Society's Ghosts

by secretagentman1

In a hero-saturated society...why are there those that are left behind? The ones that cannot be saved, and are thus forgotten by the world and the so-called heroes sworn to protect. And what happens when those of us that have lived...decide to fight back, and show how dirty your heroes, your world, your society really is.

9. Chapter 9

Society's Ghosts

AN: Well, here's another chapter for you guys. Another chapter that ended up way longer than I imagined it would but that's par for the course now, isn't it? A lot of you liked chapter 8, so I'm interested to see what you'll think of this one...

Chapter 9: Perfect Preparation

A streak of lightning raced across the red sky followed by a sharp peal of thunder. The horrid, cloudy weather served as the perfect backdrop for the gothic castle that lay in the foreground. The abode rested precariously on a cliff's outcropping that stretched far over a void that would spell instant death for anyone unlucky enough to fall into it, it being so deep that one could not even see the bottom.

A long rocky path was the only way to reach the dark castle, a dangerous trek that would daunt the bravest of adventurers from attempting to reach it. Only wide enough to allow one to cross it at any given time, and the constant debris that would fall into the darkness below shows its danger.

And finally, resting ahead of all of this was an ornate black gate that acted as the entrance to the castle, inviting any soul that thought themselves brave enough to challenge whatever horrors lay within.

Of course, looking at the terrain that preceded this odd display, one could tell that there was no soul around to take up such a brazen challenge.

The landscape ahead of the cliff was essentially a flat land, barren of all life as if it had all died out suddenly. Dead plants sparsely littered the dusty ground, twigs that were devoid of greenery sprouting here and there. Tiny pebbles were pushed by the wind, becoming dust that would dance through the air to parts unknown. No color could be seen other than the grey of the dead ground, and the contrasting red of the stormy sky.

Not a living soul could be seen as far as the eye could see, either all having died out thanks to lack of resources, moving on from the dead land for the same reason...or being killed off by some darker force that originated from the dreary castle.

*Jingle*

The sound of spurs resounded across the empty plain; a dark boot crunched against the dusty ground revealing who had just appeared. The newcomer to this dead land dressed in dark clothing, dark purple in color, that had the appearance of body armor that fit snugly on their person. A cape was draped over the right half of their body, a sheathed sword resting on the left hip, showing that this figure was no stranger to fighting. A high collar surrounded their neck, and resting atop their head was a wide-brimmed hat that was tilted down obscuring their face from view.

This figure stood before the creaking gate of the castle, unafraid of all the typically daunting features that would send a lesser person running for their life. A solitary wind blew from the side, flicking the cape off the shoulder to reveal the right side of the figure's body, head remaining down as it awaited something.

As if in response to the newcomer's 'foolish' bravery, the gate slowly began to open, squeaking slightly at its hinges giving a clear message of its disuse. It must have been quite a long time since the entrance needed to allow any passage to what was beyond it. After a moment the gate had fully opened to allow the mysterious figure entry to the dark castle...

...and their doom.

Even with the eerie atmosphere, the brave newcomer remained rooted in their previous position, a statue. The gate now opened before them, and the oppressive aura that was apparently held back by the entrance poured across their body, an odd gravity pushing down on them.

It was all ignored.

Taking the first step forward spurs jingling with every step, the figure accepted the challenge that lies ahead of them without so much blinking.

Slowly and carefully, they walked across the long path leading to their destination. Head remaining down, face obscured by their hat, step-by-step the figure pressed forward, the only companion they had was the faint sound of the wind passing by.

About halfway across the long bridge, the destination growing ever closer for the newcomer...a sound reached their ears. A sound that was all too familiar for this person, for they were a hunter.

It was a sound that would cause the blood of the weaker-willed to run cold, a sound that would make bystanders flee in terror.

*Oink*

When that awful sound reached the figure's ears, they'd finally raised their head from its lowered position. Their skin was green in color, and a single red, pupilless eye was revealed from beneath the brim of the hat while the right eye remained cloaked in the shade provided by it.

Now on high alert, the figure's lone eye narrowed, awaiting the creature that had let out such a horrid sound.

Below, from within the darkness that rested under the bridge, a cacophony of squeals pierced the air. The sounds grew louder and louder, and the monsters that made them came closer and closer to the surface to attack the recent interloper that believed themself to be hardy enough to attack their home.

But the ear-piercing squeals did nothing to dissuade the stranger, in fact, they'd widened their stance to ready for the fight that was coming.

The sound of something finally making its way above the bridge reached the ears of the figure, and soon many others joined it to surround the hunter, all flying in the air which would give them the advantage once the fighting started. The red eye of the figure gazed at their opponents, a sight that they'd grown accustomed to throughout their long journey.

Their horrible, rosy, pink skin, the dripping maws that revealed the sharp teeth within, yellow eyes devoid of any life within them, brown hooves that were ready to trample their corpse, their wiggling snouts as they sniffed their prey out, and their atrocious curly tails!

These were the terrible beasts that had plagued the land since time immemorial.

Monsters that terrorized and fed on people without regard or sign of stopping.

And the target of their hunt.

They were...

Vampire Piggies!

*SQUEAL*

The lead pig charged forward from the air, leading its undead brethren in the attack on the intruder. They all swooped forward, ready to tear the hunter limb from limb and present the bones to their lord.

In the face of these overwhelming odds, the hunter did not waver...in fact, they smiled, relishing the challenge the unholy swine presented.

Diving low to the ground, the initial charge proved fruitless as the vampiric barnyard animals missed their target, forced to avoid each other or collide in midair. Growling in anger at their failed attack, the piggies whirled back around, coming from the same direction this time so they could swarm the hunter and leave them with no way of escaping. Much like a murder of crows, the vampiric ungulates descended on the lone figure, their numbers practically blotting out the sky as they raced forward.

Throwing their right hand to the side, cape flowing off their shoulder thanks to the motion, the hunter swiftly brought the hand down to their hip. Every second mattered, they stood resolute in the face of the overwhelming force, hand remaining at their side as they seemed to wait for the correct moment.

Just as the monsters were upon them, the hunter brandished an odd bar from their hip, an innocuous thing to the untrained eye, and certainly something that the beasts would overlook. Smirking, the hunter pushed a button and revealed that the thing was actually a deadly weapon. A purple blade sprouted from the bar, revealing that it was a laser sword and one that the creature's prey was intimately familiar with.

In quick, concise motions, the hunter fought off the swarm of piggies, taking a few of them down as they defended themself. Again, the swine had to regain their bearings and come up with a new plan of attack, their previous one only serving to burn away the cape that the hunter wore.

Oh yeah, did I mention that they were on fire?!

A taunting smile was on the mysterious hunter's face, beckoning the vampires forward with another attack so they could meet their end at their hands.

A taunt that only made them grow angrier at the cocky enemy.

Vigor renewed, and anger peaked, the piggies charged again this time they flooded the bridge itself with their superior numbers. The sheer number of blood-suckers engulfed the end of the bridge that the hunter had come from, forcing them to move backward, ever closer to the castle.

The hunter shot lasers from their blade to try and stymie the influx of hellions even if for a few seconds. The shots, while hitting a few, did little to keep them from growing ever closer to their prey, their teeth gnashing for the hunter's flesh.

The chased looked ahead to see that the bridge was slowly coming to an end, meaning that they would soon be forced to confront the swarm coming up behind them. Narrowing their red eye, the hunter made it to the plateau and turned around to face down the vampire piggies.

First, they would need to break them up!

Reaching into their pocket, the hunter drew out a small capsule that they threw ahead. Upon breaking on the ground, a cross formed in front of them that looked like it was made from a grill, the object combining two major weaknesses of both vampire and pig.

The distraction proved successful, forcing the pigs to veer away from the holy symbol that would grill them. A few unfortunate piglets crashed head-on into the deadly obstacle and ended up as bacon strips in an instant, floating off the ground on a plate and everything.

With time bought, the figure stood ready as smaller groups of piggies started to form from the murder that it had been. Hissing loudly, they charged at the hunter to tear them limb from limb and drain them of blood.

From their blade came lasers that shot the undead pigs from the sky, shot after shot rushing from the energy weapon. When any of them came too close, they would turn to use the sword for its intended purpose and rend them with focused slashes that eliminated them easily.

For what felt like minutes, the hunter stood in the eye of the storm killing all the pigs that would come their way with practiced movements that only a professional who had seen many battles over the course of their life could. Of course, no matter how highly trained the person is, they still tire, and that was exactly what was happening to the hunter.

Stamina at an all-time low, the hunter could barely get their sword up to defend themself anymore. The opening that this fatigue provided was what led to a lucky piglet rushing forward and flying by their side...

...taking an arm along with it.

Between the sharp fangs of that pig was the hunter's left arm, it was swallowed moments later. This simple but effective attack had effectively cut the hunter's ability in half.

Frowning to themself, the hunter could see the bloodlust in the pigs' eyes rise in anticipation of getting their own taste. Ear-piercing squeals drowned out all thought they could have; all they could focus on was surviving this onslaught that was coming.

With a taste for the hunter driving them ever further, the piglets were drawn into another swarm to attack the weakened hunter in full force. In response, the hunter turned and ran once again only, compared to last time which had a concrete plan of attack in mind, this was a lot more haphazard, a far cry from the calm and composed attitude they'd shown up to that point.

This was further shown by the constant use of items that the hunter chose to throw in a bid to slow the swarm again, but they no longer had the same efficacy. Another grill-cross was thrown, but the swarm was able to avoid it this time around because they were further up in the air, the ground-based trap was useless. A toss of garlic shavings was next, but that was only a minor inconvenience for them, sizzling against their pink skin and causing discomfort, along with further stoking their anger. The next thing to be tossed was a crossbow that had been on the hunter's back, along with its ammunition.

It was a wonder why the developers would allow such an important item in the inventory to be tossed aside, but it was, and it did.

There was nowhere left for the hunter to flee to, coming to a wall of the castle that had nothing for the cornered prey to use for escape. Behind them, the vampire piggies got closer and closer to devouring the hunter. The odds of surviving the mass of gnashing fangs dwindled with every second, the hunter knew that even with their blade they could only eliminate a few before being overwhelmed.

No other option available, the hunter turned upward.

A move that would be difficult but would ultimately save their life, the hunter turned to the wall behind them and took a great leap upward. The pigs crashed into the wall below, the hunter's ascension petered out by now with gravity taking hold. The unholy, flaming spawn flew upward now, looking to catch the defenseless figure as they fell.

It was then the hunter stuck their leg out, trying to kick off the wall and proceed further upward to escape...

...but their footing slipped.

This misstep led to the unfortunate hunter falling into the waiting fangs of the vampiric swine. They were set upon in seconds, and try as they might to escape, they were overrun by them all, landing on the ground in the writhing mass of piggies and devoured.

The only part of the now-deceased hunter that was out of the pile of feeding pigs was the arm that still held futilely onto the purple blade.

YOU ARE DEAD

"Aw, I died..." a pouting Mahito looked down at the screen of the Game Slave in bewilderment.

"That's what happens when you button mash," Gaz said bluntly, taking her system from the inhuman before she started a new game and made quick work of the same level he'd been playing. Her fingers deftly went across every button the handheld had, using every move that the player character, the 'hunter', had at its disposal in a much more efficient and well-thought-out way.

"I was doing the same things you did," Mahito only tilted his head as he watched the girl run across the same rock bridge and be met by the same horde of vampire piglets, but she had yet to use any items other than the blade.

"No..." she slid a pupil in her cracked open eye over to the inhuman's questioning gaze, "You were pushing every button at once and lucking out."

She gestured down to Mahito's hands which had sprouted extra fingers so he could press every button at once...which is exactly what he had done while he played.

"I thought if I could do everything, then I could win faster, is all," he laughed, the extra digits sinking back into his hands and leaving him with the appropriate ten.

"Psh, there's no skill in mashing every button. You wasted all your items and cornered yourself," she huffed.

He was such a noob.

"Why give them if I don't use them?" he complained. He was trying to understand the appeal of video games, but they were still very alien to him...it was missing that essential piece that board games had.

"Try using them when it's actually needed, and not just because you feel like it..." she demonstrated by using a combination of items to kill the entire swarm of pigs in one fell swoop rather than trying to fight them all.

"I don't know..." Mahito cupped his chin and wracked his brain for the thing that he felt was missing from a video game that board games did have.

"Maybe if there was a proper motivation for playing, I'd have tried more~" he shrugged with an uncaring sigh.

That got Gaz to pause her game and turn to him, "What are you talking about?"

He met her gaze and voiced his opinion, "I mean, why is this person fighting these monsters so hard? What's driving him to risk his life when there doesn't seem to be anything or anyone to do it for?" Mahito crossed his arms and looked to the side, his uninterest showing.

He got bored just trying to remember that ten or so minutes he'd spent playing, trying to immerse himself in it and glean an inkling of story, a rhyme or reason for the actions being taken but was disappointed to find none.

"Maybe if he was fighting for some kind of glory, or because those close to him were killed by the pigs...I think I could be invested enough. Those are some of the normal reasons humans do anything, I guess," Mahito mused with an introspective look on his face.

The ideas he was coming up with were appealing to him more than what he'd just played.

And Gaz frowned with each idea he posited.

"Ugh, you're one of those...cinematic game lovers?" she practically spat the term from her mouth.

"I guess...what's that?"

"Games that prioritize long-winded cutscenes to get across the story for their games...a lot of the time they aren't that good because the gameplay suffers. They take away control from the player to shove that garbage down your throat, and most times their characters are blank slates anyway that don't align with what the player wants..." Gaz explained with an eye roll, to her those kinds of things were the death of video games at their finest.

"Oh, that doesn't sound bad," Mahito smiled, "A story to get invested in would probably push the player to see how it ends, right? They'd be fascinated by where it'll go...do you have any of those kinds of games?" Mahito's interest was piqued for the first time.

"No," Gaz felt offended.

She was a real gamer.

"The point of a game is to play the game, any moment that a player has no control is a problem," she gave her own opinion, "If I want a story and character to 'watch', then I'd watch a movie."

Mahito fired back, "I suppose...but games give interactivity that a movie wouldn't...you'd feel more immersed if it happened to you, and having control over certain moments might heighten the emotion of a scene," Mahito smiled.

"The only motivation a player should have, is learning the controls of the game, progressing level by level, and with each one, they get harder and demand more from them, so their skill grows," Gaz had turned to face Mahito at this point, eyes open slightly to burn a hole through him with her glare.

She was not going to back down on this matter.

"Is that really enough~," Mahito, while having no horse in this particular race, loved movies, board games, and learning about humans...so, for him, mashing them together into a video game sounded like a fun new experience.

"What happens when you get as good as you possibly can?"

"Move on to the next one," Gaz didn't miss a beat, and then turned that around on her companion, "And what about you, why replay something when you've already seen the story before?"

"Well, you rewatch movies, don't you?" came his simple answer.

Gaz finally grew fed up with the argument and went back to playing. Mahito was too simple...and childish, she added in her head, to get any headway in this age-old rivalry between gamers. He hadn't played enough of anything to have a firm stance, so they would only argue in circles with one another.

"We're getting nowhere with this," she sighed in annoyance.

"Hm, you're right..." the heterochromatic being hummed for a few seconds, he retreated into his mind as he tried to find a way to end their stalemate, and an explosion off to the side coincided with the idea that sprung within.

"I know!" he suddenly shouted, getting an annoyed glance from the girl he was sitting next to who continued to play even now. "Why don't we ask the others? They could help settle this," Mahito had his friendly grin on his face he was so happy with the idea.

"Pass."

Gaz turned back to her game.

"Ok, then...I guess that's just your way of saying that I'm right and a story would make any video game better~" he hit her where it hurt with those words, it was as if they'd formed a knife that struck through her electric form.

"You can just sit there while I find out..."

"THERE'S NO WAY I'M WRONG!" Gaz shouted into the laughing Mahito's ear, both running across the expanse of their newest lair to get to another of their members to ask this burning question and end their debate.

This was the current state of the League of Villains.

The moon was shining outside of their dimly lit, dirty, run-down hideout and its appearance also signified that it had officially been a full day since their...'collaboration' with Lex Luthor and the Injustice League. After such a 'fun' and 'rewarding' experience with the more...accomplished villains, leaving the hastily formed group a shadow of its former self, what with three of their members deceased and the rest thrown to the Justice League, the League of Villains had chosen to take leave of their forced participation.

Thanks to their still-unknown newest member, Bruno Bucciarati, the escape came quite easily. He was a blind spot in the Justice League's information that was appropriately exploited to assist in their retreat, leaving the Injustice Gang as a consolation prize.

For the rest of the day following that ordeal, the group of villains had swung by their former lair to pick up their technology specialist and relocated to their current one. A city often forgotten about in lieu of those with more famous heroes, and their larger villains and crises that made the common people pay it little mind. Not that there was no protector for it, it's just he was one more concerned with ground-level criminal activity befitting the folk hero he styled himself after.

The Emerald Archer, Green Arrow.

And the city the League of Villains were currently hiding themselves in?

Star City.

This choice was made simply because the heroic presence here was far laxer than it would be in the cities that the Justice League members frequented, and it was close enough to the city of the future for them to plant their feet again.

Currently, their objective was to rest and recuperate from yesterday's events, they needed to be in the best shape possible for their plan of freeing All For One from Stryker's Island. Other than physical wellbeing, the villainous coalition was also awaiting their diminutive Gem to finish her current project, the original reason they'd stolen the Metallo from Luthor in the first place. Due to this state of waiting, the league was all currently scattered about inside their hideout, doing whatever they pleased to unwind until it was time to move on to the next stage of their plan.

But this relaxation should not be taken as them forgoing proper protection, for outside of the abandoned building, nearly impossible to see by civilians, and even heroes unless they already knew what to search for, laid four transfigured humans of differing shapes. Mahito had restocked himself with a few more humans after depleting his reserves the other day, a paltry few that were unfortunate enough to be out and about when he'd gone hunting. They were scattered at each corner of their building, remaining dormant until someone breached the perimeter, some hidden among the weeds that had sprouted, some clinging to the walls, and others perched atop it to see beyond the stone fencing that encircled the building.

Acting as grotesque guardians for the evils inside.

But from the way they were acting inside, someone with no knowledge of the things they've done could mistake them for a dysfunctional family.

At a worktable, goggles over her eyes, Peridot was soldering together circuitry for her projects. Surrounding her were different components that were no doubt a part of the process, including her ill-gotten laptop, and three conically shaped objects strewn around her with wires connecting them to the device. She appeared to be programming the odd things for various functions from the looks of the lines and lines of code that could be seen on the laptop screen. The alien was hyper-focused on her work, flashes of the soldering iron illuminating her face.

Not too far from the green-skinned Gem, Enid was sitting on a ratty couch, an arm slung over its back. Her position was more for necessity than comfort as she was helping Peridot with her work occasionally, thanks to her strength and powers to temper and mold the Metallo if needed. Her eyes were half-lidded, bored out of her mind, waiting to be called on by the diminutive Gem, and gave a yawn to exemplify this.

Sitting on the opposite side of the couch was the newest addition to the group, Bruno Bucciarati. The man had a leg crossed over the other while reclining in the chair, a hand resting atop his knee while the other brought a cup of tea up to his lips. He clearly enjoyed the warm liquid given the content sigh that left his mouth after taking a sip, eyes closed as it touched his tastebuds. He had been in charge of procuring the League some groceries given he was still an unknown to the outside world, and so had picked up a small amount for the team to share. The funds that they'd gotten from the job with Slade were beginning to run low, so they had barely gotten little more than a few party platters to sate their hunger, finger foods that would normally be used as an appetizer being used for full meals.

Off to the side, keeping his distance as always from the others was Dabi. The burned villain still had his disinterested look set on his face. The pyrokinetic sat against a wall, one of his legs drawn up and the other straight with his hands intertwined above his knee. He seemed disconnected from everyone around him as if his mind was on something else entirely or attempting to keep himself away from those he was surrounded by, true to his loner persona.

Unfortunately for the burned villain, he wouldn't be getting the peace and quiet that he wanted, away from the craziness he'd thrown himself in with, because a loud boom and flash streaked across the room, kicking up dust and debris. The culprit of this was none other than Bakugo, constantly training even during the downtime, never resting, never letting up. Sweat poured from his body, Bakugo used his powers to maneuver around their hideout, adjusting his movements for future battles, honing his reflexes, and getting accustomed to larger and larger explosions on his own.

All this culminated in their leader, Tomura Shigaraki, who sat in a separate armchair that was positioned next to the couch. He had his legs stretched out to lay on a table in front of him, his trademark hand resting next to them. After yesterday's ordeal, and having fully come to trust the League, he had decided to make an effort to be more comfortable around them and let himself relax.

It was a nice feeling to be able to sit down and have a few moments to themselves like this, to do the things that they could enjoy, or at the very least unwind in between the crimes they'd been committing. They would take this time to rest for the coming prison break, and once Peridot had finished her work, they would be ready to go and retrieve All For One...

...then the real war would begin.

"Tomura, Tomura!"

"Hey, Shigaraki!"

The shouting made the leader of the group of villains jolt from his thoughts, their serious nature falling by the wayside as he put together who had been calling him. The red eye of the young man went to the side of his chair to the peculiar sight of Mahito crouching low to the ground so that he could peek over the arm of the chair as if he were a child, his fingers on either side of his head as he did so, and the edges of his mouth the slightest bit visible to show his enjoyment.

It would be quite the sight to anyone, what appeared to be a grown man giddily sitting on his legs just to affect being smaller than the chair he was looking over the arm of.

Along for the ride, quite literally, was Gaz who had perched herself atop the inhuman's back, leading to her peeking over his head so her squinted eyes could stare into Tomura's staring eye, fingers drumming on Mahito's silver locks in impatience as they both stared Tomura down expectantly, only she had a frown on her face.

It was funny that the normally serious girl would only begin to act her age when she got pushed over the edge by Mahito's constant pressure.

After taking a moment to look over the two, Shigaraki gave a tired sigh while he took his feet from the table to plant them back onto the floor and address the two evenly.

"What is it?" he said lowly with a hint of exasperation from the mostly quiet atmosphere being disrupted along with his relaxation, "And why are you so loud?" he mumbled, fixing them with a side-eye as he reached over to the platter on the table to take a stick of cheese using his index finger and thumb.

"Oh, we just wanted to ask you a question to settle an argument Gaz and I are having," Mahito stood to his full height to explain to the blue-haired villain, a small smile still in place on his face, ignoring that he'd broken the quiet.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" Tomura leaned back in his chair and took a bite of the meager snack, waiting for the question so he could get it over with. At this point, with all the talking, the other two League members sitting close by had also started half-listening to the conversation between the three since nothing else had been going on.

"We want to know what your preference would be in a video game," Mahito answered simply. Gaz hopped off his shoulders to stand next to him as he continued, "Wouldn't you rather play one that has a story, character, and motivation for you to see it through to the end?" his words got the girl to glare up at him and hit him on his leg.

"Don't dress it up, just ask!" he frowned, displeased that Mahito was trying to skew the answer.

In response, he shrugged, "I'm only telling the truth...*sigh* or would you rather play one that has a focus on simply playing the game and moving from one level to the other?"

He stuck his tongue out at Gaz to tease her, not that she was paying any attention.

Instead, she had her squinted eyes on their leader and his reaction to their burning question.

Tomura, upon hearing the all-important question that the two members of their group felt needed an answer, had a flat look in his eye while he stared the two down. It looked like he was none too pleased to be asked such a trivial thing when there were much more important things for them all to worry about.

Video games? Ridiculous.

'I figured...' Gaz thought to herself in resignation. None of the League of Villains looked like they'd ever even heard of a video game, let alone play one in their free time. That's why she'd told Mahito that this debate would be a waste of time...none of the others would even think to engage.

But she was wrong.

The small girl had misread Shigaraki's expression as disinterest, but in actuality, he had been thinking about his answer, and that became apparent when he leaned forward and cupped his chin.

"Hm, I never thought about it before, not that I've played much to begin with..." Shigaraki said more to himself than them, but those words were more than enough to get a reaction from the purplette.

Hearing that the disheveled villain had, in fact, played a video game before and was contemplating her and Mahito's stupid question shocked Gaz so much that her eyes shot open to look at him in slight disbelief.

"You've played video games?" now she was paying rapt attention.

"Yeah...but only one," Tomura answered, now resting his arms on his knees while he spoke to her, "When Master was training or teaching me, he wanted something for me to do in my free time that I enjoyed..." he thought back to those times for a second before continuing, "But there wasn't much a kid could go out and do on his own without drawing attention even less if Master wanted to stay hidden so he couldn't keep an eye on me either. And there wasn't much I enjoyed, so Master came up with the idea of using his computer to let me play on for leisure." Tomura thought back to the scarred man sitting him down in front of the machine and, with his ever-present smile, letting the child run free.

"He told me to search for a game that caught my eye, and the one I chose was League of Legends..." he revealed casually.

"You've played League!?" Gaz couldn't keep the surprise from her voice with that one.

"Hm, what's that?" Mahito looked at her, completely clueless. He just wanted Tomura's answer so he could win...

"A Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game. Players go head-to-head against each other in two teams of five to take down the opposite base," Gaz said simply. Turning back to Shigaraki she had a questioning eyebrow raised up at him, "How did you manage to play in a team?"

"I didn't. I played in solo mode; it wouldn't do to connect with others and have a way to trace us," he told her.

"That must've been annoying."

"Yeah, the learning curve was steep, and those morons shouting over my headphones didn't help either, but I got pretty decent at it, I think. I started winning consistently once I got used to the strategies people like to use..." he turned to Gaz as he spoke.

"Habits are hard to break, especially for a popular game like that. I've had to carry teams whenever I played with anyone..." she talked shop with the blue-haired villain.

As the two really started to get into the nitty-gritty of LoL, the confusion of the nonhuman only continued to grow as he understood none of the terms they'd started to use. Overwhelmed as he was Mahito eventually found he needed to cut through to get the conversation back on track.

"So...you prefer the gameplay over the story, then?" he butt in, a little upset that his first potential point had been lost.

Mulling over for a moment more, Tomura shook his head, "No. While I did enjoy playing, the thing that got me to pick it in the first place was all the lore and character surrounding it. It had me interested, so I picked it without really finding out what the game was until I played. It worked out, so I'm not complaining but I'd say getting a good story with a good game is better than just a good game."

With his answer, the reactions of the two couldn't be more starkly different. Mahito's teasing grin was blinding, and while it lit up his face, the light within Gaz's eyes as she'd spoken to Tomura dimmed down at his answer making her frown.

"You traitor..."

"Well, that's one point for me!" Mahito laughed.

"He hardly counts!" Gaz opposed the taller being with a shove, "He's only played one game! He doesn't know any better!" she growled at his condescending look.

Behind the arguing pair, Tomura's shoulders slumped slightly as he leveled them with a flat stare once more, "Why'd you bother asking me if you just disregard my answer..." he sighed.

"You just need to broaden your horizons. Give some single-player games a chance with good mechanics, and you'll forget story," Gaz was firmly against his answer.

"You aren't off to a great start!" Mahito offered unnecessarily, Gaz growling at him in response, but he'd already moved on, looking for their next vic-, guinea-, choice.

"Hm, how about you, Enid?" Mahito zeroed in on the teen who had been quietly snickering to herself throughout the whole exchange.

She found how her dark and nihilistic leader could turn into a gamer like that and connect with Gaz cute.

"You'd rather a storied game, wouldn't you?" he tried to lead her answer like he did with Tomura and again got an indignant punch.

"Yeah, yeah, I know already," she leaned back casually and put her hands behind her head, arching her back as well to stretch inadvertently accentuating her curves as she did so.

"Honestly, I think you're barking up the wrong tree," she closed an eye and fixed the open one on them, "I barely played video games...didn't even own a system..." she stared up at the ceiling as her mind went back to the times she last played. "The only time I played any games was in the arcade with..."

She paused with a blank look showing on her face when a specific person appeared in her mind; them taking turns playing the ones they enjoyed...smiling at each other.

Enid frowned.

"With who?" Gaz found herself asking, thanks to the shift.

The question shook the older girl from her thoughts, blinking as the image faded from her mind. Looking back at the two, she gave a heavy sigh and scratched at her hair, "Nothing, forget about it...the point is, I barely played anything. The only thing I did play was fighting games..." she answered.

"I was training so much back then that I figured I could learn some moves if I played them...mostly Street Fighter," Enid smirked and pointed a thumb at herself, "And, as you can see, it worked in my favor. From how I fight, you can probably tell who I mained," she finished cockily.

"That's my point," Gaz said preemptively. Fighting games were easily some of the most technical out there, and if it was made well, rich with strategies, tiers, and a general learning curve that required the player to dedicate time to get skilled.

And again, she had been surprised that another of them played a video game. Enid was one of the ones she expected to write it off entirely given the stereotypical teen persona she affected.

Of course, Gaz was also unaware of what made Enid have such a persona, or the person she remembered that had a hand in that transformation, even if accidental.

"Hey, she hasn't given her answer yet," Mahito shushed her, finger to his lips, and gave a harsh 'shh' through his teeth to purposely shoot a small bit of spittle onto his opponent that sizzled into nonexistence against her.

"Heh, hate to break it to ya, but I'm with Gaz on this one," Enid cast a casual point to the girl, "Fighting game stories are nonsense...and Street Fighter's was pretty lame too. All they were, was a bunch of excuses to get the characters to fight each other, even if it didn't make sense," she rolled her eyes at the thought.

"Something as simple as bumping shoulders or the wrong look would make them throw down."

Mahito's eyes widened the slightest bit as an idea came to his head that he had to voice, "Oh! So that's where you get it from."

"Huh?" Enid tilted her head at him.

"You know, the reason why you're so belligerent, upset, and picking fights all the time," he explained with a smile still in place.

Each descriptor made a vein grow on the superheated teen's forehead.

"I do not pick-!" she went to defend herself but was interrupted by a piece of equipment colliding with the side of her head with an audible clang. From beside her Peridot had thrust the conical object she'd been working on behind her to give to Enid, not even turning around.

"Temper that," she stated imperatively, expecting the task to be done, and not showing that she'd heard the conversation that was going on right behind her.

With another growl, Enid snatched the thing from the rude Gem, who kept focused on her work, enraging Enid more by the dismissal, "Hey, how about a 'please'! I ain't your personal forge!"

"Trust me, I know..." Peridot did not miss a beat in her calm response, "...a forge wouldn't talk back..." she added under her breath.

Eye twitching, Enid had her hands heat up and bent the piece of technology in her hands.

"And don't destroy my work, unless you want to set me back."

Frowning at being caught in her revenge, Enid carefully bent the object back into its original shape so she could do as the alien had asked.

She also made the sad choice to look at the smug smile on Mahito's face, embarrassing her for proving him right...to an extent.

"Shut up!" she blushed.

Bucciarati beside her had to hide his smile behind his teacup at the interaction.

"That's one point each, then," Mahito held up two fingers.

Now finished with Enid they moved on down the line to the next person on the sofa.

"You're next, Bucciarati," Mahito hopped over Enid to sit next to the Italian, pushing over the annoyed girl in the process.

"Hm, I suppose I am," he said calmly in response and set down his cup so he could speak with them. "I'm sorry to disappoint the two of you, but I've never actually had the pleasure of playing video games," he told them with a genuinely contrite look, feeling sorry he couldn't answer.

"How come?" Gaz asked. She found it difficult to believe that no one had ever played a video game at least in passing before.

