A/N: I know this chapter is late, so thanks for your patience! I started my new job at the hospital and the twelve-hour days are kicking my butt, and I haven't even switched over to night shift, yet! BUT—I've also been working on revising LS as well, and I'm up to Chapter 36! Don't go looking because I haven't started publishing the revisions, yet, but just know that that's on the way, too! I've added a few things in earlier chapters (like giving Mineta, Yaoyorozu, Kyoka, Uraraka, Midoriya, and Iida more time with Denki in between Fields and UA), but nothing major that changes the story. I've added recaps every 25 chapters and reminders about who my OCs are when they reappear to hopefully keep everyone up to date and less confused with how long this thing is! So, as you might imagine, I'm excited to get the revisions out, too!
"So…" Kirishima ventured with forced casualness, reaching across the table to snatch a French fry drenched in ketchup from the middle of the table. "Are we going to talk about the fact that you booped my nose?"
Shigaraki leveled him with an intimidating glare that Kirishima, to his credit, didn't back down from. "I have no idea what you're referring to," Shigaraki said, tone flat, giving nothing away.
"The whole Overhaul thing? With Eri? I was totally on my last leg there, man, and you came in like a knight in shining dust among the crumbling concrete and saved me! I thought I was a goner!"
"Eri?" Shigaraki asked, tilting his head slightly as he squinted in concentration. "Little girl with time reversing quirk?"
Kirishima nodded enthusiastically, throwing another fry into his mouth.
"Overhaul?" Shigaraki continued. "The guy with no arms?"
Dabi smothered his snort in his elbow, trying and failing to cover the sound of it with a cough.
Shigaraki hummed, tapping his chin in intense thought. "Yeah, no. Doesn't ring a bell."
Dabi broke out into loud guffaws, and Kirishima looked between them, dismayed, before looking over at Bakugou to see if he had anything to add to the conversation. Bakugou rolled his red eyes and gave a look that told Kirishima that he was very much on his own.
"I swear it happened, dude!" Kirishima said. "Just like I said it did!" He slammed his hands on the table as he leaned in closer to the villains sitting across from them, ignoring the background activity happening around them in the casino. "And you're the reason Overhaul has no arms! How can it not 'ring a bell?!'"
Dabi's laughter was reinvigorated; he slapped the tabletop with the palm of his hand as he buried his face into his other arm against the table.
Shigaraki elbowed Dabi. At this rate, his laughter would get Shigaraki going, too, and their little game would be over. It was hard enough to keep his face flat without his lover losing it right next to him, encouraging him and egging him on.
"You have no evidence of anything," Shigaraki insisted.
"It happened on television!" Kirishima retorted instantly. "All of Japan were your witnesses!"
Shigaraki looked at his open hands laying on the tabletop before looking over at Dabi who was trying to catch his breath.
"How long would it take to silence all of Japan?" Shigaraki asked in a stage-whisper, flickering his eyes over to meet Dabi's ice blue gaze, delighting in the face that eye contact with the man still made his heart skip a beat.
Before Dabi could answer, Bakugou snarked, "what are you gonna do? Boop their noses to death?"
While Kirishima wailed happily about knowing all along that Bakugou believed him about the "booping situation," and Bakugou vehemently denied it and tried to retract every statement he ever made that lead up to that point in his life.
Tsukauchi hummed from the next table over as he watched the mismatched group get more riled up, starting to lunge across the table threateningly as it escalated beyond more than just words being exchanged.
"Should we intervene?" he asked, unsure.
Hitoshi snorted and waved them off. "Nah, they're fine."
"Should we place bets?" Shouto asked.
And that was a better question that required some actual thoughtful consideration. Hitoshi's eyes slid back over to the odd group of four, weighing his options on if there was a safe bet he could make, both to win the bet and to not be killed by those he bet against winning if details of the bet should get back to the group in question.
