Red shoes slap against the tile flooring as exasperated breathing bounces off of the walls. He can hear the sound of claws scratching against blue ceramic flooring and curses under his breath as he ducks into a spare closet. The space is roughly three feet deep and three feet across so the teen scrunches himself into the smallest ball possible, black-clad arms gripping onto his knees tightly.

The closet has no light once he eases the door shut, he hopes that it doesn't pick up the creaking of rusty hinges. From what he had seen so far, his guess was it probably did.

Shigaraki Tomura swallows roughly, trying to fight the rising sensation of panic he can feel in his throat. His bangs cling to his sweat-soaked eyebrows, tickling his eyelashes with every blink. One shaky hand does its best to pull the hair out of his face but it stubbornly flops back to where it was originally.

He curses again with a shaky laugh. It seems that not much was going right today.

His left hand slides down his hip to his calf where he can feel warm blood continuing to flow from the wound. His bony middle feel gently prods the area, feeling the three separate puncture spots, none appearing to be clotting up anytime soon. He brings the hand back up to his head and wraps both hands around his ears. A desperate attempt to drown out his senses from the current nightmare he was living.

A shriek from a hallway away stirs him from his position and he can hear the sound of feet pounding the floor and a sobbing breath pattern. Tomura bites his tongue and slowly pulls the handle of the door.

If one of them was out there, what kind of party leader would he be if he just continued to hide on his own?

Light floods the closet as the tiny crack of an opening slowly widens, forcing Tomura to blink back the powerful coloring of the fluorescent lights that hang above. With the door now a few inches open, he gazes into the area, yellow walls and bright blue tiling filling in his vision.

What a stupid color pattern for an old pediatrician's office.

His shoulders are tense as he looks further into the hallway, finally finding the target of the breathing he had heard.

Himiko Toga stands in the middle of the hallway, wide eyes with a trembling bottom lip. Her beige cardigan stuck to her from, her two buns of hair spilling over more wildly than he had ever seen before. His eyes shift to her left side where he can see splotches of crimson on the wrist cuff of her left sleeve.

The hand itself was mostly hidden by the arm length of the sweater but Shigaraki can make out the steady drip of blood falling from the area. The girl's head swings back and forth, frantic, a knife clutched in her right hand with an iron grip.

Tomura takes another deep breath and pushes the door further open. The boy grits his teeth and pulls himself out of the tight area, waving over to the girl.

A manic laugh falls from her lips as she locks eyes with the boy and moves to join him in the area.

"Tomu-"

Her cry is cut off from a growl from down the hall. The two instantly still and turn back to the opposite end of the hallway, finding a beast that Shigaraki still struggled to describe looking at them.

Himiko whimpers at the sight and takes a small step closer to Tomura. Shigaraki buries his hands deeper into his pocket to hide the uncontrollable shaking of his clenched fists.

The three beings freeze for a moment, all with tensed muscles and wild eyes. The adrenaline that hung in the air was almost intoxicating.

Tomura looks once back at the girl and with a slight twitch of his head tries to convey a brief message.

Run.

The two turn and the beast roars. Shigaraki speeds past Himiko as she cries out in horror at the situation they had found themselves in. They make it to the end of the hallways, crashing through twin doors that opened into a more formal office setting. Cubicles cover most of the flooring, eliminating almost all options for how to escape.

Shigaraki reaches for a drawer handle nearby and with five fingers, rips the piece of metal as soon as decay cuts through the bar. He then jams the bar through the door handle, in an attempt to keep the thing in place. Toga picks up on his act by frantically flipping the locks with her good hand.

The two take a moment and step back, their panting the only sound in the abandoned area.

"W-Will it h-hold?!"

Tomura turns to the girl, face twisted into a painful frown.

"Not a f-fucking chance. This things' skill tree is way too OP."

A howl on the other side of the doors sends them both running again, they can hear the crash of the beast slamming against the locked door.

The two turn down another hallway, frantically searching for a room to duck into. Carpets cover the flooring, masking their footsteps. On the walls, pictures of smiling animals looking back at them. Shigaraki might have laughed at the irony if he had any breath left after he used most to try to stop the burning he felt in his chest.

They hear a crash again come from the office and this time it's mixed with the bending and then snapping of metal. A howl pierces the air and Tomura can feel the sweat clinging to the back of his neck go cold.

Toga's eyes suddenly widen and she latches on to the boy with one hand before lunging into an open door and slamming the thing shut with her busted left hand. The two then look frantically in the room, both eyes landing on a desk that Tomura quickly runs over to.

With a deep breath, he begins to push the wooden object with Toga trying to aid in him with her right hand in a pulling motion from the opposite side. The two both let out a desperate cry as the object slams against the closed door with a loud thud. Both teens then slump to their knees gagging on ragged breaths.

"T-time.."

Tomura looks over to the girl and checks the watch that clings to his left arm.

"Ten m-minutes."

Another whimper comes from the girl as curls up on her side, holding her bloodied hand close to her chest.