"When one grows up as an orphan on the streets of Italy it doesn't leave much time for simple pleasures," he explained. "I was focused on my survival, so anything that wouldn't facilitate that was unnecessary, especially items that would have drawn undue attention to myself, such as a console. I tried to live humbly and quietly," he smiled slightly as a look of understanding crossed the girl's face.

"You could still just pick," Mahito pouted, it was boring if he didn't even make an attempt.

"I wouldn't want to make a choice about something I have no knowledge of...I wouldn't want to regret it," he picked his tea back up to stop from chuckling at the nonhuman's frown.

"I can show you some if you want," Gaz offered him. It was downright criminal that someone was completely oblivious of games to her.

He had to be educated...and if he came to her side that would have been all the better.

"Hm, I'll hold you to that...maybe when we get to a more comfortable setting," he chuckled finally.

Sighing audibly at the lack of progression in their argument, Mahito pinched his lip and thought of his next target, "Mm, still tied...who to ask next..." The explosion that came acted as the light bulb for his next idea.

"How about we ask, Bakugo-kun~" he jumped from the couch, over Gaz, overexcitedly making his way to the blond.

"That doesn't seem like a good idea..." Gaz said futilely since he couldn't hear her.

The sweating Bakugo was completely unaware of what was going on around him so focused on his training as he was. He glared at his imaginary enemy, boosting himself forward with an explosion from his left hand, he reared the right back to unleash a devastating hook with added oomph...

"Oi, Bakugo-kun!"

Mahito suddenly appeared in front of him, surprising the blond and making him lose concentration. Given that he was already in the motion of bringing his hand forward and activating his power, he could not stop from blowing the inhuman away.

Mahito skidded along the floor on his back, completely unharmed by the attack, and only slightly blackened. Ahead of him, the irate Bakugo landed on his feet and was already in the process of yelling at him.

"The hell is your problem, Patchface!? You looking to die?!" Bakugo shouted.

Completely unfazed, Mahito simply sat back up, crossing his legs, and began to dust himself off, "Of course not, but we both know that wouldn't kill me, Bakugo~kun," Mahito teased the blond.

Taking those words as a challenge, Bakugo took a threatening step forward, "You want to find out!"

Before things could escalate, Gaz flashed between the two of them, sticking an arm out to her side to halt the bull's charge.

"Knock it off. We aren't trying to start anything," she sighed at both of them. Bakugo continued to fume at the inhuman who continued to goad the blond with his ever-so-annoying smile.

"We just want to ask you something," rolling her eyes at Mahito, reminding him what they were trying to do, and getting him to stop with his prodding.

"Eh?" the blond in question made a noise between irritated and confused. What did they have to ask him...and why couldn't it wait until he wasn't busy!? "What is it!?" he voiced his annoyance, wanting to get this over with, "You're interrupting my training!"

"We're just going around asking everyone what they like better in a video game, a story, or the gameplay," Mahito posed the query to the blond, curious what the combative dynamite stick would choose.

And while she wouldn't outwardly show it, Gaz had become more intrigued with this as it went on, seeing as they'd managed to surprise her with their answers.

"How should I know?"

That put the brakes on the two's imaginations before they could really build up proper traction.

"I don't play those damn things!" he made his way past them both, throwing a dismissive wave behind his back, "We done? Now get outta my way."

"Hang on, Bakugo-kun, even if you don't play you could still answer!" Mahito turned around, still sitting on the floor, to continue to look at the blond.

"Hell no. Those things are a waste of my time," he refused to turn around.

"And how's that?" Gaz frowned. It took a bit, but this was the answer she was expecting.

"Tch, the whole point of them is for a bunch of nerds to pretend they're doing something they can't," Bakugo looked over his shoulder at them, "But I can already do most of the shit they just sit on their asses and act like they can do! Why would I need to play 'em!" he pointed a thumb at himself with a toothy smirk, self-assured of his answer for his 'non-answer'

Mahito and Gaz both blinked at the...conceited, that was the best word they could think of to describe what they'd heard, answer by their teammate. Gaz could give Bakugo this, it wasn't disdain for the games themselves...he just had too big of an ego.

They took a second to look at each other before Gaz decided to voice her opinion on just why she believed he thought that way.

"I think you talk a big game, but you're one of those people that sucks at video games..."

Gaz's blunt hypothesis had Bakugo freeze midstep, his hands in his pockets and shoulders raised up as he'd tried to stalk off.

"...so you choose not to play them, so you won't lose..."

Each word had his face twist up into a rage-fille, taut scowl...the word 'lose' rang in his ears and made his eye twitch.

"...and you're such a sore loser when you did play that no one wanted to play with you."

That, compounded with Mahito's, not-at-all-hidden, laughter broke the final wall of restraint that Bakugo had. Turning around suddenly, he jumped at the two with pinprick pupils and hands aglow.

"SHINE (DIE)!" he blasted at the two breaking the ground, completely forgetting that, when it came to these two, attacking would have no effect.

Not that he was in the appropriate state of mind to realize this.

And despite the lack of danger the two still hastily scurried away from the raging beast while he chased them.

"Oops~ you made him mad~" Mahito laughed, avoiding an explosion from behind.

"And that was just a guess..." Gaz sighed, ducking another.

The rain of fire, that the others simply ignored knowing Bakugo's personality, eventually managed to eject the silver-haired entity from the smoke cloud that had been kicked up. Landing outside, covered in small bits of debris and dirt, and smile still stretching his face, Mahito took a few seconds to continue watching Bakugo chase Gaz and ignoring his absence seeing as he wasn't the one that prodded him.

"Hold still and let me kill you, Plumhead!"

Once he was through watching the antics, the nonhuman noticed that he had come to rest next to their distant pyrokinetic who'd remained seated during the whole interaction. When they met eyes, Mahito could already tell that Dabi was exhausted with him without giving him a chance to even open his mouth.

"Ah, Dabi-kun, you're the last one we need to ask..." Mahito began but was interrupted by said young man.

"Save it."

The blunt response quieted the nonhuman, and the recently arrived Gaz who had shaken Bakugo off, though he continued to blast around the room believing he was still chasing her.

The dark-haired flame user stood up from his position and turned his back to the two, throwing a dismissive wave over his shoulder much like Bakugo had, "Leave me out of this," he stated nonchalantly, not even wanting to entertain the distraction.

"Oh, come on, Dabi-kun~ Everyone else answered," Mahito whined at his back.

"And that means I have to?" he asked rhetorically, clearly not wanting to engage...but he also knew how persistent Mahito could be...and read that as annoying, and add Gaz who was being just as adamant about this survey...

...He'd never get a moment's peace.

With an exasperated sigh, he begrudgingly answered, "I've never played a video game in my life," he looked off to the side, "Never even seen one."

And he left it at that.

Of course, that only made the two have more questions.

"How's that possible?" Gaz asked.

"They're everywhere, Dabi-kun. You'd have to have seen one at least once."

Hell, one of their members only played video games when she wasn't doing anything else...for him to never play one or see one?

Even Bakugo, given his reaction, exaggerated a little that he hadn't played.

"Let's just say, the way I was raised, I didn't have the option to screw around," the answer was cryptic and didn't really answer much.

The follow-up though, opened an entirely new can of worms.

"Not that I ever felt like I was missing out...I don't have an interest...they seem like a waste of time, anyway..." he mentioned offhandedly.

And the response from the two 'gamers' was immediate, and none too happy.

"Boo! That was a bad answer, Dabi-kun!" Mahito jeered, wishing he had something to huck at the aloof villain.

Gaz didn't know whether to grumble or sigh to vent her displeasure...now this, this was the kind of response she'd expected from the League as a whole. A disdain for video games entirely...for no real reason...it irked her, and it showed on her face by the knitting of her eyebrows.

Mahito had the verbal criticism covered.

Not that Dabi seemed to care about their feelings on the matter one way or the other. While the two continued to be upset at his casual dismissal the pyrokinetic's face remained in its default flat stare.

He clearly wouldn't be losing any sleep over this.

"How's that different from what he said?" he asked them, nudging his head in Bakugo's direction, who'd finally calmed down and had a very similar response. He failed to see the subtle difference in their approaches to video games, but whatever.

"I have to agree with them..." a voice that had hardly spoken up this whole time finally took part in the group discussion, "Simply deeming something a waste of time hardly seems productive."

Peridot had thrown her hat in the ring.

Deciding to take a break from her work, the green-skinned alien had turned in her chair and lifted her goggles onto her forehead.

"You were listening this whole time?" Enid had to ask, leaning back on the sofa to look at the Gem.

"Of course, I have. Naturally, I was the final one to ask as my intellect would hold the most weight in this debate," Peridot held a smug smirk, speaking highly of herself as usual and pushing up her visor on her nose as well.

"Oh, right..." Mahito spoke with a sheepish look..."I wasn't really planning to ask you, Peridot..."

"Didn't even think you knew what a video game was...so there wouldn't be a point," Gaz did not try to spare her feelings.

"How rude," Peridot rolled her eyes, wind taken from her sails by the honest answers. "While I do not know the specifics of your videos game-"

"Video game," Enid supplemented.

"-I understand that the basic principles of them are similar to simulations. And the crux of your argument is whether it is more important for your simulations to provide a fitting scenario or focus on the lessons that it teaches."

The overly analytical description of the debate gave everyone pause for a few seconds.

"I think so?..." Mahito blinked.

"An argument not without merit which is why I disagree with Dabi," she looked to the sighing villain, "Simulations are hardly a waste of time, especially when they're well made."

Seeing this chance to finally get a point over Gaz, Mahito went straight into pressing the alien for her answer.

"So, what do you think?" he jittered, the suspense killing him.

This was the tipping point!

Peridot adopted a thinking pose, "Hm? Well, the entire point of a simulation is to have the subject believe that what is occurring is real and capable of happening while also educating them on how to deal with said scenario when/if it does...one cannot exist without the other," she mused.

"Which do you pick, which do you pick~" Mahito looked like he was about to explode.

"Calm down," Gaz leaned away.

"But ultimately, I would say a simulation succeeds when its scenario is as close to the actual event, so the story would have to take precedence," with that reveal, the scales had been tipped in Mahito's favor.

And thus, the First Annual debate of the League of Villains came to an end.

The victor: Mahito.

And he made sure everyone knew it.

"~I won~"

"You're real excited about this, huh?" Enid sweatdropped.

As the inhuman celebrated his victory, to the annoyance of the loser...and frankly everyone in earshot to some degree minus the calm Bucciarati, a Judas was about to throw a wrench in the revelry.

"You sure you want to commit to that?" Dabi asked the confused Gem who watched as Mahito hopped up and down with a bit of a weirded-out cringe to her face.

"I see no reason to doubt my conclusion. I used the information I had on hand to make the most educated choice."

"Yeah, sure, but you don't know what the 'scenario' even is," Dabi pointed out.

That gave the Gem pause, her lack of knowledge of the game at the center of the argument could not be understated. She relied on her own knowledge of simulations that her kind used for training purposes but had none for the earthling equivalent.

Could it make that much of a difference?

"I suppose that's fair," Peridot conceded. Since Mahito was busy mocking Gaz for her loss, Peridot had chosen to ask her, "What is the premise of this 'game', Membrane?"

Frowning at the sudden question when she thought the ordeal was over...and a new one began, glaring at Mahito as she thought that, she answered, nonetheless.

"You're a hunter in a post-apocalyptic world out to destroy vampire pigs."

As the Gem took in the words she'd heard, her expression unreadable, eyes flat, she muttered..."I see..."

Pulling her goggles back over her eyes, Peridot returned to her work, "Dabi was correct, I take back what I said, and abstain from voting..."

Mahito froze in place.

"Hey, you can't do that!" Mahito complained...whined.

Enid couldn't help herself and burst out laughing at Mahito's face, a complete 180 from the exuberant smile he'd had only seconds before.

"I can and have," Peridot told him bluntly.

"Now we're back where we started!" Mahito whined, pouting and puffing his cheeks up, Enid's laughing becoming even harder to the point she started to kick her legs. "You ruined everything, Dabi-kun!"

An accusatory point was thrown at Dabi's back who had already moved on from the pointless talk, his work done.

"I didn't do anything," he groaned out.

"Hmph, back where we started...a tie..." Mahito grumbled, plopping down on the ground, and crossing both his arms and legs.

"Is it really that bad?" Shigaraki asked, once he was done watching Enid finally stop laughing.

"Damn right, it is!" surprisingly, Bakugo was the one to shut Tomura down with a reprimanding tone. Turning his attention back to the equally stunned Mahito and Gaz, he pointed at the two and with an equally chiding tone told them, "You two need to figure this shit out, then shut the hell up!"

His words confused everyone, and the dry voice of Dabi was the one to cut through to the root.

"What do you care?" he raised a brow.

"Who says I do!" the shout was immediate, making the pyrokinetic roll his eyes at the ever-combative response, "I just know what it means to challenge someone, Ragdoll!"

He was losing them...

"When you're challenged you never surrender, and you for damn sure don't accept a tie! The only time a tie is fine is when neither of you can fight anymore!" Bakugo grew a crooked grin on his face as he continued, "The whole point of a challenge, is to beat the other person into the ground...until they're on their knees bruised and bloody and forced to look up at you and admit that you're the winner!"

The evil cackle he gave was offset by the looks that his colleagues were giving him, the majority of which were deadpan stares...Mahito was the only one taking this at face value. He took any competition waaaaay too seriously...and they were all kind of taken aback by just how seriously.

Woe to any opposition he'd have.

"I was only 70% sure before, now I'm 100% sure that you didn't have any friends to play games with, with that attitude," Gaz chimed in, stopping the cackling blond.

"What'd you say!?"

"Bakugo-kun's attitude aside," another indignant shout and threat of death came from the background, "I agree. A tie is no fun," Mahito leaned his head into his hand, sighing in boredom.

"Let it go, a tie is about as much as you could hope for. This conversation's basically split the gaming community down the middle like this anyway," Gaz was already over it, the tie being the outcome she'd assumed from the beginning.

'With this crowd, he should count himself lucky that they all answered,' she thought to herself. The real value that had come from this debate was her being wrong about the League...most of them anyway. Minus Peridot, who she assumed wouldn't have known what they were talking about anyway, she'd expected a bunch of answers that talked down to them for playing video games in the first place and considered them a waste of their time.

And Dabi was the only one to really do that...that wasn't much of a shock...

"But I want to know which is better~"

"Ugh," she scoffed at him, "I bet you wouldn't be this stubborn about a board game having a story," she jabbed him in his favorite pastime now.

"Hey, that isn't fair! Board game stories are only framing devices for the player," Mahito pointed at her in childish anger.

"Still dumb..." she whispered.

"You just haven't found the right one yet! I'll find a board game that you'll absolutely-!"

Suddenly the talkative nonhuman went silent midsentence, a serious look shone in his mismatched eyes. He tilted his head as if trying to find some unseen thing that had gained his attention, glaring in the direction he perceived it to be. Shooting up to his feet and his fists at his sides, the switch in his demeanor caused the comfortable, jovial atmosphere to dissipate.

"What's with you?" Gaz looked up at him, tone now serious.

He took a second to answer, his eyes darting in different directions, checking something until he turned around and spoke, "All my transfigured humans have been destroyed..."

That got all of them to go on alert. Tomura and Enid sat up from their relaxed positions, Bucciarati along with them, and setting his cup back onto the table, Dabi slid his pupils to the side, Bakugo put his feet shoulder width apart to steady himself, and Peridot ceased work entirely.

"You sure?" Enid asked him, standing from the couch so she could leap up at the slightest hint of trouble, "They didn't just up and die, did they?"

"Positive." Mahito looked at her, no room for doubt in what he was sensing. "I wasn't rough when I transfigured them. I had no idea how long we would remain here, so I created them with longevity in mind...add to that, I commanded them to stay in a dormant state unless someone approached the building to save their energy," he turned back to face forward.

"And if they had died...it would have been one at a time...but this was near simultaneously..."

The ominous words lingered with them all.

"For that to happen, whoever destroyed them had to know what to look for."

Now, almost as if on cue with that confirmation, the lights suddenly went out in the building. Darkness bathed across them, save for the trickles of moonlight coming from the windows.

"That settles it..." Dabi said seriously, "Who else would waste their time with a trick like this?" he looked up at darkened bulbs with a frown.

"...Batman..." Tomura said lowly, affixing his hand-mask to his face now that they knew a fight was coming, his eye narrowing.

"Already!? It's only been a day!" Enid bared her teeth slightly, grinding them together at the thought of the irritating flying rodent.

"Heh, who cares!?" Bakugo popped a few explosions in his hand, ready to fight, "Bring it on! We'll crush 'im!"

A calm voice cut through their talk before it could go any further, one that reassured them.

"Who cares?" Gaz looked up at the lights still straight-faced. Holding out a hand, a spark danced in her palm, "It's not a big deal, I can just turn them back on."

Without delay, the electricity jumped from the girl's hand and went into the lights, and within a second, they came back to life. The building became illuminated once again, and nothing seemed amiss either, as they searched for any sign of the Dark Knight.

"Hmph, waste of a first move," Gaz huffed.

It was then that an alarm went off, startling them all slightly at the annoying noise piercing and echoing off the walls. Opening an eye in realization at just what that alarm was indicating, Gaz turned that same eye back up toward the ceiling...

...more specifically at the sprinklers.

The devices sprung to life, starting to rain the combination of hydrogen and oxygen down onto the League Villains. Knowing what would happen if the liquid were to touch her while surrounded by her allies, Gaz thrust a hand above herself and created a shield of electricity. This quick move saved the League from a painful shock, the water fizzling against the shield on contact.

"What is this?" Dabi was annoyed, his hair somehow stayed spiky despite being wet. "This his way of trying to put us out?" he guessed, there were three people in the League, him included, that had flame/heat-based powers.

"I dunno about you guys, but I don't work that way," he demonstrated by creating his fire in his hand.

"Me neither," Bakugo spit through the water getting in his mouth.

"Gah!"

The shout across from them came from the third of the flame users.

Enid fell to the ground on her knees with steam rising from her body, losing all strength as she always did when in contact with water.

"Enid!" Tomura shouted to her in concern.

Forced to prop herself up with her hand and elbow, Enid crouched on the floor wincing as the cold liquid drained her of her powers.

"Ngh, how long's it been since this happened..." she chuckled humorlessly, "That damn flying...rat..." she groaned weakly, she could only wait for it to end.

Luckily for her, the sprinklers finally shut off at that moment, giving her a chance to build herself back up.

"Tch, calm down..." Dabi rolled his eyes and aimed a hand at the girl, flame engulfing it, "I'll just dry you off..." he sighed...

"...What an annoying weakness," he jabbed even now.

The fire erupted from his arm, aiming at his ally with the intent of shoring up their numbers. Unfortunately, they never reached their intended target, for above them, through the skylight, a figure came crashing through the window.

The noise drew the attention of the League of Villains, but they couldn't get a clear view of this newcomer because they'd instantly countered Dabi's fire with some of their own. The two flames collided in midair, mixed, and exploded outward from the opposing forces. This clash also had the added effect of creating a smoke screen that blinded the villains.

Dabi covered his face from the smokescreen, 'Green fire?' he thought, thinking back to the flames that had stopped him from assisting Enid, the hue was indeed green.

He couldn't dwell on it for too long as a figure had grabbed him by his collar and moved him away from the group, a green coloration coming from them. Once he was a fair distance away, he was dropped. Turning around to face whoever this was, his face became unreadable for a second as he gazed at them...before a wry, vindictive smirk made its way onto his face, fire coming to his arms as he called on his abilities.

And offering one sentence.

"Heh, must be nice..."

At the same time as Dabi had been taken by his foe, the disoriented League had another mysterious figure suddenly come flying in through the recently broken skylight. The target this time was Gaz who was still vulnerable after defending herself from the sprinklers.

All the young girl could see through the smoke was a small, flickering red light making its way toward her. As usual, she wasn't that concerned with the danger given her intangibility, preparing a shock for the person as they drew near, only for her to be shocked herself.

"Oof!" Gaz was hit in the stomach and pushed by her attacker through the smoke, moving her away from the others, but more importantly...

'They can touch me!?'

The familiar feeling of her body being repelled, as it happened with Hawkgirl, came over her along with the formerly foreign sensation of pain. Eventually, she was pushed off the figure's fists and she zipped back onto the ground, glaring with her now opened eyes at the one who'd managed to become the second person to hurt her.

"Gaz?" Mahito felt the rush of wind as the girl had been carried away, and heard her exclamation, deducing she'd been hit again.

'They were able to harm Gaz...and this soul signature...' Mahito thought carefully, recognizing the feel of this soul...and when it hit him a malicious grin came to his face, 'No...signatures...' the tip of the entity's tongue slipped through his lips to give a predatory lick once he'd realized who'd appeared to attack Gaz.

'This is my chance!'

With that final thought, he dashed forward to meet the foe and satisfy his curiosity, confidence showing in his smirk as he moved. This movement also got the attention of another of his allies that being one Katsuki Bakugo, the wheels turning in his head as well.

'What's got Patchface so excited?' Bakugo had an eye narrowed in the inhuman's direction, knowing that the weirdo didn't get too excited unless something interested him personally thanks to his strange proclivities. Searching his surprisingly developed mind for other instances where Mahito had been overly excited and thought of yesterday when he'd explained how he'd come up with the idea of splitting his soul.

And who'd sparked the idea?

And that who just so happened to be someone Bakugo wanted to get some payback on!

'That light...and Patchface's reaction...' Bakugo's challenging smirk overcame his heavy thinking face once he'd put two and two together, 'It's gotta be him!'

The explosive blond blasted off, sure in his conclusion, and more than ready for some revenge. He hovered off the ground slightly, using the explosions from his palms to keep him aloft as he caught up with the running Mahito.

"Back off, Patchface, he's mine!" he warned the stitched-up creature, grin still in place.

"We could always share, Bakugo-kun~" Mahito tilted his head over to his 'friend', the wide smile becoming the disarming one he normally used with the rest of the League.

"Like hell, I want payback!" he boosted ahead of Mahito, leaving him to only shrug none too bothered by the dismissal.

"Wait, you two, we should stay together!" Bucciarati futilely warned them, but they were far too caught up to pay attention. The Italian clicked his teeth in slight annoyance, having remained in place this entire time so he could act on any threat that came since Sticky Fingers could react much faster given it was controlled with his mind.

That extra movement time would prove useful as a vanguard to defend the combat-challenged Peridot and weakened Enid. Spreading the villains thin had to have been the purpose of this surprise attack, so giving the heroes what they wanted hardly seemed the smartest move.

Tomura himself was having the same difficulty holding himself back from acting as Mahito and Bakugo had, already a hair's breadth from decaying something due to his powerlessness, but he managed to stay put. Another factor that kept him rooted in place was the odd tinge this attack had to it...

'This isn't the regular lineup...something's wrong...' he narrowed his showing eye, noting the abilities on display so far could not be attributed to the Justice League's members.

"Shi-Shigaraki..."

The stuttering voice of Enid got his attention, mainly because it sounded out of place coming from the normally confident girl. He saw that she was still on the ground, with slight wetness from the sprinklers clinging to her body but by no means to the same degree as before. She'd managed to sit herself up on her knees, a normally comforting idea as it meant she was regaining her strength, the concerning thing was that she was hugging herself and shivering.

"Y-you feel that..." She hugged herself tighter, the water on her...was starting to frost over.

Taking a moment to think about what she was talking about...Tomura noticed a slight fog come from beneath his mask...

...he could see his own breath?

It hit him. Enid's stutter wasn't from nervousness or fear...she was shivering...

"C-c-cold..." she said through grit teeth, her bangs falling over her eyes while glaring.

His eye widened at the implications of such a power being brought into the mix, elemental abilities were some of the most powerful around as they could attest with Dabi.

"Get back here!" Shigaraki shouted not just to Mahito and Bakugo, but to everyone.

Shadows were cast above the four villains that still remained together, getting them to look up. The first was another fresh face, no mask hiding her features as she landed on the ground in a crouch, touching the wet floor, and within seconds a thin sheet of ice traveled along it. The second shadow was the more important one to them, recognizable by the dark colors, the patterned cape, and the deep scowl.

Batman had arrived.

While floating down, the tactical mind of the detective surveyed the battlefield he had created, taking note of the positions that all the League were in, and gave nothing away to show it was what he expected or not. When his eyes landed on Bucciarati and Peridot, his focus immediately shifted to them in particular, taking his grapnel and firing it at the two.

"What is this?!" Peridot panicked slightly, nothing to defend herself.

Silently, Bucciarati moved himself in the path of the projectile, choosing not to use his abilities in this instance. The gadget quickly made its way around the two, tying them tightly together back-to-back and rendering them useless for the coming confrontation.

The Dark Knight landed with a thud next to the new fish, saying nothing as he glared at the two remaining villains that weren't otherwise preoccupied.

"You!" Enid's eye glowed ominously, her anger getting her powers to speed up the process of drying her off.

That wouldn't do.

A silent nod by Batman was all that was given to the other hero, who then seemed to intensify her power, an unsure look on her face along with a nervous drop of sweat.

The activation of her powers made the small amount of ice on the floor become like an ice rink...but only on a set path. The hero had used the water to create a set course for her powers to travel and specifically target her enemies rather than hinder her allies.

Specifically, the path went between Mahito and Bakugo who were just seconds away from assisting Gaz. The sudden chill in the air finally reached them, getting them to freeze, in a figurative sense, at the sensation, and that moment was all that was needed.

From beneath their feet two giant pillars of ice were erected, pointing in opposite directions to push them away from each other. Bakugo was pressed against the cold construct, the force of its ascension making it difficult for him to move. Mahito was in a similar situation at first, but thanks to his makeup, the cold did little to him, and he managed to raise himself up slightly from the pillar.

"The hell is this!?" Bakugo growled, the shock of the cold wearing off, and readying an explosion to destroy the stupid thing.

On the other end, Mahito cast a glance behind him to see a window, "I see what you're trying to do," Mahito reared a fist back to break the pillar before he could be ejected from the building, "But you'll have to do better than this!" He was halted from this action though when a series of spikes jut from the pillar, skewering him in multiple points of his body, taking him by surprise.

Taking a moment to try and dislodge himself, he frowned when he could not.

"I'm stuck..."

Crashing through the window, Mahito is removed from the fight and the pillar thanks to the sudden stop of the construct allowing him to slide off the spikes. The inhuman entity skidded along the ground once he'd touched down, ending in a crouch. He took a second to regain his bearings, staring at the building in slight confusion at the maneuver that had been used.

"Hm, so they removed me...probably to stop me from giving the others reinforcements..." he mused, letting the holes in his body close as he thought, "But they have to know I can just go back in..." an evil smile came to his face and his eyes went half-lidded, "If anything, they're giving me more time to get them out."

Before he could make good on this, Mahito's eyes widened in surprise. A searing pain struck him, stunning him further, and leading him to look down to see the culprit of the sensation. An odd purple beam had streaked from his side and caught him in his stomach, tearing through it to continue until it impacted the ground ahead of it. The force of the beam had the added effect of lifting the nonhuman off his feet, sending him flipping through the air before he harshly landed on the ground.

Mahito couldn't bring himself to blink, he was still reeling from the attack by the unseen enemy. Casting his stupefied gaze down to the sizeable chunk that had been erased from his body, the wound still smoking, and, as if the mere sight of it finally reached him, Mahito found himself in the worst pain he'd ever felt.

It was such that it caused the inhuman to clutch at himself in the fetal position, trying to discern what had happened. His long hair covered his face and was strewn across the ground, the answer rang in his mind, the only answer.

'Magic...!' one eye was squinted in pain, focusing his energy on repairing his body through the reinforcement of his soul but found that it was much slower than it should have been...

'Potent magic! It not only damaged my soul...' a scary thought entered his mind as he assessed the damage, 'It destroyed part of it!'

The sound of footsteps halted his thoughts from dwelling any deeper on the implications of this revelation. Turning his head in the direction of the noise, the eye of the injured nonhuman peeked from beneath his silver locks and met with a confident set of blue along with another more serious pair standing a little behind her.

While that occurred outside, Bakugo had been pushed off his pillar of ice into an empty, spacious side room within their hideout. He regained his bearings now that he'd been released and shot an explosion from his palm behind him to stop himself from skidding further back. Anger was clear in his red eyes, being pushed around was something he would not tolerate, and he was already making his way back to the foyer to challenge whoever'd done it.

Too bad that a large sheet of ice shot up from the floor and completely trapped him inside the room, heightening his anger.

"I'm getting sick of these damn tricks!" he growled, not stopping his approach, planning to blast his way through no matter how thick the ice was.

What did get him to stop though was the opening that suddenly appeared in the blockage ahead of him. The challenger was none other than the ice user that had pushed him in here in the first place if her closing the opening behind her with a wave of her hand was any indication.

Bakugo raised an eyebrow at her, a sneer on his face, as he sized the pebble up. She didn't look like much; he'd steamroll over her and get outside in minutes by his measurement.

The real problem he had with this situation was...

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?"

Outside in the foyer, the only two remaining that weren't currently locked in combat in some way or captured were staring each other down.

Beside Tomura a frozen statue of Enid stood, knees bent to denote she had just managed to make it onto her feet again albeit shakily, and with a downright furious look in her eyes. It was clear that the ice user had used her powers in tandem with the water on the villainess's body to freeze her in place, taking her out of the fight until she could manage to thaw herself out with her naturally high temperature.

All in all, this methodical attack on The League of Villains had been a success, leaving most of them indisposed or captured outright with little struggle. The only ones left on both sides were Tomura and Batman.

Sparing his longest partner a glance, the de facto leader of this outfit glared at the Dark Knight with barely restrained rage at what he'd done. A solitary wind blew between them, leaving Tomura's coat to sway in the breeze with the cape of the Batman, neither of them willing to take their eyes fully off the other even as battles went on around them.

Shigaraki only said one thing...

"How did you find us so quickly..."

It was barely above a whisper, but the calm tone was just barely there, a hand reaching up to scratch at his neck...something he loathed to do...but the itch came back thanks to this irritation.

This thorn had managed to trace them...again, and he was much more well prepared...

And they were so careful!

Batman didn't offer a reply to the question.

Behind Tomura, on the worktable that Peridot had been at, laid the forgotten Drone Robonoid prototype she had 'procured', its maintenance had fallen to the wayside so she could focus on her current work, but she'd planned to return and improve it once her project was done.

If only she had tossed it when she was finished with it.

(Yesterday- Stryker's Island)

After the fiasco of the three-way battle between the Justice League, League of Villains, and Injustice Gang, ending with the escape of the L.O.V., the remainder of the villains were apprehended. The police response was swift, a S.W.A.T van large enough to hold Grundy with its back door open to let them all in.

It was a depressing sight to an extent...they had brought this situation on themselves by throwing themselves in with the radical group of villains, it never meant that the loss of human life could be forgiven.

Three of them had lost their lives because of Luthor's ego, always trying to control things he had no business messing with.

And Joker continued to laugh his head off even as he was driven away, something that haunted the heroes even when they could no longer hear it.

The group split up after this; J'onn deciding to return to the Watchtower with Flash and Lantern so they could receive medical treatment for their injuries; Superman, Hawkgirl, and Wonder Woman immediately took to the skies to scour the city for any sign of the League; and Batman...he did what he always did, gather information.

