Hello crazy, beautiful world! It's here! The spooky day! I didn't even mean to make this my update day, it just sort of happened, nice! Sidenote though, I've got nothing spooky for you guys. Maybe next year once I feel more comfortable with my writing to experiment. But otherwise, enjoy your teeth rotting sugar!

Moving on, I estimate that this is the second to last chapter for this season. Let's get'er done!

Reviews: hornig3, very fair assessment.

Engineer4Ever, maybe it will, but you'll have to see.

Vedahzii, yes, yes we do.

Rnji: Well I guess I'm happy that he didn't, cuz that all sounds really messy.

Let's a go go go!

Borderlands is owned by Gearbox and 2KGames and My Hero Academia is owned by Kohei Horikoshi and Funimation. Please support the official release.

Please rate and review!

"This means someone is talking."

'This means someone is thinking to themselves.'

This means it's a flashback.

*This means it's a sound effect!*

{This means I'm speaking in a different language!}

Angel in a Gilded Cage

A little known secret of the Pretty Penny casino (other than the rigged games and human trafficking side business) was the executive parking garage. Built into the opposite side of the establishment at the ground floor and disguised as a garbage dropoff, it was home to an expensive, black sedan. Cushy leather seats, resplendent silver hubcaps and a glistening chassis, it had all the works.

As well as some specific and rather embarrassing modifications.

With a press of a button on a key fob, the driver side door automatically swung open, allowing its diminutive owner to drag over a step ladder and climb into the raised seat. Once inside with the pedals that had been repositioned to reach his tiny legs in place, he kicked his assistive device away and slammed the door closed.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Milton Redman hissed as he fumbled with his keys, his panic and eagerness to leave making it hard to find the right one. After a couple more tries, he finally found it and twisted it in the ignition.

The headlights flicked on and the engine roared.

"What a shit show!" He muttered to himself. What had been a simple security breach had quickly devolved into a complete mess. A nosy hero and their little sidekick he probably could have handled, but then the damn ninja had to set Bubba off. If that wasn't enough, when he got to the ground level, he nearly ran into the horde of police. It was at that moment he realized how bad of a situation he was now in, especially when he remembered the pale girl's power.

'Little bitch probably copied the database.' He sneered at himself as he adjusted his mirrors.

But this wasn't the first time he had to run and hide. He had his money and his connections. He could start over in a different country, deal himself a new hand and work himself up again.

Not taking a second to even fasten his seatbelt, he clicked another fob. With a groan, the hidden garage door began to rise, the dark orange of the late afternoon sky flooding in.

"Hmm… where to? Australia? Nah, giant spiders will eat me. Maybe Taiwan? The weather's supposed to be nice 'round this time of year." He wondered aloud, pressing the gas and pulling out into the back alleyway.

A quick glance. No police in sight, all of them likely at the front entrance held up by his dutiful employees, still unaware their boss was leaving them out to dry without a second thought.

He waited a second more for an opening in traffic, then pulled into the street. He sat back in his chair and relaxed, his car's fake plates and tinted windows giving him cover from any eyes looking for him. All he had to do was drive casually out of the city to his safehouse before anyone even knew he was gone.

Unfortunately for him, someone did notice.

Unbeknownst to the little Kingpin, a slim humanoid shape was roofhopping between the tall buildings on his left, the pursuer's body invisible safe for a slight shimmer as the setting sun hit it. After jumping onto the building closest to his target, he ran to the edge and leapt off into a backflip. A brief flash. Zer0 reappeared in midair and in one fluid motion, drew his humming katana and pointed it downward!

*SHING!* The hero landed blade first, his weapon effortlessly stabbing through the car's hood and impaling it's engine to the asphalt, bringing the vehicle and Pretty Boy's escape to a screeching halt!

"GAH!" The driver grunted as his bulbous head slammed into the steering wheel. A hand to his temple, he looked up. "What the-YOU?!" He gaped in outrage and surprise.

