Hello again, everyone. I am so, so, so sorry for this week long delay in the chapter. It is becoming increasingly difficult to balance time between college and writing, and on top of that, I fear I'm starting to experience the beginnings of burnout, as I find myself getting more and more tired and less and less motivated to keep up writing. This of course also is not helped by the fact that this site hasn't fixed its analytics or whatever for nearly two months, so I have absolutely no idea how many hits this story is getting each day anymore, and that can do a serious number to someone's motivation if they're being kept in the dark.

However, this story, and giving it to you all, means far too much to me to just stop now. I'm frankly amazed that I managed to keep up consistent chapter uploads for almost three years now. I said I'm going to see this story through to the end, and I mean it from the bottom of my heart.

But for the sake of my own mental health, I have to make a drastic change to how I go about writing and uploading chapters, because the way things are looking now, this cannot continue, and I never want to have an unannounced delay like this ever again. So, this is how I'm going to go about writing this story and uploading it for you all from this point forward:

As of this chapter, I'm going to dedicate as much time as necessary to finishing planning this story's adaptation of the third movie, and writing said chapters to completion. Only then, will I proceed to upload the next chapter that Friday, and then proceed to upload the following chapters one per day afterward, like a bulk upload so to speak. I figure that would be a good way to make up for however much time you'll have to wait. And this will be how I go about planning and writing all the subsequent story arcs to follow. I can only hope this will prove effective in helping me regain my energy for writing so that I can hopefully return to a more frequent uploading schedule once college is well and truly finished, assuming this story won't have somehow reached completion by then.

I will also be taking this chance to upload this story in its entirety on some other more popular fanfic platforms, and hope that the traffic can be as good, if not better, than it has been here. Maybe you'd all find it much more preferable to check it out over there instead, I don't know.

All of this being said, though, I am still eternally grateful for all of your continued support and readership through all this struggling. It means more to me than I can ever hope to properly convey with mere words.

I would also like to sincerely thank once again, my two beta readers and consultants in these trying times, Jonny and Carlos; just as I would also like to thank the current roster of artists on DA and other platforms, who help to bring this story to life piece by piece: Syyndev, Akane Kahomi, AliceKuroCross, Suki-Chan2509, effasempai, Eliza-Frost, Venera-Taro, Shalissey-N, Sherlleen, AnekoBS, Yumake, Urielnaely, and now the newest addition to the gallery: Navaeil.

My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters and the original events surrounding them.

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

Chapter 138

Foreign Lands

(Чужие Земли)

Sydney, Australia, Thursday, January 15th

While it had been still well into the night in Otheon by the time all the Hero teams around the world had conducted their stealth raids on all the Humarise bases; in Sydney, it was only now starting to really brighten up with dawn, with Mina, Mirko and their Australian Number One Hero host, Stampede Hopper, having managed to make quick work of the majority of the ground forces waiting for them, and then having to spend a little extra time than planned rounding up the rest. However, no matter how hard they looked, they never found any of the known lieutenants and regional leaders of the terrorist organization, nor were they able to find a single one of their Ideo Trigger bombs.

While Mina was trying to maintain as much of her usual positivity through her text messages with the rest of her classmates on the job, now that some of the other local Heroes had finally come to take away the members they'd captured; the fact that they weren't able to find one of those awful weapons or the people with the capability to detonate it, had her feeling more than a little anxious inside. And this was a demeanor in Mirko's upbeat intern that the Rabbit Hero was far from unaware of: "You planning to speak your mind their Pinky, or am I supposed to suddenly be a mind-reader?"

Her Pro Hero mentor's interruption snapped Mina back to reality as she pretended to try and stretch her joints out after all the high-speed dance fighting she'd had to do during their initial action. "Oh, just disappointed the stealth part's all done already, Sensei. I was hoping I'd get a chance to wear this cute new suit more than once, you know?" she quickly made up a painfully obvious lie; motioning her hands to the black and purple camouflage-pattern catsuit that had been provided to her by the All-Star World Heroes Association.

But Mirko's arms were firmly crossed, one of her feet rapidly patting against the ground in simmering impatience when Mina tried putting on a deeply unconvincing smile. "Uh-huh. Look, I'm no less disappointed than you about this, so do us both a favor and spare me the bullcrap stories, okay?"

Mina didn't even try to feign surprise that she'd been found out, as she let out a worried sigh. "Yes, Sensei."

But by contrast between the two visibly unsatisfied Japanese Heroes; Stampede Hopper himself had a veritable spring in his already bounding step, and a confident smirk on his face to match. One might have even been forgiven for calling it cocky. "Oi, don't go getting all sour on me already. Those rotters haven't given us the slip for long. Just you two wait, in no time, they're gonna up and co—ahem, I mean, they're gonna slip up, and we'll be on them like Great Whites in the surf."

As soon as the good-humored Australian Hero quickly corrected his incoming vulgarity for Mina's sake; he swiftly stepped in, urging his two guests along. "In the meantime, while the stars and blues here take our ragtag band to the slammer, why don't I help you both get settled in until we get our follow-up call…and what better way to do that than get you all acquainted with the rest of my mates in the Hero game…or reacquainted in your case, eh, Mirko?"

"Wait, you've got partners, and they didn't even think to come with you for the briefing, let alone give us a hand if things went south?" The Rabbit Hero shot the Kangaroo Hero a piercing glare of unpleasant surprise and disbelief at such carelessness, while Mina visibly lit up at the prospect of meeting even more new foreign Heroes.

All the while, Stampede just chuckled: "Oh, you're getting rusty on me, love. You know how rowdy rippin' rough Hero work is out here compared to Japan. Down Under might as well be called the Sleepless Continent in that regard. We should count ourselves lucky we had some of the neighborhood capes to take this lot off our hands until further notice. Now c'mon, take a page from Pinky's book and put on a smile, eh? I know they're gonna be right tickled to see your face again after all this time."

…

"Hello, hello, is that the ol' bronze cottontail ya brought back with ya after all these years, Jack?" "Bloomin' heck, it is! Good to see ya back in the ol' stompin' grounds, eh, Rumi-san? Ooh…and Jackie boy brought a pink little dust mite wit' 'im, to boot!"

As soon as Stampede had brought Mirko and Mina to his office deep in the heart of the most bustling part of Sydney and showed them inside; they were all being enthusiastically greeted by another two Heroes just stretching in relaxation in one of the upper floor offices; a man and a woman… or at least that was all Mina herself could automatically assume, as the taller one between them had a clearly powerful masculine build under his fine matted fur costume, equipped with shoulder straps that looked to have several needle pouches sewn along them; but his hands and feet were both uncovered and webbed, he had a large flat tail protruding from out his lower back through said costume, tipped with a serious-looking barb, and he had the head of a platypus upon his broad shoulders, his brow intensely furrowed, thus making his beady eyes look downright intimidating.

Right beside him, the female Hero of the duo was way shorter, perhaps even an inch or two shorter than Mina herself. Her skin was a much redder tan than Mirko's mocha-colored complexion; her eyes were wide, fully circular and had large irises of orange, with swirling spirals of white instead of regular pupils, making her look like she was constantly dizzy, and her widely grinning mouth bore a mouth full of cartoonishly sharp teeth. Her hair was a long and wildly unkempt dark brown, with a large stripe of white extending up the center of her bangs hanging over her forehead, up to the center of her scalp. She was adorned with a one-piece costume of cream-colored sleeves and leggings, and a body of yellow with an orange stripe going directly down the center, with a symbol of a cyclone stenciled right in the middle of that. Her feet and hands were adorned in comically oversized boots and gloves of bright red and yellow, the rims of her boots and the fingers of her gloves tipped with razor sharp steel spikes.

Mirko's face twisted with distaste at the unwanted familiarity from Stampede's two partners, while Mina was already smiling brightly at being noticed; all while Stampede just gave the Rabbit Hero a knowing smirk and an elbow nudge to the arm. "You lot got that right. It's like a real family reunion with a new hanger-on, eh? Go on, Rumi, give the ol' lot a right proper hello, you know you want to!"

Mirko was already grinding her teeth in annoyance as she crossed her arms stubbornly. "Screw off, Jack, I don't need you telling me what to do here."

But Mina's piling on of enthusiasm just made this awkward moment that much more unbearable for her: "You actually know these two as well, Sensei? I didn't see their pictures on the wall before! C'mon, can't you introduce us, please? I'll do it if you want! Hi, I'm Mina Ashido, but you can both call me Pinky when we're out kickin' bad guy butt! What're your names?"

Just like that, the two other Heroes' attention had been taken off of Mirko, to her minuscule relief, so she could reaffirm her authority between herself and her intern: "Don't go taking the reins while I'm still here, Pinky."

"Aww, don't go givin' your frizzy little Shiela here the brunt end of the meeting, Rumi, we're all mates here. Gotta be if you're suddenly getting sentimental enough for pictures." The platypus-headed Hero intervened with a good-hearted chuckle, before finally stepping forward, and indulged the pink young Hero with a welcoming bow, which his diminutive partner quickly did in kind as well. "It's a right pleasure to meet you, Pinky. I'm Gary Menzies, but professionally known as…ugh…Mantypus."

Just like that, his cordial demeanor had quickly darkened with embarrassment; very quickly explained when Stampede, the small female Pro Hero and Mirko all instinctively began chuckling to themselves; the Rabbit Hero finally answering: "I was wondering when you were finally gonna figure out a name for yourself, Gary… but THAT'S seriously what you came up with?"

To Mantypus' chagrin, his smaller partner could barely breathe enough through her laughter to answer before he could: "Please, his original idea was way more embarrassing. He actually wanted to be called Barb Striker!"

Now, Mirko's chuckling evolved into full blown belly laughs, with even Mina unable to help herself, while Mantypus' furry complexion bristled with indignation: "At least it actually sounds like a genuine Hero name, instead of the title of some shite monster flick."

"It sounds like the stage name of a middle-aged housewife moonlighting as a pro wrestler!" Mirko instantly interjected, getting even louder laughs out of everyone else but Mantypus himself.

As soon as the laughter began to die down again, the shorter female Pro finally turned her attention back to Mina. "So, you must be the joey of an intern to finally tie our troublesome cottontail down at last, eh? About bloody time if you ask me. I hope you snapped some shots of these photos you mentioned she's hangin' onto, cause I wanna see those for meself. Right, name's Tamara Conley, but you call me Tas-Maniac only, crystal clear?"

Mina nodded eagerly; ecstatic that she was already on such a good first impression with two of Stampede's, and apparently Mirko's, partners and associates of old. "Got it…though I had thought you'd be called something way cuter; looking like you do."

But where Mina felt 100 % that she meant only the best with that statement, the rest of the room went frigid cold with apprehension, especially Tas-Maniac herself, as her eye spirals began to rotate, and her welcoming demeanor instantly turned viciously aggressive. "Who the hell are you callin' CUTE?! I AIN'T CUTE, Y'HEAR?!"

But she was clearly not asking if Mina actually understood, as her speech began to grow garbled, disjointed and downright nonsensical as her temper only seemed to go more and more out of control; ultimately culminating in the Hero suddenly throwing her body into a literal slashing whirlwind; Mirko barely managing to snatch her intern by her collar and yanking her away before Tas-Maniac could proceed to rend her to ribbons with her spinning claws; only to be stopped by a resolute deflecting kick from Stampede, sending her ricocheting back into Mantypus' waiting arms.

The moment the little cyclone was within his grasp, he instantly managed to snatch her to where he brought her momentum to an instant stop, whispering indistinct words of calming to her, while Mirko looked the visibly stunned Mina sternly in the eye. "Yeah, word of advice while we're here, and I speak from lots of experience here: don't call Tas-Maniac there the c-word, especially if you like keeping your body in one piece as it is, got it?"

"Yeah, definitely got it." Mina exhaled as her whole body shivered from head to toe at the unexpected close call from getting nearly cut down a few inches where she'd once stood.

With that professional disaster narrowly averted, and Tas-Maniac finally calmed down, Mirko was finally able to address Stampede personally: "You've gone and completely changed the whole song and dance on me, Jack. Since when were you the type to take on full-time partners, if any partners at all? And seriously, why these two? They were never really the best in our class."

But Stampede looked completely unshaken by her clear lack of confidence, and visible disapproval and confusion. "Don't be so sure anymore, Rumi. Gary and Tamara have really come on up in the world since you up and left us. You're looking at Australia's Number Two and Three Heroes back to back right now, you are."

Mirko and Mina both couldn't hide their respective surprise and excitement at the news of Mantypus and Tas-Maniac's clear professional rankings in the whole country; while the two smiled proudly and confidently between themselves; the short woman smugly answering: "Come a long way from warming the bottom half of the class roster, haven't we?"

CLAP!