Shigaraki lifts a twitching hand and runs it through his hair. He then looks back to the girl who makes no sound outside of shaky breaths.

"We'll b-be fine, Toga. Giri will be here soon once he realizes that something is wrong and we'll be out of here in no t-time."

The girl makes no acknowledgment and continues to lie on her side.

"Where's Twice?"

Tomura grimaces.

"I don't know. He ended up staying on the first floor when we split up."

"Do you think he's alright?"

Shigaraki looks down to his still shaky hands, "I haven't heard him at all which makes me think he must have found somewhere to hide."

The girl flops on her back, looking up at the grey ceiling, "Or he could already be dead."

The silence that follows tells Himiko all she needs to know about Tomura's thoughts on the matter.

Toga bites her lip.

"I want to go home, Tomura."

Shigaraki continues to stare blankly at his hands.

"So do I."

Silence then fills the room as the two try to wrap their heads around the events that had brought them to that very spot.

How exactly had it all gone so very wrong?

~Revelations~

Two Hours Earlier

The bar was empty when Kurogiri warped Nagant into the dank area. On weekends, the group realized after some reconnaissance of their own that Haruno wasn't watched by HPSC agents. This gave them the ability for these particular days to just warp her from her apartment to the bar freely.

She was dressed in dark jeans and a large black hoodie that obscured the hair that was by far her most defining characteristic. Shigaraki and Haruno had decided to still be careful around Himiko and Dabi regarding her identity in case either of them ended up revealing motivations that would lead them to exploit the information for their own benefit.

The area was the same as always, minus a beige cardigan that had been hung on one of the backs of a barstool. Kurogiri watched her staring at the sweater with a certain glimmer in his eye before slowly gesturing his head to the back room.

"They are in the training room, Ms. Takasugi."

Nagant smiles warmly at the man and bows her head slightly, "Thank you for your help as always, Kurogiri."

The butler makes what she can best assume is a snorting noise, "You might be the most well-mannered person that's ever stepped into this bar." he then sighs wistfully before continuing, "If only some of that could be rubbed off on Tomura."

Nagant chuckles, "If your etiquette didn't wear off on him, I think he might just be a lost cause at this point."

Kurogiri hums as he opens a back door past the kitchen, "I think you might be overestimating the influence I have on him at this point. It's not exactly like Tomura looks at me the same way I've seen him sometimes look at you."

Haruno stutters slightly in her step, "Look at me? What does that mean?"

The butler shrugs as they finally reach a darkly painted sliding door that was only slightly ajar. A foggy hand grabs the small opening and yanks it. Light floods into the hallway they're standing in, revealing a wide room with a gym mat in the center. The walls are painted a cream color. Small windows overhead allow additional light to flood the area. On one side of the room, the two see Twice slumped against a wall, barbells on either side of his form and he slowly drinks from the water bottle that he held in his hand.

In the center of the room, Shigaraki lies slumped on the floor with Toga collapsed on top of him, her head resting on his stomach as they both take deep breaths. Haruno frowns as the sight stirs an unfamiliar pain in her chest.

Did I eat something bad before coming over?

On his back Tomura looks at them upside down, his lips breaking out into a slight smile at the sight.

"Have you come to train as well, slowpoke?"

Haruno's eyebrow twitches at the comment as both Twice and Himiko roll over to look at the new visitors.

"It's Takasugi!" Himiko cries, "And you're still hiding your pretty face! Why would you ever do that?!"

"Nice to see you! Who are you, again?!"

Nagant looks at three all wearing different variations of a black ensemble. Twice and Himiko both wear tank tops, Toga wearing three-quarter leggings underneath with Bubaigawara wearing gym shorts. Tomura sports a baggy black shirt with black joggers underneath.

Haruno nods to both Himiko and Twice. "Good to see you both as well. And Tomura, I'm not sure if I'm the one that needs the extra training if we have the same max weights for most exercises."

Shigaraki sputters at the comment and Toga cackles as she finally rolls off of him, "I was telling him he needed to put on more weight, his stomach is too bony to sleep on!"

Tomura finally pulls himself onto his knees shaking his head, "I'm surrounded by traitors everywhere. This lobby is rigged; I'm getting a shower."

The young man then leaves the room and Twice looks over to the clock on the far wall, "Almost time to get going. But I can't tell time!"

Himiko smiles toothily at the man and then turns her attention back to Haruno who still has the hood over her head, "That looks just Tomura's sweatshirt! Where did you buy it?! Did you want to match with him?! I'll get one too and then we can all match!"

Takasugi chokes on her own saliva at the comment, leading to a coughing fit.

Kurogiri finally decides to swoop in to save her from having to come up with a response, "Shouldn't you both change as well? Or do you plan on wearing those outfits to Yonago?"

Himiko's eyes widened, "Our first team mission and you think I would wear this?!" She looks down to the tank top and then back to the butler, "You should know me better than that by now, Kurogiri!"

The butler mockingly bows at the girl, "My apologies, Ms. Toga. That was an awfully rude assumption to make wasn't it?"