Zer0 merely replied with an XD and before Pretty Boy could say anything further-

*HONK!* *BANG!*

Apparently the driver of the moving truck behind Pretty Boy's car couldn't react in time as the larger vehicle crashed into his rear.

*BOOMF!* The sedan's airbags deployed, filling the front seat of the car with white nylon.

Leaving his sword embedded where it was as the final nail in Pretty Boy's proverbial coffin, Zer0 leapt off, sauntered over to the side and pulled the door open.

"You have arrived… at your new destination… your jail cell, scumbag." He chuckled at the sight of the puny man being smothered between his chair and airbag. There was a reason it was advised against putting small children in the front seat afterall.

From where his face was being pressed against the two surfaces, Pretty Boy gave him a furious glare.

"S-Screw…you..!"

"Holy crap, there's gotta be five feet of his spine out!"

"How the hell did that kid take this guy down?!"

"What kinda quirk is this?" Three police officers exchanged banter as they struggled to lift the unconscious Bubba, a several pairs of reinforced cuffs binding his arms.

"Careful!" They all turned to Angel who was still resting against the slot machine. "M-Make sure to get something over his head, that's how he goes crazy."

One of them glanced around, eventually settling on a paper takeout bag from the destroyed buffet table and pulled it over the defeated villain's head. They then proceeded to drag him out the slot hall, grunting all the way.

Angel watched them go for a moment before leaning her head back and letting out a puff of air. It had been just a few minutes since she beat the bloodthirsty monster. With the biggest threat down for the count, the police and the rest of Team Double Tap quickly mopped up the leftover thugs, making arrests and carting them out to trucks outside. Meanwhile, Maya had let her have a brief respite, saying she "damn well earned it". Good thing too, her head was killing her.

Speaking of. A shock of blue caught her eye and she smiled as her mentor approached her with a bottle of water.

"Here." She offered the drink and a cupped hand, dropping some pills into Angel's when she reached out. "Got them from the EMTs."

Angel slapped the painkillers into her mouth and took a swig of water. "Thanks." She gasped in relief, feeling the cool water soothe her throat, which had been sore from all the running she'd been doing.

She still could barely believe everything that had happened in the last hour. From her successful infiltration of the casino, finding evidence of Pretty Boy's wrongdoing, rescuing civilians and finally, defeating a bonafide villain. The henchmen back at USJ couldn't compare to the sheer destructive power of Bubba, who had resembled Nomu more than she would have liked.

"Don't mention it." Maya nodded, leaning against an adjacent machine. "We've got some time. You never did tell me how you beat that big guy." She suggested, her tone and smile betraying how excited she was for the tale.

And Angel was all too happy to tell it, launching into an explanation of how she lured Bubba to the slot hall and used her quirk to overload the machines around her to gun him down.

"How'd you control all the machines at the same time?" She asked.

"A couple nights ago I, uh, experimented with my powers before I went to bed. I kinda got inspired by your little hand orb thingy and tried to make my own. I found out if I smash the gathered energy in my hands…" She cupped her left hand and clapped it with her right. "I can disperse it in a wave. It wasn't much of a leap in logic that I could imbue it with a command like my phase bolts."

"Aw, look at you!" Maya patted her on the shoulder. "Coming up with new moves on the fly! Am I a great teacher or what?"

Angel giggled at the woman's lack of humility. "You're the best teacher! Just uh, don't tell All-Might-sensei that."

"No promises!"

"Ahem." They both turned to face the sound of someone clearing their throat and Angel paled. Standing over her was a very cross looking Axton, arms crossed with his finger tapping impatiently.

'Oh right. I'm in trouble aren't I?' She swallowed nervously as her face fell.

"So, hero intern Hodunk. Can you tell me what you did wrong today?" He drawled, his disappointed stare reminding her too much of Aizawa when he got particularly angry with one of her classmates.

