Kaina studied the photo of Midoriya.

It hadn't been easy to come by - she'd had to find an old colleague a few weeks back who'd been both out of prison during the UA sports festival, and had actually bothered to watch it. The colleague had screen recorded the whole thing to sell to TV-less villains who wanted info on the students, but luckily Lady Nagant had received this photo free of charge.

In it, the boy was riding atop three classmates, a headband wrapped around his head just beneath his messy green hair. His eyes were resolute, his jaw firm, one arm pointed in a direction he wanted his team to go. He was wearing some kind of jetpack as well, the straps tight enough to accentuate his lean frame. Despite that, the UA uniform's short sleeves showed how much muscle was corded in those arms.

Kaina's mouth twitched.

"What are you doing? You've been staring at that for five minutes," said Chisaki.

"Just thinking," she muttered to her hostage, pocketing the photo and slinging her equipment over one shoulder. "Come on."

She shoved him back out onto the street. It was wet and covered with loose leaves and branches from last night's storm, but the morning sun was out, and the pavement glistened. Nevertheless, the small houses lined the road silently: this area had either been entirely evacuated or everyone had been killed. Earlier, some hooligans had attempted to harass her and had received a bullet each for it.

All the while, Chisaki continued muttering about his boss.

"Waste of time," he grumbled, walking in front of Nagant, occasionally needing to be pushed along down the street. "All the plans…all our schemes…forgive me…"

"No," said Kaina.

He sneered. "I wasn't talking to you."

"Then shut up, because no one else is around here."

Overhaul turned back around, shirt sleeves flopping at his sides. "Eri…what else have you destroyed, I wonder?"

Kaina watched his back with a dark feeling in her heart. That wasn't the first time he'd mentioned someone named Eri. Who's she?

"Why would no one be around here, anyway?" he continued, nodding his head at his surroundings. "These houses seem fine. Hardly any scum setting things on fire, too. That makes it a marked improvement over everywhere else you've taken me."

Her hostage certainly had his waves of clarity in between all the madness. "I don't know," she answered. "And I don't know why Midoriya would be here…"

She stopped.

In the center of the street, there was a place where the wetness from the rain had made a strange circular pattern, several dozen meters across. Nagant looked left and right and realized this was where the bulk of the fight had happened - where she'd gone hand-to-hand with the illusion girl.

"There's a phone on the ground," said Chisaki. "There." He waggled his shirt sleeve.

Kaina broke past him and knelt down to pick it up. It was indeed a smartphone. The screen had partially cracked, but when she pressed the home button, the screen came on - it had no background photo, but it did ask for a passcode.

Which of them dropped this? Midoriya, or the girl? It seemed like the kind of burner phone that a roaming hero would carry around with them, especially one evading as many enemies as Deku was. Or maybe this has something to do with why they were in the area in the first place.

She pocketed it. "We're going to see another friend of mine," she announced.

Overhaul groaned. "Oh joy. Haven't heard that before."

"They're a hacker. Gonna milk this thing for all it's worth-" She patted her pocket. "-and then find the young man who ruined all your plans." And this time, I won't falter. I won't freak out and try to shoot him in the head by accident. She knew that AFO would explode her just as fast if she killed Deku before the big man could steal his Quirk. Just gotta incapacitate, and as long as he dies soon after, that's all I need.

"He used to be boy," muttered Chisaki, "and now he's a young man. What changed, Lady Nagant?"

She did not deign to respond to that.

…

Izuku and Camie looked down from the rooftop onto the scene in Kijimi.

"See anyone you roll with?" she asked him.

Izuku scanned the sea of personnel. Most were uniformed rather than costumed: there were no heroes around. "I'm sure I can find them," he said. "Mandalay and Gang Orca were in charge here."

"You said there were UA students, too."

"Former. They graduated. UA isn't letting any current students out and about."

"Besides you, that is," Camie said softly. "I guess I'd be stuck in Shiketsu right now, too, if it hadn't…"

He gave her a concerned look. She was fiddling with the tight fabric of her costume around her waist, wearing a solemn expression. Then her eyes widened.

"I don't have the phone."

"Err…what?" Izuku laughed nervously. "No, you have the phone."

A beat of silence.

