The sky was marked by orange streaks in the west when Izuku Midoriya, Nejire Hado, and Shino Sosaki approached the designated street intersection where they were to meet the enemy.
Sosaki tapped her ear. "Are you receiving me, Mirko, Suneater?"
In Izuku's own ear, he heard, "Yes," and then, "Yanno, you could just talk directly into my head. I give you permission."
"That is not helpful for two-way communication. Keep in mind that this group channel is the only one we have."
"Fine. Just keep 'er open so Suneater and I can hear when you make contact. We'll move in five minutes after that."
"Understood."
Izuku and Nejire walked silently, behind Mandalay and beside one another. Their hero costumes were absent. Izuku was in a tight white shirt and even tighter black pants, which accentuated his form more than anything he'd ever worn outside before. Have I ever even owned a piece of tight clothing?
Nejire, meanwhile, had borrowed an outfit from an actual escort that they'd rescued. She was wearing an open, shiny cropped jacket over a top that was cropped even further, leaving little of her midriff to the imagination, and a very short black skirt.
They'd both received jewelry as well: hoop earrings for Nejire and a golden choker for Izuku. Both of them were wearing high, dark boots, which Izuku only felt confident in due to all the balance training he'd done. Hopefully it will be enough.
"You look too nervous," Nejire told him.
"I should be nervous. I'm about to be sold."
"Okay, you look the wrong type of nervous then."
"You just think that because we know each other."
"Both of you," interrupted Shino. "Calm. Deep breaths."
"I am calm," Nejire grumbled. She adjusted her jacket a little. Izuku got the sense that she would have actually enjoyed wearing an outfit like this under different circumstances.
We didn't talk about how she grabbed my hand yesterday. There'd been little time for that.
"Midoriya, can you run through this one more time? What do I need to be looking for?" Mandalay asked him. She did not move her eyes away from the direction they were walking. Older-looking buildings lined the darkening street. There was a scent of sewage water on the air.
"Look for tells for how Mitoma activates her Quirk. It could be anything. Maybe she waves her hands, or has to put a hand on her head, or takes a deep breath first. It will doubtlessly be related to an aspect of her body."
"Right. So if I figure it out first, I will communicate it telepathically to the two of you."
"Yes. And if either of us figures it out, we will work it into the conversation somehow. If it's breath, for example, Hado could say something like, I'll take your breath away."
Izuku cringed at himself, but Nejire giggled. "Wow, Midoriya-kun. I didn't know you had it in you."
Mandalay still looked concerned. "What if you two aren't allowed to speak?"
"We belong to you until the deal is finished. You get to decide whether or not we're allowed to speak."
"Fine. So we figure out her tell. And then?"
"I wait for the opening that inevitably follows from knowing that, and blast forward. I will eject Smokescreen out behind me to obscure sightlines and give us a bigger jump on them."
Would be better with Fa-jin.
Would be better if I figured out how to rev all the way up to 100. Because he was undercover, as well, he couldn't wear his mid-gauntlets, meaning his highest output would be even lower. But it's not the arm speed that matters, it's the legs. Once I reach her I don't need to punch any more than ten percent.
He sensed a mix of approval and disapproval from the past users. They'd been fairly quiet the last few days; he was grateful for the respite but also wondering what it meant. Are they divided amongst themselves about this? Or perhaps they all agree that I'm doing some things right and some things wrong? There was no way to tell. Izuku figured that if he was walking to his death or something just as bad here, then they would actually speak up, so he refused to let it make him even more nervous.
"What if we don't figure it out?" Nejire asked. "Or what if it's something that doesn't really have an opening? I knew a guy in general studies who could make people's hair stand on end just by hearing their voices. What if it's something like that? What if she's got us the second we talk? What if-" She cut herself off. "I'm sorry. I'm babbling."
"It's alright," Sosaki muttered. "She won't get us. She won't get you."
Izuku made eye contact with the older heroine.
He thought of Rei, and how he found it so difficult to predict the thought process of someone at a different stage of life than him, and a different gender to boot. Does she want to protect me, or is she truly relying on me to be the protector? Could both feelings coexist? If they did, he imagined that Sosaki's brain probably had almost as many fighting voices in it as his own.
Mandalay stopped in the middle of an intersection. Above their heads, dead traffic lights swayed in the wind, hung from dark cords. "We're here."
Nejire crossed ten feet of road to stand right next to Izuku, almost shoulder-to-shoulder. When he raised an eyebrow, she muttered, "We were standing in combat formation." And then she put her hands behind her waist and slightly…slouched, pushing her chest forward. It was subtle, but…
Izuku consciously shifted his own posture. He had forgotten how to stand like something besides a combatant. If I want to appear weak…
It was chilling how natural his posture from middle school came back to him. He didn't know how to be seductive, but this way he could at least appear demure.
Nejire had seen the change that had come over him, just as he had seen her. Something odd flashed across her expression, but no comment was made. She visibly swallowed and turned back forward, looking past Mandalay to the other end of the intersection…
…Where people approached.