That is why he now stood on Stryker's Island, trudging through the prison's halls, lined with cells that had been specially made to contain the major metahuman population housed within the correctional facility. He doubted that the others would be able to find any trace of the villains before they'd fully disappeared again, they had a talent for it that they loved to display after each of their crimes.

Without a lead, the Justice League would be at the mercy of their next sudden appearance, and that was something they couldn't afford to wait for.

It would only be a matter of time until one of those appearances led them here.

Stopping in front of a specific cell, the guards allowed him entry to speak with the prisoner inside. He was not normally guarded like this, having built a reputation in the prison as a docile, personable inmate, but thanks to recent events, that trust had been broken.

Though some would say what had happened to him had been punishment enough.

The cell door closed behind Batman, not taking any chances. The room was small, at least for its resident, and he would most likely need to be moved now thanks to his new handicap.

The prisoner stared out into the ocean from his cell's window, a slight frown on his face as he did so. There was no real indication of what was going through his mind, but Batman had a good idea.

Glancing down, he looked at the wheelchair that the prisoner was sitting in, a new addition after what he'd gone through that night.

"Humanite," Batman's deep, no-nonsense voice cut through the silence like a knife.

Heaving a sigh, Ultra-Humanite, wheeled himself around to face the hero, "I was wondering when you'd show up."

Batman had stayed here for a few hours, waiting for Humanite to wake up after his surgery. Whatever the criminal had gone through before he, Luthor, and Shigaraki had crashed down on the battle below, had left him paralyzed from the waist down.

The reason Batman had waited?

He figured that if there was anyone who could point him in the right direction for tracking the League down, it would be his mole.

"I'm sorry for what happened," Batman led with an apology for the unfortunate outcome of their impromptu alliance.

Never would the hero have imagined that things would spiral in such a fashion and so suddenly too. He only wished for the genius ape to gather information and strike against the Injustice Gang and League of Villains when an opportunity presented itself, making the subsequent capture of the groups all the easier when the Justice League made their inevitable appearance, in return he would be paid well over the amount Luthor had offered.

"Please," Humanite rolled his eyes, "Do you think me a child? I was well aware of the risks that would be involved in this plan of ours, yet I still went through with it," Humanite looked down at his legs, then turned back to the window to stare, "The fault is mine alone...we just hadn't expected those...people...to act as they did. It seems common sense is not something that remotely crosses their minds."

Honestly, when pushed against a wall, as they were, who would act so quickly to get out of the constricting grip of their captor? Within mere hours, that tiny group of anarchists had managed to outsmart and outmaneuver veterans of the craft as easily as breathing, even leaving the great Lex Luthor dumbstruck.

Batman accepted that Humanite decided not to place the blame on him, the genius was proud but not stupid. It was a business agreement between the two of them, no coercion on either's part.

Batman simply made a better offer.

His piece said the Dark Knight got to the reason he was paying the paralyzed villain a visit.

"The League, do you have any idea where they could have gone? Lex had to be keeping tabs on them."

Turning to look over his shoulder, Humanite replied, "If only. They weren't particularly forthcoming with themselves, as you can imagine," he shook his head. "There was scarcely a time where they weren't making their disdain for the events taking place known, and no small amount of enjoyment when the plans began to deteriorate."

That wasn't the answer Batman was looking for.

"It's a wonder..."

"What?" Batman asked.

"How they operate...those personalities...by all accounts they shouldn't function. Look no further than my own colleagues...it was all a job, nothing more nothing less, with only the base knowledge of each other's existences, we put aside our differences for monetary gain," Humanite turned his chair slightly so it was facing the wall so he could look at Batman from the corner of his eye.

"But they...they have no such aspirations...just a single driving force for one that isn't even there. Disjointed, and disconnected, speaking out of turn, but when that young surrogate told them to quiet, even with a few reservations, they did so...I've never seen anything like it...Lex's power only came from his funding, yet without that, that group listens because they believe in that force, that will so strongly."

Humanite surmised the League's actions and thought succinctly.

"It's nothing short of amazing, from a purely psychological standpoint."

Another sigh escaping his lips, he steepled his hands, resting his elbows on his legs as he continued to think. When he was finished, he said something that managed to shake Batman even though he didn't physically show it.

"I think I'll be using that money you've given me to retire," he rotated back to the window, a tinge of sadness in his features.

"Retire?"

"Yes...my crimes have never been especially violent, and other than my escape, I've been a model prisoner. Using some to post bail, I'm sure that I can ultimately be released after my hearing."

Listening to this, Batman knew he should be glad that a super-criminal was going to retire, perhaps even reform, but there was a bad taste in his mouth. He glanced down at the wheelchair and voiced a question that no doubt the genius would have thought of.

"But, with your intellect, I'm sure you could-"

"Yes...with my intellect, I could..." Humanite stopped Batman already knowing what the hero was implying.

In theory, Humanite, as the genius he touted himself as, could easily build something that could give him the use of his legs again, or even trade brains with another like he'd done with the gorilla he was inhabiting.

So why, retire? Quit?

"After what that...monster did to me...I want to get as far away from this life as I can..." Humanite's grip tightened on his hands, trembling slightly as, unbidden, the face of Mahito appeared in his mind.

A calm smile was in place as he'd relentlessly attacked Humanite in their bout, no matter the damage he'd sustained.

He kept coming.

"What about knowing the risks?" Batman found himself asking...the sight of the normally confident Ultra-Humanite, who'd stood against Superman himself without so much as sweating such was his confidence in his intellect, shaking in fear at the memory of something...

"Knowing the risks is one thing...staring them down...another..." Humanite looked at Batman with a heavy gaze..."Crude as an analogy it might be...I'd equate it to someone staring down a truck as it barreled toward them...the only thing you can do is watch as it comes…no matter what you attempt, it won't stop...an unstoppable force. That's what he was...I shot him...threw things...portions of skin burned off...and he didn't stop...only smiling, telling me how much he wanted to dissect my brain...for pure curiosity."

Batman found himself more and more disgusted by the nonhuman entity each time he heard about him.

"Can you blame me for wanting to retire?"

"No," came the blunt answer.

With their business concluded, and no closer to finding the League of Villains, Batman started to take his leave.

"I hope that you stop them, Batman...for everyone's sake. They aren't just ruffians with chips on their shoulders...given time, I believe they can go on to do some truly deplorable things."

Leaving it at that, Humanite went back to staring at the ocean, the small hope of having peace once he retired the only thing he held onto now...and getting the haunting images from his mind.

Batman could understand. There are limits that everyone has, and it seemed that Humanite reached his.

Back in the hallway, the Dark Knight made it to another cell...one he certainly didn't want to visit if he could help it...it probably wouldn't be worth the headache, but any information he could get, no matter how small, would be helpful.

"How dare you do this to me?! Do you know who I am?!"

Upon opening the door to the cell, an irate Lex Luthor was his first sight. It seemed the former billionaire wasn't happy with his new dwelling. Thanks to his breakout, they saw fit to give a much smaller cell than before and sans a window and television.

Fitting.

"Careful, Lex," Batman let his presence be known, gaining the attention of the mastermind.

"Wonderful..." his shoulder dropped a bit, coming down from his anger and becoming annoyed.

"I'm only warning you. We've allowed you to keep your chest piece, barring any weapons, because it keeps your condition from advancing," Batman told the bald man.

"Do you want a 'thank you'?" Lex scoffed.

"But we've also given the guards a way to deactivate it if you get too rowdy."

"They wouldn't dare," Lex clenched his fist. The idea of being at the mercy of fools who could only get work as guard dogs was mortifying.

"Pull another stunt like you did two days ago, and there's no telling what will happen," the hero said matter-of-factly.

The villainous mastermind gave a huff through his nose, then heavily sat on his small bed, "Well? What do you want?" he asked indignantly as if he weren't just throwing a tantrum a few seconds ago, and Batman was the one with an issue.

Avoiding Lex's ego, the hero got to the point, "Where is the League of Villains?"

Upon hearing the question, Luthor gave a humorless laugh, "If I knew where they were, do you think I would be wasting my time here?!" Lex growled at the thought of that group of ingrates.

"I'd have them hunted down! They humiliated me! Me! Lex Luthor!" Lex slapped a hand down on his knee, "I'll have them pay for this! They'll beg me for mercy!" a cruel smile came to his face, imagining all the ways he'd have those overconfident fools tortured until he put them out of their misery.

"From where I was standing it looked like you were the one begging," Batman took a shot never moving a muscle on his face as he did so.

"Watch your mouth, Batman," Lex pointed threateningly, the only thing he could do to the man. "Make no mistake, I still plan on destroying the Justice League...I just have another target as well."

Lex's hatred burned just as hot as it did before for the heroes, but there was definitely room for more kindling in the fire.

"Heh, I find myself wondering if I should just let the two of you flog each other to death like a pair of headless chickens until one of you falls," he leaned back in his bed and put his hand behind his head, smiling at Batman, "And then just finish the victor."

Keeping his frown, Batman didn't miss a beat, "You wouldn't want that, Lex...who would keep them from coming for you?" Batman warned the man.

"Don't you toy with me!"

Batman was already on his way out when Lex shot back at him.

"Take care of yourself, Lex," Batman turned to look over his shoulder, "Just so you know, we're working on finding a cure for your condition," Batman added just for a bit of extra insult, knowing it would be a blow to the man's pride.

"I didn't ask for it!"

The door closed, leaving Lex to lean back into his bed. Calming himself once more, the gears began to turn in his head, attempting to find a way to do away with his foes...

"Hmph, you don't think I know how to make a plan? I'll show you..." Lex chuckled lowly, thinking back to the insults the League had thrown his way.

He couldn't wait to prove them wrong.

He could wait...an opportunity would present himself.

With nothing to show from his interrogations, Batman walked through Stryker's toward the exit.

"Batsy! You aren't going to visit me?" Joker fluttered his eyelashes at his nemesis.

"You'll be moved to Arkham in the morning," he didn't even break his stride to answer Joker.

"What's a guy gotta do to get noticed around here?" the clown slapped a hand to his cheek with a groan, but his grin remained in place.

Sighing that he'd met a dead end again after an attack by the growing threat, Batman brought his gauntlet up to his face to call the Batwing to pick him up. He would be returning to the Watchtower to inform the others of his findings, or lack thereof.

Luckily, a huge break would be coming his way.

Mere moments before the Dark Knight could call the Batwing, a blinking light indicated that he was getting a call from his faithful butler.

"What is it, Alfred?"

"Ah, Master Bruce, I'm glad I've caught you. How are you doing, sir?" ever the gentleman, Alfred asked his charge about his wellbeing, seeing as he oft forgot to take care of himself.

Bringing his left hand to his face, he rubbed his index finger and thumb over his eyes and answered.

"Tired."

"My word," Alfred hadn't gotten that response in quite some time.

"They've disappeared again, Alfred. Four dead. Humanite and Luthor have no idea where they could be," Batman let himself be slightly vulnerable in front of his second father.

"Ah, then I think that you're due for a bit of good news, then, sir," Alfred hoped what he would tell the hero would lift his spirits.

"Go ahead."

"Well, it seems that Master Foley has awoken from his coma after his encounter with that explosive young man," Alfred revealed.

"Good. No lasting damage?"

"No, sir, he should make a full recovery with proper rest."

"Have him taken care of and pay off his bills. I'm about to go to the Watchtower, I need to get to work."

"That might be a problem, sir," Alfred told him, "You see, Master Foley has been rather adamant that he sees you."

"No time, Alfred...every second counts. The League of Villains strikes randomly, there's no telling where they'll appear next," Batman had the Batwing hover in front of him at that moment, walking forward to get inside.

"But that's just it, sir. He says that he has a way to track them down," Alfred dramatically told the Dark Knight, getting him to stop in place.

"I'm on my way."

Dropping everything, Batman took off in the direction of the hospital.

(Hospital)

"You sure you're alright, Rich? You really took a hit," Virgil, of course, was already at the hospital, being one of the only people who knew where Richie had been this whole time. His folks were given a...little, tiny, miniscule lie that Richie had been selected by the Wayne Foundation for a short internship.

It pays to know a rich guy.

"Yeah, V, I'm good. Other than the pounding headache...totally fine," Richie winced a little and rubbed his head.

"You should take a load off. You went through a lot," Virgil said worried. When he got to the hospital, he saw Rich was a bit manic.

His partner was refusing to calm down and wanted to see Batman before anything else. The doctors were a bit confused at the request but chose to let the boy work off his energy...how would he get ahold of Batman of all people?

"I can't, Virg...not until I help out Batman...this could really help the Justice League."

"You should be resting."

Both the young heroes jumped at the sudden new voice, showing that Batman had made his appearance from out of nowhere, the open window being the only evidence of how he'd gotten in.

"Whoa! Do you have to do that?" Richie held his chest. He already had a head injury; he didn't need a heart attack.

"If you can joke, maybe you're healthier than I gave you credit for," the towering hero stepped closer to Richie's hospital bed, glare bearing down.

"Alfred told me you have a way to find the League of Villains," his eyes narrowed beneath his cowl, "How?"

"Right now?" Richie gulped a little at the intense look, "Uh, ok, ok, um, *Phew* so...you remember when Brainiac attacked a while back?" Richie led with a question.

"You mean when he hijacked Backpack, mind-melded with you, then tried to mind-control the whole Justice League?" Virgil shuddered at that weird day.

"Yes...because you weren't paying attention..." Batman reminded.

"Exactly," Richie pointed to Virgil, then to Batman, "...and, noted."

"Why?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but after that...I didn't want anything like it to ever happen again," Richie crossed his arms in an 'x' to show his denial, letting a smirk come to his face, "So, I decided to update Backpack with some new code to stop it from happening."

At the raised eyebrows he received, and the no doubt burning question on just how the device had been taken and reprogrammed with these additions, Richie continued before it could be asked.

"See, after the attack and you guys scrubbed Backpack of Brainiac's programming...I may have noticed that some of it was still in there..." Rich rubbed the back of his head, predicting the reaction.

"You said what?!" Virgil practically tipped his chair back he was so shocked.

Batman frowned heavily.

"I know, I know, but it wasn't anything dangerous. It was just some stuff to keep him running smoothly when he'd embedded himself in Backpack, no risk of another takeover...at first, I thought the same thing as you guys, delete it and forget...but I decided that this would be a good chance to, uh, expand my knowledge?" he sounded unsure at the end.

"What did you do?" Batman kept his voice measured as he pressed the boy.

"I studied the code left behind in Backpack and learned it myself...from a purely scientific standpoint of course...not the insane A.I., gather info then destroy the source kind of way. And with Brainiac's code, I made my own with a mix of other coding languages to improve Backpack, including adding subroutines that would have made it way more difficult to hack him."

"But he still was," Batman wondered where the young hero was going with this.

"Yeah...it took me a few months to put all that together...and Brainiac's code isn't easy either," Richie frowned feeling lesser than once again, "Whoever reprogrammed Backpack has to be smart...way smarter than me, maybe smarter than anyone on the planet right now if they could get through all that in only a few days..."

"But you still have a way to find them?" Batman brought the conversation back to why he'd been called here.

"Yes...pretty sure I do," Richie said seriously, all signs of joking gone, "Just in case Backpack was taken again...I had a tracking program added to him, and if I can trace Backpack..."

"Then you can trace the League of Villains!" Virgil finished the sentence for his friend.

"How can you be so sure?" Batman, not being a pessimist but a realist, "They repurposed Backpack. Why would they keep a function like that?"

"Because, unless their genius decided to pour over all my personal code and learn it and not just the original code that's the base, they wouldn't risk getting rid of it without understanding what it did. It was probably just a job to get Backpack ready for whatever they needed him for and nothing else, so I'd say there's a good chance of finding them."

Batman thought to himself for a few seconds...this would be a great chance to find the villains while they were unaware, never expecting to be ambushed again so soon after their last encounter with heroes.

"Let me see the tracking program," Batman held his hand out.

"No way!" Richie immediately denied.

One glance from the Dark Knight had the bedridden boy tripping over himself to finish his point.

"I mean...I want to help..."

"No."

"Not physically...I can stay here while I trace Backpack's signal for you."

"I can track them, you need rest," Batman argued.

"I know you can...but I want to...I have info I can share with you and the Justice League," Richie tried to sweeten the deal..."I can be your guy behind the scenes~" Richie pleaded.

"Your guy in the bed?" Virgil poked fun.

Unamused, Batman weighed his options.

He could allow Gear to trace the program of his own design, the danger to him would be minimal, and Batman knew the boy would most likely subvert him and trace them anyway...

"Fine..."

"I know you want to say no but...did he just say 'fine'?" Richie asked.

"Sounded like it."

"You aren't joking, right?" Richie looked at him.

The frown remained in place, "Don't make me regret this."

"You won't! I'm on the case!"

"Good. How long until you find them?" Batman went straight to business.

"A few hours," Richie answered without hesitation, "It's a weak signal so others wouldn't pick it up on accident, so I'll need to triangulate it and narrow down the location."

Nodding, Batman moved to the window to leave, "Let me know once you've found them...I need to get a team," he said, getting the two young heroes to look a tad perplexed.

"You mean the rest of the Justice League, Batman?"

"No."

That blunt answer was the only clue they were given before the bat-themed hero glided out of the building. The roar of the Batwing's engine as it flew by to pick up the Dark Knight resounded in the city before it took off. Pushing buttons on the dash, Batman had the jet orient itself to break through the atmosphere so he could finally return to the Watchtower and give an update to the rest of the Justice League.

A plan of action, thanks to the new information, was already brewing in his mind. A plan that would need an entirely new set of people assisting him when it came time to confront the League of Villains...something that he expected his colleagues to take some umbrage with.

Persuading them to let him go through with this plan would be the first hurdle, from there it should be much easier.

(Watchtower)

Landing the Batwing in the docking bay, Batman jumped out of the jet and made his way to the foyer of the space station. When the bay doors opened to let him through the first thing that met him was the stoic face of J'onn.

"You've returned," a blunt sentence from the Martian but there was a slight bit of relief tinged in his voice.

"Where are the others?" Batman asked equally as bluntly, only having given J'onn a nod in response.

"In the infirmary with Green Lantern and Flash. They have been treated and have stabilized," Martian Manhunter walked with the dark hero.

"Good. We're having a meeting," he left no room for argument.

"They were worried after not hearing from you for so long..." J'onn said in his deadpan.

"Reading minds?" Batman knew the others wouldn't have brought that up at this time.

"No. I just believe I'm beginning to understand human expressions...or at the very least frustration. Normally when it comes to you..."

The Dark Knight only huffed.

He wasn't the easiest to get along with.

With the push of a button, the door of the infirmary slid open to show the remainder of the Justice League scattered around the room. Flash and Lantern were, of course, bedridden after their encounter with the League, being the ones with the most severe injuries of the seven of them.

"Batman! You're back," Superman was the first to approach the Dark Knight, clapping a hand on his friend's shoulder with a smile.

"Were you able to glean anything from your interrogation?" Wonder Woman was standing to the side, asking the burning question on all their minds.

"No...Luthor and Humanite didn't have any information on the League of Villains' whereabouts."

The answer caused an immediate downcast atmosphere to permeate the room. The hope that a lead would come to point them toward those monsters was the only saving grace for this terrible night that remained.

But once again they were left with nothing.

"Damn!" John growled from his bed, pounding a fist down to his side and wincing from his injury.

"Careful, hotshot..." Hawkgirl chastised him, having situated herself at his side.

"How can I be?" he gripped his side, "We lost 'em...again!"

"Could always be worse, G.L..." Flash had his leg in a cast.

"Don't."

The speedster kept himself quiet.

Surveying the room, Batman decided that it was time to broach the subject of being able to track them but decided to ease into it.

"There is some good news," he said, gaining their attention again. "Before coming back, I got a call from the hospital. Gear's woken up..."

That news did get the heroes to smile slightly.

"I knew the kid would be alright!" Flash smiled.

"How's he doing?" Superman asked.

"Fine. He's awake, alert, and other than a slight headache he's expected to make a full recovery after a few more days of rest."

"Kid's tough. Glad he's okay," Lantern smirked a little...he may have been too fanboy-ish when they'd met but his heart was in the right place.

"That's why you didn't come back immediately?" Wonder Woman guessed.

"Yes, I went to pay him a visit."

"You should have at least told us," Superman crossed his arms.

"He asked for me."

Raising an eyebrow, Superman, along with the others wondered what the young hero wanted.

"Well? Don't leave us in suspense..." Hawkgirl, impatient as always, voiced their thoughts.

Closing his eyes and readying himself for the coming conversation, Batman exhaled and answered, "He has a way of locating the League."

In an instant, the mood of the room turned to one of shock.

"Incredible...the light of Zeus shines on us!" Wonder Woman was thrilled with the news.

Superman shared in the enthusiasm, "This is great! Where are they? When are we going after them?" Superman clenched a fist in front of him, ready to take them down finally.

Batman nipped that in the bud.

"Wearen't."

The curt response silenced the entire room, making all the assembled heroes widen their eyes at the detective, even J'onn couldn't stop himself to a degree.

"Uh, I'm hopped up on pain meds...but did Bats really just say that we aren't going after the guys that whupped us?" Flash raised his hand like a child in school to have his voice heard, still jokey even now.

"To be more apt, you all aren't. I am," Batman crossed his arms resolutely.

He could already see a roll of the eyes coming from the Kryptonian, "Oh come on, is this still about proving yourself to us?" Superman frowned, accusing Batman and bringing the conversation back to the one that had essentially started their confrontation with the League and Injustice League in the first place.

"You told them?" Batman looked to J'onn, remembering their conversation before he'd left on his own.

"I thought it best that they knew," the Martian answered.

Sighing, not able to deny that had colored his decisions to a degree, he denied Superman's words, "No."

"Then why wouldn't you want our help? Why go alone again?" Wonder Woman pressed him.

"You mean other than the fact that two of our members are injured?" he gestured his head over to the two hospitalized heroes, making them look downcast at being considered burdens.

"You know that wouldn't stop us from being able to stop them," the Man of Steel argued.

"They're too used to dealing with us," Batman shot back, "Each encounter they've gotten ahead because they've come up with strategies and ways to get around our abilities. If we were to go after them now, I don't doubt that we would be able to defeat them eventually, it wouldn't be without a great amount of collateral damage before it happened," Batman reasoned.

"It wouldn't come to that," Superman clenched his hands on his crossed arms. "Besides, you still need backup. You can't beat them alone."

"I never said I would be."

That answer gave the Kryptonian pause.

"You've got people in mind already..." Lantern deduced.

"Yes. A specific set of heroes that I believe would give the highest probability of capturing the League of Villains."

"We tried a surprise attack before Bats...it didn't work out," Flash pointed out, referencing the battle with All For One.

"That was when our information had more holes. We have a clearer picture of their powers and personalities. That unpredictable factor was one of their major strengths and now I plan to use that same thing against them with this team," Batman did not back down from his idea.

"The best way to deal with this is swiftly and concisely, leaving them with no chance of coming up with a counterattack. The new team, the quick response after just fighting with them, and a concrete plan, all of it is in service of creating a blind spot large enough to exploit, catch them off guard, and arrest them with as little resistance as we can get."

After explaining his plan, the Justice League thought to themselves over whether they should let their brooding member go through with such a plan. There were a lot of unknowns with the rookies the Dark Knight wanted to suddenly bring into a higher level of villainy, the way this plan would be executed with these new personalities, and, of course, the villains themselves and how they would react.

"I don't like this..." Superman was the first one to voice his unease, as expected.

"I agree with Superman," Wonder Woman spoke next, "These foes have slipped through our fingers time and again! Our warrior's pride has been called into question, we must be the ones to bring them to justice," the Amazon beat her chest with a fist showing that her upbringing would not allow such heinous criminals to continually escape from her and cause damage untold.

"This isn't about pride," Batman looked at her, "It doesn't matter who catches them," eyes narrowing, Batman met the Amazonian's gaze.

"What matters is that they are caught and brought to justice. If the police were able to get them, then it would be just as fine."

Wonder Woman huffed but conceded that he was correct. She had to remember that Man's World was different from Themyscira... backward, but different.

"I believe that Batman's plan has merit," Martian Manhunter spoke in support of Batman's plan. "This League of Villains continually shows that they are unpredictable and resourceful. All their plans have managed to throw us off balance in order to accomplish their goals, doing the same in kind may be just the remedy we need."

The next person to speak was Green Lantern, "I'm with Batman."

"Really? After what they did to you?" Hawkgirl looked at him.

"Don't get me wrong, I want to catch them as much as the rest of you, but you gotta pick the right people for the job. You don't just send all your troops in to storm a stronghold and overrun it when you can infiltrate with a small team and not tip off the rest of the enemy," the former Marine reasoned.

The bird-woman only sighed beside him, "I'll go with what everyone decides, but I'd rather be the one to bring them in," Hawkgirl leaned back in her chair.

"You already know what I think..." Superman kept staring at Batman with a frown, never breaking his stance.

From there, all eyes fell on the only one who had not thrown in their vote, Flash.

"It's all down to me, huh?" Flash felt the pressure as his words would be the essential piece on whether this would go forward or not.

Taking this seriously, probably as serious as the others had seen him, Flash took a bit to think over his response.

Sighing, the Scarlet Speedster came to his decision, "I'm gonna have to side with Bats on this one, Big Guy," Flash gave an apologetic look to Superman.

"Flash, are you sure?" Superman pressed lightly, hoping he would reconsider.

"Look, we all don't like this, even the guys that agree with him, but we also have to remember who we're talking about here," Flash gestured to Batman, "Even if every single one of us disagreed with him, Bats would just do it anyway."

"...True..." Wonder Woman muttered, and similar sentiments were shared by the other heroes.

The hero in question only grumbled a little.

Because it was true.

"So, we might as well just give him the reins on this one. If anyone can pull this off, it'd be Bats."

The discussion over, and the decision reached, the Justice League now had a plan of action...a plan of action that entailed the majority remaining on standby while one of their members went off on another dangerous solo mission.

"Ok, you can go...but at the very least you should let me come along too, in case anything goes wrong," Superman tried to get himself in on the mission.

"Too risky. If you made a move anywhere, it would be news, and I doubt they wouldn't have some kind of contingency in mind in case someone came across them or you were sighted. The more unknown the better," Batman rebuffed Superman's offer.

Seeing the Man of Steel's hard look, Batman decided to sweeten the deal by appealing to Superman's sensibilities.

"Think about it this way, you can consider this a test run for that idea we were talking about."

That got Superman to relax a little, his tensed shoulders and hard look disappearing.

"Hey, I'm glad that Mom and Dad aren't fighting anymore, but care to share with the rest of the class?" Flash interrupted, confused as the rest of the heroes were at the mention of this 'idea'.

"Let's just say that Batman and I have been talking about expanding the League," Superman turned back to the others, the tense atmosphere between him and Batman dissipating as evidenced by the Man of Steel placing his fists on his hips.

"Expanding the League?" Lantern raised an eyebrow.

"With criminals getting smarter and deciding to hide or, for some of them, team up, the seven of us could use the extra help. There are a lot of heroes out there, people looking to fight the good fight, so we thought bringing them in would be a good idea. With more hands on deck, we could get a lot more done," Superman smiled.

"And keep an eye on them," Batman added his reason for wanting so many heroes as part of the Justice League.

"But mostly because we want the extra help."

"If this is a test, then who did you have in mind?" Hawkgirl asked.

"No one you'd know, except for one. If it all goes well, you'll get to meet them," Batman answered. "I have ways to get in touch with each of them but one...I need Flash's help for that one."

"My help?" the speedster raised an eyebrow.

"Give me Firestorm's number, both of them," Batman left no room for argument.

"How did you...no, no way, Bats. They gave that number to me in confidence, I can't just give it out," Flash crossed his arms and averted his eyes from the bat-glare.

He made the mistake of cracking one eye open and meeting its view.

He broke almost instantly.

"Alright, alright...just don't let him know I gave it to you..." Flash conceded.

And with that final essential piece, Batman could finally begin recruiting the temporary team he needed for this operation.

"How long until you've got their location?" Superman asked.

"Gear told me a few hours, enough time to get everyone to agree to come...hopefully," Batman made his way out of the room.

"Have you slept yet?"

Turning slightly to look at the Man of Steel and the other heroes, he offered only three words in response before the door closed behind him.

"Who needs sleep?"

Time was of the essence now.

Contacting the two halves of the nuclear hero, Batman steeled himself for the long day ahead of him.

(4:00 PM)

Driving up to an empty building, the silver-haired Dr. Martin Stein stepped out of his car. The bespectacled man took a quick glance at his surroundings, finding the location of this meeting highly irregular. His phone was in his hand, the message from Jefferson asking to meet him here still shining on the screen.

Martin pushed his glasses up his nose and made his way inside.

Within a few seconds of entering, he could already see his crime-fighting partner standing in the middle of the room, taking time to look around as he waited for the older man it seemed, and turning to see Martin approaching him.

"I hope whatever you have in mind is important, Jefferson. I was about to start preparing dinner with my wife," Martin said as he stopped in front of Jax.

The teen looked confused at the doctor's words.

"Uh...you got it twisted, doc. You messaged me," Jax held up his phone to show a message that had apparently come from Martin's phone much like the doctor had received from his, "I was about to start practice with the team when I got it."

Suspicion growing, Martin clarified, "I never messaged you, Jefferson..."

The two of them grew tense at this revelation.

"If I didn't call you...and you didn't call me...then...who did?" Jax got nervous. He hoped the doc had brought the Firestorm Matrix with him in case this turned into a fight.

A thud came from behind Jefferson, catching the attention of both the confused observers. From a crouching position, rose the intimidating silhouette of Batman who looked over the two surprised people.

"I did."

Jax was taken aback by the appearance of the Dark Knight while Martin let only a hint of his shock bleed through into his expression.

"Batman!? How did you...uh, I mean...why would you call us?" Jax tried to hide his secret identity.

"Because you're Firestorm," he answered simply.

"And what would make you say that?" Stein interrupted before Jax could stumble over his words in an attempt to deflect and hide their secret. "Mr. Jefferson I could understand, but I hold no resemblance to Firestorm."

From the corner of his eye, Stein could see Jefferson giving him a look since he'd called attention to the boy's race to try and discredit Batman's deduction...he'd apologize later, but it was one of the more glaring holes.

Undeterred, Batman went on to explain, "Professor Martin Stein, a brilliant physicist, and one that has studied extensively the potential of atomic transmutation," Batman looked to the doc. "Not too long ago, the scientific community was abuzz with the news that you had succeeded in cracking that idea with a new invention of yours, The Firestorm Matrix."

Martin was secretly impressed at the knowledge the hero had, and also very nervous.

"With it, you hoped to fix a lot of ongoing issues the human race faced, and with the abilities it was said to have it was no wonder. Rock transmuted into trees to fix deforestation, similarly, air could be turned back into ozone to stave off global warming, inedible matter turned to food," Batman listed, impressed with the doctor's work.

"But there were also those that saw it for their own gain. Criminals that saw it as a way to produce gold from nothing."

"Hmph, indeed, while completely disregarding that they would need the necessary knowledge to manipulate the atoms to transmute in the first place," Martin frowned.

"True...which is why they stole both the device and its creator to use for their ends. And they may well have gotten away with it, or at the very least caused a destructive nuclear explosion if your notes were to be believed, that is if someone hadn't intervened..."

Batman now turned to look at Jax.

"Jefferson Jackson, the football star at Central High, planning to get into Gotham U on scholarship, and despite appearances wants a career in physics himself. Which made the internship under Professor Stein all the more appealing when the opportunity came up, though perhaps a bit too overzealous."