A resounding clap of the hands from Stampede quickly regained everyone's attention, as he lay back comfortably at his desk. "And that's not the only way we've all come along, is it? The fact is, Rumi, that every day, those blighters out there are getting way more clever, way more daring, and way more dangerous. You haven't been back in a long time, but I can tell ya with certainty, that I had to learn the hard way what I can or can't do all on my lonesome anymore. I just realized that I need partners if I wanna get anywhere further, for whatever that's worth…and maybe your little strawberry here's the sign that you might be reachin' the same conclusion, too, finally."

"Now wait just a damn minute there—"He might be right, Sensei. Maybe you're finally softening up just like that cute little cottontail!" Mirko immediately protested in flustered embarrassment, only for Mina to pile on the mushy sentiment with a sly grin, for once completely ignoring the intense threatening glare the Rabbit Hero was sending her as a means to tell her to keep quiet.

BRRRING!

Mirko could only let out a mental sigh of relief as soon as the phone at Stampede's desk suddenly began to ring, and he immediately answered. Within seconds, he hung up and practically went shooting out the door. "Look alive, blokes, sounds like we're keeping busy even on standby! Got a gang of hoods that jacked a gas tanker on the Hume Highway heading for our little piece of hearth and home. Mirko, Pinky, ya gonna sit back and get intimate with the spiders, or you wanna show us how ya roll when the heat gets turned up? If so, you might wanna change into something brighter in color, Pinky; not a day in the year down here that won't have ya sweatin' buckets in black!"

Mantypus and Tas-Maniac were already hot on Stampede's heels before he'd even finished, while Mina instinctively jumped in shock at the mention of spiders, and then grimaced in potential discomfort at the description of the Australian heat in her stealth suit; for once getting a snarky chuckle out of Mirko as she hurried after her fellow Pros. "You can't be too sure if either of those is an analogy or not in these parts, Pinky. C'mon, time for you to learn what real hard-hitting Hero work is like!"

"YES, SENSEI! RIGHT BEHIND YOU!" Mina excitedly proclaimed as she hurried after all the others, putting aside the need to change costumes; grinning ecstatically that she'd still get to keep busy, and finally get to really see the sights and sounds of Sydney in the process.

…

Without a boundary like stealth to worry about in the execution of Hero work, Stampede was like a gale force wind, he was able to jump so far and fast on his way to the major highway leading into Syndey. But to Mantypus and Tas-Maniac's credit, they were managing to keep pace with him exceptionally well, almost as well as Mirko was with her own super powered hopping; the latter using her insane whirlwind speed to help carry her partner along without risk of falling behind. Naturally, Mina was the one trailing behind, having no knowledge of the layout of the city like the rest of them did, but she was at least still managing to keep Mirko in her sights so as not to get lost.

Within less than three minutes, the Heroes finally had the incoming highway in sight, and Stampede's voice was already calling in on his team's earpieces as he soared through the air after another springing jump off a nearby rooftop. "I got the rig in my sights, bearing down the blacktop like a bat out of Hell! Got two vans flanking it for cover! Tas, Mantypus, you know what to do! Mirko, Pinky, stay close to me!"

Needing no further instructions as she turned her momentum to the nearby on-ramp, Tas-Maniac suddenly tossed Mantypus high up into the air with her insane momentum aiding her throw. With his eyes squarely focused on the nearest van, he used his own momentum to swing his flat tail their way, suddenly shooting out a multitude of tiny barbs from all over it, the whole assortment pinning into the left tires and chassis of the van, sending it spinning and ultimately rolling, until Mirko came springing up over the guardrail and slammed her kicking feet out, slamming into its opposite side and stopping the vehicle dead in its tracks. She didn't even stick around long enough for the criminals inside to finish drawing out and aiming their guns at her; instead only being met by the sight of Mina sliding up the road towards them at breakneck speed, expertly shooting two rapid and precise squirts of Acid from her fingers through the shattered windshield, melting their weapons down to the handles in an instant, before then leaping up into a perfect dive kick, knocking them both out in their seats before their brains could even finish processing what just happened.

At the same time as all this, Tas-Maniac had been quick to make her own move as well, flying up through the air in her little mid-air tornado, and expertly meeting the ground and keeping her blinding spinning speed going strong, moving like a human pinball all across the highway to avoid the civilian vehicles, and instead masterfully making her way to the second protecting van, letting her speed and spikes gloves do all the work, rending their right tires to ribbons and their right bay door to scrap, completely exposing the thugs inside scrambling to get their weapons ready.

But much like their counterparts, they too wouldn't get a chance to fight back, as Mantypus finally finished his airborne approach, springing himself off the roof of the gas tanker's cabin, and diving headlong into the now open second van, slamming the thugs into the opposite wall with enough force to finally tip the whole van onto its side, finally bringing it to a complete stop, while he made swift and sure work of the lot with some precise and merciless close-quarters melee combat.

And as for the main truck itself, Stampede and Mirko were both quickly gaining on it, springing themselves up and over off the road with their respective Quirked legs in tandem with one another, before ultimately meeting each other in mid-air, clutching onto one hand from each of them. The moment they had their grip, the next time they bounced off the ground, Stampede proceeded to throw himself and Mirko into a spin, before finally sending the Rabbit Hero flying like a bullet through the air, stomping her feet powerfully into the roof of the cab, cleaving it nearly in two right down the middle to the shock of the criminals commandeering it, before her elbows likewise came slamming into the backs of their heads, knocking them both flat out cold.

However, the instantaneous stop in the truck's momentum ended up causing the huge petrol tank behind it to come flipping straight up and tall into the air over the smashed cab. Seeing the potential devastation this might cause while still connected to the cab, the only thing Mina could think to do as she came Acid Sliding onto the scene, was to fire another quick and precise Acid Shot at the coupling connecting the two. This thankfully managed to cause the tank to flip that little bit much further ahead, where Stampede himself finally came slamming hard into the ground in a mad roll, before ultimately landing on his back with his legs coiled back, kicking them out the moment the tank was about to land right on top of him, sending it leaning further and further back, about to come crash landing back down on its wheels, only for Tas-Maniac to once more come spinning in like the wind, suddenly stopping in her tracks before sending her spinning self into an even greater speed, producing a huge gust of upward wind from the friction, powerful enough to actually slow the tank's descent until it practically hung in mid-air. From there, she proceeded to send her cyclone spinning body further and further back, steadily lessening her gale force spinning wind power little by little, ultimately helping to slowly lower the tanker back down onto the road safely.

Just like that, a potential disaster had been expertly avoided, and all the thugs responsible for the theft had been left unconscious and ready for the police to come onto the scene and collect them…and the realization that she and Mirko had just helped accomplish their very first bit of Hero work in a foreign country together without a hitch had Mina bouncing joyfully where she stood while the rest of the Heroes gathered back up. "THAT WAS SO TOTALLY AMAZING! YOU GUYS WERE ALL SO COOL, YOU WORK SO WELL OFF EACH OTHER! CAN YOU TEACH ME SOME OF THOSE TRICKS OF YOURS, PLEASE?!"

As soon as Tas-Maniac was finally able to stop spinning with Mantypus' help; her spiral eyes likewise finally stopping, she chuckled proudly. "Ah, it's just another day in the life down under. Stick around for a while, Pinky, and Hero work in Japan is bound to look like a playground rough-housing by comparison."

"That being said, though, you did quite well yourself back there, kid. How much field experience have you had before coming down here, if you don't mind me asking?" Mantypus likewise commended Mina before asking, leaving her smiling brightly in remembrance, before Mirko chimed in: "You really think I would've taken some weak-willed little spring daisy as my first ever intern, you two? Pinky can hold her own, but she's nowhere near Pro level yet."

Instead of any indignation, Mina just looked that much more excited: "I bet I'll practically be a Pro if I keep working with all of you guys! Seriously, Sensei, the way you and Stampede-Sensei literally bounced right off of each other to stop that truck was amazing! No wonder you said you two worked together the best!"

At this, Stampede's kangaroo ears visibly perked up. "Oh really? Why is it I have to practically bend those ears of yours to get you to say anything half as nice to my own on the phone, Rumi?"

"Maybe if you don't get in my way with whatever other work we have to do while we're down here, that might change. And as for you, Pinky, keep your head focused on the task at hand, namely your own, if you don't want to end up flat on your ass out here. This is where the big kids come to play." Mirko answered sarcastically as she impatiently brushed the Kangaroo Hero off, much to his amused chuckling, before then calling after her intern from over her shoulder; all while Mina, Mantypus and Tas-Maniac could only watch after the two.

"Don't let that dismissive front fool you, kid; we've always seen and heard it, too. Mirko's as stubborn as a damn mule; it'd take way more than a pair of pliers, a blowtorch and some fire ants in the trousers to get her to admit it, but Stampede's always been way more open about it." Mantypus spoke up reassuringly to the pink young Hero, much to her pleasant surprise.

"Yeah, as far back as Hero school, there's always been this unspoken little thing between those two; more than professional-like. That's why he's busted his arse so much to become Number One in our neck of the woods after she left." Tas-Maniac likewise chimed in; leaving Mina smiling in satisfaction that her original suspicions were being felt by more than just herself.

Of course, with that thought, her smile began to falter. "Maybe if Sensei wasn't so super-focused on becoming Number One, too, maybe she'd be more willing to just admit it, too. Like, it's totally obvious, and I've only known Stampede-sensei for a couple hours. But with someone as super powerful as Endeavor being Number One right now, I don't even know how Sensei would be able to take his place at all, let alone anytime soon."

To that, Mantypus placed a firm yet reassuring webbed hand on her shoulder; giving her the closest thing he could to a confident smile with his billed face. "If there's one thing you come to learn in this field of work, kid, it's that nothing is truly impossible."

Tas-Maniac then gave Mina a similarly confident wink before taking off into a mad dash to catch up with Mirko and Stampede. "You're bloody well right there, mate. Now c'mon, Strawberry Shortcake; Hero work never slows down a mite in this town!"

Mina's worry for whatever potential romantic future there was for Mirko and Stampede was thankfully tucked aside with the two other Heroes' encouragement; the young pink-skinned girl smiling enthusiastically again as she began to take off into another high-speed Acid slide in order to keep up. 'This place is already so exciting! It really is like All Might, Aizawa and Tunguska-sensei keep saying: a Hero's work really is never done, no matter where they are.'

…

Paris, France

A hostage situation on a flotilla on the Seine River, a potential jumper at the Tour Saint-Jacques, a rampage by a motorcycle gang around the Arc De Triomphe, and an attempted organized robbery at the Louvre.

In the couple of hours that had passed since the Paris Hero team had been given the order to standby, these were all the incidents they had ended up being called to handle, and all under the supervision and local guidance of their host and comrade, Frère Intrépide, France's Number One Hero.

In little to no time at all, even if they hadn't already fought like a well-oiled unit together in dealing with the local Humarise forward operating base earlier this morning; the musketeer-looking Pro Hero quickly made it clear to his guests and their students just why he had attained the rank he had. In matters of action, speed and quiet grace, he somehow always knew exactly how to approach every situation, and especially how best to direct the bunch of foreign Heroes having no choice but to follow his lead.

All along the way as they carried out their group patrol, nobody could argue that he clearly was deserving of his rank. He was certainly inhumanly fast and strong enough to constitute being a Number One Hero, even without the inclusion of his steel cape and laser rapier. However, even putting those facts aside; the locals all absolutely loved him, to the point even the half-French Yuga was practically worshiping the ground he walked on whenever they made their way from one place to the next, and he was still humble enough to give all due credit to his fellow Pros and their young students where it was due, as they had all already gotten plenty of chances to showcase their own skills to him on the field as well.

So impressed was he so far by how well they all worked off of each other, even in an entirely new land such as this; that by the time noon had rolled around, he'd refused any denial of the opportunity to treat his guests to lunch while they all stood watch atop the Eiffel Tower, with his own nifty little set of Support Items in the form of a compact squad of remotely-controlled drones being sent out to notify the lot of them of the first sign of any further trouble.

As they all sat side by side and ate while admiring the view of the City of Lights; Tsuyu, Tooru, Selkie, Sirius and Yoroi Musha all had to make a conscious effort to sit a little further away from the edge at the risk of vertigo; while Ochako, Nejire, Willow Light, Yuga and Frère Intrépide himself were all not bothered by the heights below in even the slightest.

But naturally, after all they'd already gotten to see and do, and all the instances in which they'd gotten to see the local favorite Hero show what he was made of, Ochako finally couldn't help but speak up, all while still looking immensely weirded out by how Leonid's Quirk from earlier made all of them speak and think in French as naturally as could be: "Frère Intrépide-Sensei, is it okay if I ask a question?"

"By all means, Uravity-san, I'd almost be insulted if you didn't have even one thing to say after getting to see so much of this fair city already. That goes for all of you as well." The Musketeer Hero bowed his head humbly, giving Ochako the lead.

"Well, I was just wondering: at all of the different incidents we've gotten to take care of so far, I couldn't help but notice how, right before you go into action, you always look around at the street cameras around, right before you fiddle around with the collar of your cape. It's almost kind of like an actor in a stage play or a movie making sure everything's in place before they start performing."

