My Hero Academia: Son of Justice

by Jayme F. Midorikawa

The son of the disgraced former greatest Hero of The Soviet Union is extended a chance at a new life by the Symbol of Peace, All Might. After having lived so long resenting Heroes and Villains, and being scared to death of his own Quirk, will he be able to step forward and become the Hero he once dreamed of, and will he be able to find new purpose through friendship, or even love?

27. Vukodlak Arc Part 6 - Recuperation

Hello again, everyone. After an absolute mind-blowing triple-narrative chapter like 'Memory Lane,' and then what essentially boiled down to an MHA-set thriller with 'Hunter's Night,' I think this chapter will serve as a much needed time for you and the characters to all at least try and decompress, because next week, you're all in for an especially big treat. One of the things I've really wanted to try and accomplish with this story, especially in these original arcs, is giving some of the more side characters a bigger role and a chance to really prove themselves. Granted, MHA is a series where every character has at least some size of a devoted fan following, but there's just some characters I wish would get more exposure and more chances to prove themselves, as I'm sure some other fans feel likewise. Hopefully this chapter can scratch that itch for at least some fans out there.

If you like what you've read here today, please, take the time to write an honest and constructive review, voicing your thoughts.

My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters, the original events surrounding them, and the alterations of established events that occur as a direct result of their existence in this universe.

I'd also, of course, like to give another thankful shout-out to my beta reader, Mizu Hikikomori. Granted, personal life has been getting rather busy for them, which has of course limited their direct involvement, but the efforts they've put in thus far is still vastly appreciated, as will any future assistance they can provide once things hopefully settle down.

A/N: [[]] denotes that characters are contextually speaking Russian.

Chapter 26

Recuperation

(Восстановление Сил)

The next few hours that followed felt like some kind of terrible waking dream, or perhaps shellshock would have been a more appropriate summation of how Nikolay Bezpalov and all of his friends were feeling. It certainly sounded more fitting, considering that only hours ago, they had essentially witnessed all of the Heroes of the Kamuron Hero Agency being single-handedly taken down by the Villain, Vukodlak, and it had all been capped off with Nikolay and Minas' mentor and all the kids' all-around protector, Willow Light, being taken as the monsters' hostage.

In the time that had passed since she had been taken, the kids and the fallen Heroes had been taken by the police and emergency responders to the Erubi City Hospital, where the kids were now being kept under full-time police protection, while the Heroes were being kept in surgery. It had frankly been a miracle that, despite the wide range of Vukodlak's meticulously placed bombings earlier, none of the civilians had been seriously hurt, so the hospital was thankfully able to maintain something resembling an air of calm, and the police had since been able to quell the overall panic.

Having discovered what had become of their cities' Pro Heroes, and the danger the now mentor-less Yuuei students currently found themselves in, the authorities had seen fit to provide as many of their forces as could be spared in order to try and protect them, while the rest were still helping rescue services and emergency repair crews try to fix the damage that had been wrought.

Over the hours that passed, the damage to the cities' power station had thankfully managed to be repaired, restoring electricity back to the entirety of Erubi City, and taking a lot of the pressure off the hospital staff, as well as simply helping to ease the nerves of many of the citizens. However, that was about as much as the students were all aware of, as far as progress was being made.

It wasn't until a couple hours after, that the police officer in charge eventually ended up returning to the hospital, stepping in upon the still-shaken youngsters in the detached waiting room that had been designated as the polices' current holding area. When they finally took notice of his presence, they could all clearly see he felt just as awkward in a situation like this as they did, since there were now no professional Heroes for him to report their progress to, especially as the higher ups had been occupied with keeping their forces organized to begin with in light of an out-of-nowhere bombing spree.

"I realize how unorthodox this is, but I figured you children deserve to know how things are looking so far. Thankfully, with the power back up and running, it's going to make the rest of the relief efforts go much smoother. However, the cell arrays are proving considerably more difficult, so we still have no means of contacting the Heroes at Yuuei for assistance. The repair crews are optimistic, though, that we may be able to get them back up and running by sunrise. Then we can finally get some backup out here to get you kids back to Yuuei safely, and hopefully help us fix this whole mess."

Despite trying to sound as optimistic as he could, the officer could tell the students simply weren't feeling it. It wasn't necessarily like he could blame them for that, given what they had just gone through. "Look, I know you've all been through a lot, but we should all just try to remember to be grateful that none of you got hurt, or worse. Plus, from all your testimonies, it sounds like we have some time to formulate a plan to arrest this Vukodlak character before he ends up coming back the next night for Bezpalov-kun, as you all say he declared he would. After he has been apprehended, we can finally really start putting boots on the ground to rescuing Willow Light and Tunguska.

"Vukodlak hasn't attempted to contact you at all in the last hour, has he?" Nikolay couldn't help but look at the officer as though he already knew the answer, before giving a solemn shake of his head, pulling out the phone from his pocket for good measure.

Under normal circumstances, the police would have readily taken all the students' phones as evidence, thanks to their direct involvement in this case, but since Vukodlak had left the police station compromised, and reduced their evidence lockup to a smoldering hole in the wall (the same reason they had to keep the students in the hospital instead of at the station itself), they had no choice but to let the students keep them, albeit on the condition that taps had been placed on all of them for protocols' sake, on the off chance that when Vukodlak would eventually call Nikolays' number, the police would hopefully be able to trace the location and be able to get the drop on him, and hopefully also find the two missing Heroes.

"Officer, please, you need to try and see reason right now. No matter how many of you there are, you're not able to stand up to Vukodlak like you think you can. If you want to be able to arrest him, you're going to need our help." Nikolay suddenly proclaimed, with not the least bit of arrogance as such words would have implied. No, it was clear as day he was speaking out of fear of what would happen otherwise.

Unfortunately, the lead officer let out a weary sigh, clearly having expected one of these kids to say as much eventually. "I'm sorry, but that is out of the question. You all saw what became of the Kamuron Agency Heroes. They've all had years of experience fighting criminals and Villains alike, and that monster took them all down like it was practically nothing. The fact is, you kids wouldn't stand a chance against someone like that, and there's no way we're going to allow you to put yourselves in that kind of danger."

"But that's not entirely true, though!" Mina suddenly chimed in, nearly jolting out of her seat as she did so; her fists tight, and her emotionally distraught pink face reflecting nothing but frustration. "They all did a number on him, too. We all saw it."

Following her train of thought surprisingly quick, Tooru quickly followed suit. "Yeah, that's the whole reason he backed off and said he'd come the next night, anyway!"

At this point, spurred on by the boldness of his peers, even Denki finally found it in himself to speak up against the officers. "If he was really strong enough to go through all those Heroes without any effort, do you really think he would've just left us alone at the end of it? No, he would've gone after Kolya-san without question!"

At the end of it all, Ochako was the one to then put in the final word, trying her best to keep herself as stoic as she could, and not let her own emotions get the better of her. "The fact he's not in top shape anymore gives us an advantage, officer. I think you know it, too. That's why we should all be working together to try and come up with a plan that gets him behind bars, and our missing teachers back."

Nikolay felt his own sense of boldness grow from the examples of his friends, as he slowly got back to his feet, ignoring the pain of his right index finger and left shoulder, as he tried to stand as tall and professionally as he could, looking the leading officer in the eye. "Officer…please try to understand. At first, it was just my Dads' life on the line. Now, because of me, both of our teachers, the people trying to teach all of us how to be Heroes, are at risk. I need to try and do what I can to make this right. We all know I'm the one Vukodlak wants. If you send me away when he comes, there's no telling what he might do to who-knows how many people in order to get to me. Letting me stay and face him is the only way we can avoid any more people getting hurt. Putting yourself in the line of danger in order to fight for and protect people is part of being a Hero, after all, right?"

As confident as the Russian boy sounded, however, it wasn't getting through to the police, as the leading officer just sighed with his own frustration. "I'm sorry, but the answer is no, and that's going to be the final word of it. You kids have already been put in too much danger as it is. We should've had the lot of you sent back to Yuuei, even when you were unconscious. Perhaps then this situation could have been avoided.

"However, there's no point in discussing what-ifs about the past. The fact is, at the end of the day, inherent situational and occupational risks aside, without any official Hero Licenses or any of your official mentors present, you kids simply don't have the legal right to fight, let alone arrest, a Villain. This is the way it's been ever since the onset of Quirks. Heroes don't sign on as part of the police service, simply because of the inherent dangers of their abilities, and the imbalance it would give the societal power structure under which we all live. They are to simply be there as an additional means of rescuing civilians, aiding in disaster relief, and as an additional deterrent to neutralize criminals and Villains so that the police can uphold the law the way it is meant to be upheld.

"I apologize for sounding unsympathetic to you children's plight, for that couldn't be further from the truth. I understand all your worries and fears and desires to help, all too well, in fact. However, the rules are very clear on how these kind of situations must be approached, and the last thing I want for you children, is to either end up hurt, or worse, let alone get in trouble with the law for taking things into your own hands. You're supposed to be learning how to be Heroes, after all, not vigilantes. And it is because of all these reasons, that the moment those cell arrays are fixed, we're contacting your teachers in Yuuei, and having them bring you back, for all your safety. I'm sorry, but that's the end of discussion.

"Now, you all do still have the right to roam the grounds of the hospital, but at no point are any of you to be without police escort. So please, unless you must absolutely leave this room for any reason, I would advise you all to stay here until the Yuuei Heroes arrive to take you back." With that, the lead officer, albeit regretfully, took his leave, and the students were all once again left to themselves, with no other choice but to stew over once again being refused the chance to actually try and do something about this whole nightmarish mess. Having had to sit through the realization of such ultimate powerlessness this many times, when the people responsible for them, the people they cared about were in such grave danger, had left their spirits practically shattered, as none of them could even think of what to say.

At a loss of what else to do at that particular moment, Nikolay and Mina instinctively reached for their phones, for the first time since before the attack at the Kamuron Hero Agency, they had both then realized. When they turned the screens on, both teens felt a sudden shock come over them at what they saw; a reaction that all of their schoolmates immediately noticed, with Ochako immediately asking: "What is it?"

"It's the regrouping signal for all the Kamuron Heroes." Nikolay immediately answered, his voice actually tinged with something resembling hope, with Minas' face almost mirroring the exact same emotion as she showed the map of Erubi City, and the pinging signal on the edge of the screen, indicating the distance of it. Remembering how the very same thing had helped them find Nikolay last night, nearly everyones' looks of despair visibly lightened.

"Sensei must have turned it on right before she got taken so that we could get help and follow it to her!" Mina exclaimed in realization; figuring they hadn't heard the signal earlier, since during the attack when they had been sealed in the bug-out room, she and Nikolay both had the idea of silencing their phones so Vukodlak wouldn't chance hearing them behind the wall.

"How can the two of you be sounding so optimistic right now?" Minoru suddenly asked, practically sucking the energy right out of the room, as all eyes fell upon him and an equally doubtful Setsuna.

"I hate to say it, you guys, but Mineta-san's right. I mean, we've all seen it ourselves. Even with years of Hero experience, neither Tunguska-sensei nor the Kamuron Heroes could stand up to that Villain. In all honesty: what chance would all of us have against someone that freakishly skilled?" It killed the lizard-like girl to see the looks of complete betrayal on nearly everyones' faces, as if they didn't even recognize her right now.

"Well we've still gotta be willing to try, you two! I mean, c'mon, Tokage-san, you're one of the brainiest ones among us, surely you'd be able to take all our Quirks and come up with something, right?" Denki asked with considerable (if not forced) enthusiasm, quickly joined by Tooru and Ochako alike.

"Yeah, Sensei has constantly been saying how real Heroes work alongside each others' Quirks and plan with them; there's definitely ways we could be able to work together like that!" "If we aren't even willing to try and come up with some kind of means of fighting back and getting both our teachers back, then what right do we even have to call ourselves Heroes?"

The invisible girl and the gravity girls' respective comments were hard-hitting enough as it was, but it was when Nikolay and Mina finally got up to join the argument, that the whole room fell silent. Finally, it was Mina who spoke up: "Even before the internship period, Tunguska-sensei has been teaching us all these examples of Heroes a long time ago, the challenges they faced, and how they got around them. They probably had to have thought they were in over their heads at the time, too; yet they still tried anyway. How can any of us know that this might not be our chance to prove ourselves and do the same thing, follow their example?"

