Danjuro gently swirled his tongue along the back of his lower teeth, enjoying the bittersweet, almost zesty aftertaste of Mademoiselle Grey tea, complete with hints of lavender.

The Earl Grey was a more practical choice for this particular mission. Considering the nature of the raid-more specifically the time-the caffeine would be of great help. The use of lavender was his way of representing his wishes for their success: a symbol of purity, serenity, grace, and calmness.

A child's life hung in the balance tonight.

He couldn't allow his own impatience to get the better of his judgement again.

At Knuckleduster-san's insistence, Shadowbringer-san gave the raiding party the address of the new meetup point. After that, they split into three groups, both to remain less conspicuous and to avoid any potential traps (it was obvious that the veteran vigilante wasn't inclined to trust the newcomer). Naturally, that meant the Gentle Criminal and La Brava split off on their own, circling around the residential district before heading towards an office building along its edge.

"And here we are!" he announced grandly from the alleyway, sweeping his arm towards their destination.

"The meeting place is on top, right Gentle?" La Brava asked eagerly, gazing up at him with those sparkling rose eyes of hers.

"That's right!" the vigilante smiled. "Shall we take the scenic route, La Brava?"

"Of course, Gentle!"

In perfect synchronization as always, the vigilante duo jumped, Danjuro tapping his foot against the air itself to form the perfect trampoline with which to launch themselves skyward. The building wasn't too terribly tall, but it was still tall enough to require about five air membranes before they managed to reach the top. At which point they promptly heard a group of voices vigorously… ah… discussing matters.

"I don't give a damn that he was a last minute addition; when something like this comes up I need you to tell me! Surprises are dangerous, for them and for the rest of us! At the very least you could have come yourself and explained the situation!" Knuckleduster-san's voice spoke in a low growl a few meters away.

"He apologizes, but says there were extenuating circumstances," a sultry woman's voice explained. Yuki-onna-san, for certain. She was the only member of the group that Danjuro knew of that could keep up with Wraith-san's rapid Signing. He himself knew the basics-every hero student received a crash course in JSL for the purpose of rescue operations-but he wouldn't consider himself fluent by any stretch of the imagination.

"Extenuating circumstances?! What could be more extenuating than some shady guy in a black fedora turning up out of the blue like some kind of cryptid and dropping our code phrase like it's nothing!"

"That is kind of the point of a code phrase," a low drawl pointed out.

"You stay out of this!"

"How about the fact that the Meta Liberation Army has decided to attack the Shie Hassaikai tonight?"

"Wait wha-?"

A sound similar to a firecracker suddenly went off a few blocks away. Danjuro jumped, his gloved hand falling over his chest as his heart immediately began to race. "What on Earth was that?" the Gentle Criminal asked, striding purposefully towards the small group gathered around a slight figure about a head shorter than him, dressed from head to toe in dark body armor and a sleek, modified black biker's helmet.

"As Wraith said," Yuki-onna-san explained grimly from where she was peering through the darkness. "The MLA has decided to make a move."

"They're attacking the yakuza compound?" La Brava gasped, scampering over and hopping onto the retaining wall in order to see over it.

"Well. This complicates things," Shadowbringer-san muttered.

"To put it very mildly," Yuki-onna-san agreed.

"This was supposed to be a simple extraction mission-well, as simple as it could be when they were dealing with a sociopathic yakuza boss-but now?" Archie-san groaned.

(Had… he been there the whole time?)

Wraith-san began to gesture rapidly, glancing back towards Danjuro as he did so.

"I beg your pardon?" the man blinked.

"He wants to know if you saw the final group on your way over."

"No, I don't believe I-"

"Oi, bossman! What the hell is going on around here?!" Twice-san bellowed as he threw open the rooftop door, closely followed by the rest of the raiding team.

"Well that answers that question," Yuki-onna mumbled under her breath. "Where's-? Oh, there she is," she added when the door opened again to admit a panting Shadow Dancer to the rooftop.

"Stairs…"

"Don't you remember the complication?" the man in the black fedora, Shadowbringer-san, sighed irritably.

"Oh, I suppose you're right. Don't you dare use that tone with me, jackass!"

