It was all a blur for Camie.

As the sun came up, she recalled being…carried? Dragged? Away from the Hojos' base. Others were being escorted away, too - hundreds of them. Grownups, mostly men, but women as well. Some protested, insisting they were powerful people, that their lawyers would hear about this, that the heroes were interrupting fair business.

All the Hojos and their allies, being cuffed and arrested and sent on their way. A fleet of police cars and containment vehicles had arrived on the scene, crowding the main strip that went through the middle of Kijimi. Sirens blared and flashed blue-red.

The sun was touching the rooftops. The casinos, restaurants, arcades, bars, theaters…their bright colors seemed faded and dull in the golden morning. But a new dawn had come to the district.

Am I being arrested, too?

An ambulance had arrived. Just one, though. Logistically, the side of good was still weak, with limited resources.

Into that one ambulance, they were loading as many stretchers as they could fit. Camie saw bodies under white sheets, stained red with blood. It all flashed through her head again. It occurred to her that she was being dragged because her legs had given out under her.

Daylight gave way to a cool interior. Hushed, frantic voices moved in and out of her ear. The sound of people running up steps. She was taken around one corner, then another, the floor creaking beneath them, the narrow hallways seeming to close around her.

Then she was in a room. Another room for the infirm. More temporary and makeshift than the one at Seiai, to be sure, but that was still what it was.

"Push two beds together for him!" someone was saying.

Booming, uneven footsteps, as people rushed past her from both directions, almost ignoring her. A huge man was being escorted in.

Camie stared. It was Gang Orca.

He was struggling physically as medics tried to get him to sit down on the bed, and his jaws were snapping open and closed…but no sound was coming out. He was not screaming or roaring.

A nurse rolled a tray into the room, with some strange-looking equipment on it. "I need to do a scan," she told the others, as Gang Orca was pushed onto the multiple beds, straining and nearly breaking them from impact. "He's lost his voice."

Camie's jaw dropped in disbelief. "What about m-"

"You stay put." Nejire Hado was standing in the doorway now. Her eyes glistened. Her chin trembled. "You just stay put right there."

Message from the commander, said Mandalay's voice, her Quirk entering the heads of all the hardworking people. After the prisoners are finished loading, all heroes and police are to meet on the portside road. There are numerous Hojo vehicles there that were stranded in their attempted evacuation. We will be recommissioning these for our use. By the commander's order, all tents and equipment will be loaded into these vehicles and sent out. Then, everyone is ordered to rest until tomorrow morning. Tomorrow we will begin to evacuate ourselves back to UA on a linear schedule based on available remaining transport, and leave Kijimi behind.

A ragged cheer went up from all the personnel, as they pushed the prisoners into the custody vans and the back seats of police cruisers.

"We're going home!"

"Out of here at last!"

"Hear that, criminal scum? Job done!"

Izuku, watching the scene from high on a ledge, had heard the whole thing as well. He wondered if Mandalay, or by extension Commander Hado, meant for him to be a part of the heroes that met on the portside road. They're just checking to make sure the vehicles are safe.

Kijimi stretched away from him in all directions in the morning sun. Birds were calling along the riverside to the east. The place was now clean, and soon to be empty.

What was left to do was essentially chores.

He spotted Fry Cook and some other local heroes emerging from a building, shoving captive villains forward to the last of the vans. Those are the last of the Harbor prisoners. From here it was difficult to recognize the Skindancer, her dark hair a long, tangled mess. Her hands were tied behind her back, and she lifted her face up to the sky, as if drinking the daylight. Her pale blind eyes were surrounded by deep red circular marks.

She should have died, too. The second user.

I told you to be quiet, said Izuku.

Look at those guys down there. You said his name was FRY COOK? Look how smug he is; you'd almost think he caught her himself. These small timers, these local heroes the burned girl has working for her…they worked around here for years before the war and never did a thing about all the crime.

They couldn't have. They didn't have the support they needed. From the Commission, from UA, from anyone.

Or they were lazy. Lazy, complacent, corrupt…

Yeah, and you're a real saint. All you wanted me to do is kill somebody. Shut. Up. Izuku clenched his jaw, trying to clear his mind of thoughts, as if that would make the vestige go away. All those months he'd waited for the second and third users to chime in, and what good were they?

He knew they were like that because they had come from a time like this, too. And that scared him. Was he doomed to become just like them? Did dark times always create dark people?

And don't call Hado-senpai the burned girl, either!

She was so much more than that. How many times had she saved him now? Didn't that make at least three?

