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.

7. Chapter 7

Society's Ghosts

AN: In this thrilling installment of Society's Ghosts...the L.O.V stage an assault on a very valuable transport in order to gain all the material they need before planning for their prison break. This is another chapter that had been conceptualized before the premise of this story was fully set in stone...so there's a lot riding on me to bring it for this chapter, and I think I will, so enjoy! Also, for those that noticed back in chapter 3 just how many people reacted to All for One's battle, there seems to be a number discrepancy with the members that appeared, right? Ha ha ha, wrong, that member will be appearing in this very chapter.

And you'll be able to tell who it is...immediately...

Chapter 7: Sticky Fingers

(Central City-Two weeks later)

It was noon in Central City.

Like always, the city moved with the hustle and bustle of their titular hero. Cars drove to and from their destinations, pedestrians filed through the sidewalks with their heads down in their phones or speaking on them. Businessmen sat in their offices, cogs in the larger machine they found themselves a part of, losing their will to escape from it and finding no way but to continue where they were at. Mothers found themselves at home, relaxing after finishing their work around the house, and relishing in the silence before their kids returned. And the children found themselves within classes, learning for their futures, and come time for recess they rush out onto playgrounds, or designated meeting spaces for their cliques to talk about the topics of the day, or to play on the equipment.

And what more was there to talk about for them than heroes.

Which were the best, the worst, who could defeat who in a fight, and the powers they'd have if they were heroes.

Sad.

Casting our gaze to other things, a certain company was currently using a forklift to move a large, metal canister into the back of a van. The van was large enough to contain the canister just enough that it did not scrape against the roof, and painted a solid black on the outside. When the forklift carefully lowered the large container, two workers were upon it within seconds, lowering themselves to the floor, they secured the container in place with L-shaped bars of metal and drilled them into their designated spots on the container. They repeated the process above as well, well and truly having the large canister in place for the no doubt bumpy ride it was about to go on.

The two workers, with their job done, quickly retreated out of the back of the van and ushered a group of men over. This group was clearly the security for the object, decked out in matching uniforms with helmets that had black face shields, giving them a nondescript appearance that also gave them the air of being faceless drones. Their armor was gray and sectioned for maneuverability over a black bodysuit and it was completed with their weapons, a type of laser rifle given that just about anyone could come for their cargo.

When the security had fully checked the van for any abnormalities, safety hazards caused by improper handling of the canister, and a quick survey of the premises using their communicators the lead guard ushered most of the detail into the back. Once all the squad was situated on either side of the van, with benches extending from its walls, the head guard slammed his hand onto the side of the vehicle and made his way in as well.

With the all-clear given, the driver started the van, nodded to his partner in the passenger seat, and drove out of the compound. Different guards, surrounding the compound made sure to announce their view of the vehicle as it left, reporting no suspicious activity. Eventually, the van was out onto public streets, standing out in the busy enclave of cars, but when drivers caught a glimpse of the logo on the side of it, they understood why.

A large L with a C behind it.

"...I want to get my hands on this material," Peridot said weeks ago as she walked through her plan.

"A LexCorp van? Won't be easy. The bastard is paranoid...guess it makes sense given just who he likes to mess with," Dabi said.

"And just how are we going to keep up with a van anyway?" Enid asked the obvious question, sitting cross-legged on the floor.

The LexCorp van then made its way onto the highway overpass, avoiding the busy residential streets, and increasing speed as they merged. Unknown to the common man, the security of the van spanned far more than the detail contained within it. Secretly following from a distance, other cars served as extra security for the van in case anyone had the bright idea of attacking.

Further ahead, beneath the overpass, another van started its engine and came from an alleyway, the act being missed due to the insane number of cars that were on the lower streets. The van had no distinguishing characteristics and was a bit on the dingy side compared to the other vehicles it was surrounded by thanks to the faded gray paint on it and a few scant rust stains littering its chassis. Heedless of road rules, the van swiftly crossed many of the lanes, cutting off some drivers that voiced their discontent with honks, as it made its way onto the overpass.

Entering the fast-paced highway, the strange van deftly swerved between the many vehicles surrounding it. This strange van was going over the speed limit, intent on getting to its destination faster than anyone else on the road.

If anyone had the time to look into the van, they'd find the most peculiar driver at the wheel.

"Keeping up with the van will be a nonissue. With the remaining funds I can procure a vehicle that can be used for our operation and properly disposed of when done," Peridot answered Enid without missing a beat, showing the amount of preparation she'd put into her plan.

"Maybe it's a nonissue for you. But does anyone here even know how to drive?" Dabi shrugged his shoulders with a sigh, "Cuz you shouldn't look at me. Never had to drive a day in my life, and I'm not about to learn."

"Of course, it's outside of my realm of expertise," Peridot disqualified herself with a hand to her chest and her eyes closed, "Piloting a primitive vehicle is beneath me. I assumed that you all would be capable of this...aren't young adults supposed to learn this skill?" she deadpanned.

"I don't have a reason to drive!" Bakugo shouted.

Enid only gave a half-hearted shrug of her shoulders, "My parents were always traveling, didn't have anyone to teach me how. Never even got a Learner's Permit before...all this happened," she rolled her wrist to indicate her 'decline' into villainy.

"I could give it a try!" Mahito was overeager.

"That sounds like an accident waiting to happen," Enid leaned back against the wall behind her and put her hands behind her head, imagining the trouble the nonhuman would cause.

With most of the group putting in their two cents, they were surprised to turn to their remaining two members and saw them holding a hand up each to show that they could do the job.

"You two..." Dabi raised a brow, "...can drive?"

"Master said it was an essential skill...it made me more marketable for jobs I'd have to take. I never really had to use it, though, so I've never been behind the wheel," Tomura lowered his hand into his pocket and continued, "I wouldn't rely on my skill for anything crazy either. It'd be best if I was a backup."

The gaze of the group then went to the youngest-looking of them all, Gaz, who, like always, was only paying half attention to the conversation. Her squinted eyes didn't look at the others as she lowered her raised hand back to her Game Slave to continue playing.

"Yeah, I can drive."

"How the hell is that possible? I'm gonna need a bit more than that," Enid sweatdropped.

"Gaming. What else?" she answered like it was the simplest thing in the world, "Video games are so close to reality now, it practically taught me everything I'd need," she looked up at them for a second, "I can do it all."

"Seeing a half-pint driving is gonna draw attention," Bakugo rebuked.

"Not like we have a choice," Dabi frowned.

"It'll be fun to see Gaz driving!" Mahito laughed.

"Perfect! Having two drivers is actually much better than just one!" Peridot continued from there, "We'll have you tail the van..."

(Gorillaz- Stylo)

Within the gray van, at the helm, with her hands on the wheel, was Gaz Membrane. Her closed eyes watched the road carefully as their target came into view. She utilized her powers to depress the gas pedal as needed. Keeping her speed up, Gaz made sure that she wouldn't be seen by any of the surrounding drivers lest a panic starts sooner than wanted.

Beside the young girl, Tomura sat in the passenger seat without a seat belt. The young man was relaxed in his seat with one leg atop the dashboard of the van and his hands intertwined on his knee minus his thumbs to avoid decaying himself all while he leaned back into the seat.

He then turned to the girl and eyed the radio, not saying anything when she'd turned it on, but now that they were about to start working, "Can you turn that off? Or at least pick something more appropriate," he reached to turn the device off.

"Hey!" Gaz smacked his hand away from the dial, "Don't touch the radio. I'm driving, that means I pick the music," she looked back to the road.

"What kind of rule is that?" Tomura complained with a tic mark.

"Everyone knows that! The driver has to focus, so they should have the music they want to listen to on the road to help. Besides, this is a classic, you should know that."

"I don't listen to music."

"Then you have no reason to change mine. You might gain some taste..." she growled and then spitefully knocked his foot off the dashboard, "And keep your foot off the dash."

"Don't take your annoyance out on me because I'm trying to keep you focused," Tomura grumbled.

"I am focused. I've got the toughest job out of all of you, I could use something to calm my nerves! Why don't you focus on your job and I'll focus on mine!" Gaz shot back.

"Tch, fine, just don't let it distract you."

"Coming up on the van, you're up," she let the conversation drop and got into serious mode along with the blue-haired villain. "When we're done with this, I'll show you some real music," and got in the last word as well.

"Hmph," Tomura didn't respond, rolling down the window, he slapped a hand onto the roof of their vehicle except for his index finger. Using his agility and strength, Tomura hoisted himself onto the car's roof and steadied himself. His eye set in determination and his jacket billowing behind him from their speed, Tomura prepared to jump to their target that was directly in front of him.

"...and once you are in range, we'll have Shigaraki take possession of the LexCorp vehicle," Peridot pointed to the two designated drivers.

"Hm, I won't have to do any swerving or maneuvers?" Tomura crossed his arms, understanding his role.

"None at all. You taking control of the van is simply to buy us all the time we need. If we let the guards maintain control then we'd have to deal with them constantly attempting to shake us, with you driving you can keep it steady while the rest of us continue the operation and retrieve the cargo.

It was then that Peridot pulled out her plans for the L. ' new equipment.

"For you, Shigaraki, given your ability's stipulation of physical contact, there wasn't much I could augment for you. The best I could come up with is lightweight armor that will keep you in top physical performance. Bullets should become a nuisance for a good number of shots, but of course, you'll want to avoid them all the same. Other weaponry and meta-abilities will wear it down much faster...avoid that," she said bluntly.

Tomura simply looked at his palm, not giving away any thoughts as he listened.

Standing atop the van, subtlety had officially been thrown out the window as at this point the drivers on the highway took notice of his figure. They all turned their heads as best they could to witness the odd occurrence, and once the bystanders' eyes focused, they widened in recognition of just who was standing atop the vehicle.

"Keep steady," Tomura bent his legs, his arms hanging limply at his sides as he gauged the distance between the two cars. When he saw his chance, the villain jumped from their van onto the LexCorp van with a thud. He carefully made his way to the front of the vehicle and heard the passenger side window roll down, no doubt for the guard to take a look and see what the commotion was.

The guard was about to stick his head out of the window when Tomura struck, his palm grabbing hold of the passenger's helmet and decaying it. The lingering effects of his ability worked their way to his skull but lost a lot of force so kept him from dying...that way at least.

"Agh!" the guard screamed in pain, feeling his skin flake off before he was grabbed by his collar and tossed out of the van to get run over by one of the many vehicles.

The driver took hold of his rifle and began to fire blindly out the window and above himself, hoping to hit the intruder. Hearing no movement, he reached for his radio to warn of the attack.

A shadow obscured the window, catching his attention just in time to see a pair of feet barrel toward him. Smashing through the glass, the guard was dropkicked and knocked into the passenger seat from the force, leaving the van to swerve. Tomura moved into position, taking over the van and quickly turning the wheel to avoid crashing into another car. The guard regained his bearings and grabbed his weapon for a point-blank shot at the villain, finger about to pull the trigger.

Quickly, Tomura had his free hand grab the rifle and removed it from play entirely as it turned to dust in his grasp. Surprised by this, the guard didn't let it deter him as he went to punch Tomura and retake control. The villain took a second to eye the road and avoid another crash, before using his elbow to deflect the punch aimed at him. He stretched his hand at the guard but the grunt had wised up and avoided the deadly touch by leaning against the door.

Seeing an opportunity, Tomura threw caution to the wind and sharply turned the van to the left, thrusting the poor guard flush against the still open passenger window. Capitalizing, the villain drew his leg up and delivered a harsh kick to the man's chest, knocking the wind out of him and him out of the vehicle. Luckily, he managed to grab onto the windowsill waving in the wind dangerously as he attempted to climb back in.

Unfortunately, in such a compromising position, the guard couldn't defend himself from the deadly hand that lay atop his. He watched in horror as the limbs started to decay before his eyes, painfully being reduced to dust and making him lose his grip. Only one simple thing was said right as the guard flew back with nothing to hold him.

"Get out."

The LexCorp van had come under the control of the League of Villains.

Now that he was in proper control of the vehicle, Tomura sat into the driver seat and went over a checklist in his mind that All for One drilled into him during their driving lessons.

"Let's see, 10 and 2..." he laid his hands on the wheel, removing his pinkies, and steadied the van. He reached a hand to his ear and used their new communicators developed by their green technician to contact his teammates.

"I've taken control. Take the back."

Hearing this, Gaz put her hand onto the gear shift and smiled as she was about to do a maneuver that she'd always wanted to. Spinning the wheel, Gaz made the van do a 180 on the road, and she then moved the gear into reverse. The van never lost stride, keeping pace with all the other vehicles on the highway as it changed orientation, the villainous driver offering the car that was now in front of her a wave as she looked at their shocked faces. Gaz held her gaze on the side mirrors to keep the van from veering off course, and when she was sure that it was still, she rapped her knuckles against the back of the van.

"It's time to jump!" she called audibly.

The doors of the villains' van opened to reveal Enid in a new outfit that consisted of a skintight bodysuit that conformed to her curvature snugly, defining her body nicely with a pair of light pink boots on her feet and her biker jacket.

"I'm up, huh?" she smirked, stretching to work the kinks out of her before she got to moving, "About time. It was getting cramped in here."

"You'll have the most important job of all, Mettle," Peridot said to the teenager, "With your superior strength and brutish tendencies, you'll be tasked with transporting the target from one vehicle to the other, bringing it under our control."

"I'll ignore the 'brute' comment..." Enid rolled her eyes, "Should be easy to carry, and all I'll have to do is take care of the security in the back."

"And your new combat fatigues will make it all the easier for you."

"I don't need 'em," Enid waved her off, "I'm practically invincible anyway. What's wearing new clothes gonna do?" she shrugged, much preferring to dress in what she wanted.

"Invulnerability isn't invincibility, Mettle, and you should know the difference. Just because it takes significant force to do you harm does not mean you shouldn't take necessary precautions," Peridot warned her. "And my designs do far more than simply protect your body. For instance, one of your weaknesses with your abilities is the concentration you have to put forward to raise your body temperature, correct?"

"Yeah, I guess. It isn't a one body part at a time kind of thing...it's all or nothing when I heat up and I have to constantly keep it pumping," Enid admitted.

"Then you'll be happy to know that I have completely eliminated that weakness for you," Peridot revealed with the plans for Enid's new outfit on display. "The material is nonrestrictive, keeping you flexible and maneuverable for combat while trapping the heat your body exudes to your appendages. Effectively making you more deadly and less likely to destroy whatever or whoever is in your vicinity as you do battle."

The impressive explanation had the purplette intrigued to give the outfit a test run once it was finished. Thinking back on all her combat experiences she would always affect her environment in tandem with her body, causing havoc that benefitted her more often than not but with a team fighting with her from now on that option would have more consequences.

"Alright, I'll bite. I was skeptical at first, but seeing what you have, it isn't half bad, Peri." Enid walked over and looked at the plans for a suit with a smile, "And that catsuit looks nice...I wouldn't mind squeezing into it."