"Who is attacking?" Jingwei-san asked briskly, pulling her golfbag off of her shoulder and beginning to unzip it.

"Curious, Geten, and Skeptic, huh?" Yuki-onna-san mused, translating Wraith-san's rapid Signing in response.

"Only three of them?" Atium-san quirked an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound so bad."

A loud crackling sound and a series of piercing screams shattered the night, and the entire group turned, wide-eyed, to where spikes of glittering something had appeared across the lawn of the yakuza compound, stabbing the men that had run out to meet the group of interlopers attacking their home.

"…Oh," the teen mumbled, looking vaguely like he wanted to be sick as he awkwardly ran his fingers through his fringe of dark hair.

"Wraith, Clover, what do you two know about those three?" Knuckleduster asked, his voice solemn but with a dangerous edge of excitement as well now that there was imminent action.

"Well-" Clover-san hesitated, glancing briefly towards Wraith-san, but he simply gestured for her to continue. "Well, from Redolent's and Ko- er, Gin's intel, the three of them are all high-ranking members in the MLA, in particular Skeptic and Curious. Curious's real name is Kizuki Chitose. She has a quirk called Landmine that turns anything she touches into an explosive, including living flesh. Skeptic's real name is currently unknown, but his quirk allows him to control humanoid puppets from a distance. I'm not sure by what means or what his range may be, though. Geten's quirk is ice manipulation. Apparently he's pretty, erm, open about it, obsessive really. He can control ice's shape, movement, and even temperature, so as long as he has a steady supply of water, he has a steady supply of weapons." The young woman closed her notes and glanced towards Wraith-san again. "Did I miss anything important?" The other vigilante shook his head slightly, and Clover-san sighed faintly, allowing herself a quick grin of pride.

"What does this mean for our operation?" Jingwei-san prompted in her slightly-accented Japanese, twisting a silencer onto the end of her military-grade sniper rifle.

"Ooh, a QBU-88, huh?" Knuckleduster-san hummed in appreciation. Jingwei-san did not offer him a response, but her lips did twitch upwards briefly.

Wraith-san's hands twitched, then moved in a flurry of gestures that Danjuro couldn't follow. Thankfully, Yuki-onna-san could, and she began to translate with calm efficiency, "'It's unexpected, but if we play our cards right, we may be able to hurt the MLA before they become a bigger threat. Overhaul is going to try to run away with Eri, and Phoenix should be with them. The only unknown is which members of the Eight Bullets they're going to have with them. We have to act fast, so here's what we're going to do…'"

.oOo.

Why did the yakuza have to be set up in a residential district? the Gentle Criminal cursed internally, rushing from house to house as quickly as he dared, Archie-san puffing along by his side. They didn't have time to evacuate all of the houses around the back entrance to the yakuza compound, so the two of them had the assignment to do the next best thing: Set up a series of massive air membrane barriers around the primary living spaces of every house in the vicinity.

That was where Archie-san came in. His quirk, Render, combined with his graduate studies in architecture, meant that he was usually pretty accurate in his conjecture of the locations of major infrastructure and important rooms in the buildings he mapped out. It had proved an invaluable ability in more than one vigilante raid over the past year or so.

"They say the thinner the sandwich the more elegant it is, but I suppose I don't have that luxury today," Gentle muttered under his breath, quickly forming a four-layer shield along the wall where Archie-san had identified three bedrooms in the latest house.

"Gentle! Two bedrooms on this side, one around the corner!" Archie-san hissed by the next house over, doing his best to keep his voice down in consideration of the late hour. The older vigilante waved in acknowledgement, then quickly finished his, er, warding for lack of a better term, and moved on.

"There's movement. Get in position," Jingwei-san's voice warned through their earpieces.

The Gentle Criminal actually cursed at this pronouncement; they still had one more house to finish! Granted, it was the house on the farthest edge of the distance they had chosen, but they still-

"Gentle, take cover now."

Galvanized into action by the sharp command, the vigilante ducked out of sight between one house's wall and azalea bush, all but holding his breath as he listened intently for the next set of instructions.

"I have eyes on five. Phoenix is in possession of the package. Three hostiles. Targets identified as… Chisaki, Kurono, and Nemoto."

"Dammit, that's not enough for any real action," Twice-san groaned.