The small command circle he'd been caught in, the one where he'd almost killed himself if not for Hado's intervention, had disappeared quickly after Naru's escape. Wherever he was teleported to, he must have decided to retract it. Did he think it killed me?

And, following that…did he know about Marlo?

"Deku."

Suneater had joined him on the ledge. He had taken off his white cloak, leaving him in just his undersuit. His face was drawn. "You alright?" he asked.

"I, ahh…I'll get there," responded Izuku.

The older boy sat down next to the younger. He was chewing on a toaster pastry. There was a second one in the package; he split it and offered half to Izuku, who accepted quietly.

There was still a lot of happy chatter in the road down below.

"They know the boss got away, right?" Izuku mumbled.

Tamaki nodded. "And that he was the only one. They think he can't do anything by himself, I guess. So it's finished in their eyes."

Izuku swallowed a bit of the snack. "I know how his Quirk works firsthand now. If he has it active over an entire factory…then it's not over. Those people are as good as enslaved, and as long as he's alive, they'll stay that way."

"...So you do think he should have been killed?" Tamaki asked.

Izuku took a moment to respond. "I…think that any way of handling the situation, besides how we literally handled it, would have been better."

The older boy seemed pensive. "We didn't kill Overhaul, either. I think Mirio wanted to. And you definitely could have."

"We weren't in charge at the time."

"Yeah, and now that we are, the adults have to bail us out." Tamaki finished eating and dusted crumbs off himself. They sailed off the ledge, carried by the wind. "I was a goner last night without Mandalay. And Gang Orca lost his voice protecting Hado, or something…I didn't get all the details."

"Lost…his voice?"

"Yeah. That wasn't the only casualty, either."

Izuku felt the world tilt. If I hadn't…if she hadn't…

"Where's Camie?" he muttered.

"They're keeping her in the infirmary. I don't think anyone quite knows what to do with her. Me least of all." Tamaki stood back up. "I wasn't made for decisions like this."

Izuku suddenly felt put upon to return the question he'd been asked earlier. "Amajiki-senpai? Are you alright?"

"Well. Even in the career we've chosen, it's not every day that you see a dead body." Suneater walked off.

Izuku ate the rest of the pastry in silence. His stomach gurgled. Not exactly the most filling of meals.

He'd absorbed some cuts, scrapes, and bruises in the battle, but like all the previous injuries he'd picked up out here, save for the most egregious ones like the bullet wound, he ignored them.

But the damage done to his body had begun to build. Not just injury damage, but constant physical activity on low sustenance, and low sleep…

His eyes were heavy now. I should have slept last night.

Instead he'd chosen to hook up with Camie. Something he wasn't even sure how to process now.

Nejire waved the truck out, her hair blowing across her face. Then she returned to the shade of the tent, where more people were packing up boxes of equipment. They had left a field laptop out on a folding table for her, though.

"Nejire-chan?" asked the man on the video call on the monitor. Endeavor. "How soon can you get everyone back?"

"By the end of the day tomorrow," she answered. In Endeavor's background, she could hear voices. "What's all that noise? What's happening at UA?"

The number one hero winced. "They, ah…know that Deku is coming now. They're not happy about it."

"Oh…okay." Nejire felt a bit dumb replying like that. I should say something. I should stand up for Midoriya-kun. But she hadn't been able to convince his classmates; that had taken All Might to do. Civilians were a different beast entirely.

"To be honest, they're not happy about Hawks and me being back, either. But what can you do? We know the enemy army is coming. It's just a matter of what All For One's priority is."

"So the civilians think the heroes are the targets, and the heroes think the civilians are the targets. The civilians want us out because they think they're safer without us?"

"They think they're safer without Deku, certainly. We can assume that whether All For One intends to attack innocents or not, he has to come for Deku. You do have him there with you, right? He's coming tomorrow?"

"Ah…yeah. Sorry he won't talk to you or Jeanist or anybody…I'm honestly worried, Endeavor. I'm not sure Deku is ready."

"He'll have a few days to get ready, at least. And we will be supporting him." Endeavor raised a fist. "I am still the top hero in this country. I will take on as much of Deku's burden as I can…as well as dealing with my son."

"I'll GLADLY help with him," Nejire offered, flaring her nostrils.

"You've…made that evident, young lady. So, tomorrow night, then? I'll let Nezu know."

"Does that make stuff complicated? Are we late?"

"No. We're still ahead of schedule. Hawks and I just got back from the train line. Jeanist returned before us. Edgeshot's team and Lemillion's aren't able to return until after you, along with a couple of other teams. And don't forget the foreign heroes as well. Don't worry, commander, you're making good time."