Himiko flashes her teeth at him as she finally climbs to her feet and skips out of the room, "Thank you 'Giri, I knew you would understand!"

The two then turn to Twice who is still slumped against the wall.

Kurogiri cocks his head slightly, "And you?"

Twice looks back at them, then to his hands, then to the clock, then back to his hands, and finally back to them. They could see the mental math he was running in his head from where they stood.

The man sat quietly for another moment before springing to his feet and bolting from the room yelling, "GottaGoGottaGoGottaGoGottaGoGott-".

Nagant watched as the man took a left up the second set of stairs that led to his own room on the main floor before turning back to Kurogiri.

The butler's eyes flickered in front of her, betraying no emotion.

"Would you like some tea?"

~Revelations~

"It's a level one mission. We'll be in and out within an hour, Giri."

The freshly showered Tomura, Toga, and Twice sit at the bar with the butler watching from the other side of the counter.

"You're sure you wouldn't want me to stay in case things go wrong? We already know there's no cell service so you'll be stuck until I come back."

Shigaraki shrugged, "And we also know that the place is deserted so we'll probably not find anything. And if for some reason there are mooks lounging around it'd be good to get some actual work in so we don't need you to bail us out every time things get messy."

Toga fiddles with a spare knife as she makes small cuts into the countertop, "But what if I want it to be messy?!"

Twice slaps his hand down on the bar, "Then we can bring a mop!"

Himiko snaps her fingers at the man with wide eyes, "Now that is an idea! Tomura do we-"

"No."

Himiko sputters, "You didn't even know what I was going to say!"

The room is silent again.

Haruno looks up from the tea she's drinking to Tomura, "Where is the other one?"

Shigaraki shrugs, "He comes and goes. Not really sure what he does during the day."

Toga hums, finally folding up the knife and placing it back into the pocket and the skirt she wears, "Dabi's like a stray cat! Every time you think he's left for good he shows back at your door looking for food."

Tomura snorts at the comment and finally pulls himself out of the chair. The others follow as Kurogiri slowly glides around the edge of the bar so they are all on the same side.

When the teen feels eyes on him he turns back to Nagant, who watches him carefully, "Are you sure you don't want me to come?"

He shakes his head as he pulls on a black sweatshirt, "Not needed. It'd be more of a help to work your way through some of that stuff you brought over with 'Giri."

The boy was referring to the data she continued to sneak out of the HPSC. They still hadn't found anything substantial but they had also made only a small dent into the total amount that they had.

The girl frowns slightly and looks back at her drink.

The three standing then watch as Kurogiri opens up a portal to Yonago. They were checking out an old medical office. Five of the children had lived within a two-block radius of the place and all had visited the facility at least once.

Giran had been tasked with looking into all of the doctors that had worked there but hadn't found anything to note of as of yet.

With one more glance to the bar, Shigaraki steps through the smoke, followed by a skipping Toga and a jittery Twice.

In a matter of moments, the portal snaps shut with Nagant and Kurogiri now alone in the bar.

The girl looks to the butler who slowly makes his way back to behind the bar, "They'll be fine, right?"

The cloud merely shrugs and goes back to cleaning glasses.

~Revelations~

The front door of the building had been chained shut, a large "NO TRESPASSING" sign hanging loosely from one of the knobs. Shigaraki scans it quickly before reaching out with a hand and pressing five fingers against the rusting metal.

The others watch with flickering curiosity as cracks begin to spread and with a slight squelching noise, the door soon collapses in on itself. Dust scatters as the breeze picks up and the three then make their way inside the abandoned building.

"So what are we exactly looking for, Tomura?"

Shigaraki turns back to Toga who has her hands shoved into her cardigan pockets.

"A working computer would be a good start."

The girl glances into a spare office on their right side, no technology remaining with only dust-gathering as if it was snow and all surfaces.

"Do you really expect to find any here?"

Tomura shrugs, "Probably not."

They reach the end of the first main hallway with the area splitting off into a perpendicular passageway with an additional large door in front of them with a slight emblem outside indicating it was a staircase.

Twice looks at the sign and then back to the group, "Should we start in the basement?"

The leader hums an affirmative and slowly pulls the door open, the creaking noise rattling their teeth.

There is little light in the stairwell. All three turn on their phone flashlights and stumble down into the depths of the decrepit building. With a huff Shigaraki finally lands on the bottom floor, his landing bouncing off the walls at an even louder volume. Twice then mirrors the man and Toga readies herself as well before something catches her off guard.

In any other setting, it would have been nothing. But when Toga Himiko heard the faintest echo of scratching noise, she stills immediately.

The two men look at her with curious gazes, both now on the bottom floor.

"What is it, Toga? Do I have something on my face?!"

Himiko frowns slightly and lifts her flashlight to survey the area once more. She finds nothing.

"You guys didn't hear something, right?"

Shigaraki squints at her and then looks back to the large metal door that leads further into the basement.

"No, but it's an old building. I'm sure there are going to be noises every now and then."