"Hey, yeah, I saw that a couple times too. Does your cape somehow not fit you all the time? Did you ever think of maybe getting it adjusted? How are you able to get a fully flowing cape that's still made of steel, anyway?" Nejire similarly chimed in, only now finally starting with her usual barrage of questions like always.

But while Selkie and Willow Light all looked similarly embarrassed at their students for putting their host on the spot like this so suddenly, Yuga simply looked genuinely offended: "Do you both mean to say you didn't bother to do any research on our fearless host before we actually landed here? That's hardly the kind of foresight becoming of future Heroes!"

This was easily the most animated they'd gotten to see Yuga become yet, which simply made Tooru laugh. "Wow, Aoyama-kun, they're not even asking you anything, and you're acting like they just insulted your mom. What's the deal with that?"

"Can't Stop Twinkling makes a fair point actually, Invisible Girl." Yoroi Musha suddenly answered; the old samurai-looking Number Nine Hero looking respectfully to their host. "It's a rare chance that even we Pros get to have, to be able to work together with our foreign comrades on their home turf. It only stands to reason that one should take a little time to get to know where they're going to be working, who with, and how they can utilize their respective abilities in order to get the best results in a crisis."

However, Yuga still had something of a childish pout on his otherwise stationary, pointedly-grinning face. "If you really must know, though, Hagakure-san; Frère Intrépide is the Hero I looked up to the most before my family moved us to Japan and I got to learn of All Might in his stead. A chance like this is something I'd only ever dreamed of for the longest time."

Even if none of them could see it, Tooru was nodding in full understanding of her classmate's sentiment, while Tsuyu looked up to the fluffy clouds in the sky, deep in thought. "I guess that explains why you acted the way you did, like all the locals did at all the incidents today. You honestly looked a lot like Midoriya does whenever All Might is around-kero."

With all the other little conversations having already come and gone, Frère Intrépide himself chuckled warmly. "Yes, I suppose it does require a bit of explanation, though I'm surprised none of your Heroes in Japan have a similar setup. You see, the cameras set up all throughout Paris are not only connected to all the local law enforcement and government agencies, but they're also connected to one giant internet surveillance grid that rigs them up to one immeasurable and continuous live-streaming platform that every citizen in France is able to access at any time they so please. I always make a point to know where they're set up at any given moment, so that way whenever I go into action, I always know the best angle at which to go in from, so that everyone can see what I do in full view, without risk of missing a second of it. They all have told me countless times just how much they love seeing it when things throw down and I come in to put a stop to it. As for my cape, I keep a tiny little body camera sewn into it, and I always want to make sure it's got the right angle to get the best first-person view"

However, whereas he and Yuga were similarly smiling at the thought; Ochako and Tsuyu both looked notably put off by it; the rosy-cheeked girl finally asking: "Forgive me, but…doesn't that kind of sound a lot like…well, showing off? Like, you're just concerned with making sure the cameras see you, instead of making sure you're doing what you can to make sure no civilians risk getting hurt?" "Yeah, it doesn't sound all that heroic when you really think about it-kero."

If Yuga had given the impression he'd been insulted before, now he looked as though his two classmates had just smacked his mother across the face; which made it all the more jarring that Frère Intrépide didn't look the least bit offended, instead simply nodding. "Yes, I can certainly see why you'd think so. Honestly, if I'd met a Hero who did the same kind of thing, but didn't have my Quirk specifically, I'd accuse them of the same thing."

Finally turning away from his watchful view of the city so he could look all the young Hero students in the eye, the French Hero finally spoke up with a resolution in his tone that left no room for doubt in his sincerity: "I have no doubt Can't Stop Twinkling there knows the answer to this, but I'll ask you kids anyway: do you perhaps have any idea what three sacred tenets modern France was founded upon in the wake of the Revolution in the late 18th century?"

Frère Intrépide's mention of Yuga's unquestionable knowledge all but forced the sparkling young Hero to keep his mouth shut so his classmates could get a chance to answer. For a good several seconds, the girls all looked like they were really racking their brains for an answer, until Nejire suddenly lit up with realization: "Oh, I remember from world history class! It was…liberty, equality and brotherhood, right?"

"Very good, Nejire-Chan. Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité; those are the principles that define the French people above all else, and the only way those things can be maintained to the strength they must be kept in this modern day is by having the French people of all origins, creeds and backgrounds see that there is a Hero who is willing to fight for all of them with no less sincerity and intensity. If there is but even a crack in that sense of unity as a people, then my Quirk is unable to be as powerful as I need it to be to keep that unity strong, and then it all falls apart."

Seeing the clear confusion on all their faces, he continued: "Yes, my Quirk, French Spirit, manifests in your run-of-the-mill powers like superhuman speed and strength, but my Quirk is intrinsically tied to the prevalence of the spirit of the French people, which is directly tied to the three tenets: Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood.

"If the French people can see at any given time that I fight from the bottom of my heart to protect every single one of them, regardless of things like color, religion, social class or family origin, then there is no room for discontent or social fracture in themselves or one another, no sense of superiority or stronger rights over one another. By fighting just as hard for all of them, I prove to them that they are all of the same blood, the same heart and soul as a people in this very moment. They all see themselves as beloved children of France, and that they as such are brothers and sisters, with bonds unbreakable. So long as that unity and peace is there and it is strong, so too is my Quirk, and so too am I. As long as those people know there are Heroes fighting for them, then so too will they fight for and protect one another in every other way there is, and you can't get much stronger national unity than that."

"Is that supposed to be your way of saying that all the other Heroes of this country focus on the street and body cameras like you do when they go into action?" Sirius asked in honest curiosity, to which Frère Intrépide chuckled before he began rustling through one of the pockets of his costume.

"Not necessarily, though the idea has been brought up a couple times in the past. I'm just making it clear, in case any of you still had any doubts, that I don't give myself nearly all the credit for maintaining the people's senses of unity and brotherhood with one another. As Heroes, our work directly affects one another just as much as it does the civilians. With all my fellow Heroes giving their all every day in the face of Villainy and other dangers, the people know that they are all equally protected, because they are all of equal importance, and that kind of feeling of equality can instill powerful attachments between people. And with that attachment, not only does it make it far easier for me to conduct my duties when the going gets rough, but it also ultimately ends up making it easier for other Heroes to do their jobs just as well. The whole thing applies to all of them out there…just as much as it applies to all of you as well. Which is why I'd like to give you all these while you're here."

With that, he suddenly handed his fellows and their students a handful of similar tiny body cameras to apply to their own costumes. "It's a strange change of pace, I know, but trust me, even if you're not from here, it will still do the people tremendous good to see all of you fellow Heroes of another land likewise working hard for all their sakes. Check the local social media after a day of doing so, you'll find the gratitude my countrymen can express for the work we do to be like none other, once they see you all in action in one way, shape or form."

There was still some unmistakable reluctance on all their faces before they finally took hold of one tiny camera for themselves, awkwardly affixing them to their respective costumes. There was certainly no denying that their host truly believed in everything he was saying as to what made him powerful, and just what affect their work had on people as a whole. As such, while still finding the whole thing a little questionable in concept, there was no denying that they all had a little curiosity about it now. Deep down, Ochako and Tooru couldn't help but find it a tiny bit poetic, even.

But while they did so, Nejire chanced a glance over to Willow Light, seeing the half-Irish Pro Hero only halfheartedly applying the camera to the chest of her costume; her green neon eyes looking utterly distant as she kept looking up north. "Hey, Willow-Sensei, what's up? Are you feeling motion sick? Do you wanna head back down? Was it bad escargot you ate?"

Thankfully, the blue-haired senior student's nonstop questions quickly managed to break through Willow Light's visible malaise, as she gave an embarrassed chuckle. "Oh, no, Nejire-Chan, it's nothing like that, don't worry. I'm just…I guess you could call it feeling a little homesick. I haven't been this close to good old Ireland in a long time now…and to be honest, I wasn't sure if I'd ever be back anywhere close again after I'd left. It's just kind of starting to get to me finally, I suppose."

As to be expected, this admission on her part earned Willow Light a few curious looks, while Nejire was as upbeat as ever. "Well, once we get all done with all our work out here, who's to say we couldn't make a little time to go over and see it for ourselves, let you see all the old faces you're thinking about? You are thinking about a lot, right?"

But to this, Willow Light resolutely got to her feet, pulling the hood of her costume over her head so the students couldn't see the twinge of pain that flashed across her features at the thought. "A good idea if you were talking to literally anyone else, Nejire-Chan…but there's a lot more to it than you think, and more than I'm comfortable talking about, so please just let it go."

With that, she proceeded to focus her Quirk, and quickly condense her body into the same lightning fast ball of light, which proceeded to quickly descend down the height of the tower to the ground below. Upon seeing that, Frère Intrépide likewise got up. "Yes, I suppose that's as good a clue as any that lunch break is over. Let's go, everyone. It's time to finally put your professional marks on the local network, and see how the people take to all your hard work for their sakes."

Finally, the Musketeer Hero proceeded to step over the edge and masterfully scale his way down the tower, with the rest of his fellow Heroes, Pro and student alike, coming down after him and Willow Light; Ochako, Nejire and Tooru among them unable to stop feeling worried for what was going on with the latter Pro, after how they'd all gotten to know her since beginning their training.

…

Kyushu, Japan

Nobody in the Kyushu Hero team had expected that their attack on the nearby Humarise base would be easy, but that didn't make the news of their finding no lieutenants or bombs any less worrying. Piling that on top of the continuous regular Hero workload whilst waiting on standby only made things that much more difficult. Before even half a day had passed since the order had been given, the force of Tunguska, Fatgum, Vlad King, Eijirou, Tetsutetsu, Tamaki and Maja had been called into action, as they'd soon received call of a Villain hijacking a bullet train on one of the lines running through Kyushu.

Through a perfected sense of teamwork, the three Pros had managed to force their ways inside the train as it had sped through, while it fell to all the students to handle evacuating all the local stations of civilians, in case things got rough.

Thankfully, though, the Villain had been subdued at the controls with the help of Fatgum acting as the shield, and Tunguska's Solar Quirk stunning him long enough for Vlad King to immobilize him, finally allowing them to bring the train to a halt before any extensive damage or harm could be dealt.

Yes, it was truly all in a normal day's work, and knowing that they had likewise done their parts to make sure no civilians had gotten hurt, thus making things easier for their mentors, had Eijirou, Tetsutetsu and Tamaki all feeling quite proud and relieved as well…which was why it struck them all as so odd, once they had reunited so the police could do their job, to see that Maja was visibly not in any mood for celebrating, instead keeping her arms crossed and her eyes turned away from her partners, and staying this way long after Fatgum had declared it time to continue their regular patrols.

And after an hour of staying like this, Eijirou couldn't keep it to himself any longer: "Hey, Maja-san, what's up? All things considered, today's going pretty well already."

"It's nothing out of the ordinary, Kolce. I just wish I had my license so I could really get into the heat of the action like you all can, that's all." Maja answered bluntly, still refusing to look him in the eye, which told him and everyone else far more than her words did. "It's just really feeling more and more like I'm being left out."

"What're you talking about? We all had totally different stations to evacuate, which means you got to handle clearing one out all on your own." Tetsutetsu vehemently disagreed. "All the people in that area have you to thank for keeping them safe in case our Sensei's couldn't handle it. That's all on you."

But as Eijirou eagerly agreed in the hopes of lightening her spirits, Maja's stride came to a halt, and her voice came out far more impatient than anyone had expected: "Okay, I lied, it's not that, okay? I know everything you both are saying is true, but if I had my license, at least I'd actually be able to do more, in case none of you would be able to if things got worse."

Finally looking back, they could all see a look of true anguish evident in her pink-blue eyes. "All I can do is stay here as a glorified tag-along. Meanwhile, all our friends are out there…one of my oldest friends is out there, living like a lapdog to these genocidal nutcases who-knows-where, and I can't do anything to fix it! Yeah, I said I'd get him back no matter what myself if I had to, but really, what can I actually do without a license on the field that wouldn't just get me in trouble all over again? What kind of Hero am I in that situation?

"It's because of me that he got into our old mess in Hokkaido to begin with…and until I know for a fact that he's back safe and sound and back to normal with everyone else back home, I'll never be able to live that old me down!" Maja hadn't even realized she'd started to cry for the first time in what felt like weeks, having now had to really connect her impatience to her long-stewing feelings of guilt, now that she finally knew for certain that Marius and his potential rescue was so close at hand. Hurriedly wiping her eyes, she continued much quieter:

"I'm sorry. I just… there was a part of me that was starting to really wonder if anyone would ever find him…and now that I actually know there's a chance again to get him back… it's just making everything feel so much harder, and I know that's none of your guys' fault. I just…for the first time since I started coming to Yuuei with all of you, I just feel so useless; knowing I can't actually do anything for him or anyone else the way I am right now."

Wasting no time, however, Vlad King stepped forward, forcing his foreign student to look and see the seriousness in his narrowed eyes. "Do you really feel as though you're useless, though, Candelabra? Just because you're not allowed to get involved in battles, you think that makes you a lesser Hero than any one of us here?"