Her words had at least left Denki, Tooru and Ochako in considerable thought, before Nikolay finally stepped forward and spoke his final piece: "If we don't do something about this ourselves, and soon, not only will we all be wasting all the training we've been putting in to become real Heroes in the first place, but people who have been looking out for and caring for us, people that I know are important to all of us, will die. And no matter what would happen to us afterward, we would all have to spend what lives we've got left having to carry that guilt with us; knowing that we ultimately chose to do nothing because we were scared."

Needless to say, the room fell as silent as the grave as soon as those words had been spoken. Nikolay had honestly hoped everyone elses' encouragement would have been enough to convince Setsuna and Minoru of their sentiment. However, when they were only met with silence and those same looks of skepticism for a good half a minute, Nikolay felt a sudden onrush of bitter emotion begin building in the pit of his stomach. "I think I need some time," he suddenly muttered to no one in particular before suddenly heading out the door and down the hall, with two police officers immediately following after him.

Seconds after, even Mina, Ochako and Tooru (commenting that she was hungry and they needed to keep their energy and strength up) followed suit; each followed by their own duo of officers, and soon, it was only Denki, Setsuna and Minoru left in that awful, silent waiting room.

The blonde-haired boy looked disappointedly to his two remaining schoolmates, who by now both looked considerably ridden with guilt. Finally, he couldn't keep his own frustrated thoughts to himself any longer: "Are you guys really saying you're okay with just sitting on the sidelines and just hoping the police will be able to reach Yuuei before that Villain comes back for Kolya-san?"

To his surprise, Setsunas' reaction was almost instantaneous: deep-seeded frustration. "Of course we aren't okay with that, Kaminari-kun, we aren't a couple of selfish cowards, dammit! But try to understand: I've always prided myself on being able to strategize around all kinds of situations, but I've still never faced against a legit Villain like you 1-A kids have! I mean, I knew being a Hero, I'd have to face off against one eventually, but I didn't think it would be one so freakishly skilled and violent! I mean, think back on it: both of the times we saw him fight, practically nothing caught him off guard, at least not for long enough to even matter! How do you plan around somebody with reaction times and adaptability skills like that?"

At the same time, Minorus' masked face was simply riddled with an even split between paralyzing fear and teary-eyed sadness. "Yeah, and even if we could come up with some kind of plan, what good would I even be able to do against that monster? It's not like my Quirk is infinite! The moment I'm no longer able to pop off my hair, I become a useless extra wheel, and then I'm unable to do anything and have to watch you all get killed!"

Even though he wasn't expressing it nearly as animatedly, Denki couldn't deny that he was just as scared as his diminutive classmate and friend. However, that didn't stop him from sitting opposite the two and looking them both in the eyes with a surprisingly serious look in his yellow eyes. "You know what? You're both right: we don't know how to come up with some kind of big, fancy plan around a Villain like that, and our Quirks aren't infinite. Hell, I'm practically the poster boy for that. But I still think we should at least go out there and try, you know?

"I mean, of course I can't include you in recalling this part, Tokage-san; but Mineta, we were still outnumbered and outmatched back at USJ, but that didn't stop us from pulling ourselves up and fighting back anyway, right? Even if we didn't really have a direct role in taking any of the Villains down, we still at least tried; we did our parts in helping make it happen, and that's something in and of itself, isn't it?"

Without even hesitating, Minoru looked to Denki and stated matter-of-factly: "Actually, back at USJ, it was essentially because of my hair being so adhesive that we were able to beat and capture all the Villains that attacked us at the beginning."

Denki couldn't help but let out an instinctive grunt that Minoru would take the chance to poke a hole in his attempt at an inspiring speech, before just as quickly remembering how his electricity had taken a good number out back then as well; right before hurriedly shaking his head to get back on track: "Look, screw the details, okay? My point is that we still managed to hold our own in that situation, and right now, we're still only dealing with one single Villain by comparison. Hell, Tokage-san, with yours, Uraraka-san and Kolya-sans' brains on our side, I'm willing to bet money we might be able to come up with something that not even a freak like that Vukodlak bastard will be able to work his way around! But are you really willing to not even try, and still call yourself a Hero?"

Denki nearly felt mentally wiped out, having dug deep down to find the right words to put together, but now that he had ultimately made his point, all he could do was sit there and try to gauge Setsuna and Minorus' reactions, all while silently hoping for the best.

To his chagrin, the two still looked very skeptical, but it was with only the slightest 'tch', that Setsuna ultimately broke the silence, finally lifting her head to look Denki in the eye, the slightest smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth and showing off one of her fangs. "That was cheap, Kaminari-kun, going right for the pride like that; cheap…but effective. But you're already forgetting one big thing: the police.

"As much as I'm sure we would all hate to admit it right now, that officer is correct. The rules of Heroes' working alongside local law enforcement are set up that way for good reason. There's no way they're going to let us step into the fray against a Villain like Vukodlak, and if we just went out to face him ourselves, we'd all be in much worse trouble than just getting our curricular credits knocked down or even getting expelled."

Denki let out a heavy sigh of his own, unable to deny that both Setsuna and the officer from before were both correct. This was one hindrance no fancy speech he could make up on the fly would be able to find a solution to.

---

Nikolay had no destination in particular in mind when he had left the waiting room the police were keeping him and his friends in. He just knew that with his emotions running as high as they were in that moment, and being faced with the seeming willingness to not do anything from Setsuna and Minoru; staying in that room would have inevitably led to his blowing up in all their faces, and right now, making a divide between himself and his friends was the last thing he wanted or needed.

At this point, he had ultimately found himself pacing along the thankfully empty sky bridge connecting the two buildings of the hospital. After a short while, he had decided to stop going back and forth and simply try to find some kind of solace in looking out at the lit up cityscape at night. When he drew his eyes to the sky above, he could see the many of the once illuminating stars had faded, with only a scant few still able to be seen. That was as surefire a sign as any he could think of, that sunrise was going to be here pretty soon.

"You like looking up at stars to think, too, Kolya-san?" The voice of Ochako suddenly broke the contemplative silence, instinctively making Nikolay jump in surprise that she had come seemingly out of nowhere; an apologetic and embarrassed half-smile on her rosy-cheeked face. He had half-expected her to have gone with Mina and Tooru to the cafeteria in the hopes that some sustenance would've helped even a little bit with getting all their heads back on straight.

"Yeah, I guess. If not to think, then just in the hopes that maybe it'd help me calm down. They've usually done that before. Now…not so much," he admitted, before quickly finding himself collapsing onto his behind against the wall of the bridge in emotional and mental exhaustion, with Ochako quickly following suit.

"This really sucks, Kolya-san. I mean, we're supposed to be learning how to be the kind of Heroes that can handle things like this. Now that it's actually here, and we're looking right at it…it's like the whole world is doing everything it can to keep us from just going out there and doing what Heroes do." Even if the Russian boy beside her didn't say anything, Ochako knew her sentiments were hitting him right at home. However, as painful as that was, she had a feeling that knowing someone here was able to relate to his frustration would ultimately have done Nikolay some good.

"You remember how I said that I wanted to become a Hero to be able to provide for my parents? I mean, of course you do, but I guess I'm just trying to ease into my point." Ochako couldn't help but slightly chuckle in mild embarrassment, hoping that would help soften the atmosphere at least a tiny bit.

"Well, in terms of goals, I was always as confident as could be in that. But when it came to actual confidence in myself, like my skills? Well, in that case, I didn't have nearly as much as it might have looked. Throughout all the classes and tests, seeing all of you out there putting your all into learning how to master and strengthen your Quirks, I…I-I honestly felt inferior to all of you, like maybe…maybe I didn't really belong in Yuuei with all of you.

"In all honesty, even though I didn't show it at the time, after I lost my fight with Bakugo back at the tournament…I was honestly about ready to call it quits and just convince myself that at least I'd tried. Inside, of course I didn't want to quit, but my heart just felt so weighed down and broken by how weak and inadequate I felt.

"But then, that's when Tunguska-sensei came, and even after I told him all of that…he said that I did belong, and that I had what it took to be a truly great Hero deep inside. I'm sure he was simply doing what any teacher would have done, but there was such a strong honesty in the way he said it, that he made me feel like not giving up ever. He made me feel confident in myself like I realized I'd never felt before. It was inspiring, almost on the same level as Deku-kun, even.

"When he told me all of those things…I felt deep inside, that if a Hero as experienced and…well, once regaled, as Tunguska-sensei believed that I have what it takes to be a truly great Hero, then I wanted nothing more than to be able to prove that true for both of us. That was why I volunteered for his training, even though I'd gotten twenty nominations after the Festival. He didn't have to go out of his way to make me feel better, but he did anyway, and he made me believe in myself again, and I wanted to show him how grateful I was for that, by stepping up and letting him train me to be the Hero he believed I can be; that I believe I can be.

"But now…now that he's in danger, and I'm not even allowed to go out there and do anything about it…I feel like I'm right back in that locker room, feeling as powerless and useless as I did then. And now, all I can think is…what was the point? What was the point of helping talk me back up and make me want to push myself even harder than I already had, if I'm still going to be just as powerless to fight back against something?"

By this point, Nikolay could hear Ochako beginning to get choked up, but her face was straining, as though she were trying to physically force her tears down her throat in an attempt to try and stay strong. The very faint tugging of a smirk at the corner of his mouth showed he appreciated the attempt, but if there was ever a time to just let it all out, this was it.

"I've been struggling with a similar kind of question too, Uraraka-san. Ever since the end of the Festival, I'd kept thinking about what Dad and All Might had said, about Heroes that try to strike the balance between fighting for themselves and everyone, that balance between fighting solely with your head and solely with your heart. I'd already been trying to think about which of those kinds of Heroes I really wanted to be…and ever since Vukodlak told me to make that decision earlier, I've been thinking about it even more now.

"When I decided to come back to Yuuei, I decided that I wanted to try and be a Hero for both myself, and my parents. During the Festival, I decided I also wanted to try and be a Hero for all of you; all my friends. But now, after everything I learned from Vukodlak about my Dad, about just what kind of Hero my grandfather was, and who knows how many generations even before him were like then…after all of that, now I'm not even sure just what kind of Hero I really want to be. I don't want to be like the ones that came before, but even with what options even sound or feel right to me now…I'm not sure which, if any, is even the truly right answer for a Hero.

"I mean, what if Vukodlak is actually right? What if, by us all learning how to become Heroes, we really are just opening ourselves up to be manipulated by a deeply flawed someone in a position of power or authority who claims that we're doing something for justice or a greater good? Those are such subjective things, and if we end up dedicating ourselves to that, coming from the perspective of another person, instead of what we ourselves consider to be the truly right thing to do, true universal justice…then can we really call ourselves such things as 'Heroes'? Could we really say that real, honest-to-goodness Heroes even really exist?"

Both teens could practically feel the weight of that question come crushing down upon their shoulders. Ochako had her eyes glued to the floor as she tried to think of what, if anything, she could possibly say to try and pick Nikolays' spirit back up from something that serious. In the end, though, she simply gave a defeated sigh. "I don't think I could ever have an answer to that, Kolya-san. I mean, I'm not the right person to ask that, anyway. No matter how you spin it, my motivation for being a Hero is ultimately selfish, because I'm driven by helping people I'm personally connected to, rather than the altruistic desire to just help everyone like other Heroes. I mean, yeah, I do want to help people, of course; but at the end of the day, it's still about making money so I can take care of my own parents, there's no two ways around that."

Once again, she and Nikolay both fell silent, momentarily caught in the pit of defeat that this moral, spiritual pitfall had thrown them in. However, that was when a spark suddenly flashed across Ochakos' mind; a spark of what she could only hope would be realization. "But…you know what I think? I'm just thinking back to the whole story that Villain told you, and that you told us. And I just realized: Tunguska-sensei knew exactly the kind of Hero his father had been, and he knew how he had been involved in what happened to that village, and what he had been convinced into doing, and what it was all for.