There were four of them. All were dressed in black, and all were armed. Two men, one woman, and one hooded person with a shiny, reflective mirror-mask. The last was the one in the lead, and upon closer inspection, Izuku could see that the masked person had…things floating behind them. Several of them above either shoulder. They were small and black and shiny. Blades? Knives? That they perhaps control with their Quirk? No, they were shaped too strangely. Something pricked at his memory. Something he'd learned at UA…
In any case, it did not take a hero's instincts to know that the hooded, masked person was the most dangerous one here. But it isn't Mitoma.
"Hello." Though high-pitched, it was definitely a man's voice. "You are Shino Sosaki?"
Mandalay put her hands on her hips. "Clearly," she replied with authority.
"You wear your costume."
"My unit thinks I'm on patrol. Do you have a problem with that?"
He lifted his head a bit, and light rippled across his strange mirror mask. Disturbingly, there were facial features present on it - moving facial features. An almost pixelated pair of blinking dark eyes, and a cheeky little smile that was nothing more than a curved line. Is that just his face? He was one of the stranger mutants Izuku had ever seen.
"I have no problem with you wearing your costume," he said. "But if someone else does, what will you do? Strip?"
The other three goons chuckled darkly. Izuku kept an enigmatic expression, and noticed out of the corner of his eye that Nejire was doing the same.
Sosaki reacted well. "Is that what your boss makes you do when you keep her waiting? We are burning daylight." She tapped her wrist.
"Alright, alright." Mirror man with the strange floating black objects behind his shoulders made a sheepish face of concession. "My name is Akira. I am Mitoma-sama's captain of guard. May we get a closer look at your product before we proceed?"
Mandalay stepped sideways and swept her arm in a showy gesture. "Go ahead."
Izuku slightly tilted his head and stared at the enemy, maintaining a neutral, mysterious air. This was the only thing he could think to do. He felt exposed without his hood. His heart was racing on the inside. A year ago I would have already started the anxiety attack.
Nejire had turned the clean side of her face slightly forward and batted her eyelashes. "You're interesting," she commented toward Akira. "Are you shiny like that everywhere?"
"I'm afraid you're unlikely to find out. I don't partake."
Izuku spoke up. "Not at all, or just not women?" He formed what he hoped was a subtle grin, keeping his eyes on the enemy's reflective face.
Akira's strange pixelated eyes shifted left to right. "Not at all." He seemed downright uncomfortable now. "You've brought a feisty pair, Sosaki. My lady will be pleased."
"Good. Let's go."
"Very well. Follow us." He quickly turned around, and those strange black objects moved with him, slightly bouncing in the air from how fast they had to whip about.
They're musical notes, Izuku realized. The vague memory pulling at him had been from seeing Jirou's sheet music at the culture festival. A strange Quirk. If this was the captain of the guard for the Harbor, then they were doubtlessly used in some kind of combat. He will be one to keep an eye on.
A few minutes of silent walking later, and they arrived at the riverside casino.
…
"Time to move," said Rumi Usagiyama. "That's five mins." She hopped down off the stairs.
Suneater threw his hood over his head and followed her down, nimbly enough. All Rumi knew about him, the quiet boy with pointy ears, was that he was supposedly among the best of UA's recent graduates. He can apparently shapeshift a lot of his body.
"Where are the tentacles and hooves at?" she whispered to him as they hid around the corner from the back door to the casino's lower level.
"I'll make them when I need them. Right now we stay quiet." He was biting his lip, his eyes shaded by the hood. They were hidden now, but if they stepped out, it was a wide open twenty meters across the parking garage, under working fluorescent strip lights, to the dark, featureless door that had two armed women standing outside it.
"Hmm. Maybe we don't." Rumi whispered a quick plan to the younger hero, and he obliged.
Seconds later, a loud clunking sound from behind one of the cars caused both of the guards to raise their weapons, startled. One of them nodded to the other and crept closer, stretching away from the door. "Reveal yourself!" she barked.
The guard walked far enough away to give Mirko the opening. She launched forward from the darkness, crossing the open space in one, two, bounds, and pummeled the other guard against the wall, knocking her out instantly.
The first guard spun about, raising her weapon, but Suneater slid out from behind the car and ripped it aside with a probing tentacle. She reached for her radio next, but Mirko was already on top of her, and put her to sleep as well.
"Quick." Rumi spat. "Easy enough."
Suneater leaned down and grabbed the radio. He held it to his ear for a moment and listened to the chatter. "Nothing out of the ordinary. They don't suspect." Then he picked up a key card off the unconscious woman and walked past Rumi to the door. "In we go."
Rumi frowned. Something about the young man's demeanor was off to her, but she didn't know him well enough to make a judgment. This is why I'd rather work alone. She was only tolerating him because she knew damn well she wouldn't be able to save all the people down here fast enough by herself.
Also, the last time I tried to reject help from a quiet UA student, he kicked my ass.
Not that they needed to bring that up now. Or ever. Again.
Rumi's ears twitched as they entered the industrial service hallways of the casino.
…
Akira led them through a side door on the river-facing wall of the hotel, the type that was only accessible by room keys and fed directly into a hallway of rooms.
Once inside, Izuku's senses perked and he became aware of all that he could see and hear. A long, carpeted hall stretched in either direction, lit by warm lamps, and there were distant, echoing sounds of clinking and dinging. Nearby, a maid pushed a cleaning cart from one room to another. She appraised the group with dead eyes before returning to her work.