"...Camie, you have the phone. Mustard is why we're here in the first place, to see if Kijimi is the place where he's getting the weapons-"

"I know, I know, asshole! You wouldn't know that unless I told you! You don't know shit about this place! But I knew who to talk to, and I was going to use that damn phone, and…" She reached up and grabbed bunches of her hair as if she intended to tear it out.

"Hey, hey, whoa." He stepped over to her and reached forward, but hesitated in actually touching her. "Don't…don't do that. Calm down. We haven't run into anyone since Lady Nagant last night, so it hasn't been stolen. You must have just dropped it. It's gonna be okay, Camie."

"It's…damn it…" Her voice was shaky, and she wouldn't take her hands out of her hair.

"Don't do that," he repeated, gathering the courage to reach up and take her hands in his, lowering them slowly and gently. "Look, it's…alright. It's alright. We can explain what we found to the heroes, and they'll trust us."

"They'll trust you." She wrenched free of him and hugged herself around the chest, averting her eyes.

Izuku was hurt by the way Camie was acting. She has a past here, in this entertainment district. Does she feel like less of a hero when she's here?

He tried to put himself in her shoes, this strange, chatty girl he barely understood. A vessel for Toga. A survivor of a catastrophe where many of her peers must have been killed. Whatever lay in her past with these organized criminals. And now this. Losing a piece of evidence. Icing on the cake.

He sniffed. His legs shook a little, and he instinctively wiped his arm across his face, even though he had his mask on.

"Whoa." It was Camie's turn to be disquieted. She tilted her head up and sideways to get a closer look at him. "You cryin' under there, bro?"

"I'm sorry." His voice caught in his throat. "I'm…grateful for your help, Camie. You're doing the right thing. Here…why don't you take a break? I'll go look for the phone; I'm faster and can trace our backtrail pretty easily."

Something shimmered in her eyes, and she seemed to lift her shoulders a bit. "...Nah, it's cool, Midoriya. I'm not the one who needs to chillax. You go talk to the heroes down there. I'll find the phone and…well. Make my own way. This is my home turf, so don't worry 'bout me."

"You can call me Izuku," he told her, at a low volume. That sentence had only come out of his mouth a precious few times in his life. "Since I'm using your first name. It's only fair."

Camie hummed, her honey-brown eyes still glistening. "Mkay, Izuku. I'll…see you later." Something about her tone still seemed off, but he let her turn around and walk back across the rooftop, away from the hero's protected zone. Stretching out ahead of her, and behind them, was the seedy expanse of the entertainment district.

Izuku watched her walk for a moment, realized he was staring at her hips and ass, blushed, and intentionally looked further up. Then he noticed something. "Camie," he called after her.

She looked back.

"Parts of your hair are sticking up." He tapped the top of his own head with a gloved finger.

Camie pouted. "Ass," she muttered, and smothered her silky blonde hair back down straight before hopping down and out of sight, off the roof.

Izuku's thoughts lingered on her for as long of a moment as he was willing to give himself, standing there. Same feeling I got with Iruka and Rei. Only Camie was a heroine, not a civilian, and extremely dangerous in her own way. The other two had been sweet and subdued like Izuku considered himself to be, but Camie probably liked more confident guys who could match her energy. And that just wasn't him.

"We almost had her when you flirted with her. Should try that again next time." Camie's delirious words after he'd saved her from Lady Nagant. He had no idea what to make of that, and didn't want to think about it.

Izuku turned and went down to the hero base.

…

"Look who it is," said Tamaki.

Nejire turned and her heart skipped a beat. Midoriya was here.

"Suneater," he greeted from behind his mask, two personnel stepping aside to let him walk into the tent area. "Nejire-chan." He reached up and took off his hood, revealing his weary, but handsome, face.

Unbidden, a visual from the last day she'd seen him entered Nejire's memory: walking back into the ruined hospital with Endeavor's wife. She swallowed and said, "Hi, Midoriya-kun. What did you find at Ketsubutsu? Did you find a lead? Was it…" Oh, no, it was probably really bad. "What happened?" she finished lamely.

Midoriya had his usual distantly grim expression. Something about the vacancy in his green eyes made Nejire feel strange. "I didn't stay long enough to find out casualties. I'm sure that info will come through the grapevine sooner or later. Hawks and All Might were headed that way to help bring survivors back to UA."