Nejire was relieved. It seemed like UA and Nezu were at least formulating a plan. Even if the people don't like it.

"Okay. I'll see you then." She waved, and then inwardly cringed at the fact that she just waved at Endeavor on a video call.

"Good luck." He hung up.

Nejire turned around and saw Midoriya standing there.

Her heart ached. He looks terrible. His shower last night meant he wasn't filthy like before, but he was still withdrawn and skeletal.

"You didn't sleep last night, did you." No, that wasn't what she should have said. It sounded like an accusation. She didn't want to accuse him of anything. Even though she was pretty sure she knew exactly what had happened.

Midoriya ignored the question, shifting on his feet. "I'd like to visit Gang Orca."

Nejire had been trying not to think about that. The big hero had taken that blow to save her. After all their fights and arguments.

"Utsushimi-san's there as well."

His face twitched. "...Okay."

Nejire shrugged and bid him to follow her.

It was just a short walk to the infirmary setup, but when they got there…

Only Gang Orca was present. When he saw Nejire and Midoriya, he waved his fins and snapped his jaws, then pointed at the other bed, which was now vacant.

"So, I guess she's not here after all," Nejire squeaked. "Great." She snapped her fingers at some passersby in the hallway. "Hey, hey, are you listening? Did we chain that motorcycle down? Have someone go make sure it hasn't been taken-"

"I'll find her," said Midoriya. "I'll talk to her."

And then he was gone out the window.

It didn't actually take Izuku very long to find Camie. She was on her bike, and nearly out of Kijimi, about to ramp up onto the highway.

He opened his mouth to scream after her, but she heard the sound of his Quirk. She stopped and looked up and back, as he descended from the sky toward her.

He landed. The small shockwave sent a breeze out in a circle, moving her blonde hair in a wave. It glittered gold in the daylight. She turned the motorcycle off, one foot planted on the pavement. Sitting on it and staring at him from a few yards away.

Camie's face was hard to read.

"Are you coming with me, then?" she asked.

"Wha-" Izuku was taken aback. "No, I don't…I wasn't…"

"Hmph. You're gonna leave eventually, though. You won't be able to stand it."

His brain short-circuited. He didn't know what kind of attitude he'd expected from her, but it wasn't this. It was all wrong. None of this was how it was supposed to go.

"What an understanding of me you've reached," he muttered.

Camie bristled. "You didn't exactly make it easy! I told you everything about myself, and you didn't pay that back! Not even once! When we were in bed together, you wouldn't even talk to me about all those scars."

"I…I didn't want to…"

"Yes, I know. You didn't want to. Because you're not in love with me. That's fine. It's not something I wanted to happen, anyway."

Izuku felt it sink in, like cold steel over his heart. She's right.

He was not in love with Camie. All this time…Mirko's advice, Nana's frustrated silence, his positing over what her feelings were…

What…what the hell have I been doing?

"Is it because I left you to die?" she asked. Quietly. A shadow had fallen over her face. "No. I guess not. You're right, Izuku. I don't understand you at all. I can tell you don't love me, and yet…you've saved my life. You helped me so much. Even in bed, you treated me like some precious, perfect thing. It almost fooled me all over again. Why? Why would you do all that for someone you don't even love?"

"Because…that's…just who I am." His voice cracked.

"You shouldn't have held me back. If you hadn't done that, he wouldn't still be out there. The Company Town would be free." Teardrops were landing on her bike. "After you let me go and then got caught in the circle, I…I went for the gun because I knew that I could free you by killing him. I was trying to save you, only…he got out first. And then I just…I don't know, I sort of, reacted…I didn't know what else to do…"

And shot someone else.

"Had you ever…before…?"

A sad, sad smile grew on her face. "Are you talking about the killing, or the sex? That's a hell of a way to grow up in one night, don't you think?"

Izuku just stared at her, baffled.

"See? You're not even sure. Maybe you understand me as little as I do you." Camie turned the bike back on. "You can't change who I am either, Izuku."

The sound of the engine spurred him desperately to find words. "W-wait! Camie, don't run off! Even if everything you said was true, you can't just…! Abandon this! They're not going to arrest you for what you did! Everyone still wants your help!"

Her laugh was poisonously bittersweet. "Don't be a hypocrite, babe." She pushed her leg off the road. "You're gonna let me go, because later you're gonna want to do the same thing. But we belong to different worlds, I think. That one back there is yours, no matter how long it takes you to realize it."

"Camie…!"

"I won't forget how you made me feel, Izuku Midoriya. It was fun. Catch ya on the flip."