"How many of these rooms are occupied right now?" Mandalay asked, conversationally.
Akira shrugged. "Business isn't my side. I'm told we're making good profit. Come."
They walked down the hall, in the direction of the dinging noises. There was a gap in the room doors that gave way to a window facing the river on one side and an alcove for an elevator on the other. It seemed like a normal hotel by all accounts, though Izuku didn't have that much experience with hotels…
There are slaves beneath my feet. Come on, Mirko, Suneater…
They came out into the open space in the hotel's center, a vast atrium-room with curved golden columns and a vaulted ceiling. Decorative tiles repeated in a pattern across the floor. Green plants huddled in clusters. One half of the room was covered with bright, glowing, noisy gambling machines, which were making the dinging sounds Izuku had heard before. The other half had scattered round tables, with a bar and kitchen toward the far right. About half the tables and gambling booths were occupied. Some people were drunk and talkative and rowdy, some were dead-eyed. Some looked upper class, others looked like tramps. But all of them felt hostile.
Izuku felt eyes on him and Nejire as Akira led them in a skirting path around the edge of the atrium. They know what we are. Disturbingly, he saw, at a few of the tables, people who were wearing clothes similar to his own. Most were women, but there were a few men - almost universally sitting with a man or on a man's lap. Some were smiling, but the smiles had a plastered quality. Like the woman I ran into at the Hojos nightclub.
Escorts, all of them, and when they glanced at Izuku and Nejire, their faces were no more sympathetic than the free people in the room. This system has demoralized everyone.
At the far end of the space, Akira took them into another hallway, this one wider with doors that were further apart. They reached a set of double doors, which had a placard on the wall reading PRIVATE EVENT ROOM 5.
Akira knocked, and they heard a singsong "Come in," from inside. A familiar voice.
The mirror-faced man nodded to his goons, and two of them stepped forward to push open the doors.
The room was like a small restaurant: low-ceilinged, cozy, hazy. Warm string lights hung on the walls, softly changing color. Dark alcoves and tables lurked in the corners. Suited people stood and sat, watching, silhouetted, some smoking, others playing cards.
And in the center-back, directly in front and across from them, Renata Mitoma lounged on a raised throne of an armchair, sipping wine, flanked by two guards. She grinned widely. "Mand-a-lay. So good of you to finally join us." And beckoned them in with a jewelried hand.
They stepped inside.
…
Mandalay had turned her communicator on for a moment, and Rumi heard, "to finally join us." And then a change in the acoustics, as if they had crossed into a smaller space.
She looked at Suneater. They're in, she mouthed. The younger hero nodded. Both of them were currently hiding behind a stack of wooden pallets. Two men in dirty aprons had gone past earlier, and another in a stained work shirt. It was a maze of narrow hallways down here, filled with junk and utilities and people who would definitely give two heroes a second look. But very few guards so far. Man, I hate stealth.
Rumi darted across the hall and into a dark branch to the left. Suneater followed her a moment later. They had doubtlessly been caught on security cameras already, but with Mandalay inside and making the deal, there was no way news of the invasion could reach Mitoma in time.
They stopped behind a box in the darkness. Mirko was focusing her eyes on a spot further down the hall, but then pulled back her vision to the text printed on the crate in front of her.
It read DANGER: EXPLOSIVE.
Rumi's rabbit ears twitched. Regardless of the evil they had to defeat here, both Deku and herself were here for one common reason - to find the link to the bomber. The little prick. He destroyed my school and now another. Flat-out terroristic murder…and he was getting those bombs from somewhere.
She reached forward with her metal arm and used her prosthetic fingers as a wedge, popping the lid off the crate quietly.
"What are you doing?" asked Suneater.
Rumi peered inside. The crate was filled with dark objects. She didn't know much about bombs - generally those types of situations were handled by heroes with slightly different styles than her. "Could this be it?" she whispered.
"What…? Oh." The boy seemed to notice what the box said at last. His face was covered in doubt. "Those could be sold to anyone."
"Didn't you all say they were making some kind of arms deal soon? What if this is it right here?"
"We don't have the time or space to carry it out right now. We have to focus on our objective."
Her face must have been stubborn, because Suneater gulped. "Look…w-we'll come back for it. After we've taken control of the place. It's not gonna get away from us. Now, let's save these people first. They're close. Two more rights and we're there."
He was correct. A minute later, they crept down some stairs to the lowest basement level, reached the last corner, and saw…an open door.
Rumi narrowed her eyes. There were two guards sitting at a table just outside the door, playing cards and chewing tobacco, but the door itself was wide open, and warm light streamed out of it. Music could be heard pumping from inside, and there were silhouettes crossing her vision. She could even see a mirror, and someone sitting down in front of it - a vanity.
A woman, dressed in very little, walked out of the room and down the hallway, whispering something in the ear of one of the guards and causing him to smirk. Another came past, going into the room. She spoke loudly to one guard, "He's cheating," pointing to the other.
"Awh, Dalia, why'd you have to go and tell-"
"HAHA! Seems you owe 'im something for that one!"
"He's the one who owes me. With interest." Slightly wiggling her hips, the woman Dalia went past their table and toward the room, a grin on her face.