"U-Um…" She looked away nervously. "I disobeyed your orders. I didn't stay put with the civilians." She recounted quietly, wringing her hands.

"You did. I told you to stay with them and leave the villain to us. Do you know what you put at risk when you did the exact opposite?!" He demanded, picking up steam as he went on.

"Axton…" Maya butted in with a warning tone, but he didn't seem to notice or care.

"You put yourself and the civies in danger! What if your plan hadn't worked?! What if you or them got hurt?!" He demanded.

Angel flinched from the harsh reprimanding, each word making her shoulders sag like she was getting weighed down with heavy bricks.

"Why did you do it, huh?! Did you want all the glory for yourself?! Wanted to play the big tough hero before you even got your licence?!"

She froze as the hero continued his tirade. A feeling of indignation rising up at the insinuation, making her brow furrow.

"Well?! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

At his request, Angel looked up, wobbly resolution on her face.

"I-I'm sorry sir. I did disobey your orders knowingly, but… if you think I'd risk everything just to prove myself, you're dead wrong!" She bit back, surprising herself at how angry she sounded.

"Oh?" Axton raised a brow.

"Yeah!" She pulled herself up to face him. "I jumped in because I couldn't stand watching people risk their lives while I hid. It looked like you all couldn't handle Bubba and I didn't want anyone to get hurt! So I got an idea and I ran with it!" She ranted, standing up to him. "I want to become a hero to help people and that's what I did!"

Everything went silent as Angel stood her ground. It dragged on for a few seconds, eventually making her sweat due to the fact that she had never, ever stood up to any authority figure before.

"Is that so?" Axton replied in a low voice, the unreadable expression on his face quickly reeling in Angel's sudden bout of self righteous anger. "Then I only have one thing to say to you."

He raised a hand and she flinched, closing her eyes.

Then she felt it on her head, mussing up her hair and she peeked.

"Good work!" Axton laughed, a mischievous smile splitting his cheeks.

"Eh?" She gaped, her confused look earning her a chuckle.

"Heh heh, sorry, I couldn't resist. This is like, the first time I've ever been on the other end of someone getting dressed down for disobeying orders. How do you think I got kicked out of the military?"

"You-you got kicked out of the military-wha-what-you're not mad?!" She sputtered, getting a shrug back.

"Not really, you explained yourself pretty well. I'm just happy that you went against my orders just with the intent to save people, that you saw an opportunity to help and took it. Heck of a better reason than for the shit I pulled back in the day."

"And the last thing the world needs is another one of you." Maya muttered off to the side, rolling her eyes.

"Hurtful, but accurate."

"So… we're not in trouble?" Angel asked slowly.

"Ohhh no, we are totally gonna get suspended again for this!" Axton chuckled again. "But well, we're used to it. We didn't technically do anything unlawful, so we'll be fine. Don't worry about us."

O-Okay…" She breathed out, just overwhelmed from the rollercoaster of emotions she just rode.

"It is important that you follow the law and do what the adults tell you, but it's even more important for you to realize when you need to bend the rules a little to do the right thing. Alright?" He looked her in the eye. Angel found herself nodding along. It made sense to her especially after what she's been through.

"Got it." She told him, finally finding herself calming down, her body sagging with relief. He gave her another pat on the head and she playfully swatted his hand away, she wasn't a little kid.

The only things bothering her now was if Pretty Boy had gotten away or not and where the heck Zer0 was.

"Oh hey, hold on." Axton held up a finger, listening to something on his earpiece. Whatever it was put him in a good mood as he grinned. "Good shit Zer0! Bring him back and we can get this whole mess wrapped up!" He hung up and turned back to Angel and Maya. "Good news, Zer0 caught the little bastard trying to take off!"

"So that's where he was? He's just everywhere isn't he?" She muttered.

"You get used to it." Maya promised her.

"So, uh, what now?"