Jax had the decency to look embarrassed as he knew where this was going.

"You chased down the culprits behind the crime to their hideout and staged a foolhardy rescue attempt of the doctor and his work. Foolish, but heroic," Batman gave a little praise, "After that, the accounts of the criminals became sketchy, but they all say there was a bright light before suddenly Firestorm himself appeared, captured the criminals, and assured that both Martin Stein and Jefferson Jackson were safe before flying off."

Batman narrowed his eyes.

"That was his debut. And shortly after that debut, Jackson's internship was prematurely terminated with the official reasoning being that it was unsafe, a good cover so no one would make the connection. Too many were focused on the Matrix's ability to transmute objects that they disregarded that it also could fuse them. And that's what happened to the two of you, Jefferson serving as the body, and Stein serving as the mind."

Sighing, Martin had to concede that Batman had gotten it spot on...proving his title was not just for show, "You're correct...we're Firestorm."

"Ok...so, why did you call us, Batman?" Jax asked.

Becoming more serious, if that was possible, Batman spoke, "When we last saw each other, you offered to help catch the League of Villains when they were found."

A moment of silence passed to let this implication sink in.

"Are you still up for it?" the gravity of that question was intense.

"Are you serious?!" Jax had his blood pumping in an instant.

"I need Firestorm's abilities for a plan I have in mind. They could be a hard counter to one of the League's members."

"You need Firestorm's abilities? Not the Justice League?" Martin zeroed in on the Dark Knight's wording.

"No, I'm taking a small team of heroes to confront them, and you're on that short list."

"Of course, I'm in! Let's get 'em!" Jax was more than ready.

"One of you isn't enough..." Batman turned to the other half of the hero who was still mulling over his choice.

"Doc?"

"This is quite the undertaking...the biggest of our short career..." Martin thought heavily.

"Come on, doc, you know we can't let these guys go," Jax pleaded.

After a few more moments, Stein gave a sigh of concession, "Indeed. We can't allow those ruffians to continue their rampage and sweep up innocents in their misguided crusade," looking at Batman, he gave a nod.

"Firestorm will be there."

Giving his own nod, Batman started to take his leave. His mind was already on the next heroes he had to talk to.

"Get yourselves ready, I'll contact you as soon as we get the precise location."

"No problem, Batman!" Jax shouted to the man before he disappeared. Once the Dark Knight was gone, Jax let this feeling wash over him; it was incredible, helping the Justice League, THE Justice League.

"We've made it, doc! We're in the big leagues now!" Jax looked at his partner.

Martin still had a look of consternation on his face, worrying about something far off that he couldn't put his finger on.

"Yes, we are..."

"What's wrong?"

Looking at Jax, Martin shared his thoughts, "This is bigger than anything we've faced, Jefferson...much bigger. And I do not doubt that it is something that needs to be done for innocents caught in the crossfire...but this door we are opening, once we step through...it isn't one that is so easily closed."

"Don't worry so much, doc," placing a hand on Martin's shoulder, Jax alleviated some of the trepidation the older man felt with his young optimism, "Long as we're together, Firestorm can take on anything!"

Martin couldn't help the small smile, "Yes...I think so, too. Now let's get our affairs in order...my wife will be so upset..."

Firestorm: Recruited

(8:00 PM)

Outside a large hotel, a large assortment of paparazzi and official photographers were in front of the building to get shots of their subject. The flashes of their cameras blinded anyone who walked by, they were so plentiful, and there wasn't a second that went by that another shot was not taken.

And the subject of this rabid attention?

"Ms. Beatriz, over here!"

"No, here!"

"Give us a smile!"

Beatriz da Costa. Supermodel...and...

"Uh-uh, that's enough for today," the sultry voice of the Brazilian beauty stood out among the clamor of the paparazzi, a teasing tone as she brushed her green hair behind her ear. Blowing a kiss to them all she turned to enter the hotel with a sway in her steps, "You'll get more at the charity event~"

"Fire!" another photographer's voice cut through all the others, that specific word gaining the woman's attention, "How about a sneak peek!"

The woman chuckled to herself, "So greedy~" she didn't sound at all bothered despite the exasperation she 'attempted' to convey, "If you insist~"

In an instant the woman burst into green flames, only no one around panicked, knowing of this ability ahead of time, for the heroine did not hide her identity.

The green-haired supermodel had now become nothing more than a green silhouette, which served to emphasize her form all the more. Her hair had turned into a burning mane of green flames reaching a little past her sizeable rear, and, along with her transformation, her clothing had disappeared leaving her otherwise exposed if not for the carefully placed fire that cupped her breasts as a bra and a band of fire around her pelvis as a makeshift pair of panties to keep her modest.

Lifting off the floor, she flew around the heads of the paparazzi, posing once again in her new form to give them more shots. The rabid dogs were taking even more pictures now that this had been shown, they'd get more for these pictures easily.

Yes, Beatriz da Costa was not only a beautiful supermodel, but she was also the heroine known as Fire.

A simple name, but one that was becoming more known as time went on.

Behind the goings-on, another woman, more modestly dressed than the supermodel was even before she'd transformed, was waiting by the door for the heroine to finish with her photo op.

This woman was dressed in a white suit, had white hair, and clutched a clipboard to her chest. She watched the woman show off for the vultures a little more before locking eyes with her. In an unspoken conversation, Fire seemed to realize that the fun was over and gave an understanding smile and nod to the woman and returned to normal, her clothing coming back to her form as if she'd never transformed in the first place.

"That's all for now, everyone. A girl has to keep some secrets to herself~" she leaned over slightly to rest her hands on her knees, causing her arms to press against her breasts to make them pop, winked, and blew a kiss as one final pose for them.

Waving the photographers off, Beatriz returned to the side of the woman in white, finally entering their hotel. With a silent walk to the elevator and ride up, they reached the penthouse room, Beatriz had been handsomely compensated for this upcoming appearance.

Once in the privacy of their room, Beatriz quickly flopped down onto her bed, sighing in bliss at the soft covers.

"We were supposed to be finished with the publicity event 30 minutes ago, Beatriz," the woman in white sighed at the supermodel, sitting at the table in the room.

"Mmm~ Don't be so frigid, Tora~" Beatriz flipped over on the bed, kicking her legs behind her as she faced the now-named Tora, her teasing smile still on her lips.

Everything she did constantly oozed sex appeal.

And Tora was not unaffected by it...for good reason compared to others.

"The more eyes on me, the more eyes on the charity, after all," Beatriz had her hair fall over her eyes sensually.

Tora could no longer bear all the teasing she was being assaulted with, and turned away from the model with a huff, "You don't have to enjoy it so much, Beatriz..."

Chuckling a little, the greenette walked over to the woman and took her by the chin so she would face her again, "I do enjoy it, but there's only one pair of eyes that I care about~" Beatriz swung a leg over the chair so she could sit down on the flustered Tora's lap, "And they are the only ones that get to see me like this~" she leaned to the white-haired woman's ear to whisper into it, her hands going behind her back to unzip the corset top she had on.

Tora was practically glowing her face was so red, making it stand out against her all-white ensemble. She was sputtering while she watched the pair of lips inch closer and closer to her own, when-

"Are you sure it's wise to advertise your identity?" a gruff voice cut through the heady atmosphere with all the subtlety of a chainsaw.

"AH!" Tora jumped at the sudden appearance of Batman, the man standing in the corner of the suite, hidden by the darkened corners until he'd turned on a lamp next to him, "B-Batman! How long have you been there?!" Tora asked, scandalized and embarrassed.

"Oh, poo, the fun's over..." For the first time, Beatriz frowned, pouting that the Dark Knight ruined their 'fun' just as it was beginning. Standing up, Beatriz sauntered over to their kitchen, she'd be needing a drink to cool herself.

"Long enough..." he answered, giving away nothing.

"So, is there something you need? Or do you just enjoy skulking around watching two young women?" she giggled slightly when she saw him frown a little more at her teasing.

"Beatriz!" Tora reprimanded the woman.

"I'm only asking~ Oh, and to answer your question..." she poured her drink, "When the only person I have is always right next to me, I think showing who I am is more than wise~" she cast her eyes to Tora, getting the woman to blush and look at her hands that were now resting on her lap.

"Drink?" Beatriz asked him.

"I'll pass," he said bluntly, "I need your help," he cut to the chase before the model could begin playing again.

Those words did manage to pique her interest.

"Ooh, now you have me interested~" she leaned over the counter, resting her head in her hand.

"Beatriz..." Tora sighed.

"What? Tell me you aren't curious what the Justice League could want?" she called her partner out.

"Have you heard of the League of Villains?" Batman asked.

"Hm, can't say that I have," Beatriz shrugged, "I don't pay much attention to the news," she said unapologetically.

"I have," the better half of the relationship spoke up, some worry getting into her voice, "They've caused a lot of damage...and hurt a lot of people," she put it simply for her friend.

Beatriz did frown at the tone Tora used.

"That's putting it mildly," Batman added.

"So, this visit is about this League of Villains, then?" the supermodel got slightly more serious now.

"Yes, the rest of the Justice League is out of this. It's just me, and a small team of other heroes that will have the greatest chance of catching them with as little fight as necessary, your abilities would be useful," Batman explained.

"And you would like Fire to make an appearance~" Beatriz went back to teasing, liking the idea that Batman needed her. "Hm, well I suppose I could~ Since you're asking so nicely."

"I'm not just asking you," Batman looked to Tora.

"Huh? Me too?" Tora was surprised...and worried.

"I need both Fire and Ice for my plan," Batman said, simultaneously revealing that Tora had an alter ego as well.

Tora Olafsdotter was Ice, crimefighting partner to Fire.

And together...they were Fire and Ice…again a simple name.

"I-I don't know," Tora didn't jump at the chance as her partner had.

"If it's a 'no' from one of you, then it's a 'no' for both of you," Batman said simply.

"Are you sure you...need us?" Tora nervously asked.

"If there were others to ask, I would have gone to them first," Batman stated matter-of-factly. Their powers, and personalities complemented one another; without Ice, Fire would be more difficult to rein in, and without Fire, Ice would be far too stiff...unsure.

The saying 'opposites attract' held true for this couple.

When she'd heard this, Tora started to mutter to herself in a different language, getting caught up in her own thoughts to such a degree that the temperature of the room began to drop.

Batman frowned. He'd studied the recruits that he hadn't had the pleasure of meeting in person before so he'd have a decent idea of how well they could handle the mission...and what he'd seen of Ice painted a picture of a woman willing to help those in need, but held a lot of doubt in herself without the bolstering of her significant other.

"Is she going to be alright?" he found himself asking the concerned supermodel. He had to move on, and he needed an answer.

"I'll talk to her," Beatriz said seriously, making her way to her fellow superheroine.

As she came to stand next to Tora, the woman hardly regarded her presence she was so frazzled. It took Beatriz placing a gentle hand on Tora's shoulder to shock her out of her muttering as well as getting her to look at the greenette.

And with her attention gained, Beatriz spoke, "Meu floco de neve, qual é o problema? (My Snowflake, what's the matter?)" Speaking in her native tongue, Beatriz had their conversation become more intimate.

Tora responded, "Jeg vet ikke om jeg kan gjøre dette... (I-I don't know if I can do this...)" answering Beatriz's Portuguese with her Norwegian, showing that both could understand each other even as they spoke different languages, such was their bond.

"E porque não? (And why not?)" Beatriz looked her in the eye.

"Dette...Dette er så mye mer enn vi noen gang har måttet møte. The League of Villains er helt annerledes enn å stoppe bankranere, (This...This is so much more than we've ever had to face. The League of Villains is entirely different from stopping bank robbers,)" Tora shook a little just at the thought of staring those people down, even with a group of heroes next to her.

Beatriz took Tora's hands in hers, "Eles não são diferentes. (They are no different.)"

"Men... (But...)"

Beatriz stopped her before she could go any further with a hand resting on her cheek, "Não. Eles não são diferentes. Eles são como todos os outros criminosos que detivemos, e mesmo assim, eles têm que ser presos, meu amor, antes que possam ferir mais pessoas inocentes. (No. They are no different. They are just like all the other criminals we have stopped, and just the same, they have to be put away, my love, before they can hurt any more innocent people.)"

The passion in Beatriz's eyes melted away Tora's doubt, getting the woman to nod in understanding, "Du har rett. (You're right.)"

Now that she'd been convinced, the playful smile came back to Beatriz's face, "Claro, estou certo. Faremos o que sempre fizemos, capturar esses vilões... e então, como fomos interrompidos, poderemos continuar de onde paramos quando voltarmos~ (Of course, I'm right. We'll do what we've always done, capture those villains...and then, since we were interrupted, we can pick up where we left off when we get back~)" Beatriz had a finger trail down Tora's chin, and start to get dangerously close to dipping into her cleavage.

"Beatriz! Batman kan høre deg! (Beatriz! Batman can hear you!)" the flustered woman removed her lover's hand before it could go any further.

"E daí se ele puder? Ele não consegue nos entender ~ (So what if he can? He can't understand us~)" Beatriz giggled.

The Dark Knight cleared his throat to get their attention again, starting to feel like a third wheel, "So, are you in?"

Tora gave Beatriz a look, and she got the confident smile of the supermodel. With Fire beside her, there wasn't anything that Ice couldn't do!

"We're in," Ice gave a firm nod, stamping down her unease as best she could.

"Good. Get yourselves ready, I'll be calling as soon as we get their location," he approached the window he'd entered from but stopped with one foot up on the windowsill. "And one more thing..." he started, "Não me subestime...(Do not underestimate me...)" he started in Portuguese, looked over his shoulder at the two heroines, and finished in Norwegian, "...eller dem. (...or them.)"

His piece said Batman flew out of the window.

Tora's head was essentially steaming she was so embarrassed that one of the Justice League had heard all that...suggestive talk between her and Beatriz; and Beatriz pouted at being made a fool of by him after she'd assumed he couldn't understand what was being said, after all, she had already proven she had no qualms about expressing her love in the company of others.

Not that Batman knew this was happening, he was once again on his way toward the next heroes he needed to recruit. He sighed to himself as he directed the Batwing to Las Vegas, Nevada, steeling himself for what could be the most annoying visit he would have.

Not because it would be difficult to get them...but because of his personal attachments to one of them...and how she'd be during said talk.

A headache was already in the process of forming.

Fire and Ice: Recruited

(10:00 PM)

The flashing lights of the gambling city were garish as always, enticing anyone with money to spend into the gambling dens to bet it all in an effort to make it big. There were also the less scrupulous ways to use your money in the city that would of course remain in the city and never leave, as the old saying went.

Zeroing in on a specific casino, within its loud walls, amid the cries of both joy and despair, a magic show was currently winding down. Sitting at the entrance to the stage, a fold-out sign advertised the duo of magicians that were entertaining the audience tonight.

Zatanna and Zatara specifically.

The turnout for the father/daughter team was, as always, massive. No seat was empty in the audience as the crowd cheered for the entertainers who mystified them with their magic tricks.

The tricks themselves defied imagination, it was hard for the adults in the audience to even begin to explain how they were pulled off as the show went on.

It was almost as if it were real magic.

"Okay, folks we have one more trick for you today!" Zatanna shouted over the cheers, a big smile on her beautiful face.

The female magician was dressed in what could be called the traditional magician's outfit, with a tuxedo-like jacket that was left open for her, revealing a white undershirt and a large bowtie of matching color while her bottom half was more akin to the attire of an assistant what with skintight leggings conforming to her shapely, long legs, and a pair of black high heels. Her look was topped off by the black top hat that lay crooked on her black hair.

"It's a little traditional, but you can't beat the classics!" she showily turned around, cueing a spotlight to reveal a tall black box in the middle of the stage, "I'm going to make my dad...disappear! And frankly, what girl hasn't wished for that~" she joked, getting laughs from the crowd.

"I beg your pardon?" a playfully shocked male voice with an Italian accent spoke up from the side.

His appearance was of the traditional magician, full tuxedo and all.

"Don't worry, Dad," Zatanna ushered Zatara to the box with an act of giddiness while he did an act of apprehension, "I promise to bring you back...maybe after a date or two," she winked playfully.

"Not even if I did disappear," he huffed with a smile.

"We'll see~" she teased, closing the door on him unceremoniously before he could retort.

Spinning the box around a few times, and brandishing a wand, Zatanna looked unsurely at the audience, "Hang on to your seats, folks!"

"Ekam ym rehtaF raeppasid!" with a spell spoken backward, a poof of smoke engulfed the stage, obstructing the view of the woman, and giving the impression that a trapdoor was used to hide the truth of the trick.

When the special effects died down, Zatanna hesitantly walked up to the box and opened it, revealing that Zatara was not inside.

"And there you have it, everyone!" she moved away from the box to display that it was, in fact, empty. "One patented dad remover for any young girls looking to have a little fun for a while," she winked.

"I'll say again, not even if I did disappear," Zatara said from the crowd, sitting in a seat that had not been previously there, along with a handful of winnings from the gambling floor.

"And where did you go?" Zatanna put her hands on her hips playfully.

"Well, I figured I would have some time on my hands, so I played the slots for a time...are you sure it wasn't a daughter remover?" he joked, tossing the winnings into the crowd of people for them to have.

"That's our show, everyone, thank you for coming out!" Zatanna held hands with her father, and both took a final bow amid the cheers they got.

Up in the rafters, an extra viewer moved to talk with the magicians.

Walking into their dressing room, the father and daughter gave a sigh of relief for another show well done.

"I'd say that was one of the better ones, Dad. Did you hear those cheers," Zatanna smiled at her father as they stood side-by-side to place their top hats on their mannequin heads.

"Indeed," he looked to her, "Though you did the reveal too early again, Zatanna," he referred to how she quickly opened the box to show that he was no longer inside of it.

"Oh, come on, dad. A few seconds isn't going to kill anyone, they were chomping at the bit," she rolled her eyes, sitting down in a chair and crossing one shapely leg over the other.

"You relieved the tension too quickly, Zatanna," her father was about to get on his soapbox again, "Our job is to excite them, get them questioning their reality, doubt their very eyes, until that final moment where what they expected is completely subverted," he had a deck of cards in his hands as he said this, drawing the Ace of Clubs, shuffling it back into the deck, and then knocking his fist against their television to not only reveal that the card was displayed on the screen but projected onto the wall before it materialized into reality to return to the deck.

"No true magician would reveal all their tricks so easily."

"I know, I know..." she rolled her eyes again.

"Do you? If you weren't so busy showing off for the crowd, you might have noticed you'd revealed too early. Hm, perhaps we should go back to the basics?" Zatara asked.

"No! No! I got it," Zatanna shot up in a panic.

Zatara chuckled a little.

A knock at the door got their attention.

"Ah, seems one of your adoring fans has come by again. I wonder what it will be this time? I hope it's another edible arrangement, I've had a craving for some cantaloupe lately," Zatara teased his annoyed daughter as she got up.

"Ha, ha," she opened the door, "Hey, so thanks for stopping by, I can give you an autograph but-"

"Hello, Zatanna," Batman cut her off.

She frowned when she saw him, her previous annoyance at what she'd believed to be another drooling fanboy had been ramped up by the appearance of the Dark Knight, for some reason.

Without so much as offering a greeting in return, Zatanna turned around and called to her father, "Dad! It's a fan of yours!" she left the door rudely rather than ushering Batman in, not even glancing back at him, "...definitely not one of mine..." she muttered under her breath.

The words of his daughter had fallen on deaf ears as Zatara walked toward Batman with open arms, showing his joy at the hero's arrival.

"Ah! My student, welcome, welcome!" he reached out his hand to give Batman a handshake which was reciprocated.

"Zatara," Batman said simply, his voice full of respect for the man in front of him as he gave a firm handshake.

Placing a hand onto his former student's shoulder, a smile still in place on his mustachioed face, "If I had known you were coming, we would have saved you a seat, my friend!"

"I'm not one for crowds. But the show was just as good as I remembered it," he gave a little smirk at his teacher, "Though I think the reveal was a bit premature."

"Ah, you see Zatanna, even he can see it, and he hasn't practiced sleight of hand in years!" Zatara playfully jabbed.

Zatanna wasn't amused, sitting in her chair with her arms crossed, and a glare fixed on Batman, "I guess he would know all about disappearing," she said bitterly.

"Zatanna..." Zatara said warningly to her, wanting her to be civil. Clearing his throat, the older magician turned his attention back to his old student, "So, my friend, what brings you here to Las Vegas?"

Becoming serious again, Batman released his teacher's hand, "I wish this was a simple visit, Zatara-"

"When would it ever be a 'simple visit' from you, Bruce? It's always business with 'The Batman'," Zatanna scoffed, using air quotes.

"Zatanna, I-"

"I know, I know, I heard it all before..." her annoyance gave way to sadness with a touch of heartbreak, "'I can't risk it...if someone got to you to get to me...my work will never be done...'" she straightened up before she became too dour, then went to play off her words, "Blah, blah-blah, blah-blah."

She couldn't help herself from subtly wiping her eyes.

"So, what do you want," she asked rudely after getting herself together.

Sighing, Batman steeled himself as well, "Have either of you heard of the League of Villains?"

"Hm, I can't say that I have...our time is mostly taken up by practicing and our shows...if anything is particularly world-shaking, then we'd most likely hear of it offhand," Zatara shook his head.

"Pft, 'The League of Villains'? Really?" Zatanna asked incredulously.

"They're dangerous...very dangerous. They managed to escape from the full Justice League only a day ago," Batman revealed, getting them to widen their eyes.

"And you want our help to catch them?"

"Yes, but more specifically, I need your help to stop one of them," Batman answered.

"Only one?" Zatanna asked.

The serious mood in the room became much more when Batman raised his arm, pushing buttons on his gauntlet, he brought up footage on the holographic screen...paused as it was, it showed a specific silver-haired man.

"Let me show you," Batman's voice grew more melancholy, playing the footage.

Onscreen it showed Mahito when he had attacked the mall in Jump City with Dabi and Gaz, gleefully hunting down the humans that were on the toy floor with him and using his Idle Transfiguration to mutate them. The carnage was vile, but the two magicians could not bring themselves to look away, watching raptly as innocents were murdered...children and their parents without remorse by the evil creature...a creature that was wholly absorbed in the anguish he was bringing.

He listened to the cries of pain, desperation, and fear, and smiled in the face of it like he was listening to the most beautiful symphony to reach his ears.

The video ended with a close-up of Mahito's face as he'd swiped some blood off his cheek with his tongue.

"Why are you showing us this!?" Zatanna was shaking in rage; her hands were clenched so hard that they would have no doubt broken the skin if not for the white gloves on them.

Not taking his eyes from the screen, the glow illuminating his face, Batman responded, "This is what I need your help with."

He looked at them.

"According to another magic-user that encountered him...he isn't alive. He's supposedly a mass of malevolent energy that coalesced to take this form, and he uses-"

"Yes, I see..." Zatara, as an expert was able to discern what the entity in the video was doing.

"Soul magic, dark, forbidden, and for good reason," Zatara rubbed his chin, "Even the darkest of sorcerers hesitate to delve into that realm...it is not one that man is meant to touch, to know a person's soul...to touch it...it is better left a mystery," Zatara frowned.

"And it's because of that, that I need your help. He's impervious to traditional damage, only magic can hurt him, and you're the most powerful sorcerers I know," Batman said to them.

"Do you even have to ask?" Zatanna was done being playful after what she'd just watched.

It was horrible.

He...It killed children!

"Zatanna. Do not let your emotions cloud your mind, you must keep it clear," Zatara warned his daughter.

"Dad. You can't seriously be thinking of turning this down! That thing has to be stopped!"

Solemnly nodding, Zatara agreed, "Yes...and you are fine with this, my student?" he looked at Batman, knowing his stance on killing.

"He isn't alive, and I have no real way of stopping you. I don't understand magic, but if you can put a stop to him, I won't get in the way," Batman wouldn't lie and say that the idea of killing Mahito left a bad taste in his mouth, but even he had to admit that he could find little reason to have such a being remain with civilians.

As long as he wasn't dealing the finishing blow...he could stomach it.

"Hmm," Zatara thought to himself, "...given time, we should be able to find a way to...unravel his form, so to speak, but we will need to capture him and study him thoroughly first, then we can begin the process," Zatara said.

"So, you're in?" he looked at them seriously, a blinking light appearing on his holographic screen.

"After what you showed us, you couldn't stop me from coming, Bruce," Zatanna poked him in his chest.

"Good, because we've just got the location of where they're hiding," he revealed to them, "Are you ready?"

"Always!" she and her father quickly grabbed their top hats.

"Where are we going?" Zatara asked.

"Star City. We'll meet with the others there," Batman contacted all the other heroes with a push of the button.

Miles and miles away, four people received the notification on their phones, revealing where they would be meeting with the Dark Knight and the rest of this ragtag team. Martin had to bid his wife a hasty farewell with the excuse of important work needing to be done; Jax stealthily snuck from his house, planning to meet up with the doc so they could become Firestorm and fly to Star City; Beatriz and Tora both suited up and made their way there almost immediately since they had no reason to hide their identities; and Zatanna and Zatara both hitched a ride in the Batwing with Batman.

The preparation was completed, it was time to attack!

(12:00 AM)

Midnight in Star City. The lights illuminate the darkened streets, much safer than the likes of Gotham with no major threats calling it home. Small-time thugs and criminals were plentiful, of course, but Green Arrow handled them fairly well, keeping his citizens safe.

Tonight, that simple tranquility would be broken.

Above the city, a stream of fire, though less bright than it normally was, streaked across the sky. Firestorm had arrived at the group's destination, now only flying to reach the specified meeting point before the attack would begin. Difficult as it was for a man with flaming hair, he'd kept himself as inconspicuous as he could as he flew, not wanting to bring any undue attention that could tip off their enemies before they could start.

Coming to the building that would serve as the meeting point, Firestorm landed on the roof. He took a glance at his surroundings and noticed that no other brightly dressed folks had arrived.

'We're the first ones here?' Jax thought in his merged consciousness.

'It isn't that surprising, Jefferson. Central is not far from Star so it makes a certain amount of sense we would arrive before Batman. There's no telling how far he'd have to travel to gather all of us for this operation,' Stein replied as a 'floating head', a term that Jax coined, that only Firestorm could see.

'Guess you're right...' Jax couldn't deny. The sound of fire flowing through the air caught Firestorm's ear, given he was so familiar with it when he flew.

'Ah, speak of the devil.'

Landing across from the Nuclear Man was Fire who deactivated her powered form once her feet touched the roof and behind her came Ice who'd made a pillar of ice to get her up with her partner.

Fire wore a green brasier with matching pants and a headband all to match the color of her fire.

Ice now wore a full body, skintight suit that was blue in color up to her sternum where it was white down the middle, and a window in the shape of icicles showed a little cleavage.

It was Fire's idea...

"Ooh~ We aren't the first ones here?" Fire took notice of the man in front of her and smiled. She sauntered over to the man, already hell-bent on teasing him, leaving Ice to roll her eyes.

"And just who are you, big boy?" Fire got close enough to press her body against Firestorm.

"Uh...I'm Firestorm..." he was unsure how to react.

"Firestorm~" she purred, "I like you already...I'm Fire~" she smiled at his blush.

"That's enough, Fire, look how red he is..." Ice came to the Nuclear Man's rescue.

"I was only introducing myself," she giggled.

Firestorm sighed in relief.

'You'd think as a football player, you would be used to women flirting, Jefferson,' Stein chuckled.

'Never any that forward...'

"That's Ice. I promise she's a lot more fun than she sounds~" Fire introduced the Norwegian.

"Nice to meet you," Firestorm inclined his head in greeting, then realized something, "Wait, Fire and Ice?"

"Hmhm, so you noticed," Fire walked over to Ice and hugged the cryokinetic to her, "It was my idea. She's my other half, so I picked a name that showed it~" She looked deeply into the embarrassed woman's eyes without hesitation, serving to immediately get across her meaning.

Firestorm smiled, "I get it. I couldn't do this job without someone watching my back either."

While clearly not on the level that the two women were, his partnership with Stein was one that he both appreciated and cherished.

'Thank you, Jefferson,' Stein nodded.

'Just being real, doc.'

"So, where is Mr. Brood, anyway?" Fire ran her hands through her hair, a little miffed the man who had interrupted her 'quality time' with Ice hadn't gotten here yet.

"He shall be here momentarily," Zatara and Zatanna made their appearance now, floating up to the roof.

"He just has to make an entrance..." Zatanna muttered.

"One of the basic tenets of magic," Zatara smirked.

"Oh, aren't you adorable~" Fire smiled.

"Lady, I am not adorable," Zatanna said to Fire.

"And what are your names?" Ice asked.

"Ah, yes, forgive my rudeness," Zatara took his hat off and gave a bow, "I am Giovanni Zatara, master magician," he then gestured to his daughter, "And this is my daughter, Zatanna."

"Magic's real?" Firestorm asked.

"Indeed, my friend, very real," Zatara said seriously.

"You should stop by Vegas and see our show, we can save you a seat," Zatanna smiled at him.

"Vegas? I don't think I'd be able to get in...hold on, a show in Vegas? You don't hide your identities?" Firestorm politely declined, only to realize that the magicians had used their real names.

"Nope, being heroes is kind of a side gig for us anyway, and we don't have much to hide," Zatanna held up her hand and gave it a wave to show it was a grey area.

"You guys too?" he asked the female duo.

"Honey, I'm a supermodel. I have nothing to hide from my fans~" Fire smiled.

"We don't see the need to hide the good we do," Ice gave a real answer.

"Do you?" Fire asked him.

"Yeah! I thought it was a standard...but besides that...I got people that would get targeted if I outed myself," Firestorm explained.

"It just seems so hard to get anything done..." Fire didn't like that restrictive way of living. Hiding who she was and what she did just didn't make sense to her, but protecting family is something she would never judge, even if she personally would rather tell the people in her life so they understood.

Now that they were all acquainted, a moment of silence passed between them all, noticing that the Dark Knight still had not appeared.

"Where is he!?" the impatient, freedom-loving Fire huffed, annoyed.

"Right here," Batman landed in the middle of the group, surprising all of them except the magicians who had subtly moved aside just moments before he made himself known.

"I had to land the Batwing, a jet would have drawn their attention," he gave an explanation on why he had taken so long.

"Alright, Batman," Firestorm spoke up first, ready to act, "We're all here, so where are they at?" his hair glowed brighter.

Walking to the edge of the roof, Batman looked down at a building. It was a good distance from them, not too close to be easily seen, but not far enough that it would be difficult to spot among the other buildings.

"There."

A simple point was enough to get the assortment of heroes to look at it.

"What are we waiting for?" Fire, Firestorm along with her, moved to fly down there and take the fight to the League of Villains.

"Not yet," the veteran hero stopped them before they could fly off the handle.

"Why not? You brought us here to take them down!" Fire frowned.

"Because, if it was as simple as rushing them, don't you think I would have just brought the League?" he asked the heroine.

"Hm, he was right to stop you," Zatara spoke up, a hard stare zeroed in on the hideout of the League of Villains, "I sense multiple dark presences...stationed around the building...no doubt the poor remains of citizens that creature created..." Zatara took out his wand and invoked a spell while waving it in a large circle in front of all the heroes.

"Laever tahw si neddih!"

The circle that had been drawn became a light purple-tinted film that all the heroes could peer through, allowing them to see four separate points around the target building that exuded an evil aura around them, though small.