"I don't get it," Suneater muttered, watching from behind Rumi.
Mirko raised her eyebrows. "What's not to get? It's a big dressing room. They probably got beds in there too."
"I thought they'd seem more like hostages."
Mirko sighed. "These people are in the distraction business. Drugs and money and sex. They're not gonna let it look anything but lively in there. The Skindancer probably does away with the ones who don't keep the mood up."
That only seemed to put him in a worse mood. Rumi tapped him lightly on the chest and said, "Focus. You ready? I'm on the left. Get the weapons first and radios second."
One of Suneater's hands slowly grew into a massive clam. "Going," he muttered, and suddenly he jumped out in front of her.
A messy few seconds later, they had taken out both guards. More manifestations were forming over Amajiki's body, including a lobster shell-type mask armoring his face.
One of the unconscious bodies banged against the table. The escort Dalia whipped around in surprise, and opened her mouth to scream. Rumi leapt forward and covered it. "Shhh!" she hissed. "We're heroes. We're here to blow this place wide open."
Noise from inside.
"Dalia, what was that?"
"Huh?"
And then, a gruffer, male voice: "Hey, you girls! Get away from there!"
"What the hell is going on out there, huh?"
Shit. Rumi looked back at her younger companion frantically, her gloved hand still clamped over the escort's frightened face. "They're going to call it in," she told him.
Suneater's legs morphed into horse legs as he grew into his full Chimera form, rising up higher and taller in the hallway. Dalia whimpered under Rumi's glove, her eyes traveling up with him.
"No they're not," the boy said, and he burst into the basement.
…
"Search them," Mitoma ordered.
Three guards stepped forward to Mandalay, Izuku, and Nejire. The one in front of Izuku was a woman; she appraised him with a certain amount of interest in her eyes, and he had to fight not to shudder.
They were then searched and handled, all of them. The woman wasn't rough with Izuku, but he saw Nejire get shaken a bit, and then Mitoma snapped at her guard, "Hey! None of that until the deal is finished! She still belongs to someone else."
The guard searching Mandalay attempted to look for lower pockets, but Mitoma only snorted and said, "That skirt's too high for her to be hiding anything, dear. Take her paws, though."
Mandalay made only a small noise of indignation as the white cat-paws that were part of her uniform were taken off of her, and the inside of them inspected thoroughly.
"I told her it was a bad idea to wear her costume," said Akira.
"It's no problem." Mitoma took another sip of wine. "Besides, Sosaki-san looks exquisite in it. It does your breasts great favors, my dear." She nodded at Mandalay's front appreciatively.
Mandalay growled in annoyance. Meanwhile, the woman had begun to pat down Izuku's tight pants…
"They're fine," the Skindancer finally announced, with a bit of annoyed authority. "Back off."
Sosaki huffed as the guards retreated, looking somewhat sheepish that they'd been told off for their poor conduct. Nejire managed to not look shaken. Izuku's nose twitched. All his skin was tingling now; he felt way too exposed and looked at in here.
But the guards had not found their earpieces that they were using to keep a channel open with Mirko and Suneater. They were skin-colored and plastered to the rim of the ear, developed by Mei Hatsume of UA, and the Kijimi operation had a precious few of them. A lucky break. They had passed the first test.
"Now then." Renata Mitoma clapped her hands and sat up straight in her throne-chair. "To business."
Izuku took this chance to take stock of the room, and of the villain in front of him. The room was a bit tight and cozy, but there were clear sightlines to every little side table where people were sitting and relaxing. There are other sex workers in here as well. It seemed to be a mix of them, guards, and organized criminals who could only be other Harbor higher-ups, part of the Skindancer's entourage. Most eyes were on the new arrivals, but some did not seem interested in them at all.
Meanwhile, Mitoma was front and center. Izuku watched her hands as they went to pick up her wine glass. She did not seem to be moving them particularly oddly. Nothing there. He knew he had to figure this out fast - he had promised the two women that he would.
The mirror-faced man Akira went up the steps and joined the Skindancer at her side, though he did not get closer than five feet, Izuku noted. Is there a proximity thing? Is it hard for her to focus her Quirk? No, if friendly fire were an issue, then why would she willingly meet them in such a low-ceilinged, close room?
"So, Sosaki. Tell me who you've brought me today." Mitoma waggled her eyebrows. Izuku took note.
Mandalay stepped forward and out of the way, leaving Izuku and Nejire as the central focus in the room. "This is Starburst," she said, gesturing to Nejire, who gave a friendly wave while rocking back and forth perkily on her toes. "And this is Cascade." She pointed at Izuku, who simply chose to shift into a more stable, spread stance, slightly flexing his arms as he moved them from behind his back to in front of his waist.
He noticed also that Mandalay had to fight not to cringe when she said the names they'd come up with, which was understandable - but that had been a last minute part of the plan.
Skindancer snorted. Her eyes moved from Nejire to Izuku to Mandalay, to Nejire and Izuku again. Strangely quickly. "Well, you weren't holding back any truth from me, as far I can tell. Look at the abs on the girl there, Akira! And the man's arms…oh my." She made a show of fanning herself. "Muscular indeed. How often do you two work out?"
