AN: Night lock117 - I'm sure the HPSC has only the best intentions for Himiko in mind.

Even though she only had three days, it had been a good break for Himiko.

Unfortunately, like all good things, it must come to an end. Classes resumed tomorrow, and that meant work was due and tests were coming. Not willing to let her friends fall behind, Emily had insisted that they get together for a group study session, followed by a quiet meal with just their friends.

Even though the crowds at the train station were thin, Himiko still found herself being recognized, and had people walking up to her to congratulate her. She even had one person tell her how amazing her quirk was! While the attention was nice, a part of her was ready to transform into Inko, and just enjoy the anonymity for her trip.

Reaching her train, she found a relatively empty car and hopped into it, taking an empty seat away from everyone. Pulling out her phone, she brought up her group chat. She was getting ready to send a message letting her friends know that she was on her way, when she heard a voice in front of her.

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

Looking up, Himiko saw a familiar running suit, and despite the large sunglasses, a familiar face. The woman standing in front of her had dyed her hair, now sporting a jet-black ponytail, but she recognized her instantly.

It's her!

Himiko looked around and saw that the train car was still mostly empty. Looking up again, she examined the woman, not sensing any hostility behind her piercing gaze. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she gave the woman a quick nod.

"Go ahead."

"Thanks." The woman sat down and pulled out her own phone, giving the appearance of lazily scrolling through it.

Himiko has had enough training to know better. Her hero training had honed her natural talents, allowing her to pick up on subtle details most people would miss. Taking a cue from the other woman, she returned her attention to her own phone.

"You dyed your hair." Himiko stated.

"And you had to go and win the sports festival. Since you're getting extra attention, I need to make sure nobody would recognize me." The woman replied.

Himiko snickered. "Sorry, I wouldn't know what that's like."

Out of the corner of her eye, Himiko swore she saw a ghost of a smile appear on the other woman's lips. "It must be nice, just being able to disappear when you want to like that."

Himiko felt like there was a hidden meaning behind that, but didn't have time to decipher it right now. She had more pressing questions to ask first.

"So how long have you been waiting for me?"

"Since yesterday."

Himiko frowned. The idea that someone was interested enough in her to wait that long made her uncomfortable. "What do you want?"

The woman looked at her, and once again Himiko felt that piercing gaze through her glasses. "I just want to talk for a few minutes. Alone."

Himiko looked at the woman, and then back down at her phone, the messenger app still open. The temptation to just brush her off was strong. Or to report the woman to her teachers. But then she would be left with nothing but questions. She would never know why this woman was so interested in her.

Himiko already knew the choice she was going to make.

"I am getting off at Takoba. There are several parks nearby that we can use."

"Perfect." The woman went back to her phone and casually ignored Himiko for the rest of the trip.

Knowing she wasn't going to get anything else until they were alone, Himiko went back to her own phone. She finally began typing, sending a message to her friends letting them know that she was held up, but will be there soon.

When the train pulled into Takoba station Himiko and her mysterious companion both stood up and left, merging into the crowd as they made their way to the exit. It wasn't until after they had left the station that the woman spoke again, pausing in front of Himiko to quietly speak to her.

"The park across the street on our left. I will meet you there in 5 minutes."

Without waiting for a response, she turned and began walking in the other direction.

Gathering her courage, Himiko walked to the park in question and found a secluded bench to sit on. There was a part of her that was telling her to run, that this was her last chance to make a clean escape. But she had come too far. She wasn't going to turn back now.

Besides, she was an aspiring hero! And even without her quirk, it wasn't like she was defenseless. She drew comfort from the feeling of the knife strapped to her thigh, as well as the subtle pressure of another one hidden on her upper arm.

Himiko was thankful that the woman didn't keep her waiting long. After a few minutes she saw her jogging along the path before she stopped and sat down. Taking off her sunglasses, the woman was once again staring at Himiko with her piercing purple eyes.

"Thank you for coming. I know these are unusual circumstances, but I want you to know I have your best interests at heart."