"Shut up," Yuki-onna-san hissed warningly.

"Gentle, move east, then south three houses," Jingwei-san instructed, her no-nonsense professionalism breaking through their companions' tangential conversation. "Create air sandwiches as you go within the spaces between the houses."

"Roger," Gentle whispered, moving as quietly as he could around the house where he was hidden and shifting back towards the rest of the group, where he could more readily perform his next, most-critical task.

"Atium, move south by one house. Wraith, shift to the north side of the rooftop. Twice, maintain position. Formation is as follows: Chisaki, Nemoto, Phoenix with the package, and Kurono. Contact in four… three… two… one… Go go go!"

In seconds, the night exploded into a flurry of activity.

The Gentle Criminal sprinted around the corner of the house he had been instructed to hide behind just as Wraith-san made his move, his quirk throwing the foremost of the three villains-Chisaki, presumably-forward in a tumbling roll. In the ensuing confusion, Atium-san rushed the man in the back of the villains' formation, who immediately responded by activating his quirk, judging by the way some sort of projectile flew towards the boy's body. Only, Atium-san dodged the blow with consummate ease, even having the chance to draw his escrima sticks in one fluid movement. A trained eye might even notice that Atium-san had practically started the movement of his dodge even before the attack came.

"That all you got? I expected more!" the teen snarked, bringing the first of his weapons down hard on Kurono's shoulder.

"Phoenix and the package are on the move! Twice, engage Nemoto!"

"Hey!" the third villain cried, trying to intercept the undercover vigilante as he broke left and ran, only to receive a sharp punch in the jaw by a whooping Twice-san. "Don't even try it, you damn bastard! I deeply apologize for the inconvenience, good sir! What kinda lame half-assed attack is that; your stance is absolute shit! Would you like some lessons some time, to make up for that new bruise?"

"Gentle, air sandwich dead right! Now!"

The Gentle Criminal whirled around, frantically bringing up both his hands to create the thickest set of air membranes he could at such short notice, and not a moment too soon. An instant after his quirk took effect, a series of asphalt spikes slammed into them, his membranes slowing them just enough to give him time to dart out of the way and avoid being skewered.

"Keep your filthy hands off me, bastard!" Chisaki was snarling, sending another wave towards Wraith, who held both hands in front of him as he skid backwards about a meter, his telekinesis strained to its limit as the vigilante did everything he could to prevent the spikes from reaching the rest of the raiding party or the houses on either side.

"Gentle, isolate them!" Jingwei-san ordered sharply.

"Right, of course!" Danjuro cried, a little frantic as he was brought back into the moment and to remember his task in their plan. He dedicated himself to it with a vengeance, creating one barrier after another and layering them-'Gently Confine', he called the move-in an effort to provide Wraith-san with a clear arena in which to engage. He didn't fully understand the limits of the other vigilante's telekinesis ability, but he did know that if he had to concentrate on protecting the rest of the raiding party instead of fighting Chisaki, this mission was doomed to fail.

And failure was not an option.

"Oi, I've got one trussed up bird-beaked freak over here! The target has been detained, Jingwei-san!"

"Same, although he's not really wearing his birdbeak anymore. Aaand I think I gave him a concussion," Atium-san tacked on, a little sheepishly. "So, what now?"

"Remove them from the combat zone and stand by for now. Shadowbringer should be-"

"Yeah, speaking of, Katsukame, Rappa, and Tengai're the rearguard, but I think they're headed your way," Shadowbringer-san warned over the comms.

"Knuckleduster, get into-"

"What the hell is all this?!" a voice bellowed, causing the Gentle Criminal to glance away from the duel. "How could you've started a brawl without me, eh?!"

"So you've finally shown up, Rapper?" Knuckleduster-san's voice called, his grin evident even though Danjuro had returned his attention to the sixth layer of air membranes. "Good! I was getting tired of waiting!"

"A new challenger!" 'the Rapper' barked with laughter, the sound of his ferocious smile as recognizable as Knuckleduster-san's.

"Gentle, that's enough for now," Jingwei-san directed. "Box Chisaki in, then focus on maintenance. Don't forget to use your quirk on the houses."