"If we bet on Katsuki, we might be safe physically," Hitoshi hedged, "but to actually win the bet…" he hesitated. "Listen," Hitoshi whispered, making Tsukauchi and Shouto lean in like he was about to share some big conspiracy theory. "I've seen Neito use every single one of those quirks, right? So, I know what those quirks look like in a vacuum, essentially, without the bias of the user. I'm also pretty familiar with each of them as individuals. I think I'd have an unfair advantage in this betting scenario."
Shouto was nodding along during Hitoshi's explanation, and upon the end of it, he leaned back, regarded Hitoshi with half-lidded eyes, and deadpanned, "chicken."
Hitoshi's jaw dropped. "What did you just say to me?"
"Chicken," Shouto repeated with the same tone and cadence as the first time, like Hitoshi truly did not hear him and needed him to repeat it.
"I mean, if we're going to bet and gamble, we're in a casino, Shouto! We don't have to bet on our friends' scuffle!"
"Chicken," Shouto repeated again.
"Oh, you have little brother energy," Hitoshi rasped, fidgeting in his seat as he got fired up against his better judgment. "Five on Shigaraki."
"Ten on my brother," Shouto shot back.
Hitoshi looked at him like he was nuts. "We're basically betting on the same team, then. They're practically soulmates." When Shouto made no move to change his bet, Hitoshi sighed, rolled his eyes, and said, "fine. Ten on Katsuki. Then at least I won't get blasted to hell."
"I also put ten on Katsuki," Shouto amended with a firm nod.
Hitoshi regarded him carefully. "Do you not understand how this whole betting thing works?"
Shouto shot him a mischievous smile. "Dynamight will be really mad when he finds out that I placed my bet on him. He'll throw the whole thing just so that he can bring me down with him, but what if that was my whole plan all along?"
Hitoshi narrowed his eyes at Shouto, before hesitantly turning back to Tsukauchi, suddenly wary to take his eyes off of Shouto. "Can you believe this guy?"
"I've never been to a casino where I've been so surrounded by entertainment that the thought of tearing myself away to gamble leaves me brokenhearted," Tsukauchi answered, a genuine smile taking over his face at the lighthearted fun the younger generation was having around him, even as they were awaiting their cue to step in and assist with arrests.
Across the city, Hatsume looked over at Midoriya before looking down at her project before looking over at Midoriya again, this time with a stern look on her face rather than just in a passing glance sort of way.
"At this rate, we're never going to get finished!" she warned, then amended before Midoriya could respond, "actually, at this rate, you might as well have gone with them and left me to man the cameras and work on this all on my own!" she rumbled, hands slamming down on the work table, rattling the bits and pieces of metal and wires that her hands were going to turn into a working piece of protype technology the world has yet to have seen.
Midoriya flashed her a sheepish grin, running a hand through wild green curls as his eyes unwillingly found themselves drawn back to the screens after they'd hacked into the casino's security cameras to keep an eye on what was happening there.
"You might as well call Kurogiri," Hatsume muttered, taking a screwdriver to the shell of the metal collar that she was about to fill with the wires and technology that surrounded her.
Midoriya just hoped that they could limit the explosions to single digits for this particular project.
Then her statement caught his attention. "What?!" he exclaimed, eyes searching the multitude of screens before him, looking for signs of trouble, reaching for his phone to page the warp gate to the right area for back up if needed. "Where?!"
Hatsume snorted. "Calm down, there's no trouble."
"You want to test run the collar? See if it can actually keep him dormant?" Midoriya asked, rubbing at his temple. "That would be ideal, but I don't think we would get away with that and not let him tell anyone about it. We can't risk it getting out to—"
"I meant for you. You aren't any use to me here, so you might as well call Kurogiri and get a ride down to the casino and join Todoroki. Let him use his cool warp gate quirk while he can, huh?" she drawled, looking at the screws and bolts on the table before picking just the right one.