"And yet, even though he knew all those things, and eventually knew that he had let himself fall into the same kind of trap…he still actually fought to get himself out of it, all so that he could be a better Hero…and in the end, so that you could learn how to be an even better Hero than him, as well. He still decided to try and better himself so that he wouldn't just be a Hero for one person to tell what to do, but rather a Hero who fights for one real justice for everybody, just like All Might. I think, instead of constantly thinking about what Vukodlak is saying, you should think about what Tunguska-sensei did despite knowing the truth behind those words…and what he's been trying to teach you, teach all of us, instead: how we could all become the kind of Heroes that won't fall for those kind of tricks and lies."

Ochako sounded like she was trying to clarify that whole jumbled mess of an epiphany for the sake of her own understanding, but it had ultimately set a switch of enlightenment in Nikolays' head as well. She was absolutely right, and he had allowed himself to be foolish enough to forget, or just plain not see it. His father had fallen into the same trapped role as his grandfather, but unlike him, he actually fought to be better than that, and he really had been trying to teach Nikolay and all the other students how best not to follow those two old examples.

Thinking back to what Willow Light and Reflector had said before, everything all connected and clicked in his head. For once, his confusion and frustration at his own indecisiveness, at what was truly the right course of action and role for him to take, was swept aside. Now, everything he had taken in over all this time all seemed to coalesce, and he felt a true sense of understanding inside his heart.

"You're right, Uraraka-san. He did do everything he could to be better, to teach us all how to be better. I finally know for certain, about the kind of Hero I truly want to be, I mean. It's like he and All Might said before: I want to be the kind of Hero who can fight both for himself and the people he personally cares about, but I want to be the kind of Hero who protects all the people around him as well. And just like Willow Light-sensei and Reflector-sensei said before: I want to be the kind of Hero who fights with the conviction to put his life on the line if need be to protect others, while also being able to think and plan with the intention of protecting people and surviving at the same time.

"In the end, I want to be the kind of Hero who fights from the mind, and protects and saves from the heart, a Hero with a true sense of personal balance. That's the kind of Hero I want to be…although, I still don't know exactly how I go about being that right now. I want to be able to save my Dad and Willow Light-sensei, more than anything else. However, I also know that when the time comes for Vukodlak to come back for me, then you, Mina, all of my friends, the police, and god-only-knows how many people in this hospital or just in the city in general, will be in serious danger. I don't know how I can strike that balance between wanting to fight in order to save the people closest to me, while also fighting with the desire to keep everyone else from getting caught up in it. I don't know how to separate those two desires in myself so that I can fight without anything weighing me down."

Neither of them could find the answer to that, and it was with that realization that they both found themselves once again looking at the sparse stars still twinkling in the sky, in the silent hopes it would somehow give Nikolay the answer to that elusive balance he was looking for.

"I wish Midoriya-san or Tenya-san were here right now. I have no doubt they would have already figured out a way to beat Vukodlak and get our teachers back, and actually gotten it done." Nikolay ultimately muttered in admittance, and while for a good few moments, Ochako looked like she was reflecting that exact same sentiment, she soon bit her lower lip and looked back to her Russian friend.

"Try not to beat yourself down so much, Kolya-san. The truth is that, at least in mind, you and Deku-kun are a lot more alike than you think; I've seen it. Even when things seem totally overwhelming, you always seem to come up with something, even at the last second; that gets you through. I'm confident you'll be able to think of something even now when the time comes."

The faint smile on Nikolays' face expressed his gratitude for Ochakos' supportive words enough, as she felt a touch satisfied that her sentiment had gotten through. She did believe it, as she was almost certain every one of their other classmates did as well. She could only hope something would come to him sooner rather than later, for everyones' sakes.

---

The hospital cafeteria was almost entirely empty this time of night, which was honestly the kind of peace and quiet Mina and Tooru were looking for, after the tense note things had been left on back in the waiting room.

"Well, it may not be the same as what you'd get at an actual parlor, but it's got to be better than nothing." Tooru immediately announced as she returned to the small table she and Mina had sat themselves at, with two small cups of machine-fed ice cream floating at her sides before she took her place across from the clearly distant pink girl.

"It has to have been more than a full day since you slept, Mina-chan. If you can't do that, then please, at least eat up so you can keep your energy up. At the very least, it's got to help you feel even a tiny bit better emotionally. Ice cream has always done the trick for me." As the invisible girl took her first bite, she was perturbed to see Mina clearly wasn't even listening, still anxiously looking out the windows. Her whole body was just barely fidgeting, but Tooru could clearly hear her feet tapping restlessly against the floor, and her eyes were continuously glancing down to her uniform pocket.

"Mina-chan, you're just going to drive yourself nuts if you keep checking the phone for the long distance signal. The police said they would let us know when they were repaired, so all we can do right now is wait." Without even wasting a beat after Tooru had said so, Mina immediately pulled her phone back out and looked intently at the screen, only to let out another frustrated groan when she saw the symbol for no long distance availability.

Of course, that frustration paled in comparison to the kind she felt when she saw Willow Lights' signal was still going; a constant reminder that she and Tunguska were still in danger, and they were being forced to just stay here and twiddle their thumbs, wasting invaluable time. With each passing second, they were both being kept god-only-knew where, expecting backup that simply wasn't coming.

The tense silence was only increasingly getting worse, which was why Tooru, after taking another uncomfortable bite, finally spoke up: "I have to admit, I was surprised you even came with me here, Mina-chan. Given how upset Kolya-kun was when he left, I would've sworn you would've wanted to stay with him no matter what."

This was what finally brought Mina back to reality, as she just bowed her head in shame. "Of course I wanted to…but with the way things got left back there…I can't help but feel like my being there would just make us both feel worse, because honestly…I'm just as upset as he is."

Admitting this, Mina began balling her pink hands into especially tight, trembling fists, as her lips started quivering with emotion. "It's so damn frustrating, Tooru-chan. Not even just today, but in general. All I've ever wanted was to be a Hero that could help everybody. And yet, ever since I got accepted into Yuuei, I've been unable to do anything each time we've ended up in danger. I couldn't do anything for anyone at USJ, I couldn't protect Kolya-kun from that Villain, and even after that, when we finally found him, I couldn't even save him. Tunguska-sensei had to do the saving for all of us."

Unlike anybody else in a situation where their friend had suddenly opened up to them about something like this, Tooru didn't allow any heavy silence to settle, as she immediately chimed in: "I have to admit, I'm surprised you're so frustrated about this, Mina-chan. I thought you wanted Kolya-kun back safe and sound. Well, he's back with us, pretty much safe and sound, isn't he? We all essentially got what we wanted from it, didn't we?"

"Of course it is; I wanted him back with us more than anything! What I'm talking about is that no matter how hard I try to push myself and train, and try to show everybody that I'm the kind of Hero who's ready, willing and able to do anything a situation asks in order to help people; I've hardly been able to do anything to help anyone, because I keep freezing up when things get dangerous! I mean, ever since the year started, so far all I've been able to do is stop a getaway driver of a convenience store robbery, and that's it. But when it comes to being able to protect one of my closest friends…I haven't been able to do anything."

Mina was beginning to sniffle; her black-gold eyes showing the beginnings of frustrated tears. That was when she suddenly felt the supportive warmth of Toorus' invisible hand on her arm, forcing her to stop and look her in the invisible eye. "Mina-chan, you did save Kolya-kun back there, I don't know exactly what you're talking about with this. Yeah, you didn't face off against that Villain yourself, but when the fighting started, you were the one who rushed to get him out of those bonds and to safety, so you were able to do at least that much.

"Now I'm just gonna ask you this: do you think Kolya-kun really cares whether or not it was you that personally fought that Villain and saved him back there? Don't you think he would really only just care that you were safe and sound, still in one piece? I mean, it was that Villain straight-up attacking you that got you separated in the first place. I'll bet he spent all that time scared to death that you'd gotten hurt, if not worse, and was instead just happy to see you were actually still okay."

Mina couldn't argue that Tooru was right on the money. Nikolay never struck her as the kind of person to have certain expectations of people, especially his friends, so to think that he would've somehow thought less of her as a Hero or person, simply because she wasn't the one to solely come to his rescue, was just plain ridiculous. "No…no, you're right. Worrying about me or anyone else before himself, that's exactly what he would've been doing."

Tooru instinctively smiled in satisfaction to see Mina was following her train of thought, and thus continued: "In fact, I think it goes without saying that, had the roles been reversed, and you were the one that had been taken, Kolya-kun would've been exactly the same as you were, pretty much on the verge of a complete panic attack, ready to turn this whole town upside down to get you back. And if things had played out then the way they have for us now, and someone else had gone and saved you and he couldn't, I'm sure he'd be exactly the same as you right now, beating himself up for something he had no control over."

Mina was unusually silent for a short while after the invisible girl had reached this point. She could clearly see that the pink girl was very deep in thought, trying to figure it all out for herself, or at least put everything back in its proper perspective. However, given the sheer weight of what they had already gone through and were still currently facing, Tooru couldn't keep one especially prominent question to herself anymore: "Mina-chan, let me ask you something else, and don't feel like you can't tell me the truth, because you can. In fact, I want you to. So, here it is: given how big and scary what we're dealing with right now is, and the way you pretty much just admitted you're feeling…are you thinking of quitting? Trying to be a Hero, I mean."

To her surprise, but even more so to her relief, Minas' change in demeanor and answer was instantaneous: "Of course not! I just told you that being a Hero is all I've ever wanted, and nothing can change that, especially me being scared! I mean, if anything, being scared just makes me want to stick to it even more, so that maybe I can learn to not be so scared next time, and actually be able to do something to help people then. So no, I'm never gonna quit, no matter what happens, and especially as long as I've got all my wonderful friends there right next to me."

The confidence and self-determination evident in Minas' face and tone as she said this; downright lit Toorus' own spirit right up, smiling brightly at the sight of her pink friend having regained her real self so thoroughly and quickly. "I know you can do it, Mina-chan, we all do, especially Kolya-kun! As long as we all stick together and cheer each other on through the hard stuff, I know you can become a much stronger, smarter and braver Hero!"

Mina felt almost completely rejuvenated, having finally gotten her grievances out in the open, thus making the room to get her drive back. However, as good as that felt, it ultimately didn't change the one thing still hanging heavy over all their heads. "Still, even if that time comes in the future, all I want right now, more than anything, is for us to get Tunguska-sensei and Willow Light-sensei back, and put that stupid Villain in jail for what he's done. I know everything will definitely feel a lot better as soon as that happens. I just wish we were actually able to do something about it, instead of being forced to stay here like we're in time-out. I get that it's the law, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating."

To no ones' surprise, the return to this particular obstacle caused Toorus' shoulders to visibly slouch (at least, Mina could only assume by the disappointed sigh from her invisible friend). "Well, at least if the opportunity presented itself, you and the others would actually be able to do something about it, Mina-chan. That's more than I can do."

It was unusual for the chipper invisible girl to suddenly start sounding so down, and she could tell that Mina wanted her to elaborate, from the inquisitive glimmer in her eyes. "Honestly, I still don't know why Tunguska-sensei hasn't given up on me yet. I mean, my Quirk just makes me invisible, and that's it. It doesn't do anything for my capabilities in a fight, like yours and everybody elses' can. If things get intense enough, I'm practically useless in comparison."

This time, the roles had fully switched, as Mina was now quick to put a reassuring hand on Toorus' gloved hand, earning a momentarily surprised gasp from the other girl in response. "Tooru-chan, don't sell yourself short. Your Quirk makes you a force to be reckoned with all your own in a fight. As long as you're always moving and keeping yourself unable to be followed, no bad guy would ever be able to follow your movements or figure out what you're going to do next.

"Unlike the rest of us, you always have the element of surprise on your side, both in and out of a fight, and that's huge. I'm willing to bet that's why Tunguska-sensei is always cheering you on, because he knows it, too. At least, I can only assume that's why. But the point is that he obviously hasn't called quits on you for a reason, so maybe you should try to hold onto that, instead."

Tooru didn't know what to say at first. In all honesty, Minas' guess as to why Tunguska kept her around made sense. The man clearly did the things he did, made the choices he made, for good reason, and keeping her on board despite the incredibly limited properties with which she could work with her Quirk, clearly had to have been for just such a reason. She just needed to figure out what she could do in order to justify that for herself.