"Oh…okay. That's…"

"It's fine, Nejire-chan, you don't have to make any kind of comment. It is what it is. And you were right. There wasn't much I could do." He pointed at the top of a crate and raised his eyebrows at Tamaki, as if asking permission to sit down. When the older boy nodded, Midoriya sat and closed his eyes with a sigh. Nejire had a weird mental image of stepping over and feeling his forehead, as if he had a fever. Her mouth twitched.

"...Well. As you can see, Amajiki-kun and I came back here at your request, since you said this was the best way to help. And you said you'd meet us here if you found a lead. So…what's the lead?"

Midoriya leaned forward while sitting and rested his arms on his knees, folding his hands over one another. "It's not as conclusive as you might hope," he laughed dryly. "I mean…we know who the bomber is. But his connection to Kijimi isn't exactly obvious."

"Ooooh, who is it? I thought you said they were working with the Hojos? Was that not confirmed after all? I remember you said you were working with a girl, back when we rescued you from their nightclub. Did something else happen?"

Midoriya blinked at her, and just like before, answered her questions patiently and in order. "It's Mustard. A boy around our age with a gas Quirk who helped the League attack my class's training camp in the woods. He's working alone now though, we think, and is targeting hero schools. He murdered that Shiketsu official by knocking her out with his gas first. The only real lead we had connecting him to the Hojos was from that particular crime scene. The card. It would make sense that he's getting his weapons from here, but we haven't had any special confirmation. We only found out who he was and what his motives were from a video on a cell phone that was left at Ketsubutsu, but we lost the phone. Camie's currently gone back to look for it. That's all that's happened."

"Oh, so she was with you, the girl?"

"Err…yeah. She'll probably show up at some point, so make sure your border patrol knows about her. I don't want her to get hurt. She's a Shiketsu hero student, a survivor of that bombing."

"We did find you in a nightclub where a major Hojo family member was holed up. You're telling me you haven't figured out anything about where exactly this Mustard guy is getting his equipment?"

"I talked to that man in the club, but he claimed to have no knowledge of how the card got into Mustard's hands." Midoriya frowned. "I was using an illusion to pose as his son at the time, so I don't know why he would have lied."

"An illusion? What?! How?"

"Camie's Quirk."

"Ah. Okay." Nejire thought of like, a half dozen more questions, but this was already feeling like too much of an interrogation, Midoriya looked exhausted, and she felt bad. "I'm…sorry for being such a chatterbox. I should leave you alone."

Surprisingly, the green-haired boy perked up a bit, and gave her a tired, encouraging smile. "You don't have to feel bad. It was helpful to organize my thoughts, to be honest. And…it's what I like about you, Hado-senpai."

"Ah." It did not happen often, but she felt the faintest bit of heat travel up to the tips of her ears. "Thank you."

"So…yeah. I'm gonna have to do some more investigating in Kijimi to figure out the source of these bombs." Midoriya leaned back and groaned, rubbing his eyes. "You guys were under no obligation to listen to me about coming back here, but I'm glad you did. At least this way I have some support. I don't think the older pros are going to take very kindly to me snooping around in their territory."

"Gang Orca has been…calmer since we came back," Tamaki put in. "Maybe it'll be okay-"

Mandalay and Gang Orca burst into the tent. "Well, that went about as could be expected-" the brunette heroine began, and then stopped short upon seeing Midoriya sitting on the crate. "Deku. What are you doing here?"

"Speak of the devil," Nejire muttered, only looking at Gang Orca for a second before averting her eyes. He, for his part, did not seem to want to look at her either. Tamaki was right about that: the dynamic had changed.

"I'm here to throw a wrench into your system, I fear." Midoriya rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry, Mandalay-san."

Mandalay pinched her nose. "Do I even want to know?"

"Well, the short of it is that I'm looking for illegal explosives that possibly have a connection here. If that's a problem-"

"Maybe not," Gang Orca said suddenly, "if you could possibly do something for us in return. It may be that you get what you want out of it."

Deku raised an interested eyebrow. "Have you found something?"

"A few things, actually." Mandalay's expression was extremely grave, Nejire noticed. Oh no. That could only mean…

"Join us at our briefing, Deku. It will all be made clear there."