In response to their spotter's instructions, Gentle created another air membrane ladder to leap onto one of the houses nearby, kneeled down to smack his hand against the wall-a precaution, in case one of those spikes broke through his Gently Confine; the house would then absorb the damage rather than crumble and potentially hurt those inside-and quickly throwing barrier after barrier into place as he strived to give Wraith-san the breathing room he needed, still vaguely listening to Knuckleduster-san's conversation with Rappa.

"Wha'd'ya think about weapons in a battle?" Rappa inquired. "I think it's the cowardly way to fight. Men're meant to rip each other apart with their own strength, not with a knife or a gun; you feel me?"

"What do you say then? A straight fight, no strings attached, last one standing wins?" Knuckleduster-san offered.

"Finally someone that gets me!" Rappa cheered fiercely as Gentle reached the back edge of Wraith-san's fighting ground, affording him the perfect angle to see a yellow barrier appear around the villain just as he was about to engage.

"Dammit Tengai!"

"Rappa!" a low voice seemed to scold. "Enough with the reckless- Agh!"

The yellow dome shattered at the same moment of the cry, and Rappa rejoined his impending battle with Knuckleduster-san with an obviously eager cheer.

"Tengai neutralized," Jingwei-san announced, a hint of smugness entering her voice. "Twice, Atium, secure the hostile and treat his wound. Yuki-onna, you are clear to engage Katsukame."

"Roger that!" the young woman's voice called as a slight figure ran towards the house where the villain in question was still hidden.

"Gentle, move!"

The Gentle Criminal dove aside with a startled cry, throwing up another Gently Sandwich on pure instinct.

"The hell do you think you're trying to pull, attacking me from behind?!" Chisaki snarled, his breathing heavy and his hands sharply flexed. "You filthy bastards! You're the plague that infects this society, all of you flooded with this stupid hero sickness! You don't get it; no one gets it! I'm going to cure this society!"

"Er-" Gentle blinked, somewhat bewildered by the man's monologue before he remembered himself and scrambled back; he couldn't let Chisaki touch him he couldn't let him-!

Chisaki whirled around again as a black blur flew towards him-Wraith-san, launching himself off of one of the villain's own spikes, slamming a kick into the side of Chisaki's head, seemingly unaware of the way that the bastard reached up his hand and grabbed his leg-!

Chisaki flew through the air, launched by Wraith-san's kick before hitting Gentle's Sandwich and ricocheting back inside the arena, impaling himself on one of the spikes with a pained gasp. Wraith-san himself landed lightly on his feet just beside his companion, inexplicably unharmed by Chisaki's quirk as he reached out a hand to pull the taller man to his feet, which he dazedly accepted.

"H-How-?" Danjuro stuttered, giving the young man a once over, but he truly wasn't hurt; he didn't even have a hole in his body armor. "How in the world-?!"

"D-Damn yo-ou!" Chisaki choked, blood spraying between his teeth as he wrenched himself off of the spike and pressed a hand to his stomach. Danjuro stared in morbid fascination as the villain's body seemed to glitch, a fine red mist swirled around him, and then he reformed perfectly healed, without even a tear in his clothes or blood staining the fabric. "Why aren't you dead?!" he snarled, advancing towards them, his hands flexed, the visible upper half of his face screaming murder.

Wraith-san did not deign to answer him. He simply pushed Danjuro lightly away, pointing at his Sandwich as an obvious reminder of his task before he charged fearlessly right back at Chisaki.

The Gentle Criminal scrambled to return to his task, creating a Gently Rebound air membrane as wide as the entire street as a stop gap before beginning his work on a much more intricate Gently Confine web of elasticized air. All the while, he couldn't help but watch Wraith-san in awe.

Even as Chisaki repeatedly shattered the ground, all but screaming in rage and frustration as he sent wave after wave of concrete and asphalt constructs after the young man, Wraith-san dodged, leaped and deflecting each strike, landing one blow after another on the yakuza boss: kicks punches, and long-range, telekinetic hits alike. More than once, Gentle's heart leaped to his throat when he thought the other vigilante had been grabbed by his opponent, but each time, Chisaki's quirk seemed to have no effect.