"Now it's just cleanup. Hauling all of the bad guys out, making sure everyone is in one piece, securing evidence. Speaking of, you've got the drive right?" Axton asked.

"Oh yeah!" She reached inside her jacket and retrieved the device. "Thank goodness it didn't get smashed in all that mess!" She said as she handed it over.

"Action Axton, Blue Banshee?" All three of them turned to see a single officer standing there.

"Officer…Harada." Axton squinted, reading the man's name tag. "What can we do for you?"

"Sorry if I'm interrupting anything, but some people wanted to speak to your intern."

Angel blinked. "Me?" She pointed at herself.

The officer moved aside and three familiar faces stepped up.

"Hey." The young man gave her a little wave.

Angel's eyes widened. "Okuma-san? Karin-san? Nomi-san? What are you doing here? Don't you want to go home?"

"Wow! A hero remembered our names!" Karin whispered to her twin excitedly.

"Hey Miss." Okuma greeted, a grateful smile on his and the two girl's faces. "The three of us wanted to thank you for saving us."

"O-Oh!" Angel blushed. "W-Well you don't need to thank me, I-I was just doing my job." She tried to brush it off.

"T-That's not true!" Nomi protested.

"Yeah, if it wasn't for you and your team, we'd be shipped off to Beijing or flattened into pancakes! You got us out of there and kept us safe! You were so cool!" Karin added vehemently, stars in her eyes.

"T-That's why, um, that's why we all talked and well…" Nomi fidgeted a little, mustering up her courage. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out some of the casino's playing cards, holding them out in a bow. "C-C-Can we have your autograph?!"

Angel jolted in place, eyes wide like saucers, her mind scrambling to process the request.

These three… wanted her autograph?! They were asking for a signature to prove that they met her, like she heard fans would ask of pro heroes?! They were asking her?!

Off to the side, Axton hung his head, slamming his fist against a slot machine. "Not even out of hero school and she's already got fans?! Not fair! So not fair!" He sobbed, Maya giving him a pat on the back while she watched the scene unfold with pride.

Finally, Angel recovered enough of her mental faculties to close her mouth which had been hanging open like she was a gaping fish.

"S-S-S-Seriously?!" She stammered, still unsure if this was really happening.

"Y-Yeah!" Okuma nodded vigorously. "I mean, you're not as cool as Zer0, but you're pretty damn close!"

"The fact that you're around our age and you took down that crazy red guy?! Why wouldn't we?!" Karin agreed.

"W-We could only find poker cards to use, s-sorry." Nomi apologized.

"W-Well…" Angel glanced over at Maya for help, to which she gave her an amused nod. "Okay, to heck with it then!" She laughed nervously, taking the offered cards. "Do any of you have a pen?"

And with that, the mission came to an end. Pretty Boy was stuffed into the back of a police car in tiny baby sized handcuffs along with his thugs, some sent to the hospital in critical condition thanks to Bubba's rampage, but thankfully all of them would recover. The casino was shut down with gambling legislation set back for years. Details about the investigation and subsequent raid were withheld, specifically about the heroes involved and their tactics, as per their request. Any stories that did surface were smothered under the huge waves still emanating from the Hero Killer's arrest, an unexpected boon.

Their immediate job finished, Team Double Tap and their plucky intern retired to their base of operations to reorganize, get started on the mountains of paperwork accrued but most importantly…

"To a job well done, cheers!" Axton declared.

"CHEERS!" The group whooped as one, bringing their four cans of beer and one sparkling juice together. They all drank heavily with the exception of Zer0 who sipped from a tiny opening in the bottom of his mask via a straw.

Angel licked her lips clean of the sweet drink, letting out a satisfied sigh as she sat down on the couch. Her refreshment and the various takeout platters almost distracted her from the dull ache in her body.