…

The briefing took place inside the lower floor of a billiards parlor, with all the pool tables shoved to one side to make room for the circle of heroes, police, and personnel.

It came as a surprise to Izuku that Mandalay let him have the floor first, where he explained to this Kijimi crew his own personal current mission regarding Mustard and the boy's possible connections here. He left out a few details he felt necessary to keep secret, mostly things between just him and Camie that he felt she would be mad at him if he just went around talking about them. He did explain about the phone message, though.

"...my partner noticed that he only used two numbers in the whole video, five and fourteen, and made exaggerated hand gestures in reference to both. Since the passcode to the phone was some kind of date, she guessed that this was also a reference to one, that being May fourteenth, since that's pretty soon…"

A chorus of gasps greeted this revelation, causing Izuku's eyes to widen in the center of the circle. "Does May fourteenth mean something to you guys?" he asked.

"That's when our intel indicated the Harbor was doing a major weapons shipment out of their river port," said Gang Orca.

"Oh, that's…wait, did you say the Harbor?"

The hero nodded. "It's being overseen by this…Skindancer."

A weapons shipment? That doesn't make any sense. I suspected the clue might be a well-placed distraction to keep the authorities off Mustard's tail, but if it really is weapons, then maybe not? Maybe these are the real explosives? But still, the Harbor? Not the Hojos?

Too many factors he couldn't fully trust. Mustard's motives. Gang Orca's intel. The word of Wakamaru Hojo's father. Even…even Camie. Why is she only willing to work with me when we're alone? She never wants to come near other heroes.

"Who's the Skindancer?" he asked aloud.

"She is our main focus at this meeting," Mandalay said, and lifted her head to address the whole group. "If this villain Mustard wants to direct hero forces toward the weapons shipment on the fourteenth for whatever reason…it may seem that we have little choice but to respond to him, given what little we have to go on. However, we have now gained sufficient intel to proceed with our own operation prior to that date, and take out the Skindancer before she ever gets a chance to send her cargo out of the Harbor."

Murmurs of assent went around the circle.

"If we stop the shipment before it happens…that might force Mustard or his allies to change their plans and draw them out into the open. They might play another hand that could give me clues to their next move," said Izuku, tapping his chin. "Is this what you wanted me to help with? I'm absolutely game, if so." He directed that at Gang Orca.

The whale hero winced. "I would not agree so readily if I were you, young Deku."

"May I have the floor now?" asked Mandalay.

Izuku gracefully conceded to her, stepping back to the edge of the circle, next to Tamaki and Nejire. He had to awkwardly squeeze between Nejire and another person to stand comfortably, and brushed against her, murmuring an apology.

She just smiled and squeezed his arm encouragingly. "Good job," she whispered.

"Agreed," muttered Tamaki on her opposite side, with a shaky expression. "Public speaking…scary…couldn't have been me."

"Thanks, guys," he mumbled.

Mandalay rotated and looked at every person in the room in turn. For a moment, Izuku thought she was about to use her Quirk, but she simply spoke aloud in a very clear, authoritative tone. "For those who don't know, the Skindancer's real name is Renata Mitoma. She is a designated villain and organized criminal who was on probation before the Paranormal Liberation War. At first we assumed that her rise to power in the Harbor in the last month was a return to old habits, spurred on by the collapse of the nation, but reports from rescued civilians and victims in the area indicates that she…never truly left." The cat heroine swallowed as if her mouth was dry.

Designated villain. Izuku frowned. These organized criminals…their empires were growing in the wake of the war, yes, but what about before then? Some had been imprisoned, others were lying low…but here in Kijimi, it seemed like everything had been fairly well-established even during the age of heroes, though not as strong as it was now. And so close to UA, too. How much of the hero establishment was aware of all this going on? And did nothing to halt it until now?

"She deals in weapons, yes, but also sex workers, drugs, and now-critical supplies to struggling people in the territory in order to keep them under her control. The Harbor holds the means of survival for many of these civilians, making them essentially hostages. The various drug dens and brothels we have busted are only the tip of the iceberg. There could be as many as thousands of people left to save from her grip." Mandalay looked at Izuku specifically. "The reason she's called the Skindancer is that her Quirk allows her to telepathically rearrange a person's insides. If she is within a certain distance and has the intent to use her Quirk on you…"

Instant death. Or worse, a lot of torture. Jesus Christ. Are you guys hearing this?