Finally, with a roar of frustration, Chisaki formed a pillar in the middle of the street, apparently trying to create some sort of distance between himself and the black-clad vigilante. Only, even as the pillar rose out of the ground, Wraith-san flicked his hand diagonally, and the pillar snapped at the base, the top portion of the structures sliding and toppling, the reconstruction interrupted.

What happened next seemed to occur in slow motion. As Chisaki fell from the pillar, eyes wide in shock, arms extended on instinct to take the impact, Wraith-san flicked his hand once again.

There was a spray of blood.

A dull thud as Chisaki hit the ground.

A beat of silence.

Then a ragged, animalistic wailing, a desperate scream, rose from the villain on the ground.

The Gentle Criminal felt his stomach clench and pressed a hand over his mouth, eyes wide in a mixture of shock, horror, and morbid awe as he stared at the two stumps where Chisaki's hands used to be.

Well, he thought weakly, I suppose that's one way to remove a person's quirk.

Wraith-san showed absolutely no remorse nor hesitation as he marched to Chisaki's side, removing a pair of zip ties from his pocket and starting them. Ignoring the man's screaming and flailing, he seized one of his arms and slipped the loop over the stump of his wrist, yanking the zip tie as tightly as he possibly could.

It was no tourniquet, but it would have to do.

The Gentle Criminal finally managed to tear his eyes away as Wraith-san began the process of putting the second zip tie around Chisaki's other wrist, feeling more than a little bit ill. Even when he was a full criminal and not simply a vigilante, he had never engaged in such extreme violence. He knew why Wraith-san had done it, understood that it was the most efficient and effective way to permanently remove Chisaki as a threat without killing him, but it was still difficult to stomach the sight of all that blood.

The sound of that awful scream.

"Everyone, report in," Jingwei-san ordered over the comm.

"Atium reporting. Kurono and Nemoto have been neutralized and bound, and-"

"And Tengai has a freaking hole in his leg! What the hell didja do to him, you crazy lady?! That was an excellent shot, Jingwei-san."

"…and Tengai has been bound and treated to the best of our abilities," Atium-san sighed.

"Knuckleduster reporting. The Rapper put up a wicked fight, but I got 'im."

"Yuki-onna reporting. Katsukame has been neutralized."

"Shadowbringer reporting. Geten has been neutralized. I should probably add that Sakaki is dead; I found him skewered by an oversized popsicle."

"Gentle Criminal reporting. Wraith-san has neutralized Chisaki."

"Phoenix reporting. Shadow Dancer got Eri safely away. I'm on my way to rendezvous with Archie and La Brava."

"Negative on that," Clover-san interrupted quickly. "I've planted the information on Curious, but there's no time to hunt down Skeptic. The police are already here and headed your way; it's time to clear out."

"It's true," La Brava's voice began, a little sourly. "Whatever Skeptic is using to control the puppets, I can't figure out how to hack into the connection, and none of the buildings Archie has hardwired me into have any sign of him on the security feeds. I don't think we'll manage to track him down before the police catch us."

"Understood. End operation. Scatter and disappear."

"Roger that!"

"La Brava, are you still in that office building?" Danjuro inquired, trampolining up to the nearest rooftop and beginning to make his way to pick up his partner, wincing at the sight of all the lights that had been turned on in the nearby houses, as well as the shouting of residents that he was only now noticing. So much for improving my situational awareness, he mentally sighed.

"Yes, Gentle!" La Brava confirmed. "I'll be ready and waiting on the rooftop by the time you arrive!"

Danjuro was halfway to the office building when he saw it: a dark silhouette standing on the highest point of the roof just one house over. For some reason, the sight of it made the vigilante hesitate, skidding to a stop. Was he another vigilante? A member of the Network, or someone new? A local resident, wanting to take in the action without approaching the danger?

As though sensing his eyes on him, the figure turned towards him, and Danjuro stiffened sharply at the sight of glowing, acid-green eyes.

It can't be…

"Tobita Danjuro, correct?"

Danjuro's breath hitched and he nearly fell off the roof when he took a stunned step backwards. The young man chuckled softly and looked away again. "You vigilante types always react the same way when someone you don't expect knows your name. Don't worry, I'm not here to cause trouble, just observe."

"You… You're-!"

"Deku," the boy nodded, his coy smile evident in his voice. "Catch."