A question directed at both of us. Mitoma's eyes did not linger on either of them in particular for long. She swings both ways, judging by that comment to Mandalay earlier. But is there something more to it?
Nejire answered first. "Depends on what type of exercise you mean," she said suggestively.
"Often," Izuku answered, simply. He ran a hand through his hair and hoped it didn't look too stupid.
Mitoma chortled. "I don't doubt it. You look like you could hold down a helicopter from takeoff with one arm. Some tattoos on those arms would go a long way, I think. Something we have to look into in the next few weeks while you get settled in."
That was a lengthy sentence directed only at him, and yet Izuku noticed that the Skindancer's eyes constantly shifted back toward Mandalay and Nejire while speaking. She can't possibly be nervous. She made perfect eye contact on the video call yesterday. What's this about? Out loud he only said, "Whatever you think is best…" He hesitated, unsure how to address her.
My lady, Mandalay supplied with her Quirk.
"...my lady," he finished.
That caused a few more chuckles from the enemy, around the room. "I like this one," the Skindancer announced. "I may keep him myself for a bit, if no one minds. As for you…" Her eyes shifted across to Nejire…and then moved away again, even though she kept talking to Nejire.
"...Sosaki-san here was also not mincing words about your scars. Don't feel the need to turn your head like that, dear, face me directly. There we go. You're almost half and half, oh my! Yes, we can definitely find a niche place for you, especially with that unique hair color…and your body is excellent. Starburst is your name?"
"Yes, my lady."
"How did you come by those burns? Was it the war?"
Nejire, for her part, managed to turn her grin into something wicked, and said, "the story changes depending on the client."
Mitoma chuckled again, but once again forwent any sustained eye contact.
"I told you they were feisty, 'dancer," said Akira.
"Indeed they are." She looked at Izuku. Then back at Mandalay again.
She suspects something. He didn't know how or why, but she did. We're playing this too confidently. She's trying to test us, and we're passing a little too well for her liking.
"Where did Sosaki find such a bold pair like you? I'd like to think I know all the best pickups for those as good as you two. Of course, you've found your way into my hands eventually, as they all do, but…" Mitoma clicked her teeth and shook her head in mocking disbelief. "How did a rescue heroine manage to clench you in her paws first?"
Nejire shrugged enigmatically, still smiling, her eyes sparkling. "Sosaki-sama has a good eye for that sort of thing."
Izuku froze.
He'd been so caught up in the idea that he needed to figure it out himself, or waiting for another telepathic message from Mandalay, that he'd forgotten to pick up on tells in the conversation. Eye. Eye. Nejire had cracked it. But what did that mean? He looked at the Skindancer again. She was seemingly unable to hold long eye contact with any one of them despite exuding such confidence…so…
She has to be looking directly at someone to focus her Quirk at them. Regardless of its furthest range, which we are definitely inside…she suspects that any of the three of us might attack. Not necessarily because she suspects Nejire and I are heroes, but just because we are new people to her. It was as simple as eye contact. Renata Mitoma was trying to be ready for the possibility of having to kill any of the three of them, and for that she had to split her attention now, due to how far apart they stood. It's subtle, since we're in such a small room, but Nejire saw what I saw, and realized what it meant. But had Mandalay picked up on it?
"Ah, well…I'm sure you've made good money off of them, Sosaki. And now you're about to make your best money yet, I promise."
"Speaking of that," Mandalay said sharply, "have you got what was promised to me in return?"
"Yes, yes." Mitoma waved a hand, and Akira stepped down away from the throne and retreated behind it, to the back of the room, the musical notes following him.
Smoke from someone's cigarette curled through the air, slightly obscuring vision. Smoke. If Izuku could use Smokescreen fast enough to cut the Skindancer's sightline to them…no, even at my fastest output, she could get one of us faster than that. I need to charge her. But she looks back at me every half second. I don't have an opening!
Steady, both of you, Mandalay told them through her telepathy. Her concentration will break, and she'll look at one of us for just a little too long. Wait for it.
Izuku could have sighed in relief. They were all three of them on the same page now.
Mitoma had slightly narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "I know your Quirk, Wild Wild Pussycat. Are you perhaps speaking to them in their heads right now?"
"If I was," answered Mandalay, "what could you do about it? They still belong to me until you hand over the money…and my comrade."
"Well, you're in luck. Akira will be back in just a moment."
…
Tamaki and Mirko had defeated every guard in the room, taking their radios and weapons, but now they were dealing with a whole new situation on their hands - a swarm of confused men and women.
"Shhhhh!" Mirko was hissing, holding up her hands and hopping from place to place in the room to calm down the frantic, panicked chatter of all the escorts. "SHHHHH!"
Tamaki had shut the door behind them for the moment, still maintaining his Chimera form. His stomach roiled. I ate too much for this. The combat had been very simple; he could have done it all with just a tentacle, but the full form was needed now for the rescue.
The room was set up like a big office space, with cubicles of vanity mirrors, beds, and even a kitchen. It was a full-on communal living area for these workers, and there were many of them - all talking at once.
"Heroes?"
"Heroes!"
"What are YOU doing here-"
"Just two of them?"