And she rode away.

Izuku fell to one knee. Drained. Emotionally and physically. It was all catching up to him at once.

He could not pursue. She was right about that, too.

Inko Midoriya focused on her sewing.

Eri was sitting on the carpet with a yo-yo, trying to make it stall. "I think I almost got it, Mrs. Midoriya."

"Where did you learn it from, dear?" Inko asked idly, not looking up from her work.

"The space girl. Do you know how to yo-yo?"

"Ha. Only the cheating way. My Quirk lets me pull things toward myself. I never learned how to do it without my Quirk."

"Hm. You must use your Quirk all the time." Eri bit her lip in concentration as she managed to stall the toy. "I wish I could learn to use mine for easy stuff. Rewinding a yo-yo…"

"If you did it right, you could probably accomplish the same thing as I did, dear. Rewinding and pulling back, in the case of a yo-yo, are no different."

Eri tilted her head. "I didn't think of it like that."

All Might opened the door, briefly letting in the much louder racket from UA's large group spaces flood into the small room, before closing it behind himself. He seemed sweaty and out of breath.

Inko did look up from her sewing this time, in concern. "You were gone awhile."

"I…yes. My words had some effect on them, I think."

"That's good. Are they still mad?"

Eri stopped playing and paid attention to the conversation, too.

All Might moved to sit down on the bed, heaving an exhausted sigh. "Well…yes. Some of them are mad at each other, actually. There were civilians on our side arguing with the others. So it's not as bad as it could be, only…I don't think I managed to convince anyone that Izuku coming back is a good idea."

"So he is coming back?" asked Eri, eagerly. "When?"

Toshinori conjured a tired grin for the young girl. "As soon as tomorrow, we hope."

"Yay! Deku-san will get to see how good I've gotten with some of these tricks." She returned to her toy.

Both adults had been watching her fondly, and now turned to one another, their expressions becoming solemn once again.

"Tomorrow." Inko tasted the word in her mouth. It had been so very long. And him not even in contact with us.

The guilt from Toshinori was palpable. "Not a day goes by where I don't wish I handled this differently. What my actions have done to your family…"

"Izuku was depressed and possibly suicidal before you came into our lives." Inko's hand trembled. "It's true I'll only get to see him for a couple of days before he goes back to war. The thought of the world resting on his shoulders horrifies me. But it's better than the alternative."

All Might noticed her project in her lap. "That…" he nodded toward it. "Is that what I think it is?"

She laughed weakly, turning it over to show him the front. "I don't know, I guess it's silly, it's just…you told me when you last saw him, that his costume was really dirty and ragged. So I thought…I'd just occupy my time or something…making a new version of his first one. With some…aesthetic upgrades. I know it's probably no good in battle compared to whatever armor or support gear he's got on that real one, and he probably doesn't want to wear a costume from his old mother again…but…I don't know. It helps."

Inko managed not to cry. See that, Izuku? I can get stronger too. She did not notice Eri watching her.

He should have known, really, that Nejire would find him.

"Where do you think you're going?" she demanded. That upset rattle had already entered her voice.

Izuku stopped on the edge of the roof and turned around. It was twilight hour.

Nejire was wearing her costume, of course. It hugged her curves as tightly and perfectly as ever. The color scheme matching sublimely with her hair, which had grown to medium-length and was starting to swirl at the ends. Her skin was smooth, and even the Todoroki-like scarring on the side of her face and neck gave her a fierce, high-cheekboned, mythic quality. Her eyes glowed at him.

It wasn't the first time he had felt warm at the sight of her, and had drunken in all those details. But he was too late to realize what it meant.

"I'm going to the Company Town," he answered. "I'm going to save Lady Nagant, like I promised, and I'm going to save the people enslaved there. Then I'll join the rest of you at UA."

"Shigaraki will be complete in five days."

"I know. I'll be quick."

"Do you want to die?" she whispered, her chin quivering. "Look at you. You're having to use Blackwhip just to stand up."

Izuku looked down. She was right. He hadn't even noticed that.

"I made a promise," he insisted…weakly.

"Is there a plan? Did you figure out a way to get the bomb out of Nagant?"

"...No, but…"

"Because I did!" she burst fiercely, throwing her fists to her sides. "Even though I knew my orders, even though I knew what was best was for you to come back to UA with us now, last night I went and spoke to the Skindancer about whether or not she could take the bomb out. I was ready to use her to help you, just because I could see how badly you wanted to save that woman. That woman who tried to kill you."

