I'm back again,, sorry for the hiatus, life's been busy and to be completely honest I've gotten sucked into Baldur's Gate 3 and spaced posting chapters. So I've got a few on deck ready to post over the next couple weeks. Thanks for your patience.

The tribunal begins. Toga makes some reveals. Will this courtroom procedural go according to plan?


"When did it happen?"

That had been the first thing Katsuki had said once they were inside the grand chamber.

The chamber looked like the inside of a grand cathedral, like they'd been transported to some thirteenth century church. It was wide, spacious, and the sound reverberated from end to end if you were talking louder than a general speaking tone so your voice carried from front to back. It made it easy so that all of the congregation could hear you clearly if you were preaching from the pulpit. Which was the other odd thing. Vampires, like demons and hellspawn, couldn't cross the threshold of a church, unless they were specifically invited inside by the head holy man and they were more xenophobic than anyone on Earth.

The church was gorgeous in all of its gothic architecture made of stone and old brick that stood the test of time. The other odd thing was the fact that the stained glass windows were clearly visible, giving the illusion of it being daytime outside so that you could see all of the intricate painting inlaid on them. The story depicted on them were of Nobunaga, his conquering of Japan and unifying it under his rule and having Yasuke brought to him. There were several windows depicting battles of them fighting side by side and how he was elevated from a slave to a respected samurai.

To further illustrate the fact of how respected Yasuke had been in Nobunaga's eyes was the fact that the ceiling had a massive painting that rivaled Michaelangelo's in the Sistine Chapel. Except this wasn't a painting of gods, man, and angels. No, it was a full on orgy with the two men in the center and close to a hundred women surrounding them, either in the process of going to town on either guy, eagerly waiting their turn, or laying on the ground absolutely spent from satisfaction.

The lewd masterpiece helped to further bastardize the church.

The final three stained glass panels directly behind the pulpit illustrated Yasuke feeling from a fiery temple into a dark forest. That was the one on the left, the one on the right depicted a woman with red eyes and blood dripping from her chin. The centerpiece, and the largest of the three panes, showed Yasuku transformed into a vampire, standing proud in his royal gowns given to him by Nobonaga but with a cold stare, eyes shining like two lamps on a cold winter night. And directly below that was a tall bronze statue depicting Yasuke ready for the next battle in the stead of Jesus on the cross.

And directly in front of the statue were three chairs with figures already in them, ones that radiated with power far beyond Master Yasuke or Master Sebastien. In fact, their power and how heavy the feel of death and night made every other vampire in the room seem like they were mere children. These three were easily a thousand years old, if not older from what Suri could guess. She'd been trying to not focus on the migraine that had seeped into her skull once they were through the cathedral doors and making their way through the pews. It hadn't even occurred to Suri that when they got inside she, Toga, Izuku, Mina, Tooru, Alpha, and Sebastien had sat on the same bench as Master Yasuke and his party. Their party, which had included Katsuki and Yukari. And so disorienting was that migraine that she'd ushered Toga in first and now the blonde was sitting smack dab between Suri and Bakugou.

His voice had been low enough not to carry through the room and only through the people immediately next to him. That didn't stop Suri or Toga from looking at the blonde in confusion which only made him growl in frustration.

"The hyena bitch. When did she do that?" Katsuki sneered, still managing to keep his voice from carrying somehow and pointing angrily at the back of Toga's shoulder. It made the two girls flinch because they hadn't realized how visible the mark still was, even with the back of Toga's corset partially covering it.

"Kaachan, now's not-"

"Right after you passed out."

Izuku had tried to do the heroic thing of getting the subject far away from them. He'd watched Suri and Toga's reactions and wanted to help them out by helping avoid the issue. Toga had stabbed that plan in the back however, her eyes narrowing as she gave Bakugou an angry scowl of her own.

"It could have been any one of us, I think," she recounted, her fists flexing tightly as the memory of that night began replaying in her head. "Lucky me. I was the one by the door when she opened it."

"How?" Katsuki growled again, earning another hateful look from Toga.

"You weren't the only one violated that night. So excuse me if I don't wanna explain everything she did to me. To us. Hell you don't even remember do you?" Toga sneered in response.