Utilizing her outfit's new feature, Enid had her hands heat up exclusively having them glow red and lighten up the darkened interior of the villains' van slightly. "I'm heading over now," she smirked and without fear jumped toward the closed doors of the LexCorp van.

"Something's wrong," one of the guards stood from the bench, concerned with all the odd noises they'd heard from the roof. Despite not receiving a transmission from the driver that anything was amiss, the lack of a false alarm announcement was just as concerning.

"Should we call Mr. Luthor?" another guard asked, raising a hand to the side of his helmet where his ear would be, ready to use the communicator at a moment's notice.

"Not yet...we have to try and take care of this ourselves or Mr. Luthor will..."

A quick shriek of metal alerted them to the set of red-hot fingers that had stabbed through the van's doors, lighting up the area they'd run through. With little effort, Enid pried her hands apart and melted an improvised doorway into the van.

"Evening, boys," she smirked at the surprised reactions of the faceless, nameless, expendable drones.

The group, after getting over their shock, trained their weapons on the villainess and without hesitation started firing at her. The laser rifles, in the trained hands of the guards, struck true against the skin of the tanned teen with smoked beginning to cover her form and obscuring their vision.

After a while, the shots stopped and the guards lowered their weapons slightly, believing that the threat had been neutralized. These rifles were made to immobilize Superman if he were to come after Lex's company on the off-chance the hero or any of his club decided to come for the man's assets.

A pit formed in the guards' stomachs when they saw a purple pupil through the smoke. Enid's smirking face came through the smoke as she appeared in top form after the bombardment of laser fire, crouched on the ground to spring into action.

"Is that any way to treat a girl?" Enid taunted.

"Call Mr. Luthor!"

"Can't have that!" Enid launched forward, flipping to the middle of the group, and swept her legs along the ground, tripping two poor souls. Without hesitation, Enid's hand tore through the torso of one of them while he was still in the process of falling, and brought her heel down onto the other with a sickening crack.

By this point, the remaining guards raised their weapons to stop her advance. Enid had her eye on the guard in the back that looked to be trying to contact their boss or reinforcements and made it her mission to stop him. Her arm still shoved through the poor corpse of a guard, Enid used the deadweight as a human shield to block some of the lasers, then with her strength, she threw the ragdoll their way.

Three of the guards that stood in the front fumbled when their deceased comrade was thrown towards them and that momentary lapse cost them dearly. A powerful kick broke the ribs of one and slammed him into the side of the van. Another attempted to move back for space, but a powerful hand gripped his face shield to the point that it cracked it slightly but that was the least of his problems as a harsh twist broke his neck. The final guard managed to slam the butt of his rifle into Enid's face only for it to have no effect and have her grip the weapon. In seconds the rifle was melted and burned the hands of its wielder before a harsh kick to his chin silenced him permanently.

The remaining guard cowered as the girl approached, watching as Enid seemed to take pleasure in stalking her prey. He backed into the opposite wall of the van, sweating in fear and seeing her hand, the deadly limb, lighting up again. Enid thrust her hand forward in a knife strike, purposely missing by inches.

The guard fell back and backed away from the deadly teen with her following at a sedate pace, leaving a trail of melted steel behind her hand as she raked her fingers through the wall of the van purely for intimidation, a smirk all the while on her face.

"You...you don't know who you're messing with! Mr. Luthor will-"

"That chrome dome doesn't give a shit about you. You're just a bunch of expendable robots to him...tch, maybe even less than that," she crouched to look the man in his eye or the equivalent thanks to the face shield.

"Please..." he grasped at straws, "I-I have a family."

The girl snickered, "Wow, wanna say another overused line to appeal to my humanity," she used air quotes when she said that, "Can't believe you tried that one. You know what Luthor gets up to," she stood up with a shake of her head and a hand on her hip, "You forfeited little creature comforts of life as soon as you sold your soul to this. There's no remorse in our line of work," she ended the man then and there, crushing his skull with her hand.

Taking a quick second to rid the back of the van of the corpses she'd made, Enid clapped her hands of imaginary dirt as she stared at the other vehicles that were beginning to catch onto what was happening.

"The target's secure. I'm going to start extraction," Enid let her teammates know.

"Took you long enough, Mettle. Perhaps if you weren't so focused on lording your power over those other humans, you could have been finished already," Peridot's voice chimed, but not through the communicator.

"Yeah, yeah. They had to get taken care of anyway," Enid deadpanned with a roll of her eyes.

"That may be, but there was no reason to play with them. You've even destroyed part of the vehicle for no reason other than intimidation...what if your antics damaged the target?" Peridot nagged.

"But I didn't. You don't think I know how to keep things intact?" Enid shot back.

"No...you battle-hungry types are all the same," Peridot said bluntly.

"Tch, whatever, I'm going to start removing the restraints," Enid let the heat travel to her hand and crouched to one of the drilled supports. Hovering her heated hand close to it, she slowly began to melt the support carefully as not to damage the canister.

"Careful, we don't want the cargo to be damaged," Peridot chimed in.

"Yeah, I know, Peridot...nag, nag, nag..." Enid focused on her work.

It was at this point that, Tomura took a look in his side mirror and saw the hidden security detail of Lex's begin to rear their heads as they sped their cars down the highway to catch up with them. Not only that, but the police had finally made their way here as well, legally needing to assist the large company's outward face of goodwill despite most knowing the contrary.

"Looks like the idiots have caught on..." Tomura said, relaying the message to the others.

"I see them..." Gaz frowned.

"Well, I hope you aren't expecting me to do anything about it. I'm busy," Enid chimed in, sticking to her work.

"Of course, we aren't, Mettle. They aren't acting outside of my projections, it's all according to plan. How long will it be before all the restraints have been removed?" Peridot asked Enid.

"Maybe in 10..." Enid remained focused.

"Very well then...the protection of the vehicles will fall to..."

Gaz turned the van back around so that the back was facing the encroaching police and LexCorp security. From within the darkened space, both Dabi and Bakugo stood in the speeding vehicle decked out in new outfits.

Dabi now wore a high-collared, dark blue coat that had a white stitch design on each shoulder, peculiar metal cuffs on the ends of the sleeves that stopped a little before his elbows with the hem of the coat that reached below his knees being ripped in several places. Beneath his coat was a plain white scoop-neck shirt that exposed the top of his chest and new matching dark blue pants held up by his belt with dark shin-high boots.

His companion within the van had the most drastic change in attire out of all the members so far as Bakugo now wore a sleeveless black V-neck tank top that had an orange 'X' in the middle, a large metal neck brace with rectangular ends that had three holes, baggy pants held up by a belt with grenades hitched to it, and knee-high combat boots with orange soles. The most intimidating features of the ensemble were the large grenade-shaped gauntlets on his arms and absorbent gloves on his hands with orange palms, all topped off with a jagged, black facemask around his eyes that has large orange-rimmed explosion reminiscent protrusions flaring out to the sides.

They cut a menacing image to the civilians and the encroaching authorities.

"I feel especially proud of these designs," Peridot's smile widened as she turned to Bakugo and Dabi. "The abilities of the two of you are just ripe for improvement."

"And how's that? I already have a handle on my powers," Bakugo said skeptically.

Dabi stayed silent.

"Because you're still bound by your human limitations. Dabi, your body is unable to handle the intense heat of your flame...my augmentations will remedy that downside to a certain extent," Peridot turned to the flame-wielder. "The cuffs I've created act as a cooler for your arms, allowing you to keep your body temperature lowered in-between uses and giving you extra time to utilize your flames; the coat will help circulate the cooling air to the rest of your body before escaping, with this in mind it won't chill you to unreasonable levels and will, in essence, keep your body at a moderate temperature for your continued function."

"Really pulled out all the stops didn't ya?" Dabi chimed in dryly.

"It was a necessity, your abilities could end your life, and that isn't good for any of us...it would cripple the League."

"Feeling the love..." Dabi rolled his eyes.

"Mind you, this isn't a permanent fix...I've no idea of the full capabilities of your flames, go too hot, and the conditioners will be destroyed internally, or use your powers without giving yourself time to cool down, and you'll burn up either way."

"Makes sense. You got no problems from me; I know how to pace myself. No promises I won't need to go all out," Dabi smirked.

"Plans hardly go smoothly," Peridot admitted.

"Quit ignoring me, and tell me what I get, nerd!" Bakugo let his presence be known.

"Yes, yes, of everyone's fatigues, Bakugo, yours were the most involved in creating. Your love of battle and the necessity of close-quarters combat combined with your human body made for quite the challenge...from a design standpoint. But with what I've come up with, I think we can both be happy," she revealed the design to Bakugo and he gained a face-splitting, feral grin on his face.

"Maneuverability, utility, defense, everything an animal like you could need to properly bring the most out of your powers and then some."

"Ha, this is what I've been wanting...bigger explosions without messing my body up and the longer I fight the bigger they get," Bakugo's eyes roved over the plan before shouting again, "But it's still missing something!" he slammed his hand on her work desk.

"You must be joking!" Peridot took her plans back, "My designs are perfect! Anything you could want and more!" Peridot took offense.

Her plans?

Missing something? Anything?

Laughable.

"It'll perfect with these!" he drew onto the plans directly to show what he wanted.

And when the others saw what he wanted to be added to his suit, they stared with a deadpan expression except, of course, Mahito who was laughing at it.

"Are you kidding?" Enid raised a brow in disbelief.

"I'm serious! You know what I could do with these!?" Bakugo defended himself.

"Extra protection?" Peridot answered bluntly and logically. The addition would offer a small measure of defense, but she didn't see why that was a sticking point for him.

"Not just that!"

"Then what?"

He gave a grin before answering.

The wind whipped around the two villains in the back of the van, the both of them watching nonchalantly as the police cars approached alongside the LexCorp security.

"Our turn then," Dabi drawled, "Sure are a lot of them...wonder why they even bother."

"Who cares? I'm ready for a test-run," Bakugo grinned widely on the other side of the van, legs bent and ready to jump out, "And these idiots are ripe for it!"

"Calm down, don't go wasting your energy on them. We've got worse ahead of us," Dabi pointed out to the hothead.

"Please, these morons will barely qualify as a warm-up. They're here to break in my bracers!" Bakugo shot back.

"Just keep them off us."

"Who're you ordering around!?" Bakugo jumped out of the van at that moment and propelled himself toward the enemy vehicles. "Watch me take them all out before you even get a chance!"

"Go ahead."

With the sandy blond in the air, the bullets began to fly at him in a bid to knock him out of the sky before he had a chance to reach them. Bakugo used his superior mobility in midair to avoid the projectiles deftly, never once losing stride. He cast a shadow on one of the police cars and started to barrel downward once he was in position. Bakugo brought his right hand forward with an ominous glow in the palm that grew.

"SHINE (DIE)!"

With a slam of his hand onto the car's hood, an explosion erupted from his palm that destroyed the entire machine and the people within it. The car flipped forward from the force of the attack, scraping against the road and forcing the cars behind it to swerve to avoid a collision.

Without missing a beat, Bakugo flipped forward and moved onto the next vehicle with an animalistic gleam in his eye. The projectile fire increased to an insane degree now that the threat he posed was more apparent, the authorities not wanting to share the fate of their comrades.

"Well, he's having a fun time..." Dabi stood within the confines of the van, witnessing his companion annihilating the police cars with ease. He cast his gaze to the side and saw one of the nondescript cars of the hidden security of LexCorp approaching. "Guess it's time to pull my weight," he took his hand out of his pocket.

"Hey, gamer, make sure you keep the car steady, I get carsick!" Dabi called to Gaz.

"I hope you fall out!"

"Don't say things you don't mean. And keep it steady," he said and added under his breath. "Now let's get started," he smiled while igniting his hand, unleashing a large funnel of blue flames at the car, and engulfing it along with the passengers in its cremating heat.

The driver, losing control thanks to the intense pain and blinding fire, smashed headlong into another car a lane over.

"That should keep them away for a bit," Dabi saw other vehicles backing away from their approach after seeing what would happen. Instead, they relied on their weapons, trying to shoot at the pyrokinetic villain from afar.

Dabi pressed himself flush against the side of the van to avoid the shots, only the barest hint of himself revealed so he could keep an eye on them.

"Tch, you think they'd be better shots."

The burned villain perked up when he saw the explosive blond return to the van, rolling to the side upon his feet touching the floor and avoiding the whizzing bullets and laser fire.

"Back already? Tired?" Dabi insulted the loud blond.

"Hell no! I'm just not going to waste my time staying in the air constantly to deal with those guys if I've got somewhere to plant my feet!" Bakugo shouted indignantly.

"Sounds like taking a break to me," Dabi replied bluntly, shooting a stream of fire to the left and eliminating another hostile.

"I'm not taking a break, ragdoll!"

"Then get back out there and do your job," Dabi ducked back and avoided some bullets, turning to look Bakugo in the eye, "You weren't even out there for that long. How many cops did you stop?" he asked pointedly.

"I took out four cars, you bastard! How many did you take out, huh?" he shot the question back in his teammate's face.

"Two...might be a little more if you want to count people caught in the crossfire," Dabi shrugged. He had nothing to prove.

"You trying to catch up to me!?"

"No, you're the one that asked. We just need to keep them at bay..." he answered, stopping when he noticed a helicopter in the air specifically a new station chopper. "Looks like we'll be catching a lot of heat soon," he sighed and moved his hand to the communicator.

"Hey, our not-so-secret heist is about to be on the evening news...it'll be hard for no one to know about it now."

"Tch, we're just a spectacle for the extras. Without us, they'd just be sitting on their hands!" Bakugo laughed, staring up at the chopper.

"Maybe, but we have to worry about just who is going to be tipped off about this."

"It's fine," Tomura responded, leaning his head out of the window to see the news helicopter above them. "We knew we'd be found out eventually, it doesn't change what we have to do."

"Shigaraki is correct. All that was done up to this point was simply to give us a head start before the true threats were alerted," Peridot assured, "Now we simply stay the course, finish what we've started, and retreat before we have the chance to be overwhelmed."

"How long do we have to go, Enid?" Tomura asked.

"Little more than 5 maybe...but when the fun starts...who knows how it'll go," she answered.

"Everyone, keep your eyes open...no telling where he'll show up and how quickly," Tomura warned.

Now that they were without a doubt the center of attention across all the televisions in the city, it was only a matter of time until a certain speedster made his appearance.

(Meanwhile)

Within the Central City Police Department, a certain forensic scientist with red hair was working off another all-nighter within his lab. Of course, not everything he was working on was strictly police business, but no one needed to know about that but him.

"*yawn* phew, burning the midnight oil really hits hard. Wonder how Bats does it all the time."

The man stretched out, cracked his back, and made his way out of his office. Breakfast was calling his name and a nice cup of coffee would be a good place to start. Rubbing his eyes and slowly trudging through the hallways...he noticed that the hustle and bustle weren't up to its usual levels today...in fact, it seemed downright empty.

"Get out there, people! Don't just stand around watchin'! We need units out there to assist before everyone gets blown away!" the chief shouted.

He finally saw why the hallways were empty.