Himiko wants to believe him. Really want to believe him. But there is something in the back of her mind, something at the edge of her skull that is begging her to listen.

Begging her to get the hell out of that building.

Tomura turns and walks up to the door, extending his hand once again and making contact. As the paint begins to peel and the hinges groan under decay, Himiko again nearly trips over her feet at the sound.

The scratching was closer now.

Her hand wraps around the cool steel of her blade as Shigaraki rips the last of the door of its hinges and steps through into a much larger room, his eyes widening at what he saw before him.

A desk about six feet wide sat in the middle of the room. Three separate monitors are all connected to various power sources and papers scattered everywhere. Underneath the desk, Tomura can see a hard drive with a green power light blinking back at him. His chapped lips spread into a wide grin.

Jackpot.

"Twice."

The man stumbles next to him, "What is it, boss?"

"You have the decrypter?"

The man fumbles with the bag he wears on his shoulder with Shigaraki and Toga both shining lights to help the man in his search.

After a moment, he pulls a device with an "Aha!" and Himiko reaches up to pat the man on his head which leads them both to giggle.

The scene was fairly jovial before a sharp noise cut above everything.

It was a growl.

The three spin to the far side of the room, where the sound came from.

All lights land on the same spot, revealing a large shipping container, the light glinting off of a lock that held the door in place. It was brand new.

"Fuck." Shigaraki hisses, and turns back to Twice, "Go plug it in now, Twice. I don't know what's in there but-"

A loud bang comes from the container leading to Shigaraki dropping his phone with a curse and both Himiko and Twice jumping in the air.

"Twice. Plug it in, now."

The man looks back to the leader and hesitantly walks to the table. He then pulls the decrypter back out and lines up the end with one of the ports on the hard drive.

A heavier thud comes from the container and Shigaraki raises his hands in front of him.

"B-B-Boss, sh-should I jus-"

They can hear the bending of metal and Toga shines the light back on the container, and gasps at the sight.

The door is beginning to bend outward.

"G-Guys, the do-door-"

"Twice just plug the fucking thing in now!"

"I-I can't s-see which-"

"G-guys the door, the d-door is-"

"TWICE, NOW!"

In a moment a click of something snapping into place silences the tension. Twice looks back to the others with a thumbs up and Shigaraki shakes his head slightly.

"Now was that so-"

A clank of metal stops him in his tracks. All three slowly turn back where the sound came from. Back to the container.

Toga scans the bent door for a moment before a flashing light catches her eye and they slowly drift down to where the light was emanating from. Where the noise had come from.

Tomura's blood runs cold as he sees what she was looking at.

It was the lock. It was on the ground.

The teens' eyes widened, was it all a trap?!

In a moment everything goes so terribly wrong.

The door bursts open and the three look at the being that had been contained inside. And while the form might have been different, the slight glimmer of a pinkish organ at the top of its head gave away the identity.

"A kaiju?!"

But the one clear difference between this kaiju and every other the teen had seen before. Four hunched legs, a long black snout, and dark soulless eyes stared back at him.

A dog?! They had all been bipedal and somewhat based on the human figure, but this-

The kaiju lept at them with a snarl, a gaping maw with dull yellow teeth choosing to latch out at the first thing that caught its eye.

The knife in Toga's left hand.

The girl shrieks at the top of her lungs and a sharp crack resonates in everyone's ears.

"TOGA!" Twice leaps at the kaiju and drives his left leg into its neck, sending it skitting back with a sharp kick. The girl falls to her knees holding her hand in her other arm, barely able to keep her breath in check.

Tomura watches the beast carefully and slides in front of Twice who drops to a knee to try to console the sobbing girl. His light showing a small pool of scarlet on the concrete provides an indication of how she's doing.

The kaiju snaps its head back to the trio and Shigaraki grits his teeth as he sees a growing mass around the base of its neck.

Muscular Augmentation?! How the hell can a quirk like that even be given-

The beast lunges again forcing him to abandon the question, with Tomura being able to brush his fingers against the front leg of the animal before diving out of the way. By the awkward landing, he guesses decay must have gotten a hold of it.

Knowing that it wouldn't be able to move, Shigaraki turns back to the two, Toga having calmed down slightly, now having a spare towel wrapped around her hand.

"Let's get the decrypter and get the hell out of here before another hellhound-"

The only indication that he's in trouble is the slight breeze against his back before a heavy mass collides with his legs.

Three razor-like teeth bite then down on his calf and Tomura lets out a hiss of agony.

His left hand frantically reaches to the area and he digs all five fingers into the jaws of the beast. He pins his nails against its slimy gums before he finally feels the grip loosen to the point where he yanks his leg and trips away, trying to find the door.

"M-Motherfucking piece of-" the rest of his string of expletives is cut off at the sight before him.

The jaw that had more or less fallen off of the beast's head was slowly being grown back through dark tendrils of muscle. In less than a few seconds, the underjaw and new white teeth look back at him as another hiss emanates from the creature.

Regeneration?! With Muscular Augmentation?!