She didn't have an immediate answer, thus he continued; an intense edge of empathy ringing his blunt force words: "Yes, this old friend of yours is out there among the ranks of this Humarise organization. We may not know where; he could be hiding out here for all we know. But until we get the call to action, we still have a job to do, and that includes you, as long as you're out here with us. Everyone in this team has their own vital part to play, and you're no exception, with or without your license. By helping direct people out of the line of danger, you're just as much a Hero, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise, especially yourself."

Maja, Tetsutetsu and Eijirou all looked equally stunned at Vlad King's unusual approach to a Heroic pep talk; before Tamaki surprisingly inched forward and spoke up with a surprising lack of his usual nervous withdrawn stuttering: "Whether it's us or any of the others, a promise was made to help save your friend, and it will happen; you need to know that to be true. Would you really be able to live knowing that you doubted yourself as a Hero when someone you cared about was counting on you? I really doubt that anyone with our responsibilities could. It's difficult, yes, but you need to let everyone else's faith in you keep pushing you forward until you can have faith in yourself that burns just as strong if not more so."

Eijirou, Tunguska and Fatgum were all looking on with immense pride at Tamaki actually being able to swallow his nervousness enough to try and help Maja gain her confidence and patience in herself back; all smiling in approval, while the Polish girl herself was still sniffling while her mouth formed a deeply grateful smile for their understanding and support.

It had ultimately been but a moment of weakness in spirit, but Maja knew that as Heroes, they couldn't afford to let those moments bring them any further down than they already were. With her heart already feeling that much lighter, she gave a thankful nod with that emboldened glimmer returned in her eyes; a very promising sight as far as her friends and teachers were concerned. She knew they were all right; she needed to stay strong and keep the faith that, no matter by whose hand it would be, Marius would indeed be brought back, and she would then finally be able to put the last nagging shred of the past behind her at last.

As they finally proceeded on wholeheartedly with patrols together from there; Maja could only keep silently hoping to herself that the rest of the teams were holding up better, and that their awaited call for action wouldn't take too much longer to come.

…

Otheon

And she wasn't the only one hoping so, as Bakugo couldn't stop voicing that anticipation in the guise of his quickly building frustration.; all the way from the Humarise base they'd just cleared out, all the way to one of the local hotels their host, Clair Voyant, had opted for them to reconnoiter in until they got the call; while her sidekicks and fellow local Heroes took care of transporting the captured Humarise members and taking them to their own respective safe places to be held; given the still-standing order for secrecy their mission was under, hence their inability to involve the police.

"This is such crap, us having to just sit around waiting for those scumbags to do something! We don't even have a place to at least train in the meantime, what kinda shit is that?! We oughta be shaking up every Villain rathole in this damn city and make them tell us where Humarise is holing up! Surely they've gotta have some members lurking around with that kind of scum somewhere!"

Naturally, Bakugo was stating this as anything but a suggestion, and nothing but a fact. That certainty made it even more infuriating that none of his fellow interns or their Pro mentors agreed, as Izuku meekly answered: "Kacchan, the director said we can't do anything to give away what we're actually doing out here."

"Yes, we don't know how deeply imbedded Humarise might be within institutions like the police or the media or anywhere else. They're not like your average Villain gang. If we were to do what you're suggesting, that could draw a lot of attention to us, including their own, then we'd be in real trouble." Shoto agreed; the only reason Nikolay didn't initially chime in being because he was once more looking through all the various texts they were receiving from their classmates, confirming what they were doing and that they were all unharmed so far.

"If you want to get a chance at becoming Number One someday, Bakugo, you need to learn when situations call for patience and a delicate approach." Endeavor stated bluntly; the irony of one once as impatient as him saying so only making Bakugo seethe that much more, and Shoto simply roll his eyes in silent annoyance at his father's apparent lack of self awareness.

But after having helped them all get settled into their thankfully spacious hotel room, Clair Voyant herself finally spoke up: "For whatever it may be worth; just because our current mission is on standby doesn't mean we aren't still able to move around town. Why don't you boys take the time to familiarize yourself with this city by getting some groceries for our dinner tonight?"

To this, Endeavor immediately added on with no room for debate in his stern tone: "But you all come right back once you have them. We can't risk you all not being here when the call to action inevitably comes."

"I mean, it'd be pretty careless for us not to. We'll be back soon." Nikolay immediately answered; pocketing one of the complimentary city maps the room provided while following after Izuku and Shoto. Bakugo, on the other hand, simply stomped after his fellows with a bitter sneer; silently acknowledging that it was better than just sitting her and doing nothing.

As soon as they were outside the hotel, Nikolay already had the map unfolded, acting as the unofficial guide for his partners to follow as they made their way. For the moment, now that they weren't having to worry about stealth missions or anything of the sort, they could finally take in the Otheon capital city for what it was.

Being on a large manmade island perched comfortably just south of Italy and Greece on the Mediterranean, the architecture was predominantly just that, with the refreshing ocean breeze permeating over the entire city, while the skies above were a deep and penetrating dark azure, nothing short of beautiful over the rolling hills of buildings that were an even mix between modern day and traditional orange-tiled roofs.

But what none of the four Heroes had noticed during their late night flight over, was how a sizable area of the city lining the opposite coast was particularly darker: this was the capital city's shanty town, colorful in its own right, but if they had asked any of the locals about it, they would've been told that was where the charm ended. Much like a glistening metropolis of stimuli like Rio de Janeiro, Otheon's capital city displayed its social hierarchy quite literally upon its face.

But as this was unknown to them, they simply carried on about their business, taking in the quaint atmosphere and sights, right down to the large red bridge connecting the opposite halves of the city across the narrow cover the city was built upon, hanging over the glistening sapphire seas.

Of course, absolutely none of this foreign beauty and the all-around excitement of being in a wholly new land meant a thing to Bakugo, who kept his face wrenched in that frustrated scowl that only he could wear; impatiently stomping his way to the forefront of the group, despite Nikolay being the one with the map. "Let's just get this crap job over with. I swear, nowhere for us to even train and keep our wits sharp. I can feel the rust setting in already. Those bastards better make a move fast."

Without taking his eyes off the map, though, Nikolay quickly answered: "None of us should be in too much of a rush, Bakugo. Heroes or not, we're still technically guests here, probably not even a step removed from tourists. Your attitude could make for a really bad first impression with the locals in case anyone ends up needing our help."

Izuku nodded with a proud smile on his face at just how much Nikolay had improved in how he and Bakugo spoke with one another. At the same time, even Shoto had a look of vague surprise in his eyes. "You're handling the transition of us being here surprisingly well, Bezpalov. I would have imagined a second complete cultural shift would be a bit much."

To all three of their surprise, Nikolay's initial response was a good-humored-sounding chuckle. "To be honest with you all, even after more than an entire year of living in Japan, every now and then I still can't help but feel like a tourist there. I guess you could just consider this to be a little more of the same for me. I must be getting used to it."

"Guess you'd better hope that old man's language Quirk still helps you when we have to actually talk with the locals then; or else you're gonna be feeling like the fresh-off-the-boat little scaredy cat you were back then all over again." Bakugo muttered, which gave Nikolay momentary pause, having not even taken a moment to think about that.

Thankfully, by the time they'd finally made it to the market, it was ultimately decided for Izuku to be the one to speak for them to the local clerks, as nice as they all were. In no time at all, the four boys had their respective arm loads of groceries, and were soon making their way back.

As they did so, the momentary pause in all the conversation gave them a chance to see just how optimistic and lively the energy around them was in this city, with multitudes of civilians and potential other tourists living it up, completely in ignorance of just what kind of threat was potentially lying in wait here that had brought so many foreign Heroes over.

It really was an encouraging sight to see, to be sure, as Izuku finally commented out of habit: "Everything is so lively here."

"That's because, being the capital, this is the biggest city in Otheon." Shoto answered obviously. "Like Clair Voyant-sensei said, this country has a markedly lower crime rate compared to a lot of other countries, which on top of its fruitful fishing and agricultural economies, also encourages great deals of tourism, since a lot of the people are confident they have no major threats to worry about. So it's only natural the streets would be lively this time of day."

As sensible and straightforward as Shoto's explanation was, it still did nothing to ease Izuku and Nikolay's unspoken nerves, knowing the threat was still very much real, and they had no means of going after it directly from here. And Bakugo, naturally, was the only one to voice that grievance out loud: "Even if we're on standby or whatever, WHY THE HELL DO I GOTTA DO ERRANDS?! HOW COME YOU THREE AREN'T AS PISSED OFF, HUH?! DON'T YOU HAVE ANY PRIDE AFTER EVERYTHING WE'VE DONE?!"

"It's because we're still the lowest ranked members of the team, Bakugo." Shoto answered with that same bluntness, to Bakugo's chagrin.

"That's right, Kacchan. The only reason we're all even out there across the world giving our help to all the Pros, is because of all our internships with some of the best ranked Heroes. We're essentially just freebies being thrown into the mix. We'd probably still be at Yuuei right now otherwise." Izuku added on with the same disarming smile he impulsively wore to try and lower his volatile friends' temper.

As Bakugo thankfully looked like he wasn't about to erupt into another furious tirade, Nikolay finally concluded: "But since we are here, that means we need to be ready for anything, just like you all said. Having to stay all secret like we are, that ultimately means the only thing standing between everyone here and the danger of terrorism is us."

Izuku, Bakugo and Shoto, he could feel, were all of the exact same sentiment, as the latter quietly uttered: "These terrorists, Humarise…"

"Yeah, to think we're actually going up against a bunch of fundamentalist whackjobs obsessed with a bullshit conspiracy theory." Bakugo sneered in distaste. "And what the hell's with this Quirk Singularity Theory crap they were spouting off about in that video the old man showed us before we left? They're seriously out there, spouting off some cock-and-bull story without any basis in the truth, and threatening to wipe out Quirks altogether because of it. I can't think of anybody more deserving of a serious ass-kicking right now."

"Well, this is the first time I'd ever heard of this theory. I didn't really have a chance to look it up on the way here, I was thinking about everything else going on that the others were walking into. What exactly is it?" Nikolay asked with a surprising naïve confusion, much to Bakugo's visible annoyance.

Thankfully, Izuku was there to answer as always: "Well, what I understand, according to what little I've read: it's a theory that had been going around for a while, talking about how Quirks are only growing more and more powerful and devastating with each successive generation. The way the theory goes, there'll ultimately be a generation with Quirks so powerful, that their wielders won't be able to control them, and it's supposed to basically result in the extinction of the human race."

Nikolay could obviously feel a deep chill run up his back at the thought of such a thing, and the idea that any rational human mind could actually come up with it. Clearly, having to talk about it out loud had left Izuku looking visibly unsettled as well. Just thinking about how insanely powerful their own Quirks had become before they were even fully grown adults was enough to give them pause; even Shoto for that matter.

However, Bakugo just rolled his eyes at the thought. "Like I said, it's a bunch of paranoid rambling without a scrap of actual proof worth a damn, which these psychotic idiots decided to spin into some kind of manifesto. If this theory were actually legit, then we're still a hell of a long way from it actually coming true. I mean, we all have a complete handle on our Quirks by now, even someone as far behind as the Russkie, and someone with brittle bones like you had, Deku. Of course, none of you can even compare to me when it comes to being the master of your own power."

"Yeah, I think you may be right about that, Kacchan." Izuku momentarily agreed; Bakugo's instinctive indignation at the suggestion that he was probably right, falling on deaf ears, as the curly-haired young Hero couldn't help but think back to his experience with Eri during the final battle against Overhaul; just what unbelievable power she had showcased that she was completely unable to control.

If her Rewind Quirk could do that when she was so little, then he actually dreaded to think of what it could have been able to do once she'd get older, provided Aizawa and all the other teachers weren't there to help teach her how.

BKOOM!

A sudden eruption of sound and the blooming of an explosion's smoke cloud further up the road snapped all four of the young Heroes out of their respective thoughts; now looking with laser focus just in time to see two men come sprinting out, one with what looked even from this distance to be a steel suitcase.

Hero instinct completely took hold of the four students before the owner of the store could even come out to cry out his falling victim to a jewel robbery, as they all four were already fast on the move in pursuit; Nikolay and Bakugo both going airborne, while Izuku was flying in a green energy bolt, and Shoto glided upon a lightning fast trail of Ice emanating from his right hand on the ground.

The sound of Nikolay and Bakugo's Quirks alone alerted the two fleeing criminals that they were already being chased, as they quickly split up; with one ducking down into a narrow alley, while the suitcase carrier quickly turned down another wide road.

"YOU THREE BASTARDS GO AFTER THE ONE ON THE RIGHT!" Bakugo instantly shouted with no room for debate, as he quickly redirected himself with another Explosion to go running into the alleyway.

Following his lead, Nikolay's eyes went skyward. "I'll keep up pursuit from the air; Midoriya-san, Todoroki-san, you're both faster on the ground. If he tries to duck into any easy-to-miss alleys, I'll tell you!"