Of course, when she once again noticed the deeply worried look in Minas' eyes, thinking back to her attempt at pepping her back up, the invisible girl couldn't help but start chuckling in genuine amusement. "You know what I just realized, Mina-chan? You said that I could make it so that nobody would ever be able to keep track of me in a situation? Well, if I were to do what you're suggesting, I'd have to ditch my costume and pretty much just go around in the nude everywhere in order to do that. As smart an idea as you made it sound, I'm not risking doing that with Kaminari-kun and Mineta-kun around."

This time, Mina couldn't help but start laughing amusedly right alongside her, before pointing at her with a sly smirk on her pink face. "Well, to be fair, Tooru-chan, your costume is just a pair of gloves and boots. So aren't you kind of running around naked already? I mean, seriously, you made the choice of coming all the way out here in just your costume like everybody else, so you've been running that risk for a while, already."

Tooru showcased her momentary indignation, a heavy blush where her face had to be, before bringing her gloved hands up over where her chest was out of pure reflex. "For the record, wearing boots and gloves is not the same as full-on streaking, no matter what anybody would tell you, otherwise!"

This answer only made Minas' amused smirk that much more devious-looking, leaving Tooru squirming nervously in her seat. "Wow, Tooru-chan. For acting so timid right now, you sure seem to know a lot about what counts as streaking, don't you?"

Both girls couldn't help but break out into deeply amused laughter, both of them thankfully considerably lighter in spirit than before. Even if it were at her own expense, technically, Tooru was frankly grateful that she could have done something to cheer her friend back up.

As soon as they both stopped and caught their breath, Tooru glanced back down to her cup, only to find that even in her complete inattentiveness, she had still habitually eaten all her ice cream, yet still felt her stomach rumbling. To her mild embarrassment, Mina did as well, as she immediately got up herself. "How about I get some more for both of us? You're right, I haven't eaten in more than a day, and I'm starving. Kitchen staff isn't here, so this'll have to do."

It was barely a minute that passed as Mina quickly refilled hers and Toorus' cups, before just as quickly returning to their table, only to find the invisible girl in the middle of looking over her cell phone, while Minas' had still been sitting at her spot across from her. As soon as she noticed the pink girls' return, Tooru hurriedly stuffed her phone back underneath one of her boots, an until now un-admitted disadvantage to the design of her costume when it came to travelling while still trying to maintain contact with the others. "What's going on? Texting something you don't want anyone else seeing?"

Tooru playfully waved her hand in denial at Minas' suggestive question. "Of course not; I was just checking to see if the long-distance signal was back up; still nothing. I guess your habit's rubbing off on me."

As soon as both girls had finished their respective cups, they began making their way back to the waiting room with their police officer guardians still dutifully at their sides. Halfway through, however, Tooru suddenly came to a stop. "Actually, I need to go use the bathroom really quick. You go on ahead and I'll catch up, Mina-chan."

With her own two police officer guards understandably nodding and placing themselves outside the restroom door upon her entering, Mina and her own officers continued on their way back; the pink girl grateful to her invisible friend for having managed to cheer her up at least a little bit. She could only hope the rest of her friends had perhaps taken the time to simmer down as well.

---

A rather forceful nudging to his still immensely pained side stirred Tunguska back to consciousness, still greeted by that insufferable darkness. He could hear the by-now unmistakable sound of Vukodlak's breathing, but this time he was joined by the sound of a noticeably female voice sounding as though it were stirring awake as well, from right behind his place on the floor, in fact.

[[You were out for quite a while there, Tunguska, especially for a man still as strong as you. I suppose losing a couple fingers is a lot for any man. Still, I didn't want you to sleep through the whole thing.]] Tunguska tried to ignore Vukodlak's obvious attempt at getting under his skin, but that was when his nose picked up a heavy, and unsettlingly familiar scent in the air: that of human blood.

[[Kolya…you animal, what did you-?![[I didn't do anything to your boy…not yet, at least. You have your new little cellmate to thank for that. She and her Pro Hero friends proved much more of an obstacle than I had given them credit for.]] As Vukodlak explained this, Tunguska instinctively turned his head to try and get some kind of idea just who else was here with him now, even despite the encroaching darkness. From what few glances he'd bothered to spare to the other Heroes on scene during the fight from yesterday, he had to assume this was the one with her own fancy light tricks; the one Nikolay had identified over the phone before as his and Minas' mentor.

[[Still, for as much of a hindrance as they were, neither they or anybody else will be getting in my way again, so in due time, Kolya and I will have our little appointment. At least, you should hope that's the way it goes, because if Kolyas' little friends do decide to try and get between us…well, the consequences will be on them…and maybe partially on you for giving them such a foolish example to follow, in your idiotic attempt to try and prove your precious idea of real Heroes being able to exist.]]

Instead of the remorseful silence he had already been coming to expect from the Sun of Justice, Vukodlak was instead answered with the at first, low rumbling of angered growling, before it quickly grew into the kind of barely restrained rage that he could feel beginning to shake the walls around them. Such a reaction drew a very surprised smile to Vukodlak's masked face.

[[Well, now, isn't this a surprising reaction, Tunguska? I would have expected this if I had simply threatened Kolya on his own, but bringing those other kids into it; children who aren't your own flesh and blood? You've grown much softer than I gave you credit for, haven't you?]]

Tunguska had to resist the brutish urge to spit in his captors' face, able to tell from the volume of his voice that he was leaning right in next to his head. He could practically feel the triumphant smile on the Villains' face, to boot. However, while he wouldn't resort to such crude temperaments, he wasn't about to grant him the satisfaction of the silent treatment. [[No matter what you do to try and convince yourself, I was never as selfish as you like to accuse me of being, Vukodlak. Yes, I lied to you, but you've never bothered to consider all the reasons why; just the ones that you think justify your actions from then to now.

[[I didn't lie to you in the beginning solely for my fathers' sake, Vukodlak. I took you in because I genuinely wanted to show you there was a better path for you to take. I wanted to save you from the fate you were leading yourself toward, because helping everyone is what real Heroes are supposed to do! But in the end, it was your anger and your sense of victimization that led you right back to what you once were. Yes, I should have told you the truth, but don't act as though I'm the one solely to blame for us now being where we are. You bear just as much of that weight as I do. You could have made the choice to move on from your past, and be the better man, the man I believed you could be. Instead, you chose to go right back to your old ways, and yet you refuse to accept your own role in all of it…and that's why I can't even see any of the man I once called my friend in you anymore. All I see now is the monster called 'Vukodlak', the monster you yourself created.]]

Tunguska could hear a distinctly shaken edge to Vukodlak's breathing. He could tell his words had gotten under the Villains' skin in kind, and he was exercising every ounce of restraint he had to keep from acting on it. At first, it seemed as though he actually would…until Tunguska could hear his pounding footsteps hurrying over to where he sat, sounding like he was charging forward to deliver a devastating kick right to his face.

At the last moment before he could sense impact was about to come, the air was suddenly split by an unexpected mechanical sound; the sound of a delicate form of machinery seizing up…and it was coming from where his ears knew Vukodlak was standing. With the sound of a single heavy foot landing back on the ground, the Villain let out an immensely frustrated groan. [[Dammit. That bitches' friend with the metal rods must've knocked something loose, or frayed something I wasn't aware of. No matter, I can fix it. Might as well let you get a good look, as well.]]

There was a sudden sound of something mechanical detaching from something else of the same nature, like the sound of decoupling. All was silent for a moment afterwards, before Tunguska felt something undeniably made of metal touching against the side of his face, making him instinctively flinch. However, Vukodlak wasn't letting up, as he began running the surface of the object he now held in his hands against the Heroes' face, letting him feel the shape.

[[Given what just happened, and what you were just lucky enough to avoid, I think you're smart enough to figure out what this is, right? Let's just say that little stomp you gave my right leg during our last fight, did more of a number on me than I'm sure even you were aware at the time. The doctors couldn't do anything for it, so the governments' technicians made me a nifty little replacement once I got let out as a new government thug. It's come in real handy, too. Pretty fancy craftsmanship; feels and moves pretty much just like the real thing. It's only when it seizes up like this that I'm reminded it's not my real leg.]]

Vukodlak's now-hobbled footstep away from Tunguska echoed through the room, until the metallic sound of the leg being placed on a crafting table across from them split the silence, and Tunguska could soon hear the sound of casing being taken off, and tiny mechanical pieces being fiddled with, and wires being soldered. Had it been literally anyone else, the Russian Hero would've been impressed that a blind man could expertly repair genuine robotics in complete darkness.

[[Best take this new little factoid in, Tunguska. You say I have just as much responsibility for where we now stand as you do. You say that I'm simply the monster that I myself created? Well, best follow your own advice and accept your responsibility for the monster, too. This is just one of the parts you personally contributed. I'm partially a monster of your own making, and just like the modern day Prometheus that was Victor Frankenstein, the monster you helped create is now coming after everything you have left to love and hold dear, and if the rest of those little kids you've been looking after at Yuuei, as well as your fellow Heroes over there, have to fall in the process, then so be it.

[[It's only a matter of time now, Tunguska. As soon as I fix my leg and patch u my injuries those fools gave me…the twenty-one years of reckoning you deserve will finally begin. So I suggest you cherish the time of peace you have left while you can.]]

With that, Vukodlak suddenly boxed up his repair tools, grabbed his prosthetic leg, and proceeded to expertly hop his way out of the cell, effectively leaving Tunguska and the female Hero he had by now concluded to be Willow Light, alone in this musty darkness.

Able to tell by her breathing that she had since regained consciousness, Tunguska gave only the slightest nudge against her with his elbow to try and get her attention; which he could tell he had already gotten, once again by the rhythm of her breathing, clearly trying to remain calm and collected. "Tell me, do you speak English?"

To his immense relief, the woman behind him immediately replied in kind in a barely hushed whisper: "Yes."

Capitalizing on this, Tunguska immediately went on, keeping his normally booming voice as close to mute as he could for both their sakes: "Good, as long as we stay quiet, we can communicate without too much risk. In all the years I've known him, Vukodlak never learned English, so we have to operate on that same assumption for now. I know you're the Hero who as mentoring my son, Nikolay Bezpalov; you match his description he gave me before all this. Please, can you tell me if he's safe?"

The momentary silence he was initially met with led Tunguska to start assuming the worst, before Willow Light finally spoke up: "From the way things were the last time I saw him and the other kids, yes. I'm not sure how much time has passed since then, but if things have gone as well as I'm hoping they did, then they've already informed the police of what happened, and they've in turn contacted the Heroes at Yuuei to come get the kids out of Erubi City, and provide backup. Bezpalov-kun and Ashido-chan both have a special app reserved for Heroes of my specific Agency on their phones, and I activated my homing signal before that bastard knocked me out. As long as either one of them gave those Heroes their phones when they arrived, then they'll be able to find us without any trouble. Maybe get the drop on that bastard, too, while they're at it."

She sounded especially confident in this plan, which was why it pained Tunguska to have to answer to the contrary: "I'm afraid it's not going to be that simple. You all don't know Vukodlak like I do. He's much more careful and thorough in his planning than you think. A simple convergence of police officers and Heroes isn't going to catch him so off guard. But if I know the Heroes at Yuuei as well as I do, they'll surely be able to come up with a plan to get him off guard.

"I just hope you're right about the kids getting taken out of here. Kolya has always been driven by his emotions; I can only imagine how he must be feeling right now…how any of those kids must be feeling. I just hope they don't do anything impulsive; not here, not now, not with him."

---

In the time since his discussion with Ochako, Nikolay had taken to once more wandering the halls of the hospital on his own (police guards not withstanding), needing the time to further ruminate on just what kind of self-reflective discovery he had ultimately made, and the question that still hung over his head alongside it.

The reveal of the essential balance that Willow Light and Reflector had imparted unto him and his friends continued echoing in his head over and over, even more so as he now stood before one of the larger hospital rooms, unable to ignore his own regretful curiosity that drew him to looking through the door window, seeing the immediately familiar figures of all the Kamuron Heroes laid out in their beds, all adorned in varying amounts of casts, slings and bandages.

The sight of such clearly skilled Pro Heroes in such a frankly pitiful state left Nikolay with a frightened and mournful chill, but he refused to let it bleed through into his thoughts, wanting to simply hang onto the perplexing-yet-inspiring train of thought he had been going over for the last forty-five minutes instead. Ultimately, he refused to let the sacrifice those Heroes had made for all their sakes be for nothing.