"It's using them as an early warning system!" Zatanna creased her suit as she crossed her arms, clenching her hands tightly in both anger and sadness.

"No doubt if the two of you had gone through with your attack...they would have alerted the villains to our presence," Zatara said seriously.

"They aren't stupid," Batman turned to the two that had almost ended this operation before it began. "It cannot be understated that this group is different from any criminal you've faced, Firestorm can attest," he told the woman while simultaneously reminding Firestorm of what they were facing.

"They work together, and unlike most villains, they do it well. We have to handle this carefully...Our first step is going to be splitting them up, from there, each of you will have a specific target to subdue. Your specific abilities should make your targets easier to deal with and with minimal collateral damage," Batman told them, his eyes going over each of them.

"This is why I chose you."

With that reminder, Batman received a call he had been expecting after having asked for a certain hero's continued assistance, and since he'd be out of physical danger Batman figured it was a good idea to ask.

Answering the call, Gear's face came up on the screen, shown off to all the heroes on the roof.

The hero was still in his hospital bed but had managed to get some privacy to make this call with his helmet on to keep his identity hidden.

"The rewiring is all finished, Batman," Gear gave the Dark Knight an emphatic thumbs up.

"Good, now we can begin," Batman said.

"And who's this?" Fire asked.

"Name's Gear and you can think of me as the guy that organized this shindig," Gear introduced himself to them.

"Really? And why aren't you here with us?" she asked.

"Cuz I'm still nursing a headache from the last time I met up with one of those jerks," he pointed to the side of his head, "so I'm support on this, still have two days of bed rest."

"Gear was the one that tracked where they were hiding," Batman pointed out.

"And I've been working with Batman on a plan to split these guys up for you," Gear finished.

"Everyone needs to play their part and focus on their target until they've been captured before assisting anyone else. We need to be quick and precise, taking them by surprise will give us the opening we need to separate them," Batman explained to the heroes.

"Alright..." Firestorm nodded, realizing what he'd almost caused; Fire also came to the same realization, but did not seem happy about it, "Where do we start, Batman?"

All of them were now listening to the Dark Knight.

"To start, we'll be shutting off the lights."

"Why am I not surprised?" Zatanna quipped.

"Won't that just alert them?" Ice timidly questioned.

"Yes. Most likely they'll realize I'm involved, but that will also give them the idea the rest of the Justice League came along with me, giving us our first opening."

"And we strike while the lights are off," Fire guessed.

"No," that answer took the wind from her sails, "They have a way to immediately counter this: Gazlene Membrane," a second screen came from his gauntlet to show the girl mentioned. "She's an electrokinetic, so reactivating the lights will be child's play for her."

"Then why bother turning the lights off?" Fire asked the question on everyone's minds.

"That's where my rewiring comes in," Gear chimed in now, "See, I've hooked up the lights to the sprinkler system, once the lights go off, turning them back on will activate the sprinklers," Gear told them.

"Gazlene is a being made of pure electricity, while the water would ultimately do little to her, it would cause her power to discharge through the water around her..."

"...incapacitating the League..." Firestorm finished, Jax repeating the conclusion that Martin had come to in their shared mind.

"If she were to allow such a thing to happen, but she wouldn't. This move is to keep her occupied as the rest of us move. She'll be distracted for as long as the sprinklers are on, and this will have the added effect of weakening Enid Mettle," Batman displayed the young woman now, replacing Gaz onscreen.

"This is all to set them up for you guys' arrival. There are three members with abilities that have a weakness to water, though only Enid is confirmed. In the best-case scenario, this first step has the potential to stop four of their members in their tracks all before you guys have even hit the scene," Gear told them.

"In the worst case, only Membrane and Mettle will be held up, and the rest will need to be dealt with," Batman continued. "As the sprinklers take their attention, Firestorm, Fire, Ice, and I will make our way to the roof."

"Leaving us outside..." Zatara deduced.

"I need you to take care of those creatures that are guarding the buildings...it may tip them off that something is amiss if their connection is to be believed, but it shouldn't halt the plan as is."

"No problem," Zatanna couldn't stand looking at the transfigured humans, those poor souls needed to be released.

"This is where everything needs to go perfectly, we'll be engaging them from here," Batman spoke to the group that would be accompanying him to the roof. "On my signal, we'll break through the skylight. Firestorm, you'll enter first, your target is Membrane. Conventional attacks cannot harm her, your nuclear abilities should give you an edge and allow you to take her by surprise," he looked at the Nuclear Man.

'I see where he is going with this...he isn't the World's Greatest Detective for nothing,' Martin nodded in understanding, already having an idea of what Batman had in mind for Firestorm.

"Got it, Batman!"

Nodding, Batman turned his attention to Fire, "Fire, your target will be Dabi," he showed the apathetic pyrokinetic on the screen so the heroine would know who he was talking about, "If he still has the use of his abilities after being doused, you'll need to be ready. Simply put, you don't need to truly do battle with him, his power is a double-edged sword, with your abilities you can outlast him. Keep him at bay so his long-range flames are stifled, if any of us, except perhaps Firestorm, were to be caught head-on by them..." he left the idea to hang.

"Hm, don't worry, Batman...I have ways to keep a man's attention~" Fire said confidently.

"Do not let him control the fight," Batman warned her, "He'll use any opening to buy himself time to recover, mostly psychologically. Do not engage with him."

"Please, Batman," Fire pushed the thought from her mind, "I'm the one that leads dances."

Apprehensive, he acquiesced.

"That will leave Ice and me on the roof," he turned to the last member, "You'll have arguably the most important role."

"R-really?" she gulped.

"Once everyone else has entered, it will be our turn. We'll drop in, and you'll use your powers to remove Mahito, and Bakugo from the fight, and freeze Mettle in place."

"That kind of intricate work is something I can't do, Batman," she could make large constructs but delicately maneuvering around allies to specifically target enemies was outside her scope.

"And if you had a path?" he asked.

It took her a moment to realize what he meant, "The water."

"It should provide a perfect conduit for you, leading directly where you'll need it to go, and with this one move, three of the most dangerous elements they have will be out of the fight," he referenced the fact that those three were the close-combat experts of the group, and other than him, Batman doubted any of the rest could go toe-to-toe with them.

"Mettle will be frozen, leaving her a nonissue, hopefully for the duration of this ordeal. You'll push Mahito outside..." Batman looked to the magicians.

"Where we'll be waiting for him!' Zatanna understood.

"I see...this arrangement will give us time to prepare for our opponent," Zatara had an idea in mind.

"And Bakugo will be pushed into a side room, he'll be your target, Ice," Batman showed the explosive blond to the woman. "A lot like Fire you should not engage him," he warned her, "You shouldn't need to do much except avoid him, he'll wear himself out if you follow our plan," Batman told her to ease her nervousness.

"I got some info for you to make it easier," Gear said to the Norwegian, "And I got a little message I want you to give him when you win," he smirked, giving the woman a little more encouragement simply by believing her win would be an eventuality, not a possibility.

"And what are you doing, Batman?" Firestorm asked, noticing that everyone's role had been addressed except for the leader of the group.

"I'll be handling Shigaraki and the straggler," he told them.

"Straggler?"

"From what I understand there is one more member that we haven't seen but they act mainly as support for the others. I'll subdue whoever they are and deal with their leader while you all handle your targets."

The Dark Knight looked at the building.

"Ideally, this plan should allow us to have them in custody within minutes thanks to your skills coming close to outright negating theirs...but no plan ever goes smoothly..."

He turned back to the hastily thrown-together group. They didn't have the benefit of knowing each other all that well, working together would be one of their biggest obstacles outside of their foes.

"You need to stay alert and be ready for anything they might pull," Batman gave them all a final warning, receiving resolute nods from them.

Lifting his arm, Batman had his index finger hover over the button that would shut off the lights. He looked over to Zatara and Zatanna, "Are you ready?"

The father and daughter stood side-by-side, wands at the ready so they could cast a spell to get rid of the transfigured humans that stood guard.

"We are."

"Then let's start."

"EsaeleR eseht roop serutaerc!" the two recited their spell which released twin wisps of magic from their wands that sprouted into two branches each to strike Mahito's creations. The simple commands that the monsters were given only would have them react to something approaching that had a soul, meaning that they could not recognize the magic as a threat to them which resulted in the transfigured humans' deaths...

...something that, if they had the chance, they would have thanked them for.

There was little time for them to dwell on the implications, Batman quickly put them back on high alert.

"No doubt they've noticed something's wrong now. On my mark, I'll turn the lights off, remember your targets, apprehend them as quickly as you can."

"5..."

Firestorm lifted himself off the ground slightly, ready to fly.

"4..."

Fire transformed herself into her flaming silhouette in preparation.

"3..."

Ice had finished talking with Gear, learning why both he and Batman were confident that she could defeat Bakugo. She couldn't quite quash her nervousness, but at the very least she put it aside, her role was too important.

"2..."

Zatara and Zatanna were off to the side discussing their strategy, the older man pointing out specific positions to the young magician that would seem to be the crux of the stratagem.

Without speaking the final number, Batman pushed the button on his gauntlet, and almost automatically all the heroes in the initial rush acted on that simple cue.

(Present)

And from there, the plan had gone without a hitch so far, the only hiccup being that Dabi had almost dried off Enid which would have negated her removal, but Fire's timely counter had not only stopped the attempt but gave the heroes extra cover.

Dividing the League of Villains had succeeded, leaving the heroes with their intended opponents.

(Gaz vs. Firestorm)

Gaz continued to glare up at the form of Firestorm as he floated above her. A few seconds after being dropped here, the purple-haired girl tilted her head slightly at the hero, looking him up and down with a raised eyebrow until she eventually found herself asking...

"Who are you?" she hadn't committed the Nuclear Man to memory even when she'd been reminded of him the other day when Mahito spoke of inspiration for Body Repel. And given she personally hadn't confronted him during their heist, her mind had completely written him off.

'And how did you hit me?' she thought to herself.

"Name's Firestorm, kid," he answered, ignoring that she had no recollection. Keeping a serious look on his face while he stared down the young girl, slight reservations made themselves known, "I don't wanna hurt you...so give up before this gets messy," he threatened her, hoping she would concede.

"I'm getting real sick of all of you underestimating me..." Gaz's answer was immediate, lowering her head so her bangs hid her eyes.

"What do I have to do to get you heroes to take me seriously..." The air began to crackle and spark as she let her power course through her body, the smell of burning oxygen becoming prominent. Raising her head, Gaz's eyes were wide open to stare into the unnerved Firestorm's soul, seeing that she was not playing around when she said her next words...

"...kill you?" she finished, charging a bolt of lightning in her hand.

(Mahito vs. Zatanna and Zatara)

Outside the building, Mahito had come face-to-face with Zatanna and Zatara, still on the ground huddled as he was, his injury still in the process of healing. His shrunken pupils stared at the two magicians, taking in their out-of-place appearances until he was shaken from his thoughts by Zatanna's voice.

"Don't tell me you're done," she mocked him, a hand on her hip, another tipping her hat, and crossing a shapely leg over the other as she leaned down to smirk at his frenzied and confused eye from beneath his hair. "Because that isn't near enough to pay back all that you've done," her smile turned to a frown as she spoke those words, aiming to take a pound of flesh from the nonhuman for each person he'd killed.

Behind her, her father kept a serious expression on his face as he tugged on his gloves to better fit them on his hands. No good would come from having them slack in this battle.

"Hm..." Mahito hummed, finally sitting back up on his knees, the hole in his stomach closed almost fully now, "I see...two sorcerers looking to avenge all those humans I've killed, eh?" he smiled, angering the female with his calm nonchalance.

"More than that!' Zatanna charged her wand, glaring down at the smiling creature.

Zatara readied himself as well, though he cast a glance toward his daughter.

On the outside, Mahito was keeping himself calm to enrage the sorcerers and throw them off balance to make it easier to kill them, a hand reaching behind himself to draw on some of the limited stockpile of humans he had, on the inside...he was having an odd thought...

'What is this feeling?' the thought sprouted in his mind, but he couldn't place what the sensation was that was tingling in the back of his head.

He pushed it from the forefront as the fight was about to begin.

(Bakugo vs. Ice)

"Well?!" Bakugo shouted at Ice who had yet to answer his question, instead she stood rooted in place. He caught the look in her eye that outright said that she wasn't ready for this but was forced into it...another person who hadn't been in a real fight!

The explosive blond clicked his teeth.

"If you're not gonna answer, then get out of my way!" he resumed walking forward, intending to blast his way out and ignore the woman.

Once he'd announced his intention, the woman had gained some fire in her eyes, spreading her legs shoulder-width apart to prepare herself.

"My name is Ice...and I won't let you leave..." she said softly, meeting his eyes now.

"Ya think so?" he easily met her gaze, an unwavering intensity in his red eyes that Ice forced herself not to shy away from.

"This is your last warning."

She gulped.

"I can tell...you don't have what it takes," the serious expression on Bakugo's face had a sort of gravity that rooted Ice in place, it held nothing but the bluntest honesty from someone who had experienced so many difficult battles.

"But if you really wanna do this!" his predatory grin came to his face, "Then I'll show you!" he popped some explosions in his hands.

"The difference between us!"

Ice, even with her slight fear, stood her ground. The plan would work...she just had to buy time...she could do that.

"Hope you're ready!" he rushed forward.

The timer started now.

(Dabi vs. Fire)

"Hm~ and just what are you mumbling about~" Fire smiled from above the burned villain.

"Nothing. Just talking to myself..." he answered dryly, looking at her from beneath his eyelids, "You must be popular," he remarked on her less-than-modest form.

"Ooo, you've got a good eye~' she retorted, keeping her confidence and seductively dragging her hands across her silhouetted body, ending in her flaming locks.

"If you be a good boy and give up, I'll give you a gift~" she winked.

"Not interested," he answered bluntly and released a burst of flames from his arm without warning.

In response, Fire met his flames with her own resulting in a collision that dispersed their attacks harmlessly.

Dabi kept his expression neutral after this, not giving any of his thoughts away while Fire continued to have her teasing smirk.

"Isn't that a shame~ but we can still play with each other, right?" Fire hurled a wave of fire at him, forcing Dabi to respond in kind to protect himself.

He rolled his eyes from behind the explosion of fire.

While all these confrontations were getting underway, Tomura and Batman were still in their original positions. Beside the League of Villains leader, the frozen form of Enid sat, most likely making minuscule amounts of progress unfreezing herself. And the tied-up Peridot and Bucciarati lay behind them, forced to watch the goings on around them...

Receiving no answer from the Dark Knight, after he'd questioned how the hero had located them, yet again, so quickly Tomura continued, "I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that the World's Greatest Detective was able to find us within a day..." he tilted his head to scratch at his neck, staring into the palm of his other hand as he spoke to Batman, a lack of respect for the man's oft given title.

"But this is a surprise..." his voice got serious, stopping his scratching to look past Batman and see the fight between Dabi and Fire, "You didn't bring the rest of those idiots...were they too scared to face us after what happened?" he probed the man.

Batman gave a smirk, irritating Shigaraki more.

"You said it yourself," Batman began, "The game's changed, so I decided to change along with it," he twisted Tomura's words from the other night back on him.

"Don't tell me you're the type to get upset when the other player adapts."

That teasing sentence had Shigaraki rake at his neck again, frustration coming through in his voice, seething, "And you're a gamer, too, Batman...You really are too cool..." he spoke through his grit teeth, annoyed at this man for ruining everything, again. Anger overtaking him, he was through speaking with the hero, ready to take him down in the quickest way his agitated mind thought of.

He crouched to the ground planning to plant his deadly fingers to it and destroy the building entirely and hopefully the heroes along with it...but he stopped when his target brought up a good point.

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

Mere inches from the floor, the villain stopped when those words reached his ears.

"With everyone scattered, they'd be taken by surprise, wouldn't they? And a few of them aren't even able to move," Batman looked at Enid specifically.

He had even thought far enough ahead to stop the League's leader from using his powers.

"And you wouldn't put them in danger..." Batman knew he had the villain.

And so did Tomura, his revealed eye trembling in anger, not only at the Bat's forethought, but himself for almost letting his blind anger endanger his allies without at least giving them time to avoid his Decay, and with their own battles occurring, the odds of them avoiding it were low in addition to the three next to him that were unable to move...it was checkmate.

Not that Tomura would accept that.

"Cocky Bastard," he stood back up, keeping his knees bent, "You're making it really hard not to kill you!"

The villain finally had enough and rushed forward to attack the Dark Knight, his coat flowing behind him and showing his impressive speed. Reaching his right hand forward, Tomura aimed to take hold of Batman and kill the hero here and now thanks to his constant interference.

Of course, the well-trained Batman was more than ready for the straightforward attack, after all, he'd already come up with ways to deal with this foe, even if he'd had the misfortune of using these tactics against another member yesterday who was unaffected by normal means of attack. Shigaraki would be much easier to bring down than the inhuman.

The hero swiftly moved to Tomura's right side, letting the villain pass him slightly with his outstretched arm. With his opponent off-balance, Batman went to grab the offending limb to incapacitate Shigaraki, aiming to hit the arm and leave it useless for the young man for a few moments. As he was about to make good on his counterattack, Batman had to lean back to avoid the deadly left hand of Shigaraki as he swiped at him.

Taken by surprise at the sudden retaliation, the hero noticed that Tomura had stopped himself shortly after realizing he would most likely be avoided.

'He didn't overextend...' Batman thought quickly for soon after his vision was obscured by the back of the villain's coat. The black article of clothing hid the villain from view, no doubt using it as the hero did in their previous fight. Batman kept his wits, waiting for the surprise attack, and was caught off guard when he was swept off his feet by a sweeping kick to his legs.

The Dark Knight did not expect the hands-on villain to use a kick to knock him down.

From behind his coat, Tomura revealed himself, staring directly into the cowled visage of The Bat. And without hesitation, he went for the kill, going to grab the hero's face for an instant kill. The offending limb was quickly grabbed by Batman who had stayed calm even after tripping, using that to essentially keep himself upright.

An elbow from Batman then went for Tomura's chest without preamble the goal being to injure the villain, stun him, and allow Batman to right himself. This act would have succeeded as well if not for the hand that had been raised to block it.

Palm facing outward, Tomura caught Batman's elbow, lessening the force that it would have had even though it still hit. It only took a second for Batman to realize the compromising position he was in and even less time for Shigaraki to bring all his fingers down to touch it.

Instantly, Batman disengaged with Tomura, needing to act quickly before he was killed. With practiced precision, Batman took hold of his costume and tore the fabric away as the decaying hole started to grow out. He took a moment to inspect the area and saw that there was no lasting damage, the torn piece of fabric fading away as it floated through the air.

'He's improved...' Batman thought to himself with a frown, watching the villain carefully, especially his hands, 'Even so, it isn't his strong suit...his stamina most likely isn't much, so if I outlast him, he'll make mistakes...' his plan of action made, Batman decided to keep pressure on Tomura.

The villain met him in the middle, more than ready to fight the Bat.

Behind them, Peridot and Bucciarati observed their fight in silence...that is until the alien was sure that the hero in front of her was too preoccupied with his fight to notice that she was speaking.

"What are you doing?" she whispered lowly to the man at her back.

His face unchanging, Bucciarati looked from the corner of his eye at his companion, giving away nothing.

"Your apparition..." she also looked in her periphery at him, "It operates separately from you, surely it could free us, and you could offer your assistance," Peridot was sure in her words, stating the facts as she often did.

Taking a moment to look back at the two fighting, the Italian answered, "You're intelligent, Peridot," he said simply.

"Yes..." wondering where he was going since he had not answered her.

"Did you notice how Batman reacted when he entered?" he asked her. When he received no answer he continued, "For the slightest moment, he was taken by surprise, and that was when he'd laid eyes on us."

That got the Gem to think back, remembering that the hero's first act was to immobilize the two of them.

"He was not expecting the two of us...at most, he'd only assume the existence of one. This is the first time he's seen us, so it only makes sense that he would want to prioritize the capture of unknowns that could possibly ruin his plan," Bucciarati explained.

"And that, while a fair move, is his mistake. With Sticky Fingers, I can indeed free us, but for the moment, the way my powers work is a blind spot for the heroes," he took a look around the room, seeing Gaz and Dabi fighting their respective opponents, forced to assume how Mahito and Bakugo were fairing, ending with him resting his eyes on his leader's fight.

"No doubt I will most likely have to give up my anonymity tonight..." he finally turned his head to look at Peridot, determination burning in his eyes as if his future actions were set already, "And if that's to be the case, then I'd rather reveal myself when there is absolutely no other choice...if the situation starts becoming that bleak," he said seriously, no compromise in him.

"I see...a rather risky plan, but one that has a high chance of success," Peridot ran through the scenario in her head and could not find any serious faults in it, for a human he was intelligent.

"Just keep yourself prepared for when I act...time will be a valuable resource," Bucciarati kept his attention on Tomura, wanting to act as soon as possible if the worst came to pass.

(Gaz vs. Firestorm)

Up above, in the rafters, Gaz was flashing around shooting bolts of lightning at Firestorm who was giving chase. In response to her lightning, Firestorm was firing his own nuclear blasts, though they missed of course given the young girl's incredible speed.

Another bolt cracked across the room, taking the Nuclear Man slightly by surprise, so he raised his fist. Interestingly, instead of the attack shocking him as she'd intended, the lightning bolt had ricocheted off the hero's fist, veering off its course and colliding with the wall.

'He deflected it?' she thought in slight confusion, one of her eyes narrowing at the hero who'd gone to rush at her. Knowing that she could be harmed by the man's abilities, Gaz had her form slip through the rafter she was standing on, utilizing her incorporeal form to avoid Firestorm's charge.

'Wish I remembered this guy...' she thought in irritation, racking her brain to figure out how he was able to hit her while landing on the floor.

'He must be generating the same charge as me, but it isn't from anything magnetic or electrically charged...so how...' she observed the hero closely, zeroing in on his hands, and noticing the energy that enveloped them.

'He deflected it...with no electrical charge...' wanting to test the idea she had forming in her mind; Gaz fired another bolt of lightning at the hero and watched carefully as he'd once again diverted the electricity safely away from him.

And then it clicked in her mind.

"Nuclear Fission and Ionization."

The mumbled words reached Firestorm's ears, surprising him that this girl who looked to still be in elementary school figured out what he was doing.

"That's what you're doing, right?" she looked at him, "All that heat and radiation you're emitting from your hands, you're using it as a catalyst to separate the electrons from the oxygen atoms in the air, and using their negative charge to repel me and my electricity..." Gaz showed her knowledge easily to the teen hero.

'This girl is very intelligent...it's a shame she's using it to hurt others...' Martin had to admit with some begrudging respect.

"Obsolete."

That word knocked them out of their shared consciousness.

"What?" Firestorm frowned.

"You're obsolete. All that power comes at a cost, doesn't it? It can't last forever, that's why we're looking for alternatives," she glared at him with a kind of personal disdain that had suddenly come through, "You'll burn out eventually, but not me."

Furrowing his brow, Firestorm went back on the attack, firing another nuclear blast at the girl. She avoided the projectiles that rained down on her easily, lightning coming from her hand to try and catch the man off guard.

Unfortunately, it was still deflected by his negatively charged hands, making the small girl click her teeth in annoyance.

"Even if you can last longer, kid!" he reared a fist back to hit her, throwing his fist forward it collided with the girl's hands when she raised them up to block the hit.

"Doesn't matter if I can block you!"

The power behind it made her form fizzle a tad despite her block but managed to mitigate the damage enough that she was not sent flying backward. She skids along the floor, thinking over her options for attacking when her main form is ineffective. The answer came when her foot came into contact with a collection of nuts that had fallen away from their hideout at her feet, giving her an idea.

Her plan formed; she dodged another hit from the hero, watching him fly above her with a careful eye.

"Fine, I get it," she grabbed the nuts from the floor and held them in her hand, "Lightning won't work," she brought her other hand up and used it in tandem with the first to roll the nuts between them. She'd magnetized the nuts, and when finished she spread her hands, the nuts following the hand that was flourishing around her to have them float in a half circle above her head.

Her eyes wide open to stare into the nervous hero's soul, Gaz spoke deliberately, "But lightning is hardly the only thing electricity can do..."

One of the nuts floated just ahead of her outstretched palm, her left hand holding her forearm. Electricity began to spark from Gaz's fingertips to touch the nut, the noise growing as it charged with more and more power and before long it even began to arc off Gaz and touch the ground around her.

Firestorm wondered what she was up to. Whatever it was, it was taking time for her to pull off, time he planned on using to his advantage.

'She's leaving herself open!' Jax thought, flying at her with a nuclear blast at the ready.

'Indeed, but why would she...' Martin wondered to himself. His floating head's eyes widened at the realization of what the girl was doing and warned Jackson before he could make a grave mistake.

'Jefferson! Evade!'

The sudden warning by the doctor surprised Jax enough that he stopped his charge, and just in time as well.

It was then, with a powerful sonic boom that the nut in Gaz's hand was fired with explosive speed. The projectile was less than a blur as it left, it practically disappeared into thin air it was moving so fast, it was only by pure chance and the previous warning to dodge he'd received from his second consciousness that Firestorm was able to narrowly avoid the supersonic projectile.

Almost instantaneously after the powerful shockwave of sound, a hole had been created in the ceiling behind the Nuclear Man. Panting in apprehension, pupils shrunken, Firestorm let his eyes drift down to his right cheek to show that he had been nicked by the projectile, a thin cut opened on it, showing just how close he'd been to death.

'No way...did she...?' Jax came to realize, just like his mentor, what the girl had done.

'A railgun...she made herself a railgun...' Martin's voice was shaking, the implications of such an ability not lost on him. 'To so casually create such a devastating weapon...the sheer amount of power she'd need...'

"Tch," Gaz clicked her teeth again, upset she'd only managed to nick him, "It's hard to aim," with a thought, another nut made its way to her hand, "But I'll get better..." she said seriously, already beginning to charge another.

'And if she is a being of pure energy...then she can make good on that threat!' Stein sweat. 'Jefferson, you must be exceedingly careful!'

Firestorm grits his teeth on the outside, 'We can't win if we only dodge, doc! We have to go on the offensive...it takes time for her to charge it up!' he charged a nuclear blast in his hand

'Jefferson!'

'If I hit her before she's finished, she's done!'

"I'm not letting you get away with that!" he fired his blast at her.

She made no move to avoid the beam, remaining calm, "Of course, you wouldn't..." from within herself, electricity grew to the point her entire form began to glow. Rather than having her power go to a specific limb, Gaz had it spread throughout her body, building it up before having it explode outward in an instant.

Creating a sound that many were intimately familiar with in a storm.

A thunderclap.

In a flash of light, another sonic boom reverberated in the hideout, different from the one that came from her railgun. This had the more natural sound of thunder to accompany it.

"Ugh!" Firestorm covered his ears from the loud noise.

'She superheated the air in an instant and created thunder!' Stein was again surprised at this girl's intellect, her versatility with her vast power showed that she didn't limit herself to the more traditional uses of electrokinesis.

This move of Gaz's was threefold, the sudden expansion of air made a shockwave that nullified Firestorm's attack before it could reach her, the peal of thunder served to stun the hero, and the flash of light made him lose track of her.

"Try dodging this."

Her voice came from behind the hero, making him turn around quickly to see her fully charged and ready to deliver another railgun shot at this short distance. There was precious little time for Firestorm to come up with a plan, he could never dream of dodging the nut again with it being this close to him, and as the telltale sign of the charge nearing its end reached his ears, he decided to take a gamble.

Putting everything he had into his hands, the gathered electrons around them giving off a faint blue glow, Firestorm, almost automatically, brought his hands up in front of him just as Gaz fired her projectile. Another sonic boom resounded around the two, but there was no subsequent sound of flesh being torn through, instead, Gaz had to open an eye in surprise when she saw that the nut had been deflected much like her lightning.

Firestorm had managed to redirect the nut into the ceiling with no small amount of effort to pull it off.

'He deflected it?' she frowned in irritation that the man had survived her attack, the thunder strategy probably wouldn't be working again. She had to come back to herself when the hero attempted to strike her, it was pretty weak and slow in comparison to the vigor he'd been showing. Taking note of this, Gaz flashed herself back down onto the ground and took a few seconds to observe.

Wincing, the Nuclear Man looked down at his hands to see that they were trembling slightly, tremors of pain coursing through them intermittently. Being honest with himself, after taking that hit, he was surprised that they were still there.

'That was reckless, Jefferson,' Stein reprimanded the young man for his foolish move.

'Not like I had much of a choice, doc...she had us point-blank,' Jax shook his hands, trying to get some feeling back in them.

'Even so, I would not recommend doing it again there are far too many factors that could go awry. The amount of energy you have to output just to counter the shot leaves you exhausted, add in the speed, and it's a coin toss whether you'll be able to do it reliably,' Martin told the hero.

'Actually, doc...I think I have a plan...' Firestorm subtly looked around, putting something together.

Below, Gaz watched the hero's actions, taking note of the clear exhaustion that he exhibited after the near-death experience he'd had.

'He's looking pretty tired...probably can't do that too many more times...' Gaz reached a hand up to grab another of her nuts, the remaining ones shifted slightly to the left behind her as if on an assembly line waiting for their turn. She noted the number she had left...

'Four shots...better make them count.'

'And what is this plan?' Martin asked.

You trust me, don't you, doc?' Jax asked, watching the girl ready another railgun shot.

'As much as one can when sharing a consciousness,' which was to say, 'very much'.

'Then I'm gonna need your help...' Firestorm readied his hands again, planning to divert a nut a second time, '...I want you to add in your focus to Firestorm's...with the two of us, just maybe, we might be able to catch this thing,' Jax told his partner.

'An interesting idea...very well, just don't die...'

Unknowingly, Firestorm was having a similar thought process to his opponent.

'I'll sacrifice one shot, just to check...'

Both were looking to test the waters so to speak, and the results would dictate how they would proceed through the fight.

Now ready, Gaz fired her third shot at the Nuclear Man, keeping her eyes zeroed in on his reaction to it. Faster than the naked eye could catch, the supersonic projectile barreled toward the hero who made no moves to avoid it.

Firestorm's glowing eyes grew in intensity, and all distractions fell away. He gained tunnel vision as all his focus was taken up by the danger coming at him. Just when it looked like he would be struck by the deadly nut, he raised his hands and for the second time avoided a critical hit.

The shot was again forced into the ceiling, leaving a sweating and panting Firestorm mostly unharmed other than the renewed pain that coursed through his hands.

'We did it!' Firestorm cheered in his head.

'Just barely...you won't be doing it too much more, even if you block all of them,' Martin, while relieved, could tell that winning would not be feasible if they defended every shot. It left them far too winded, and that would be deadly against someone who had no such weakness.

'So, he can block them...' Gaz moved on to the next nut, 'But only just...he won't be able to keep it up, and that'll be my opening...' she took the lost shot in stride. 'Keeping my distance gives him more of a chance to dodge or block, so I'll whittle him down, and get in close again.'

She ran to the side, making the hero follow behind her.

'I hope this idea of yours works, Jefferson.'

'Just need one last shot, doc, then we'll have her,' Firestorm fired at her to not make it too obvious that he was waiting for her next shot.

Easily avoiding the nuclear blast, Gaz took aim with her right hand. In response to her taking her firing stance, he got himself ready to block it, combining both of his halves' focus so he could be ready for it. As Gaz charged her shot, she suddenly took her left hand and pointed the index finger at her opponent, letting loose a lightning bolt from it.