"Got it!" Izuku and Shoto both confirmed. With that, Nikolay took off with another powerful Kinetic Blast into the air, before just as quickly propelling himself forward in the same direction they'd seen the thief go running in; keeping his eyes on the target in question, who by now had finally decided to activate his own Quirk, an apparent Whirlwind, as his whole body was consumed in a tornado that sent him flying faster than humanly possible down a crowded road; the sheer force sending a multitude of helpless civilians flying dangerously high into the air.

"BLACKWHIP!"

As soon as Nikolay heard Izuku call out for his new ability; he just as quickly acted as well; propelling himself forward to the nearest few civilians he could reach, grabbing onto their hands, before then sending another propelling Kinetic Blast from his feet aimed at an angle behind him, sending his body into a roll in the air that allowed him to toss the civilians back with that much more range; range enough for Izuku to catch them with his Blackwhip in the process alongside all the others.

Knowing they'd both managed to save the civilians from getting hurt, Nikolay steadied his body trajectory once more and proceeded to send himself flying that much further and higher with another Kinetic Blast, barely managing to keep the fleeing criminal in sight; the sound of Shoto's furthering Ice trail reaching his ears, letting the young Russian Hero know he was close as well.

With his visual advantage from high above, Nikolay was able to spy the criminal and his Whirlwind quickly duck into just one of the very same alleyways that Shoto or Izuku could potentially miss noticing. "Todoroki-san, he ducked into there!"

Not even waiting to hear Shoto's acknowledgment of this turn; Nikolay took care of once more redirecting himself with another blast out his right hand and foot, sending him into a sharp left turn through the air, managing to catch just the right angle to see the fleeing thief again…until he reached an even tinier alleyway halfway down.

The moment the thief and Nikolay right above him reached that microscopic opening; he caught sight of the criminal tossing the suitcase to another person waiting just inside. Even from up this high, he was distinct looking enough: a young man in a bright yellow overcoat with short sleeves, a dark blue dress shirt underneath, and a red and blue-striped necktie, with ponytail-styled light brown hair, a red bandanna and sunglasses over it, with light brown leather gloves on his hands, and tight black pants…and the moment he had the suitcase, he was off like a shot, just as soon as Shoto came sliding down across that alley's mouth in pursuit of the original thief.

At the same time as Shoto sent a plume of his Fire after the Whirlwind thief, only to simultaneously send his Ice trailing up ahead to create a wall which the thug immediately crashed face-first into; Nikolay urgently called down to his partner while aiming his hands and feet to propel himself after the fleeing young man: "TODOROKI-SAN, THERE'S A THIRD ONE, HE JUST GOT PASSED THE CASE! I'M GOING AFTER HIM!"

Once more acting with no time to lose, Nikolay was off through the air with another deafening burst of bass from his hands and feet, bouncing off the rim of one of the passing rooftops as they reached a large open square. From up here, he could easily spot the young thief in question, expertly weaving his way past the unsuspecting passing crowds of civilians all the way to the opposite side of the square.

By the time Nikolay landed on the first roof across the square and sprung himself off of that with another blast, he could already see the thief hurriedly scaling a nearby fire escape. He was definitely exceptionally fast…but he could feel a growing surge of confidence that it wouldn't make a difference, as he could soon hear the crackling sound of overwhelming energy, as Izuku was already catching up alongside him from the ground; calling up to his friend: "Todoroki-san told me what you'd seen, Kolya-san! If we work together, we can surely stop him!"

"My thoughts exactly!" Nikolay replied just as Izuku began to leap up from one fire escape landing to the next, easily beating the thief's speed by twice as much…until the tiniest airborne pink blue suddenly came flying down from out the thief's jacket pocket, and came smacking straight into Izuku's face, stopping him in midair and sending him falling right back down to the street below; easily managing to catch himself on his feet.

Seeing this unexpected element on the escaping thief's side; Nikolay's alertness was now tenfold, as his eyes were urgently scanning the air all around him, while still trying to keep up the chase, already gliding in toward the roof the thief had finally managed to reach.

By now, he was already fully aware of the two young heroes chasing after him, and Nikolay knew that meant it was time to bring this chase to an end. He could once more hear Izuku's Full Cowling, as the green-haired Hero finally came leaping onto the rooftop just behind him.

Without even a pause in his stride, the thief suddenly tossed his suitcase through the air, across the gap between this roof and the next, before just as quickly leaping after it with the precision and speed of a professional free runner. However, given this shift in terrain, Nikolay was already quickly thinking on how to end it here, as he'd already taken to grabbing some of his smaller tuning forks out of his bandolier, and hurriedly tying them together with two spools of his Capture Cord.

As soon as he saw the stolen goods and the thief both go through the air, he hurriedly fired the first of his makeshift tripwires with a Kinetic Boosted flick of his left hand, aiming to catch the handle of the suitcase; intending to activate the Magne Grips on his left hand to call it back, thus taking away the thief's prize.

But with a speed even he didn't expect, especially after last time; that same pink blue suddenly came flying up from out of nowhere, snatching the cord of his improvised tool with ease. This time, Nikolay could now see that it was actually a tiny pink bird that had managed to intercept both his and Izuku's respective attempts at pursuit and capture.

But Nikolay and Izuku both knew they couldn't afford to let themselves get distracted at this point, as the thief had managed to stick the landing on the opposite rooftop and grab his suitcase with ease, already continuing to run with a cocky swagger on top of it.

Seeing this, Nikolay hurriedly threw his second tripwire after the thief with another fully powered Kinetic Blast to aid its speed; aiming to trip the thief up for Izuku's incoming Blackwhips to finish the job.

But to both their disbelief, the thief not only managed to easily jump up so that Nikolay's tool met nothing but a nearby vertical pipe, but he even managed to leap over ventilation shafts and slide under AC units, before ultimately running into the girder frame of a large neon sign lining the opposite edge of the roof.

This time, the gap between this roof and the next was far too wide for this thief to make with another parkour leap. Confident at the sight of this, Nikolay once more propelled himself for a diving tackle, ready to pin this thief to the ground…only for the thief to jump through the first layer of metal frames, grab onto one at his right, and use his free running momentum to swing all the way around so he just emerged right back out the way he came, while Nikolay went flying straight through, right past him…and all the while, Nikolay could just barely make out that very same cockiness now mirrored on his target's face as they passed.

As soon as he came flying out the other side between some of the neon lights, Nikolay suddenly felt the grip of one of Izuku's Blackwhips catch him by his right wrist; looking back to see his friend on top of the whole sign, before he proceeded to pull with the force of his Full Cowling; lassoing Nikolay right back with him, letting go with Blackwhip in order to have Nikolay come flying right back over the sign above him. The young Russian quickly readjusted himself, flicking his right wrist to activate the respective Magne Grip the moment he had eyes on the fleeing thief again; thus calling the tripwire tool around the nearby pipe across the roof to unbind itself and come flying in Nikolay's direction; the thief ducking into a roll in order to avoid the Capture Cord tying the tuning forks together flying right into his face.

But that wasn't what Nikolay had been aiming for. Knowing now that he and Izuku were on the same playing field, the most spontaneous of ideas had just come to him, and he just felt in his gut that Izuku would be able to catch on just as quick.

And that he did, for the moment Nikolay caught the returning tripwire in his right hand, he felt another of Izuku's Blackwhips latch onto it alongside him. Knowing they both had the same grip, Nikolay proceeded to start firing a multitude of accelerating Kinetic Blasts from out his feet, once more aimed at the angle needed to send his body into a midair roll; ultimately pulling Izuku right alongside him, building up his already impressive Full Cowling-assisted momentum enough, so that when he finally gave the word of "NOW", Izuku released Blackwhip, and went flying right after the thief at even greater speed, sending out more Blackwhips to try and catch him ahead of time just to be sure.

But the thief just barely managed to jump from this roof in time to avoid the Blackwhips driving into the ground he'd just stood on. Instead, he managed to catch himself on the narrow ledge of another roof down below, expertly hopping from one small landing to the next, from one window to another, while Izuku went rolling across the original rooftop; barely stopping himself in time to leap after him, while Nikolay was maintaining his midair pursuit from above.

The thief could hear both Heroes still giving chase. He knew by now that the airborne one would be harder to shake, but from here, he at least had a means to slow down the one chasing him by the same window balconies he was hopping over.

With a quick knock on one of the windows as he passed it, he could hear it open wide right behind him, and the satisfying smack of it nailing the curly-haired Hero in the face, once again stopping him dead in his tracks.

Figuring that some hairpin turns in both direction and altitude would be enough to throw off the other; the thief then proceeded to leap straight down from the next balcony, catching a nearby clothesline and using it to slow his fall enough to where he could leap down from that, and meet the steel railing dividing the steps below at just the right angle, so he could just slide all the way down on those on his feet, like an expert skateboarder with no need for a board.

The fact he couldn't hear those huge bass booms of the flying Hero redirecting him before the thief had even met the rails, had him smiling confidently to himself. "You two are a million years too early to catch up with me."

BWOOOM!

But just as that last syllable left his lips by the time he was halfway down the railing, the thief could hear that huge burst of sound all over again right behind him from up above. He didn't even need to look over his shoulder to know the Hero had his eyes on him all over again. He could only guess that the reason he wasn't trying to dive bomb him again was simply because he knew this alley was too narrow. 'Okay, guess I spoke too soon. Well, I'm not caught just yet. Freedom's just a stone's throw away.'

And in perfect synchronization with that very thought, the thief felt his little pink-feathered companion come shooting out from under the back of his jacket, darting up straight for Nikolay incoming from above, just fast enough to get him to impulsively fire another Kinetic Blast out his feet facing forward, stopping his momentum dead in its tracks in the air, thus causing him to suddenly fall and scramble to catch onto the edge of one of the rooftops; ultimately granting the thief several precious seconds to put more distance between them. 'Good job, Pino.'

Upon reaching the bottom, he could already see the subway station entrance just half a block ahead, just on the other side of the highway bridge running over the rooftops. With a smile on his face and a leap in his step, it was just as he'd thought: freedom was guaranteed.

SKRRRRRRRCH-KRRRSSSHH!

A sudden sound of screeching tires from overhead prompted the thief to automatically look up mid-sprint, only to see a portion of the highway wall explode out with impact, sending a multitude of crushing debris raining down right for him.

With his already racing heart leaping into his throat, he desperately tried to run, hop and dive out of the way, with one smashing impact biting at his heels after another. Unfortunately, in his panic, he ended up tripping mid-run, just as he could feel a shadow of another crushing chunk of concrete enshroud him. All at once, his mind was racing with the disbelief that this was how it was about to end.

WRRAAAM!

With all the smashing sounds of debris behind hi, the thief never heard the sound of Nikolay's Kinetic Blasts firing from behind, but the next thing he knew, the young Russian Hero came dashing through the debris and slamming into his whole body in a desperate tackle, pushing him hard out of the way before the debris went driving into the asphalt where he'd just stood.

Nikolay and the thief both went rolling for several feet, well out of the way of the debris, while the briefcase in question went skidding away even further. However, Nikolay wasn't thinking of that then, as his instinctive response was: "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

It took a solid second for the thief's full-body trembling to stop; and for his senses to come back to him to realize he was still in one piece. "Yeah…y-yeah, I think so."

"Good."

Suddenly, the thief felt his right wrist being grabbed and pulled just slightly back, before Nikolay quickly began tying both his wrists together around a nearby light pole with another spool of his Capture Cord. "My friends are bound to be here shortly, so you can just stay here while I check that accident above."

Nikolay, having seen the accident when it occurred, didn't stay a second longer to hear anything the thief had to yell in response, as he hurriedly launched himself straight up into the air and over the opposite wall of the highway, instantly spotting a flipped over and burning blue car hanging precariously over the destroyed edge.

Upon landing near the car, Nikolay's ears instantly caught the sound of a powerful incoming engine, prompting him to turn and see, and then barely manage to spin himself out of the way of a speeding motorbike passing by, driven by someone he couldn't begin to make any details out of, other than that they were wearing an olive green cloak.

But reckless drivers were the least of his concerns, as Nikolay quickly brought his attention back to the burning car, as he could already see the driver was still inside, an adult man from the looks of it, and injured too.

"Okay, it's a gas fire, so I have to act quick. A Thunderous Clap should be able to clear most of the flames, at least long enough for me to get him out. I should blow it out the same direction as the hole in the wall, where it won't risk blowing into any other incoming cars." As Nikolay hurriedly explained his own plan to himself, he hurriedly got behind the flipped vehicle, already channeling his Kinetics through his arms in preparation for sending a concentrated flat burst of air to extinguish the present flames.

SHHHK!

But before he could begin, Nikolay was quickly met with the sight of Shoto approaching the hole from the other side on his Ice, gliding along the side of one of the nearby buildings, before quickly launching himself off the resulting ramp and then throwing his right hand forward, sending a sudden burst of his Ice through the air and into the car itself, instantly encasing it in a small sheen of Ice that instantly extinguished the flames.