Izuku's eyes widened. "Hado-senpai, I…"

"And when I came out, do you know what I saw? I saw Camie leaving your room, and you going after her, and both of you screwing up my plan." Nejire's voice had a venomous bite that he'd never heard before. "And now Gang Orca is…"

She paused, as her volume threatened to rise beyond normal conversation, and turned her head away, jamming her eyes shut. Her knuckles had gone white.

Izuku hung his head.

"I'm sorry," Nejire blurted, quickly. "I shouldn't have-"

"You're right," he murmured. "We did mess everything up. She and I."

"I don't really think that, Midoriya-kun, I'm sorry about how I sounded, I just needed to vent my-"

"We bonded over how we always mess everything up." Izuku chuckled hollowly. "I guess I can't do anything but commit even further, in the end." He stepped toward the ledge.

"Don't go!" Nejire begged, almost in hysteria. "If you go now, I'll…we'll all…what will we do?!"

"You told me that night at the hospital, before we fought Dabi, to trust you and rely on you. So I have. I will continue to. You think I'm some kind of womanizer, don't you?"

"I uhh…wh-what?" She recoiled, going abruptly pale, shocked at the turn of subject.

"I have ghosts in my head, and the only female one has been sending me these weird nonverbal signals. I think this is what she wanted me to figure out." He hadn't come to terms with it until the last conversation with Camie. "You saw Iruka and I come out of that room in the inn. You saw me with Rei at the hospital. You were there when I had to kiss Mandalay. You dug me up out of that hole with Mirko. And now last night, when Camie jumped out my window. And the air is charged with tension whenever we talk about Lady Nagant."

"I…I don't think you're a…" Her eyes darted down to the roof they were standing on, and she seemed to admit something to herself. "I don't know what you are."

"I'm a guy who cares too much about other people." He swallowed and gathered himself. "I'll do anything that someone requests, asks, or forces me to do, if it makes them happy. And I guess that includes…things related to love." She had looked back up at him now, and it was growing more and more difficult to maintain eye contact, but he powered through it. "I'm a dumb kid who doesn't know what love is. I can zip around the streets and punish criminals and face evil all day, but I was never grown up enough to face love from the start." Izuku flattened his mouth. "I suppose I probably made some girls feel pretty awful. I…was never sure if you were one of them."

Nejire opened her mouth, then closed it. She was shaking. He wished he could just step over to her and hug her and comfort her, but he knew that if he did, he'd never convince himself to leave. She also might not want it from me.

"You sh-should…you sh-should…" Nejire's eyes glistened. "If you think that…trying too hard to please other p-people…really is hurting them in the long run…then you should do more of…what you want."

That was true. It was what Mirko had been telling him the whole time, too…but Mirko had been working off limited information, and he had thought about the advice all wrong.

"I will," he promised softly. "And what I want is to go save Lady Nagant."

She sniffled. "W-wait-"

"The Deku that you said everyone wants me to be is not the same as the one I want to be. Not yet. I'm sorry, Hado-senpai." He turned toward the ledge, but looked back over his shoulder at her one last time. "I had a massive crush on you ever since you first came into our class. And since all this started, I've felt something toward you so strong that it makes me dizzy. But I guess it doesn't mean anything now. I've lost my privilege to act on something so important and potent. And you deserve better than someone who squanders love like I do."

He turned his face fully away from her and fired up his Quirk, stepping one foot off the ledge…

…And Nejire's arms wrapped around him from behind.

Izuku paused, trembling, afraid. He hardly believed he'd worked up the courage to say all that, and now she was holding him back…no no no no, please.

Her body pressed against him, warm, seeking, shaky. Her chin was on his shoulder.

"Promise me you'll come back," she whispered. "You'll get that done and you'll come right back. In just a couple of days. Promise it."

He had no idea what this meant. The emotions passing between them were so sharp and undefinable that it had frozen him to the spot.

"L-let me go, Hado-senpai." That was all he could tell her.

She did.

He took off south, toward Minami Ward, where the Company Town awaited.

Nejire did not call out to him. Izuku did not look back.

Looters had taken most of the dinosaur skeleton.

Mustard stepped up onto the platform and kicked one of the loose bones. It sent up a cloud of dust as it rolled. The dust floated up and into the light being cast through the high windows of the museum's atrium.

He'd been hiding in this museum for weeks now, since the abandonment of the amusement park. Attractions like these had plenty of food and supplies in storage compared to houses…perhaps because groups of raiding people would always get distracted by things the attractions had on display. In the Ancient Japan wing off to the left, there were shattered glass cases and dozens of empty picture frames.