It wasn't long after he saw their guardians like this, that one of the police officers that had been watching over him, suddenly approached and lightly tapped the Russian boys' shoulder, drawing his attention. "I'm sorry, young man, but we've just been informed the rest of your schoolmates are returning to the waiting room. We should bring you back, as well."

Nikolay knew this awkward reunion after the tense air they had left off on, was inevitable. And so, with a sigh of heavy acceptance, he proceeded to follow the two officers back the way they had ultimately come.

To his unspoken yet clear-as-day relief, however, when he had finally set foot back in the waiting room to find all his friends gathered back together, with the exception of Tooru, he could physically feel that most, if not all, of the tension had thankfully faded. He wasn't about to ruin the moment by asking everyone to explain, but he could clearly tell that they had all gone through the same kind of self-reflection and discussions as he had, and it had ultimately proved just as beneficial for all of them as well, now having a better understanding of where each other stood, and their respective emotions on everything they had gone through up until now. The more at-peace smile on Minas' face, especially, did much to cement the much more improved mood among the handful of young Heroes.

Almost as soon as Nikolay had re-taken his seat, the students were soon greeted by a doctor, accompanying the familiar leading police officer from before. There was an understandably serious intensity in the doctors' eyes as he looked over the kids before him. As soon as the lead officer gave him a nod of approval, he finally spoke up: "I understand it's not typically policy to inform anyone but the patients' fellow Pros of their conditions, but given the unusual circumstances of this case, and considering you were all directly involved with the patients, I feel it's only fair that you all be informed of their conditions as they stand right now.

"As it stands right now, Reflector, at least comparatively speaking, has come out the least injured. He's still suffering some third-degree burns from the fire at the Agency, but his action to take cover when he did made the most difference. Big Trouble has also managed to come out considerably light, despite the numerous broken ribs and concussions he's sustained. Ninja of Valor, however…his condition was much more serious. We've managed to patch up his wounds and help stabilize his condition, but I'm afraid he's going to be out of commission for some time."

They all knew there was one more Hero the doctor had yet to get to, and the fact he was actually stalling on this one, left all of the kids visibly nervous of just what they were about to hear. "As for Master Mesh…we've done everything we possibly could. His condition has been stabilized, but I'm afraid he's going to be…he's going to be looking at paralysis from the waist down from this point forward. As it stands, he simply can't go back to Pro Hero work anymore."

The doctor, and all of the presiding police officers, could feel the air in the waiting room go cold as the gravity of just how thoroughly all those Pros had been beaten, officially sank in for the students. None of them could bring themselves to say it, but to know that Heroes with so many years of experience had been defeated so thoroughly, had left them beginning to consider the genuine wisdom of going back to Yuuei and letting the Heroes there take control of this situation, after all.

The doctor gave a single approving nod to the lead officer, who began to step forward and speak up, before everyones' heads perked up at the unexpected sound of a quickly approaching pair of footsteps rushing down the hall for them.

As soon as the lead officer turned to address the sudden intrusion, he was met by the sight of two of his officers, both looking absolutely panicked. "What on earth is wrong? What could possibly have you two so pallid?"

When the students all looked to see, they all felt their hearts skip a beat, as they immediately recognized these two officers as the ones that had been watching after Tooru. "Sir, we're terribly sorry! We regret to inform you that…Hagakure Tooru-san has left the premises of the hospital under our watch."

Nikolay and all of his friends immediately shot back up to their feet in shock and disbelief, while many of the police officers looked likewise blindsided, with the lead officer barely managing to keep his composure. "How? How could you let her just run off from right under your noses?!"

The two officers instinctively flinched, but at least one of them was quick to answer: "We didn't think it would happen, sir. She simply said that she needed to use the restroom before returning to this room, so we decided to stand guard outside for her. We didn't think anything of it after the first couple minutes.

"Afterward, we both agreed it was taking too long and decided to check in that everything was alright. When she didn't answer, we decided to investigate and take full responsibility for whatever would happen…and that's when we saw the window to the restroom had been forced open, and Hagakure-san was nowhere to be found, not even her gloves and her boots were left behind. She was just gone."

Nikolay, Mina and the rest of their schoolmates all exchanged disbelieving glances with each other, all of them thinking essentially the same thing: 'what the hell is she thinking?!'

Before the lead officer could even begin to start giving orders, Mina had immediately pulled her phone out of her uniform pocket, already halfway to speed-dialing Tooru and imploring her to come back. However, the instant her screen came on, her determination turned to confusion, which immediately drew everyone elses' attention.

Displayed on Minas' phone, was the screen for the Kamuron Hero Agency Regroup app. Seeing this, Nikolay looked to see the completely confused look in Minas' eyes. "I don't understand; I didn't even open this up the last time I checked to see if the long-distance signal had come back. That was barely ten minutes ago back at the cafeteria."

However, the moment Mina said this; her eyes went wide as her head perked up, a dawning of realization evident upon her face. "When I came back to the table, I saw Tooru-chan on her phone, and she put it away like she was in a hurry when she saw me coming back. After that, it was right when we were leaving to come back when she said she had to use the restroom, and I didn't think anything of it after. You don't think it's possible that she…?"

However, even Mina couldn't bring herself to finish asking her own question. It was so obvious to every single one of them in that room. Even Nikolay and Mina couldn't see how it could be any other way, having seen how easy it was for something that was meant to be so exclusive to get added onto the phones of a couple interns.

Surely, Tooru had to have installed the app on her phone through checking it out on Minas' while her back had been turned. From there, she had to have snuck out in order to try and find Willow Light through her signal, all on her own.

All at once did Mina feel a sensation of overwhelming guilt start building in the pit of her stomach. She had gone and told Tooru how her invisibility gave her a huge advantage. Had that been the trigger for her to actually go out and do this, all by herself?

While the students were all at once figuring this out for themselves, the leading police officer was already going into action, barking orders to several of his fellow officers: "You men, I want you to start mobilizing and patrolling every street spreading outward from this hospital! Call in the others from the relief efforts across town to add eyes if you have to! We need to get Hagakure-san back here at once!"

As soon as the other officers immediately began bolting for the exits, with enough staying behind to keep watch on the remaining students, all the teens immediately began converging on the leader; looks of sheer desperation written on all their faces, with Setsuna actually being the one to speak up: "Officer, please, you need to let us help! We could be able to convince Hagakure-san to come back, I know we could!"

However, Setsunas' attempt to appeal to the man in charge of their group confinement fell upon deaf ears, as he didn't even wait for her to finish before shaking his head. "I'm sorry, but the answer is no. Having one of you kids go AWOL like this is bad enough, I can't have you all running about out there, scattering to the winds and putting yourselves in danger while that Villain is still on the loose. I'm staying here to make sure none of you try going after her, if that's what it's going to take."

His words were final, and to his silent regret, he could see they left the students in a new kind of despair under his and his officers' watchful gazes. Out of nowhere, one of their very own had decided to screw the rules and go off on her own, effectively throwing her potential Hero career, not to mention her very life, under the bus. And just as before, the rest of the Yuuei students found themselves slowly being crushed underfoot by the powers that be refusing to give them the legal right to even go after one of their own friends. Being caught between their desires to act on their hearts and save their friend, and their fear of destroying everything they were all still working towards by acting out on their own, frankly left all the students feeling as though they were being torn apart from the inside; their mutual frustration reaching a shared paramount.

---

It had only been barely more than five minutes after she had snuck out of the hospital, but for Tooru, it felt like she might as well have been running nonstop for hours. Even in her ongoing rush, she still had the wherewithal to keep to the alleys, narrow side streets, and even just staying off the main roads in general, knowing that by now, the police would undoubtedly be looking to take her back.

She felt terrible, having to go against what the officers that were ultimately there to protect her and her friends had advised, and doing this behind her friends' backs on top of that. However, knowing how much it was torturing them to have to stay put when they had an actual idea where to look for their teachers, she knew she couldn't justify doing so herself anymore. And honestly, if any one of them had the capability of pulling this off with a chance of things going off without a hitch, she now knew it was her.

With every step she took further and further to the outskirts of the city, and further into the forested hills, she simply kept reminding herself of everything Mina and Tunguska alike had said; the reminder that no matter what Tooru herself thought, her Quirk made her anything but useless, and it gave her an advantage in any situation unlike anybody else. She needed to keep reminding herself of their encouragement; she needed herself to believe it now more than ever. All she could do as she kept advancing, though, was silently hope that her friends, and maybe even the police, would ultimately forgive her for doing this.

She kept switching her gaze from the map on her phone to the increasingly hilly, root-laden terrain before her, continuously checking to make sure she was following the right direction towards Willow Lights' signal. The trek felt like it was taking far longer than it actually was, but all Tooru knew was that she had at least traveled far enough that she could barely even see the roofs of the city anymore through the trees behind her, before she realized that the icon for the regrouping signal she had been following, had actually inched into the screen itself, instead of simply staying stuck to the periphery.

She was actually getting closer!

Tooru had to resist the urge to speak out loud in thanks as she began hurriedly approaching the signal in the direction it indicated. The further she went, she found no telltale signs of any kind of settlement or a place for someone to be hidden. For a moment, the invisible girl began to fear that perhaps Willow Light had actually dropped her phone along the way, and this would ultimately prove to be nothing but a wild goose chase.

However, after another five minutes, she came to a sudden stop when she could actually see the exterior of a clearly abandoned house nestled among the brush and trees, definitely very easy for someone to miss if they weren't looking hard enough. Checking the map once more, it looked like the icon for the signal was nearly dead center on the screen. This had to be the place it was coming from, there was no other explanation.

Tooru instinctively began to step toward the house, before a sudden flash of remembrance hit her hard. Back at the observation tower clearing, right before Tunguska and that Villain had started fighting, when she and everybody else had been trekking through the woods to get there as well, she remembered someone had accidentally broken what Big Trouble had recognized as a tripwire, and that had alerted Vukodlak into almost attacking Nikolay, causing the fight to begin with.

There was no reason to think a villain who'd proven as thorough and clever as him, wouldn't think to set up such a thing here as well, especially if this was where he was hiding out, or keeping Tunguska and Willow Light prisoner. With that in mind, Tooru slowly retracted her booted foot, looked down, and nearly felt her invisible skin rise when she saw there was indeed a wire set up between the two trees she was currently standing behind. Had she gone ahead like she had planned to, she would have definitely broken that thing, and who knew what would have happened then?

Slowly lifting her gaze, Tooru swallowed a dry lump in her throat when she saw there were multiple such wires strung up between the trees surrounding the house, with others even hidden in the brush at the level of her feet. Sucking in a quiet, steadying breath, the invisible girl slowly, carefully began tip-toeing her way over the wires she could see at her feet, while carefully leaning and ducking her way through the wires between the branches and trees. There were definitely some moments that were way, way to close for comfort in how close she had to get to touching some in order to sneak her way through.

In the end, however, she eventually managed to make it out into the clearing the house sat upon, with not one wire being snapped. Tooru let her body go through an instinctive shiver of just how close that had been; all the while simply being grateful she'd managed to pull it off.

She could see the sliding front door to the house stood wide open, and she therefore began intently making her way for it, before just as suddenly stopping herself again. At this point, it was pretty clear to her and everyone else that this Vukodlak character had above-average hearing, and this house was definitely very old, which to Tooru, meant very creaky floorboards, not helped by the considerable boots on her feet.

Knowing what she would have to do in order to keep up her low profile, she took her phone out of her boot and slipped it inside her left glove against the back of her hand, and proceeded to take off her boots, reluctantly leaving them outside as she began moving into the house at last, making sure to stay on her tip-toes as much as she could, in the hopes it would help keep her from making the floorboards creak.

[Johann Johannsson - The Search Party]

The place was in a serious state of disrepair, as was to be expected from the looks of it outside. It was very dark, but having been trekking through the woods for a good short while already, Toorus' eyes had thankfully adjusted to the dark at this point. Of course, the beams of moonlight that made it through the numerous holes in the roof certainly helped.

That was how she was soon able to spot little droplets on the floor forming a line leading through the house. However, Tooru could very quickly tell that they were droplets of blood. To see such a thing in a creepy place like this evoked way too many memories of way too many horror films, causing the invisible girl to momentarily freeze up in instinctive fear. Now she found herself wishing she had convinced the others to come with her on this, the rules be damned.