She sounds like a piece of work, alright, said Banjo.

"So, what's to be done, then?" someone called out. "She basically has an army, too."

"That's so," admitted Gang Orca. "A mix of organized criminal scum and struggling people whose options are to fight for her or starve."

"Or sell their body," muttered Nejire.

"But…" Gang Orca let a pause hang in the air. "We have figured out her hiding spot. Down to the exact building."

Whoops and applause greeted this revelation.

Mandalay nodded wearily, letting it persist for a moment, before holding up her hands to make everyone quiet. "Yes, yes, but…you aren't going to like what we've had to do."

One of the technicians stepped forward, and lifted up a holographic schematic. "This building is a hotel and casino on the riverside. Our remote scans show a lower level that is filled with heat signatures. Based on corroborated reports, we can only assume that this is where the…"

The technician cut himself off awkwardly and coughed, pale-faced.

"Prostitutes," Mandalay finished. "The prostitutes that Mitoma sells. She keeps a steady supply, mainly through her control of resources. She likely has kept it for years."

Dark expressions and darker whispers filled the room. Tamaki Amajiki rubbed his arm and looked down at the floor.

"So…it's basically a hostage situation, then," said Izuku.

Gang Orca nodded. "On a macro scale, yes. Which is why I'm grateful you're here, Deku. We have stealthy heroes and we have battle heroes, but you have proven yourself capable of both. That is what this kind of operation calls for. The lower level is well-guarded and difficult to get to."

"So you need me as the lynchpin. The one who invades the place and gets all these hostages free while you guys do your distraction, whatever that might be." Izuku cracked his knuckles. Seems doable enough. "Are you going to feign a direct attack?"

"...A feigned attack is Plan B," Mandalay said, slowly, reluctantly. "We fear that if Mitoma senses any danger to her person, our forces may be subject to her Quirk and some of the other dangerous Quirks we've gathered intel on. If we do not have to engage in combat until the moment of capture, we should take that chance. At least, this was the view of those of us who made the decision…"

A few of the other pros, and police captains, stepped forward. "So the deal went through, then?" one of the captains asked gruffly.

Mandalay nodded. "She did not appear to suspect me. She was gleeful, even, as horrible as it was." The cat heroine scratched her own neck with her paw-glove. "She said it wasn't her first time dealing with a hero, and that…I would be surprised to know how many she's had good business with."

"You made a deal with the Skindancer?" someone blurted in shock, and a rising wave of indignant rage swept through the room.

"Whoa, whoa!" Gang Orca bellowed, but even he was drowned out by a crackle of protests and complaints.

"She's a monster!"

"This isn't what heroes should be doing!"

"Nothing has changed, has it-"

SILENCE.

Mandalay's telepathic voice rang through all of their brains, practically shuddering the room, the woman in the center of the circle sharp-eyed with authority. Would anyone here like to try the other way, then? Attack her fortress? Would anyone like to go first, and have their stomach pulled out of their belly in the blink of an eye?

An awkward quiet greeted this proposal.

"That's what I thought." She huffed and blew a strand of brown hair off her forehead. "Now. I assume that the authorities' order about who we are allowed to use for this operation still stands?"

She was staring at the police captain, who nodded. "That's correct. The law and ethics states that only pro heroes can pose as chattel. Not civilians."

"Chattel?" Nejire repeated, in a stunned tone.

Mandalay gave her an expression of pure regret that sent a terrifying feeling down Izuku's spine. "Yes, dear. …I'm…I'm sorry."

"I thought when you said deal, you meant drugs or weapons or…"

"We don't have any drugs or weapons that the Skindancer wants," said Mandalay. "What we have…are bodies."

Izuku, for all his gathered worldliness in the past month, only then caught up to what she meant. "You promised this villain that you'd bring her sex workers," he said aloud. "That's your ticket in."