The sudden change in tactic took Firestorm by surprise but his extreme tunnel vision allowed him to deflect the comparatively slower shot. As the lightning struck the wall of the building, he felt his blood run cold, meeting eyes with the girl as she finished charging...

"Forgot I could do that?" she asked rhetorically, then fired her deadly projectile at the hero's compromised position.

With Firestorm still in the midst of recovering from his previous block, he would not be able to properly steel himself for the railgun shot. No other option available to him, Firestorm let his flight deactivate for a quick second, the sudden fall moving him out of the path of the nut just as it had whizzed by his head. The hero did not let that near-miss stall him, knowing that the living bolt would capitalize on the opening, and righted himself in midair.

And not a moment too soon, for when he stared back down at her, he saw that another nut had already been charging in her hand.

Gaz had used a double fake-out. The lightning bolt acted as a way to make the hero waste his energy blocking it, forcing him to dodge the following railgun shot, and thus setting him up for the second. As she had fired the first shot, Gaz had the second to last nut take place in her left hand which she'd kept out of Firestorm's view so she could catch him unawares...

And she did.

Even more so thanks to the fact she decided to take less time devoting to the charge of the nut so she could release it faster than the hero was used to. The shot, like all of them, rang through the air.

Firestorm, unprepared for the premature shot, barely had any time to react practically relying on his instincts as he brought his arms up to redirect the shot. Power focused into his hands, the Nuclear Man brought them together and with a roar of exertion forced the shot upward into the ceiling, but it clearly winded him to do so.

Firestorm's arms fell limply at his side, the strength leaving them along with the glow of his powers. He panted, exhausted, he managed to keep himself alive through the barrage, yet his eyes seemed to go up to the ceiling, focusing on something.

A costly decision.

Instantly, Gaz was before him, arm aimed, and her final projectile loaded at the ready. The vulnerable hero didn't even seem to have the strength to be shocked anymore, only able to stare at the girl before him with half-lidded eyes.

"I told you," she spoke over the sound of her charging, "Obsolete...you can't keep up with me," those simple words, spoken so lowly, so ominously, had such gravity to them even coming from the mouth of a child.

Her piece said, the two silently stared at one another, the low electrical hum of Gaz's powers the only sound between them, with blue light illuminating their faces. The pitch of the charging grew higher and higher until it reached its zenith and Gaz finally released the nut at Firestorm.

'Jefferson!' Martin cried in concern for the young man, the sound of the shot drowning out his voice and the flash of it obscuring his vision.

*Cough*

A bloody cough reached the ears of the floating head and the electrical villain, taking the two by surprise. Once the intense blue light died down, Gaz's eyes opened in shock when she saw the form of Firestorm still aloft in front of her with a hole in his side from her railgun.

'This close!?' she shouted in her mind.

'Remarkable, Jefferson,' the professor wished he had his body right now so he could give the boy a pat on his back.

Firestorm had a bloody smile on his face, a hand going to his side to apply pressure and relieve the bleeding as best he could, 'Nah, it was just dumb luck, doc. She said at the beginning that it was hard for her to aim, so she had to be sure of each shot she made. I figured she would want to get in close to finish it and aim for center mass just to make sure she didn't miss,' he took his hand from his side, and the fire in his eyes returned.

'It may be fast, but when you know it's coming, it isn't so scary!'

While he was speaking to Stein in his mind, aloud he was talking to the frowning girl.

"You're right, I couldn't keep up with you," he wheezed, fighting through the pain in his side, "It was taking too much outta me to stop your shots." It was then that his hand lit up again, "But don't think I didn't block that shot because I ran out of juice..." the hero shot his nuclear blasts up to the ceiling, "...I needed to save some for this!"

Without breaking her gaze on the hero, Gaz shifted herself backward, 'I don't know what he's up to...I'll get some distance and resupply. There's bound to be some more-!' her thoughts were halted when her back collided with something, an echoing dull thud resounding around her.

Turning just enough so she could see the object in her periphery, an eye opened when she put together what was surrounding her.

'Glass?'

A triangular window had fallen from the ceiling, entrapping Gazlene in its confines. Firestorm had used his blasts to trigger this trap, using the second skylight in the villains' hideout to his advantage.

Putting two and two together, Gaz realized that the hero had been using her shots this whole time to break up the ceiling around the skylight, taking care not to shatter his path to victory. He waited for her to waste every nut she had collected and used them to create a safe path of damage that could have the precious material break away from the roof to slam down on Gaz, encasing her inside.

'I can't pass through...' Given that glass was a poor conductor, she knew simply phasing through was out of the question, but that did not stop her. Gathering energy in her arm, she aimed at the glass ahead of her and the hero beyond it, "I can still shatter it."

Seeing that his trap worked, Firestorm moved on to the next step.

From within her prison, Gaz fired off her electricity just as Firestorm had launched his own blast as well. Expecting a loud shattering noise, the girl's head perked up when no such thing happened. Instead, what she saw was a black color overtaking the glass slowly until it had completely replaced it.

The real issue though was that whatever this was, was totally negating her powers, not allowing any of the electricity through. Ending her attack, Gaz watched the blue sparks of electricity slowly disappear into the material without anything to propagate with.

'I remember this guy now...' she ground her teeth together when she realized that she went from one insulator to another, 'Rubber.'

On the outside, Firestorm had indeed transmuted the glass of the skylight into rubber along with changing the overall shape of it from a triangular prism to a sphere. This move left Gaz in the middle of the sphere with no way to view outside thanks to its opaqueness.

Within her darkened prison, Gaz thought to herself, wondering why Firestorm would bother with this. It was only a temporary obstacle for her with ways to bypass the natural insulative properties of what was considered its poster child.

"So, he thinks that he can insulate me..." she cast her gaze to the sides of the darkened sphere, "Even if it could withstand what I can output..." A small arc of electricity formed between her index finger and thumb as she brought them close together.

"It can't hold up against the electrical heat it'll build up," she rose from the bottom of the sphere, power charging in her hands, "I'll melt right through."

Just as she was going to make good on her escape plan the sudden appearance of a pole ripping through the rubber ball stunned her. Gaz's large brown eyes shot open as she watched the pole shoot towards her.

"What!?" she vocalized her shock...

Then grunted in further surprise when the pole impaled her through the chest.

"Unh!" she growled, seeing that the weapon did not stop, coming out through her back and piercing through the opposite side of the sphere. The end of the pole was driven into the ground outside the ball, resting there.

The culprit was, of course, Firestorm who was already in the process of stabbing another pole into the ball.

"Not finished yet!" he exclaimed, multiple poles held under his arm and flying around the sphere.

One after another, the poles jut into the sphere's interior. They stabbed through Gaz's body, leaving her physically unharmed thanks to being pure electricity but managing to keep her from moving. One through her chest, two forming an 'X' as they'd run through the sides of her collarbone, one going horizontally through her waist, another that had gone through her back similarly to the first that had gone into her chest. On the outside, Firestorm observed his handiwork, the large black rubber ball with numerous poles running through it, raising it up from the ground as if it were on stilts; and on the inside, the skewered girl found it difficult for her to move her body, run through as it was, and found that harnessing her powers was difficult.

"When you told me I was obsolete...it was hard for me to disagree, especially compared to you..." Firestorm spoke, not even completely sure that the girl could hear him, but continued nonetheless, "Nuclear fission is no joke...it's a drain, and it can only go so far, but it got me thinking..."

Inside the ball, Gaz attempted to call electricity to her hand, raising the partially clenched appendage so she could stare into her palm. She could see the sparks form between her fingers, but it was weak...she could feel a pull on the energy that made it refuse to fully manifest.

"You may not wanna think about it, but you're a lot like me..." Firestorm lifted his tired head, a dull blue glowing from within the rubber ball, yet he was unconcerned as if knowing it would lead to nothing.

"You have to follow laws just like I do."

Gaz tried to up the amount of power she was trying to bring forth, but that same drain on her occurred. It was to the point that she was trying to use her powers so hard that she was glowing, putting more and more force into it to make the electricity come out.

"I can't make something out of nothing, things I transmute will have to keep the same mass as the thing I transmuted it from...and for you, electricity has to follow its natural laws..."

Her frustration reaching its peak, Gaz shouted angrily, outputting as much power as she could all at once to try and escape this prison. Hands clenched into fists and down by her waist, and her legs splayed outward with toes pointing down, Gaz screamed in the confines of the ball.

"Electricity is always looking to discharge its excess energy, like lightning in a storm striking Earth...but you know that already, don't you?" Firestorm heard the girl's shouting.

This explanation rang true as the poles were channeling all the electricity Gaz was giving off, having the blue arcs flow down through them...

"So, I gave it a direct path to do that, and you can't resist..."

...The electricity flowed out of the ball, through the poles, and then harmlessly dispersed as it reached the floor of the building.

"You probably already know, basically you're..."

The result of this had already been bouncing around Gaz's head as soon as the rain of poles had been brought into the equation, which is why she was so desperate to free herself. Knowing full well what a maneuver like this would do to her, Gaz tried to struggle against the pull...

She could not.

She was...

"Grounded."

The poles made a direct line for the electricity to flow into the Earth harmlessly diffusing the deadly power, trapping the girl within the insulated ball, and leaving her no way to escape.

No escape...

That idea seemed to finally set in for Gaz.

Her eyes wide open, Gaz's pupils darted around the darkened confines, and she started to hyperventilate. The darkness that surrounded her felt like it was closing in, making it harder and harder for her to breathe.

She was alone...in the dark...powerless...again...

"No...no...no," she whispered, her voice gaining a shaky quality to it. Unbidden, her powers responded to her fragile mental state. It didn't matter that they wouldn't do anything to free her...it was the furthest thing from her mind.

All that mattered was getting out!

"LET ME OUT!" a very uncharacteristic scream of unbridled sadness tore from her throat, sounding on the verge of tears. Panic was clear in her eyes along with desperation as Gaz tried and failed continually to use her powers to get her out of the darkened ball...but if one were to look directly into those large eyes, it would also be obvious that she seemed to be staring at something else.

Something from the past...

"GET ME OUT OF HERE! PLEASE!"

The sorrowful wails continued in this fashion.

For those that had been around the girl, they would say it was the most she had ever felt like a child...

Firestorm himself was not unaffected by these cries. He bit his lip, looked down at the floor, and through the pain that was still present in his gloved hands, clenched them to the point his nails would have dug into his skin.

'Be proud, Jefferson, you won...' Stein tried to ease the turmoil in his partner, his head appearing over Firestorm's shoulder, '...You gave her a chance to surrender, there's nothing to feel ashamed over.'

"I know, doc," he spoke aloud too upset to bother thinking his response, "I'm glad we won, she needed to be stopped...but still..." he looked back at the ball, Gaz had stopped releasing her powers and shouting...but soft sobs could be heard inside.

"You can't help but feel like shit when you make a kid cry..."

'I suppose you're right...' the floating head looked down unable to deny that the sound made his heart clench.

Back in the foyer's center, whips of wind followed the movements of the two leads of the opposing groups as they fought with each other. After this series of attacks, it ended with Tomura getting a fist to his face that was partly mitigated by the disembodied hand covering it. He took the blow, skidding backward, sneakers squeaking against the floor, and ending with a glare directed at the hero slightly crouching.

"Annoying bastard..." Tomura huffed under his breath. He was visibly sweating and breathing heavily.

Throughout his fight with the Dark Knight, he had been slowing gradually as it dragged on. His sharp, fast movements began to become much clearer to The Batman, easier to avoid and counter, which led to the villain leader taking a good few hits by the man.

In contrast to Shigaraki, Batman's breathing wasn't so much as ruffled. The hero still stood ahead of Shigaraki, frown still in place, and only the thinnest sheen of sweat beginning to form on him.

His experience with such fights showed, using all his skills to optimum efficiency without wasting movements unless they were necessary.

Done with waiting and ready to get back to fighting, Shigaraki stopped his charge before it could even start when screaming reached his ears.

He was not the only one to recognize the voice as it shouted, which, to all those who did, it was all the more jarring.

To them, that voice even raising from its deadpan pitch was foreign, even more when the anguish was added.

It distracted Tomura for a second who could not resist turning his head toward the odd black ball that had suddenly appeared in the hideout to check on the girl responsible for the scream.

"Gaz?"

The other members that were present also had their attention arrested by the wails to varying degrees, the tied-up Peridot shot her head in the direction of the shout with a slightly panicked expression that she did her best to hide, her logical mind already trying to rationalize what she was seeing; Bucciarati's concern was much more evident on his face, though it also reflected his restraint, wanting nothing more than to assist but stayed himself...it wouldn't do to fly off the handle, he could do more where he was; Dabi only paid the screams the barest of his attention, simply moving his eyes to the side to show that he'd heard them, but did not turn to see what the issue was, not even showing that he was worried about her, too focused on his fight with Fire.

And similarly to the villainous pyrokinetic, Batman kept his focus on his task. Whether construed by the villains as heartlessness or his extreme drive, it did not matter...

What did, was stopping them here.

Taking the leader's distraction as an opening, the hero jumped on this chance to take him down. His fist raised to strike Shigaraki while he was unawares and with the necessary strength to knock the villain out, it seemed like a done deal for the Dark Knight.

If not for a certain individual's intervention.

"Sutikkyi Fingāzu (Sticky Fingers)!"

The unfamiliar shout caught Batman's attention, but he did not break stride, figuring whatever it was would not be able to stop him when he was mere inches from striking his target.

And under normal circumstances, he would have been right.

A gloved fist suddenly came into his vision, rushing forward to smash into Batman's cowled visage. With great control, Batman stopped his rush and moved his head backward to narrowly avoid the swing.

He studied the odd humanoid that was ahead of him, not recognizing it, but he did recognize the ability it was using.

On his chin a zipper appeared, shocking him enough that he missed the humanoid spin and brought its leg around to kick him in the ribs. Narrowing his eyes, Batman got over his surprise enough to jump back from the kick while taking notice that whatever this was floated above the ground.

He expected it to press the attack but watched as it hovered back over to the two that he had tied up in his grapnel wire, freeing them when its fingers touched the wire by creating another zipper and unzipping it. The zipper on his chin had also disappeared, leaving him to rub the spot that it had occupied as he observed the criminals collect themselves, carefully trying to think of another plan.

'So, he's the one responsible for their escape yesterday...' he remembered the strange zipper that had whisked the League of Villains away when they'd been cornered, 'I never would have expected the ability to manifest separately from the user...sloppy...' he admonished/reprimanded himself.

Now free, Bucciarati took the time to whisper something to Peridot who scrambled away to carry out whatever she'd been told. The Italian villain then took position next to his leader, staring down the Dark Knight with him.

"Are you well?" he asked.

"I'm fine..." Tomura stood up; breathing having got more even now thanks to the small break and bringing his arm to his chin to swipe away some of the collected sweat.

Bucciarati subtly cast his gaze on his leader and could see the exhaustion he exhibited, 'Remaining strong, even now,' his eyes lowered to the scuffs Tomura had incurred from the near misses he'd had in his fight with Batman and the dirt marring his outfit, 'While he did hold his own, the outcome would have been clear if not for my intervention...or that distraction...'

"I shall assist you," Bucciarati offered with Sticky Fingers taking a place next to its creator, ready to fight.

"Fine..." Tomura ground out with mild irritation, refocusing his mind on the danger ahead so he could turn it towards the other issues they'd need to deal with later.

'To defeat Gaz is not an easy task,' Bucciarati narrowed his eyes, the situation becoming clearer in his mind, 'We've underestimated this group that Batman has brought with him...their skills are tailored to our weaknesses...'

Without warning Tomura went back on the offensive, leaving Bucciarati still in his thoughts though he sent the apparition of psychic energy forward to supplement Tomura in his charge.

'It seems his machinations are going as he'd imagined...we are in need of an unforeseen turn to disrupt them,' and the first thing that came to mind for him was their inhuman teammate since he had more than once thrown things off for the heroes, 'His transfigured humans are invaluable as reinforcements. They could easily tip the scales in our favor. Yet, that only begs the question...'

His eyes went to the window that Mahito had been thrown out of.

'Where is he?' Bucciarati found himself asking. Mahito had often made short work of his opponents because of what he is...for him to have not returned was worrying...

(Mahito vs. Zatanna and Zatara)

'This feeling hasn't disappeared...' Mahito thought while he was in the process of using Mui Tenpen. His right hand was out at his side, one of the shrunken husks held within it in preparation to throw the creature once his energy began to mutate it...

Only for a painful shock to run up his arm, freezing the nonhuman for a second thanks to its sudden appearance. He looked at his arm to see that the purple aura associated with his powers had flowed up his arm to transfigure the human, but for some reason, it refused to go through the actual technique.

Almost against his wishes, his hand opened, releasing the husk from his clutches and ceasing the flow of his aura from his arm to end the shock of pain. Mahito was not given much time to ponder the odd occurrence outside of surface-level observance when his arm was completely ripped from his body.

The familiar pain that he'd felt at the beginning of his battle took hold again. He looked at the empty space where his arm had been with a pained and confused expression when the voice of the female sorcerer reached his ears.

"You won't be doing that," she smirked at him, looking directly into his widened, pained eyes, "We set up a barrier that won't let your magic flow out of you!" she fired another beam at him, like the one that had disintegrated his arm.

"I won't let you use those people!"

Having regrown his arm, Mahito was struck in the stomach head-on by the magical laser, making him double over. The impact pushed him back along the dirt and gravel and had him panting to stifle the pain that he was so unused to.

'So that was why...' he huffed, his eyes watching Zatanna as she floated herself around him.

The shock he'd felt had been thanks to the sorcerers preparing a series of magical symbols to surround the area they would be fighting in. They'd used the time waiting for Mahito's arrival to ensure an edge for themselves and their group, knowing of the nonhuman's use of the monsters he'd made as reinforcements and support for the League of Villains.

Cutting Mahito's effective strength.

But...

'...That isn't what I'm feeling...' Mahito frowned, trying to understand this new sensation that burgeoned in his chest.

He knew it wasn't the pain...

It was something else.

Behind him, he sensed the other sorcerer approach from the air, no doubt aiming to attack him in his vulnerable state.

'The older sorcerer...' he gave nothing away to show that he'd noticed Zatara. He subtly began to transfigure his body, multiple protrusions started to emerge from his back and their points began to sharpen.

Extending out, the spikes aimed to skewer Zatara, catching the magician unawares from the sudden and unorthodox defense.

"Llud siht s'retsnom sekips!" Zatanna called her spell. Her wand released a wide, thin beam that nicked the sharpened tips of the spikes leaving dull nubs that would not be able to harm anyone.

This move saved her father from a painful encounter and allowed him to conjure his own spell in retaliation, "Enivid gninthgil etims ruo eof!"

A streak of purple lightning appeared from nowhere and struck Mahito with deadly accuracy. The attack left scorched ground, and the singed nonhuman at its center; eyes rolled up to show pure white such was the pain he was feeling, small shakes racking his body.

'They're reading the flow of my energy...' he guessed. It would explain how they were able to react so quickly to each of his attempted attacks. 'I can only rely on self-transfiguration...' he kept his eye on Zatanna, 'No use making myself a bigger target, I need to be swift and precise!'

Once the female magician reached a good position, Mahito went for a strike intending to skewer her head. He shot his arm out and had it extend and sharpen to a point, focusing on making the attack fast to catch her off guard and making sure that his aura wasn't as easily read thanks to the relatively small amount it needed.

"Knis siht nomed ot eht shtped!" Zatara sent a swirl of magic at Mahito that went into the ground, causing it to liquefy to a consistency of quicksand beneath the nonhuman's feet.

This spell caused Mahito to dip slightly into the ground and the sudden loss of balance made his spike-arm veer off course. The deadly weapon wound up just barely missing Zatanna, it managed to take a few strands of hair from the magician's head but otherwise untouched.

'Attacking my footing?' he looked down to see that his feet had disappeared into the ground and before he could remove them from the trap the ground returned to its original form, leaving him stuck.

The few seconds that it would take for him to free himself gave another opening for the sorcerers to exploit, namely Zatanna. With a wave of her wand and another backward spell, several objects levitated and raced toward the inhuman creature.

"Lemmup eht retsnom!" a malfunctioning streetlamp, a few pieces of rubble from the decrepit stone wall surrounding the building, and another...heavy object heeded Zatanna's call.

'Their attacks...' Mahito, after hearing the spell, brought his head up just in time for his face to meet the steel of the streetlamp inches from colliding with it, '...they coordinate them one after the other...'

The weapon smashed into Mahito's face, the magic enveloping it allowing the mundane object to do serious damage. The hit made Mahito's face swing to the side for a piece of rubble to fly in to crash into him as well.

A series of similar blows from these objects, minus the heaviest one Zatanna had grabbed, beat the stuck Mahito at different points on his body giving him no openings to defend himself.

'There's no time for me to transfigure myself!' Mahito screamed in his mind, each hit more painful than the last.

And then a shadow loomed in front of him...

'And this feeling...' Mahito still felt that new, odd sensation nagging at him...

...as an abandoned vehicle ran into him, setting him free of the ground, but also sending him flying...toward the ready Zatara.

Regaining his bearings, his heterochromatic gaze met with Zatara's, and he began to ready himself to attack. Moving his right arm across his body, Mahito's hand took the shape of an orb, and spikes formed on the outside of it to create a mace. Determined to attack the magician, Mahito stretched the flesh of his arm to swing the weapon at the magician.

Zatara was unaffected.

A motion that the villainous nonhuman was getting used to seeing happened once more, a flourish of a wand and a spell cast.

"Dnes siht kcatta kcab ot sti resu!"

Mahito lost control of his limb, the attack slowly came to a stop before any of the spikes could so much as muss the man's suit, and then, defying anything natural, it turned on Mahito as the spell commanded.

Unable to return his armto its original shape, the mace stabbed into its creator, damaging Mahito further and the force making him fall.

'It isn't going away...it's only growing!' he was confused as he landed back on the ground, panting with blood dripping from the slowly closing holes in his body.

"Need rest?" Zatanna chimed in and waved her wand, "Evah a deb fo slian!"

The spell was an understatement as a series of spikes again skewered Mahito from below, leaving him stuck.

'It's completely different from my fight with Raven and Starfire!' Mahito was still focused on this growing feeling within himself.

"Hsurc!"

The familiar shadow of the abandoned car appeared above Mahito, and flattened him, driving the spikes even deeper.

'I've never felt this...' Mahito bounced off the ground when the car had been lifted off him thanks to the force it was brought down with. 'My soul...is hanging by a thread...I've taken too much damage!'

This revelation was surprising.

'Raven could only do surface-level harm...Hawkgirl even less...'

With his hair over his eye, Mahito tried to bring himself back up. One hand on the ground to prop himself up, knees resting on the ground with his feet behind to try and stand, and his other hand grabbing at his chest.

'But...this feeling...it's as if...'

"Finished?"

The amused Zatanna looked down at the nonhuman, she saw as he looked up the panic in his shrunken, shaking pupils.

'I'm staring down a beast much larger than me!'

To Mahito, a great tiger stood behind the two sorcerers that now stood before him, a beast that was looking to make him its next meal.

And that feeling inside took over.

'I have to escape!' thinking of nothing else, Mahito leaped to his feet and made a mad dash, looking to get out of this situation he'd found himself in...abandoning the others...all that mattered was that he got out of there!

Zatanna didn't miss her chance, "What's the matter?!" she shouted to him, blasting him with more magical energy-laden beams.

His panic was so great, Mahito did his best to ignore the hits that shaved chunks of his body off. His focus was solely on survival...survival?

'What am I doing?' Mahito did not stop fleeing even as this thought suddenly reached him. 'This situation...so similar...'

The pieces started to fall into place for him.

He had witnessed this scene multiple times, only the roles were reversed.

'This feeling...'

Zatanna by this point had stopped bombarding him with beams, instead, she would be using a weapon that had proven itself in this fight.

'I'm able to feel this!?' Mahito was shocked as the all-too-familiar shadow of the car appeared again.

Mahito had finally stopped running, turning to see the car barreling toward him. He had finally come to realize what he had been feeling...

'Is this fear? A fear of...'

A primal sense, one that all humans could feel, yet one he thought would remain foreign to him.

Fear of...

'死 (Death)!'

The revelation made; the vehicle rammed into Mahito with full force eventually ending with the object pinning the nonhuman against the stone wall. This left Mahito draped across the hood, his right hand trapped between the car and the wall while his left was free. Blood flowed freely from Mahito's mouth, pain clear on his face, and a dead stare in his eyes...realizing that he was defeated in more ways than one in this fight.

'So, this is what it feels like...' Mahito calmed, looking through half-lidded eyes, 'To think I'd be capable of feeling like a human...' it was painful irony, and it brought something that had been said to him at the beginning of this fight to his mind.

"More than that!"

Zatanna's words rang in his mind.

'Ah...so that's what she meant...' he thought humorlessly. He had no strength left in him to put up a fight, all that was left were his thoughts, 'My soul is in tatters...and not just from the damage.'

Within himself, he could feel that his soul had taken quite a beating from all the magic it had been subjected to during his fight, and now he had to add in the emotional turmoil he had gone through as well. That creeping feeling of his end had dulled him, caused him to forget everything but his survival...

...it was disgusting...

'I let everything get out of hand and lost myself...I allowed them to lead me around and now it's over...' Mahito started to close his eyes, ready to accept that this would most likely be the end for him, when he felt something.

'Wait...' Now that the excitement had dissipated, and his head had cleared, a familiar feeling had reached out to him, one that, during his fight, he'd been forced to forget...

Further introspection on what this was would have to remain a mystery for the moment as Zatanna had made her approach, though the gears in Mahito's head were still turning.

"Now you understand..." Zatanna fixed the defeated thing with a glare while he only watched her curiously, eyebrow raised, trying to figure out what she was getting at now. "This is only a fraction of the suffering you've put on other people," the female magician frowned, her mind going back to the horrific footage she'd seen of Mahito gleefully slaughtering innocents.

"You're going to pay back every bit of that suffering before we get rid of you, then maybe you'll regret what you've done to all those people."

Zatanna was deadly serious as she looked at Mahito with restrained anger, it was over, and she'd beaten the monster. His reign of terror would be over, and that group that he'd slotted himself in with would not be far behind.

Yet, completely opposite to her anger, and even the tired, defeated expression he'd had previously, Mahito had raised his head back up off the hood of the car as Zatanna had spoken to him...and slowly, as each word reached his ears, a smile came to his face, and that smile turned into a contained laugh and once she'd finished, it was let loose as a quick exhale that he'd barely stifled.

*Pft*

Despite him trying to contain his laugh, Zatanna heard it. Her eyes shot to Mahito's face, seeing him tremble due to the difficulty of trying to contain his laughter.

"What's so funny!" she ground out...he didn't get to laugh!

At her question, Mahito managed to bring himself under some control, though snickers escaped him, "I-I'm sorry...it's just...what you said..." he giggled, "You think that I pay any mind to the suffering of the humans I've killed?" Mahito leveled her glare with an uncompromising stare, not a hint of give as he spoke his next words.

"It's hilarious."

Zatanna bit her lip, hard.

"If I devoted time to remembering every scream of terror, every cry of agony...every beg for mercy, I wouldn't be able to function...there's just too many," Mahito spoke calmly, his held-back mirth subsiding, stopping the outburst Zatanna wanted to unleash, though it would continue to build.

For he spoke plainly with her.

"I think that's something that you can relate to."

Zatanna became extremely offended.

This thing thought that she had something in common with it!?

That she was anything like him!?

It physically made her recoil.

"I'M NOTHING LIKE YOU!"

In the face of her anger, Mahito remained calm, not even flinching.

"Oh, you think so?" he asked, "So then, you remember every criminal you've captured?"

The question made her pause.

"Do you pay them a second thought once you've brought them to justice, or do you simply put them away and struggle to even remember their face the next day?" Mahito continued to prod. "In a way, you ruin lives. Have you ever thought of what made those people commit such acts? If they had justifications? Perhaps they had no choice but to turn to such things to survive, or they needed to assist someone they cared about...does that eat away at you...knowing that those possibilities are there?" Mahito could see the conflict growing in her.

She had to admit that he was technically right...she didn't remember any of the common criminals she'd stopped...it was too easy for her to capture them. She was used to the process of coming in, using a spell to tie them up, and having the police take them from there.

Never once thinking how many of them truly deserved it or if some were up against a wall...

But...that didn't matter! They still broke the law...even if they did have justified reasons...they couldn't just do that!

Right?

"You save humans and capture criminals all without a second thought," Mahito told her the truth, one she didn't even realize, and the haunted look that came over her once she did, made his smile grow.

"And I kill humans without a second thought."

He said it bluntly, simply, no compromise, no doubt, self-assured.

"It's instinct," his eyes started to upturn, "In simpler terms, you could say it's akin to when you humans eat an animal."

The equation was already beginning to sicken Zatanna.

"Do you pay any heed to the slaughter that it had to go through in order to feed you, or do you eat? There's no deeper meaning behind the act, it's only to sate your hunger...your instinct to feed," Mahito's smile grew more as he continued, "Even if it was the best meal in your life, it eventually fades from your memory once the deed is done and you have a new favorite replace it."

By now Mahito's smile had grown to the point that it was stretching his face, cheeks curling upward to their utmost to convey the sheer joy he had in speaking about this, his eyes upturned so much that his pupils had almost disappeared. He took such enjoyment from this talk, this torture he was putting the woman that had defeated him through, that his current position was forgotten.

"It's that way with me and the humans I've killed. There's no use wasting time remembering them when I'll only add more...even the ones that are special will only hold my interest for so long before I kill them too, and they fade from my memory just the same..."

Zatanna felt sick to her stomach just being around this disgusting thing...that look of sheer, unadulterated glee on his face as he spoke of killing, slaughter, destruction, death, and anything else that could describe such actions...it held such weight.

How could something like this exist?

"That's why when you ask me if I think of all the suffering that I've caused..." Mahito swiped at the blood that pooled around his mouth with his tongue, ecstasy clear on his face just from thinking of the merciless massacres he'd yet to inflict.

"I can't help but laugh!"

And laugh Mahito did.

It was loud, mocking, the sound engulfed Zatanna as if she were falling into the nonhuman's wide-open mouth. His teeth were bared he was laughing so hard at the foolish little sorcerer that though he could ever relate to the suffering that those humans had, even after feeling fear for the first time he only had the faintest inkling that this was what they'd experienced.

That laugh!

That DAMN laugh!

She couldn't take it!

"SHUT UP!" Zatanna stalked forward...

...and it was a mistake.

Only a step forward, and Mahito, in an instant, used Mui Tenpen on his head. Hanging above the frozen woman, was Mahito's grotesque maw that he'd extended, rows and rows of sharp teeth filled the dark void looking to take a bite out of Zatanna and leave her legs behind to fall.

"aNd i DOubT i'lL reMEmBeR YOU eITHEr!" came Mahito's distorted voice, beginning to clench his jaws to kill the woman.

Time slowed for Zatanna, frozen in place, still in the middle of her stride as she had the barest hint of what was about to happen. Her eyes widened, looking positively dumbfounded while staring into the darkness that would become her final resting place, strings of Mahito's drool dripping around her.

'Dammit, he got me!' Zatanna shouted in her head, the only thing that could move fast enough in these circumstances, berating herself. 'I let him get to me! It can't end like this!' Zatanna was so angry that this annoying thing was going to be the end of her.

It wasn't fair!