Tomura takes a hesitant step backward, a relieved sigh coming from his chest when he realizes he can put his entire weight on the bleeding leg. One glance behind lets him know that both Toga and Twice had stood back up and were watching the creature with widened eyes.

It seemed they had also realized just how deep in trouble they were.

Without a second thought, Tomura sprints away, gesturing with his hand for the others to follow.

He hoped they understood.

~Revelations~

Present Time

The bar was still quiet when the clock hit three in the afternoon marking the hour that Tomura had originally asked for. Dabi had made his way into the area roughly twenty minutes ago and sat idly drinking some sort of concoction Kurogiri whipped up, slurping noisily while watching the news with a furrowed brow.

Haruno looked up from the laptop she had been on, iced tea in hand, finding nothing of notice from the documents she had pulled from the large deck they had at this point, Kurogiri more or less the same.

After a moment, the butler stood from his seat and made his way to the center of the room. Nagant wasn't sure exactly how the quirk worked - if he needed to picture the area or simply input a series of coordinates but after a moment the cloud opened up and became a window into Yonago.

The faint sound of sobbing was the first indication that something had gone terribly wrong.

Toga was the first to collapse into the bar, her face covered in sweat with her left arm sleeve soaked in crimson. The girl took a shaky breath before staring around wildly, with a pocket knife in her good hand. The dilation in her eyes and trembling in her lips gave a good indication of the state she was in.

After a moment she then emitted a shaky whine and curled in on herself, her shoulders moving jerkily and snot falling from her nose.

Before Haruno could even let out a noise, Twice stumbled through the gate next with Tomura slung over his shoulder. The two landed with a hard thud before Kurogiri closed the gate and was then hovering over them within seconds.

The butler ended up being the one to break the silence, "T-Tomura what happened?"

The teen was lying face down. A slight puddle of blood forming under his right arm and left leg.

He did not respond.

Takasugi leaped out of her seat and rushed to the boy, twisting him onto his back. His eyes roll loosely in his head, seemingly not noticing her presence in the slightest.

She looks down at the wounds on his arm and leg, skin torn in sections. What the hell could have even done this? After a moment Kurogiri rushes to the kitchen behind the bar where the first aid kit is stored.

It ended up being Twice who spoke first from the trio, the man pulling himself to a seated position on the floor with his back against the side of the counter.

"It was a trap," the man hisses between labored breaths, "They had a monster waiting for us! They trapped us!"

"Who trapped you?" Dabi asks from the barstool he remained on, his voice revealing his own slight shock by it coming quicker than his usual drawl.

Himiko rolls over slightly, seemingly having collected herself, "D-Dunno… But they wanted it to kill us… They wanted that t-thing to eat our guts.." her eye begins to twitch and she curls back into herself to cover her bloodied hand.

Kurogiri rushes back into the room and tosses a cellphone at Dabi, "Call Giran, have him find the first available doctor, and provide the coordinates." The dark-haired man catches the phone with a frown and looks to the butler.

"Why me?"

Haruno looks at the man and then back down to Tomura who remains unresponsive, "Just do it."

A slight glint is seen in the man's eyes as he looks at her and then down to Shigaraki, "Whatever you say, Ms. Anonymous." He then leaves the room, his finger punching buttons on the dial pad.

Kurogiri kneels and begins wrapping Himiko's hand in a towel before looking back to the teen who lay on the floor, "What happened to Tomura? Why is he-"

"H-he killed it," Twice trails off, "We had made it outside at that point and it found us, it was so fast!" The man raised his arms to grip his head, "It was so fast! We had to kill it and then it jumped at Himi-" he looked over to the girl, "B-But Tomura put his arm in front and the thing bit down, but t-then he killed it, he was able to decay it."

The butler looks at the man, "But what was it? Why the hell is-"

"K-Kaiju.." Himiko chokes out, "It was a k-kaiju and it wouldn't stop and it wouldn't go away and.." her shaky hands cover her eyes, "It let out this yelp like a dog when it finally d-died after Tomura killed it and.."

"M-Mon"

All eyes turn to Tomura, whose eyes remain unfocused as he stares at the ceiling, "Mon, wh-where is he? M-Mon was there and I…"

Nagant can hear Kurogiri curse under his breath as the butler kneels down next to the teenager, "Tomura, you're in the bar, do you remember? You're in the bar with your friends, you-"

The boy inhales sharply, "N-No where did he... The yard, Mon, where did you go? Mon, I need you-"

"Tomura, you're not in the yard. You need to-"

Shigaraki thrashes on the flooring, forcing Nagant to grip him tightly. The girl looks to the butler, "What the hell is going on?!"

"Mon.. I- No, no please no- Hana, please, Mon where- No! I didn't mean to, I-"

Kurogiri suddenly digs into the medkit he brought over, pulls out a damp cloth and places it on the boy's head, and looks back to the bicolor-haired woman, "He's stuck in a fragmented memory. It's like trying to watch a DVD that's been scratched."