Mandalay's nod was anything but happy. "The disguised operatives and myself will meet with her directly in two days' time, at the hotel. While we are distracting her, you will free the hostages. I imagine any weapons that you are looking for are being kept there, as well, if that gives you further incentive. If you manage to do it without being detected, good, but if you give them battle…"

"...And word gets up to the Skindancer, then you're toast!" Izuku finished her sentence in alarm. "She'll immediately guess that it was a trick!"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. The activation conditions of her Quirk are not yet fully understood besides the fact that she does not have to touch her victim. It may be that we get a window of distraction to capture her." Mandalay looked sickly. "I know you don't like it, but given what we're up against…there was no path to success other than pretending to befriend her, and I could only befriend her through a deal like this."

"It's a beggar's choice," said Gang Orca, "but it's the one we have."

"So who's going to pose as the hookers, then?" someone asked bluntly. "If it has to be a hero, pros are seen on TV all the time! If she recognizes faces, it's once again like the freaky kid said! We're toast!"

"Yes…about that…" Mandalay swallowed again. It seemed like there was still something else horrible she had to say. How could it get any worse?

The heroine's eyes darted around the circle, and then she bit her lip and shook her head, letting out a sigh of consternation. "I'm sorry, Orca. I can't…"

Gang Orca stared at Nejire, Tamaki, and Izuku. "Mandalay made some casual conversation during this meeting to establish the deal, and discovered that Renata has in fact never made a point to view the UA sports festivals."

Izuku froze.

"No," he spilled out. "No, you can't." He looked over at his two senpais in alarm. "...No!"

Tamaki seemed completely out of it, his jaw dropped. "You mean…you mean that we have to…"

"The villain even specified that she's been in the market for…" Gang Orca coughed. "Younger workers. Of both genders. The deal was one of each."

Mandalay was unable to even look at the newly fledged pros, her arms crossed tight over her chest.

"So it's us, then," muttered Nejire Hado.

"Listen to me, you two." Shino Sosaki still could not look at them, but her voice was pure steel, her eyes shut hard as she forced the words out. "I refuse to let anything happen to you. Not under my watch. I will be there and I will handle all matters of business as befits my role in this operation. We are either capturing her or escaping together after the operation begins and the hostages are confirmed safe, is that clear? I have no intention of leaving either of you to that fate. Nor anyone else. This is about saving these people and giving them an opportunity for a better life. It is all in the name of doing that."

"It shouldn't have to be you," said Gang Orca, in a soft voice. "You both deserve better."

"I'll say!" Izuku protested, loudly. He could hardly believe this.

Mandalay looked stricken. "We had no way of knowing that these would be the circumstances. I asked for her opinions on the sports festival as a shot in the dark more than anything. If you two are not okay with this, then we will abandon the entire idea and think of something else. A clever attack, maybe. There is a choice. But…"

"But it's a beggar's choice," Nejire finished. She lifted her head, and to Izuku's shock, her face was set. Oh my God, she means to go through with it. "There isn't enough time for a better idea if we want to stop them before the fourteenth. And I don't want to wait and plan while the actual victims are suffering in there, either. So...I'll do it. My only concern is that she may not want an escort with a burned face."

Tears began to slide down Mandalay's cheeks. "Oh, honey," she breathed. "Nejire-chan, you…"

And then Tamaki Amajiki silently walked out of the circle and out of the room, his expression unreadable.

"Shit," muttered Gang Orca. Murmurs began to rise up in the circle again.

"I'll go get him," said Nejire. "I'll make him understand…no! It's fine! Stay there, Mandalay-san. It's okay."

Mandalay had taken one of her big paw-gloves off and was wiping her face with her hand, clearing it of tears.

"Meeting adjourned!" Gang Orca announced loudly. People began to crisscross the room, leaving or attending to their business, chattering about this. The mood was not positive.

Izuku's legs were unsteady. I need some air.

…

At the exit, he intercepted the technician that had spoken and asked for a copy of the building schematic and information.

He downloaded it onto his personal phone, and then took off, jumping up to the sky and onto the rooftops, getting a good distance away from the billiards club.

A few minutes later, he stopped, and looked out over the evening. Looked out over Kijimi.

How could a place become so nasty as this? And how could we have let it happen?

Izuku considered calling All Might and asking his advice, but for some reason, it seemed like a bad idea. He might just come rolling up in that armored car and mess everything up. Tsukauchi had wanted him away from the Mustard case, so All Might probably wanted the same thing. He wouldn't want me to get involved with all this shit.