"The fuck you talking about, Fangs?" Katsuki scowled at the girl harder, leaning towards her because, despite how angry they were, the two of them had had the right of mind to talk quietly.

"She wanted a round two and you were passed out so take a wild guess what she made me do," Toga scoffed back at him, the memories making her more enraged by the second as she was forced to relive them. It was the one and only time she'd ever regretted taking blood from someone because it hadn't been her choice. "When she was done using me, she marked us both and locked me in the store room with you. You should thank me by the way."

Katsuki just stared at Toga, his face slipping into a mask of disbelief and horror as he realized the implications of what Toga had said. He knew how her Quirk worked. It wasn't a secret to anyone; the blonde drinks a person's blood and she becomes that person. Simple. But she'd all but told him she'd taken his blood. She'd been forced to do it and then use her Quirk to turn into Katsuki, to become a body double and stand in for Gemini. All while Katsuki had been lying on the floor naked and vulnerable.

"You were the one crying. Weren't you?" Katsuki asked under his breath, looking down at the floor between his knees. He refused to meet anyone's eyes.

"Yeah," Toga let out a choked, bitter laugh in return. "I couldn't stand to look at you. I hated you. I hated myself. And I still hate her more than anything."

"Thought I was dreaming when I heard it. Next thing I knew I was in that damn chair with the cuffs on me," he recalled as his eyes shifted over towards Toga to look at her. She was in the same position as he was staring a hole into the floor between her feet.

"You were way out of it but with the amount of blood you lost, it didn't surprise me," Toga replied quietly with a long anguished sigh. "The bitch took a chunk out of us and left both of us for dead. And that was after she had me drink more of your blood than I usually take from someone. So… sorry… I guess."

"You guess?" Yukari scoffed and turned a bitter and anger-filled gaze onto Toga. She leaned herself over Katsuki's shoulder, letting him be a barrier between her and the other girl. And he was the only reason she wasn't ripping the girl to pieces. "That's all you've got to say for yourself? Really?"

"If it wasn't for me, he woulda been in that chair naked, dirty, and covered in blood," Toga growled back at Yukari letting her eyes stab at the beast girl's. "If it wasn't for me he'd have been like… her."

Everyone, including Toga, froze just before she got too animated and stood up out of her seat. She was trying her best not to cause a scene and not draw attention to herself or those she was with. And when she realized she was about to compare two people that couldn't be compared, she felt all of the excitable rage inside her deflate in an instant. But to those next to her, it wasn't her comparing the two of them, it was realizing what could have been.

"She," Suri spoke up after a long moment of reflection. Then she turned her gaze directly onto Toga and Katsuki. "She almost made him hyena?"

Toga simply nodded.

"Y-You're serious?" Yukari asked in the same tone of horrified awe.

She nodded again. Refusing to say anything else.

"Thank you."

Everyone's eyes grew wider in slow realization as the next person to speak was Katsuki. He was still staring down at the floor but it wasn't at the spot between his feet, it was at Toga's feet. He wouldn't lift his head to look at anyone so he did the only thing he could do. And it was the last thing any of them spoke because anything else that would have been said was pushed off into the farthest corner of the room. Not because they weren't finding some sort of twisted solace in trauma bonding from having a common abuser. If anything, they could have continued and maybe there might have been something there to help both of them heal. Because they both needed healing and help to put pieces of themselves back together.

Silence fell over the room, because the three figures behind the pulpit willed it. An overwhelming feel of power and death flooded the room, silencing the cathedral into a deafening emptiness. The push of power had caused everyone to forget how to breathe because the air had become so heavy that their minds couldn't decipher whether they were supposed to be breathing in the freezing cold air around them or chewing on it like an overcooked steak. The method was effective because, even without words, attention had been turned directly onto them which was exactly what they'd been intending. And now that their power was out and on display for everyone to see, Suri realized just how much danger the three figures posed.

Suri's eyes widened as she reached out and let her mind take that power in, testing and tasting its strength and age. The age between any of them was more than she'd ever experienced before. It was frightening and overwhelming and her mind said that, truthfully, it was more than okay to panic from how dangerous these three were.