The Gentle Criminal jumped in surprise as a small object was tossed towards him, fumbling for the item and barely managing not to drop it. For a moment, all he could do was stare before he finally registered that the object was a plain black thumb drive.

"Give Shadowbringer my regards."

Danjuro's head shot back up just in time to see Deku smirk and pull his hood up over his mop of curly hair and dropped to the street below, leaving the vigilante staring at the spot where the boy had vanished, his heart inexplicably racing.

Outtake:

Kagetabi Yumi's head snapped up at the sound of rapid footsteps approaching. Heart instantly racing, she scrambled to her feet and gripped the bo staff she had constructed out of her own shadow with both hands-even with the earpiece she was listening through, not actually being able to see what was going on with the fight just around the corner was really not helping her nerves.

"Relax, Yumi, it's probably just Phoenix," she muttered to herself, trying to take deep breaths to calm the pace of her heart and how on Earth was she supposed to get used to this?!

The new vigilante flinched in surprise, spinning towards the mouth of the alley just as a new figure turned the corner.

He was tall, with shaggy black hair and dark clothes. It was too dark to really make out details of his face, but he visibly hesitated at the sight of her, wrapping his arms a little bit more tightly around a little girl of around five, with long white hair and a little horn sticking out of her forehead.

The way that the little girl wrapped her arms around his neck at the sight of them might have made Yumi's heart melt a little.

"H-Hey, it's okay," she called instinctively, raising her hands to show that that she wasn't carrying a- Well, okay, she had her bo staff, but she wasn't certain that counted after only… two weeks of training? Not… that he… knew… that…

She quickly let it sink back across the ground.

The man raised his head a little bit and the young vigilante's-Gosh I'm a vigilante now; weird!-heart seemed to stutter slightly. Even in the dim lighting, his eyes were a shocking shade of sky-blue, glaring right into her soul. "Who are you?" he growled warningly.

"Just a crane passing in the night," she replied automatically, as Yuki-onna and Knuckleduster had drilled into her over the last few weeks.

"Shouldn't it be ships in the night?" he scoffed without lowering his guard.

Oh gosh, did I say it wrong?! Oh wait! The fail-safe secondary response. Almost forgot!

"O-Only if your name is Henry Longfellow," the young woman stuttered out, and finally the blue-eyed young man relaxed.

"I don't believe I've met you yet," Phoenix frowned, approaching her in a cautious display of trust.

"Yeah, I'm new," Yumi waved with a timid smile, feeling a little-oh who am I kidding; a LOT-awkward about the whole affair.

"What's your name?"

"O-Oh, right!" she squeaked, mentally scrambling for a moment before remembering her codename "I-I'm Shadow Dancer."

"D-Dance…?" the little girl whispered shyly, lifting her head slightly, her red eyes finally visible as Phoenix stepped into the light of the streetlamp.

"That's right," Yumi smiled gently, turning to the child. Infamous, young, attractive-bad Yumi, don't think about that!-vigilantes she didn't know how to deal with, but shy little girls? She could handle that. "Do you like to dance too, Eri?"

Slowly, the little girl nodded, a slight pink tint touching her cheeks. "D-Dabi… He sh-showed me how."

Yumi shot 'Dabi' a small smile, to which he grumbled and avoided her eyes. For all his bad-boy appearance, one look at those blue eyes of his and she could see just how much he cared about the girl. This wasn't just a mission for him; he was deeply and personally invested in getting Eri to safety. "Well then, we'll be sure to find lots of music for you to dance to when we get out of here."

Eri blinked at her. "Get… out of here?" she repeated, uncomprehending.

"That's right," Yumi nodded, making a point of keeping her voice as soft and gentle as possible. "We're gonna get you someplace safe, okay?"

"S-Safe?" the child whispered, clinging a little bit more tightly to Phoenix.

"Eri," Phoenix spoke up now, crouching down. The little girl picked up on the unspoken message immediately, quickly getting her bare feet under her and trembling with the blue-eyed man's hands resting gently against her arms. "Do you remember when we met? What I promised you then?" Eri fidgeted uncertainly for a moment, then silently nodded. "Have I ever broken that promise?" Another long moment, then her hair swished back and forth as she shook her head. "Okay then. I'm going to make you another promise Eri. I promise you that my friends and I are going to take you to a place where no one, not even Overhaul, will be able to hurt you ever again."