However, there was no point in what-ifs now, and she sure as hell wasn't going to go back, not after she had already come this far. Tunguska and Willow Light were here, and she was the only one right now who was capable of saving them. It was that realization that convinced Tooru to mentally psyche herself back up, and thus continue following the trail further into the house.

The trail made its way through the ruins of the kitchen and into the doorway of what had to be a sizeable pantry. What got Toorus' attention immediately from there, was that the trail led into what was undoubtedly a large trap door in the floor. Once again the horror movie memories were coming back, but she hurriedly shook her head as she slowly leaned in on her hands and knees, putting her ear to the door itself, in the hopes she might be able to hear something.

For a short while, she had trouble making out anything unusual, but after leaning in until her ear was practically flush to the wood, she could just barely make out the incredibly faint sound of something rustling about a ways inside, perhaps echoing off the walls down below. It definitely didn't sound like the minuscule skittering of rats, and it definitely wasn't the sound of water dripping on rocks. Therefore, it was something worth checking out.

As she began to prepare herself for opening the door and making her way inside, Tooru found herself momentarily considering activating the signal on her own phone, since she now had the ability to do so after figuring out how to get the Agency app through Minas' phone before. Alas, she had no idea if doing so would make a noise; one that she had no doubt the Villain would be able to hear with that inhuman sense of hearing he had. Thus, to her immense reluctance, she kept the phone tucked in her pocket, and proceeded to very, very slowly lift the trap door open, so as to keep it from making any creaks.

For such an old house, the hinges on this door were surprisingly well kept, as it thankfully didn't make a sound the entire time Tooru paced her opening it. Soon enough, the passage was finally open, and it looked like the ladder went down for a little ways. Toorus' heart was racing as she began carefully making her way down the ladder, trying to keep her feet on the sides of the steps so they once again wouldn't risk creaking under her weight. As she began to descend, she slowly closed the trap door over her head, in the worry that somewhere along the way, Vukodlak would come this way and find the trap door left open, therefore realizing there was an intruder here.

As soon as she reached the solid ground beneath, Tooru found herself standing in a darkness that made the kind outside look like high noon by comparison. She knew this was a very risky idea, but it was the only way she was going to be able to avoid tripping all over herself and alerting the Villain, wherever he was down here. With this resignation in mind, she carefully pulled the phone from out of her glove, and turned on the screen, illuminating the tunnel ahead of her. She could instantly spot the familiar trail of blood droplets ahead, which as morbid as it was, at least told her she was on the right track.

As she proceeded to follow the trail, she made a habit of turning off the screen to her phone every couple of steps she took for a good few seconds, in the silent fear that somehow, Vukodlak would catch a glimpse of the light somewhere down the passage. It made her break into a frigid sweat every time she had to stand stone still in that darkness, and after a short while, even the anticipation of turning the light back on wasn't helping anymore. By the time she had carried on with this pattern for two whole minutes, she was half expecting to see the Villain standing right before her face in wait when she would turn it back on.

After a very short while of this, Tooru began to pick up the echo of what was undoubtedly a human voice; and worse, a voice that she now definitely recognized, that wasn't speaking Japanese. Vukodlak's voice.

She didn't dare turn the screen to her phone on this time, all too certain that he would see it. However, she then went on to mentally chastise herself for forgetting one of the first things she had even put on this phone when she first got it: a night vision filter she had gotten for the sake of pulling pranks on her middle school friends during slumber parties.

Turning it on, she silently thanked the heavens for it, as she began inching her way forward, by now able to discern the Villains' voice was coming from a corner down the continuing tunnel, with the trail thankfully going past it.

She cursed her natural curiosity as she very slowly poked her heard around the corner the voice was coming from, holding her phone out so that she could see. What she saw hit her heavy with surprise. Inside this little side tunnel, or perhaps just a tiny cave was more accurate; was Vukodlak, actually unmasked and with his arms and midsection adorned with numerous bandages. He was sitting at a tiny table, tinkering with what looked like a fancy prosthetic leg, albeit in complete darkness, to her total confusion. Glancing down below a little, Tooru realized there was actually a stump where his right leg should have been. And when she tilted the phone back up to look at the man's face, she felt her blood go cold when she saw the numerous scratches surrounding a pair of clearly clouded over eyes.

'No way…he's…been blind this entire time?!'

Feeling the strangest sense of encouragement at this discovery, Tooru began carefully sneaking her way across the mouth of the cave, but felt a jolt down her spine that made her completely freeze right when she was in full view of it. She could feel the unmistakable sensation of eyes being upon her in that moment. She couldn't hear Vukodlak grumbling to himself, or toying around with his mechanical leg. He was looking right in her direction, and she knew her gloves and phone were in full view, there was no possible way he couldn't see it.

She began instinctively making her peace with whatever god would listen, just waiting for the Villain to waylay her right then and there. However, the oncoming attack never came. And after what felt like hours of terrified preparation, Tooru instead heard the sound of Vukodlak getting back to work on his leg, clearly having decided there was nothing there after all. And most importantly of all, it confirmed the invisible girls' discovery beyond a shadow of a doubt. 'He really is blind! Oh man, I've got to let the others know this somehow, that might be the key they need to figuring out how to beat this guy, that and the fancy fake leg; but first things first.'

She began making her way further down the tunnel, momentarily riding a sensation of actual hope. It was just the thing to dull her sense of awareness just long enough, that she didn't even end up realizing she had accidentally kicked a pebble forward mid-step, until she heard the echo of it rolling down the tunnel, causing her to freeze up. 'Oh…crap.'

The moment she heard the sound of something moving from behind her, Tooru practically jumped so that her back was flush to the cavern wall, still managing to land on her tip-toes so she wouldn't make another sound. She held her gloved hands (phone still in grip) to her mouth to cover the sound of her breathing, which she was holding in anyway, as she heard the single-footed steps of Vukodlak swiftly rushing down the cavern before stopping right in front of her. It was frankly terrifying, hearing how nimble and skilled the Villain was, even with just one foot.

He stood vigilant right in front of her, the sound of his expertly controlled breathing sending a chill up her back. She was almost certain he would be able to hear how heavily her heart was pounding as she tried desperately hold her breath in, praying he wouldn't somehow be able to sense her presence like some people were somehow able to do.

It was at that moment, though, that a rat ended up scurrying across the floor between them, clearly catching Vukodlak's attention, from the direction she could hear his breathing now coming from. Tooru had no idea what to expect from there, but after an agonizing short while, the Villain actually let out a sigh and began hopping his way back the way he came, leaving Tooru to herself in the darkened cavern again. Had it not been for the fact she knew he would have heard it, she would've wanted to let out a relieved sigh of her own and start crying from such a terrifyingly close call.

As soon as she was able to calm herself to the point it didn't feel like her heart was going to explode, Tooru continued on following the trail through the night vision on her screen. It felt like this tunnel was simply going on and on without end, but just as she began to feel like it would never stop, she suddenly found the trail going through another doorway, this one with the door thankfully half open. What was more, as she poked her phone through the opening to get a better look inside, she was able to make out two distinctly human shapes tied to a single support beam inside; one very large and bulky with muscle, and the other very slender and undoubtedly feminine. This was it! She'd actually found them! She even brought the Agency app back up momentarily to see the signal icon was now dead center where Tooru herself was on it.

She had to swallow her excitement as she anxiously inched her way through the opening, careful not to nudge the door open any further lest it produce another piercing creak down the tunnel.

As soon as she was inside and carefully approached them, she could see through the screen both their heads slightly lift up, as though they could both somehow sense that someone else was now in this musty-feeling room with them.

With no other idea how to go about it, Tooru turned her screen back to normal, carefully shining the light on both of them to get their attention, but also thankfully quick-minded enough to also motion with her gloves that it was her, and not Vukodlak, silently motioning for the two Heroes to keep quiet as best they possibly could. Thankfully, they both seemed to recognize Toorus' gloved hands immediately, and what she was trying to convey through her motions, and thus thankfully didn't start exclaiming anything.

"Why are you here, Hagakure-chan? You and the rest of the kids should be back in Yuuei right now. Wait, how on earth did you even find us? Is anybody else with you?" Willow Light asked in a thankfully hushed whisper. Tooru was one step ahead, texting out her answer before holding it up for both Heroes to read so that they could keep things as quiet as possible: 'I downloaded the Agency app off Mina-chans' phone. I couldn't take knowing where you guys were and us not being able to do anything about it. I know it's against the rules and the law, but I had to do something. The Heroes from Yuuei haven't arrived yet, and the police can't get in contact with them. The cell arrays are all down.

Tunguska and Willow Light both let out sighs of momentary defeat, before the large Russian recollected himself: "Listen to me, malenkaya Hagakure, you need to get out of here before Vukodlak finds you. He's too much for you to handle on your own."

Tooru immediately began rapid-fire dialing before holding up her written answer for him to read and understand loud and clear: 'I know all that. I'm not here to fight him, I'm here to get you both out. You said that my Quirk gave me my own set of advantages. Well, this kind of thing is what my Quirk was made for. This is pretty much all I can do in these circumstances, and I'm going to do it.

Tunguska and Willow Light could easily tell Toorus' frustration at her own perceived powerlessness, both through her choice of words, and the fact the phone was clearly trembling in her grasp. However, Tunguska gave the invisible girl a faint, yet deeply heartfelt smile. "Malenkaya Hagakure, you've already done more than you know. My Quirk works through the absorption of light. Even just from the light on that phone, I can feel a tiny bit of my strength returning. It's just enough for me to burn my way through my bindings when the time is right."

Willow Light wasn't far behind in her own reassurance as she began feeling at her own binds. "Right. Once Tunguska-san is free, he can get me out, and I can start concentrating enough to start using my light orbs again. Thankfully the majority of the pain from my wounds has died down, so that shouldn't be an issue. So you see, you've already helped, so please, just do as we say and get out of here while you still can. Let the authorities and the Heroes from Yuuei know where we are when you get the chance. Understand?"

Tooru could feel her instinctive rebelliousness come creeping up her throat, wanting to argue against just leaving the two Heroes like this. However, she could also just as easily tell that not only were they being absolutely genuine in their assurance of what she had already unknowingly done for them, but that they were practically beseeching her to do as they say and get out for her own safety. What kind of future Hero would she be, if any at all after what she had done to get here, if she was going to practically spit in the face of the advice of her seniors?

Sucking in a regretful choking sob, Tooru hurriedly typed into her phone and held her parting message to the two: 'Alright, I'll go. I'll tell the police where I found you guys. I also found out that Villain is blind on my way here. Maybe they'll be able to come up with some way to work with that so they can arrest him.'

Both Heroes felt an immense surge of relief to know that she was not only going to follow their directions, but that she had perhaps found the key for their potential backups' victory over Vukodlak. Tunguska was about to even verbally wish the invisible girl good luck, before he looked in her direction and saw a presence through the darkness that made the smile fall right off his face, and his blue eyes go wide with panic.

The instant she saw this horrible look fall upon her teachers' face, Tooru felt the air turn to ice around her, knowing there was only one thing in this scenario that could have left the Sun of Justice looking like this. However, before she could think of reacting, she suddenly felt a single hand grasp around her neck, tight, from behind, easily lifting the invisible girl high up off the ground. In her instinctive struggle to try and break free, Tooru ended up dropping her phone, but in a split second of ingenious reaction time, Willow Light brought her extended leg out, expertly catching the device on her shin so that it wouldn't impact against the floor, spurring Vukodlak to investigate and take away what would perhaps be their one remaining key to escape and victory.

Toorus' attempts at words came to nothing more than frightened stuttered whimpers as Vukodlak held her tight in the air, simply listening to his helpless prey. "You're either incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid to come here to save these two by yourself."

He felt the girl in his hand go rigid with a frightened realization as he gave a single dry chuckle in response. "You're not nearly as quiet as you thought you were. Nobody is. I could hear that frightened heartbeat of yours and smell the fear in that frigid sweat the entire time. I just wanted to wait and confirm you were for the reason I thought you were.

"Considering just who I've managed to put away since starting this whole hunt, there's no way you're a cop. No, you must be one of little Kolya's friends. Even after what I did to the Pros meant to protect all of you, you still came here alone, and didn't even try to really hide yourself when I came out. Your Quirk must have something to do with stealth, if that's the case. Invisibility, perhaps? Pretty standard stuff, but useful in its own way…well, as long as you're not dealing with me, of course."