"Ecnelis!"

A final beam of magic smashed into Mahito's mutated head, making him recoil and revert to his base form. Weakened as he was, Mahito could no longer hold onto consciousness. The world faded from his vision and his upper body slammed down on the hood of the car.

Zatanna's breath came rapidly, the brush with death she'd just experienced finally hitting her full force...and all from someone she'd thought defeated.

"I told you," Zatara walked up from behind his daughter, a serious look on his face, having observed the talk the two had and letting the girl make her own mistakes, intervening when the danger became too much. "You must keep hold of your emotions, Zatanna," he walked past her and stared at the downed villain.

"You cannot measure him by the standards of humanity..." he, too, was sickened by the disregard this...abomination exhibited, but he kept himself under control. "If he has the energy to speak, then he will most likely have the energy to attack," he turned back to his daughter, "He preyed on your emotions and goaded you into letting down your guard, swallowing you in his trick, Zatanna. You must remain disciplined," Zatara told her sternly.

"Sorry, Dad," Zatanna finally got herself under control, hugging herself for some comfort.

Nodding, Zatara called her over, "Come. Help me with the restraints, we cannot leave anything to chance."

Zatanna ran over to her father's side so they could begin placing magical restraints on Mahito that would prevent him from utilizing his magic in any way. Once he was properly contained, the research could begin into just how to exorcise this entity once and for all.

So focused, thanks to the commotion that had been stopped and the little time afforded, they both failed to notice Mahito's clenched left hand.

(Inside)

A hail of fists rained on Batman courtesy of Sticky Fingers. The barrage of punches would seem daunting to the inexperienced fighter, but to the Dark Knight, it was child's play to defend against. With practiced movements, Batman found a safe path through the wall of punches, weaving through the openings between them and using his hands to push any that would have otherwise hit away.

He made it a point to make sure that none of the punches would even graze him, knowing that a zipper would appear at the slightest touch.

From behind the hero, while he was preoccupied with defending himself, Tomura lunged forward with an outstretched hand ready to take hold of the Batman. In his periphery, Batman could see the villain taking advantage of his distracted state and moved to counter. Smacking both of the psychic apparition's fists away from him, Batman turned, grabbed Shigaraki's arm, and gave a shoulder toss.

In an attempt to get at least one hit on the hero, Sticky Fingers dodged around the airborne body of Tomura with a fist cocked back. Surging forward, the punch only met air since the Dark Knight had taken a jump backward.

Sticky Fingers had only followed for the slightest of moments before it was called back, swiftly catching Tomura before he could hit the floor, placing him safely on the ground then retaking its position next to him.

Bucciarati was still standing behind the two, observing the battle with a critical eye with a hint of respect for their opponent.

'Batman continues to show his skill...' Bucciarati sent Sticky Fingers forward again in response to Batman re-engaging, 'Not only is he holding his own against two opponents easily, he's deduced Sticky Fingers weakness...'

Again, Batman created some distance between himself and his opponents, and while Tomura continued his attack, Sticky Fingers noticeably stayedbehind either refusing to move forward or, as Batman assumed, could not.

'Over the course of this battle, he was able to realize that Sticky Fingers' range is finite. The further it is from me, the slower and less precise its movements become along with its strength weakening,' Bucciarati frowned at this powerlessness, leaving Tomura to deal with the hero until he was herded back within range.

'Sticky Fingers range is only 2 meters (~6ft),' theItalian villain weighed his options, 'If I were to get closer, Sticky Fingers would become more effective...the caveat to such a move, though,' he cast a glance behind him to Peridot, the small Gem hurriedly scrambling along her worktable, 'If I were to move, Peridot would become defenseless...'

He clicked his teeth, annoyed at the way everything was turning out.

'Getting help from the others seems to be the only path forward, but the fact that Gaz has been captured and the rest have yet to reappear paints a clear picture...' harsh reality began to set in for Bucciarati...

'Everything is going smoothly for them while we pay, the only path forward is something unforeseen disrupting it all.'

Noticing that Batman had come back within range, Bucciarati commanded Sticky Fingers back into the fray. While his mind was busy issuing commands to the figure, Bucciarati's eyes strayed behindthe fight with Batman, seeing that Dabi was still in the middle of his bout with Fire.

(Dabi vs. Fire)

Another collision of differently colored flames bathed the floor of the hideout with Dabi at the center of it. His arms crossed in front of his face and small tongues of his blue flames licking his arms and cheeks, the villain glared up at his opponent who was still flying above him with that annoying smirk on her lips.

Bringing his hands back down to his sides, the slight sound of his skin burning away as he neared his limit reached Dabi's ears. He looked to his right hand and saw a bit of smoke rising from his arm indicating the ticking clock that was running down with each subsequent attack he used to defend himself from Fire.

"Ooh~" came a sarcastic concerned voice, getting the villain to refocus on her, "You're not getting tired are you~" she teased, knowing full well what was happening thanks to the briefing.

"Of course not," Dabi kept his deadpan as he addressed her, ignoring his arm's condition, not like he could feel it anyway.

"Hmm, that's good~ Most boys can't keep up with me~" she smiled, launching more fire.

"Probably because that attitude is exhausting..." he retorted, blocking her attack with a flamethrower. He watched as she started to fly around him, staying ready for when she inevitably went for another attack.

'She could have ended this already...' Dabi had realized this a while ago, taking note that the woman could have easily handled him, but she was being very careful...methodical...it didn't add up, 'She doesn't look like the type to think things through...' he defended himself from behind, 'Normally, she'd probably charge in and make a big show out of this, seems like an attention hog.'

Dabi's guess was not wrong.

Fire is very overconfident when she goes out with Ice and, as the villain was becoming familiar with, she was a tease to just about any criminal because she was powerful, so being cocky was afforded to her.

'But she isn't,' he covered his face from more of the green fire, spreading his arms to disperse it with a ring of his blue. 'She's been keeping her distance. Anyone with a brain would, though. If she had charged me, I would've been forced to put more power into my attack to make her back off, and that wouldn't be good for them,' having a great swath of deadly azure fire sweep over the hideout would be more of a detriment for the heroes...and probably the League of Villains, too, now that he thought about it...but they'd probably be fine...

'Think it's safe to say that this plan isn't hers,' he looked in the corner of his eyes, even though he could not physically see the mastermind, Dabi knew that Batman was behind it, 'Probably warned her about me. She's been making sure that I don't get any breaks to cool between each of her attacks, and she's been careful not to engage much when we talk...' he gave an annoyed sigh, blocking more fire, the sizzling of his body becoming louder.

'Not that it would have mattered too much, I don't even know who this is,' more fire came at him. 'That bastard made sure to pick nobodies that would give us trouble, if the battery getting caught is any indication. It's no wonder the rest are still in the middle of fighting...'

"Stay focused now~" Fire called mockingly, noticing that Dabi had stopped paying her any attention, caught up in his thoughts as he was.

He did not outwardly regard her outside of defending himself from another of her fireballs.

'Flame-based powers, sarcastic, always has a comeback...she reminds me of someone...' he thought, 'The only difference is she's more teasing about it...' Dabi sighed heavily and spoke the last part aloud, "...and that makes her more annoying."

For once, Fire had to stop Dabi's fire from hitting her, which was easy for her, so it looked to be a waste on his part.

'If this is all going the way he wants, then we need something that he doesn't expect to throw a wrench in all this...' Dabi thought similarly to Bucciarati. 'The battery's out of commission, our Frankenstein must be having trouble outside if he hasn't come back yet, Shigaraki and the rest are dealing with the Bat, I could probably thaw this chick's twin out of that ice...but I doubt she'd let me do that...' Dabi ran through everyone's current positions in his mind, eventually landing on the only one left.

'Tch, if anyone can ruin all this, it would be him...that thing defies all logic...' Dabi smirked at the thought, wanting such a thing to come to pass.

Until then, he and the remaining uncompromised members would have to hold their own. The group of villains was losing ground fast, so hopefully, something would be going their way in the coming minutes.

(Bakugo vs. Ice)

A series of booms echoed within the side room where two were currently doing battle. Bakugo was airborne, utilizing his versatile powers to give chase to the cryokinetic as she skated across a construct of ice that formed beneath her. The giant formation of ice snaked around the room, revealing that this cat-and-mouse dance that the two were doing had been going on for some time, and Bakugo's irritation level was reaching its boiling point at this fact.

"Come on!" he shouted; teeth bared, and eyes set in his permanent glare while blasting through the air.

Taking one of her hands from ahead of her, leaving the other to continue making her ice path, Ice shot a volley of icicles toward the gaining villain. Seeing the incoming projectiles, Bakugo easily maneuvered around them with well-placed explosions all while still approaching the heroine.

"That the best you can do?!" he appeared ahead of her, right hand reeled back to blast her away.

Suppressing her surprise, Ice changed the angle of her hands and had the ice platform shoot her straight upward, which also had the added effect of knocking her opponent off balance. Annoyed, Bakugo watched from the corner of his eye as the woman began to flee again once she'd had her construct start forming ahead of her.

Clicking his teeth, he rose again with his explosion, going high above the heroine and catching her eye. His predatory smile in place, he placed his hand next to his head and oriented at a slight downward angle, then used his powers to propel him. The series of explosions and the speed with which he was flipping through the air made Bakugo appear as if he were a wheel of fire.

The red glow of the explosive wheel shone in Ice's blue eyes slight worry showing in them as well. She put more power into her hands to speed herself up and avoid the attack that was no doubt coming...

...but she was not the target.

"You're not even trying!"

With a mighty axe kick downward, the added momentum of his explosion giving extra power behind it, Bakugo broke through the icy path with his heel.

Ice gasped when she started to fall, gravity swiftly taking hold now that the ice chunk she stood on had no support to keep it aloft. The heavy block of ice separated from her feet, leaving Ice to hurtle toward the floor, and to add to this danger the wide grin and crazed look of Bakugo was chasing her for added danger.

"SHINE!"

Intimidated by the look the criminal was giving her, Ice steeled herself, adhering to the plan that Batman had put together was what was important. The ground growing ever closer to her, Ice waited for the opportune moment, just as she was feet away from the ground, to throw her hand behind her, calling her power to the appendage, and bringing it around to her side. This move created a new pathway for her, cushioning her fall with snow at the beginning before it reformed into ice for her to skate across.

And just in time as well for seconds after, the meteor that was Bakugo fell onto her previous position with a large boom from his hand. Rising from the smoke, he growled, looking at this pebble continue to waste his time with all this running around.

Was she playing him?

The thought made his eyes twitch and veins pulse on his temples as well as shake with anger...

At least that's what he thought.

"You think you can keep running forever!?" his sudden movement shook some of the snow that had piled up on him off, a side effect of the enclosed room and Ice's powers. Bakugo rotated his wrists so that his palms would face in different directions, one of his arms extending behind his back so he could once again propel himself at his enemy, another deadly wheel of explosions coming at her.

This version of the maneuver hugged her ice formation, following directly behind her as it used the path she'd made. The power behind the explosions broke chunks off the path as it came closer and closer to Ice.

And despite this danger, nervous as she was with all this going on, her focus was not just on Bakugo's angered visage. Mainly, her eyes were drawn to the boy's palms, thinking back to the conversation she'd had with Gear and the plan that they had put together to deal with her foe.

"Sweat," was the word that Gear had led with when he'd started talking to the Norwegian heroine.

"Excuse me?!" Ice brought her gloved hands beneath her arms in embarrassment.

She knew that she was nervous about all this, but she didn't think that nervous.

Gear looked clueless; it took him a second to realize how Ice had taken his words, so he quickly gave an addendum, "Oh! No, no, I don't mean you," he chuckled apologetically.

Being a nerd, Richie did not have much practice speaking carefully to girls. He'd have to add 'sweat' to the list of words to avoid now.

"I'm talking about your target, Bakugo," Gear pulled up a video of the explosive blond, showcasing his abilities as explosions of varying sizes erupted from his palms. "I'm pretty sure that sweat is the key behind his explosions."

"His sweat? How?"

"Well, back when he was smacking me around, a very distinct smell was hitting my nose," he tapped the face shield of his helmet where his nose was, "And if you've ever been in a gym with a bunch of guys, it isn't one that you can forget. That subtle tinge of salt," Gear told the heroine and got a skeptical look.

It made sense, sweat wasn't a shining piece of evidence especially when someone was exerting themselves in a fight.

And the teen genius already had a line of reasoning ready.

"I know. Sweating. During a fight. What an incredible deduction, right?" he saw that she gave him a slight nod with a shrug and a sorry look to display she didn't want to disregard his evidence, but she needed more convincing.

"If I were you, I'd think the same thing...only we were outside while we fought, not the best conditions for a concentrated whiff of sweat, unless he was producing it way more than a normal person would," Gear proposed, "See, my idea is that his sweat acts kind of like nitroglycerin it builds up and then he ignites it for his explosions, and that makes him all the more dangerous, too."

"Obviously, the more he'd move around, the more he'd sweat, and the more he sweats..."

"The larger his explosions would be..." Ice swallowed hard.

"That's where your abilities come in," Gear pointed out. "After the initial attack, you push him into the side room, cutting him off from the others, and giving you free rein of the room's temperature."

Ice's eyes widened, realizing what Batman had been getting at before.

"You start steadily lowering the temperature, he won't be able to sweat, and all that blasting around he'll be doing will tire him out along with the cold accelerating it."

"That's why you said I would hardly need to lift a finger," Ice said, impressed with the plan and slightly lowering her fear of failure.

"Exactly, a self-beating bad guy," Gear smirked. "All you have to do is stay on the defensive and get him to tire himself out, and the rest will come easily," Gear moved his hand in the 'smooth sailing' gesture to denote its ease.

"I see...I'll do my best..." Ice did her best to still her beating heart. Now that her role had been explained, she knew how important it was to get this done. The risk to her was minimal, and it would only lower the longer her fight with her opponent went on.

...An easy win.

"And don't forget..." Gear called her back before the operation could begin.

"...when you've got him beat, make sure you give this message..."

"You're done!"

Bakugo's voice called Ice back into the present.

The sandy blond was situated in front of her, having jumped off the ice trail behind her to cut ahead. The cryokinetic halted the formation of her platform to keep from crashing headlong into the young man, not that it would do much if the readying, glowing palm was any indication. As Bakugo spun through the air, slowing after the spinning he'd done, he followed the momentum he'd built up so he could swing his hand across and hit the heroine with an explosion.

Wasting no time, Ice defended herself by creating an ice wall between them. Bakugo was undeterred, planning to plow right through the heroine's pitiful defense. He'd already shown he was more than capable of breaking through the constructs with ease, this one would be no different.

"Now, DIE!"

Slamming his palm down on the wall, the inevitable explosion was released, and smoke obscured his vision. Imagine his shock when the smoke cleared to show that the wall was intact, only the smallest divot had been made.

"Huh!?" Bakugo ground out; mouth open in confusion with one eye narrowed in disbelief.

This thing should have shattered to pieces!

Behind her defensive wall, Ice let a small smirk come, her hard work paid off and now it was time to finish this fight. Shoving her hands forward, ice had the wall follow her movements as it skated across the ground to force Bakugo backward. Readjusting himself in midair, Bakugo thrust his hands behind him to slow down and get his bearings...only the explosions were much smaller and weaker than he'd intended.

When his momentum did not slow, the blond could not help but become confused, trying to force the explosions from his palms. Once he finally touched the ground, Bakugo had to hurriedly catch his feet under him to avoid falling over, ending with him staring at his palms.

"The hell is going on?" he growled.

"I took control of the room's climate," Ice got rid of the ice wall to reveal herself to the irritated villain, new confidence coming to her. "With the cold, you couldn't build up enough sweat to keep using your powers, and all your movements ate up your stamina."

Bakugo, now at rest, realized how heavily he was breathing from all the attacks he'd been pulling, and the trembling he'd attributed to his mounting anger was actually him shivering from the cold.

"When the human body enters the cold, in an effort to try and warm itself, it expands and contracts the muscles rapidly to make heat, this increases the metabolic rate. Even at rest you'd be expending energy 4 to 5 times more than normal, and you were using your powers without reserve," Ice explained to the huffing villain, "Shivering isn't a fix to the cold, and eventually your metabolism will slow to conserve remaining energy to keep you going, leading to fatigue and drowsiness..."

Bakugo's consciousness was beginning to waver, hardly having the energy to keep himself upright, he fell to a knee.

"You're finished," Ice looked at him with some pity. The shivering was evident in him, and the fluttering of his eyelids said it all. "Just give up quietly..."

He sneered at her.

"I have a message...from Gear..." Ice took a few steps forward, intending to apprehend the weakened villain, but she made a mistake...

"'Looks like Brains beats Brawn.'" Ice relayed the message.

Words that the young hero had said back during his first encounter with Bakugo, and he brought them back around on the guy who'd hospitalized him. Thanks to his plan he'd get an indirect catharsis, knowing that his idea, in tandem with Ice's abilities, brought down the guy.

"So that's it!" Bakugo said lowly, forcing himself back up onto his feet, hand still on his knee to stay up, his breath coming out heavy and visible in the cold. "That damn nerd's awake, huh?"

Bakugo smirked evilly.

"Looks like I'll just need to beat him harder if I ever see him again!"

Ice stepped back, worry coming back.

"And you...!" his red eyes zeroed in on the nervous heroine, "That's why you kept running...wasting my time! You relied on someone else just so you could stand a chance!" Bakugo brought his head up to glare at the older woman, his eyes shrunk and shook in rage at this annoying pebble.

"I told ya, didn't I? Back at the beginning...I told you; you didn't have what it takes!"

Lifting a shivering hand, the line between trembling with anger and the cold had been blurred for him. A weak pop from a small explosion erupted from his hand, the threat still there even in this circumstance.

"And I was gonna show you..." Bakugo's grin grew back into his predatory, tooth-showing smile, "...the difference between us. And now..." Bakugo crouched low again, spreading his legs to steady himself.

"You've gone and pissed me off! You and that nerd!"

Bakugo shot himself upward, the weak explosions from his palms were barely able to get him any air, but he continued to push himself even with the tiny boosts.

"I was going easy, but now I'm REALLY gonna show ya!"

Ice ironically froze in the face of Bakugo's intensity, unable to even move herself.

The villain brought his left arm across his face to place his palm over his shoulder and extended his right, fully perpendicular to his torso, with the palm aimed in the opposite direction of the left.

"You're hardly worth the effort!" Bakugo shouted, beginning to fire explosions from his palms to spin his body, "But if I don't completely CRUSH YOU, YOU WON'T LEARN!"

Bakugo's shout shook Ice from her stupor, yet all she could see were those red eyes boring into her so intensely that it stole her confidence. With his back against a wall, this boy had brought himself back from the brink.

The odds were against him.

He was weakened and tired.

But he was still fighting!

How?!

"I can't be broken down by stats!"

By now a twister had been created by Bakugo from the building momentum of his spin. It drew in oxygen empowering his piddly explosions to the point they'd regained their previous strength, and he had no intention of stopping his charge.

"NOW..."

Ice, even with so many options to avoid or even stop Bakugo's attack in its tracks, all left her in the face of this young man's intense personality, his firm belief in his skill, and himself.

"...FOR THE LAST TIME!"

Bakugo had disappeared in the swirl of smoke that his explosions had made, the twister drawing closer and closer to Ice like a missile.

In her frayed mind, there was only one thing she could do.

"SHINE!"

The heroine made another, thicker ice wall to try and protect herself from the attack, she couldn't bring herself to do anything else.

"Hauzā Inpakuto (Howitzer Impact)!"

The glowing palm of Bakugo emerged from the smoke first, reaching out to touch the ice wall. Ice stood behind the pillar, praying that it would hold up against the incoming blast, her eyes were clenched shut and her arms raised over her head crossed.

And when Bakugo's hand touched it...

(Outside)

*BOOM*

A large explosion rocked the entire hideout, gaining everyone's attention and halting the battles to see just what happened.

A large amount of smoke billowed from the room that Bakugo had been forced into and along with it came a hail of ice of varying sizes. The chunks fell around the entrance to the room, breaking once they hit the ground before sliding along the floor, scattering.

Then, flying out from the black, was the unconscious body of Ice, her outfit was singed all over and her eyes closed, covered in dirt and bruises from the attack of her enemy. The heroine fell harshly onto the ground, skidding to a stop on her back, unmoving.

Not only had Bakugo's explosion torn through her weak attempt at a defense, but it held enough power, thanks to the gathered oxygen and momentum from his torque, to continue beyond. The shockwave created and roaring fire had blasted Ice off her feet, carried her until she hit the wall blocking the entrance, and kept going. A series of smaller but no less potent explosions had battered the wall and Ice into submission until both gave way.

Which led to the current scene.

Howitzer was his ultimate move for a reason, he'd only used it one other time, and after, he'd been told that it was too powerful for his matches. It risked destroying the ring, the building, and harming the paying customers.

Within the dispersing smoke, Bakugo could be seen emerging from the room, his distinct silhouette easily standing out against it.

With this victory, the League of Villains could finally feel a sense of relief and rising hope. One of their main fighters had come out victorious against one of Batman's near-foolproof plans, tailor-made to put the chosen criminal down with ease.

The tide of this battle had the chance to change.

"Well done..." Bucciarati said under his breath with a smirk.

"Took him long enough..." Dabi didn't turn to look, wiping sweat from his cheek with his sleeve.

Unfortunately, this relief was short-lived.

Once the smoke had finally dissipated, instead of the triumphant, cocky grin they'd all come to know, bringing with it a predatory enthusiasm to continue, they saw their team member exhausted. He breathed heavily, his shoulders slumped down, and while his grin was there, it was small, tired.

"Something's the matter..." Peridot said worriedly from behind Bucciarati, calling attention to the blond's current state.

Once the Italian allowed himself time to investigate, focused as he was on assisting Tomura since Batman remained focused after the initial shock of the commotion, he understood the alien's words.

"I told...that nerd...and now I'm telling you," Bakugo said between breaths still unwavering even as he continued to shiver. He pointed at thumb at himself and raised his head proudly.

"I don't lose!"

He wobbled on his feet.

"Not to some nerd...and definitely not to some half-assed, nobody...ice bitch...that needs someone else's help...just to stand a quarter of a chance with me..."

He could feel his strength leaving him now, forced to take a knee or else face plant the floor. Bakugo could tell he was fading...but he didn't lose...

"Heh," he chuckled with no real mirth, it was more nostalgic, "But...if it's only one more time..."

Bakugo looked at the woman's unconscious body just as the edges of his vision darkened to join her.

"I'll settle...for a tie..."

He finally fell forward.

Another of the League of Villains had fallen.

Bucciarati clenched his fist, "Bakugo as well?" he frowned, the way out of this was becoming clearer to him.

"Damn, him too?" Dabi had turned to witness what had happened when he hadn't heard the annoying shouts of Bakugo. It was surprising that the guy hadn't come out undisputedly on top of his opponent...and it sucked that the shakeup they needed came and went already.

"Bet you're all feeling proud of your-…" Dabi's sarcastic comment died in his throat when he turned back around to Fire. He looked at her face, it wasn't focused on him...she was looking past him.

At someone else...

That was all he needed.

He turned back around, raising his hand and gathering his flames to it in an instant. Behind him, at the same time as he'd turned, Fire opened her mouth to shout.

Batman caught this and tried to stop her before it was too late.

"Fire! Don't!" he couldn't do much else before he was set upon again by Tomura who, like him, would not relent even as things broke down.

A cry of anguish resounded, coming from the Brazilian woman, all her emotion bleeding through into her voice, and it all centered on one person.

"ICE!" she called.

And with that confirmation, Dabi smiled to himself.

This was a good move after all.

The villainous pyrokinetic unleashed his fire, having used Fire's distracted state to his advantage.

And who did he aim for?

The defenseless Ice.

Looks like Bakugo had helpedthem out.

The deadly flames raced toward the unmoving Ice, fully intent on burning her alive regardless of her injured state. Without a second thought, Fire disengaged with Dabi, her love's safety came first and foremost. Racing against the blue flames, Fire landed in front of Ice and raised her hands to shield the two of them from Dabi's attack.

"Well, well, not so aloof now, are you?" Dabi gave the woman a lopsided smirk, finally finding the chink in the heroine's armor. "Doesn't take a genius to figure out what that look meant!" referring to the obvious care that Fire displayed for her partner that clearly went beyond friendship.

"Seems like a real mistake bringing something like that into this!" Dabi's grin grew. He continued to mock her choice, letting his psychological warfare eat away at her, "Or is that the reason you can feel so confident? Knowing that the person you care for the most is right behind you, so if anything happens, you'll be there to protect her! Or maybe..." Dabi's cruel grin grew more, threatening to stretch his piercings, "...it's in spite of that. Having her so close to danger, it gets you worried, always keeping an eye over your shoulder..." he added more force behind his flames, "And you can't show how much it concerns you, not to her, or the people!"

Fire bit her lip, continuing to defend Ice from Dabi, but her heart pounded in her ears.

It wasn't like that! She loved Ice...she could never be a burden...of course, worry would come with the job...nothing out of the ordinary.

"Because heroes need to be perfect at all times! Those idiots see you worry, and they'll go into a panic...same with her!"

Fire clenched her eyes shut, she needed to focus!

"So, you project that confidence to make them feel better...but for yourself, too. You need to constantly put up that face or you'll break in front of them!" Dabi chuckled, he wished he could see what she looked like right now. He was taking a good amount of pleasure finally putting the pressure on the woman.

"When you put it that way, I kind of sympathize..." he tilted his head and delivered the twist to the knife.

"...I don't think I'd be able to keep it together either if I had to protect a failure so worthless, she couldn't take care of herself when push came to shove!"

Fire had tears fall from her eyes. Those words cut deep...she didn't want to admit to having those thoughts, but sometimes they'd come to her unbidden. Putting out her persona...it made everyone feel better...like she could overcome any danger that came their way, and it helped her believe the same thing.

And now she had to confront a failure, the failure to protect the most precious thing to her.

Batman frowned as Dabi cornered Fire. The blue tint of the flames now bathed the area, erupting from the pyrokinetic's hand only a few feet away from Batman and the others in the middle of the room.

Things were starting to break down, and if he didn't act, a domino effect could ensue.

Brandishing a Batarang, Batman made to throw the weapon at the burned villain's wrist, relieving his ally of the pressure and giving her the chance to counterattack. When he released it from his hand however, the fist of Sticky Fingers intercepted it midflight, unzipping it down the middle and making it fall helplessly to the ground.

Following that, Tomura also took the opportunity to attack Batman before he could try another idea to save his comrade.

Knocking the deadly hand away from him, still alert and filled with energy compared to the tiring young man, Batman put distance between his enemies. Bucciarati and Shigaraki would not be giving the Dark Knight the chance to disrupt Dabi's attack.

"Your fights with us, Batman," Tomura said under his breath, a small smile coming to his face behind the hand mask, "What? Don't tell me you're the type to get upset when the other player adapts," the villain turned the words that the hero used around.

The two criminals then made sure to keep the hero busy to keep his focus on them. If they could keep this head of steam, then they would have a chance to come out of this confrontation on top, after all.

Grunting as he defended himself, Batman could not stop his gaze from straying to the fire next to him. Unable to do anything to help Fire and Ice, Batman called to the other hero within the hideout who was still shaken by the events and looked to be unable to discern where his assistance should go.

"Firestorm!"

The Nuclear Man, seemingly forgotten in the commotion, turned at the call of his name.

"Help Fire!"

"Y-yeah!" he followed his order, his small rest after capturing Gaz allowed him to recover some of his energy. He should be able to make short work of Dabi since the villain was just coming off from fighting Fire.

Within darkness, a pair of eyes reopened, noticing the one that was responsible for their current state was moving away.

"Huh!?" Firestorm found that he suddenly could no longer move forward, in fact, he was moving back. Putting his all into his flight, Firestorm could not overcome the force that was pulling him backward. Eventually, he collided with the source of this, and it turned out that the center of this attractive force was his hands.

And what he'd been attracted to, were the poles he'd used to trap Gaz.

"What's going on?" Firestorm was confused. Stuck as he was, he could not do much to assist the others. His hands were locked down, meaning he could not even aim a nuclear blast.

No other choice available to him, Firestorm made to pull himself free. The force while keeping him flush with the poles, did not stop his superior strength, and as he'd begun to pull, the voice in his head called out to him.

'Jefferson, wait!' Stein stopped his partner.

"Can't, doc! Gotta get...free!" Firestorm strained.

'You can't! Look...' Martin showed that with all the hero's struggling, the poles were beginning to come with him, pulling on the rubber ball and threatening to rip.

'If you try to wrest yourself free, you will no doubt tear the rubber and give the girl a path to freedom,' Stein frowned.

'How could she do that!?' Jax ground his teeth together.

'The poles may stop her electricity from causing further damage, they do not interfere with an electromagnetic field. She's using that to attract our still negatively charged hands to the poles.'

'She's using our own trap against us!' Jax realized.

'Indeed. We are stuck unless you want to risk tearing free and letting her loose, but I doubt we will be able to capture her the same way again.'

They were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Unleash a powerful threat that they had specifically been chosen to deal with? Or remain trapped, leaving the success of the mission to their allies?

Until they could think of a solution that would preclude the first option from occurring, Firestorm was incapacitated.

Inside her prison, Gaz had gotten ahold of herself. Her crying left her emotionally exhausted, which was shown in her wide-open brown eyes, yet there still burned an unwavering drive in her. She stared ahead, unblinking, refusing to let anything distract her as she kept Firestorm entrapped.

"I won't let you take them..." she whispered.

Not again.

Batman saw Firestorm's predicament.

Help would not be coming from him.

Things were coming apart more and more.

Getting more space from the two he was dealing with; Batman used some flashbangs to buy time to make a call. Placing a hand next to his ear, he called to the remaining two heroes he brought along, hoping they'd finished dealing with their opponent.

"Zatanna, Zatara! We have a situation inside, finish what you're doing and come assist!"

He received no answer...

(Minutes prior- after Bakugo's Howitzer)

The loud boom from within the hideout caught the magicians' attention, halting their progress on magically binding Mahito. The two turned toward the building with shock clear on their faces, knowing that the only one capable of creating explosions should have been dealt with by now.

"What's happening?!" Zatanna asked her father worriedly.

"It seems that something unforeseen has derailed Batman's plan...come Zatanna," Zatara waved his wand to remove the car from Mahito so they could finish their work, "We must make haste and finish the binding so we can assist the others."

"Got it," Zatanna walked forward to help.

When the car was moved from pinning Mahito, the nonhuman fell forward. With nothing to prop him up, Mahito fell to the ground, but as he did so, his left hand opened, releasing something small that looked to be a pebble.

Zatanna noticed it and was about to voice the odd thing, only for her voice to die in her throat when both she and Zatara felt the malevolent presence of Mahito's magic...

...emanating from the object he'd dropped.

Their hearts sank when they realized what it was.

"Zatanna to me!" Zatara jumped back, preparing for what was to come.

"But how?" Zatanna watched the thing on the ground as it shook, steadily growing in size, "He shouldn't have been able to use his magic to transfigure anything!"

Darting his eyes around for any evidence, Zatara came to notice a drastic mistake.

"Our array...it cuts through this corner...it lies outside of our barrier!" Zatara realized.