The little girl's crimson eyes grew impossibly large at Phoenix's declaration, tears welling up and spilling over her cheeks before she abruptly rushed forward and threw her arms around his neck, almost as though terrified that he would disappear. "B-But… D-Dabi… You ca-an't… He'll k-kill you, and he w-won't… He won't p-put you back tog-gether!" she whimpered, her entire body shaking violently as she clung to him (Yumi didn't dare think about what the girl had meant by 'put you back together').

"He can't hurt us if he can't find us," the man replied firmly. "And I promise that he will never find us. Do you trust me, Eri?"

Another long, silent moment passed while the little girl quietly fisted the back of his shirt, then she pulled back just slightly, top teeth sunk in her bottom lip, and nodded firmly. Dabi smiled and gently gathered Eri into a hug. She returned the embrace gladly, still crying but seeming to relax in the safety of the vigilante's arms.

Yumi honestly wasn't certain if her heart melted or broke in that moment, but it definitely wasn't in one piece anymore.

The young woman squeaked in surprise as Phoenix turned those sky-blue eyes back on her. "So what's the plan? Wraith didn't risk giving me details, but I assume there's a reason you were left to meet us?"

"R-Right," she stuttered, scrambling to reorganize her thoughts. "Uh, first off, this is for you," she began, pulling out her earpiece and handing it to the young man. He considered it for a moment, then slipped it behind his own ear, the last of the tension sliding from his shoulders as he heard the voices of the more senior members of the raiding party through the link. "While you team up with the others, I'm going to take Eri to the rendezvous in- uh, am I allowed to say, or should I not?"

Phoenix hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. "Probably not, just in case. Wraith knows, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah."

"Then he'll tell me when it's safe."

"Okay."

The young man hesitated, glancing towards Eri, protectiveness sparking in his blue eyes. "Is there a reason why I can't go with her?" he asked quietly.

"My quirk," Yumi explained, nodding. "I can make constructs with my own shadow, including portals, but not from any other shadow, so I'm limited by the size of the shadow I'm casting. At this time of day, I can generally only take one person with me at a time. So while you help La Brava and the others deal with that other gang, I'll take Eri to safety."

Phoenix still seemed hesitant, but slowly he nodded, pulling back from his charge. "Eri, go with Shadow Dancer, okay?" The little girl curled in on herself slightly, obviously reluctant to part from him.

"Don't worry," Yumi smiled, crouching down to look at the child at eye-level. "Phoenix-that is, Dabi-san-will join us soon."

Still Eri hesitated, looking back towards the man she had learned to trust. "P-Promise?" she whispered with a timid sort of hope.

"Yes," Phoenix reassured her. "I promise."

Slowly, Eri pulled away from her protector and, in a demonstration of incredible bravery, cautiously reached for Yumi's outstretched hand. Slowly, so as not to frighten her, the twenty-five year old pulled the girl into her arms and stood. "I'll keep her safe," she promised.

"I'm counting on you," Phoenix nodded in turn.

Yumi closed her eyes, breathing deeply as she pulled on the edges of her own shadow, shaping it around her as she had practiced, clearing her mind, and letting the world quite literally fall away.

The shadow realm, as Yumi liked to call it, was a strange place by any stretch of the imagination. She'd tried to describe it to friends and family alike, but never managed to find words that did it quite well enough. It was like… like a river of emotions… or a tapestry woven out of pure shadow or… or that one song from pre-quirk theater about the music of the night? It was kinda cheesy, but it wasn't exactly wrong. In the shadow realm, everything was crafted of pure emotion, and it was by opening herself up to that emotion and pulling on the threads woven by familiar hands that she brought herself out of the darkness once again.

Yumi heard a pair of gasps as she and Eri tumbled back into the light, one from Eri, the other from the pink-haired girl hurrying towards them, tension leaking from her shoulders.

"Yumi!" she called, soft black eyes shining. "Praise the Lord; y'made it back okay!"

"Shoko!" Yumi grinned through a wave of exhaustion at the sound of her old friend's familiar accent. "Thanks for waiting up for us."