The others stare in horror as Shigaraki turns back and forth, even Dabi who walks back to the room stills at the sight with his mouth slightly agape.

"Father, no please, I - Mon where did you go? Mon! I- Mother I just- the yard… I just-"

Shigaraki's eyes finally roll shut, his head falling loosely to the side.

A heaviness hangs over the bar, one that hadn't even been there when the trio first stumbled back from the apparent hell they had traversed in.

Himiko holds her hand tightly, knees brought up to her chest.

Twice stares blankly at the scene, his hands lying limply in his lap.

Dabi still stands to the side, both hands dug into his pockets, before turning to the butler.

"What's the matter with him?"

Kurogiri doesn't look at him when he responds, eyes still on Tomura, "He'll be fine."

Dabi frowns, "Answer the question."

"I said, he'll-"

"And I said that wasn't a fucking answer." Everyone turns to Dabi as he continues, "Are we sure we should trust someone like this as a leader? Wasn't this like the big first mission? And Toga comes back with her hand almost bit off and our dear boss needs to be rocked to sleep by his mystery girl so he doesn't choke on his tongue?! This is the guy everyone was talking about? This is the one that'll make the future I want?!"

"You weren't there."

Eyes turn to Twice, face expressionless under his mask, "He was there. He saved Himi! He killed that thing when neither of us could. He's my boss!"

Toga looks at the masked man and then back to Dabi, "T-Twice is right, Dabi. You don't hang out or play with us but when something goes wrong you act like it's our fault?!" she pauses with a moment frowning while looking back at Tomura, "Like it's his fault?! None of us are perfect, that's the whole reason why we're here in the first place!"

The bar is silent. Shigaraki's chest slowly rises and falls, dark splotches on his clothing from the blood that had soaked through.

Kurogiri turns back to Dabi. "What did Giran say?"

The fire quirk user looks to the butler and then down to the floor, "There's someone in Yokohama that's on their way."

"Good."

Haruno looks back to the butler, "Will he be alright? I've never seen him do that before..." she trails off with a frown.

Kurogiri sighs, "It's been a while since it happened and there is not much we can do at the moment. His sensei once compared it to sleep paralysis but being stuck in a moment in time with no way out. Now that it's passed though he should be okay when he wakes."

A warmth in Nagant's chest grows at the words, moments later she feels a slight stirring and looks down to Tomura slowly opening his eyes.

Tomura, who she now realized was wrapped up in her arms slightly above the flooring, her right arm snaking around his back with her left being over his chest.

Oh.

With a slight smirk, she then drops him onto the wood paneling with a thud, causing the others to look back in their direction.

"Ow! Oi, what the fu-"

"Tomura," Kurogiri's voice cuts above the teens' string of curses, "How are you feeling?"

The boy pulls himself to a seated position and looks back to the butler, "I feel like a used chew toy, Giri. How do you think I am?"

"It seems that the mission did not go as planned."

Shigaraki shrugs before looking back to Twice, "Twice, were you able-"

The man reaches into his bag before the question is even asked and pulls back out a device that even Haruno was familiar with by now.

The decrypter.

"I got it when the kaiju was chasing you around upstairs!"

Shigaraki nods and looks back down to his hands, "We fought a hellhound kaiju, stole the shit it was guarding, and then killed it. That feels like a win in my book."

The others mockingly burst into cheer with overenthusiastic gestures at the words while Dabi sits back on the barstool he was at, eyes narrowing slightly at the interaction.

Why do they support Shigaraki? Do they honestly believe in him?

Toga had climbed off the floor at that point and slowly made her way to the bar, plopping herself on one of the stools before turning back to the leader.

"So all's well that ends well, right Tomura?"

The man nods slowly, fingers lifting slightly to idly scratch his neck.

"I just- I feel like I'm forgetting something.. Or tell someone something?"

Twice cocks his head, "Have you been remembering to hydrate?!"

Shigaraki stares at the man, "I don't think that's it, Twice."

Kurogiri leans over from the other side of the bar, cleaning up some of the supplies "Perhaps you are just tired, Tomura? You've had quite the day."

"If it was super important, I bet all of us would know Tomura! Quit worrying about stuff like that!" Toga chirps from her seat.

The teen takes another moment and lies back down on the flooring, "Yeah… I guess you're right, it can't be that important, can it?"

~Revelations~

Toyama - At The Same Time

"I'm going to strangle that kid the next time I see him."

"Can we quit the bitching until we get out of here!?"

One Hours Earlier

It had been a relatively quiet morning for Nemuri and Shota, all things considered. The drive up to Toyama from Nagoya had been uneventful outside of the few - almost - accidents Kayama would cause by winking at men driving in the opposite lane.

They had reached the apartment complex a little after two, the city was still in a slumber for a Saturday afternoon, with clouds hanging in the sky and rain coming down in a lackadaisical drizzle. The building itself was on the outskirts of the city, hidden away behind a series of factories which might have been why it was still abandoned, to begin with.