Realizing the little bit of extra time Shoto's arrival had bought him, Nikolay hurriedly returned to the driver's side door and pried it open, carefully unclipping the clearly unconscious driver and then carefully pulling him out, just as the sound of emergency vehicle sirens began to echo from up the road.

"It doesn't look like anyone else got caught in the accident, fortunately." Shoto observed, as all the other nearby drivers clearly saw what had happened and were being conscientious enough to relegate themselves to a single lane of traffic, while the ambulances and fire engines came to a stop around the scene, forming a perimeter.

Upon looking over the driver for any standout injuries, Nikolay could see the driver, a young adult man with semi-long brown hair, had an open laceration across his right cheek, undoubtedly a result of the broken glass, considering several of the windows and the windshield and rear window were all busted out.

But upon looking a little further, he could also see that the man's right eye was squinted shut and bore a few scars…long-since healed ones, as though the man had lost this eye a long time ago.

Looking up to point this out to Shoto and the approaching first responders, Nikolay noticed something further: both of the right wheels to the car were completely removed of their rubber, and without the fire to block his view, he could make out a multitude of what looked like small bullet holes lining the length of the whole vehicle. And from this point, as he finally looked, he could see a similar look of observant uneasiness on Shoto's face as well.

"We'll take this man to the hospital from here. You young Heroes have been very helpful, acting as fast as you did," one of the medics explained as the others quickly gathered around the unconscious driver and hoisted him into one of the stretchers, already wheeling him into a waiting ambulance.

With that being said, Nikolay quickly got his focus back. "Thanks for the helping hand, Todoroki-san. I didn't think you'd catch up this quickly."

Taking his eyes off the holes in the car after snapping a picture of it with his phone, Shoto answered: "Yes, I saw the plume of smoke of the initial crash the same time Midoriya did. I told him I'd take care of it while he and you took care of our runaway thief, Bezpalov. I'm surprised to see you up here instead."

Nikolay quickly sprung himself up to the top of the opposite wall of the highway again, an assured smile on his face as he began to look back down. "Yeah, it was actually surprisingly lucky timing. I grabbed him and tied him up to a nearby light pole so I could take care of this. If Midoriya-san already caught up, he's probably already calling the police to come get him if they aren't here alre—CHTO (WHAT)?!"

Looking down, Nikolay was only met with the sight of an empty light pole, with the Capture Cord lying limply on the ground, with not a sign of the thief or his briefcase anywhere.

Looking just a little further ways up, just as the sound of a single revving motorcycle engine went zipping away from just beneath the elevated highway, Nikolay caught sight of the telltale spark of Izuku's Full Cowling just within the mouth of a nearby subway station entrance. All at once did it become clear to him just what a slick getaway the thief had made, and just how lucky they were that Izuku had caught sight of it just in time.

All at once, a memory came racing back to Nikolay, of when he'd been looking over the Otheon capital city map earlier. There weren't many train lines throughout the city, and if his memory of where the line in this specific part of the city went was correct, then he had a good idea where the train would stop next, and where the thief and Izuku were most likely to be.

With his eyes already set on which direction to go, Nikolay began channeling the Kinetic Energy born from his racing heart through his legs. "Todoroki-san, I'm going to the next station to give Midoriya-san some backup. Please call Endeavor-sensei and let him know what's going on."

Nikolay knew Shoto would be on it, and thus took of with another powerful Kinetic launch, sending him airborne, propelling himself over and up every five seconds while never taking his eyes off the increasingly evident large building standing at the head of another large city square. If there was anywhere that had to be another subway station, that had to be it.

While he exercised enough control to not meet the ground with an out of control roll, Nikolay still didn't let his momentum stop once his feet were back on the ground just before the train station, immediately taking off into an urgent sprint for whichever platform had to be the one Izuku and the thief would end up at. That had quickly proven to be the one thing he disliked the most about the train stations even back at Japan, was just how easy it was to get turned around. Thankfully, with a quick request for directions from one of the staff, Nikolay was soon making his way further and further down, hearing the sound of the train engines starting to take off all over again. 'Please tell me my hunch was right about this.'

As soon as Nikolay came jumping down the last few steps onto the platform, he felt his heart leap at the sight of not only the thief actively approaching him from halfway down the causeway, but thankfully Izuku there as well, just behind his back.

Izuku looked visibly glad to see his foreign friend arrive, while the thief visibly flinched. The look on his face was clearly one of someone that realized just how screwed they were. Nikolay couldn't blame him for that for a second, as he spoke up: "Looks like I got here just in time. You must've thought you were pretty slick, getting away from your restraints like that. Should I call the police?"

However, instead of the confirming nod from Izuku that Nikolay had been expecting, his curly-haired friend instead replied: "Actually, before we do anything like that, I just wanted to make sure he has the stolen goods…except…"

Surprisingly, the thief suddenly spoke up: "Except that you both are clearly mistaking me for someone else. I'm just a humble salesman who takes his work very seriously, like you both clearly do…even if it's entirely misdirected."

Seeing the uncertainty on Izuku's face, Nikolay could feel his hair begin to rise at what the thief in front of him was trying to pull. "You're not fooling any of us with that. I saw those two thieves run from the jewelry store, and I saw one of them hand that briefcase to you with my own eyes. You should just open it up and make it easier on yourself."

The thief's brow momentarily twitched with indignation that Nikolay clearly wasn't stepping down. "A salesman's fortune, his livelihood is made and broken by the merchandise he carries, and the timeliness with which he sells and delivers it. I can't just go showing it off to just anybody…unless, of course, you fine upstanding young Heroes are willing to make the effort worth my while."

'Unbelievable. He'd actually try to hustle when he's staring arrest right in the face.' Nikolay instinctively thought to himself before answering: "If you're really a traveling salesman, and your goods are completely legitimate, then you should have no objection to simply proving your innocence by showing us what's inside, shouldn't you? Anything else would only serve to make you look more suspicious, wouldn't you think?"

With that, Izuku took another couple steps closer from behind the visibly annoyed thief's back. "That's right, this wouldn't be any different if it were the police asking you. If you can prove you're not a thief, then that will be that. Please, just let us see what's in the case."

The thief's eyes intensely shifted between the two young Heroes; his hands refusing to loosen their grip on the case…until an idea on how to divert the conversation came to mind. "You two don't sound anything like us native Otheons…you're both foreign Heroes operating outside of normal bounds, aren't you?"

This did exactly what he'd hoped, as the sudden redirect managed to catch Nikolay and Izuku both off-guard. Smiling internally, the young man adopted a much more confident, even condescending swagger. "That's what I thought. It hardly seems appropriate for young, most likely non-Pro Heroes like yourselves to so actively harass people like this, especially when you have no evidence beyond simple conjecture to back up your accusations."

Slinging the briefcase over his shoulder, the cocky young man leaned in annoyingly close, prodding a mocking finger against Izuku and Nikolay's foreheads one after the other, knowing he had them in an ethical corner they couldn't do anything to get out of…at least, not without landing themselves in a ton of trouble in the process. "If you want my advice, I suggest you two go back to ironing your little costumes, and go back to learning how to fight Villains and walk old folks across the streets in your own countries, and leave us honest hard-working folk in peace, alright? Ciao."

With that, he began to anxiously sidestep around the two Heroes and make for the stairs and freedom…until Nikolay suddenly reached a hand out and grabbed firmly onto his sleeve. Looking back, the thief could see the fire returning to both boys' eyes, as the young Russian said: "You can try all the mind games you want, but I know what I saw. You even answered me under that highway bridge, I know it was you. You're not getting away that easily."

His brow furrowed, the thief answered: "You know this could be liable for me to file a formal complaint, maybe even an assault charge against you two, right? A couple of foreign hero students harassing and laying hands on a sovereign citizen can't possibly be a good look for you, right? I just happen to have one of those faces, voices and fashion tastes people get confused with others. This would be far from the first time that's happened, believe me."

"At least allow us to confirm, then. If money is really the issue, then we'll pay you. Just let us look inside the case." Izuku requested, only this time his tone was far more firm, and less likely to be broken down by any clever subversions the thief could come up with.

And that only made his tense face even more so, as he grumbled: "If you really mean that, then just fork over 100,000 Euros if you wanna see it so bad."

"That's too much." Izuku immediately answered, having had it with his silver tongue, while Nikolay's free hand was starting to reach for another spool of his Capture Cord. "Are you really going to make us have to do this?"

"Just let us see inside!" Izuku suddenly exclaimed as he reached around to grab onto the side of the briefcase. With one hand currently carrying it, and the other being restrained by Nikolay's grip, the thief wriggled and writhed violently to try and get out, even resorting to stamping one of his cloth-wrapped shoes down hard onto Nikolay's toes, drawing a pained yelp out of him, which only fueled his frustration that much more, as he likewise began trying to wrangle his way around the thief so he could try and grab the case with his free hand alongside Izuku. "If you're so innocent, then you have nothing to hide!"

TWEEEEEE!

Amid all the ruckus of the three young men trying to grab the case without risking hurting the young man on the off-chance he actually was somehow innocent; neither Izuku nor Nikolay heard the echoing cry of what sounded like an incredibly angry bird until, in their constant shifting around, said pink feathered fiend the thief knew as Pino, went smacking hard off the side of Nikolay's head, instantly ricocheting off of him and straight into Izuku's face in the process.

With the way the three had all been standing and simultaneously pulling in opposing directions at the case; the two Heroes suddenly getting stunned by Pino striking their heads, caused all their balance to go out from under them, thus causing the three to come crashing down to the floor, and causing the briefcase to go flying out of all their grips, and come crashing to the floor several yards away.

Upon hearing the sound of the briefcase's latches snapping open on impact; a fire was instantly lit in all three, as they immediately took off scrambling to grab it, practically pinching and pulling at each other's legs, cheeks and hair in order to try and get a head start all the way to the briefcase…until they all immediately froze with shock upon seeing what was inside the now open piece of luggage…

…nothing but a bunch of nondescript notebooks, scattershot papers and a pen. It was about as basic a briefcase's contents as could possibly be, and just like that, all of the intense and aggressive energy between the two young Heroes and their suspect had gone dead silent, with Nikolay barely uttering "Chto?", and Izuku meekly asked: "Hey…what…where are the jewels?"

…

A considerable ways away from the site of the highway accident, a single young adult woman with short mint-colored hair stood silent in one of the tighter alleyways, adorned in a billowing green cloak so nobody could make out any of her features without getting up close, close enough for her to make sure they wouldn't be any further of a problem.

She wore a black top and dark grey shorts, topping it all off with black fingerless gloves and a black mask that covered everything beneath her piercing eyes, as she placed the large steel briefcase on a nearby stack of boxes, working the lock to open it up. She could only think how lucky she was that nobody had paid attention to her grabbing it off the street below where the car of her target had crashed, all while pressing the button on her earpiece to put her in touch with the man who had sent her out here.

Within just the first ring, she heard his voice loud and clear: "Sister Beros, your mission was a success then?"

"Yes, sir. I wasn't able to confirm whether the traitor was dead or not before some of those unfamiliar young Heroes from the attack on the decoy base last night arrived, but I've recovered the case. I'm simply checking to confirm everything is there before I return." She answered just as the latches finally clicked open.

But upon opening it, she felt her heart momentarily stop, and her whole body grow tense, as she was met with nothing but the sight of a bunch of gemstones and diamonds. It was the kind of haul that any paltry thief would weep tears of joy to find…but all she could feel was a bristling and blinding rage, as she wordlessly kicked the case aside like trash.

After a moment spent trying to recollect herself, the woman known as Beros finally spoke back up: "Sir, we have a problem. In the midst of the accident, it seems our missing case got mixed up with someone else's. This one's full of what look like stolen uncut gems. It's possible the thief who originally stole them was the one those Heroes were after, and they may have recovered our case by accident."

For a good couple of seconds, she was answered with only silence. But if she knew her leader, it only meant that he was formulating a plan.

"I see. Do not fret. I will take measures to ensure that case doesn't escape this country. All of our brothers and sisters around the globe are in place for when I give the word, but I cannot do so until we know for certain the Heroes have no means of discovering our true plans. In the meantime, keep tracking the case, and do what you must to retrieve it…or destroy it, if you're left with no other choice."

Looking back to the mouth of the alleyway to make sure there was no risk of being overheard, Beros asked in a whisper: "And what of the traitor? There's no doubt in my mind the Heroes and the authorities have taken him to the hospital and have him under security detail by now. He's most likely too injured to try running anymore, but if he tells them what he knows, our great undertaking could be entirely undone."

"All is not lost by any means of the imagination, Sister Beros. We will leave the removal of the traitor to some of the new converts as a test of their resolve and faith in our divine mission. Yours is a mission of far greater importance. Even those of us infected with this accursed disease known as Quirks, can find salvation through these trials. Everything we have done and will do is for that cause: for the salvation of humanity."