"Y'really thought I was gonna sleep when y'were on yer first real mission and Wraith wouldn' let me go with you?" Shoko huffed, extending a gloved hand to help her up. "I get that y'needed an emotional anchor, but that doesn' mean I had to enjoy being left behind!" Yumi managed a sympathetic smile as she gave her old friend a once-over. Aside from the mask and sunglasses, she was still dressed in her own vigilante costume: a pink leather jacket with a hoodie, black cargo pants, and matching boots; she really had been ready to charge in at a moment's notice.

"Thanks for worrying about me, Shoko," she smiled, giving her a quick hug. The pink-haired girl sighed, but returned the gesture.

"S'not fair; y'know I can't hold a grudge," she grumbled as she pulled away. "Anyway, this's the girl Wraith mentioned?"

"Yeah, this is Eri," Yumi nodded, holding out a hand to the sweet little ball of nerves, who seemed to instinctively huddle close to her touch despite how anxious she'd been about going with her. "If all goes well, Phoenix should be by to pick her up in an hour or so."

"Tha's fine," Shoko waved her hand dismissively, kneeling down in front of the girl. "S'not like we didn' stay up 'til three every weekend in college 'r anythin'."

Yumi chuckled tiredly, but was distracted when Eri pressed closer to her, visibly shivering. "Hey, there's no need to be frightened," she soothed the girl gently. "This is my friend Shoko. She's really nice!"

"Hey there, Eri," Shoko smiled kindly. "S'nice to meet ya. Wouldja like anythin' to eat er drink while we wait for Phoenix t'arrive?"

Eri didn't respond, just cringed and buried her face into Yumi's leg. The young woman's heart did that funky break/melt thing again as she rested a gentle hand on the little girl's head, lightly stroking her hair. Come on Yumi, think, how can you make Eri more comfortable? What caught her attention before…? "Hey, Shoko," she began after a moment of thought, "how much would Kotaro hate us if we turned on some dance music?"

Alright y'all, let's meet the VN! I'm not gonna go into full details because that will make for a VERY long set of notes, but I will give you their names and quirks. First up we have Kagetabi Yumi (aka Shadow Dancer), although I can't quite call her an OC since she's based on one of my best friends of all time and someone who has been a veritable rock all through the development of Liar Liar. So, here are the kanji of her name: 影 - kage; 'shadow, shade' and 旅 - tabi; 'journey', both a reference to her quirk and its capabilities, and 友 - yu (friend) and 美 - mi (beautiful), since she is modeled off of my beautiful friend. :) (I am very thankful to have you in my life, girl!)

Atium, real name Satou Shouji! His name comes from these kanji: 早 - sa; 'early, fast', 覩 - tou; 'see' and 捷 - shou; 'victory, fast', 時 - ji; 'time, hour'. His quirk is called Fast Forward. If you get the reference to his vigilante name, you will know what his quirk is. ;)

Yuki-onna, aka Koudatsu Tsukihime from the kanji 抗 - kou; 'defy, fight, resist, confront', 怛 - datsu; 'be sad, be dejected, fear', and 偸 - tsu; 'steal', 生 - ki; 'life', 氷 - hi; 'freeze, ice', 女 - me; 'woman, female'. Her quirk is called Succubus.

Jingwei, aka Zhang Jilpa! She's Chinese and an ex-military sniper and I love her. Her quirk is called Aim Assist.

Archie, aka Chikuzu Tatsu, kanji 築 - chiku; 'construct, build, fabricate', 図 - zu; 'plan, map, drawing' and 逹 - tatsu; 'arrive at, reach, intelligent'. His quirk is called Render.

Finally, meet Suzuki Shoko, another OC created as part of the Halloween Special on the Discord Server by Randomlygoingontheinternet! I'm super excited to bring her into the story; she's shaping up to be a really fun character to explore. Her quirk is called Life Bringer.

Hope you enjoyed! Don't forget the next chapter comes out December 14th~! Narrated by the R-Rated Hero Midnight! (This will probably be the shippiest chapter in the entire story and it will pull from every ship I can slip in there, including ones that contradict each other and even ones that I don't particularly like because MIDNIGHT.)