The room was still silent as the three of them stood up from their seats and Suri got a better look at them. The figure in the center was a man who looked no older than someone in his early thirties, and had been seasoned in combat and warfare. His hair was medium length, a blue dark enough it seemed black but was a pale steel blueish-grey towards his roots. His full beard was much the same, with the greys peppering the thick curls of his facial hair. Standing he was around six feet in height with broad shoulders that showed that he was strong, extremely fit, and sculpted like a marble statue, he looked like a weathered Greek or Roman god. To add to that fact was his loose black robe that draped from his right shoulder and exposed his left peck so that he looked like he'd walked straight out of a museum exhibit about Ancient Greece. Probably because he had because his energy was weighted with over two thousand years of defying the grave and death itself.

Next to him on his right was a thin black woman that looked as though she'd stepped out of an art deco painting. She was fitted in a tight black mermaid style gown that was covered in glass and silver sequins that glinted and shimmered with every movement she made. It made her appear as if she was just out for another night on the town, dressed to draw attention and make everyone watch her. Her bright blue eyes looked like more sequins to go with the dress, framed by the silver eyeshadow and matching earrings. Her head was shaved smooth, helping to accentuate the sharp, almost porcelain features of her cheeks and chin. It was a look that not very many women could pull off to perfection but this woman did. And with her power rivaling the man next to her, making her well over two thousand years old as well? Well she may have just been the one who originated the look in the first place.

Where the woman seemed to not exactly match the man in the center but didn't look horribly out of place either, the man on his left did. He didn't look so much as a man as he did someone Suri would be going to school with right now. Everything about him looked off and out of place with his baggy jeans, a plain red tee shirt with a loose zip up hoodie over it, and long side swept black hair. He was what Suri imagined Amajiki would look like outside of his hero costume or UA uniform except she didn't think her uber emo upperclassmen would be ballsy enough to wear flip flops. Seeing him there, knowing his outside appearance said that he couldn't be older than eighteen, but the age of his power putting him at the same age as the other two? He looked far too comfortable and out of place compared to the other two and that was enough for panic and instinct to nearly kick in with all of the red flags he was waving.

"All rise."

A simple command. Two small words from the man in the middle echoed with a thunderous boom throughout the cathedral that shook everyone to their core. His voice felt like rolling thunder, shaking your body inside and out but carried that warm humidity that carried the promise of a summer rain. It was like you could smell rain in the distance and you were just waiting for that relaxing patter of the fall coming rolling in to relax and soothe you. It was enough that Suri wanted to curl up on a front porch swing with a mug of hot cocoa and watch the storm. Right after she did everything the man said of course.

"We, the Court of Evermore, call upon our brethren to take your place amongst us as we lay bare the crimes of one that would so do us harm and upset the balance of the universe," the man spoke again. He then looked to either side of him and gave the other two vampires a nod.

"Dominion, the House of Ravens, and the Palace of Night," the woman spoke, holding her right hand outstretched towards six chairs next to her.

It was a gentle tone, contrasting the rolling boom of the man next to her. Her voice however willed you all the same. It wasn't the warm promise of a summer rainfall, it was the warmth and comfort of home or a wonderful night's sleep. It was smooth, gentle, and her tone danced on your thoughts like it was your mother tucking you in for the night and telling you everything would be okay. And with her tone, Sebastien and five other vampires began walking forward, leaving the pews to join the woman on the stage behind the pulpit.

It startled Suri and her friends to watch the six of them all do as the woman commanded without so much as a word. In fact, it had almost been like if you had blinked you wouldn't have realized six people walked up on stage, instead it was as if you blinked and suddenly they were there.

"The Four Kings, The Thirteen, and the Harlequin," the second man - boy - spoke. He was relaxed, nonchalant, and came off as bored and uninterested, like he was there because the other two told him so. Nonetheless, his adolescence still came with a flow of power that forced you to do what he would say and six vampires, including Yasuke, did just that.