Midoriya forced his hand to release his phone and sat back in his chair, giving Hatsume an unimpressed look. "First of all, I don't have Kurogiri wrapped around my finger that he would give out random favors like that. I'm not Shigaraki or Denki, okay? Second of all, I'm doing a great job over here. My eyes haven't left the screens!"
"Screen," Hatsume corrected as she welded some wires where she wanted them with scary quick efficiency. It looked like she did it in her sleep, and maybe she had. "Singular form of the noun, not plural."
"Yeah, maybe. Hey, Hatsume? Do you sleepwalk? Have you ever sleep-invented before?"
"Hey! Don't change the subject!" Hatsume snarled. "We both know that you're supposed to be watching all of the screens for any signs of them needing backup, but you're just making googly eyes at your boyfriend!"
Midoriya sighed and turned his chair back toward the screens, eyes actually doing their vigilance this time.
"But, yes," Hatsume ventured after a moment. "Quite often, in fact. The first successful thing I've ever sleep-invented was an early version of your bracers, actually."
Midoriya, without taking his eyes off of the screens, reached sideways for his notebook.
"Qilinbian," Omoto Hikari commanded, and the young man with the electric blue whips stepped forward menacingly.
Denki looked over at Isozan with a pinched face and hissed in a stage whisper. "Four syllables? Are you kidding me?"
"Is that worse than naming yourself after your own quirk?" Isozan asked, looking back over at Denki, truly interested in hearing his answer.
Denki hummed, pursing his lips. "It's close," he admitted. "We really gotta sit down and sketch some ideas out after all this is over."
"We should start a committee," Toga suggested. "I'll invite Izuku!"
"Phantasm seems to have things figured out," Denki added helpfully. "Why didn't you go to your sister and ask for pointers from the start?"
"We had bigger things to worry about than what to call ourselves!" Isozan defended, lowering his head to pinch the bridge of his nose. "No! No! Wait! We're getting off topic here! This can wait!"
"Agreed," one of the Kobarus said, reaching out to grab Denki's wrist. "We'll table it for another time."
Denki redirected his electricity away from his wrist. Just as Qilinbian approached the group who continued to ignore him, the Kobaru who was thought to be a Twice clone reverted back into Neito. Neito, who had been using Toga's quirk and who had also ingested Kobaru's blood, who had been posing as Twice's clone. Neito, who had just copied Denki's quirk, was ready to take on Qilinbian.
Qilinbian struck out toward the group with his whips only to have Denki and Neito grab onto the ends of the hissing physical manifestations of electricity and yank him forwards. He landed on his stomach, knocking the breath out of him, and Neito wasted no time wrapping his own sparking whips around his wrists to restrain him.
"Well, that was anticlimactic. I kind of wish you guys had to put a little more effort into it," Isozan muttered.
Neito shrugged. "That's the life of a Pro Hero. It's rare that any single person is actually a threat."
"Says you," Denki stressed, "who can literally take on almost any quirk and master it effortlessly."
"Oh, you're one to talk!" Neito retorted. "You can turn into lightning! So don't come at me about my ability to take on just about anyone!"
"Yeah, yeah. You're both hot and capable. We all get it," Hitoshi said, stepping in through the doors that were supposed to be guarded.
Glancing through the doors that were swinging shut behind him, everyone could see the guards standing there, dazed.
It was easy to gather up those who were actively involved with the Omotos with the help of the self-proclaimed Fork Brigade that were stationed and employed throughout the casino, more afraid of the League of Villains than the Omotos themselves, especially when they saw how they were easily infiltrated and overtaken by the League, and on their own stomping grounds no less.
"You really think they're going to choose you over Chargebolt after you've sentenced him to death?!" Omoto Hikari spat as she was led away.
Denki and Isozan looked at each other, confused for a moment, before they realized that the electricity was still dancing across Denki's skin from the activation of Full Throttle. It hadn't really been useful in that situation, but it had been fun, nonetheless.
Denki grabbed Isozan's arm and looked at his watch. "Eh. Only 5 hours and 40 minutes to go! I'll be fine!"