The entire department seemed to be running around and heading out the doors that led to the garage before they'd hop in their cars and blare the sirens, tires screeching as they peeled out.

"Chief, what's goin' on?" the forensic scientist asked in concern.

"You been living under a rock, West? Take a look!" the chief inclined his head to the precinct television.

"For those just tuning in, Central City News is on the trail of a high-speed pursuit! It appears that the goal of this attack is a robbery of a LexCorp vehicle...while it is in motion on the highway!" the camera showed the LexCorp van in question as it sped along the highway, another van directly behind it with both vehicles' back doors wide open.

"And if that wasn't enough ladies and gentlemen, it appears that the masterminds behind this attack are the League of Villains themselves!"

The now-called West's eyes widened at that announcement.

"The devastating group seems to be after whatever is being transported within the LexCorp vehicle and has no qualms in destroying all opposition!"

As if to emphasize what was just said, a stream of fire came from the back of the second van and caused three cars to veer off the overpass...only one of them being a police car.

"After having laid low for close to a month since their awful terror attack in Metropolis, the question is...what are they planning now!?"

"The League of Villains!? Here!?"

"In our own backyard, dammit! And we had no clue, not even Flash found 'em...these bastards ain't gonna do what they did to Metropolis here!" the chief growled. "Where's Flash at...he should know by now!"

"I'm sure he's on his way, chief...I have to go...shift's over..." West moved on, hand in his pocket and retrieving a ring.

"Yeah, get outta here, kid...ain't your problem."

'I think it is, chief!' West moved out of the room and out the back door.

Putting the ring on his hand...the unassuming scientist sped out onto the street quicker than the eye could catch. Punching his fist ahead of him, a familiar costume was ejected from the ring on his finger, and with a quick change, the Scarlet Speedster was rushing toward the scene.

The Flash was on his way.

Elsewhere on the patio of a café, a certain individual with his face obscured by the shadow cast by the parasol on his table was drumming his fingers while staring at a map with a pen in hand.

"*sigh* How utterly vexing," he stopped his fingers so he could take a sip of his tea, lifting his pen and hovering it above Metropolis on the map.

"Weeks of searching upon arrival, and I haven't found hide nor hair of them," the voice was suave and deep. "Of course, they wouldn't remain in Metropolis after the incident..." he dramatically drew a harsh line through the location, "So, I thought to check the other city that they'd been sighted in," the pen moved to Gotham.

"Not too far from Metropolis...a veritable safe haven for them...if not for the Dark Knight's ever-watchful eye perhaps...and so the search there proved fruitless as well..." another scratch and Gotham had a matching line through it.

"And as if to add salt in the wound, while I was busy in Gotham...sightings of new members occurred in both Jump and Dakota City near-simultaneously," the figure circled the cities in question. "No easy feat to be sure...their distance isn't great but it is substantial...so triangulation is difficult."

He took another sip of his tea, his blue eyes intently staring at the map, "So now begins the process of elimination...the only major cities I could foresee them staying in...Star and Central. It would be safer within Star, a lesser-known hero protecting its confines, a perfect cover," he moved his pen, "An easy place to hide..." he then scratched out Star City.

"But they aren't known to do things easily...Central City is a more harrowing choice with their powerful protector, but there is plenty to be blind to...they must be here..."

"Do you see that?" a patron of the café gasped.

The figure turned his head and saw the crowd that had gathered near the patio's television. On it, the figure witnessed the League of Villains attacking the authorities on the highway. While the other onlookers were horrified with the events, the figure had a determined look in his eyes.

He quickly downed the rest of his drink, left money on the table as payment, and left the patio while placing the map within his clothes. He walked with haste among the many people on the sidewalk then turned into an alleyway.

"It seems the chance I've taken has borne fruit..." he spoke moving swiftly through the alley, "...and I won't let it go to waste!" the figure's voice had a great amount of conviction in it before he suddenly disappeared from the alleyway...with a peculiar sound following him.

Meanwhile, within a high school in the city, as lunch was happening, a young black student in a letterman jacket was eating the slop that passed for food with his friends. A vibration from his pocket had him answer his phone, walking to the side so he could hear who was on the other end.

"Doc? What's up?"

"Jefferson, have you seen the news!?" a panicked voice of an older man came from the device.

"I'm in school, doc. No TVs," Jefferson said.

"You need to get out, there's an emergency!"

"I can't just leave...lunch is about to be over!" he whisper-shouted.

"Jefferson, this is serious...the perpetrators this time are the League of Villains..."

"What...here...what are they doing!?" Jefferson placed his hand on the wall to steady himself when he heard that...were they trying to wreck Central City like Metropolis?

"I'll explain on the way...as soon as I heard I came to your school!"

"I'll be out in a sec!"

Jefferson hung up and made his way back into the cafeteria.

"Yo, Jax, where'd you go, man?"

"Guys...I'm not feeling well...I'm gonna head home. Could you tell the teach what happened?" Jefferson acted as best he could, but even if they saw through it, he was a good student so it wouldn't be too bad.

"Sure, man...get home safe..."

"Thanks!"

He rushed out of the school as fast as his legs would carry him, making it to the steps outside, and sliding down the handrail toward a middle-aged man with silver hair and glasses. In the man's hands was an odd contraption that he was fiddling with as he waved to the young man.

"Alright, doc, where's the party at!?"

"You're about to find out," the man placed the device on Jefferson's chest and in a flash of light, only one figure stood on the sidewalk before flying off in the direction of the trouble.

(Back on the highway)

The defense of the villains' van was going smoothly. No one had taken any injuries and the canister would soon be in hand and ready to be moved over. Dabi stood with his back against the wall of the van, peeking over the side with a bored frown on his face as he listened to the pinging of bullets against the vehicle with Bakugo crouched on the opposite side.

"Gotta admire the dedication, even if it's pointless..." Dabi sighed, "At the very least they've learned. Far enough away that I can't torch 'em, yet close enough to still shoot."

"Look who's useless now!" Bakugo laughed.

"It just means I did my job. What's your excuse?" Dabi responded with his usual dry sarcasm.

"I'll take care of them right now!" Bakugo barked and left.

"So easy..." Dabi sighed, watching the blond go off on the opposition to outdo the flame-wielder.

While this defense was going on, beneath the overpass, a red blur dashed its way up one of the supports and quickly made its way to the side of the van, moving perpendicularly to avoid being seen by Dabi and Bakugo.

Tapping against the driver-side window caught Gaz's attention such that one of her eyes opened. To her left, her glare met the masked face of Flash as he effortlessly kept up with the vehicle with an insufferable smirk on his face.

"Uh, I hate to ask, but are you old enough to drive?" Flash quipped.

Unamused, Gaz brought her hand back, charged it with power, then unleashed it as she brought her hand toward the window and thus Flash at the same time. Rather than an arcing, unfocused bolt of lightning, the attack was more like a beam of concentrated electricity this time around, tearing through the window, missing Flash, thanks to his speed, and tearing a hole through the road.

"The best way to improve on pure energy? Focusing it," Peridot told the gamer.

"I can focus it..." Gaz frowned, kicking her legs as she sat on the couch.

"True, but this would allow you to harness the energy much faster and with less collateral damage. Pure energy has limitless potential, but you humans don't go around simply touching electricity to use it do you? It has to be utilized correctly to be a boon or else it's a liability."

Gaz had to agree with that, being noncorporeal had its advantages, but she had to focus to interact with everyday objects or risk frying them or have them pass through her entirely.

"This will contain the energy to manageable levels, and when needed, focus it in the areas wanted to unleash at your leisure. And with this control, who knows the kinds of tricks you could pull," Peridot's scientific mind mused with a hand on her chin, speaking to Gaz's own curiosity as well.

Pulling her hand back, Gaz went back to driving. Her new outfit retained the look of her old but seemed to have a more rubber-like quality to it with blue lines pulsing with power circulating around it that led to the middle to form the iconic skull.

"I think it was an honest question," Flash joked, still beside the van.

"The hell is she doing?" Dabi looked over the side and saw the speedster running beside them. Seeing the hero come to stop them, he couldn't help but grin widely with excitement.

"Tch, Flash is here..." Tomura said to alert everyone, noticing through the side mirror thanks to Gaz's attack.

"Come to think of it...aren't you too young to be one of the bad guys?" Flash approached the window to try and wrest control of the vehicle from her.

"Making jokes at a time like this?!" Dabi shouted over the sound of the van, shooting flames from his arm at the hero.

To counter, Flash spun in place, making the fire harmlessly swirl around himself and disperse. The hero then slowed his stride so he could come around to the back of the van and meet face-to-face with the pyromaniac.

"That's right, those two made some new friends," Flash spoke to him as he ran.

"You know about us huh? Is it because of those sidekicks we roughed up?" Dabi shot right back without missing a beat.

"Those kids are tougher than you think, hotshot."

"It isn't like I was taking them seriously...else they'd be dead. Hey, tell me, did I make the sourpuss upset...you know when he had to see his 'son' covered in burns?" Dabi laughed.

"You can ask him all the questions you want when he sees you behind bars," Flash frowned.

"So carefree...you know what I think?"

"Huh, you know my brain moves pretty fast...I think I missed the part where I asked." Flash ran forward.

"I think you're just stamping down how upset you are that so many died on your watch!" Dabi grinned crazily blasting a wave of fire large enough that Flash wouldn't be able to just approach him without condemning civilians.

Flash spun again, his eyebrows knitting.

"I mean, you're the Fastest Man Alive, right? You should have been here in seconds, but where were you. So many cops...and those poor citizens...they were waiting on you," Dabi could see he was getting under his skin. "And here you are cracking jokes..."

"What are you after!?" Flash dodged the vocal barbs and got to the point.

"Right, I'm the bad guy, so I'm just gonna answer that!" Dabi hurled more flame, "You wanna know, find out for yourself!"

"Not a bad idea," Flash extended his arm and made a wind tunnel that unraveled that flame and rushed toward the villain.

Seeing the powerful current of wind disrupt his attack, Dabi shielded his eyes as the powerful wind knocked him off his feet. The current carried him until his back hit the other side of the van, making him grunt from the impact and fall to the floor.

"Must've struck a nerve..." he rubbed the back of his head and saw his foe had removed himself from the situation entirely no doubt heeding the villain's words and going around to stop Enid. "Hey...you've got company heading your way..." he drawled simply.

"The hell is he doing over there?" Bakugo spoke from the hood of a police car, ignoring the shouting police within. He made his way back to the van just in case he'd get the chance to fight with one of the Justice League...and maybe help his team if the opportunity arose.

"Don't worry, Dabs, I'm ready for him," Enid turned around and met Flash for the second time.

"Nice to see you again, but I'm going to have to stop you."

"And here I thought we could talk a little," Enid smiled.

"What's your game plan here? Stealing from Lex Luthor of all people doesn't seem like a good idea."

"What? Bad guys gotta work together or some shit? We aren't on the same side, even if we all hate you, so as far as I can see, he's fair game!" Enid attacked first, crouching low and swinging her leg at the speedster. When her leg hit the wall of the van, she knew she missed, which was to be expected, so her only recourse was to continue attacking and hope he tripped up.

"Then what's in the canister?" Flash danced around her.

"A moneymaker...LexCorp tech will fetch a pretty penny," she lied through her teeth.

"Excuse me if you don't strike me as the type to be in it for money," she frowned and sped into her guard to give a swift punch that knocked Enid over. "It was better when you were in hiding...you can't keep up this good luck forever...it'll run out."

"Tch, you'd like that wouldn't you," she smiled on the ground, "Guys like us, going against the grain...standing up to you and calling you out, in your home turf no less...you need us stomped out before it's too late. And it'll be all the sweeter when we do beat you."

"I'm shaking in my boots, princess. From where I'm standing, you're done."

"Yeah, that's what it looks like doesn't it?" Enid smiled at his clueless face.

"A bad guy's final stand? A monologue on the ground...but you never thought that it was all to keep your eyes on me."

"What?" Flash asked smartly.

"That's right, you clod!" a new voice said from behind Flash enclosing him in four metallic arms.

"Hey!"

"Misdirection, so simple yet so effective," a scope with a green eye came from the device keeping him in place to look at him.

"Backpack!?" Flash recognized Gear's companion.

"Incorrect. You are looking at my new Drone Robonoid prototype," the repurposed machine spoke with the controller's voice.

"Geez, guess being so fast gives you tunnel vision, huh?" Enid taunted the trapped hero while he struggled to free himself. "In an enclosed space like this..." she jumped up and stabbed her fingers into the ceiling to suspend herself as she drew her legs in, "...how else was this going to end!" to punctuate her words, Enid plowed her powerful feet into Flash's chest and ejected him from the LexCorp van.

"Think I'll get back to work now."

Flash had to backpedal once his feet hit the road to keep balance before he started running once more, caught between both vans without the use of his arms. He tried to vibrate and shake the machine off his back, but the grip was far too tight on him.

"Please, you won't be ridding yourself of my Robonoid that easily, after all, this was planned with confronting you in mind," Peridot bragged.

"I don't think I need to be the one to tell you this, but I can run without my arms!" Flash tried to get the last word in.

"True, I'm unable to stop your pursuit...but I am able to keep you from interfering with our operation..." Peridot had the prehensile eye stare into Flash's with a smug tone coming from a speaker. The lens of the eye then began to glow an ominous green that illuminated Flash's face.

"...with this!" she aimed the eye to the side and fired a laser beam that sliced through a row of buildings thanks to it being in motion, leaving destruction in its wake.

"Stop!" Flash's eyes widened in despair.

"Cool..." Gaz looked on.

"Ha! She knows how to make some great stuff!" Bakugo praised the know-it-all.

"A little extreme..." Dabi was nonplussed.

When the beam powered down, the lens smoking, and the eye extending to record its actions for the Gem, she only had this to say, "That was more than even I was expecting..." a morbid, detached observation, unfeeling for those caught in the attack.

"How could you do that!?" Flash grit his teeth and glares at the lens turning back to him.

"You don't live as long as I have, assisting in the takeover of countless worlds...if you continue to feel for the inhabitants...they are just another overabundant resource," Peridot didn't say those words maliciously or ominously.

She stated a fact.

Detached and emotionless.

"A resource, that I intend to take full advantage of," the eye faced the building once more, "You may continue to give chase, Flash, but if you attempt any attack on our operation from here on..." she let the threat linger.

And it seemed to sink in given his downcast look.

"Good to see a simpleton like you understands the severity of your situation...kindly move away from the LexCorp vehicle and behind ours."

Flash complied silently and begrudgingly.

Unknowing of the true circumstances.

'So easy to manipulate...my Robonoid lacks the power to use its plasma beam again without maintenance...but the simple idea that I can unleash such destruction in a moment will stay him,' Peridot had a grin that would look appropriate on a content cat.

'This is looking bad...I need to call in the others...' Flash thought while following Peridot's orders. He was subtly trying to use the hands-free communicator in his lightning ornaments on his mask.

"Hm? Oh, attempting to call reinforcements, are you?" Peridot asked rhetorically, picking up the beginnings of a transmission, "I think not," she deployed a countermeasure in the form of a concentrated EMP that deactivated the communicator.