The invisible field of magical influence that the father-daughter duo had constructed was spherical in nature, essentially a dome that enclosed the yard that lay outside of the hideout. Made to make their fight with Mahito easier in the long run and take options away from him, it also had been created rather quickly by them to prepare for when Mahito was forced to confront them. Thanks to the field's shape it cut through the edges of the rectangular yard, leaving blind spots in the near foolproof plan.

And unfortunately for them, Mahito noticed this once he'd had the chance to calm down.

"We would have sensed him doing this!" Zatanna growled, angry at being tricked again by this thing.

Zatara thought back to just before all this, to when Mahito had tried to attack his daughter...the great surge of energy that he'd felt, sensing ahead of the actual transfiguration that the inhuman's magical energy was gathering to his head in preparation for his attack...

"He knew this," Zatara said simply, "He knew we would read the flow of his energy and used that to his advantage! That large surge during his attack was just the misdirection," Zatara, master magician, had been duped himself while defending his daughter.

"He had us focus on the obvious, as he subtly transfigured a human in his hand."

With the showy attack Mahito had done, the lesser magic that had been used in his hand would have gone unnoticed.

"We fell for his trick."

No greater shame could befall a master magician.

By now a large shadow was cast over the two, groaning came from the monstrosity in front of them.

"Prepare yourself, Zatanna!"

The abomination then charged forward.

And Mahito lay still on the ground...

(Inside)

"Zatanna, Zatara, come in!" Batman pleaded for an answer.

"It seems your allies weren't as well prepared as you thought!" Bucciarati called from behind Tomura, continuing to occupy Batman with Sticky Fingers in tandem with his leader.

The Dark Knight grew more worried about how this operation would turn out as it all seemed to come crashing down in one way or another. Taken up as he was, Fire was left at the mercy of Dabi's onslaught; no help coming for her or Ice.

The Brazilian heroine, huffed in exertion, her dome of flame beginning to shrink back, and even having deactivated her power-up form.

The smirking Dabi took notice of the waning resistance and took the chance to mock the woman some more.

"Must be getting pretty hot in there!" he shouted over the roar of fire, "I probably don't need to tell you what fire can do to a person!"

Fire's vision began to blur, staying on her feet became a chore, her knees shaking as they tried to support her weight.

"Never mind burning. Your body's probably already beginning to crap out on you...getting dizzy? Exhausted? Headache?" Dabi showed his teeth, bringing his other arm up to add even more.

"And in that dome, it's probably getting hard to breathe."

Oxygen was being used up fast by the burning of both pyrokinetics' flames, leaving Fire gasping.

"You should have known better," Dabi said lowly, "Fire...it isn't meant to protect anybody..." he rasped.

"All it can do is burn...starting with the ones closest to you, hero..."

Fire could no longer keep herself standing. She fell to the floor, her hair flowing over her sweating face, and watched as her green flames slowly gave way to Dabi's.

Thinking these could very well be her last moments, Fire dragged herself over to Ice's body weakly. She draped herself over her partner, staring into her resting face that even now looked beautiful to her, and gave her what could be their last kiss. Pulling away from Ice with a sad smile, Fire spoke...

"I'm so sorry..."

She then lost consciousness, and with that, her fire dissipated.

The burned villain perked up when he saw Fire's fire disappear completely. And rather than continue using his powers to roast them, he pulled his hands back, both smoking from use.

'Looks like she finally hit her limit...' he thought, his previous sadistic enjoyment disappearing almost instantly now that the woman had passed out. He raised his right hand up to his face and frowned at the rising smoke, 'And so have I.'

He surveyed the battlefield.

The kid was caught in that ball, but she was holding up Firestorm; loudmouth was unconscious; Ms. Sarcasm was still frozen; the freak's status was unknown; and the Gem was behind the Italian, safe, while he used his powers to assist the leader.

Not ideal circumstances.

'The writings on the wall...' Dabi could tell where this was going, 'And if they have half a brain cell, they can tell too.'

What a pain.

Lifting his hand, Dabi decided to use his powers one more time.

"But I'm not about to let him get away with anything else."

Firing at Batman's back, Dabi attacked.

The blue glow tipped off the hero along with the villain's allies deciding to move away to avoid the deadly fire. Batman followed by leaping back as well...

...just as Dabi'd intended.

In avoiding the attempt to burn him, Batman realized that he was never the intended target.

The blue flames washed over Enid's frozen body, immediately melting the ice and freeing the girl from its confines. The sudden loss of the stiffness that had overcome her body took Enid by surprise and it took her a second to realize feeling had come back to her.

Blinking, now that she could again, the young woman fell to her knees still weak with melted ice clinging to her body.

"Wha...what..." she needed a second to regain her bearings. She lifted her head and scanned their hideout.

She saw Peridot and Bucciarati beside her, Tomura slightly ahead...but as she laid eyes on the rest of the room, her pupils shook. Bakugo knocked out, Gaz nowhere to be seen along with Mahito...and she noticed Dabi farther ahead, having gotten to his knees as well now that his job was done.

Then she laid eyes on the one responsible and her anger couldn't be contained.

"You..." she whispered, "You...you...!" her hand clenched against the ground so hard that her fingers dug into and cracked it.

"IT'S ALWAYS YOU!"

Her eyes glowed purple at the stoic hero, and that unfazed face only served to make her angrier.

"I'm gonna-!"

Her emotional charge, despite her weakened body, was halted by the hand of Bucciarati. Looking at her teammate, who continued to stare ahead, she wondered why he'd stop her.

"Calm yourself...we're leaving."

That got her eyes to widen.

"You're kidding! We can't just-!" Enid wanted to argue.

There was no way she'd abandon everyone!

Even with her outburst, Bucciarati remained calm, locking eyes with Dabi and coming to an unsaid understanding.

Batman was already acting, "You aren't going anywhere!"

*Crash*

From the wall, the largest transfigured human that Mahito had ever made disrupted everything, coming between the remaining members of the League of Villains and Batman. Along with the monster were Zatanna and Zatara who were trying their best to stop it.

"Why isn't it paying attention to us!" Zatanna attacked the thing.

"It wasn't made with us in mind! It's only a distraction!" Zatara shot it in the eye.

Batman covered his face from all the dust the unwanted intrusion brought, the long worm-like body of the abomination wiggled and waved multiple limbs around erratically, batting away the magicians.

Acting as a wall between the heroes and villains.

"So, Mahito was defeated..." The result of their ally's fight finally became clear.

"Tomura!" Bucciarati called to his leader, wanting his direct order to go through with escaping.

This chance they had could not be wasted.

"Shigaraki!" Enid looked at his back, anger still there, but also a plea to him to not run away again.

He stared down Batman, and the two of them ignored the ongoing commotion around them as they did so. The lone eye that showed from between the fingers of the hand on his face narrowed, coming to a decision.

"Do it..."

Bucciarati nodded and acted swiftly.

"Sutikkyi Fingāzu!"

The psychic manifestation of spirit heeded its master's call and smashed its fist into the ground, opening a zipper for Bucciarati, Peridot, Enid, and Tomura to go through.

"Peridot, come," he told the small alien, "You've gathered what is needed?"

He received a hurried nod from her.

Within her hands she held the four cones she had been relentlessly toiling away on, barely able to be contained in her arms from their size, and on her back was her laptop within her stolen backpack.

The only thing she'd be leaving behind was Backpack. The small drone rested on the worktable.

"It can't end like this!" Enid railed against this decision.

"We've no other choice..." Bucciarati told her somberly.

All in position, the group of four started to sink into the zipper.

With no hesitation, Batman ran forward to stop them, but an errant arm of the transfigured human slammed down, kicking up debris and stopping him from continuing.

"Feel proud, Batman," Bucciarati turned his gaze to the determined detective, unshakingly staring into his cowled face.

"If only this once...your resolve has overcome ours..."

Enid was still very angry at all this; Peridot juggled with the object in her arms balancing them carefully so they would not fall, frowning at this turn of events; and Tomura's mood was unreadable as he simply stood, still looking in Batman's direction, but his eye hidden by his ratty hair.

With Bucciarati's words, they all slipped away into the zipper which then disappeared itself.

Almost as if sensing that it was no longer needed, the transfigured human dropped dead then.

"Batman, what happened?" Zatanna asked now that the panic was over, coming to the hero's side.

The Dark Knight didn't speak, too upset that four of the criminals had managed to get away...and their method of tracking them was lost since they had left behind Backpack.

Sure, they'd managed to capture the other half of the League of Villains...but for Batman that still wasn't enough. Unless the whole lot were behind bars, then there was no point.

It hardly could be called a victory.

A giant corpse of what could once be called a human, another wrecked building thanks to their battles, Firestorm was injured but functional, Zatanna and Zatara looked unscathed physically but there was a look in Zatanna's eyes that told him that she'd been wounded mentally...

...and two heavily injured heroines lying in the middle of the room who would most likely need serious medical attention.

And on top of all that, even with the extreme amount of preparation and planning that had gone into this attack, an attack he'd assured would have the highest chance of ending the League of Villains criminal career, an attack he'd told the Justice League that a team he'd personally put together could accomplish, ended this way...with the heroes right back where they started, playing catch up with no clue where they'd gone.

As the leader, this was on him.

Hardly a victory...pyrrhic at best...and failure at worst.

Batman had these thoughts take up so much of his mind that the arrival of the police after all the commotion had finally been reported did not move him. Zatanna and Zatara ushered law enforcement in through the busted wall and directed them to the criminals and injured. Firestorm shrugged off the help, having been released by his captive when she'd assumed the crisis was over, with no way out she accepted her imprisonment. Fire and Ice were wheeled away on gurneys to be taken to the nearest hospital to be treated with SWAT coming in to apprehend Bakugo. Outside Zatara had Mahito taken into custody with specific instructions on how to handle him so as not to disturb the magical seals placed on him.

And Dabi, as the only one conscious and not otherwise indisposed, was surrounded by SWAT. Flashlights from their weapons shining on his face, trained on his form with deadly precision in case he acted out.

Yet even in this predicament, he kept his nonchalance.

He lazily raised his hands in surrender, casting his gaze at the Batman's back, and let a small, equally lazy smirk come to his face as well, giving a characteristic sarcastic comment that shook the Dark Knight from his thoughts.

"Ok...now I give up."

Those words had the hero glare at the smirking face of the burned villain, the smugness rolling off the villain from knowing Batman had been denied the victory he'd sought with this little ambush.

He'd wipe that smirk from his face...he wouldn't give up on finding the League of Villains!

He'd get to the bottom of this...and he had four outlets to do it now.

For the moment though, the priority was getting the half they had into custody before anything else unforeseen could happen.

The investigation would come after.

In the back of the SWAT van, Dabi was pushed inside and had a seat, the bored look returning to his face. To contain him, he had cuffs that ran up to his elbows to keep him restrained and from using his powers...not that they could stop him, but he wasn't looking to die there. Along with him, Bakugo was propped up against a wall, similar cuffs on him as well, and across from him was Mahito's unconscious body with odd papers littering it that had strange symbols drawn on them and a thick rope tying his hands together. Gaz, given her composition, was still trapped in the rubber ball and would be transported by police helicopter.

These four would be going to Stryker's Island as that prison would have the facilities to house them, though some renovations might be in order, to properly contain their unique skillsets.

It was a long and arduous battle...but the heroes were technically able to come on top, halving the effectiveness of the League of Villains in one night.

The question was...

What would they do now?

(A few hours later)

The sizzle of a soldering iron was heard, Peridot bent over a new worktable...in a new hideout...in a new city. Working on her projects yet again, as if the events only hours prior had not just occurred, Peridot diligently continued to make progress. Her goggles reflected the sparks that came from the tool, her mouth set in a thin line as she tried to concentrate.

*Crash*

Yes...emphasis on tried.

A series of similar noises came from behind her as Enid vented her frustrations on the various objects in the room. Throwing empty boxes, punching and kicking walls, smashing abandoned furniture, nothing was safe from the teen's rage.

"Dammit!" she growled, "Again! Again!" she shouted, putting her foot through a wall.

"It fucking happened...AGAIN!"

She gave a frustrated scream, raking her hands through her purple locks, and tossed another empty box errantly. The thing soared over Peridot's head before smashing against the floor, making the Gem sigh in frustration. Turning around and lifting her goggles to her forehead, the alien regarded the tantrum-throwing woman.

"Would you kindly be quiet?" she asked, getting Enid's attention, "Your outbursts are making it hard to work..." Peridot said coldly.

That didn't sit right with the hot-blooded villainess, who tromped up to the diminutive alien, directing her fury onto her now.

"Be quiet!? How can I 'be quiet'!?" she yelled at the unfazed Gem, having stopped a few feet from the green-skinned alien. "In case you haven't realized, we just got our asses handed to us AND lost EVERYONE!" Enid glared into the calculating, cold gaze of Peridot.

"Don't you care!?

Peridot only huffed through her nose, feeling like she was dealing with an uneducated child, and gave her, what she felt, was the obvious answer.

"Of course, I care," Peridot turned back around, speaking behind her back as she studied her work to make sure it was up to her standards, before delivering the tone-deaf gut punch...

"Their abilities were diverse and useful...it will be difficult to find replacements for them."

That set Enid off.

"Replacements!?"

"What else would you have us do?" Peridot asked insensitively, turning back with a look in her eyes that conveyed no emotion, only logic. "We were all at risk, there was no other choice but to abandon the others if we wanted to continue forward."

The temperature of the room ramped up at that moment, Enid losing herself to her anger and closing the distance between her and Peridot to give the alien a piece of her mind...and maybe her foot.

But a hand from Bucciarati as he came between them made her stop.

"That's enough."

The words were directed at the two of them shown by the fact he'd given them both a hard glance. After a second, he focused his attention back on the still-irate Enid.

"While I would not have put it so callously, Peridot is correct," Bucciarati agreed with the alien who nodded behind him in contentment, glad that he could see reason.

"We had little recourse in that situation other than to retreat and continue our fight without the others," Bucciarati crossed his arms with a frown, his mind going back to the look he'd shared with Dabi, "And make no mistake, it was not a decision made lightly."

"Oh yeah?" Enid said skeptically, an insincere smirk making its way on her face while taking a step toward him. She then swiftly took hold of Bucciarati's collar and harshly brought him to her face so they could look into each other's eyes.

"Didn't seem that way to me. You were the first one to cry that 'run away' crap! Looked like you were more than ready to leave everyone behind...if we'd stayed, we could have all gotten out!" she remained firm in this belief, her intense emotions overcoming her sense of reason.

And Bucciarati could tell, he met her glare unflinchingly and kept calm.

"While I do empathize with you, I will stand by my decision," Bucciarati brushed Enid's hand off, never raising his voice or matching her intensity, instead, reflecting an unwavering belief in himself.

"If we had tried to assist the others, we no doubt would have been in danger ourselves. Peridot is unable to defend herself, so I took it upon myself to serve as a vanguard. Sticky Fingers cannot stray too far from my person or else its effectiveness drops...to assist them would mean leaving Peridot vulnerable while also putting myself in danger with those that had already proven formidable, and you were in no position to be of help either in your state."

The cold hard truth came from Bucciarati's mouth.

"The others saw this and so chose to sacrifice themselves to ensure that we could continue our crusade, even to their detriment. I saw as much in Dabi's eyes...to see their resolve to this course of action, yet choose to ignore it?"

Bucciarati's look hardened, the mere thought of disregarding the actions his fellows had taken to open a window for them to escape was enough to slightly anger him.

"That would be akin to spitting in their faces," he clenched his hand, then turned his gaze to Tomura who had remained silent since they'd escaped.

The leader had most likely been in his thoughts...trying to figure out where their outfit could go from here...after such a crushing loss.

But Bucciarati remained firm, pillars were necessary to prop groups up in trying times...and if he was needed, then he would serve as that support.

"Tomura saw this as well and agreed with this course as you saw. This was a choice that he knew was necessary for the League's continued survival."

He'd intended for this to firm his stance, have Enid see reason even with her misgivings, and rouse Tomura...

Unfortunately, it backfired.

"Oh yeah, that's right..." Enid now targeted Shigaraki, "Mr. Fearless Leader over here..." She walked up to him now, the new focus of her now quiet anger.

"While everybody else was fighting, you were busy dealing with a guy that doesn't even have any powers!" she yelled at him.

Tomura, leaning against a wall, moved his eye to look at the girl.

"Not only that, you needed help!" she prodded, insulting Tomura, striking a chord by referring to the fact that in the skirmish, when everyone dealt with their circumstance on their own...he was the only one to get assistance.

"What good was all that careful planning now, huh!?" Enid sneered, seeing him remain in place against the wall, and then...

"I don't know what the Boss was thinking..."

Tomura tensed.

"Putting you in charge...and look where it got us," she said softly, knowing how much gravity saying something like that had.

For three of them, this was leading to a familiar scene.

"If I were in charge, we would've had him back already..."

Tomura pushed himself from the wall now to glare at her, hand at the ready to attack her...yet unlike last time...he didn't go through with the motion. His hand remained at his side, twitching.

"Heh, what?" Enid had readied as well, foot back to unleash a kick, but no attack had come at her to defend against...now what?

"Nothing to say?!" she shoved him back against the wall...

Come on!

His eye narrowed, and Tomura started to lift his clawed hand...but ultimately lowered it, even having it straighten back naturally. And his eye as well fell back from its angered state...becoming calm, somber, and trailed down to the floor.

Without a word, Tomura turned and left the room they were in.

Enid watched him leave...a pang hitting her chest that she stamped down just as quickly as it appeared. Standing back up now that she knew a fight wasn't going to break out, and nowhere else to direct her anger, Enid clicked her teeth.

Turning to the remaining two in the room, her eyes took a second to look to the side in...regret? Before they went to Bucciarati and Peridot.

The Gem had a flat look and was shaking her head, and the Italian with his arms crossed and that stern, unreadable face of his.

Those stares made her feel self-conscious.

"What!?"

Peridot sighed, being the only one who knew that this had occurred before of her and Bucciarati, "You certainly have a habit of letting your emotions rule you, Mettle..."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Enid projected to protect herself.

"Enid..." Bucciarati spoke softly and evenly, getting her attention, "What you said was uncalled for, and you know it."

Hit the nail on the head, this one...but there was no way her ego would let her admit it, though the fact she'd finally let her eyes stray from someone else's was basically an admission.

"Of us all, Tomura is no doubt feeling the blow of this defeat the most."

"You think so, huh?" Enid scoffed, becoming calmer now that she knew nothing would happen.

"Indeed..." he closed his eyes, "The title of 'leader' is one that comes with a heavy burden. Every success or failure of the group is compounded and rests on their shoulders..."

He opened his eyes and looked into Enid's.

"...whether or not the fault lies with them. The pressures of that title weigh on the one that bears it, no matter how strong they are. Tomura is no exception," Bucciarati looked at the door that their leader had stepped out of.

"Doubts can build, and their job is to not let them overwhelm, to strive forward for those they lead, but they still exist."

Enid looked down.

"Whether the two of you choose to acknowledge it or not, you are close..."

His words got her to look back at him, wanting to deny it reflexively, but he continued speaking, ignoring her.

"The two of you started the League of Villains with All For One, you've known each other far longer than the rest of us. Your opinions of each other are high, and so your words carry more weight," Bucciarati closed his eyes and let that sink in for her.

"To have those doubts within one's mind is one thing, but to have them be echoed by someone they trust will only make them seem all the truer."

"What do you care?" Enid tried to defend herself lamely, not wanting to feel any more terrible than she already was.

Bucciarati sighed, "Forgive me if I overstep my bounds...but this is all to keep us in solidarity," he uncrossed his arms, "We can't allow ourselves to crumble..." he regained his hard look, resolve burning brightly in his eyes.

"Not if we want any chance at retrieving the others."

Those words got Peridot's attention, but Enid surprisingly remained quiet. The villainess sat down on a box that had been spared her wrath, absorbing the words she'd just heard.

"What are you talking about!?" Peridot became indignant, "You agreed with me that retreating was the proper choice and moving forward with our plans was correct!" she said in a panicked, confused voice.

"I only agreed that retreating was the only decision we had at the time, I never said that I was fine with abandoning the others as our path forward," Bucciarati looked down at her seriously while she looked up at him from her stool.

"It was their resolve that allowed us to get this far. To repay that with the back of my hand is inconceivable."

"Agh!" Peridot screamed, frustrated...he was just like the rest of these clods! "Think for a moment! Our operation was going to be exceedingly difficult with the entire group! Now you want us to go through with it with 50% of our power cut off!?" Peridot tried, she tried so hard, to get him to see reason.

"Our movement is meaningless without all of us present, and from what I've seen, I'm sure that All For One would agree."

"No, no, no, NO!" Peridot jumped onto her worktable, "You aren't thinking rationally!"

They stared at each other for a few seconds, neither backing down.

"Enid..." Bucciarati called to the girl, shaking her from her contemplation, "Go and retrieve Tomura, would you?"

"What? Why me?" she asked, though it was obvious why...and she didn't want to...she wanted to be mad...

"Other than the fact that, as leader, he will have final say on our next course of action, it gives you the chance to apologize."

Enid made a face when she heard that, "I am NOT apologizing."

"We will only argue in circles without him. If Tomura returns and decides to continue without the others, then despite my personal feelings I will follow," he then gave her a look, "And you clearly regret what you said."

"Tch, what are you, my psychologist?" Enid rolled her eyes.

The stare he gave her reflected that he would not relent on this...like he was a parent speaking to his misbehaving child.

Eventually, that look broke her.

"Fine! I'll go," she stood up, overexaggerated pout on her face as she went, throwing some last words over her shoulder, "But I'm not apologizing. He needs to clean up his mess, so he might as well be here."

When she'd finally disappeared, Peridot spoke back up, hopping back into her stool.

"You're wasting your time..." she went back to work, "Mettle is far too stubborn to admit fault, and with Shigaraki in his state I doubt he will accept the criticisms she will no doubt bring back up...humans..." she rolled her eyes at the strange species she found herself surrounded with.

Bucciarati kept staring at the doorway, letting a small smile come to his face, and closed his eyes while crossing his arms, "Perhaps...but I'd like to think I understand human nature...I'm sure you've noticed how odd we are."

She hummed at that, reactivating her soldering iron rather than giving a verbal response.

Keeping her thoughts to herself.

Elsewhere, Enid had walked through the darkened corridors of their latest hideaway. They'd chosen a multilevel building this time, more room in case anything happened, making it harder for them to be pinned down as they had previously that night. Her shoes clicked against the floor as she slowly looked for Tomura, her hands resting in her jacket pockets. Finding no sign of him anywhere so far, she walked up the stairs to the one place she'd yet to check.

The roof.

Opening the doorway to rooftop access, Enid found Tomura sitting on the edge of the building, staring out into the night silently. She watched him for a bit, he made no move showing that he'd noticed her arrival so caught up in his thoughts.

That same pang came to her chest, realizing that she was the reason he was like this. Enid took a hand from her pocket to reach out to him for comfort before pulling it back, wanting to keep her strong, devil-may-care attitude even now...refusing to be vulnerable.

Instead of putting the hand back into her pocket, she gave a heavy sigh through her nose to steel herself, made her voice sound as uninterested and detached as she could, and threw a thumb behind her to point back inside.

"Hey," she said.

He didn't move.

"We're figuring out what we're gonna do next, and those two want their leader back to make the final decision."

Still nothing...

Well, she'd said her piece and accomplished her mission.

She turned back to go inside when Tomura finally spoke.

"You were right..."

She stopped walking, a hand still on the doorknob to close the door behind her, but chose to listen to what he had to say.

"About me being the leader," Tomura clarified, "You were right..." Tomura took his gaze from the horizon to look down at his open hand.

"I'm worthless..." he whispered, "Ever since Master had picked me up...I've always wondered why...I even asked him as much. When everyone only passed a lone child on the street by, brushing it off as not their problem, he was the only one to reach out to me," he remembered All For One coming to him and extending his hand to the ragged child version of himself.

"He took me in and decided to raise me, even though he still had his mission to accomplish...he strayed from it to help me. I just wanted to know why he bothered..." Tomura raised his hand slowly and continued, "With Master's power and knowledge, I can't help but think that if he hadn't wasted his time raising me, he could have finished all he wanted by now. If he didn't go out of his way to help some useless kid he didn't even know, all those idiots would have already been destroyed."

He'd taken hold of the hand on his face, and let it rest in his open hand, now staring into the disembodied limb's palm. He didn't know what it was, but looking into this hand...it was a familiar sensation...overwhelming...as if he'd seen it coming at him multiple times...it made him angry...

"With that in mind...I wanted to prove to myself that Master had made the right decision, that I could be useful to him...and then he was captured, and he left me in charge of what he'd made," he cradled the hand between his palms, remembering that day.

"I tried to run the League in a way that would make him proud of me until we could get him back, but all I could do was watch it crumble. I'm not like you...or the others..." he looked from the corner of his eye at her back.

"I can't fight like you, or Bakugo...I can't help at long range like Dabi...I'm not smart like Peridot or Bucciarati...I'm not powerful like Gaz...and I can't give reinforcements like Mahito."

A small smile that lacked any mirth stretched his chapped lips, "It's like you said, I couldn't even beat one man...one I've fought before that doesn't even have any powers...and I had to sit there and watch everyone get defeated...get helped just to keep me from sharing that fate..." he looked back on the horizon and let his lips fall back into a thin line.

"The only thing I'm good at is destroying...and I couldn't even do that or else it would have put everyone in danger..." he sighed.

"Master sought to create this movement...so people like us could feel like they had a chance to stand up...and I even destroyed that..."

For some reason that idea made a destroyed home come to his mind...it felt like something had repeated with the destruction, at least as he perceived, of the League of Villains.

"Master was wrong to put me in charge...it should have been you..."

He ended with that and went back to staring. The sound of a closed door reached his ears, and he figured that Enid had left the roof...but he was surprised when the shapely young woman walked over, took a seat next to him, and stared at the horizon with him.

"Nah...you're wrong," she said, making him look at her but she held her gaze out on the city. She drew a leg up to rest an arm on her knee while the other went back to steady her so she could lean on it, "You think you're worthless?" she chuckled humorlessly.

"Look at me...what did I do? I literally was frozen the entire time...couldn't do anything to help...and then I wind up being one of the ones to get away? Everybody else fought to stay together while I got to play an ice sculpture and get a free pass..." she put her hand to her forehead, still laughing slightly at that twisted logic.

"Me, the leader? Ha, just look what happens when things go wrong...I fly off the handle and take it out on everyone else...if I was in charge, we'd have probably been caught already because I would have gone after the Boss guns blazing, and damn the consequences," Enid dragged her hand over her face, covering an eye with her palm while smiling somberly as Tomura had.

"It would have all ended there..." she realized, "You made the right choice, even if I was too stupid to see it...and I really didn't like it...if we stayed it would have been the same thing."

She finally turned to him.

"The Boss made the right choice, too, leaving you in charge of the League. You've been steadily getting us closer to getting him...it's the Bat's fault that we hit this snag, not yours. And I know he'd tell you as much himself," Enid told him, looking into his eyes, "He didn't waste his time getting you...just imagine where we'd all be if he hadn't reached his hand out...all of us would be aimless...nowhere to call home...he needed you as much as you needed him."

She stood up and looked down at him.

"And if we really want to stay true to his ideals, then we need to roll with the failures and learn from them...it's no use moping around...that won't get them all back," she hopped off the ledge and turned to go back to the door.

"...Thanks..." Tomura said lowly.

"Yeah, well I'd rather you not act like the emo you look like..." she gave a sarcastic reply, returning to normal for a second.

She stopped though when she remembered something...a pout coming to her lips and a blush staining her face. Enid sighed heavily, knowing what she was about to do, and needed to do, bringing her arms up to the back of her head embarrassingly before opening her mouth...

"And...you know...I'm sorry...for what I said," she said through her pursed lips, the red of her blush spreading as she allowed herself to be nice.

Tomura smiled, a real smile this time, "That must have taken a lot out of you."

"Yeah, pretty sure something ruptured, I'll be bleeding internally for weeks..." She went right back to her default mode, though the blush could still be seen as she shoved her hands into her pockets and cocked her hips.

"Now come on already," she walked inside.

'Really...thanks...' Tomura thought, but his smile fell, he stared into the hand, putting it into his pocket, 'But words can only do so much...' he still felt his doubts and inadequacy within him.

He fell into step with her and continued to think.

'I'll continue to lead the League in a direction Master would want until we get him back and he can take proper control...'

When he'd finished thinking, they had returned to the room where Peridot and Bucciarati resided. The two members looked at them, waiting for Tomura's decision...

"We're going to take everyone back," he said simply.

"Damn straight," Enid smirked.

Seeing this, Bucciarati smiled, "I expected nothing less," the double meaning clear.

"What are you smiling about?" Enid's cheeks pinked again...of course, he'd know!

"I'm only happy with the outcome," he chuckled.

Peridot, on the other hand, did not share in this attitude.

"This is foolhardy, you clods!" she tried to bring them back down, "Stryker's Island is a fortress, our plan had a low chance of success even when all of us were present! Now that we've been halved, you can't expect the outcome to be any better!"

"Maybe, but we won't know until we try...after all, there are plenty that would call what Master wanted foolish as well...yet he's proved them wrong," Tomura remained calm.

"You aren't listening to me! We would not even be able to make it through their front door before we get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of opposition...we'd need the equivalent of a tank just to stand a chance!" Peridot explained.

"We have me, I can do it," Enid pointed to herself.

"With all due respect, Mettle...you are not a tank. You would be defeated in minutes, leaving us to deal with all that you couldn't, ending with our capture," Peridot said bluntly.

"I am so a tank..." Enid grumbled, sick of the Gem downplaying her.

"Peridot...foolish or not...we have chosen this path. We would rather give our all to retrieve our comrades and All For One in one fell swoop or fail spectacularly knowing that we tried our hardest," Bucciarati told her.

Similarly, Peridot saw all the resolved looks in their eyes. They would not be budging on this...

And it made her so angry!

"Gah! Clods, clods, muddy clods! Stupid, foolish, annoying clods! Triple clods!" Peridot ranted at her worktable under her breath, but the insults could still be heard.

"I think we broke her," Enid smirked.

The Gem seethed through her teeth one final time before she took a calming breath, and turned back to them her hands framing her face then she turned them, so her fingers pointed out toward the others affecting a 'look' motion that was common for those fed up with arguing, yet still had something to say.

"Fine."

"Oh, finally give up, Peri?" Enid asked.

"Clearly arguing with you will get us nowhere. You clods are dead set on this course of action regardless of the danger...so at the very least, I would like to offer something that can raise our chances of success."

This got everyone curious.

"And what's that?" Enid asked.

"The tank equivalent I was speaking of," Peridot told her, but she was visibly unhappy about it.

"And where is this?" Tomura asked.

Peridot pursed her lips, closed her eyes, and frustratedly sighed, "I really would have preferred avoiding this unless there was no other choice," she grimaced.

"Peridot...what are you talking about?"

She sighed again and clarified.

"I'm not the only Gem that crash-landed on Earth."

This revelation took them all by surprise.

Whoever this other Gem was...Peridot was sure that their help would increase the chances of them stealing back Dabi and the rest...and maybe even retrieve All For One.

But getting that help would be no easy feat.

AN: Alright, next chapter will be retrieving this quote-Mysterious Gem-unquote, though I think we've all got a pretty good idea just who it is, don't we?

Can't promise when anything else will be coming, but I'd like to see if I can finish anything else before this year is over...though I highly doubt it, knowing me.

See you when I see you.

Check out AizentheGoat's server if you'd like

Link: /3Pnwms9W6