With insane speed and precision, Vukodlak suddenly tossed Tooru up into the air in a spin, forcing her to look in his direction, as he suddenly jabbed his other arm, catching her by the throat again, pinning her against the support beam. "You came alone, but it couldn't possibly have been of your own accord. Did little Kolya send you here, trying to gauge my defenses, see if you could take my leverage away from me? That's most unexpected, not the least of which bold, of him if that's the case. Well, I suppose I might as well reward the boys' planning efforts personally, then."

---

It had been over forty minutes since Toorus' disappearance from the hospital had been discovered. Nikolay and his friends had reluctantly done as they were told and not left the waiting room, even though the police officers standing guard wouldn't have let them leave to begin with. With each minute that passed that no one came in saying they had found and obtained the invisible girl, all of their anxiety just grew that much worse.

By the point it was now, the leading officer was on the verge of fuming with disbelief and anger. "I don't care if the girl is invisible, how on earth could trained officers let a child just slip out from under their noses that easily?!"

While he was stewing in frustration of his own, all the kids were drowning in their own maelstrom of worry as well. They were all reluctant to speak up, but by now, it was getting to a point where they knew that if someone didn't at least say something, anything at all, it would drive them all crazy.

"I just don't understand! We all know the rules, not to mention what we're up against. What the hell was Hagakure-san thinking, going out on her own like that, without even telling us?" Minoru finally spoke up, effectively releasing the floodgates as now everyone had to get their own thoughts out.

"It's not right that we aren't out there with her! She needs someone watching her back!" Ochako exclaimed with exceptional conviction.

"Even if she were to somehow come back unharmed, she's coming back to more trouble than she even realizes! This is the kind of thing she could technically get arrested for!" Setsuna pointed out regretfully, crossing her arms in an attempt to try and hide her own concern.

"I just don't get why she wouldn't even tell us. She knows we've all wanted to go out there and try to find them, so why wouldn't she tell us how she was at least going to do it; let us know she even had a plan so we wouldn't worry as much?" Mina asked, clearly confused and hurt that one of her closer friends in the class actively chose to keep her in the dark.

"Dammit, I hope she's at least keeping herself safe, wherever she is. I'd want to suggest we try calling her, telling her to come back, but…dammit, who knows; she could be in the middle of something serious. What if doing that would blow her cover and get her in even bigger trouble? Shit, I hate this!" Denki muttered in frustration through clenched teeth; his whole body squirming with anxiety.

Among them, Nikolay was the only one managing to stay silent, too deep in his own thoughts on the matter to get swept up in everyones' venting. He had still been continuously going over everything he had learned, everything he had been told about what was supposed to make a truly great Hero. Putting that all together, and now topping it with this very situation, he came to a realization that he couldn't keep to himself, as he finally lifted his head and spoke up, catching the attention of all his friends.

"I think…even if she knew the rules we're supposed to follow, Hagakure-san did what we; what any real Hero, should have done in concept. She knew there were people in trouble that needed help, and she accepted the consequences that would come with her actions, and she rushed in to try and help them, because that's what Heroes are ultimately supposed to do. That's part of the self-sacrificing aspect Reflector-sensei mentioned earlier, that Heroes do what's right, even if they may end up suffering in the end when the consequences come. That doesn't necessarily have to exclusively mean the end of their lives. It could just as easily mean sacrificing their own careers as Heroes, at least being able to go out knowing they did what they knew was the right thing to do, even if the laws of society, in that moment, didn't allow for it on paper. I think she realized that, and decided to make that same decision, anyway. She simply did what any real Hero would've done."

This simplistic sentiment still seemed to hit a lot of his peers right in the heart, as many brought their eyes down, realizing that while technically speaking it was wrong, morally speaking, it was right. The divide between the written law and basic morals seemed so freakishly juxtaposed sometimes, this time especially. They all wanted nothing more than to go out there and help, but of all things, societal red tape was keeping them from doing so.

In the span of a minute and a partially thought out stream of consciousness from Nikolay, their confusion had been rectified, and they now understood full well why Tooru had done what she did. That did nothing to alleviate their worries for her, though. It was then that Mina couldn't help but chime in as well: "I feel like this is my fault. When we were talking in the cafeteria earlier, she was talking about how she felt useless next to all of us, cause her Quirk didn't do anything for her when fighting.

"I told her that her Quirk gave her an advantage all her own, instead. Now I can't help but wonder if that might have driven her to go and do this. Maybe if I hadn't said anything, she would've chosen to stay put with us, instead. But I didn't want her to get herself down like that, either. I…I don't know what was the right thing I should've done anymore!"

Mina was on the verge of crying out of worry and guilt, but Ochako was quick to put a reassuring hand on the pink girls' shoulder, whispering, too quietly for the others to hear, words of encouragement all her own. Before Nikolay could try to listen in, a rushing pair of footsteps from the hall outside caused all the kids' heads to perk back up as a police officer came rushing in to address the leader. "Sir, we've just gotten confirmation from the repair crews. The cell arrays are back up and running again."

The lead officer didn't even waste a moment before turning to address all the students looking up at him expectantly. "Alright, no more wasting time. We're going to contact Yuuei right now and have them send as many Heroes as they can spare to take you kids home, and help us with this Vukodlak, and getting Tunguska and Willow Light back."

BRRRRING!

The moment he began to turn back, the dreaded humming of the cellphone in Nikolays' pocket suddenly stirred the silence, snapping everyone to attention like a dog whistle. Nikolay looked from his pocket to his almost pale-faced friends, to the equally nervous police. The Russian boy instinctively drew the device out, and chanced a momentary glance to confirm that, just as he had feared, it was Tunguskas' number on the other end.

Nikolay gave the leading officer a single confirming nod, and the officer in turn, shifted his focus to the open door across the hall from them, where another handful of officers manning a set of computers for the phone tapping were just sitting in wait. As soon as he gave them a nod of his own, they immediately got to work, and in perfect sync, Nikolay hit the accept button and brought the device to his ear, silently preparing himself for whatever Vukodlak was about to say.

"[[I'm going to spare you the suspense right out the gate, Kolya. I found your little friend snooping around my temporary little hideaway. If you had her come out here, this far behind enemy lines, to try and take away my biggest pieces of leverage, then bravo to you for suddenly growing so bold. It's quite selfish of you to send one of your friends my way instead of coming, yourself. However, that kind of thing is pretty much par the course for Heroes, so I honestly can't say I'm disappointed.

[[No, I must say, I'm actually quite happy things turned out this way…because you just gave me the excuse I was hoping for. If you were confident enough to pull something like this on me, then that clearly tells me you're ready for our confrontation…just as much as I am. It may not have been the twenty-four hours I promised, but that doesn't matter anymore. If you're ready, then I'm more than willing to oblige you. No more waiting, no more excuses. I'm coming, Kolya, ready or not.]]

Click!

The signal cut then and there, while Nikolay felt a frigid sweat upon his brow. Tooru had essentially started his and Vukodlak's personal war early, and as far as he knew, he had virtually no time to prepare.

As the lead officer looked hopefully to his officers manning the taps, they gave a single defeated shake of the head. "I'm sorry, sir. He hung up just before we could get the bead on him."

"What did he say, Kolya-kun?" Mina hesitantly asked, already able to tell by the look on his face that she wasn't going to like his answer.

Nikolay started rhythmically clenching and opening his hands, trying to steady the trembling that was beginning to overtake his entire body, before finally turning to address all his friends. "He has Hagakure-san prisoner with Dad and Willow Light-sensei…and…and he's coming for me now, whether I'm ready or not."

Like an ignited stack of gunpowder, the police were instantly on the move, getting the kids up and moving for the exits while shouting orders to each other to get the evacuation going as smoothly as possible.

However, as soon as they were halfway down the halls, after having the chance to digest just what was happening, Nikolay suddenly fought his way out of the lead officer's grip, standing not in defiance, but out of pure professional Heroism, trying to swallow his fear as best he could. "Please, you need to listen to me, it doesn't matter where you take us or how fast you do it, Vukodlak is going to find me, and none of you are going to be able to stop him! Doing so is only going to get innocent people killed, and I'm not going to have that on my conscience! The Heroes at Yuuei aren't going to get here in time before he shows himself, not even All Might! There's only one thing that any of us can do now! You can go ahead and arrest me after if you have to, but I need to face him! It's the only way we can have any chance of arresting him and getting everyone back!"

The lead officer looked like he had just about had it with going through this routine, but just as he was about to say no for what felt like the thousandth time, Mina, Ochako and Denki suddenly came rushing in to join Nikolays' side. "Kolya-kun is right! This isn't the time for following rules, this is the time we need to do something before a Villain ends up hurting anybody else! There aren't any other options right now!"

"That's right! We know it's against the rules, but what's the alternative? There's no telling what he could end up doing to how many people if we don't stop him! This is our last chance to actually stop him!"

"Yeah, come on, man, think about it! If we could just come together and make up a plan, you know we could be able to find a way to stop that asshole in a way that doesn't put anybody else at risk!"

The officer looked like the kids had effectively lost their minds, turning to Setsuna and Minoru to be the voices of reason almost like a force of habit, only to feel his heart drop when he saw the last two of the Yuuei students slowly rejoin their peers as well. "Bezpalov-kun is right, officer. Hagakure-chan understood that sometimes, a Hero needs to act on what they know is the right thing to do…even if it means eschewing the rules every once in a while. And as much as I know none of you want to hear this…I'm afraid this is one of those times."

The rest of the young Heroes instinctively looked down to Minoru, figuring he had as much a right to get a word in as they did. As much as the tiny young boy tried to look brave, the trembling in his knees quickly gave it away. And yet, despite that, here he still was, only giving them a momentary glance before scrunching his face up in frustration. "Dammit…you guys are all insane…and I'm just as crazy for actually standing here."

As the kids all stood in solidarity for what felt like the first time since reuniting in this city, the leading officer looked like he was one spasm away from having his officers put them all in cuffs for their own safety. However, before he was about to give that very order: "Would you just take a moment and actually listen to these kids, officer?"

Everyone turned in surprise at the sudden intrusion of Reflectors' voice echoing down the hall. Standing before them all was the Mirror Hero, out of his Hero costume and now adorned in a simple hospital gown, his arms, legs and face adorned in a multitude of various bandages. However, his yellow eyes were staring straight at the students and the police officers alike. Even in his considerably injured state, he was still able to exude an air of authority that made all the of the people present listen to him with rapt attention.

"Reflector-san, you shouldn't be out of bed right now, your injuries are still fresh and need time to heal," one of the doctors called out, already hurrying over to try and get the Hero back to bed, before he suddenly brought a hand up to signal him to stop, fighting his way through the pain as he continued approaching the police and the students.

"I understand you're only trying to uphold your duty by keeping these kids out of danger, officer. However, you're forgetting that they're all training to be the next great Heroes; the kind of Heroes who need to be able to face threats such as this. I didn't see it in them before the attack on the Agency…but looking at them now, listening to them now…there's something new in these youths that wasn't there before. There's an understanding, a true understanding of the responsibility and inherent sacrifice that comes with being a true Hero…and most importantly, there's the acceptance of it.

"Officer, look into my eyes and believe when I say, in all honesty as an experienced Hero…these kids right here…they are ready for this. They need to work together to put an end to this menace, and they all know it. You need to right now, as well." If time hadn't been officially running against them, Nikolay and Mina would've almost started crying tears of gratitude to hear the leader of the Kamuron Hero Agency speak so highly of them and mean it. Even the rest of their peers couldn't help but feel proud to receive such commendation from a genuine Pro.

The lead officer looked considerably conflicted between his own sense of duty and the personal stance of a decorated Hero standing before him. In the end, however, he knew he had a duty to the law to uphold. "I appreciate what you're saying, Reflector-san, I really do. But we all know the rules of how these types of engagements are supposed to go, especially with students like these. Without the express permission and presence of their official mentors, Heroes-in-training do not have the legal jurisdiction to engage in battle with Villains. That's the way it's always been."