Himiko was immediately set on edge. "Really? That's quite the conversation starter."

Not waiting for an answer, she pressed on with the question that has been on her mind for months. "Who are you?"

The mysterious woman smiled. "My name is Kaina Tsutsumi, although most people know me by my former hero name - Lady Nagant."

Himiko frowned, mentally going through the many heroes Izuku had talked about. "Never heard of you."

The woman's face returned to a neutral expression, hiding her emotions. "That's probably for the best. I currently have a warrant out for my arrest for the murder of a hero. Probably a number of vigilantism charges as well, but I imagine that the HPSC would prefer to bury me in the deepest cell of Tartarus before they would let me testify in court."

Himiko found herself choking on air, part of her suddenly screaming to run. "A-and you want to help me?"

"It may be hard to believe, but yes."

"Why?"

Nagant turned away momentarily, a faraway look on her face. "You remind me a lot of me, in my youth."

Himiko saw red.

"I've heard enough of that to last me a lifetime. I'm not going to become some- some villain!" She hisses out, her worlds laced with venom.

Her anger was quickly deflated when she saw Nagant's expression. Of all the emotions she was expecting to see, remorse was not one of them.

"That's what I was hoping you would say." Nagant turned to look at her again. "I'm talking about before that, when I was still young and idealistic. When I wanted to take on the world, and change it for the better."

"How do you want to help me then?"

Himiko narrowed her eyes, trying to be as menacing as possible. While she knew that in a stand up fight she was probably screwed against someone who has killed heroes. But she would be damned if she wouldn't go down fighting.

"When you go back to school and receive your internship offers for this year, there will likely be several offers from heroes who are friendly with the HPSC. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if you had an offer from Hawks himself, given you won."

"The number three hero?"

"Yes, the same. If they haven't changed, it will be the most attractive internship offer you will receive, by far. And if you take it, it will ruin your life."

That gave Himiko pause, the absurdity of the statement sinking in. "How?"

"Hawks is an HPSC stooge. He has been groomed by them to be their perfect poster boy - and to do their dirty work, no questions asked. Just like I was. Just like they would love to do to you."

"What?" Himiko was stunned.

"Ask that rat you call your principal if you want, I'm sure he's heard the rumors, if he doesn't know exactly what they are doing." She gave her a fierce stare. "The HPSC is corrupt to the core, and they groomed me to be their perfect little poster child. And their hired hitwoman. To the public, I was the rising star, but then I would get a call, and I was off to kill a villain who was too troublesome to leave alive. Or to kill a hero for being inconvenient to them. Until I told them I was done."

Tsutsumi's voice took on a regretful tone. "One day, some of my fans approached me. A couple young girls, who wanted to let me know how much I inspired them. As I was talking to them, I finally realized what I was doing was wrong. I wasn't really a hero, not one worthy of the title at any rate. So when I received my next phone call I went back to the HPSC and told them I wouldn't be their killer anymore. And you know what they did? They had the heroes killed anyways - and pinned the whole thing on me."

She laughed bitterly. "It's ironic, really, that they shielded me from my actual crimes, and then framed me for the one crime I didn't commit."

"And they want… me?"

Himiko was reminded of the bad old days. Of her birth parents calling her a demon and a monster. Saying that she was a bad person, and everything they did was for her own good. That if she would just act normal and fit in that she would have a chance.

She closed her eyes and shuddered.

She heard Nagant's voice, but it was softer this time. "I'm sorry that you are getting dragged into this. If I could do more to shield you, I would."

Himiko swallowed the lump in her throat. Taking a moment, she practiced her breathing exercises, slowly sweeping those memories up and burying them again. She thought about Inko's warmth as they watched her sports festival matches, happy tears staining her shoulder. She thought about her friends' cheers when her quirk awakened.

This is who I am now. Not the girl that the Togas feared I would become. I won't let anyone turn me into a monster.

Opening her eyes, Himiko looked at Nagant. "You said they groomed you. What did they do?"