"Nothing you haven't done before," Isozan agreed with a nod.
Omoto Hikari, Isozan's adoptive mother and the leader of an underground criminal organization stared in open confusion, not processing what exactly she was seeing.
"Am I hallucinating?" she asked. "Is Uretori here?" She looked around, looking for a familiar face.
"She's out in the casino, having a blast. She's better at gambling than she thought she'd be, actually. She's currently winning at Blackjack, and she thinks that Kobaru is helping her out somehow," Hitoshi recited. "Kobaru is kind of helping in that she's not currently using her quirk to help herself, but she's not using her quirk to help Uretori or anything, either. It might just be beginner's luck."
"How—?"
"Oh!" Hitoshi said. "When Isozan blesses me with Full Throttle, I can read minds. Pretty handy in a casino, actually."
Isozan narrowed his eyes at Hitoshi. "You say bless like it's a curse."
"Potato, po-tah-to."
"See if I ever use Full Throttle on you ever again," Isozan threatened.
"Forever would be too soon," Hitoshi sassed back.
Honestly, it wasn't the worst, but it was bad enough to be able to brainwash people, let alone to be able to read people's minds, but the more they practiced, the more he was getting used to it and the better he was able to control it.
"But you—you just used your quirk on Chargebolt. You can't have used it—" Hikari stammered.
"Oh, we got that fixed!" Isozan answered. "No more issues with that at all! No more time constraints. I could use it a million times in a row as long as I have a million people in a row to touch. Only downside is that I still don't have control over when it turns off, but that was to be expected," Isozan rambled with a shrug.
"Uretori is making great strides, too," Denki said, "not that you asked. How did you ever get approved to adopt kids?"
When Takaga and Nato stepped forward, Denki's confidence in them only grew when they only started booking the individuals who associated themselves with the Omotos, not making a single move to try to arrest any of the League members present who assisted in gathering the stragglers up.
"Uh," one of the police officers hedged. "Chargebolt… you're sparking?"
"Oh! Right!" Denki started, chuckling. "Hey, Mindjack. Would you do me the honors?"
"Oh, but Chargebolt, you only have 5 hours and 10 minutes left," Hitoshi responded, voice laced with sugar.
Hitoshi then choked at the thoughts Denki sent his way that he would not be able to voice aloud, thoughts that included things that he would be too tired to do later if Hitoshi didn't help him turn off Full Throttle's effects faster than 5 hours and 10 minutes, and Neito cackled, knowing exactly what Denki must be up to and being thankful that he could not read minds with his firecracker of a soulmate around surrounded by the public.
Poor Hitoshi.
"I can't believe it's over," Isozan said on their way out, bumping his shoulder against Uretori's. "After all we've been through, it's weird to see how easy it was."
"It wasn't, though," Uretori said. "Easy. It wasn't easy," she clarified. "We had to go through a lot, and everything we went through led us to making amazing, strong connections that made the final moment easier than anything we could have ever imagined, but the journey to get to this point was anything but easy."
Isozan nodded his agreement at that and relaxed as he felt the weight of the world lift off his shoulders. He laughed as he heard the shouting behind him, wondering what was in store for him for the future, now that he could finally, finally let go of the past.
"Hah?!" Bakugou barked at a cackling Toga. "Deku?! On a naming committee?! Do you even know what Deku stands for? I'm the one that gave him that name as a fucking insult, and he took it as his damn hero name!"
"It's creative," Shouto defended.
"Your hero name is your own given name, dumbass. You wouldn't know creativity if it kicked your teeth in," Bakugou spat.
"That's what I said!" Isozan said, spinning around to join the conversation.
"Don't get me started on you," Bakugou yelled, pointing at Isozan.
Isozan held up his hands in easy surrender. "Woah, man. I thought we were on the same side here."
Kirishima laughed. "Don't take it personal, buddy. The only side Katsuki is on is his own."
"That's a damn lie!"
Yeah, Isozan could get used to this.