Midnight had been the one to do most of the research into the abandoned building. The Utsugi Apartment Complex had been owned by Taroks, a conglomerate that had been around for almost a century at this point and had their hands in most pots when it came to the different sectors of the Japanese economy. The building itself had been abandoned two and a half years ago after an inspection revealed 'faulty structural integrity'. The announcement drove all residents from the building and left it in the state it had been in now.

When people had pressed on Taroks regarding what they had planned with the building, they said that a plan for complete demolition and rebuild was in the works, but nothing would be moving forward for a few years.

So the apartment building sat vacated, concrete outside bare against the weather, windows boarded up, and graffiti from aspiring artists covered most of the bottom floor exterior. One thing that was clear once they got to the place was that Taroks seemed to take the structural integrity note to heart since all windows and doors on the first floor had been covered with a wood panel and an additional steel sheet that had been bolted on top.

Both heroes had tried their hand at ripping off various openings but so far nothing had budged. After some time they rounded a side that faces out toward a rough hillside, balconies jutting out which allowed tenants to have a better view of the land

"This should work."

Aizawa only grunts an affirmative while wrapping his fingers around the binding cloth and unwinding it from his neck. Nemuri watched for a moment before unclipping the whip on her hip and pulling it with her right hand.

With a sharp crack, the leather shot up and gripped onto the outside rung of the first floor balcony. The heroine then moved to wrap the rope firmly around her arm before slowly pulling herself up. To her left, she could feel that Aizawa was also doing the same technique with the cloth. The two eventually climb over the extended balcony, Aizawa then reaching out for the sliding door handle and pulling it to his left.

Much to Nemuri's shock, the opening slid to the directed side and the two then slowly maneuvered into the building.

"Where should we look?"

Aizawa shrugged, "Let's start in the basement and work our way up."

~Revelations~

Over forty minutes had passed before they stumbled upon room 1123. The unfortunate truth of Tomura giving them nothing to go off was that they had to search every room of the abandoned building for clues. Most doors were unlocked but for the ones that weren't Kayama and Aizawa would take turns kicking through the thinning wood, only to inevitably find another empty room with the rancid smell of mold hanging in the air.

Both had considered calling it quits at points during their search. What was even the point of this? To appeal to some aspiring criminal that wanted to run them on a wild goose chase? Neither of them really knew Shigaraki, Aizawa had one in-person conversation with what ended up being a double and a phone call. That was it.

Did they both reach a point where they recognized that failure for this was no longer an option? That failure was acknowledging how thoroughly they had been played by the boy? Or was failure really something else? Was it more looking to that girl with sparkling green eyes and seafoam hair that the boy she lived with, the good-natured boy she cared for was truly gone for good?

The door to room 1123 had been unlocked. The first indication of it being different than any other they had seen was what she noticed before they even entered. Kayama's left hand hovered over the doorknob with widening eyes as she noticed the first real differentiator.

There was no dust.

Every doorknob they had seen featured some product of abandonment. A slowly rusting interior, discoloring of the metal, or most usual, a thin layer of dust on the outside.

The door showed none of the above.

"Huh."

Nothing else seemed off. The hallway had been just as deserted as every other they had come across.

Why room 1123?

With slight hesitation, Nemuri turned the metal and a slight click allowed her to push the door inward, opening it slowly.

She gasped at the sight.

Papers were tossed around with no regard and a large desk with a blinking monitor stared back at them. Aizawa let out a silent curse, then gracefully slid into the area and started picking up anything he could carry. Nemuri started to do the same but paused when she looked at the wall that had been obscured when they initially walked in.

She bit her tongue to stop the shriek from coming out.

After a moment Eraserhead turned back to the heroine with a frown, "Nemuri if you're just going to stand there looking at-" he froze once he saw it. His breath quickens and his hands move subconsciously to his scarf.

The only thing on the wall is one phrase. A phrase that had been written in every available space, from the bottom where the floorboard connected to the rug to the where the wall inevitably met the ceiling.

A phrase written in what appeared to be blood.

'kill me.'

It had been written in large letters, small letters, jagged letters, frantic letters. From afar most people would probably just assume that the wall was naturally painted in a dark crimson color.

After a moment Aizawa dropped his hands into his pockets and eventually pulled out a test swab and matching cylindrical container.

"We need to call this in, Kayama," The pro hero approached the wall while talking to the woman behind him. He takes another slow step before freezing when he hears a delicate sound pierce the air.

A click.

A click that was needed for everything to fall in place for Aizawa. Why the wall he approached had no bed frame like every other room, allowing him to get as close as he pleased. Why the smell of rotting wood and mold was even stronger in this room than in the others. Why he was finally able to place the faint odor that had hit his nose when he had entered the building.

Gas.

He looked down where the click sound had emanated. A pressure plate.

A trap?!

The wall then exploded into flames. To his horror, he could hear other sounds similar echoing from other spots in the building.

"Nemur-"

The woman had already begun grabbing all that she could before moving to the balcony and throwing everything over the ledge. There would have been no way to carry all of the work down, so they had little choice now but to throw what they had found and hope they would find it again later.

