand, there's just enough illumination for the small squad to make out something crittering around in the dark. Spindly legs skitter along the floors and up the walls before the group can get more than a glimpse. "What was that?!", Twice shrieks like a stereotypical schoolgirl that just saw a bug.

"Quiet!", Tomura snaps with annoyance. He's had just about enough of Twice that he would turn the psycho into dust if their group weren't already so low on numbers. Instead, as much as he would hate to admit it, Tomura knows that retreat is their best option. "Kurogiri, get us out of here", he orders the warper to give them their exit. When there's no response or portal to go through, Tomura spins around, "Kurogiri?"

Kurogiri is gone. "Do you think something took him?!", Twice continues to panic as he fidgets and casts glances in each direction, "M- Maybe it's Batman!"

"Batman's not real", Compress tries to calm Twice down before Tomura loses his patience. But that doesn't help their situation any.

Again, the sound of something skittering along the floor. Behind them. Tomura lets out a war cry as he extends an arm, lashing out at the source of noise. But there's nothing there. "Dammit..", he hisses under his breath.

"Fuck this", Dabi waves his hand so that the small flame he's made burns even brighter and expands. A trail of fire stretches across the room and spreads along the floor via blood as though the liquid is lighter fluid. The blue flames are hot, but they allow the group to see at least.

And what they see terrifies them. They suddenly wish they had just stayed in the dark. Centipedes thicker than their arms and legs combined tread the ceiling and walls. They stretch longer than the room itself, looping back and around to float in the air. And at the epicenter, is a ghoulish visage. Hair bleached white, but body covered in blood, the ghoul levitates using the appendages sprouting from the base of the back.

Below the ghoul, stands five other freakish looking beings. One a cold contrast from Dabi, dark blue parka covering their full body with the hood drawn up to hide their face, breathes a mist of condensation. Another is a woman with lilac hair and pale blue skin, a jacket with black fur around the collar hanging from her shoulders. Beside her, a man with a red iron mask covering his mouth and white hair like the ghoul matching his cloak. And beside him, a robed figure with their hair tied into a ponytail and an eyeless mask with just a fake mouth etched into it. Lastly, shorter than the rest, someone wrapped in so many bandages that they'd look like a mummy if it weren't for the maroon hooded cloak draped over them.

"What the fu- ?", Tomura doesn't get the chance to finish. A centipede wraps around his throat, crushing his windpipe and snapping his neck with one squeeze.

Before Twice can let loose a scream, he's impaled by another of the armored appendages. Only then does he cry out. "Oh God, I can feel it inside me! I'm real! I'm rea-", he's broken apart from the inside out by the limb and dies.

Compress raises his hands to use his quirk, but they're sliced off by the pincers attached to the centipede that comes for him. All he can do is fall on his backside while desperately trying to scramble away from impending doom. "I'm sorry! I'm-", his cries are also cut short.

"Oh my..", the blue skinned woman below the ghoul covers her mouth with her hand to feign revulsion. But behind that covering, she's smiling.

The shorter of the bunch cheers with a small applause, not hiding their delight while watching the horror show. The others' reactions are hard to distinguish considering they all have concealment for their faces.

Dabi staggers back, glancing between the fallen members of the league and the group opposing him. Other bodies from the previous bunch to go down also scatter the floor. Knowing he has no chance, no matter the amount of firepower, he falls to his knees and holds his hands up in surrender.

The ghoul undoes the zipper across the mouth of his mask. What sounds like Akatani brings some mild relief to the remaining member of the league, "Hey Dabi. Long time, no see."

"H- Hey man..", Dabi sweatdrops. He doesn't know whether it's due to the heat from his flames or his nerves that are on fire though.

"Wanna join Aogiri? No hard feelings?", Akatani's voice doesn't quite match the dark glow coming from his eyes but Dabi still feels some type of relief upon receiving the offer, "I think you'd make a valuable asset."

Dabi can't stare into the shattered lens of the ghoul's eyes for too long. He breaks contact, seeing the dead bodies scattering the floor that he's on. The cult surrounds him and the dead members of the league as he basically bows down like a sacrificial offering. "T- To do what?", he has to wonder what sort of agenda this group has if it isn't like Stain's ideology.

After working with Tomura, he should have figured the answer would be, "To set the world ablaze."