"For the salvation of humanity. It will be done, sir." Beros pledged, holding a resolute fist to her heart, before finally ending the call and getting back on her motorbike, looking at the GPS locator mounted on its console. There, her goal was just waiting for her to finally come and retrieve it, and whoever was unlucky enough to have it in their possession wouldn't live long enough to regret it.

…

"WE'RE SO TERRIBLY SORRY!"

The shame clutching tightly at Izuku's heart, and echoing in Nikolay's voice was downright palpable, as they both proceeded to bow deeply on hands and knees to the young man they had been chasing for all this time. Naturally, it was downright off-putting to see the two Heroes acting this way in public, drawing more than a few confused eyes from some of the civilians passing by. In a way, it was also just as odd to see a clearly non-Japanese person doing it as well.

Not wanting to get any more undue attention like this than he already had, he hurriedly waved his hands to try and brush off this overwhelming air of regret. "H-hey, it's no big deal, w-we all make mistakes, please just get up and let's…y'know, just put this behind us."

Of course, he was trying to play it cool, but the moment he'd said so, he quickly turned his back to the two boys, to keep them from seeing the deathly pale blue his face had turned as his wide and shaking eyes looked to the briefcase he was once more clutching tightly, his face practically awash with freezing sweat. 'What the hell is going on? This isn't the case I had! Oh man, are you telling me I mixed it up with someone else's back at the highway accident? Oh crap, crap, crap, I gotta get back there! Oh, please let it still be there!'

"Hey, are you okay?" Izuku's voice suddenly asked worriedly, snapping the young man to attention, as his whole body froze, and he barely looked back over his shoulder, struggling so hard to put on half a smile. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Sorry for c-causing you two so much trouble…I gotta get going now, so t-take care."

With that, he hurriedly made his way up the stairs for the exit to the station, his once confident and unshakeable swagger now adapting a clumsy, dizzy sway more akin to someone who was very drunk.

Izuku kept looking on with the same worried look in his eye, while Nikolay likewise got back up and placed a firm hand on his friend's shoulder, getting his attention, especially when he saw the focused look in the Russian boy's eyes. "Midoriya-san, I know what I saw. That guy is working with those two thieves from earlier."

"But you were just apologizing right along with me. Are you still on this, Kolya-san? Can we really be certain we didn't just mix him up with someone who looked similar along the way? We did end up going through a couple pretty dense crowds throughout; anyone could've made the same mistake."

Izuku's tone was obviously trying to reassure his friend that there was no shame in such an action, despite their over the top display of apology mere seconds ago. But Nikolay's gaze and posture was unwavering. "I know, and I was sincere with that apology…but did you see the way he'd been acting ever since we saw what was inside that case? Yeah, he was trying to play it off, but his knees were shaking, and he didn't have that same confident air about him, and what about that stuttering? Midoriya-san, he was just as surprised by what was inside that case as we were."

Looking back to the steps, Izuku could feel his worry start to give way to suspicion bit by bit. "Are you thinking he might have mixed up the jewelry store case with someone else's back at that car accident?"

Nikolay was already starting to move before he even answered: "It's the only explanation. I'm willing to bet he's headed back there right now to try and find it. We just have to be sure about this before we can just move on."

Izuku nodded in agreement, and soon the two young Heroes were hurrying back the way Nikolay had originally come through the station, finally emerging out into the large city square. Through the passing numbers of civilians, they could quickly spot the young man's standout ponytail and jacket halfway across. With a determined stride in their step, the two quickly approached, readying themselves to hide at any moment's notice, just in case Nikolay's suspicions were correct, and he would thus try to divert them down a fake path, or try to lose them again.

But the two Heroes following him didn't even occur to the young thief, as his mind was racing at a million miles a second: 'Dammit, delivering that case is the only way I get paid for this job! What am I supposed to do if it isn't there? If someone were to spot that case and open it, they'd obviously take what was inside! Anyone with half a brain would! These are Villains I'm working with, they're not just gonna take 'Oh, I lost track of it, sorry' as an excuse! What do I do, what do I do?'

SKRRRRRCH!

The next thing he knew, the air was filled with the screeching of tires, and he was snapped out of his train of thought, just in time to see half a dozen police cars with lights flashing and sirens wailing, all come to a screeching halt directly in front of him, with all their attending officers immediately taking up defensive positions behind their open armored doors.

Nikolay and Izuku were no less confused by this. "Kolya-san did you tell a civilian to call the police on your way to the station like the last time?" Izuku asked, thinking back to his and Kolya's pursuit of the outlaw duo of Gentle Criminal and La Brava.

However, Nikolay resolutely shook his head in denial. "No."

But any such thoughts were quickly swept aside for both of them, for the next thing they knew, the police had suddenly all drawn their pistols, and were aiming them directly at the thief, who was clearly too confused and terrified to move.

Seeing this, Izuku immediately rushed into action, placing himself firmly in front of the young man with his hands raised, clearly able to sense the uneasy tension in the air. "Everything is okay, officers, there must be some kind of misunderstanding."

"IT'S HIM! WE HAVE OUR ORDERS! SHOOT TO KILL ON SIGHT!"

The officer who spoke clearly sounded both terrified and infuriated as he called out to his fellow law enforcers, not a single one of them lowering their weapons despite Izuku's surrendering stance. Their fatal order echoed in both his, Nikolay and the thief's heads in near slow motion, as a crushing weight of reality came falling down upon them. There was no time to ask what was going on, and why the officers only seemed to become even more dead set on aggression at the sight of a Hero in front of them.

But for Nikolay, seeing his friend and what was still ultimately a civilian being faced with a veritable firing squad, sent his heart racing, his adrenaline pumping, and his mind rushing with a multitude of painful, panic-inducing memories: himself and Tunguska with his bleeding leg at the docks of Vladivostok, faced down by a multitude of soldiers and their assault rifles…and the pang of physical pain that clutched at his chest, as he remembered the near-fatal gunshot wound he'd received during the Forest Training Camp attack, and the emotional anguish he saw on all his friends' faces when he'd managed to narrowly avoid dying all the way back then.

The very idea of being in this situation again, or worse, of one of his friends now standing where he once did, had Nikolay's mind do away with all sense of pacification, as even in this state, he could see just how close the officers were to finally pulling the trigger.

In the blink of an eye, Nikolay launched himself over the city square memorial statue he'd been hiding behind at a blinding speed, rolling himself forward faster than he ever had before, channeling as much power through his arms and into his hands as he could in that fraction of a moment, before he finally aimed his hands downward and fired a full-power Kinetic Blast straight down, at just the same moment the police opened fire.

BWOOOM!

With miraculous timing, Nikolay's attack hammered the barrage of bullets straight down into the asphalt away from them, much to the police and Izuku and the thief's collective shock as the young Russian Hero landed between them.

BWOOM!

But Nikolay's body was moving in an animalistic autopilot, as he launched himself off the ground mid-spin, hooking his arms around Izuku and the thief as he did so, pulling them along with him as he flew high and far across the square away from the police as fast as he could, his eyes only replaying the same memories in front of him, and his mind only repeating one thing: 'Save them, get them out of here! Don't let it happen to them too!'

Despite flying at breakneck speed through the first street in sight with Izuku and the thief in hand, Nikolay could still hear the blaring of police sirens hot on his trail. Thankfully, by now Izuku's senses were likewise on full alert. He was quick to realize that, at the speed Nikolay was going, and with the rapid pace he was continuously firing one Kinetic Blast from his feet after another, it was only going to be a matter of moments before he would run the risk of losing his balance and potentially causing all three of them to crash. Looking ahead, he could also see that there was a significant drop in city elevation coming up fast. 'If we can maintain our trajectory for just long enough to make it there, that could buy us a good amount of time to recollect and figure this out!'

"BLACKWHIP!"

At Izuku's command, a multitude of his black energy tendrils quickly shot out ahead of Nikolay from the holes lining his gauntlet's knuckles, all of them expertly latching onto the sides of several of the buildings ahead, allowing for a grappling point with which to keep Nikolay's flight trajectory straight and balanced, as with another Kinetic Blast to propel them all forward, alongside Blackwhip instinctively pulling them along; the trio's airborne speed escalated well beyond ten times as fast, practically shooting them right over the edge of this elevated section of the city like a slingshot, at last allowing them to fly unimpeded towards a passing train on an elevated track just a few city blocks ahead, while the police sirens finally died down behind them.

SLAM!

Izuku shot out a few more of his Blackwhip tendrils towards a couple of the passing signal frames lining the railroad track the train was coasting along, thus redirecting them with another well-timed pull so they would be able to land on the roof of it with no issue. Realizing this, Nikolay finally let go of his friend and their unwitting tag-along, just before they finally came crash landing on the roof; Nikolay himself almost rolling right over the other side with his momentum just before Izuku managed to grab him by the wrist and pull him right back up.

The intense wind current they were being subjected to thanks to the train's speed was hardly even worth complaining about, as all three young men's hearts were simply racing with disbelief at what the hell had just happened; with Izuku's instinctive first response being: "Kolya-san, sir, are you both alright?"

Naturally, once the thief had finally found the wherewithal to lift his head, he looked like he was on the verge of passing out from the utter shock. "I…thought that was the end for me back there."

Unfortunately, Izuku was quick to see that Nikolay was hardly faring any better. In fact, he almost looked worse, as he could see the dreadfully familiar look of shock and panic evident in his foreign friend's eyes; Nikolay himself muttering repeatedly with almost no time taken to even breathe: "Why…w-why, why the hell were the police shooting at us? We didn't do anything wrong, did we, Midoriya-san? It doesn't make any sense, we're Heroes, anyone can see that, so why are we being chased like criminals? Why is this happening again? I thought this was finally over! This isn't supposed to be happening, dammit!"

With the speed of the train, it was already by this point that the track descended to where it was now running along the underside of the large red bridge that connected the capital city to the rest of the Otheon mainland from the little peninsula upon which it stood. Given the sheer distance which they had flown in order to get onto this train, Izuku was sure it would take a good amount of time for the police to figure out this was the route they had taken to escape, but deep down he knew it was nothing more than an assumption, which only added onto his own frustrated confusion. Nikolay was right, absolutely nothing about this sudden turn of events made any sense; but where in the world were they supposed to begin to try and look for answers?

Before Izuku could try to say anything to try and help Nikolay and their third wheel calm down, he caught the faintest unnatural glint of sunlight just out the corner of his eye, specifically coming from atop one of the capital city's more standout landmarks: a large verdant spiral-shaped hill resting right on the coast, where a single tall obelisk stood at the top as a monument.

The moment he looked there, he suddenly caught another glint of light, this time of a rapidly approaching projectile making a beeline right for where the three of them currently knelt.

"GET DOWN!" he cried out as he instinctively tackled Nikolay and the thief to the roof as flat as they could get, just as the projectile, whatever it was, flew right where his head had once been; easily the closest of calls.

But now knowing for certain they were under attack from someone who definitely wasn't a police officer, it was now Izuku's turn to make a run for it with his partner and their passenger in hand, as he forced them all back onto their feet and took off into a Full Cowling-powered sprint down the length of the train, as several more glinting projectiles flew dangerous close past them as they made their way.

"Kolya-san, I can't use Blackwhip effectively if I'm carrying both of you from here! We need to work together in order to get out of this in time to keep the civilians in the train from getting caught in the crossfire!"

At Izuku's urging, Nikolay could only nod in understanding out of habit, and it was just in time for them to reach the end of the train. It was now finally time to act.

Izuku released his hold on Nikolay the moment he leapt from the back of the train. Without a moment wasted, Nikolay fired another propelling Kinetic Blast from his feet and hands, directing himself so he went flying through the gap in the support grates lining the bridge's train track, while at the same time, Izuku finally unleashed another several Blackwhip tendrils to latch onto the girders on the other side, using them to pull him and the thief still under his other arm along like a rope swing, sending them flying out and skyward along the suspension cables of the bridge, with Nikolay quickly launching himself upward in the same course parallel to them.

This time, Nikolay was the one to catch the glint of sunlight coming unnaturally from the distant hill, and turned his gaze just in time to see another high speed object flying right for him with a glimmering trail of bright green sparkling energy trailing right behind it. Another urgent redirecting Kinetic Burst from his feet to blast himself out of the way, allowed Nikolay a chance to finally see with certainty that these were arrows that were being fired at him and Izuku, obviously propelled and guided by an archer with a Quirk, as he saw the arrow make a sharp turn in mid-flight that was physically impossible to do, as though it were actually locked directly onto him alone.

Nikolay's resulting Kinetic Blasts to redirect, reverse and propel himself came from half precise aim and half desperate knee-jerk reaction, as the air around himself and Izuku was soon filled with three of these Quirk-driven arrows, their telltale energy trails allowing the two Heroes to keep track of where they were and what directions they were coming from. It took everything the two young Heroes had to keep from getting skewered as they flew; Izuku using his Blackwhip to hurriedly swing himself and the thief upwards and over one of the large support towers that divided the bridge into thirds, while Nikolay propelled himself directly beneath where his friend was currently flying, eventually reaching out and grabbing onto one of the suspension cables in order to let his momentum spin him in a complete 180-degree turn before letting go, allowing him to lose the arrow that was closely tailing him until that point, before then launching himself even higher in order to keep up with Izuku.