Shota then moved to the desk grabbing textbooks, printed out sheets, and a small black notebook that had initially been obscured by multiple pages of crumpled notes that lay on top of it. Shota grabbed the book, reading some of the contents with a slight frown before he moved everything to the balcony and, similar to Nemuri, threw all that he held as far as he could.

He has no time to watch where everything landed before moving back to Kayama. Smoke had begun to thicken the air and Aizawa's lungs were starting to burn. Raising one arm to cover his mouth, he motioned Nemuri to the exit but cursed again when he saw the flickering of flames in the hallway.

With a slight glance, it became clear that the building had been wired to trap people that were in room 1123. Both sides of the hallway on the 11th floor were caked in dark smoke and the heat Aizawa could feel through his clothing told him that the flames weren't far behind.

Looking back in the room, the fire that had now encased all interior walls prohibited them from making any attempt to try to break through a side wall and try to leave through one of the neighboring rooms.

The building began to groan in protest of the heat. They needed to leave now.

There was only one option.

Both Shota and Nemuri made their way to the outside, gripping the outer banister and flipping over onto the opposite side, now hanging over the side of the building.

Room 1123 was on the eleventh floor.

Meaning that there were ten more balcony ledges between them and the ground. The distance between the top railing of one balcony to the one below it being around six meters give or take.

The banister felt cold and slick in their hands. The moisture is still clinging to their air on a rather overcast day in Toyama.

Midnight and Eraserhead let go.

The air screamed in Shota's ears as he felt his hair fly upward, not all that unlike the feeling of when he activates his quirk.

Both heroes had their arms extended forward and in less than a second, both slammed into the tenth-floor balcony railing. The wind was knocked clear from Nemuri's stomach as she clawed at the lower bars of the balcony in order to get a better grip. The two then looked through the door that led into the room and were met with more smoke. More Fire.

The drops began to hurt more and more as they piled up. By the fifth floor, Kayama bit her lower lip to stop the tears from leaking from her eyes. She was certain some of her ribs had to be cracked at this point.

Aizawa didn't fare much better, breath coming out as a wheeze with shaky hands gripping the railing tightly.

His dead eyes looked through the glass door revealing more flames and smoke on the fifth floor. The building groaned again and he grit his teeth preparing another drop.

A sputtering cough was ripped from his throat as the cold metal slammed again into his chest.

"There's no way..." *wheeze* "...Shigaraki had to…" *wheeze* "...deal with something like this..."

Nemuri looked up at the man with bleary eyes, a thin trail of saliva clinging from her bottom lip from another coughing fit, "Do you actually think he could've known what would happen here?"

"If he did…" Aizawa trailed off with an increasingly twitchy eye, "I'm going to strangle that kid the next time I see him."

"Can we quit the bitching until we get out of here!?"

Aizawa merely grunted a reply and took another deep breath before dropping again.

Both heroes ended up landing rather ungracefully, cursing loudly as their knees buckled and they collapsed onto the still moist grass. They then sputtered for the breaths they tried to take, lungs filling with the ever apparent smoke, a stark reminder of the precarious state they were still in.

Fingers clawed at the ground for a grip as Nemuri and Shota pulled themselves to their feet and hobbled from the scene, building groaning again as if it was acknowledging their departure. They found some of the papers, scattered across the ground now illegible from a mixture of the fire and the moisture in the air.

Its not like they would have found much anyways. When Shota tried to read some of what the sheets contained with it mostly coming off as mad only thing that he'd seen have anything useful was-

Nemuri suddenly stumbled, emitting a sound that could probably be best described as a yelp, before angrily turning around and stomping back to the area that caused her trouble. The heroine then bent down, picking up the object that her foot had caught. Shota's eyes widened at the sight.

The black notebook.

Ever since he had heard the faint click of the pressure plate, Shota had hypothesized that the entire scenario had been a trap. It had to have been. The way the room was arranged, the blood on the wall, it was all to lure them in and then light them up. The scribbled gibberish on the papers meant nothing.

The 'kill me' display meant nothing.

But the black notebook? He quickly snatched it out of Midnight's hands and opened it to a random page.

A detailed drawing, one of a being with twisted flesh and an exposed brain looked back at him.

A single word was written underneath.

Nomu.

Maybe with this, the trip didn't end up having to be remembered as a trap.

Maybe it could be a new starting point.

Key Players Log

Shigaraki Tomura. Age 18.

Toga Himiko Age 17.

Takasugi Haruno. Age 20.

Kurogiri. Age UNKNOWN.

Bubaigawara Jin. Age 28.

Dabi. Age 21.

Aizawa Shota. Age 27.

Kayama Nemuri. Age 28.

Author Notes:

I tried to experiment with some new thriller/suspense themes for the chapter with shifting perspectives and the non-linear storyline. I'll try to mix things up every once in a while, adding different tones for the story!

Next chapter we'll shift entirely to new perspectives in order to set up the finale for this introduction act and set up what is to come moving forward!

Thanks for reading and see you next time!