In unison, without a single word said between them, the fifteen vampires sat down in one flawless movement. It was a testament to just how powerful the three in the center were because of how everything happened. They tell you to stand, you do it. They tell you to walk, you do it. They tell you to do anything at all and you were compelled to do it, even without them saying a single word to you. And that's exactly what happened because as the fifteen vampires sat down in one wave, the rest of the room followed suit. And Suri hated that no matter what she tried, she could seem to break the feeling of having a hand on your shoulder guiding you around and telling you what to do. The vamps weren't supposed to have this much power over her.

"Fylakisménos."

The man in the center spoke again, a small rolling thunder emanating throughout the chamber even though his volume came out as normal speech. His volume and tone wasn't loud or commanding, but the power forced you to obey all the same. With one word, Suri saw movement out of the corners of her eyes as the guards stationed around the room all disappeared in a synchronized movement. Next came the sound of rattling chains and creaking steel, all tell tale signs of gears or some kind of machinery beginning to work. The top of the cathedral opened, the paintings of Yasuke and Nobunaga being pushed aside as a large cage descended from the ceiling to a spot directly in front of the pulpit that was already cleared away. When the cage came to a stop with a loud, violent clang sound, it made the prisoner inside of it get shaken to his core and stumble to fall to one knee. And the vampire in the middle couldn't help the small smile that curled across his lips as the weretiger in the cage was forced to kneel before him.

"Kenji Mutekabe," he spoke with another boom, not trying to hide the smirk as the tiger looked up at him with a hateful glare. "It is fitting, you being on your knees. I see you are ready to beg for our forgiveness then, yes?"

"Never! Filthy ancient bloodsucker!" King Saber roared, his voice coming out with a loud reverberating growl that carried the full weight of his tiger with it. Everything in his voice screamed that he had every intention of slaughtering everyone in this room if he got the chance.

"I was afraid of this," Alpha growled under his breath. His eyes glaring holes into the back of King Saber's head as the tiger punched at the cage walls, pacing like a wild animal, and not letting his eyes leave any of the fifteen people in front of him. He was kneading and flexing his fists as he watched the beginning of the spectacle. "Hades is taunting him."

"Kenji Mutekabe, it would be wise of you to consider seeking forgiveness of the council," the woman spoke, her eyes narrowing at the man, Hades, next to her and then down towards the made it apparent that she didn't harbor the same level of pettiness Hades did. "I for one wish to know what exactly it was you hoped to achieve through your crimes."

"What I hoped to achieve?" King Saber grinned, snarling at Hades and then staring the woman directly in her eyes. He wasn't scared in the least to make solid eye contact with any vampire on the stage. "I want to see this crumble to dust. I want you to step into your graves and never wake up so that nature can take its course."

"You mean the alliance that oversees humanity?" the man next to Hades asked, tilting his head curiously as he listened.

"We should be in an age of kings and gods," King Saber snarled again, smacking the cage in anger as he began pacing. "But you! You and the others have sat back to coddle this pet project of yours. You treat humans like they're your children but refuse to let them fail. You refuse to let them decimate each other into extinction like they should have hundreds of years ago. Even now. Instead of letting them succumb to their fear and let their leaders walk them into a nuclear holocaust, you sway them from pushing the little red button."

"And yet you chose to follow one of these humans," said another vampire from the stage next to Sebastien. She was giving King Saber an incredulous look that said he was dumbfounded.

"Is your pride so great, you don't see your own hypocrisy?" said another, this one a man sitting directly next to Yasuke.

"All For One is no matter of man," King Saber grinned, letting a purr trickle out as he pressed himself to the bars of his cage and laughed. "He is a god amongst this filth you call humanity. One who wants to change this world's fate and shape its destiny into his own creation."

"I ask again," Hades sneered. "To what gain?"

"To gain everything," King Saber roared and then slipped backwards into the cage, laughing like he'd gone manic.

The vampires all looked back and forth between each other, all of them questioning if the tiger had truly gone mad, and then back towards the cage. King Saber had slipped himself back enough that the shadow on the inside of the cage draped him in darkness. The only thing left visible were his eyes, an amber glow in the sea of shadow.

"So, you come with no intention of remorse?" the woman next to Hades asked.

"No," King Saber purred and laughed again.