But if the mission was really as difficult as Gang Orca implied, then could they even do it without him?

Izuku pulled out the schematic and analyzed it, zooming in and out on his phone screen, looking at the whole place. It is well-guarded. And big. He stared at that low level for a long time. The one full of hostages. There's…well, there's a lot…but not a lot a lot. Less than a hundred, for sure. And some of those heat signatures might be guards, too.

Maybe it was doable without him. Gang Orca could probably take my role himself, but maybe he actually respects me to do a better job. Izuku sighed and fell onto his back, laying on the roof and staring up at the sky. But no, if there's a chance to nip this May fourteenth thing in the bud, and maybe find the source of Mustard's weapons, I should take it. Before another school is targeted.

UA flashed through his head. Then his two senpais.

At least you don't have THEIR job, said En.

Izuku grimaced. Posing as an escort… it's only playing a role for a short amount of time. Just to get them into the building while I do my thing. He had no idea what to make of it. He hadn't even thought the pros capable of coming up with something like that. Nejire seemed confident and agreeable, at least. She seemed possessed of an inner strength that continually surprised him. Amajiki, on the other hand…

"Hey there, buddy."

He sat up like a rocket, recognizing that voice instantly, and fearing it. "Mirko."

The rabbit heroine was standing on the ledge, her white hair wavering in the breeze.

She leered down at him with her hands on her hips. "So those heroes down there decided they could use you, huh? In exchange for what? Was it as useless as the info they gave me?"

"They've made some progress since you last spoke to them." Izuku got up on one knee and watched her carefully, preparing for a fight. "I could give you some info, if you're willing to be nice about it."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "The big and scary Deku is willing to let little old me on his crusade against evil?"

Why must she be so unreasonable? "This guy has killed thousands of people. I just want him caught. I don't care if it's me who does it or not."

"That wasn't what it seemed like when you took that phone from me."

Izuku stood up and stared her in the face, defiant. "I wanted to work together and you didn't. And now look where you've come."

Mirko glared right back at him, taking a step closer. Red eyes and green eyes pierced each other, trying to make the other stand down.

Then, Rumi Usagiyama laughed. "Look at us! We're not good for each other, you and I. We're enabling each other's biggest impulses while telling the other they're doing the wrong thing."

"There's still time to do the right thing." Izuku put his hood back up and over his face. "The phone contained a video message from the bomber. He's a villain called Mustard. He used a gas Quirk to murder the Shiketsu official."

"Mustard, huh?" Rumi bit her lip.

"He's planning on targeting more schools. Those heroes down there are about to go on a big mission to rescue hostages from an organized crime outfit, who are possibly providing him the weapons he's using. So I'm helping them." He felt bad about how he'd acted before, so he handed Usagiyama his phone. "This is the building they're planning to hit."

Mirko took the phone from him slowly, but kept staring at him. "You're…trusting me with this?"

"Solidarity between heroes, right? Just don't throw it on the ground or anything. That's actually my personal cell."

She snorted, and then took stock of the schematic. "All the hostages are down here?" She pointed at the low level heat signatures.

"Yeah. They're sex workers, apparently. They want me to do the rescue while they distract the villains."

"By yourself?"

"...Yeah."

Mirko frowned. "Well. I don't doubt you could do it. I could do it, too." She handed him back the phone. "I'm gonna go talk to 'em. See if they can use me somehow."

"Oh ho. Is the great and independent Mirko trying to willingly join a hero team-up?"

She had stepped up onto the ledge, but looked back over her shoulder at him. Her lips were parted from her teeth in something between a sneer and a dangerous grin. "Watch yourself, Deku."

She turned and sprang off the ledge, her thighs moving powerfully as she did so. Izuku's eyes dropped to watch them for that split second. His face twitched.

Well, that could have gone a lot worse. Mirko had not asked to see the other phone, the one with evidence, which was lucky, since he'd lost it. Camie, where are you?

…

Nejire sat on the outer landing of the building, leaning her elbows over the rail. Looking out at the night.

Her conversation with Tamaki hadn't gone well. He was completely freaking out about what they had to do. In the end, she hadn't been able to find the words to console him.

This is part of the job, right? We're heroes. We need to be able to take on the hard tasks. I certainly wouldn't want to make any civilian do this.