Seeing the determination on the girl's face, Nagant smiled again. "The president of the HPSC actually approached me directly. She offered me a job. Fame, a boosted image, additional training. PR to wipe away any perceived drawback of my quirk."

Himiko swallowed the lump in her throat. "If that was offered to me, it would be like a dream come true."

"Exactly. And it would be, at first. But then they started asking me to do things. They started small at first - hold up a hero in a meeting here. Plant a bomb there to make a villain attack look worse, and maybe it just so happens to hurt a hero who was inconvenient. And then they asked me to kill. It started with inconvenient villains, but it didn't take long until they asked me to kill my first hero."

Himiko's jaw fell.

Nagant continued. "Which is why you need to take any other offer. Talk to that rat you call a principal, make sure that whomever you intern under isn't an HPSC stooge. And become a better hero than I ever was."

Himiko mustered as much false bravado as she could. "I-I will do that!"

"Good. I don't want you to become who I am. The fact that it also deprives the HPSC of a valuable recruit means it's a win-win for me."

"Gee, thanks so much for caring about my personal well-being in all of this." Himiko snarked back.

"Don't get me wrong. I've been keeping an eye out for you. And I like what I've seen - if I was still worthy of being called a hero I would absolutely love to teach you the ropes. But as it stands, I cannot stand the current state of society under the HPSC. So I am a vigilante and a villain, until either society changes enough that I am no longer a villain, or I am in jail. Or dead."

Himiko found herself staring at those piercing purple eyes again, words failing her.

"For now, think of me as your guardian angel. And once you graduate, you will be another hero who knows the HPSC's dirty secrets." She put her glasses back on and stood up. "If there is an emergency call me. That is a burner number, of course, so don't think it will lead anywhere if you decide to turn me in."

Without another word she casually began jogging away, as if she didn't just lay a ton of weight upon Himiko's shoulders. Looking at the bench, Himiko saw a scrap of paper with a phone number scrawled on it. Taking a few moments to collect herself, she pocketed the piece of paper and pulled out her phone to let her friends know she had arrived at the station.

When Himiko got home, she didn't even wait for Izuku to notice something was wrong. Instead, after saying hi to her mom she went directly to Izuku's room, closing the door behind her.

"Izu, which notebook of yours has Lady Nagant in it?"

That caught Izuku by surprise. "N-number 3, why?"

Himiko quickly walked to the shelf his notebooks were on and grabbed it, flipping through until she found the entry she was looking for.

"What happened to her?"

"H-Himi, what happened?"

Himiko gave her brother a pleading look. "Please, Izu. What happened to her?"

Izuku sighed and turned to his computer, looking up something. "She was a really popular hero about ten years ago, a rising star shooting up through the ranks. She even made it into the top ten! Due to her rapid rise, people began to even debate if she would eventually be competing with Endeavor for the number two spot."

"But then what?"

Izuku looked back at her. "Six years ago, she had some sort of argument with two other heroes. Nobody knows the details, but the HPSC released footage of her escaping their headquarters, as well as images of two heroes that had been shot dead. They were shot with her quirk."

Himiko looked down at the notebook, and saw what Izuku meant. Her quirk let her transform part of her arm into a high powered rifle, with bullets formed from her hair.

Looking back at Izuku, Himiko swallowed the lump in her throat. "S-show me."

Izuku sat down on the bed next to his sister and threw his arm over her shoulder. "Himi, what happened today?"

Himiko looked down, staring at Izuku's notebook. His art skills were much cruder back then, but she could distinctly make out a younger, happier version of the woman she met today. It was silly, but she touched the sketch of the woman, wondering what she was like back then.

"I met her today."

"W-What?!" Izuku exclaimed. "W-we need to tell someone!"

Himiko grabbed her brother's arm, and clamped her other hand over his mouth. "No, we can't!"

She gave him a moment to calm down before releasing him. "I-I need to talk to Nezu tomorrow. She said a lot of incredible things. But she told me that - that he would know."

Izuku looked down at his notebook. "And you want to know what happened to her?"