To everyones' surprise, this declaration only seemed to inspire Reflector further, as he took a deep breath through the pain all over his body, and stood tall and firm. "Then allow me to clarify, officer. Bezpalov-kun and Ashido-chan came here as official interns of the Kamuron Hero Agency. Although I had assigned them to intern under Willow Light, the rules indicate that interns of an Agency technically fall under the role of being interns of the Agency itself, and that therefore includes me as one of their official mentors. It is in that capacity, therefore, that I am giving them my express permission, with you and all your officers as my witnesses, to go out there and do what they need to do to apprehend this Villain, get his prisoners back safely, and keep anyone else from getting hurt. I, of course, cannot officially speak for the other children, having come as students of Tunguska-san himself, but with circumstances being what they are, I will gladly take responsibility in extending the same expression permission to them in his place, and accept the consequences that are to follow from it."

The lead officer and his compatriots all looked concernedly to each other. According to the law, Reflectors' actions and their roles as inadvertent witnesses, had just given the Yuuei students the legal loophole they needed to face Vukodlak themselves, and avoid legal repercussions afterward. His adherence to the law and his personal stance now stood even further conflicted.

However, seeing this internal battle going on in his head, Nikolay gripped the handle of his suitcase with his Hero costume even tighter, and stepped forward to speak. "Officer, I understand what you're feeling right now. Believe me, I understand more than you realize. I know it's not saying much in the grand scheme of this whole thing, but if it will help, I'm giving you the word of all of us, that as soon as we have Vukodlak beaten, you and your officers can move in and make the official arrest. We won't do any more than what we need to in order to get our people back and put Vukodlak behind bars. No Heroics laws are going to be broken, I swear."

The leading officer looked intently in Nikolays' eyes. For once, the boy didn't break away. There was an absolute sincerity and dedication to his words, and he was waiting to see if the officer would respond in kind. Finally realizing the legal corner they had officially been backed into, the officer sighed in total defeat before all the Heroes, and when he lifted his head to meet Nikolays' gaze, there was complete acceptance now in his eyes. "All right, I'm holding you to that, young man. I'll inform my men to re-gather here so I can get them in position for the arrest. Now, how exactly do you all plan to go about doing this?"

All of the students fell deep into thought the moment he asked. As Nikolay began to instinctively pace to help himself along, he chanced a glance to the nearby window, surprised to see the sky was now purple, and already beginning to grow lighter by the minute. Dawn had come. The fourth day of their internship period had officially begun.

As Nikolay was joined by everyone, the first and most important question immediately dawned on him: "Where's a sizeable place in town where we know there won't be any people?"

---

In the minutes since his last phone call, Tunguska, Willow Light and the newly bound Tooru had been forced to listen to Vukodlak reattach his prosthetic leg, then proceed to gather up every last scrap of his equipment from up and down the tunnel. After a short while, the Villain finally stepped back into their cell, a hefty-sounding load slung over his shoulder. They could all feel his gaze upon them, even through his physical blindness. Before too long, though, he finally broke the overbearing silence: [[Today's the day, Tunguska; the beginning of the end of the world of you so-called Heroes. Rest assured you and your cellmates will see me again, when I come back with little Kolyas' head. And when you've finally seen your precious future snuffed out…then you'll finally receive what's been coming your way for the last twenty-one years. Prepare yourself until then.]]

With that, Vukodlak officially turned his back on his captives, leaving the three of them deathly silent as the echoes of his heavy footsteps gradually grew more and more quiet, until finally, after a few agonizing minutes of tense silence, the three felt mutually confident that their captor had officially left, and they were now all alone.

Tunguska immediately began trying to fight against his bonds, barely managing to keep himself composed after the threat he'd just been given, but Willow Light was managing to stay calm between him and the invisible girl to her left, as she began positioning her legs to get her phone out in the open, the light from the newly turned on screen catching the attention of her and Tunguska both. "Listen, Hagakure-chan, if I toss this to you, do you think there's any way you can text the others, let them know about Vukodlak's blindness?"

"Of course! I got rid of my boots on the way in here, so even with my hands tied, I can still text them…no, in fact, even better! After the attack, when the police took us to the hospital, they put taps on all our phones, just in case. If I can call them, and keep the line open long enough, they should be able to trace the signal and find us!"

With her heart newly lifted with hope and pride in everyones' ingenuity in the moment, Willow Light kicked her leg up in Toorus' direction, sending the cellphone flying before it suddenly stopped in midair, having landed on the invisible girls' leg.

Tooru proceeded to inch the phone down her legs before managing to keep it steady between her bare feet, and from there, while Tunguska continued trying to summon enough energy to burn through his bindings, she proceeded to start navigating her way to speed dial until she found the first number she knew she'd be able to get through to without question.

---

RIIING!

The moment Nikolay had asked his question of unpopulated parts of the city, Minas' cellphone suddenly began to ring. Everyone was at full attention as she hurriedly pulled her phone out and answered the moment she recognized Toorus' number. "Tooru-chan, hello? What's going on?! Are you okay?!"

The pink girls' initial anxiousness was offset by the surprising calm Tooru answered with, spurring Mina to put it on speaker for everyone else to hear when asked. "I'm okay, everyone. Tunguska-sensei and Willow Light-san are here with me. That Villain already left, so we're trying to get free now. Listen, I found out something about him you all need to know. I found him in a tunnel underneath this abandoned house up in the hills. He was working on a prosthetic leg in total darkness. Tunguska-sensei confirmed it with me, too. You guys…not only does that Villain only have one actual leg, but he's blind, too. It turns out he moves and fights with a Quirk-enhanced sense of smell and hearing."

The moment Tooru had finally gotten their enemies' biggest hint out in the open, Nikolays' green eyes went wide, his face wrought with surprising realization. "Oh my god…all the times he kept saying he had my scent…he never once said anything about being able to see me, it was always hearing or smelling. She's right! That has to be why Willow Lights' light orbs never did anything to him, or why he was able to fight so expertly in pitch darkness! He has to be blind, there's no other explanation for it!

"Even more, when he attacked us at the bridge, he said it was a simple little domestic accident that allowed him to get my scent and hunt me down all this way. And Dad had even said in one of his old stories that Vukodlak tracked down his prey through their blood. But I hadn't done anything that would make me bleed at the time Vukodlak said he'd started tracking me…except…"

The moment his speech began to slow, Nikolay instinctively brought a hand up to the single band-aid still adorning his right cheek. The moment the rest of his friends saw it, it seemed they had all come to the same conclusion as well.

"That cut I gave myself shaving! That has to be it! That's how he's been able to keep following and finding me, no matter where we went! That confirms it; it's my blood he's been using to track me!"

Nikolay began pacing once more with considerably energy in his step. If it hadn't been for just how serious things were getting, Ochako and Mina would've almost wanted to point out how similarly the Russian boy looked to Izuku when he got especially deep in thought.

"Well great, now we know how he's been following you, but that still doesn't say anything about how we fight that monster! Even without eyesight, he still walloped six Pro Heroes! What are we supposed to do to avoid that happening to us, if not worse?!" Minoru asked the most painstaking question left, with Setsuna and Denki nodding in agreement.

Suddenly, Nikolay stopped; an expression on his face as though a light bulb had literally turned on over his head. "In one of those old stories…Dad said that Vukodlak was able to get disoriented if he ingested too much blood, or even took in too much of his targets' fragrance, almost like a temporary but very powerful high."

"Okay, but you said yourself that from what he had told while holding you hostage, a lot of those old stories turned out to be lies." Setsuna immediately pointed out, with Minoru just as quickly piping in: "Yeah, who knows just how much of what Tunguska-sensei told you about this guy is true, and which was just lies!"

Like a shot, Ochako suddenly stepped right in, completely unperturbed by her allies' remaining skepticism. "Think about it, you guys! Tunguska-sensei said Vukodlak hunted through peoples' blood, which we've now seen is true! Why would he tell the truth about one aspect of a Villains' quirk, but lie about another, especially one that's essentially a weakness?"

While Ochako was standing in Nikolays' defense, the Russian boy once again suddenly perked up in realization as he looked back out the window towards the inner part of the city. "The day Vukodlak attacked us and took me away, when we were looking for Power Press-sensei, Willow Light had gotten the idea of what we should look for from some construction workers. Are there any such sites downtown?"

One of the police officers instantly spoke up just as his superior began to do the same, completely ignorant of his own speaking out of turn: "Yeah, a couple blocks west of here, just outside the city center. The workers for the site don't even come in to start working until a good couple hours from now, for the sake of not disturbing the peace for the citizens living in that area, so it's completely unoccupied right now."

There was a whole new air of intensity radiating off of Nikolay at this news, something all of his friends could physically feel. His green eyes were distant, as though he were seeing something beyond the horizon they couldn't begin to guess. "Kolya-kun…what are you thinking right now?"

Nikolay didn't answer Mina at first, but his focus fell to the heavy-duty suitcase still being clutched tight in his right hand, carrying his Hero costume. None of the others could tell, but he looked upon what lay inside with a whole new air of appreciation and understanding. That costume represented all the dedication and effort he had put in to this point in becoming the kind of Hero he now knew he wanted to be, and the inherent sacrifice and risk that came with it.

Finally registering his pink partners' question, Nikolay rose to meet everyones' gaze; his hands clutching into white-knuckled fists, ignoring the pain of his still casted right index finger. "What I'm thinking right now…just know that you're not going to like what it involves."

Momentarily flashing back to the Sports Festival, primarily Izuku Midoriyas' insane example, Nikolay suddenly brought his left hand up to his face, and proceeded to bite down hard on the knuckle of his left thumb, ignoring the shocked and horrified exclamations from everyone watching as he quickly pulled his hand away, having managed to draw a small trickle of blood from the frankly insane first step he now knew needed to be taken for the plan that was even now brewing in his head.

Fighting his way through the stinging pained tears in his eyes from the pain, Nikolay finally declared: "I've got an idea how we can all take Vukodlak down. However, I don't want to put any of you in unnecessary danger. The point is that he just wants me. So if any of you are still feeling too scared to go through with this, I understand. If any of you want to back out, please say so."

Given everything that had happened and been said before, he was half expecting at least a couple of them to take that offer. However, to his silent surprise, which quickly grew to immense gratitude, not a single one of them backed away, not even Minoru, for all his persistent shaking.

"This isn't just your fight, Kolya-kun. It never was. It's all of ours." Mina declared, balling a hand into a determined fist as she gave him an assuring smile of her willingness to fight at his side.

"Hell yeah, that guy thinks he can mess with any of us and we're just gonna run away with our tails between our legs? We'll make him EAT that sentiment!" Denki declared with outright exceptional enthusiasm.

"Of course we're all scared! I mean, hell, you'd have to be crazy not to be. But…but I'm sure that Heroes still fight back, even if they're scared, so…so screw it, I'm gonna fight, too!" Minoru struggled to say with any degree of true confidence, but the fact he was even bringing himself to say as much at all was big in and of itself.

"Being a real Hero means facing threats that are bigger than us, and fighting for the safety of those around us by working together. I couldn't justify calling myself a student of Yuuei if I backed down after all this." Setsuna declared, once again wearing that deeply confident fanged smirk that seemed to just inspire everyone.

Finally, Ochako was the last one to step forward, her rosy-cheeked face offset by the exceptionally intense look in her brown eyes as she looked into Nikolays' bravely, before suddenly extending her hands outward, motioning for all of them to join hands in a show of absolute solidarity, that they all happily took part in as they all looked into each others' eyes, physically feeling the mutual understanding, respect, friendship and loyalty they now had with one another.

Finally, Ochako spoke the words that would ignite all their spirits like nothing else had before; her own heart soaring with a whole new fire of determination: "From everything you told us, and from what he said before, Vukodlak seems to think that Heroes are just inherently selfish, that any of us would just take the first chance to run, and sacrifice each other just to save our own skins. Well, we're going to prove him wrong, put him behind bars where he belongs, and save Tooru-chan, Willow Light-san and Tunguska-sensei, together!"

And there is this weeks' new chapter. I hope you all enjoyed what you saw here today, because the next chapter, as you can all rightly guess, is going to be HUGE. This is what all my planning for this arc has been building towards, and I hope you'll all likewise find it worthwhile.

If you liked what you saw here, again, please be so kind as to leave an honest review, expressing your thoughts.

All of you stay safe out there, have a great rest of your week, and I will see you all with the next chapter on 06/12!