"Agh!"

"Hmph, sloppy, your devices aren't shielded? While ours are. I must say that I expected more resistance from our greatest obstacles."

"Man, we really have them by the balls now..." Bakugo crossed his arms and watched the helpless hero. "Maybe we should just let him call the rest, it'll be more of a challenge."

"You have a death wish? We need to get what we came for and get out before those idiots wise up," Dabi watched Flash intently in case he tried anything funny.

"Talk about disappointing..." Bakugo crossed his arms with a sneer on his face.

Dabi rolled his eyes and cast his gaze back onto the road, catching a speck on the horizon that was flying above the cars. Raising his eyebrow and squinting, Dabi noticed that the speck was, in fact, a person flying their way, and given what they were up to...it could be someone from either side of the law.

"Hey, Peridot," Dabi kept his eyes on the flier, trying to discern whose side they'd be on. "You said you stopped all communication with the Justice League, right?"

"Yes, my EMP should have it down for the next few minutes...why?" she asked over their earpieces.

"Then who the hell am I seeing coming our way?" Dabi frowned and narrowed his eyes.

"Flash!" the newcomer shouted to the half-trapped hero.

He had dark skin with a red headpiece framing his face, a yellow and red suit covering his body with a device strapped to his chest that resembled an atom's composition, and finally a flaming head of hair.

"Firestorm!" Flash called in joy.

"I'm here to help out!"

"Who the hell is Firestorm!?" Bakugo looked at the new guy in annoyance, "Do these guys just come out of nowhere or what!?"

"Never heard of him...can't be too important...anything to say?" Dabi ended with a question directed to their information specialist.

Using the repurposed Backpack, Peridot had the eye observe the hero, "I have no record of him...an unknown, this will prove problematic."

"Then we just take him out! Cover me!" Bakugo grinned, ready for the chance to fight.

"Don't joke around. He's flying, my flames wouldn't reach before the wind disperses them...we went over this," Dabi deadpanned.

"More for me then!" Bakugo shouted back at him.

"I'll just protect the van..."

"Hmm, Firestorm...I think Master mentioned him once...but he never told me why he had an interest..." Tomura took the time to lean out the window to see the hero.

"Careful, an unknown can have many tricks up its sleeves. No telling what his capabilities are," Peridot warned Bakugo.

"I hope you're worth the effort, flamehead!" Bakugo shouted excitedly as he blasted his way to Firestorm.

'Careful, Jefferson!' Professor Martin Stein said from within the hero's shared consciousness.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" he prepared to do battle with Bakugo.

The sandy blond brought his hand in front of himself and fired a distracting explosion from his palm, hiding his body from view for a split second that he capitalized on by using his other hand to boost over Firestorm. Getting into the hero's blind spot, Bakugo swung his arm around and slammed his grenade bracer into the hero.

While shocked at the move that Bakugo pulled, Firestorm's durability allowed him to stay mostly cognizant after the blast. This gave the hero time to raise an arm in defense against the swing that rattled his body and pushed him away slightly in the air.

"He seems to have a level of invulnerability..." Peridot observed the hero, gaining more information to gauge the threat Firestorm could pose.

'This guy hits hard! Even other quarterbacks haven't rattled me like that!' Jax grit his teeth shaking the slight pain from his bicep.

'He's a fighter, Jefferson. Do not take him lightly, use our freedom in the sky against him.' Stein advised.

"You got it."

From there the hero and villain began to trade blows. Bakugo used his short bursts to stay aloft whenever he had the chance to and used the air time to fight back against any attacks that Firestorm launched. Thrusting his hand forward, Bakugo's palm was alight to blast the hero away from him and get space only for him to see an odd glow emanating from his opponent's fist.

Not wanting to take a chance, Bakugo avoided the attack and saw a yellow beam fire from Firestorm's hand and toward their van.

"That ain't good!" Bakugo would've blocked it if he'd known it was a projectile, ultimately leaving it up to the ragdoll to defend the vehicle since it was his job.

Which Dabi did, sending a stream of fire at the unknown laser, colliding in midair, and exploding. The aftermath harmlessly raining down on the road, successfully blocked.

"The hell is he doing?" Dabi sighed, watching his teammate fight against the nobody hero.

"A laser...perhaps a form of bio-energy? He is more of a threat the more I learn...finishing soon would be prudent," Peridot relayed.

"Then I have some good news for ya," Enid grunted, her hands gripping the canister and pulling with all her might to free it, "I finally...got this damn...thing!" Enid yelled as the target was finally ripped free.

"Pull the van around..." she spoke while hefting the object above her, needing to turn her head in the confined space and breathing heavily.

"Excellent!" Peridot grinned.

"About time..." Dabi rubbed his neck but had to steady himself when Gaz quickly turned the van back around.

"No! Firestorm! You have to stop them!" Flash shouted.

"Right!" he made to fire at the van.

"No you don't!" Bakugo kicked his hand away, making the blast miss a head-on collision.

"Geez!" Gaz exclaimed swerving to avoid the blast.

"Keep it steady...this thing is heavy," Enid sweat in effort.

Another errant blast made it all the harder.

"I told you I get carsick...can't you drive straight?" Dabi complained.

"You want to get blasted!?" Gaz shot back, throwing her own beam to match Firestorm.

"We have to get rid of him first, or we won't get anywhere," Tomura reasoned.

"Turn it back..." Enid grit her teeth, not willing to risk it all with danger that close.

"Damn, this guy's making a real nuisance of himself," Dabi groaned when Gaz turned the van back around.

'We've got to get a good shot off, doc! Any ideas?' Jefferson thought to his partner, keeping aware of the wild attacks of the explosive blond. He was always keeping just out of reach yet close enough to intercept any shots fired on his team.

'His strength in this midair battle relies on his maneuverability,' Stein drew attention to the insane amount of moves Bakugo could pull off thanks to his hands being free after keeping himself aloft and the fact that if a position was unwanted, he could change it on a dime.

'The key is to disable that. He's light and maneuverable, so we rob him of that and he'll be vulnerable.' Stein led Jefferson to an idea that their consciousness shared.

'Alright, got it.'

His eyes zeroed in on his target, prepping another beam to fire at the League of Villains' van.

"Your moves are getting stale!" Bakugo zoomed to intercept the blast entirely, using an explosion to gain height.

"There!" Firestorm, redirected his fist, leading his shot, and fired at his real target.

Bakugo's bracer.

The beam hit the villain's equipment dead-on yet nothing seemed to have happened, at first. Suddenly, Bakugo dipped downward as his left arm became considerably heavier, or more specifically, his bracer got heavier.

The army green of the grenade became a dull gray, the color extending from the point of impact of the beam until it completely engulfed the gauntlet. Bakugo bared his teeth in effort, futilely attempting to stay in the air.

'My gauntlet...what did he do to it!? I can't stay up like this...!' Bakugo thought.

"He's got him on the ropes...what's happening up there?" Dabi let the others know that their battle maniac was seemingly losing.

"Elemental conversion!? I take it back; this one is far more dangerous than I gave him credit for!" Peridot zeroed in on the gauntlet and was able to tell what occurred.

"He changed the gauntlet to lead!"

'Now's our chance, Jefferson!'

Firestorm used his other hand and fired at the van.

"Raaaagh!" Bakugo roared and let loose a more powerful blast that gave him just enough height for what he wanted.

'No way I'm going to be responsible for the mission failing!' Bakugo raged in his mind, his never-say-die attitude driving him forward. 'This'll show them...why I wanted these added!'

"Then what?"

The group waited for Bakugo's answer.

The blond weirdly wanted to add...metal knee pads to his costume.

"Easy," Bakugo grinned and gave his answer.

Bakugo slammed his knee into Firestorm's side as a final form of offensive defense and made the hero alter the beam's course the slightest bit.

"So I can KILL WITH MY KNEES!" Bakugo cackled out loud.

Dabi had readied himself to defend from the laser, but thanks to Bakugo's efforts, the attack missed a full-on shot and hit the door instead. The conversion came on soon after, changing the door to gold with the villain quickly breaking it off before it could spread.

"Heh, that's all you have?" Bakugo taunted, letting himself fall.

Firestorm didn't want to take a chance for another surprise and blasted the blond away from him and through a window of a building. Slamming into objects within, Bakugo was knocked out from the impact, blood leaking from the side of his head.

"Bakugo's out of commission..." Dabi said neutrally.

"Now what? We going back for him!?" Gaz asked.

"No. We have to keep moving..." Tomura continued to drive.

"He knows where to meet up, expending effort to retrieve him now would put the rest of us at risk," Peridot answered plainly.

"Don't worry about him, he can take care of himself. No way that animal will get caught. We just need to focus on finishing or else it'll be for nothing," Enid let Gaz know to ease her.

"Well, now we have a tail...another one anyway," Dabi scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, guess that means he gets to do something after all..." Enid shrugged with a small smirk.

"Oh, we're passing him?" Gaz perked up as if remembering something.

"Having prepared ahead of time was the right choice," Peridot contacted their last member.

"Mahito, reinforcements are needed."

The inhuman was sat on the top of a building adjacent to the action one leg dangling over the side and the other drawn up to his body with his hands crossed to keep it there, his ever-present grin on his face once he'd heard from the Gem.

"Oh, is it my turn now?" Mahito asked knowingly, hopping to his feet and easily balancing on the edge of the building, "I was beginning to think you guys forgot all about me...you didn't even let me in on the conversations..." he pouted and pressed his index fingers together.

"The purpose of being back up is to reside in secret and appear when needed, and that time has come now."

"And what will my role be in all of this?" Mahito asked, rubbing his chin.

"You will serve as our reinforcements. In case anything goes outside of my expectations, being able to increase our numbers with those disfigured puppets of yours would be beneficial," Peridot explained to the creature.

Mahito closed his eyes and nodded in understanding.

"I see, I see...and what about my special new outfit?" Mahito's eyes sparkled at the idea.

"What?" Peridot rose her eyebrow.

"You know, my new clothes that will make me look cool and help me use my powers better. I've been looking forward to this since you mentioned you were making them," Mahito rubbed his hands together.

The following words devastated him.

"You don't get any."

A shattering sound went off in Mahito's mind...the sound of a dream being crushed.

"Huh!? Why not?!"

"I don't know what you are, let alone how your abilities work to augment them. Your 'magic', as you call it, is something you can barely explain, any damage you sustain can be healed, and you can transfigure your shape for any situation, frankly I don't see the need for you to have any combat fatigues," Peridot bluntly told the upset, pouting inhuman.

"But that's not fair! Everyone else gets special outfits! I want some too...Tomura back me up on this! Your clothes don't have any special abilities, either!"

"Get over it," Tomura did not come to his rescue.

"Hmph...fine...but I won't be happy about it...'

"I still would have liked to be kept in the loop..." he used his hand to keep the sun out of his eyes, peering down to the overpass to see his team and their pursuers. "Let's see...Flash, we expected him...where's Bakugo-kun?"

"He got taken out...he'll catch up, probably..." Dabi didn't seem concerned.

"And who is that?" Mahito saw Firestorm.

"Our problem...which is why we need our reinforcements."

"Do I get to kill him and Flash?" Mahito was giddy.

"Leave Flash alone...it isn't time yet...the other doesn't matter..." Tomura stopped the sadistic creature then and there.

"That isn't fun..." Mahito grumbled, "It isn't worth it unless it's someone important..."

"Just get down here and take care of him!" Enid shouted.

"On my way!" Mahito transfigured his arms into wings and flew down to intercept Firestorm.

'Jefferson, incoming!' Stein shouted in warning to his partner.

"Hello!" Mahito divebombed into Firestorm, morphing his arm into a series of blades to stab into the hero.

Firestorm stopped the offending limb easily thanks to his toughness, unnerved by the wide grin the new villain had on his face while staring, unblinking, into the hero's eyes.

"Well, well, here I thought you'd be nothing...but it turns out you're interesting after all...why do you have two souls?" Mahito's words froze the hero in place.

'He can't...' the two consciousnesses that made up Firestorm grew worried that someone had discovered their secret.

"Now I really want to transfigure you!" Mahito became excited, changing his remaining wing back into his arm to use Mui Tenpen (Idle Transfiguration) on his recent discovery. The deadly appendage reached to grab Firestorm's face but the hero took hold of the forearm to stop the limb.

'He's that magic-user Bats was talking about...' Flash grew worried as he looked over his shoulder...thinking up a plan to tip the scales in their favor, but subtly so his captor wouldn't notice.

"You're being careful, aren't you?" Mahito chatted with the hero, "But not careful enough~" he changed his blade-arm back to normal and closed both his fists before opening them.

Firestorm registered objects falling from the villain's hands, his eyes widening in worry as he saw them fall down toward the civilians stuck in their vehicles.

"Bombs!?" Firestorm guessed, blasting his opponent off of him to intercept the supposed explosives.

Mahito still had his smile even as his back caved in the windshield of a car behind him, barely registering the scream of the driver. The glass crunched beneath him as he stood up on the moving car, brushing the shards from his body.

"Bombs...if only..." Mahito licked his lips and snapped his fingers.

The bean-sized object trembled the slightest bit, falling against the asphalt, then they all suddenly expanded in the horrifying forms of transfigured humans groaning in agony but unable to disobey their maker's orders. A few of them regained their shapes atop cars and the sudden added weight caused the vehicles to be destroyed.

"What the!" Firestorm was inches away when one of the transfigured humans took shape, and it barreled one of its large, gorilla-like fists into the hero...managing to hurt the tough nuclear man thanks to the residual energy of Mahito...and hurtling Firestorm back into the air.

The grotesque creatures surrounded the car that had Mahito on top awaiting his order as the inhuman spread his arms out like it was a show.

"Talk about a close one. If I'd fallen on the road, that would have been very inconvenient," Mahito chuckled sheepishly at his luck. He then turned his head to the woman that was driving the car, smiling good-naturedly yet still having the terrifying effect of his toothy grin on the woman.

"You...don't take your foot off the gas pedal...or I'll kill you..."

The woman only nodded frantically not wanting to enrage the villain.

"Those gross things have their uses..." Dabi said while observing the confrontation, "You figure out how we're going to move this thing?" the question being directed at his team.

"It's too much of a risk for me to turn back around and juggle reverse-driving and defending the van from that guy...we need a different plan," Gaz frowned in thought.

"You'd have an easier time if you didn't learn from a video game," Dabi insulted.

"You wanna try!?"

"We'll just have to rely on Mahito to keep that flamer off us," Enid narrowed her eyes.

"I expect a solution soon, my electromagnetic pulse will be wearing off within minutes, then we'll have the full force of the Justice League upon us," Peridot gave warning.

"No, need to worry, I'll handle this!" Mahito assured, "Attack the humans!" Mahito commanded his disgusting army.

"Dammit!"

'Jefferson, we can't allow the van to escape!' Stein reminded.

"But we can't leave the people!" Firestorm was torn.