"Hold on, you knocked out Kenchiro-"
"What the hell?!"
"We're leaving!" Mirko told them, raising her voice over the din to just under a shout. "We're getting all of you out of here!"
"What about the rest of us doing shifts upstairs? This is barely half of us!"
"No, this is crazy!"
"We shouldn't go with them at all!"
"I'm not going. We'll get killed."
A few of the girls were crying. Tamaki felt his jaw tremble. I need to help Mirko. But he was so bad at this type of situation. So, so bad at it. He could not stop thinking about Nova. Or about Nejire and Midoriya, who were up there right now being forced to…
What can we tell them? What can we say?
"You'll not get killed. We're some of the best of the best heroes here." Mirko was clearly getting increasingly exasperated. "Please trust me. Trust us."
"The Hojos and the Harbor have put this entire district under their own law and order," Tamaki managed to say, not loud enough, but a few of them looked over at him. "Whatever you th-thought of your work or job before, it's not gonna…you're not gonna…you must come with us. We have to get you all to s-safety."
"Safety? Where the hell's that?"
"Are the League of Villains coming here?"
"N-no, that's not what I said-"
"I won't go!" A sobbing girl who may have been younger than Tamaki insisted, breaking past Mirko and retreating toward a bed cubicle. "I won't!"
Mirko grabbed the girl by the arm. "Calm down-"
Another worker pushed the rabbit heroine against the chest. Mirko did not budge, of course, but that got her attention well enough. "You cannot take all of us," the escort said. "Not at once. There are more guards. And the Skindancer isn't above coming down to handle this herself. You try and take us out of here and we are all going to die."
"They don't know we're here yet," Mirko insisted, annoyed, "and I want to keep it that way. Your bitch of an overlord is currently being held up by some of my comrades, so if you could just come with us now…"
One of the workers dived for a radio. "We've got to tell the others!"
Tamaki snatched it from her hand with a tentacle. She got a bit of static transmitted through, and nothing else. "Don't!" he roared.
All the terrified eyes in the room converged on him.
Tamaki Amajiki took a deep breath. He knew the older heroes had their ways, and could often get annoyed by the uncooperative civilians. But these people…they are profoundly cornered. You can see it in their eyes, and that's what Mirko can't understand. He thought of Nova again. Of the terror in her voice when she first spoke of this whole situation to him, back in that interrogation room.
I have to make a different way.
"We have the green man with us," he announced. "The one I'm sure you've all heard rumors about."
Whispers over the room.
"The green man?"
"Wait, he's a hero?"
"I thought he was one of the villains that caused all the destruction."
"No, he's a vigilante!"
"Relly saw him on a rooftop one night a few weeks ago."
"That's bullshit, he'd never come here…"
"He has," Tamaki insisted. "He is the one who's going to defeat the Skindancer. He almost killed All For One and Shigaraki singlehandedly, and he's here for your sake. If you believe nothing else…" A bit of his gathered confidence wavered. "B-believe this. Please."
…
While they waited on Akira to come back, one of the other guards had some interference on their radio that was then abruptly cut off.
Renata Mitoma's eyes darted toward it for a half second, and then quickly back to the three heroes. Izuku took a deep, internal breath; he'd almost gone for it right then. He hoped he hadn't made any sudden movements without realizing. The game is nearly up.
The guard spoke into the radio. "Hello? Something up?"
Nothing.
He lowered it. "I dunno what that was."
The Skindancer seemed more suspicious. "You two, go downstairs and make sure everything's fine." She gestured to some of the guards.
One of them protested. "Ma'am, that's a hero." He nodded at Mandalay. "I don't want to leave you-"
"It's fine, Akira is back, see?" The man with the music notes reappeared from the gloom near the room's back. There must be an exit there we can't see. He was now carrying a heavy binder…and in his other hand, he was dragging the white-faced Hojo envoy, the one that Mandalay had lied to save.
"Akira will protect me," the Skindancer continued, as her right-hand man in question flung the envoy to the floor in front of Mandalay. "So you boys go off and make sure we're in the clear."
The other two guards went on out, breaking past Izuku and Nejire to exit. Izuku's heart raced. Was it Mirko and Amajiki who caused that cut-off transmission? There was no way of knowing; the other two heroes weren't using the comms.
The Hojo envoy, slightly trembling, got to their feet in front of Shino Sosaki. She nodded gravely to them and gently gestured for them to stand behind her. "Good to have you back," she said in a somewhat muted tone.
The envoy, for their part, did not give away the game, likely just grateful to be alive. They obeyed Mandalay for the moment, only giving Izuku and Nejire the most cursory of glances. Do they recognize us? They saw us in hero costumes before. If they did, they said nothing, and hardly even reacted. Of course. Whether they have sympathy for our cause now because we saved them, or if they're still loyal to the Hojos…they realize what we're doing now is destabilizing the Harbor, and that's a net positive for them. There would be no further interference from the envoy.
"I'd be careful now," the Skindancer warned, her eyes still subtly darting everywhere and anywhere. "Your hero comrade there may expose you to the others."
Izuku inhaled. Mitoma was trying to catch Mandalay in the lie.
Sosaki only responded, "They know they owe me. And besides, I'm about to sail on out of here. With the money. You know, the other part of the deal. Ahem."