Mustard heard the sound of an arriving vehicle outside.

He quickly darted to one of the narrower ground-floor windows at the front of the atrium and peeked out from the corner.

Down the wide front steps of the museum's outdoor plaza, a piece-of-junk car was parking. A long way from your black SUVs, huh? Mustard grinned to himself.

He waited until Naru Hojo was visible, stepping out of the car and carefully up the steps, before he retreated from the window and moved to push open one of the heavy double front doors.

The mob boss had his eyes on the museum's upper floors, but he was alerted to the door's creaking. His eyes narrowed when he saw Mustard. "There you are."

"Are you coming in by yourself?"

Naru looked back at the decrepit car he'd shown up in. "My, ah, driver will stand guard."

Mustard nodded, wondering if there was really a driver, or if Hojo was actually alone. "Shut the door behind you." He retreated into the atrium, slouching.

Naru followed him in, kicking the door closed. The slamming sound echoed through the dusty, cavernous space.

Hojo looked around and whistled. "Weren't you at a theme park last time? Flair for the dramatic, kid." He was in a fedora, overcoat and boots, which tapped against the tile floor as he came toward the lobby's center.

"I have my reasons. It's been some time since you wanted to meet in person."

"Well, as a rule, I can't be seen with you." Naru took off his hat. "The heroes raided early in the morning yesterday. I believe my son is dead."

Mustard clicked his teeth. "That sucks. How are we supposed to escape if the plan goes wrong?"

Naru snarled and reached into his coat pocket. "You little shit. My son is dead and that's what you care about?"

"Didn't you come here to talk about the plan?" Mustard complained. "Other than his useful Quirk, why would I care if the don-to-be got offed? He would have grown up to be as shitty as you."

The grown man pulled out the gun and lunged toward the boy, but the boy whipped his own revolver out right back.

They both halted, a few yards apart. "Ah-ah-ah," Mustard snickered. "You're not king of the hill anymore, my friend."

"You already knew about the heroes raiding me."

"Of course I did." In-between bombings, Mustard had been repairing communications equipment and tuning into any frequency it could find…as well as limited interactions with the remaining people on the streets, of course. His network was limited, but it had borne a few fruits, such as the revolver he now held. God, is it nice to hold a gun again. "Do you know what else I know that you don't? A lot, actually. All For One's army is attacking within the month."

"Attacking…the shelters?"

"Yyyyyep." He popped the p, trying to hide his displeasure with the situation. "Also known as, the schools. Including UA. I only know for sure it's within the month; it could be as soon as tomorrow."

"Explains why the heroes came for me when they did," Naru muttered, half to himself. "They probably know it's coming, too. They wanted to clean me up and pull back to their strongholds. Good. This is good, maybe."

"Good?" Mustard was incredulous. "UA being more heavily guarded than it would have been before is good? Your job was to distract them as long as possible, remember? And now I can only assume you've lost the last crop of my explosives."

"You took forever to set up your little plans, terrorist." The mob boss thrusted an accusatory finger. "I could only do so much distracting. I had that Deku kid in my lounge. Lied to his face, but they figured it out eventually anyway. Had to tell him where the Company Town was, too, just to buy you a few more precious weeks. You hear me? They know where the Town is. That's why this is good! I'd rather them retreat to UA than go for the Town now! The Town's all we have left."

"Deku." Mustard gripped the revolver so tightly his knuckles went white. "He was supposed to stay away."

"I tried to kill him with my Quirk. Got teleported out before I could see it happen, and I never felt the command finish, which means it didn't work. He won't come for the Town, though, if he has All For One to worry about. So we focus on that."

"Without my explosives?! What good will the plan do if we can't…"

Naru belted out a hysterical laugh. "Your explosives. The same explosives I went through every layer of hell to steal and deal and swindle out of the Harbor. Abandoning all my principles of business. What a deluded little twerp you are, truly. We're doing it my way now, understand? You and your video tricks and clues led the heroes right to me."

"And to your rivals in the Harbor, did you forget?"

"You have destroyed my empire!"

"And I'm the only one who can help you create a new one." Mustard dared to stare at the other man's firearm, challenging him to shoot. "I give you my gas to mass-produce, and you give me explosives to fulfill my own goals. That was the deal. The heroes were always gonna end up on our asses. Nothing about the deal's changed, and now our plans intersect at UA. You wanna kill me? You don't get my gas anymore if you do. How are you gonna defeat UA without my gas…especially now that the heroes are fortifying it for AFO?"

"The Town," Naru repeated, his voice shaky. "The Town…is everything. I bet everything on this."