"Then we shall proceed," she sighed and waved her hand idly at the tiger. "We call witness to your inner workings then. If you do not wish for redemption then you will get damnation."

"Himiko Toga," Hades boomed as he looked from the tiger down into the crowd and straight at the blonde girl. Hearing her name with a thunderous boom made her flinch and her heart race.

Hearing her name meant she was overcome with an inhuman will to stand up and walk towards the front. The urge to do so was painful, making her head spin and her ears ring from pain as she clenched her teeth and let out a whine of pain. The voice in the back of her head was screaming that she shouldn't listen, shouldn't do as the man said. Her flight or fight response was begging her not to listen and to instead run. Run as fast as she could and as far away as she could. Panic was beginning to set in and her mind was racing straight into a fog that she was sure would take her free will and rip it into a million little pieces.

What was left of her free will anyway.

Toga's forehead was slick, beads of nervous sweat beginning to run down her skin and glisten in the light of the room. Her eyes were wide with panic and her pupils were dilated into minute slits with the fear of not having a say. In that moment she was more of a caged bird than she'd ever been in her life. She hated it. She hated feeling trapped. Hated feeling like she'd never left her childhood home and might as well have been chained up so tight that her body would be crushed by her restraints. Her heartbeat began pounding so hard that it was all she heard, its beating pounding against her head, threatening to make her explode into a pile of blood and gore. But at least then she'd be free of the pain. The more time ached forward the more death seemed like the only way out and the only way of release and it was making her think that slitting her own throat was the perfect solution.

A soft touch made all of that disappear.

One single touch and she was back in the cathedral, sitting in silence as everyone looked at her with silence and patience. Her eyes darted from one vampire to the next, then to King Saber who'd turned in his cage and was now looking at her like she was his next victim. He was stalking her the same way a real tiger would peer at its next meal through the brush, patiently waiting to strike. Then she looked down at her hand, her pale skin having gone even more pale to look ghostly white against the dark bronze of Suri's hand. Her palm was resting calmly on the back of Toga's before her fingers wrapped around the other girl's and Suri took Toga's hand entirely. A gentle squeeze made the blonde look up into Suri's eyes and calm washed over her.

"Step forward, girl," Hades spoke again.

Suri nodded to Toga and the two of them stood up together. Despite a roar of whispers as Suri began walking, including her dad trying to get her to sit back down, and didn't pay attention to anyone. Toga followed behind her, eventually able to wash away her nerves, and by the time they made it to stand in front of the pulpit, she was back to her normal self. Her eyes shifted back and forth between everyone before closing her eyes to take a deep breath and then turn a spiteful glare towards the caged weretiger now next to them. King Saber smacked at the cage, making it ring throughout the cathedral as he threatened violence towards the girls. Suri paid him no mind and instead straightened herself and casually rolled her neck as the pressure of vampiric power rolled over her and tried pushing her back. They'd force Suri back to her seat if they could but with a push of her own, Atiena strolled forward in their shared mind until they were one and her own lycanthropic power created a shield around her and Toga.

"What insolence is this?" Hades scoffed as he stared down at Suri.

"Not insolence, sir," Suri replied, shaking her head and looking back up at him with confident defiance. "If I was understanding tonight's proceedings correctly then Himiko Toga is in my care. Or did I misunderstand Master Sebastien's words?"

Hades and the two vampires next to him all turned their gaze towards the Frenchman with a questioning glance. He merely nodded and gave a gallic shrug that said that he had in fact implied what Suri was saying. It helped ease rising nerves as she watched the reaction the other vampires had with him and how nonchalant he was able to be with them. Sebastien didn't deny the claim and, with clarification offered, the three of them seemed okay with letting the incident slide. For the most part anyway.

"So if that is the case then tonight she's an honorary member of my clan. And I think she'd be much more willing to talk or cooperate with her queen by her side. Especially with this asshole here," Suri jerked her head towards King Saber. She made no attempt at hiding her disdain for him or what he'd done to her dad, one of her friends - his own daughter - and countless other lives he'd affected through his actions.