A certain red blur shoulder-checked a transfigured human away from a terrified driver, revealing the Scarlet Speedster as the culprit. Even with his arms trapped by Peridot, he decided to defend the citizens of his city.

"Firestorm! Focus on stopping them, I can keep everyone safe!"

"You're testing your boundaries, clod!" Peridot growled.

"You can try and stop him, but he'll be able to take it, and while you try, I can pry you off..." Flash had her in a stalemate, not that he knew she was unable to use the plasma beam again.

"Flash? No fair, I can't kill you...and I'm not about to let you get in the others' way," Mahito frowned. He reached into his pockets and pulled out more miniaturized humans between his fingers with a lick of his lips.

"I've prepared for this, so I've got a nice stockpile of humans on hand...let's see you stop them all..." Mahito goaded and had the many monsters run loose to distract Flash while he dealt with the flying nuclear man.

"Now it's just the two of us."

'Not to worry, Jefferson, with Flash's speed he'll be more than capable of defending everyone,' Professor Stein assuaged Jefferson, 'He can't attack us from where he is without giving himself wings...we're untouchable and that gives us the chance to stop the others.'

'You're right, doc, I need to stop the others...a lot is riding on this!'

"Ignoring me? Hey..." Mahito snapped his fingers, "...throw a car."

One of the transfigured humans responded to the command, grabbing a car and throwing it without hesitation toward Firestorm's back.

"What!?" Firestorm was shocked, turning to see the car, driver and all, hurtling toward him. The steel slammed into the hero, catching it at the last second. The hero locked eyes with the distraught man at the wheel, seeing the fear as sweat trickled down his face.

"Don't worry, I got you-!"

A drill ripped through the man's head at that moment narrowly missing Firestorm's face, a tether of pale flesh was attached to the end of the drill. The line led back to Mahito's arm, having transformed it and fired the deadly weapon from his position to surprise the hero and hopefully run him through.

"Aw, he noticed..." Mahito childishly said, feeling the powerful grip of Firestorm on his extended flesh.

"You!"

"No need to be so angry..." Mahito didn't seem to care he was at the mercy of the hero, grinning maliciously.

Suddenly, Firestorm recoiled in shock at spikes jutting from his hand, the lapse making it easier for the inhuman to reel the man in with a pull of his arm. The caught hero exclaimed in surprise at the jerk that pulled him closer to his enemy.

"You heroes get so upset over a human dying...when there are so many more. I think it would be more appropriate to be angered...once I clear this entire highway..." Mahito finished with an eerily calm tone, his free hand glowing purple, "Shouldn't you be upset all the time...people are dying all over the world as we speak...yet you aren't worried about them...is it because it isn't happening in front of you?"

As Mahito's palm inched toward Firestorm, Flash made the save by harshly nudging the car the villain stood on. With his footing disturbed, Mahito was off-balance enough to miss his chance and lose his grip on his prey.

"Don't you have enough playmates?" Mahito said annoyed, a blade forming from his arm to stab into the speedster...nonlethally...probably. Though unneeded, thanks to his superior speed, Flash was rescued by the timely beam of Firestorm that shifted Mahito's arm to lead the same as Bakugo's gauntlet.

"That's interesting. Wall..." Mahito spoke a command and one of his many soldiers blocked Flash from attempting another attack on him, "So, you can transfigure too. Not that it means much when it's part of my body..." Mahito easily changed his arm back to normal without much thought.

"Throw another one..."

Another car soared through the air within seconds of the order.

Firestorm learned his lesson from the last time and made sure to catch the car just long enough to throw it in a different direction. While seemingly careless, when the vehicle landed on the roads below the overpass, it bounced. The heavy machine bounced multiple times along the street, leaving the driver unscathed.

"I'll turn it back later!" the hero promised the owner of the now rubber car.

'Mmm, I'll need to get closer...but he's wary of my powers now, and if I leave the transfigured humans to Flash, they'll be wiped out before long. We could use the numbers for the future, so ridding them of air support is necessary...' Mahito thought quickly.

"To me..." Mahito whispered and a transfigured human was next to him in an instant. The nonhuman placed his hand on the loyal creature and shrank it back to its portable size, holding the thing in his hand. "His body is tough...but I wonder if it can stand up to magical energy..." he deduced his power would be able to bypass Firestorm's superhuman endurance much as it had with Starfire when they'd fought.

Mahito charged his hand and thus the shrunken human with his power, overcharging it for a reaction that he would unleash upon the flying hero before he would get the chance to turn back to the rest of the villains. With his surprise readied, Mahito threw the transfigured human with the right amount of force to reach Firestorm.

The nuclear man was cautious of the projectile, knowing that this foe was unpredictable, but even he didn't expect the attack that had been launched. Once the thrown object reached his proximity, the thing writhed before exploding into bone fragments from the former person, sacrificed for a distraction.

The sharp pieces flung past the startled hero, whizzing past his face and leaving a mark that warned him that these could indeed wound him. A large cluster had embedded themselves into his side as well, a hand coming up to clutch the bleeding area, and holding his attention for the moment.

Just as Mahito wanted.

'No doubt he realizes that this distance is favorable for him, keeping his eye on me would alert him to my approach if I were to transfigure myself to fly. He hopes that would allow him time to attack the others while I'm grounded with Flash whittling away at my defense...assuming abilities is just what certain opponents want. Thinking that I have to take the time to transfigure myself just to reach you was foolish!' Mahito turned to his unwilling passenger with a smile.

"Thanks for everything, you did great!" he placed his hand on the woman's chest and without a second thought, he transfigured her, gripping the rippling flesh as his ability molded the poor woman into a shape suiting his needs. Once he was sure it was enough, Mahito, with a handful of the immense mass, threw it upward causing it to stretch from the driver seat of the car and form a sort of bridge leading to Firestorm.

"H-help me..." the disfigured human rasped in pain a final time, her stretched-out face next to Firestorm.

'Jefferson, compose yourself!' Stein tried to rouse his partner but his shock was such that it didn't register.

"I'm proud of this one! Making such a large mass, yet keeping just enough human, so it can keep driving!" Mahito was gleeful at the level of control he had over his abilities now. As he'd said the former human's lower half had remained, her foot still pushing down on the gas pedal even if it couldn't register why it had to continue the task.

"I wonder what will happen to a being with two souls when it's transfigured!" Mahito gleefully imagined the outcome.

"That's checkmate," Dabi said from the van, not worried in the slightest.

That is until multiple shots were fired at the leaping villain, knocking him off his makeshift bridge and causing Mahito to land harshly, face-first onto the road before skipping along it thanks to the speed they were currently moving. If he were a regular person, a serious injury would be the best-case scenario, but the resilient nonhuman was mostly unscathed from the fall. The gorilla-like transfigured human swooped in and saved its creator from his tumble and placed Mahito on its back to recover.

"Ouch...who was that?" Mahito made a show of rubbing his forehead in mock pain. He opened his eyes, looking in the air to see what hit him, and grinned widely at what he saw. "Seriously?"

"Look who finally showed up..." Dabi had a grin as well.

"They're here?" Gaz caught a glimpse in the side mirror, like her leader in the van ahead.

"We have to finish...or it's game over..." Tomura's eye narrowed.

"Peridot...didn't you say we had a few minutes..." Enid's eyes narrowed as she stared at the sky, seeing who prompted the different reactions from all the villains.

"What are they doing here!? My E.M.P shouldn't have allowed any communication!" Peridot had Backpack's eye staring above it and Flash at the large shadow that loomed above them with three other flying figures.

The Batwing was the culprit behind rescuing Firestorm from the deadly touch of the gray-haired inhuman and Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Hawkgirl were flying beside it. It cut quite the terrifying image for any villain, that is any normal villain.

"What did you do..." Peridot was grinding her teeth together, trying to maintain control of herself, but the knowing grin on Flash's face irked her more than she'd care to admit.

"I sent an electric charge of my own through the communicator...tough fix cuz I've never tried with something so small but when you have a paranoid bat as a teammate, he'll manage to make head or tails of it. Seems like you didn't have a plan for that, tsk-tsk, too bad," Flash taunted.

On the other end, Peridot's pupils shrank at having her intelligence challenged by this buffoon, shaking with rage at being...outsmarted by this idiot and having the worst-case scenario come to pass on a plan that she'd put together.

"Peridot, don't worry, we're getting out of this..." Enid assured the Gem.

"And how do you plan on doing that, Mettle? We are far too vulnerable, as you aptly put during our first attempt to transfer our target, and now we have the might of the Justice League upon us, something that I didn't plan on us dealing with until our objective was achieved and they would not have a chance to interfere," Peridot composed herself...the assurance, though a blatant lie to the Gem given the circumstance, did manage to give her some form of relief.

"I'm working on it..." Enid thought.

"Let us know when you have an idea..." Dabi rolled his eyes, blasting fire at a green beam aimed at him.

"Hn, Superman and the Martian are missing, are they hiding for an ambush?" Tomura took note of their absence, something that Flash was currently questioning his team about.

"Their operation with Luthor was today. We can't miss the chance to capture him, but I can't help but feel that it would've been better to have them come..." Batman narrowed his eyes.

"We've got them...we know what they're capable of now. No, boss to hide behind either," Lantern kept his gaze on the smirking pyromaniac.

"Thanks for calling us, by the way," Hawkgirl flew low to the speedster for her sarcastic comment.

"I had my hands tied...and I know what you're thinking...it clashes with the outfit...but I can't take it off," Flash warned her in his joking way that there would be serious consequences if they touched Backpack.

"Stealing from Luthor...what are they planning now," Diana looked at Mahito and saw him wave at her with a friendly smile.

"Dunno, but I do know that the purple-haired chick has got the goods. We stop her, and it's all over," Flash relayed to them.

"Easy..." Hawkgirl took charge.

"Hey now, forget about me!?" Mahito shouted doing his best to keep their focus on him having the army of mutants at his beck and call attack the civilian drivers.

Diana turned to deal with the danger in a second, her power letting her easily rip through the monsters without remorse, her warrior upbringing letting her disconnect from her feelings and give the poor people peace in the afterlife.

It was looking bleak for the villains, being outnumbered and outgunned on all ends.

"Gaz, pull the van ahead of Shigaraki..." Enid's voice cut through the situation, her voice resolute and eyes looking down at the road.

"You crazy? How are you supposed to get the canister into the back if we break off?" Gaz asked the older female.

"Like Peri said, we're vulnerable scattered like this..." she sat the canister next to her on the edge of the van's doorway, "...so we've gotta condense. We're about to see how fast I can run with this thing!" Enid hefted the canister above her again with her intent clear.

"Are you mad!?" Peridot asked.

"Think about it. We all get to the van, and we can defend it from all sides! I'll hop in the back, Shigaraki will hop over, and Mahito can jump on!"

"It will get us all in one place, and escaping will be simpler," Tomura agreed with his longest partner.

"There are far too many risks involved!" Peridot was wholly against it.

"We don't do anything, then it's only a matter of time 'til we get caught. She messes up, then it's nothing to me..." Dabi showed that he didn't care.

"I'm game," Mahito put in his two cents.

Peridot's head was spinning at the affirmations everyone gave, disregarding all the ways that the plan could go wrong and end with failure at best or imprisonment at worst.

"Do what you want!"

"Glad you see it my way!" Enid smirked, readying herself to jump.

"You better be sure about this!" Gaz pulled out of the lane and sped ahead of Tomura.

"Cover me with your pets, Mahito!" Enid shouted as she jumped from the van, stuck her leg out to slow her momentum, tearing up the road in the process, and breaking out into a run once she had proper footing.

"What is she doing?" Lantern was confused, as a former marine he had good tactical knowledge and strategy, but this made no sense. The girl leaving herself out in the open like this would make it far easier to overtake her and catch the lot of them when her teammates inevitably tried to save her.

"Just makes it easier..." Firestorm grunted, his side still in slight pain.

"Take it easy, rookie, these guys don't go down without a fight," Lantern remained skeptical.

"Doesn't change what needs to happen," Hawkgirl swooped down and held her mace above her head. "Hah!"

"Dammit!" Enid raised her arm to block the mace, struggling to balance the canister in one hand. "I'm gonna deep fry you, chicken wing!" Enid's eyes glowed in annoyance and started to heat up her arm.

"Where have I heard that before," Hawkgirl jabbed the sore spot of their previous encounter.

The girl rose to the provocation befitting the heat she commanded as she wanted nothing more than to tear the wings off the woman's back. Luckily for her, the woman had to fly away to evade an attack by one of Mahito's soldiers. The ones that remained standing after Wonder Woman had attacked them had come to surround Enid to defend her from any of the heroes that would try and impede her progress.

"Great Hera!" Wonder Woman went to aid her teammate but her ankle was caught by Mahito's arm that had stretched to reach her.

"We're having such a fun time, why would you want to leave so soon?" Mahito licked his lips. His conversation was interrupted though as Flash had sped into his ride, taking the creature from beneath his feet. Being reliant on the braindead oaf, Mahito had to disengage from Wonder Woman and used his stretched arm to rein in the transfigured human.

"I've got your back, beautiful," Flash nodded to her, his speed was deadly even if his arms were compromised.

"Should we help out?" Firestorm saw the two heroes dealing with the gray-haired monster and wanted some retribution for their encounter.

"Stay on the van. The others have the girl locked down and those monsters. Our job is to stick onto their car, we take it out and there's no way they can escape."

'A sound plan. No wonder they're the Earth's mightiest,' Stein nodded.

Within the villain's car, Dabi had made his way to the passenger seat through the window in the back behind the driver's cabin.

"What are you doing up here?" Gaz looked at him.

"You think I'm gonna stay back there and get crushed when that thing gets put in back?" he made it sound obvious while he rolled down the window. Sticking his head out he saw Lantern making his way down to try something.

"Least they're getting in close now!" he smiled and made a stream of flame to get him to back off. "Won't hold him off for long...have you had that on the entire time?" he sighed at first before taking notice of the radio.

"Why does it matter if I want to listen to music!"

"I don't care what you listen to...it's just ridiculous you'd bother with everything going on..." Dabi had a similar stance to their leader.

"Just because you don't have taste..."

"That isn't good..." Dabi didn't pay the defense of her music any heed, opting to stare ahead of them.

Up ahead, Batman maneuvered his aircraft to intercept them, flying toward them and taking aim with nonlethal force. The dark jet roared toward them with the goal of stopping the vehicle at the forefront of the hero's mind.

"I see what he's up to...take the wheel," Gaz didn't give her passenger much warning before she took her hands from the wheel to lean out the window. Allowing her power to go to her hands, Gaz put up an electric barrier in front of the van just as Batman opened fire aiming for the tires. "Good idea, that'll stop us..." Gaz commended him while stopping the projectiles fully with the Electromag barrier.

"Pretty sure I said I don't know how to drive..." Dabi dryly complained, needing to lean over in the passenger seat to take hold of the wheel and keep them on course.

"You wanna get caught?"