After finishing up at the casino, the team had picked up some food and drinks to celebrate their success back at the apartment. There was the serious matter of the contents of the hard drive and the paperwork, but it was decided that they could put off those responsibilities until tomorrow, the second last day that Angel would be staying there. For now, they would have fun and sleep in when morning came.

"You shoulda seen the looks on their faces when the ball hit the same spot three times in a row! They had to check the wheel to see if it was weighted!" Salvador laughed, already on his fourth drink.

"I still don't know how the hell you're so lucky at casino games! You must've cheated, somehow!" Axton questioned.

"What can I say? Some people are born with it!" The dwarf smirked, taking pleasure from how stumped his partner was.

"It can't be your quirk, it's gunfingers! Come on, tell us your secret!"

"You really wanna know?"

"Yes!"

"It was the hat."

"Bullshit." Zer0 concluded, shifting his attention back to the television to watch a boxing match.

Angel just kept to herself, choosing to soak it all in. The way that they all bickered, joked and laughed, it was reminiscent of the parties that the Crimson Raiders would throw after a completed job. The main difference here was the fact that she was a part of it, always being relegated to watching from her monitors, her friends under the impression that she was just an AI. It made her feel alive and she dreamt of a future where that might be possible, having fun with her old friends and her new ones, joyous and without fear.

"Ahh…" She sighed nostalgically and took another swig. "Someday." She promised herself.

"Psst. Hey." She jumped as she felt a tapping on her shoulder. She looked up to see Maya leaning over the couch, her own drink in hand.

"Oh hey Maya, what's up?" Angel asked happily.

"Can you come to my room?" She whispered, making her pause. "I've got something I want to show you."

Angel blinked, confused, but her interest was piqued. "Um, o-okay?" She answered, pulling herself up and following the older woman back to their shared quarters.

"So… what is it?" She said.

But Maya gave no response, only moving past her to silently shut the door behind them.

"Take a seat." Maya told her, gesturing to the bed. Not really sure what was going on, all Angel could do was obey, setting herself down on the soft cushions while Maya stood over her.

Something felt off. Perhaps it was the way her mentor had her arms crossed, rubbing the fingers on one hand anxiously, as if she was worried about something, all the while she gave Angel a look of apprehension.

"Is everything okay?" Angel asked quietly.

Again, Maya said nothing, instead continuing to fix her with that serious, calculating look. Then her lips finally parted.

"Angel, what I'm about to show you is… very important. Can I trust you to keep everything you learn here a secret."

"Um… yeah?" She shrugged. "Does this have anything to do with the investigation?"

Maya shook her head. "No. It's something more… personal to me and I guess to you, in a way. Just… are you sure you can keep this secret?" She stressed the question again.

Angel shifted uncomfortably, definitely feeling more than a bit unsettled at the moment, trying to figure out what she was getting herself into. She debated if she should back out or not. It was obvious that Maya was about to let her in on something big and it was intimidating to say the least.

But yet…

But yet she felt as if she should see where this rabbit hole went. She valued Maya not just as her mentor, but as something more. The exact words escaped her for the moment, but she was compelled to hear her out. As if she was standing on some great precipice and all she had to do was say yes.

"I… yes. As long as it doesn't put your life or anyone else's at risk, I won't tell a soul." She nodded, giving her the same vow that her friends had given her concerning her own secrets.

The corners of Maya's mouth turned upwards the slightest bit. "Thank you. Now, where should I start?" She asked herself, rubbing her chin in thought. "When we were training this week, did you ever consider how strangely similar our quirks are?"

"More than once, yeah."

"And prior to that, you must have thought you were the only one with a quirk such as yours?"

'Maybe not before I met you, but definitely before I met Lilith.' Angel thought, but decided to keep that tidbit to herself, if anyone found out she knew the Raiders it'd bring up too many awkward questions.

She simply nodded.

"As you should." Maya continued as she started to pace in front of her audience. "That's just how quirks have been determined to work by every doctor around the world. For example, there's plenty of strength quirks out there, but even amongst blood relatives they differ in some way or form.