"Yeah. She told me her side of the story, but I still don't even know what the other side of the story is!" Himiko blurted out in frustration.

Izuku nodded. "Ok. I can show you."

The two moved over to his computer where he pulled up an old news article, showing her the images released by the HPSC, as well as the footage of her escaping their headquarters in the aftermath.

Himiko felt a pit forming in her stomach as she looked at Izuku. "Is there anything else?"

Izuku shook his head. "No. They didn't need any more, the evidence released by the HPSC was enough to issue a warrant for her arrest."

Himiko didn't know why, but the seeds of doubt planted in her mind kept her from believing what she was seeing. "I don't think it's as conclusive as it appears to be."

Izuku swallowed and looked at her. "You don't think she did it."

Himiko looked at her brother and took a deep breath. "No, she didn't kill these two. But she has killed heroes, and villains before. Just - just not these two."

"Oh."

Himiko turned to her brother. "This is going to sound strange, but I think she wants to protect me."

Izuku gave her a forced smile. "You're a pro hero in training, what do you need protection from?"

Himiko pulled her brother's hand to her mouth and bit down, drinking a mouthful of blood and activating her quirk. "Think about what I could do with my quirk if I wasn't trying to be a hero. If- if I acted the way the Togas said I would."

Izuku froze up. But by watching his eyes, Himiko could see the gears in his head turning. "T-that goes for a lot of quirks though!"

"Yes, but think about my quirk! Sure you could do massive amounts of damage with your crazy strength, but I could waltz right into a building and nobody would know it's me! Think about what I could do once I'm inside!"

Izuku deflated. "I-I thought you didn't like thinking about that."

"I absolutely hate it! But that doesn't change the fact that it's true." She looked as if she just ate something foul.

Izuku gently puts a hand on her arm. "This is really hard for you, isn't it?"

Toga looked at her brother and nodded, dropping her transformation. "I thought I could ignore my past, that everything would be swept away once I became a hero. I never realized that being a hero would be so hard."

Izuku smiled at his sister. "You know, All Might once told me that being a hero wasn't about your quirk. It was about who you are as a person. The reason All Might is the best is because he can make people feel like everything is going to be ok, even when the situation is bad. Especially when the situation is bad."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that it doesn't matter how much bad stuff you can do with your quirk. What matters is what you choose to do with it. Do you want people to be scared of you, because you can be anybody, or do you want people to feel safe, because you always have an answer?"

Himiko looked at her hand, remembering one of the first lessons - one of the first proper lessons she received about her quirk.

"And I want to believe you'll make the right choice."

"Even if I make the choice just to spite the Togas?" Himiko turned to Izuku, the ghost of a smile forming on her face.

"Especially if it would spite the Togas!" Izuku grinned back.

Himiko laughed. She looked back down at the sketch Izuku had drawn, finally understanding what Nagant was trying to say.

"I think Nagant realized that too, before she was framed."

"You don't think she's a bad person, do you?"

Himiko shook her head. "No. I don't."

"You want to help her, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because, I think she regrets the person she became, before -" Himiko waved at the computer screen. "And I think, if there was some way for her to have a second chance…"

"You want to help her find that second chance?"

Himiko nodded, biting her lip nervously. "This is your fault, you know that?"

Izuku gave his sister a soft smile. "Guilty as charged. So, what do you want to do?"

"Right now? Nothing. I mean, I need to talk to Nezu tomorrow, but after that, I just don't know what to do."

Izuku could tell how nervous his sister was as he watched one of her fangs tearing into her lower lip, breaking it open as a drop of blood welled up around it. He grabbed a tissue, offering it to her.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out."

AN: I was promising Himiko was getting her own plot after the sports festival.

Plus Nagant needs more love. She is an interesting character who was given such a raw deal in the manga.

For people curious about the timeline, I decided Nagant had her confrontation with the HPSC president 6 years ago, where she ended up killing the president. But instead of being captured and thrown into Tartarus, she managed to escape, going underground. She has been operating as a vigilante ever since, and has informal connections with other vigilantes across Japan.