"So be it," Hades grumbled before clearing his throat and looking down at Suri again. "However, I will not have another deviation to tonight's tribunal. Understood?"

"Of course."

"Himiko Toga, as you have been told, how do you wish to plead your case? Do you seek forgiveness or retribution?" the woman next to Hades asked, looking over the blonde girl with curiosity etched across her lips.

"Retribution."

Suri's brow lifted in response, watching Toga from the side of her eyes. Retribution was certainly a different answer than she'd expected. But what had she truly expected out of Toga? It hadn't even been an hour since the bomb got dropped that Suri would be in charge of her safety and that she'd be joining them. It hadn't even been an hour since Suri had done the unthinkable and given Toga her blood willingly.

"Retribution? Hah!" King Saber choked a humorless laugh as he paced his cage and grinned wide at the girls, his fists flexing as he did so. He then pushed himself against the bars again, this time trying to get closer to Toga to berate and sneer at her. "What could you possibly need revenge for? Don't tell me I hurt your precious feelings! Just wait until I get my hands on you and your pathetic-"

Hades clenched his fist and with it a powerful unseen force wrapped itself around King Saber, throwing him backwards against the other side of the cage. He was leveled against the silver and steel bars, being pressed to the point that pressing any harder might have bisected him into pieces. After a moment or so of intense pain, Hades' hand opened again and King Saber dropped to the ground only to slowly rise to his knees a few moments later.

"Retribution it is then. If you will," Hades said, turning his attention from the weretiger to the changeling and waving his hand idly at her. "Plead your case, girl, and maybe then we can understand why so many humans have been let into this most sacred of places."

The tone and dismissiveness of the lead vampire, coupled with having to deal with King Saber again, made Toga's face sour. Suri couldn't blame her, hell Suri was mad at how he had said humans too because she knew damn well he'd meant her mates. She then turned her sights on King Saber and the expression went from sour to downright hateful. It was to the point that Suri was sure that Toga was about to jump in the cage herself and gut the bastard glaring back at her. And fuck, if the air of hate and wrath was anything to go by, Toga might just win that fight.

But then again, Toga knew she didn't have to get her hands dirty and try to gut him with the silver spike tucked down the back of her dress. The blood suckers would gladly do it for her.

All they needed was a little more of a push.

"Still, what more could this girl offer?"

It was the voice of another vampire, one Suri knew well but hadn't realized that Toga knew him a little more. Toga's glare turned directly onto Yasuke and a growl trickled from her throat as she stared up at the man. The man who hadn't even recognized her.

Now she wanted them all to burn in hell.

"More than you did," Toga sneered, catching everyone including Suri off guard. "Because I remember you! Actually, I remember I've wanted to stab you longer than I've been stabbing people. Hehe! You couldn't be bothered to give me the time of day back then. You didn't bother to help, even when my mom begged you to take me. Instead, you sent that dumb bimbo bloodsucker to babysit me."

Yasuke looked flabbergasted, being pushed back into his seat with the amount of rage in Himiko's voice. And that wasn't counting the looks he was now getting from the other vampires which probably would have buried him in his seat if he'd been paying attention.

"Mom said she was supposed to teach me about my Quirk. She was supposed to help. You! You were supposed to help me but instead I had to pretend. Pretend I was normal. Put on a pretty smile and pretend that I didn't want to drink the blood of everyone I was attracted to." Toga's smile was maniacal, almost laughing under her breath as she recounted everything. "Then one day, I decided to stop pretending. Funny thing is; I came to you. I came to this damn building to try and get help but you turned me away."

More angry looks from the vampires were turned on Yasuke. But King Saber? He was grinning ear to ear, happily enjoying the spectacle.

"I gave into my Quirk and decided I'd live how I wanted to and not run from who I am anymore. Then Mr. Stain came along and he gave me a purpose in life and I found someone who I could learn from and be like. That's how I found my friends. That's how I found who I really was and found a place where I feel like I belonged," Toga lamented, her fists balling as she laid into Yasuke more and more. Then she turned her sights on King Saber and growled with every ounce of hate she had inside her. "And then you happened. You and your little pet Gemini."