"I know."

"My family is torn apart. Everything my father built. And his father before him. All the old ways, the old artifices. I have nothing but the new. We're going to the Town and finalizing the plan. We're doing it my way."

"With your Quirk." Mustard's voice fell flat. "You'll have to lift it from the Town if you want to make another command area big enough."

"That's fine. One fortress for another. I've always been a gambler."

"We'll have to do it before All For One shows up. The whole point was to use UA as a bargaining chip. Otherwise this is worthless."

"I've thought of all this already-" Naru cut himself off and narrowed his eyes at the boy. "You know something? You hate it, don't you?"

Mustard stirred uncomfortably. "Hate what?"

"Hate that you've had to toss yourself in with me. Have your precious Quirk used as a crime lord's weaponry. But you hate the heroes and the supervillains, too. You're just a little edgy hater, aren't you?" Naru's eyes twinkled malevolently. "Doomed to be alone, hating everyone and everything. You despise that all these schools became shelters. It muddles your political statement, doesn't it? You didn't want to have to kill a bunch of civilians alongside making your point about…education. You despise that the only way to finish your act is through either me or AFO. Came to me in the end, sure…likely because you know the old wrinkled roach won't enact the reforms you want if you tossed in with him. You can't break UA without us, boy. Can't make the future you desire. You'd love to do it by yourself…but you're just too weak."

Mustard growled and lifted his revolver again, but Naru just held up a finger and chuckled. "As if, kid. Here's what's going to happen. That magic secret way you use to get into the schools every time? This time, you're going to find a way to make it happen for me and my boys, too."

"Your boys. You mean what few you have left outside of the heroes' captivity."

"Those would be the ones."

"Get us all inside? How the hell am I supposed to do that?" The bombs were difficult enough to sneak in; it was only because of the nanotechnology they used that made it possible at all.

"Figure it out." Naru put his hat back on and walked backward toward the museum doors. "Otherwise, this all falls apart."

Izuku moved a step at a time.

Unfamiliar buildings loomed around him under an overcast sky.

Trash rolled across the street from a near-silent breeze.

Step. Step. His steel-toed boots tapped.

Every foot forward was like swimming with weights attached.

Several hours ago, traversing with One for All leaps and Float had grown too agonizing. If he wanted to conserve a sliver of energy for the battle ahead, he had to walk. And walk slowly.

Step. Step. Blackwhip kept him upright. Even at his physical limit, he could still use Blackwhip. And Smokescreen. He could still be twice as effective as other heroes, at least.

He had never been this far south. The factory address at Minami Ward was close, though. He was almost there.

Step. Step.

His stomach mewled, hollow and biting. His throat was parched. It looked like it could rain soon, but there was no guarantee.

This was the longest he'd gone without sleep since coming out here.

Can't stop now. Four days. Shigaraki would be complete in four days.

Izuku…

It was Nana. Her voice had not sounded that heavy since their talk inside his coma.

Nana. I'm sorry for my actions with all…with all the girls I've met. And you having to watch…a woman forced to see him succumb to his base instincts as a man. The shame was almost unbearable.

Oh, Izuku. It's okay. Nana sighed. Don't get the wrong idea about yourself. I only encouraged this to start with, after all.

It's true. Yoichi sounded guilty. We all did. We told you it would be a good idea to practice flirting.

I honestly thought it wouldn't result in as much as it did, kid. Banjo. We shouldn't have taken your feelings so lightly. I'm sorry.

Maybe if I'd known more about this sort of thing, I could have advised against it. Shinomori.

You can admit it if you like, En told him. We've been p-retty much useless to you as of late.

That…that's not true! Izuku insisted. Without you guys, I would have…

Well. The situation he was in now was fairly grim. Without the vestiges, would it be even worse? It was hard to imagine things getting any worse.

Nana's voice had grown very small. Izuku, I feel like we have to be honest with you. There's a reason we have been quieter lately, and it's not just because you've been more angry and telling us to shut up more often.

And sometimes we've deserved it, admitted Banjo.

But sometimes it also makes us scared of you. And for you, Shinomori put in.

Nine. Yoichi sounded as if he were about to cry. I am afraid that everything we've done has made you less ready to face my brother and his pupil, not more ready.

And now it's too late, En added softly. There's no more time.

Izuku's stomach growled again. Step, step.

Goosebumps emerged on his arms and legs. Cold sweat dripped down the back of his neck.

You're right. He'd admitted some hard truths to himself in the last couple of days, but this was the hardest of all. I can't face them like this. And it's only gotten worse. They're gonna be there so soon, and everyone's counting on me, what…what do I do?!