"Yes, yes." Mitoma waved to Akira, who passed the binder over to her on her throne. "Come and count it if you wish."
Mandalay stepped up. Closer. The Skindancer's eyes continued to dart. Izuku's feet were tense inside his boots. I wish I could charge up without the damn lightning. He was ready to spring at any moment. Just need the opening.
Mitoma almost handed the binder over to Mandalay…and then hesitated.
"Wait. First I want to be sure your product isn't just all talk."
Her gaze went back and forth between Izuku and Nejire. Izuku's breath caught in his throat.
"Have them make out," said the Skindancer.
Izuku's blood ran cold.
The two young heroes, for all their tact with which they'd handled the situation up to this point, for all the recent experience with women Izuku had gained, for all the supposed social-butterfly confidence that Nejire exuded - they could not help themselves upon hearing that sentence. They immediately looked at one another in barely-suppressed alarm. Izuku's brain flipped over with fear, and the thought of kissing Nejire snuck right into his mind's eye, immediate, unwelcome but not unwelcome enough. He could see some degree of heightened emotion cross her eyes as well, but what that emotion was or what it meant, he did not know.
We can't give ourselves away. Izuku had promised them he'd find the opening before it got to this point, before they would have to do anything dehumanizing…and he hadn't found it. Mitoma was looking at him too often. He was the fastest hero, and he still couldn't beat the speed that an eye could move at this range.
"Well?" demanded Akira.
Nejire, white-faced, cleared her throat and said, "I-"
"No," blurted Mandalay.
All tension in the room shifted. Mitoma raised an eyebrow. "No? Do you want your money or not, hero?"
"No, I mean…" Shino Sosaki tightened her mouth. "I'll do it myself."
Low laughter from multiple people in the room. Mitoma released a slow, deep whistle. "Oh my, Sosaki. Not a voyeur type, are ya? Prefer to sample your own supply? I can't say I respect it, but I understand it, looking at these two." She was grinning hugely. "Go on."
She loves this. Izuku rarely felt hate for villains, and indeed since his crusade had begun, he always desired to understand them. But he could see the Skindancer for what she was. Her Quirk has turned her into the worst sort. She is drunk on the puppeteering of people. This is her happiest state. In fact, he wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if she was aroused already.
Mandalay had a brave, stoic facial expression as she stepped away from the throne, back toward Izuku and Nejire. She looked back and forth between the two of them. Her face could have been carved of stone. I'm sorry, she said to them with telepathy. At least this way it's not both of you. We have to draw her gaze. To grant Deku's opening.
Shino Sosaki took a half-step toward Nejire Hado, and Izuku's mind caught up with the situation - they would distract, and he would finish the job. Nejire tensed up for a heartbeat, watching Mandalay with some trepidation, and it occurred to Izuku that she was probably straight, and hated this idea-
"No," said Mitoma. She pointed at Izuku. "Him."
Mandalay froze. Izuku froze. Nejire froze. For a critical moment, they were deadlocked, and when Mandalay's eyes darted to meet Izuku's, he could see the pure anxiety there. No. No, I needed to be the one who was spared.
But Mitoma was watching them closely. Something in her intuition, maybe? Or perhaps she thought that since Mandalay had picked Nejire first, she was obviously less comfortable kissing Izuku, and therefore she wanted to put her in that discomfort?
Regardless, it was what it was.
Nejire, helpless, watched as Mandalay completely turned away from her and stepped toward Izuku. The cat heroine had suppressed the panic on her face. Midoriya, she transmitted into his mind. I'm so sorry. Nejire-chan, it's up to you.
The only coherent thought Izuku could form was that they were taking too long. Those guards could come back. Mitoma could catch on. I should have just gone for it. But now it's too late. Now it's too late. Now it's too late-
Steady, Midoriya. Sosaki's Quirk again. Her face had now put on a mask of an entirely different feeling - her eyes were half-lidded, a smile playing on her lips. We just need to keep her eyes on us for a moment. Now, I'm going to kiss you. Blink once if you consent.
Despite her outward expression, Izuku could see her slightly shaking. Could sense her anxiety. All the things Shino Sosaki had done to make the best of this situation, and it had come to this. She must feel horrible.
Mandalay got within his personal space, and he felt her breath tickle his nose. Her pretty brown eyes filled his vision. This was not entirely unlike a recurring dream he'd had in middle school. She was slightly shorter than himself. All that occurred to him was that he wanted to make her not feel so bad about this. And that he wanted to accomplish their mission right now.
Izuku blinked once.
Shino's hands went to his broad shoulders, and she got on her tiptoes, her mouth lingering close to his, hesitating…
Hesitation and tension. That was useful. Draw her gaze. Make her wait for it, be unable to look away…
And then bring it home.
Izuku seized Mandalay by the hips and pulled her into himself, suddenly enough to make her yelp, and kissed her deeply.