"Between that and driving?" he answered sarcastically. The rest of his biting response would have to wait, from the corner of his eye he could see Firestorm in the side mirror. Dabi clicked his teeth in annoyance, forced to take his hands from the wheel to defend the van on the opposite side. Blue flame spewed forth from the window, blasting the door off to keep the nuclear man from getting too close.

"Didn't I say to take the wheel!?" Gaz lowered one of her hands to control the listing vehicle, her concentration wavering and letting some of the projectiles get far closer than wanted.

"Nothing I could do, he was coming from the side," Dabi didn't turn to her, keeping his eyes on Firestorm and Green Lantern.

Behind all this, Mahito was doing battle with Wonder Woman and Flash from his flimsy foothold. He held the woman back by transforming one of his arms into scythes attached to three separate strings of flesh that he flung wildly around to slice into his surroundings or the hero depending on what happened. His haphazard strikes made them hard to avoid for the woman but she was able to weave through small openings between them.

Mahito's other hand was occupied with the Flash, an eye in its palm to keep the speedster in view at all times and focusing on defending the transfigured human he had come to rely on. From the corner of his palm-eye, the inhuman could see the barest hint of Flash rushing his way, relying more on sensing the presence of the speedster's soul to make up for not being able to fully keep up.

Knowing the trapped hero planned to jostle his footing once more, Mahito had one of his arm-scythes twist around his body to slice into Flash, keeping the other two on Wonder Woman all the while. The scythe swung for the head of the speedster, ringing through the air as it approached him. Flash, easily slid below the weapon, always being a step ahead, but the attack was more to slow him to a more manageable level for the villain.

Now able to track the speedster, Mahito shifted his other arm into a shield, still keeping the eye in the middle to stare creepily at the runner when he'd slammed into it. Mahito grinned evilly now that the hero had come in close, instantly the shield grew a gaping maw with razor-sharp teeth looking to bite into Flash complete with a tongue that kept him in place to be devoured.

"Got you!" Mahito cackled gleefully at the face Flash had, having kept the eye staring at the speedster from the dark recesses of the mouth he'd formed.

Diana reacted quickly, stopping her charge on the villain himself, and used her Lasso of Truth to pull his beast from beneath him, tossing him further along the road so it wouldn't be able to assist its master.

With his feet suddenly losing a surface to stand on, Mahito's eyes grew wide and surprised. The moment one of his feet started to touch down on the road, a powerful Amazonian fist met his cheek with the force of it causing the back of Mahito's head to slam into the asphalt and tear up the road behind him as they skidded along. The hit made the tongue loosen up enough that Flash could escape from danger.

"I have him! Flash, go help the others!" Diana kept her fist buried in Mahito's cheek to pin him.

"On it, princess!" he ran forward to help the temperamental bird-woman.

"Your terror ends here, monster!"

The pinned nonhuman paid little attention to her words, seeing as he was unharmed from the blow, instead, he turned his eyes on his allies as they were forced to continue on without him.

'I can't be left behind...time's almost up...' he had, in the back of his mind, kept track of how long his transfigured humans had been active, and they were quickly reaching their limit before they would die.

"Back off! Can't you take a hint!?" Enid roared at Hawkgirl, dodging an overhead slam that would have tripped her up. Beside her, one of her many grotesque defenders jumped to tear into the winged heroine.

Hawkgirl avoided the monstrosity easily, knocking it away from her with her mace. The beasts did not tire in their task no matter how much punishment they received, running alongside their charge. That didn't deter the Thanagarian from her berserker-like swings, simply putting as much force as she could behind them to hopefully get them to stop. The back and forth would have continued from there if the red blur hadn't made his presence known at that point by effectively handling the surrounding creatures with his speed.

"Here to rescue you!" he smirked.

"Aren't you the one that needs rescuing?" she quipped in a deadpan but appreciated the assistance nonetheless. Now she could attack the villainess much easier thanks to the space afforded by Flash's protection.

Divebombing the purplette, her mace charging with energy, and looking to deliver it unto her target. And with her trademark battle cry and added force, thanks to her divebomb, Hawkgirl struck.

With little else to defend herself, Enid used their objective as a buffer between her body and the mace. The container held up fairly well against the hit, only receiving a dent in the process.

"Don't use our target as a defense!" Peridot scolded Enid.

"Not like I had much of a choice!" Even with the block, she lost her footing a tad but kept running forward, though bad news started to come in.

"These things are dropping like flies," Flash jumped over the fallen body of a deceased transfigured human, the others around Enid following suit. "I don't know whether to be happy about it or sad..."

"Shit!" Enid exclaimed, looking behind her, she saw that Mahito was pinned beneath the Amazon.

Seeing the dire situation rising, Peridot reached out to the others, "Membrane! You have to slow the vehicle down to allow Mettle to get in! She's about to be overtaken!"

"I'm doing the best I can to stop us from tipping over!" she yelled back, one hand on the wheel and the other keeping the barrier up.

"Slowing down's just going to let these flying bastards finish us off!" Dabi added, his flames clashing with Lantern's constructs and Firestorm's beams. "She needs to take care of herself or we're all done!"

Peridot couldn't keep herself from raking her hands through her hair at this predicament. It was worse than she could've imagined, and she imagined hundreds of scenarios in preparation...none of them came close!

"I'm jumping over!" Tomura already beginning to reach out of the window.

"What good will that do!?" Enid called, needing to defend herself from both sides now.

"If I can make it to Batman, I can decay the jet," he said it as if it were obvious.

"That's crazy! How are you going to land!?"

"It doesn't matter...this isn't ending here."

"Gah! Mettle, I told you this plan was foolhardy!" Peridot had nothing to say.

There were no options left!

"I go missing for a few minutes and you bastards are in this sorry state!?" a familiar voice rung through all the villains' ears.

"Bakugo!?"

"Damn right!"

Indeed, the explosive blond had awoken and was currently making his way to the others from below the overpass. His now lead gauntlet had been removed from his arm showing that beneath it was a sleeve with many holes that jutted from it. Yet he did not rid himself of the gauntlet completely, having opted to carry it in his teeth to free his hands up for his form of flight.

"Tch, the flame-headed bastard thinks a little love tap is enough to finish me off I've had worse hits in the cage!"

With incredible speed, he burst through the air, gaining on the battle.

"I'm on my way now!"

"As great as it is that you're still functioning...your aid will not do much to make this situation better!" Peridot spoke logically, the disadvantage was too great.

"Hate to agree with the gremlin, but she has a point..." Dabi took the opportunity to jab.

"Just shut your mouths and get to the van or as close as you can!" Bakugo barked.

"What are you plotting?" Enid asked with her eyebrow raised, still in the process of fending off her pursuers.

"Peridot...we never actually needed to follow the highway, right?" Bakugo turned his attention to the Gem rather than answer.

"No...this was just the route we needed to intercept the LexCorp vehicle. It worked in our favor that they'd take this path, less interference from the humans below..." she answered but wondered where the blond was going with this.

"And our escape route was dead ahead! We take the canister and make our escape before the heroes got wise!"

"That was the original plan..."

"We all memorized the route. If it's dead ahead, then it won't matter how we get there!"

"What are you getting at...?" Tomura asked.

"Just focus on getting your asses to the van! And make sure you're ready!" a wide toothy smile stretched Bakugo's face as he continued onward.

"What could that idiot be doing?" Gaz grumbled at the orders he'd given.

"Whatever it is, I doubt that maniac is planning to get us killed...probably close to it though," Dabi resigned himself to whatever scheme the blond had.

Not like he had anywhere to go.

With renewed vigor, the villains put their all into converging.

'I'll use the last bit of its strength,' Mahito thought to himself. His first order of business was removing the woman from atop him.

"Mmm!" the Amazon winced in slight pain when she felt multiple spikes stab through her fists that were jutting from Mahito's face. She remained steadfast through this and did not remove herself from above him.

"Sheesh, guess it was too much to ask for a warrior princess to recoil in pain..." Mahito was unconcerned with his 'failed' attempt, after all, it was just to keep her focused on him for a split second while his gorilla-human jumped high above them and slammed harshly upon her back.

"Agh!"

"But I guess that doesn't matter too much...~bye-bye~..." he waved tauntingly just as he was suddenly yanked away. Turns out that Mahito had used Mui Tenpen (Idle Transfiguration) on his leg, stretching it out, and having it become wrapped up in the wheel of a passing car to drag him along the road toward the others.

Th gorilla-human had died after its attack, its final act freeing its master from Wonder Woman's clutches. The warrior princess darted after the villain intent on recapturing him. As the gray-haired nonhuman allowed himself to be dragged by the car, he saw that the hero hadn't given up on taking him, quickly drawing closer. To evade her grasp, Mahito thinned his body and slipped out of his shirt grinning the entire way as he snaked his lither body around unpredictably and buying himself time for whatever the blond's plan would be.

"I'm getting ready to jump..." Tomura exited the LexCorp van at this point and stood atop the speeding vehicle and felt it begin listing beneath him without someone behind the wheel.

"Hang on a sec!" Enid stayed him, using the canister to bat away Hawkgirl and Flash. "We don't know when this is happening or what he's doing! You can't risk that right now!"

"He said to get to the van...we don't have the time to wait...whatever he's doing, he better do it soon..." Tomura crouched to get ready.

"What are they doing?" Firestorm wondered aloud, seeing the villains continue their battle of attrition despite losing ground quickly.

"Stay on your toes, rookie. Common sense doesn't apply to these guys," Green Lantern.

Below all of this, Bakugo had sped ahead of the action, slightly farther down the underside of the overpass. Blasting himself directly beneath the structure, he brought a hand up to the handle of his gauntlet and pulled it back slightly to reveal a pin that popped from its side.

'That damn flame-head thinks that he can put me down with his stupid beam!?' Bakugo's pupils shrank down to pinpricks, shaking with rage at being underestimated by some no-name, extra, hero from nowhere. He shoved his hand back into the lead gauntlet, using his teeth to pull the handle as he had with the first.

"I'll show 'em not to underestimate Katsuki Bakugo! I don't lose!" Bakugo roared, slamming his palms to the underside of the overpass after he'd pulled the pins from his gauntlets.

"SHINEEEEEE(DIEEEEEE)!"

An explosion more powerful than anything he'd ever let loose before shook an entire section of the overpass, sending a shock throughout the structure and causing it to crumble down onto the roads below.

"That's his plan!?" Gaz opened an eye, forced to watch through the windshield as the van started to take a nosedive once the road below it had been pulled.

"Told you we'd probably die..." Dabi braced himself as the vehicle fell.

"Dammit!" Tomura jumped then but he was most likely going to miss his target, watching the van slowly drift away from him as he fell.

"Hahaha, Bakugo's as wild as ever!" Mahito fell with a boisterous laugh unconcerned with the danger. He moved toward the van through the air and stabbed his hand into the roof to attach himself to the vehicle, planting his feet against its side to hang off the van.

"Shit!" Enid cursed, feeling nothing beneath her feet suddenly as she ran from the heroes. "What kind of idea is this!?" she raged, falling toward the van's open backdoor. She kept her grip on the canister and maneuvered herself into the back, landing upside down once her back hit the wall of the van, before quickly rolling to the side before their objective landed on top of her.

"Don't worry, Tomura, I've got you," Mahito grabbed his leader's hand and slung him onto the roof of the car.

"Thanks..." he muttered, planting his feet on the roof as the vehicle continued to fall.

"Haha, that's right you bastards!" a loud slam came from the other side of the van. Bakugo had taken the other side of the vehicle, in a similar position as Mahito only his mouth wide open as he screamed to the heroes above that scrambled to save people caught up in the destruction.

"Don't you ever forget Katsuki Bakugo!" and to add insult to injury he flipped the heroes off with his free hand as the van finally hit the road below with Gaz quickly peeling out once she was sure it was safe.

"Remember what I said about getting carsick..." Dabi's eyes were more sunken and his voice uneasy after the ordeal.

"I'm going to kick your ass for this, you grenadier!" Enid stood on the edge of the backdoor to yell up at her teammate.

"I think the words you're looking for are thank you, radiator! I saved all your asses!" Bakugo matched her.

"By nearly getting me crushed!"

"You can take it and you know it!"

"Yeah...more than someone..." she smiled evilly.

"I didn't lose!" Bakugo's teeth grew sharp.

"Yes, yes, your plan was able to momentarily grant us safety from the costumed clods," Peridot's drone appeared from nowhere clamped onto Enid's back where it had started at the beginning of the entire operation.

"Watch where you're clamping those things..." Enid shivered at the sudden intrusion.

"The question is...what is the follow-up...our lead will only last for so long," Peridot could already see the heroes start to give chase again.

"We just have to get to our escape route!" Bakugo said.

"Incorrect," Peridot shot him down.

"Remember, our plan was never to have the might of the Justice League upon us at all. Flash was the only opposition expected, which is why I had countermeasures planned in advance. Using my E.M.P would strand him with no hope of reinforcements, and the threat of human casualties would stop him from interfering entirely...I did not expect for this newcomer to appear or for the Flash to counter the electromagnetic pulse," Peridot rubbed her chin, "With their pursuit, following the original route will only invite trouble."

"And thanks to someone's brightidea, we're stuck on crowded residential streets!" Gaz kept her focus on the road as she complained, now having a more cramped space that was congested with cars.

"It'll be easy to overtake us like this..." Dabi agreed, "Nice save, dynamite stick," he also gave a sarcastic comment.

"If I didn't do anything, you'd have been dead to rights!" Bakugo responded with anger.

"Quiet."

Tomura's voice cut through before the argument could continue, still calm even in the current situation, and coat flowing in the intense winds.

"That's enough pointing fingers, that isn't going to fix things. Master always told me that no plan survives first contact...you have to be ready to adapt to the unforeseen when it comes," Tomura spoke wisely and managed to quiet the discontent given there was no way to argue with it.

"Our best course of action is to find a new escape route. We'll most likely need to leave the city as well..."

"That won't work," Dabi could see the heroes on their tails, "Even if we keep them off us the whole time, we'd run out of gas before they gave up on catching us."

"I could hold them off, it isn't like any of them could hurt me anyway," Mahito offered, being the one that could most likely last the longest given his special composition while holding up his remaining hand and letting energy envelop it.

"No. With us all together, we shouldn't risk being separated again. We should focus on defense," Tomura scratched at his neck.

"And what about escaping?" Enid looked up, "Won't be getting anywhere fast with these morons blocking the roads."

"It isn't up to me," Shigaraki crouched on the roof and spoke to the person that it would be up to, "Gaz, you're the one driving. Do whatever you have to to get us out of here...we're counting on you. Show off..."

As if a switch had been flipped, the young girl smiled and opened her eyes, power sparking in them as she got the go-ahead to let loose. During the planning phase, she'd wanted to truly put her driving skills to the test, not so subtly bragging about her in-game achievements and that she'd be able to do far more than simply driving on the highway. Of course, given there was really no reason to go above and beyond in this instance, she was denied.

Until now.

With a glance, the young driver saw an alleyway wide enough to accommodate their vehicle, and without hesitation turned into it. The space was big enough that both Mahito and Bakugo could still hang from the van as it went. Their pursuers easily kept up, changing formation to allow them all to fit within the space while the Batwing was forced to fly above since it wouldn't fit between the buildings.