The mutual despair amongst the vestiges was nearly enough to make him faint.

That's the thing.

We don't know.

That's why we've been quiet.

We don't know what to do anymore, Izuku. Nana sobbed. We're so sorry.

His real tears echoed hers, dripping slowly down his cheeks beneath his mask, leaking into his respirator.

But he kept moving forward. Step, step.

An hour of slow walking went by.

He was in Minami Ward.

So close.

Izuku wondered why the second and third users hadn't spoken up at all. Were the others making them stay quiet? Maybe they do have the solution for Shigaraki and All For One.

He had a feeling he knew what that solution was. If he went with it, it made his job much, much more simple, at least in terms of planning. Just kill them.

Easy enough to say. Harder to actually do. Physically, at this point, they would kill him first. And take One for All, and ruin the world.

His thoughts drifted. A doomed planet without him in it. His mother distraught. His father hiding in some shelter in the United States. All Might wasting away. His classmates seeing him reduced. It would only be a return to what they thought of him at the start of the year, anyway…a wimp who couldn't succeed at anything, last place, bottom of the table…

Izuku shook himself, realizing he'd strayed into dreamlike scenes, and that his eyelids had grown heavy and nearly closed. His foot was halfway off the ground. He stomped it, intentionally forcefully, and kept going.

The Blackwhips keeping him upright wavered and flickered. He growled and stabilized them, causing a brief spike of headache.

Must stay awake.

How hard could it be? It wasn't that hot out, though it was rather humid, the clouds seeming to be too low over the rooftops, their moisture permeating the air. The buildings all seemed to blend together into the same grey color. How odd. It reminded him of that foggy bridge in his dream with Mirko.

Mirko. Camie. Lovemaking. Nejire. Neijre's face. The feeling of her arms wrapped around him. Sharing a meal with her in the cozy darkness of a storage room, fresh off a victory. Promise me you'll come back.

Izuku's eyesight wavered. What was he looking at? There was…something shimmering in the air. A wall of some kind. A barrier on the street ahead. Wha…

His eyes shut, and the whips vanished. Izuku swayed sideways, and then fell into the dead grass beside the pavement. The dirt caught him softly, and the rush of the fall was not enough to wake him. Exhausted, he drifted away, facedown in the earth…asleep.

Three armed men came upon him five minutes later.

"Hey, look!"

"What's with this guy?"

"Is he…?"

"It's a hero."

"Another set of hands, I guess. We haven't caught fresh meat for awhile."

"It'll be good for the last leg. Boss will be happy if we speed up a bit."

"Get him inside before he wakes up."

When Izuku came to, he was in a pale grey room, on a pale grey cot, dressed in a pale grey jumpsuit.

White lights buzzed down at him. The air smelled of grease and disinfectant. Hushed steps and whispers broke through the fog in his ears.

"He's awake!"

"Where am I…hhrrrr?" He tried to sit up rapidly, and immediately felt a blinding pain in his head, so acute he had to clutch his forehead in one hand, pushing it against his dark green curls. Shutting his eyes.

Wwwwwwooooooorrrrrrrkkkkk, the voice urged. On the edge of audibility. There but not there. Omnipresent.

Oh, no.

His eyes shot back open. There was a hand on his shoulder.

"You alright?" the woman asked.

"Where's my costume? Where's my…" He tried to power up One for All, but as he'd feared, it was fruitless. It was gone. His Quirk was suppressed.

He tried to reach the vestiges, and there was nothing. They were cut from him. The line was smothered.

"No," he gasped.

"...Izuku Midoriya?"

He finally blinked at the woman who was staring down at him with concern.

It was none other than Kaina Tsutsumi. She was dressed in the same jumpsuit as him. Behind her were more people, also in those jumpsuits, appearing at increasing levels of emaciation and exhaustion. All gazing at him like he was an alien.

"I guess they trapped you, too," said Lady Nagant. "Never imagined our meeting would come under these circumstances."

Izuku was frozen with disbelief. "But…what about…"

"No what abouts," said a dark-haired man, standing behind Nagant. "Welcome to the Company Town, kid. You and her are on Team 6 with us. We're back to full numbers now. There's work to do."

Work, the voice reminded. Naru Hojo's voice.

Izuku, his mouth hung open, glanced from all those resigned weary faces back to Tsutsumi. "I meant to save you," he whispered. "I meant to save them all."

"Well," Kaina said frankly, through a flattened mouth, "let's see if we can do it from the inside."