Laughter around the room. His eyes were shut. His head spun. Is she looking long enough? Mandalay's lips were pressed against his, one of her hands running through his hair, their bodies pushing against one another, their arms intertwined messily. Izuku took a millisecond to appreciate how nice her form and curves felt. Go, Nejire…
They needed to drag the moment out just one beat more, and Izuku critically remembered the thing the Skindancer had said earlier, appreciating Mandalay's…
Still kissing her, Izuku forcefully spun Shino's body about so that her back and rear were up against his front, and she was kissing him over her own shoulder. She made an mmph sound into his mouth, her front fully turned toward where the Skindancer sat on her throne…
…
Nejire Hado saw Renata Mitoma's eyes linger on Mandalay's front for just a second too long, irresistibly drawn to the sensuality of the spin that Midoriya had just done on her…and Nejire took her chance.
From behind her back, she lobbed a hurling, spiraling wave across the room. FA-WOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
The Skindancer looked back in alarm just as a synchronized shout rang out from all the enemy, and Nejire's attack struck her in the chest, knocking her backward out of her seat. She cried out and moved her arm in a sweeping gesture as she fell, in a blind, wild release of her powerful, fatal Quirk.
A nearly invisible, shimmering blast slashed across the room, and every single person ducked. Akira ducked. Nejire ducked, and sensed the wave travel over her hair, missing her by millimeters, just barely dodging having her intestines rearranged. Midoriya broke the kiss with Sosaki and pulled her to the ground with him, ejecting Smokescreen as he went. FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
…
The room filled with the sixth user's haze, Izuku blasting it from every pore on his body as he pushed Mandalay to the floor and to safety. The burst of the Skindancer's Quirk pummeled the opposite wall and dissipated, having hit no one. Izuku pushed himself off Mandalay, not even making lingering eye contact with her, and the two of them leapt into action amidst the smoke.
A gunshot crossed the room, then another, wild. Izuku found an enemy silhouette and punched it unconscious with ten percent One for All. Lightning wreathed him. Mandalay kicked someone trying to fight her, and then punched another who was fleeing, a gun clattering to the floor. Izuku launched forward again toward where the throne was, the seat materializing out of the gloom…
The Skindancer sat up, but Hado reached her first.
…
Nejire tackled Mitoma messily to the ground, having flown across the room by blasting her waves from her feet, and slammed an elbow into her throat, making her face straight up for a half-second, suppressing both her arms with her own knees.
Then, with her free hand, Nejire opened her palm right above Mitoma's face and drilled an energy wave into the villain's eyes.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The Skindancer, Harbor criminal and scum, screamed, and for a split second in the most indulgent, spiteful, vindictive part of Nejire Hado's brain, it was the most wonderful sound in the world.
…
The last thing Akira Asano saw before he fled the scene with the binder of money was the blue-haired girl, surely no prostitute at all, kneeling over his leader and boss, and mutilating her.
He retreated into the secret exit, masked by the smoke.
…
The atrium of the casino was chaos.
Tamaki Amajiki's heart raced as he and Mirko led a charge of people out into the open space, not just sex workers but other employees as well, all joining the mass exodus, running, running for safety and freedom from this microcosm of hell.
Many Harbor goons were in the lobby. They all stood in synchronized shock upon seeing the stampede coming toward them, throwing escorts off their laps, throwing drinks aside, dismissing their gambling. Four dozen guns rose up at the same time, and nearly that many combat Quirks were charged and activated…
The front doors of the hotel burst open, and Gang Orca and his sidekicks came charging in with a battle cry. Tamaki's heart soared at the sight. "PROTECT THE PEOPLE!" Orca roared, as he dived toward one criminal and suplexed him into one of the round tables, breaking it in two.
Behind Gang Orca's crowd were the rest of the Kijimi heroes, flooding in now like a deluge, the two groups crashing into one another and mingling as a chaotic battle broke out, people fleeing in all directions.
Mirko was laughing, kicking one guy in the face, then another. A stray bullet found a man and sent him sliding across the floor, leaving a streak of blood. Tamaki had no idea if he'd been friend or foe. He kicked a Harbor goon with his horse-hoof, and fired a pineapple at another. "SHIT!" he screamed, the sheer anarchy of the situation pushing his brain into overdrive…
From a side hallway, Izuku Midoriya came flying into the center of the room, landing with a POW, dragging something out behind himself with his blackwhips, glowing green and exuding pulses of power.
Mandalay came behind him, and to Tamaki's utter relief, Nejire as well. Alive. Unscathed. His knees nearly gave out at the sight.
Midoriya quieted nearly all the battle with his entrance. The gunshots and screaming stopped. A hush fell over the atrium. All eyes went to the terrifying man in the center.
Deku yanked the black whip toward himself, revealing that he was carrying a wrapped-up person. A woman with long, dark hair.
"Holy shit," Mirko blurted, "is that-"
A chorus of gasps around the room.
Renata Mitoma cried out, her hands forcibly tied against herself by the whips. She kicked and screamed and struggled, for all the good it did her.
And there was a sizzling smoke coming off her face, her eyes.
Deku lifted the arm that was generating the whips, the ends of them wrapped tightly and securely around his wrist. Mitoma was firmly in his grasp. "WE HAVE DEFEATED THE LEADER OF THIS OPERATION," he declared. "STAND DOWN, OR FACE FURTHER AGGRESSIVE FORCE."
Five seconds later, every firearm in the room had been dropped to the floor, and half a hundred hands had gone up into the air in surrender.