Besides, Nejire had respect for sex work. She did not see this as dehumanizing, necessarily. The dehumanizing part is being bought and sold against your own will. That was what they were saving people from.

Surely Amajiki gets that? Is he just thinking of that woman who's back at UA? Nova?

Mandalay appeared in the doorway behind her. The warm yellow light from inside flooded out into the cool blue night. "Hado? Are you alright, dear?"

"Yeah. Just needed some air." She could tell that the older woman was completely distraught about the plan. She isn't posing as a slave; she's posing as a slaver. Mandalay would play the role of a secretly degenerate hero making a slimy backhanded deal with an organized criminal. That has its own set of ethical dilemmas. "I'm sorry I couldn't calm Amajiki down."

"That's okay. Maybe I'll talk to him." Mandalay was holding her right elbow in her left hand, which was crossed across her ample chest, and her right hand was up against her face, her eyes drifting off to the side. "Mirko just came by, if you wanted to speak to her."

"Mirko?" That took Nejire aback. "Is she helping us?"

"Maybe. Currently trying to figure that out. Listen, I…" Shino Sosaki took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, again. That it has to be you. I would not wish this onto any girl, whether she's a heroine or not-"

"I am not a girl." Nejire stood up straight, puffing out her chest. "I am not a student. I am a pro hero and a woman, like you. If this face is one that the Skindancer won't recognize, then…" Her fingers danced up to her scars. "Then I am more than ready to do what's necessary."

Mandalay gave her a sad smile. "Oh, Hado. What I wouldn't give to make it so you didn't have to grow up in a world like this." She turned. "Come on down when you want. There's hot dinner for everyone." And shut the door between them.

Nejire stood in silence for a few more moments.

Then she heard an unfamiliar voice. "Yeesh. What was up with all that?"

"Eep!" Nejire hopped on the landing in shock and looked up at the intruder.

A sensual shadow undulated off of the higher-level fire escape, resolving itself. Long legs swung over the edge, and bright shimmering eyes peered down at Nejire. It was a girl, a girl in a dark, tight suit.

Intuition struck at Nejire. "Are you Camie?"

Those eyes narrowed. "How'd you know that?"

"You work with Midoriya-kun."

"Ha! Well, neither of us are getting paid right now, so IDK if you could say work." Camie slid, quiet as a mouse, down the fire escape to get onto the same landing as Nejire. "I do need to chat him up rn, though. Have you seen him?"

"I think he went to patrol around. That's generally how he stays sane."

Camie snorted. "Boys."

Nejire giggled and nodded in agreement. Then, she pursed her lips in curiosity. "Say, you were a Shiketsu student, right? Were you a third year before the war, like me? How does your illusion Quirk work? Oh, hey, Midoriya told me you were looking for a phone, did you find it?"

"That's a hell of a lot of noise in my ear," Camie commented, holding up her hands defensively. "I've only just become a third year. And no, I didn't find the damn phone. He tell y'all what was on it? Five and fourteen?"

"Yep! May fourteenth. That's the day the Harbor is planning to do a cargo shipment at the port."

Camie's eyes widened. "No cap?"

"None indeed."

"Well. Shit. What I needed to tell him was that I didn't find the phone, but…" The other girl seemed to appraise Nejire for a moment. "You can pass the message on, right?"

"Uhh….yeah sure, I guess. Why? Do you have somewhere to be?"

"Somewhere I'd like to be, that's for sure," the other girl muttered. She seemed restless, annoyed. Not at me, but I probably made it worse with all my questions. Nejire wondered what her relationship with Midoriya really was. And how she felt about her school getting bombed. Or why she dressed in black and operated like this when she was a licensed hero student. But obviously, none of that was okay to bring up.

Camie seemed to decide something. "...Yeah, I think dipping out is the move. Catch ya on the flip side, babe in blue."

Nejire blushed, as the other girl hopped back up into the shadows. "Wait!" she called. "Midoriya is worried about you, I think. I'll pass on your message, but what am I supposed to tell him when you just vanish like this?"

She could see the glint of Camie's eyes. "Tell him I'm off handling some local business. He'll get what that means."

There was a slight aura of pink, barely visible in the darkness, and then the other girl completely melted out of Nejire's sight.