PLANS

Shigaraki squinted at the television screen as he made his character tumble its way around a hideous, bumbling giant. "We could take his mother hostage," he suggested. "And make him walk into a trap."

"Two problems with that one," Kurogiri said as he poured drinks for Compress and Spinner. "What kind of trap could we make that would hold him? And, more importantly, how do you expect to kidnap the most dangerous woman in Japan?"

Spinner snorted. "She can't be that dangerous."

"She raised Izuku," Kurogiri pointed out bluntly. "By herself."

Spinner's scales went pale. "Okay. She's dangerous."

"Then we kidnap somebody else," Shigaraki said. The sword came crashing down on the giant's ankle, tickling its health bar, and he rolled before it pancaked his character. "Like maybe a classmate of his."

"That would get the whole class involved." Dabi muttered.

Shigaraki turned, still playing as he glared at his fellow villains. "I don't see the rest of you coming up with ideas!"

"Ooh!" Toga waved a hand in the air, flapping around the sleeve covering it. "We can stab him!"

"With what knife?" Shigaraki asked, exasperated. "Stick him with one, he'd chomp it to pieces and thank you for the meal."

"Oh." Toga furrowed her brow, then said, "We can stab him really hard!"

"What if we made a giant robot?" Dabi asked. "One even bigger than him?"

"He would eat the robot," Kurogiri said.

"Then we rig it with explosives, blow it after he eats it."

Shigaraki scratched his neck while handling the controller with his other hand and his knee. "Put it on the maybe list. We haven't come up with anything better in days."

A knock came from the door. "Pizza delivery!"

Everyone reached for their weapons. Shigaraki called over his shoulder, "We haven't ordered pizza since the last time we kidnapped Midoriya. We're still eating leftovers."

"Please send real food," Spinner begged.

"I knew we should've gone with Chinese takeout," All Might muttered.

"Whatev's, cover's blown," Miruko said. "Let's get in there and wreck some shit!"

The door crashed open, revealing the top ten heroes. The League instantly surrendered. Shigaraki didn't stop playing as Edgeshot folded his body into a stranglehold around him.

"I'm not sure what you're here for," Shigaraki said, "Unless you're still mad about the Hosu thing. How many chapters ago was that? A hundred?"

"Don't play games." Nezu hopped down from Gang Orca's snout. "We know you abducted Izuku by using Magne's Quirk to pull him out of U.A.'s campus."

From the tangle of Kamui Woods' branches, Magne shouted, "I told you that would work!"

"We did that the first time! Why wouldn't they be ready for that?"

"Wait," Nezu said, blinking. "You didn't steal Izuku?"

"We're still coming up with plans. Don't look at our whiteboard."

Nezu looked at the whiteboard and sighed. "If you didn't take him, then who did?"

A movie poster fluttered down. Nezu looked at it and growled, "You have to be kidding me."

498

They say Shigaraki's still playing Dark Souls from his cell in Tartarus, and that he beat Ornstein and Smough without taking a single hit.