"What does Miss Scabbia have to do with all of this?" the woman vampire asked. Her voice said she was genuinely curious, while her eyes narrowed and her gaze went back and forth between Toga, Yasuke, and King Saber.

"I'm sure all of you know about what his goal was, it's why we're all here, right?" Toga scoffed and then smirked at him. "He had his little minions, sure. He was training people like JJ Blackhurst to replace us in the League so his army could take over. He could make himself successor to All For One if we weren't in the way."

Toga moved and Suri watched out of the corner of her eye as the blonde pulled something out of her cleavage. In her hand was now a small black object that she happily twirled through her fingers before tossing it up to the stage to Hades. She watched the lead vampire catch it before she turned her sights back onto King Saber.

"You were told not to underestimate us and I am one of the last people in the world you wanna cross. Cause even though I wanna stab you a bunch for hurting my friends," Toga's smile stretched wider, her voice becoming more playful with the threat. She was looking and sounding a lot more like her normal self. "I'm gonna have fun watching you burn."

"What did you do, you little bitch," King Saber snarled.

"I made copies. Everything on your servers, all of your messages, call logs, everything, is on a few cute lil thumb drives just like the one I gave to him," Toga giggled softly. She then turned to Suri and gave her a warm, affectionate smile before her mood lowered into something more serious. "Gemini is only the beginning. She's one of twelve."

"Twelve?!" Suri choked out, shocked and beginning to shake with a mixture of rage, anticipation, and fear.

"But that," Toga jerked her head towards Hades who was inspecting the thumb drive. "That should be everything you need to track them down and kill em all."

Toga smiled again, looking up at Suri again. Her heart was starting to pound again as she looked into the beast girl's golden green eyes and she found herself getting lost and forgetting where they were. Something else inside her was poking at her mind, wondering why she was doing this. Why was she looking up to her for approval? Why was she hoping Suri would be proud of her? Why was she wanting Suri, Izuku, and Ochako's approval for what she'd just done? And why was her heart racing so much faster than usual? What was wrong with her?

All thoughts of Suri were pushed away. No longer was she starting to imagine the other girl and how her lips would feel against hers. That sudden urge was immediately stifled not from herself or because she didn't want to imagine it. No.

King Saber began chuckling softly. And he was calm as he slunk back into the far corner of his cage, peering out through the darkness with glee. How had he become crazier than someone like Himiko Toga?

"You… My my my you are unpredictable aren't you, Miss Toga?" King Saber sighed with a happy tone. "I knew my Gemini saw something in you but I don't think either of us would have expected you for a traitor."

"Shut up," Toga growled in return, almost lunging for the weretiger if it weren't for Suri's hand suddenly being on her shoulder and holding her gently.

"Try your luck, traitor. Maybe you'll be so lucky as to make it out of the coming apocalypse alive but I cannot say the same for your friends," King Saber purred with sinister delight, the joy in him only rising as he watched Suri and Toga ball their fists tighter. "You can try but you will never stop my Devas."

"Kenji Mutekabe," Hades roared with a deafening boom. It turned that smile of the tiger's up towards the vampires on the stage. "We see it fit for you to be shuffled from this mortal coil. You and your so-called Devas," he continued, holding up the thumb drive.

"Oh, if only," King Saber licked his lips. "But I don't think I will be joining the dead anytime soon."

"I appreciate the confidence," the younger man next to Hades said. "But I don't think you get how dire your situation is. Or maybe you've just gone mad."

"Oh, on the contrary, Wanderer," King Saber chuckled as he leveled his gaze at the vampire. "How dire will yours be when there's no bodies to jump to?"

"You dare continue to threaten us? I believe you are long overdue to have your head taken," the woman growled, slapping her hands down on the railing of the pulpit. "Your time is up."

"Yes, Dahlia, it is."

Suri's eyes flashed, going from looking at King Saber, unsettled by how calm and happy he was to seeing Izuku in her peripherals. He was clutching his head, fingers digging into his hair and his teeth gritting from pain. It was the tell tale sign of the fourth's Quirk and it was screaming that they were in danger.

But King Saber was right; it was too late.

And it was that exact moment that the roof came down and all hell broke loose.