"These things are coming in from every direction, and who knows how many there could actually be?!" Nikolay declared as they soared over the top of the tower; Izuku latching onto another suspension cable and Nikolay himself with Blackwhip before reeling them all forward and around, desperate to lose the last of the arrows still giving chase.

But before Izuku could begin to say his theory of their attacker being atop the spiral hill so far away, an extra one of the arrows that had been kept flying a ways away from the Heroes for just such a chance as this, suddenly came flying up from where neither of them were looking, grazing the side of Izuku's leg; catching him by surprise enough to make him lose focus, thus causing Blackwhip to dissipate, sending all three of them now freefalling down the height of the bridge and to the unforgiving street below. Even without the incoming cadre of police cars finally closing in, there would be no chance of them surviving this if they didn't do something quick.

As he fell and tried to regain his bearings enough to figure out a means to save them, Nikolay caught glimpse of another incoming arrow zipping downwards after them, aiming directly for the thief falling beside them. The fact they weren't hearing him screams bloody murder at the mercy of gravity had to mean the shock of all their mid-air evading had caused him to pass out.

Without even thinking, Nikolay hurriedly tried to aim his legs and fire another rapid series of his Kinetics from out his feet and hands in rhythm, sending his body into a midair rolling spin like a human top, which allowed him to hurriedly close the distance between himself, Izuku and the thief, trying to keep an eye out for the glowing energy trail of the arrow before finally kicking one leg out, luckily managing to slam his foot into the arrow hard enough to destroy the shaft of it, effectively removing one of their mysterious enemy's weapons, and buying Izuku enough of a chance to likewise regain focus and act; once more latching onto both of them and another support cable with Blackwhip, and hurriedly yanking them away, over the railing of the bridge to where they were now airborne over the water.

BANG! BANG! BANG! B-BANG!

Behind them, the police had once more come to a stop atop the bridge, and wasted no time opening fire on the three fleeing young men. The burning hot whizzing of bullets flying right past was enough to send both Heroes' hearts spiking up into their throats upon realization, and upon realizing that they were now too far from anything for Blackwhip to actually latch onto to help them escape that much faster, Nikolay hurriedly propelled himself closer to his fellows with another hurried blast from his right foot and hands, firmly situating himself between them so he could once more grab onto them with both his arms.

He then proceeded to hurriedly fire from his feet with everything he had, sending them flying farther and faster than ever away from the bridge and towards the distant mainland coastline, leaving the police and the capital city far behind them in the midst of their shared desperation.

And from atop the spiral hill, the woman known as Beros could only watch on with eyes narrowed in frustration; undoing her Quirk that allowed her to turn her right hand into a giant longbow with which to fire her arrows, and instead returning to her motorcycle in order to continue the chase. Just as her leader had promised, he'd put elements into action that would make it impossible for that meddlesome trio to escape the country now, which would make her hunt to come go that much smoother.

…

It was a good minute after Nikolay had caught Izuku and their thief and sent them all flying for their lives away from the bridge, before he'd finally managed to spot a far-removed stretch of forested coastline in which to try and land; his residing panic and stress preventing him from sticking the landing nearly as smoothly as he'd intended, instead sending them crashing through the foliage and ultimately rolling across the ground before finally coming to a stop.

This had fortunately managed to stir the thief back to consciousness, but he was hardly in a state to actually take in where they were or what was actually going on, as his stomach was still twisted in equal amounts of nausea from Izuku's insane aerial acrobatics with him in tow, and the overwhelming anxiety of them getting actively chased and shot at by police and who-knew what else.

Likewise, Nikolay was finally able to have his body go into uncontrollable trembling now that they had a moment to breathe; his heart unable to slow down in his chest as his eyes anxiously looked all around them for any sign of further danger, all the while muttering to himself all over again: "Why, why, why, why are the police chasing after us like this? What do they think we did? Where are we supposed to go, how are we supposed to clear this up when they're already trying to shoot at us on sight?"

"I don't know, Kolya-san, but we still need to let Endeavor-sensei, Todoroki-kun and Kacchan know what's going on. They surely can be able to help us." Izuku stated firmly yet reassuringly, as he quickly took out his phone in order to call the others and fill them in.

Nikolay was thankfully able to start calming himself down a touch, knowing that this was clearly the best option. Figuring it would be best for them both to fill the rest of the group in, instead of just leaving it to Izuku himself, he quickly took out his phone as well, but was surprised when it started to vibrate with an incoming call before he could even hit one button.

Upon looking at the screen, Nikolay found himself torn inside when he saw it was Mina calling him. On one hand, he was sure that hearing his girlfriend's voice would do wonders for his frayed nerves and restless mind right now. But on the other hand, he was still so overwhelmed and desperate for some kind of explanation, that the idea of just shooting the breeze with her like usual was anything but appealing to him right now.

But there was still little to no doubt that she would be extremely worried if he didn't at least give her even a brief answer, so he ultimately decided to just keep it brief.

Beep!

Upon answering, Nikolay immediately spoke up: "Hi, Mina. Listen, I—"KOLYA-KUN, IS THIS TRUE?! PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS SOME KIND OF JOKE OR A MISUNDERSTANDING! IT'S GOTTA BE!"

The sound of Mina's voice being outright frantic with panic was the last thing Nikolay had expected to hear, thus it caused his heart to once more jump into his throat, just as his ears suddenly began to ring with the sound of multiple electrical *pings* of a multitude of text messages suddenly reaching his phone one after the other, with multiple notifications of simultaneous phone calls quickly following as well.

And upon looking over the messages and hitting the group call option at the same time; Nikolay could see and hear that not only were the messages and calls all from Eijirou, Maja, Kyouka, Denki and virtually all of his classmates, but also from Tunguska; his father sounding like he was on the verge of his own panic attack, as they were all asking the very same thing he could still hear Mina desperately asking through the chaos: 'What is going on? Is what the news is saying true?! This has to be some kind of joke! Where are you, Kolya? Are you all okay?!'

"Whoa, h-hang on, all of you, please, hang on for God's sake! What are you all talking about?" Nikolay finally asked, almost screaming with his own panic and confusion, as he was suddenly met with another multitude of text messages all bearing links to numerous global news sites.

Upon hitting the first one that caught his eye, a video suddenly came up…and when Nikolay saw what the headline on display was, he almost felt his whole body go limp with shellshock, and his stomach churn with the desire to throw up from pure fear; never once seeing how Izuku was physically experiencing the same thing, as he was learning the very same terrible news from Shoto within his own phone call.

Apparently, there was one major news story riding the air waves of every major international news network, and in so many words, they were all saying the same thing with absolute certainty: Japanese Hero student Deku, a.k.a. Izuku Midoriya, wanted for mass murder, reported by witnesses as being solely responsible for the death of 12 Otheon civilians; currently evading justice with help of Russian Hero Solovei, a.k.a. Nikolay Bezpalov. Both these young men are officially being placed on the Otheon's most wanted criminal database, with orders to kill if they resist.

With the sounds of his classmates' voices desperately asking for an explanation, Mina tearfully wanting to know if he and Izuku were both all right, and Tunguska trying to talk his son out of going into a complete panic attack; Nikolay could only feel one thing distinctly as the headlines kept running across the screen before him:

A sense of shattering, as though everything he'd been building up for himself this past year had instantly crumbled away. 'I can't believe it…after all this time, when I thought that chapter was finally over…I'm a fugitive all over again…both of us are.'

But within the deafening pain that was pounding away at Nikolay's brain; his father's voice came through loud and clear; exercising an inhuman amount of emotional restraint, as he spoke loud and clearly; obviously able to imagine just what had to be going through his son's mind right now, what had to be going through all the students' minds right now:

"Listen to me very carefully, Kolya, everyone. I don't believe what these reporters are saying for an instant, and I am certain none of you do, either. There's something about all this that truly stinks, and Kolya, I know there's a way for you and malenkii Midoriya to figure it out, if not your whole team. But for now, you know you both need to be extremely careful with how you proceed from here. Before anything else, you need to remove the GPS card in your phone, so that the police can't track your location…even though doing so means removing the battery and thus preventing us from being able to talk any further from here. If he hasn't done so already, let malenkii Midoriya know this as well."

Being in the midst of a group call, Tunguska's suggestion of Nikolay and Izuku cutting themselves off from being able to talk to their classmates through this sudden nightmare was nothing short of ludicrous, as many of the students instinctively exclaimed in protest and confusion, with even Nikolay himself finally answering: [[Dad, I don't know how to handle this on my own, I'm so damn scared right now! I didn't think something like this would happen again!]]

[[I know, Kolya. I hate the fact that you have to be put in this position, and I'm once again not there to help you, but you know as well as I do that this isn't entirely hopeless. You and malenkii Midoriya are more resourceful than most Pros I've known in my time, and that's how I know you'll be able to handle this, even without all of us there to back you up. Right now, the best thing all of us can do for you two is keep you in our thoughts, and cheer you on in our hearts as you do what you know needs to be done to clear your names and make all of this right again. We all believe in you…I believe in you, Kolya.]]

His father's calm and collected instructions and expressions of boundless faith in his son were like a guiding light for Nikolay, as he could just physically feel the mirrored sentiments from all of his classmates and friends echoing as such, as they all proceeded to do what they begrudgingly had to accept was their only option: voice their support and faith in him and Izuku to clear their names, while they themselves were all so far away and unable to help. It wasn't much, but this was all they could do, and that had to be enough for them, just like it had to be for Nikolay and Izuku themselves.

With many painful goodbyes and wishes of good luck, his friends had to force themselves to end their calls one by one, until it was finally down to just Tunguska and Mina on the other end. Nikolay's grip on his phone was like a vice; the young Russian having long since taken to biting his lower lip hard with his emotional stress, before his father once more spoke up with the utmost sincerity and emotional vulnerability he could muster: [[You can do this, Kolya, deep down inside, you know you can, and that's all the faith you need to be able to succeed, even in a situation like this. I love you, son…and I swear I will see you both again as innocent men when all this is over.]]

Finally, Tunguska had to force himself to hang up, finally leaving Nikolay and Mina on the phone, just as they had started. As soon as she knew it was just them, Nikolay could quickly hear the sound of her desperately sniffling, trying so hard to keep her emotions from getting any more out of her control than they clearly already were.

He couldn't begin to imagine just what she was desperately trying to find the strength to say, mainly because he was going through just as much struggle to as well. This was a scenario neither of them had ever expected, and it had rendered all their usual heartfelt pleasantries and declarations of love feel like they would just fall completely flat.

But as Nikolay's mind raced to try and find something, anything at all to say before cutting his phone off that would be able to help ease Mina's worries in his prolonged absence, his ears were barely able to pick up the sound of her voice whispering to him through the phone amid her shaky breaths and strained sobs: "I love you, Kolya-kun…so, so, SO much, and I know you'll both make it out of this, because there's nothing you guys can't do. I'm with you through this, no matter what, even if you can't see or hear me. We're coming back to Yuuei, all of us together, I just know it."

Nikolay tearfully clutched his phone tight in both hands as he knelt, holding it to his forehead as though he were praying at this very moment, or perhaps simply hoping that this action could somehow reach Mina where she was, so she would know just how grateful he truly was for hers and everyone else's faith in this most desperate moment. "Yes…I promise you, we're all coming back home together, Mina. I love you, with everything I am."

Nikolay knew that if he said any more than those irrevocable and sincerest words, then he would only end up saying something that would make Mina worry herself sick. And so, with the heaviest of hearts, despite knowing they had once more reassured each other of their boundless feelings for one another in this darkest moment, Mina finally had to force herself to hang up the call, while Nikolay quickly got to work pulling the casing away from the back of his phone, before just as quickly removing said GPS chip, and the battery with it.

And just like that, just as Izuku had done the same, the two Heroes and their unwitting third companion now found themselves in the single most desperate situation they had found themselves in to date; practically alone in an alien new land with nobody but themselves and each other to rely on, and all while realizing that the only thing they could do was simply hope they could figure out why they'd ended up in this situation, how to get themselves out of it, and hopefully still be able to help their fellow Heroes with the ever-present threat of Humarise before it was far too late.

Alright, everyone, and that was the new chapter. As I said before, starting now, I'm going to take as much time as is necessary to finish planning and writing this version of the movie, wherein I will then upload the remaining chapters once per day, in order to hopefully make up for however long you may have to wait.

In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and since the site can't tell me how many hits I'm getting, I feel this is a vital time for you all to start sending reviews, letting me know what you think. I know I've asked for this a lot, but now it is especially vital, so that I can at least have some proof that I'm still getting any traffic for this story right now.

I will hopefully see you all with the rest of this story arc before too long. You all have a wonderful day.