"They're seriously getting desperate if this is the best they can come up with," Flash ran forward.

"I wouldn't call it that!" Enid kicked a fireball at the speedster, getting him to back off.

"This is ridiculous...you've got nowhere to go!" Lantern made a construct of a hand to grab the van whole.

"That may be true, but neither do you!" Dabi grinned and shot flame from his hand to push the construct away.

On the outside, it seemed the decision to drive into the alleyway was a bad one, but it gave the villains a slight advantage. It allowed them to more easily contend with the Justice League, for within the confined space the heroes would need to get in closer to mount an attack on the van which meant contending with the villains up close with collateral damage having a high chance with the buildings on either side, not to mention that their aerial support of the Batwing became a nonissue.

"I can give them this, they're good a running away," an annoyed Firestorm had his beam blocked by the explosion of Bakugo, the mad grin on the villain's face getting to him.

"They always have been, but this time doesn't make any sense..." Hawkgirl held her mace.

"Just stay on them," Batman, since he was unable to assist at the moment, had taken it upon himself to plot the course the villainous group would take. With a holographic layout of Central City hovering before him, Batman was able to see that..."If they continue through the alley, they'll reach a dead end. They have nowhere to go."

"And they do not know this?" Diana asked her companion.

"If they did, I doubt they would have so readily gone this way. It suits us just fine that they'd so something like this," Batman was blunt as ever, not wanting to allow the chase to continue much longer lest the villains become more destructive.

"Hang on tight!" Gaz warned seconds before she took a sharp turn that had two of the wheels leave the ground. Everyone braced themselves as the vehicle turned, the corner scraping slightly against one of the walls.

"Whoa, Tomura, I forgot you were up there~" Mahito caught their leader when he slid off the roof from the harsh turn.

"As impressive as this is, for a human, Membrane, I hope you have a plan to get out of this tight space," Peridot voiced the concern.

"Gonna have to agree, Gaz, we need to lose these morons and soon," Enid shot another fireball when Flash got too close for comfort.

"I'm trying to lose them with all these turns!" she said back, tires screeching again once she took another harsh left.

The maze of the alleyway did not lend to the fliers who had to slow themselves the slightest bit to avoid crashing through the walls, though Flash didn't need to slow too harshly as he would simply run across the walls before returning to the ground.

"You better come up with something better than that...this cat and mouse game is going to end soon whether we want it to or not. They look like their getting sick of it," Dabi could see the heroes plotting.

"The way out should be the next right...from what I can tell..." Peridot had pulled up a map of her own and found a route to get them back onto the streets. To her, if they made the right choices, there was a chance they could continue the chase and perhaps use the humans as leverage against them...

"Fine..." Gaz readied herself.

*Zzzz*

An odd sound reached the driver's ears that came from the left of her. Turning her pupil to the strange noise, the young girl saw an even odder sight...and that was saying a lot given the situation she found herself in and the people she had for company.

Jutting from the wall and traveling just as quickly as the van was the head and shoulders of someone she'd never seen before. The stranger had straight black hair that framed his face as it hung to his chin on either side with even bangs covering his forehead, a braid going down the top of his head, and two hair clips on each side of his head. His eyes were a striking blue with a serene look on his face that most would call model-worthy, seeming completely at peace with the goings-on around him even as he slid across the wall like it was the most natural thing in the world.

So surprised by the man's appearance, Gaz only caught the barest hint of what he'd whispered to her before he receded into the wall, leaving no trace that he'd been there.

'Up ahead, do not turn right, instead turn left.'

The words rang in her mind.

"Did you guys see that...?" she found herself asking.

"See what!?" Dabi looked at her from the corner of his eyes, protecting from a beam fired at them.

"Some guy just popped out from the wall...and told me to turn left..." Gaz was unsure as the words left her mouth.

"What guy?!" Enid looked at the wall but saw nothing.

"I don't know..."

"Whoever that was, he was speaking nonsense...the way out of this maze is to the right. Turning left would doom us!" Peridot denied this mystery person's suggestion.

"Hm, we have seen some new heroes today...could he have been one of them?" Mahito voiced the possibility it was all a trap to lure them in, blocking a blow from Wonder Woman that tipped their ride slightly.

"If he was, why bother appearing the way he did? He could have shown up anywhere, but he chose to appear next to me and let me see him," Gaz argued.

The fork was coming up.

"He was probably talking out of his ass! Why would he wanna help us anyway!?" Bakugo blasted Hawkgirl from them as he shouted

"It doesn't matter, we cannot take the risk. If he is our ally, he should have made himself known sooner!" Peridot gave her reasoning.

"We can't just trust some guy out of nowhere...especially not now..." Dabi agreed.

"I think it's worth checking out...it can't be worse than what we're dealing with now," Mahito reveled in the chaos, grinning sadistically as he said, "And if it is a trap, we'll just kill him."

"This isn't the time for games!" Enid shot the nonhuman down.

Tomura listened, not letting his thoughts be known as the conversation skewed toward staying the original course. Taking this all in, he realized that they would most likely not make it out of this without abandoning the objective or comrades in the process.

"Gaz..." Tomura's eye was calm, staring at the fork ahead, and made his decision.

"Do whatever you want..."

"Shigaraki!" Enid shouted at their leader in shock.

"You're jeopardizing everything on a chance!" Peridot slammed her hand on the keyboard of her laptop, standing from her chair.

Dabi stayed silent. The leader made his choice, couldn't do anything about it now.

Mahito smiled and laughed, looking forward to the surprise.

"Tch, don't go crying when we have to fight our way out!" Bakugo stayed ready to fight the Justice League and this new guy.

The weight of the choice now resting solely on her, Gaz agonized the closer they grew to the inevitable turn. Her team would end up dealing with the consequences of whatever direction she chose to go, placing faith in her whether they wanted to or not. To the right, a known outcome, according to Peridot, that would get them back onto the streets of Central City, but ultimately keep them in the same situation, still in need of a plan. To the left, the unknown, there was no telling where it would lead them, placing their escape on the word of a stranger and nothing else that proved said man could help them.

A rock and a hard place.

A choice like this rested on the seemingly youngest member of their little band, yet their leader didn't have a problem placing trust in her ability given she was the one controlling where they'd go, and also trust in the group to make it out of whatever situation they'd land in.

The decision was seconds away.

Gnashing her teeth and knitting her eyebrows, the living bolt made her choice. She shouted as she turned the wheel, and with a jerk of the vehicle, turned left down the road to the unknown, betting on the newcomer to have the answer to their plight.

"Guess we're doing this..." Enid held on in the back of the van, she and the others along for the ride at this point, come what may.

"We've got them," Hawkgirl could see that the alleyway would lead to a building, trapping the villains.

"I'm flying above," Batman had the Batwing fly to the other end of the building to ensure there would be no escape artist tricks.

"This guy better know what he's talking about...they've got us pegged," Bakugo growled while watching Batman head them off.

Approaching the building, everyone but Enid, given her position in back, could see that it was dark on the inside and a lone shutter door was their way of telling that. The obvious invitation inside made them wonder what their sudden friend was planning by having them go inside.

Not that they had a choice at this point.

Gaz slammed on the brakes, tires screeching as the vehicle slowed abruptly and stopped just short of the wall within. With the van fully stopped, Enid jumped into action, seeing their tails encroaching, and with little else to do, she slammed the shutter down to keep them out...for a few seconds.

"So where the hell is this guy!?" Enid held herself against the door, holding back the heroes as best she could.

"No one's here!" Bakugo hopped off the van, scanning their darkened surroundings and only able to do so because of the flame that Dabi provided.

"It was a trap after all?" Mahito sounded disappointed.

The banging was incessant, most likely Hawkgirl.

"They're messing with us...they've got us cornered and know it...but they're being careful..." Dabi assumed they were taking their sweet time but had the door surrounded on all sides for when the it would inevitably be kicked in so the villains would all be covered before they could mount a counterattack.

"I was sure..." Gaz frowned, gripping the wheel of the van tightly.

"This is what happens when you deviate from the plan!" Peridot sounded exasperated and irate, even making the drone pace back and forth. "You've cornered us all...because of an unknown factor claiming to have an answer! Foolish! Ridiculous...S-stupid!" Peridot ranted.

Tomura stayed quiet, looking into Gaz's eyes and able to relay that he didn't blame her...she did what he said to do.

"Hah!" a great blow made another dent on the door; it wouldn't take much more.

"That's enough...we need to figure out how we're getting out of here!" Enid strained against the door.

"Only one way out..." Bakugo lit his hands up with explosions.

"We might have to split up, no way we're winning altogether. It will at least make it harder to catch us," Dabi offered.

"I could cause trouble...but I'd need to get my hands on more humans first..." Mahito rubbed his chin.

"No need to worry, League of Villains."

A voice unfamiliar to all but one of the group got their attention, turning to the wall in front of the van they saw the mysterious helper. Despite the situation, he was fairly calm, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed.

"It's him..." Gaz let the others know, verifying their suspicion.

He stood from the wall, taking leisurely steps and giving the villains a chance to give him a once over. His outfit was peculiar, being a white suit that had odd black designs littering it that resembled the heads of the zippers that were found on the shoulders of the suit going vertically down and ending at his pectorals with matching zippers found on the biceps and forearms. The suit was open in the chest, giving a window that showed he wore a sort of lace top with a heart design. His pants matched his suit in design and the look was finished with a pair of dress shoes closed by a zipper.

"I have to apologize for calling you here so abruptly and without a proper explanation. I had to be sure that my presence wasn't detected by your pursuers, so I kept the message brief," the newcomer explained.

"Well, you certainly have a flair for the dramatic, don't you?" Dabi frowned, "Care to explain how you're supposed to be getting us out of here? We're surrounded."

"Yes, I supposed introductions will have to wait until we remove ourselves...just know that I am not your enemy. I have traveled quite a distance...and no doubt you can guess, that I wish to join your outfit," the man revealed with utmost seriousness.

"Hmph, and how will you be assisting us?" Peridot asked skeptically, "You've led us into a dead-end...escape will come at a heavy cost..."

"Not to worry, this spot was chosen specifically to facilitate our escape...the Justice League hasn't a clue what's going on within this space," the man remained in control. "Now, I must ask you all to return to the van."

"Hm, how the hell's that gonna help us?" Bakugo sneered, wondering what this weirdo was getting at.

"There's no time to waste! I need you all in the same area, so I can open the zipper," the answer was cryptic even as the group moved to their vehicle.

"'Open the zipper?'" Enid grew confused with everyone.

"Yes, the best magic tricks, are those that leave the audience dumbfounded. They scrabble for the answer, the logic behind the trick, but none can be offered."

His analogy ended when a being suddenly appeared next to him as he crouched in front of the vehicle, the man's hand raised as if ready to give a command to the odd being that appeared.

The thing had a build similar to the newcomer, but it had a helmet covering its face with a row of spikes going down the middle in a mohawk style with its mouth and chin being exposed. Its body had a blue and grey color scheme resembling armor and it even had matching zippers like its master found on the back of its hands, from its neck, on its feet, and the largest hanging from the front of its waist.

"What's that?" Mahito grew interested in the ability, being able to tell that the being shared the same soul signature as the mysterious youth.

"Sutikkyi Fingāzu (Sticky Fingers)!"

With that call, the being punched the ground hard, sprouting a golden zipper from nowhere that extended beneath the van and ending behind it. Then, seemingly with a thought from the stranger, the zipper opened itself, and if that wasn't enough, the opening of the zipper led to the van falling as if a pit had opened up. The group of villains was surprised at the sudden exit appearing beneath them, the van hitting what they could only assume was the ground. And following behind the vehicle, the stranger dropped into the pit of his own making, the zipper closing behind him with a command.

"Close, zipper!"

Within seconds the opening zipped back up and became solid ground again as if it had never opened in the first place. Mere seconds before the zipper disappeared from view, the shutter door had finally been blown in with the heroes flooding into the now empty room.

"No way!" Hawkgirl gripped her mace, voicing the disbelief that all the heroes had when they saw neither hide nor hair of the League of Villains.

Without a word, Flash sped around, checking every corner of the building, opening every door, ending back in the main room with the others, and shaking his head.

"Nothing...they aren't here..." Flash frowned.

"That's impossible...they couldn't have gotten out!" Lantern activated his communicator, "Batman! They escaped somehow; did you see anything!?" Lantern used his ring to scan the room for anything amiss.

"They what?" Batman's eyes narrowed, still hovering outside the building with a clear view of the structure on all sides, it would be impossible for them to escape without him noticing. "They didn't leave the building, at least not conventionally. Did you pick anything up?"

"Nothing...they didn't break anything to get out and I'm not picking anything up with my ring."

"How is it they are able to slip through our grasp?" Diana clenched her fists.

"Easy, princess, don't go blaming yourself...it's my city...I should have done a better job taking care of it," Flash put a hand on Diana's shoulder. "Didn't even know they were here this whole time..."

"We don't have time for beating ourselves up!" Hawkgirl cut through the pity party before it could build up a head of steam. "We have to fan out and find them before they have a chance to disappear...get J'onn and Superman down here to help."

"Hawkgirl's right. Superman and J'onn should have finished up with Luthor by now. Finding these guys takes priority," Lantern moved to call in their missing members.

Firestorm hesitantly spoke up at this point, "I'd love to help you guys, but I have to get home...uh...I kinda skipped school..." he rubbed the back of his head.

"You're a kid?" Hawkgirl was surprised given his build.

"Senior...but I really do have to go."

"No problem, dude, thanks for all the help...I think I'll put in a good word for you with the big guy," Flash smiled.

"Seriously!?"

'Play it straight Jefferson, don't seem overeager. What is it you kids say? Be cool?' Stein let himself be known.

'You're telling me to be cool, doc?'

'They're waiting for your answer...'

Realizing that he had been standing still while having his conversation with his second consciousness, Firestorm stiffened slightly. Coughing into his hand to clear his throat, he played it off coolly.

"Yeah, awesome, cool, I'll, uh, keep an ear open...call if you need me...I want to catch these guys too," he thought about the silver-haired villain in particular, the easygoing, calm, yet extremely menacing smile that was on his face while fighting the nuclear man like he was having fun inflicting pain.

"Sure thing..."

"I'm serious, Flash," Firestorm's eyes burned, looking into Flash's, "Call me."

"Of course."

"Rookies are getting more and more impressive," Lantern said respectfully.

"Kid can go places, if he plays his cards right..." Flash nodded.

"Superman and J'onn are on their way, said to start without them," Lantern went back into business mode.

"They couldn't stop me from searching even if they were here," Hawkgirl took off, flying out of the building.

"We'll start with abandoned buildings, though I doubt they would stay in one place now that we know they're here. Time is of the essence, it would take time for them to move," Batman had the Batwing take off as well.

"I will return to the highway and assist with helping the civilians then help you," Wonder Woman got a round of agreements.

"I'm with you, princess, gotta help my citizens. Shouldn't take more than ten before we meet back up with you guys," Flash stood next to Diana.