But you and me…" She tapped her tattoo covered wrist. "We're different. We have the same physical traits and our power's operate the same way, evident from how you managed to mimic two of my techniques."

Angel blinked a few times, trying to understand what exactly her mentor was trying to say. Sure, it was very odd that they were so alike, including Lilith, but it sounded like she was working up to a strange conclusion.

"I don't know Maya. I mean sure, our powers are a bit out of the ordinary and we're pretty similar, but can't it just be a coincidence?" She debated.

"At the risk of sounding like a paranoid conspiracy theorist, coincidence, I think not." Maya replied with confidence. "Maybe I would say it is if it was just the two of us." She leaned forward. "But what if I told you that I have evidence of more people existing, just like us?"

Angel's head jolted up. "What?!"

"One moment." Maya walked over to her desk, reached inside the drawer and pulled out a thick, leather bound book. "I lived in an old monastery in Greece when I was a kid. I was left there on the doorstep as an infant, so I wanted to find out where I was from as I grew up."

"Wait, you didn't know your parents?" Angel interrupted at the reveal that her teacher was an orphan and how nonchalant she was in saying it.

"Not important right now. Focus. One day, I'm exploring the old library when I found a hidden space in one of the walls, like someone had plastered over it. Inside, I found this." She held out the book, giving Angel a closer look. It seemed to be quite old, judging from the weathered leather exterior, the yellowing wrinkled parchment and the faded cloth bookmarks. It was sealed shut with a metal lock. What was most curious was a bizarre, blue, kaleidoscopic, hexagonal emblem on the front, the texture shining in the light.

"What is it?"

"As far as I can tell, it's some kind of journal. Let me unlock it." Maya reached into the front of her hero suit and pulled out a small silver key, threaded onto a black cord. She twisted it in the lock and it opened with a click.

"Here." She gingerly placed it in Angel's hands. She stared down at the enigmatic tome, feeling like she was holding some kind of spellbook it confounded her that much. With a shaky palm, she reached over and flipped it open. She was greeted with some form of table of contents, she assumed as the text was written in an unfamiliar language, scratched into the page with faded ink. Most of the characters vaguely resembled English letters while others did not, thus making it impossible for her to read.

"What is this written in?"

"The Greek alphabet. Bit of an older version too. Keep going, this isn't important right now."

Angel obeyed, turning the page to reveal more passages in the foreign language. She flipped a few more until something finally made her breath hitch.

In the middle of the page was a diagram of a woman, her body positioned in a t-shape, her legs together and her arms wide out. Sprouting from her back was a pair of feathered wings and swirling along the lengths of the limbs on her left and running along that side of her body were those same markings.

"But… that's… that's impossible." She gasped, unable to speak.

"Don't be foolish. Those are exactly what you think they are." Maya confirmed.

"How… how old is this book?"

"More than a hundred years. The philologist that examined it for me believes that it's a relic dated just after the advent of quirks."

If it was possible for Angel's eyes to get any wider, they would as she beheld the text in her grasp. She was holding onto something that had existed when quirks first appeared, when humanity went through a great upheaval from the growing spread of super powers, a time period that many historians referred to as the Dark Age of Quirks.

She made sure to hold onto it a little more delicately.

"But if this was written so far back… that means that there was someone back then who had a quirk like ours?!" She lilted.

"Mind blowing, isn't it?" Maya said, sitting next to her on the bed.

"Who wrote it?"

Maya gently took the book back and flipped back to the front. "She did." She said, pointing to a curved signature on the inside of the cover. "Queen Dido."

"Queen?"

"Likely an unofficial title as there's no evidence of a monarch of that name around when this book was made. From what little I've translated so far, she theorized about the origins of her powers and quirks in general. But she was also known by another name."

"What was it?" Angel breathed, heart hammering with her on the edge of her seat.

Maya looked at her.

"Siren."