"Then you have nine left..." Batman commented dryly.

"Knew you had a funny bone, Bats."

With the plan formed, the heroes went off in different directions to begin their search.

Having no idea that their targets were beneath their feet.

(Underground)

"Where are we?" Tomura asked from within the darkness, still atop the van but able to sit now that it was going at a leisurely pace.

"Underneath the streets of Central City," the stranger walked next to the van.

"How did you do that!?" Mahito shouted excitedly next to the unknown man. "That thing you had shared the same soul signature as yours."

"I couldn't tell you...I've always had this ability with me as far back as I could remember..." he summoned the being as a demonstration, floating just off the floor.

"Whatever it was, it saved our asses...thanks," Enid begrudgingly owned up to her folly of mistrusting the guy and Gaz by extension.

"Think nothing of it...I have been searching for you all, so being of use in your time of need is necessary," he smiled slightly for the first time.

"Yeah, yeah, hugs all around," Dabi rolled his eyes, waving his hand dismissively, "It's great you saved us and all, but who the hell are you?" the distant pyrokinetic walked as well, being sick of the vehicle, and asked the question that seemed the most pertinent.

He wasn't going to outright trust this guy that conveniently showed up in their time of need.

"You even know what gratitude is?" Gaz asked from the driver's seat.

"Don't go soft just because someone saved your life...if he was looking for us, why'd it take him so long to make contact?" Dabi cut through to the heart.

"I'm with the ragdoll...some bastard showing up out of nowhere to help...seems too good to be true," Bakugo was sitting on the hood of the car.

"Your suspicion is not misplaced...but I truly mean you no harm," he stopped and brought a hand to his chest and tilted his head ever so slightly for dramatic effect.

"My name is Bruno Bucciarati. I hail from Italy, that is why my appearance has taken so long, and I humbly ask to join this outfit."

"Why?" Tomura's eye became critical at this point, sizing up the newcomer. This was not something they could take lightly, he vetted each and every new member with Enid when they first started appearing, and before their abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and use, they measured their commitment.

What they'd be willing to do for the cause.

"I imagine it isn't too far off from the reasons all of us have found ourselves here," Bucciarati answered, "For all of us newcomers to the group...we all saw the news story of All for One's climactic battle against the Justice League in some way or another, scattered as we were at the time, and felt the same need to find the group he was allied with...to see his goals come true."

His words were correct, all of the fresh members of the League had seen the powerful man stand against the Earth's mightiest and had been inspired to seek out the remnants left behind, to pick up the pieces and continue.

"When I was young, my father instilled in me an ethos," Bucciarati seemed to be reminiscing, "Resolve is the power that drives man forward in this world. This power causes people to chase after what they want from the world. Be it wealth, power, or something as mundane as food to feed yourself for the day," he turned to the others and pointed, "And therein lies the problem, the common man lacks such resolve. A select few have the vision to grasp what they want and chase it to the ends of the Earth if need be, and they are the ones that stand atop this planet," Bucciarati closed his fist as if grabbing something from the air.

"Since my father's death, I've been aimless. No grand aspirations that I wanted. With my power, I wanted for nothing and nothing could stop me from getting anything I would need for survival. I used that to live humbly...but when I saw All for One, my being surged...I felt his resolve to defame the heroes at the pinnacle of the world, and decided that I would see the outcome of that dream."

His piece said, Bucciarati awaited judgment from the others, unwavering in his belief of being welcomed into the group. And that belief was not misplaced as Bucciarati watched the edges of a wide smile stretch across Shigaraki's face as the leader of the group sat.

"We all have our own reasons for joining the League of Villains...and there isn't much of a doubt in my mind that without Master's guiding voice, we wouldn't have anything to do with one another. That's how powerful Master is, and why we won't fail in our mission. We have the cause and conviction that those heroes wish they did..." Tomura chuckled lowly, "We welcome you."

"I'm honored," a bow of his head showed his gratitude.

"Tch, fine, so we have another freak...just stay outta my way, pretty boy. You rank lower than me, so I'm the boss of you!" Bakugo gave the ground rules, in his mind at least.

"Since when were their ranks? If I had to say, the new guy here should be above you," Enid joked at the blond's expense.

"To hell with that!"

"A bit overdramatic for my taste...but at least your serious," Dabi strode ahead with his hands in his pockets, "And that's something this group is seriously lacking," he muttered.

Just as the recruit went to answer, an arm snaked its way around his shoulder courtesy of a smiling Mahito making his way into Bucciarati's personal space.

"That's just Dabi's way of saying he likes you!" Mahito chuckled, "We're glad to have you...by the way, care to explain how your abilities work? Maybe let me touch your ghost?"

"I want to know too...but don't let Mahito touch that thing...he'll just mutate it," Gaz chimed in, sounding invested for once while giving fair warning of Mahito's machinations.

"Shh, don't tell him!"

Bucciarati was taken aback by how easily the tense group had relaxed after his tale. He was ready to put his nose to the grindstone and work his way into the team proper, no matter how long it would take for them to acclimate to his presence and reach a point of mutual trust between them, but they easily seemed to welcome him with open arms.

He gave a small smile.

"Now that the matter of recruitment has been resolved, it's time to move on to more important things," Peridot had Backpack crawl to the top of the van, reminding them of her presence. "Namely, retrieving me. Moving our base takes precedence now, I doubt the Justice League will be leaving Central City any time soon."

"True...but they'll be watching all the exits too, we're boxed in," Enid rubbed her chin.

"An easy fix, simply give me your location and I can make my way there rather quickly with my zippers. And the new base we can utilize can be found down here, I failed to mention that the tunnels we've been traversing are the abandoned subway of Central City. They fell by the wayside to focus on marketing their city as a Flash capitol, that garish museum of theirs is a testament," Bucciarati informed them. "It can serve as a temporary respite until our next plan of action is made, and travel will not be an issue. With my abilities, becoming adept at reading maps was a necessity."

"Already making yourself useful, I'm impressed," Dabi smiled.

"Very well. The quicker I am brought to you the better. I still have to conduct a thorough examination of our objective...Luthor's cautiousness is something I wouldn't want to underestimate."

"Well planned. Follow this tunnel and you will come to the station. I shall return with our comrade shortly," Bucciarati assured them, receiving the location that Peridot resided and literally zipped off.

"Getting around is going be way easier from now on, at least," Enid said as they continued on, intent on finishing their mission and ending the long day.

(With the Justice League)

"I'm sorry I wasn't here," Superman carried debris above his head, helping with the relief effort at the broken piece of highway.

"Don't be. Capturing Luthor was something we had to take ages to put together, the circumstances were perfect. A chance like this would not have come again for a long time," Diana soothed her teammate.

"Yeah, Supes, you and J'onn were the only guys that'd be able to pull this off. With all that evidence, Lex won't be talking his way out of this one any time soon. It was just bad luck that these guys had their own plans going on behind our backs," Flash lifted up a shirt from the ground, a Flash shirt to be exact, looks like one of the transfigured humans had been a kid...

"If anyone's to blame, it's me...this is my city, and I didn't even know they were here this whole time," the normally cheerful hero became somber.

"Do not blame yourself," J'onn placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, "This League of Villains has proved themselves unpredictable, we couldn't have known they would target a LexCorp asset as they have."

"And that begs the question, why?" Superman placed the rubble in a pile he'd made.

"You got me," Flash shrugged, "They seemed so laser-focused on us, never thought they'd want to mess around with other bad guys..." Flash rubbed the back of his neck.

"They didn't mention anything?"

"Psht, nah, they love to play games...they were just playing around the whole time, didn't seem to take it seriously at all," Flash crossed his arms.

"Mm, at least we've got confirmation of support...you said Gear's drone was with them. Do you think that support is how they escaped?" Superman asked.

"It appears to be the only possibility. There was no way out of that building, yet somehow, they'd escaped without us realizing and with no trace," Diana answered.

"They can't have gone far. We've done all we can here, so it's time to join the others in the search," Superman decided. The majority of the destruction had been cleaned; the rest would be up to the city to repair.

"Here comes Lantern now, must've missed me," Flash tried to lighten the dour mood.

"He seems perturbed," J'onn looked at the man's face and saw that the former marine looked more troubled even more so than expected given the situation.

"Lantern, we were just about to join you, Batman, and Hawkgirl in the search," Superman stepped forward to address his teammate, "Any news?"

"Nothing good," a shake of his head only added on to the suspense.

"What could be worse than this?" Flash tempted fate as he gestured to the destruction behind them.

"Lex and Ultra-Humanite escaped from prison..."

"What!?" Superman was, of course, the first to react, hearing the horrid news that his biggest enemy had already gotten out of prison. After the entire Justice League had set up the right circumstance, gathered enough evidence, and created the perfect plan to put the bald businessman behind bars, only for him to escape within the day.

"Looks like Lex worked his magic on Humanite and talked him into helping him escape," Lantern relayed the info sternly.

"What should we do? We have the League of Villains cornered here, but if we allow Lex to run free, he could cause just as much trouble," Diana convened with the others to concoct a plan of action.

"Go for the new guys making a name for themselves, or the big dog that already has one? A hero's dilemma," Flash shook his head with his hands on his hips.

"Allowing the League of Villains to escape again will be troublesome, but Lex has the knowledge and connections to cause real damage in a short amount of time," the Martian's words cut into the root of their two choices.

"Batman thinks we should split up. Some of us stay here and keep on the lookout for those anarchists and the others go hunting for Luthor," Lantern cast his gaze to the Kryptonian, "I'm guessing you want to go after Lex?"

"Yes, but we should keep some of the muscle here."

"I'm staying, my turf, after all," Flash cut through quickly.

"I shall remain here and assist," J'onn chose.

"Hawkgirl's staying, she's on a warpath," Green Lantern remembered the woman essentially stomping her foot down when it came to finding the villainous group.

"I will return with Superman...what is Batman doing?" Diana asked.

"Heh, both. Probably isn't going to be sleeping again either."

"And you G.L?"

"Gotta swing by my place and recharge. Metropolis is closer, so I'll stay there. Think you three can handle this?"

"We shall do our best," J'onn nodded.

"*sigh*" Lantern let out a sigh of exhaustion.

"What's wrong?" Diana asked, flying along with him and Superman.

"What isn't? Lex broke out, those kids caused more destruction, and on top of that they got away again...it irks me that a bunch of rookies has been getting so lucky...and they keep getting away with it..."

"Yes, it is rather troubling. They seemed so small only a few months ago...to the point they had to flee just to survive. Now they're outright challenging us."

"Luck runs out."

The blunt words from the Man of Steel caught their attention.

"They can only get so far before they slip up. Just look at Lex, we managed to corner him and we'll corner them too. Then they can all be behind bars with All for One," Superman frowned at the memory of the man, still feeling the ripple effects of the villain's presence along with the world.

Superman had no idea how true those words would be in the future, yet simultaneously, if he'd had the power of hindsight, the Kryptonian would have held his tongue.

(Beneath Central City)

"Ahhh, nothing like relaxing after a successful mission," Enid stretched out, lying across multiple chairs in the deserted subway station.

Across from Enid, on the tracks, were Peridot, currently working on the LexCorp canister, and Bucciarati next to her observing her work intently. Tomura was sat on the ledge next to the tracks, watching as well with Gaz taking a seat next to him though she was playing her Game Slave again now that she could. Mahito had taken to exploring their temporary base, finding the surroundings a fun new experience since, according to him, he had never ridden a train in his life, or a car for that matter until today...it made his team wonder how that was possible for the patchwork nonhuman. Bakugo had also wandered off, though he was doing it more because he didn't like the idea of sitting around and waiting for someone; knowing him, the blond was blowing something up to train/work out his frustration after being knocked out if the booms they heard were anything to go by. And finally, Dabi sat on the row of chairs that were behind Enid's, keeping his distance, as always, from the others.

"Why do you need to relax?" the burned villain asked from his position, leaning forward in his seat while resting his elbows on his knees, "From what I remember, you sat in the back the entire time...must've taken a lot out of you," he mocked.

"And you think you deserve it more? All I heard was complaining about how much the van was moving," the purplette replied without missing a beat with a smirk, closing her eyes, and smiling as she laid down on the row of chairs.

"I can't control being carsick...especially with this one going out of her way to drive like it's Grand Theft Auto."

Gaz turned to look at the young man, "You think that was bad? I could have done way better," Gaz rolled her eyes, she didn't show half of what she could do but she didn't get the chance since a van wasn't made for speed or maneuverability.

She needed a real car.

"I look forward to passing on that..." Dabi tilted his head dismissively.

"Incredible, so you and the others staged such a daring operation in broad daylight to retrieve this?" Bucciarati had a hand to his chin, staring at the canister in front of him, and watching as the small alien carefully took it apart in certain places with little effort.

"Didn't really have a choice, she wouldn't shut up about it," Tomura deadpanned, getting Gaz to snicker.

"Pardon me for wanting to increase my capabilities..." Peridot rolled her eyes, connecting her laptop to the container and beginning the process of unlocking it.

"And this device will do such a thing?" Bucciarati rubbed his chin.

"Yes. Once appropriately used, this will allow me to act in the field. Accessing technology will be much quicker with direct contact, rather than using this portable device..." she sneered at the laptop, clacking away at the keys deftly.

"You'll be joining us?"

"That's why we needed to get our hands on this. This was our last step before preparing to break Master out of prison," Tomura told the new member.

"Then it seems I've picked the ideal time to find you all," the Italian villain smirked.

"Eureka!"

The exclamation of the alien alerted all of the team within the echoing expanse of the subway. The shout had them all gather around to see what had gotten the normally reserved gem such an outburst, and finally get a look at what she'd had them steal.

"The hell's with all the noise?" Bakugo was as calm as he could be as he came from wherever he'd been, covered in sweat and dirt.

"Finished with your tantrum?" Dabi raised a brow with a smirk.

"I wasn't throwing a tantrum, ragdoll...I was training...then I hear the rock yelling about something and figured she finally got done with the stupid can. Should see what it is at least," Bakugo defended himself with a straight stare.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night..."

"I can't wait!" Mahito excitedly jumped down to the tracks and started examining the object up close, "I wonder what it is!" he jumped on top of it, "Maybe a robot?!", he knocked a knuckle against it, "Or a laser!?"

"Nothing so base," Peridot denied, watching with the others as the canister began to open, splitting vertically to reveal what was inside with a plume of smoke.

"It's..." Mahito's eyes shone only to abruptly dim seeing a stack of metal slabs inside.

"Boring..."

"You simpleton!" Peridot took one of the slabs from the pouting nonhuman, struggling slightly under its weight.

"I think his reaction is a bit appropriate, Peri," Enid took the slab easily in one hand, "The way you talked this thing up, we were expecting something more," she dropped the slab loudly to the ground.

"Hmph, this is the problem with you humans..." the alien rolled her eyes, "You barely scratch the surface of your inventions and become content with that...this is a powerful metal alloy that is nigh-invincible from what I've studied," she rubbed a hand against the slab with an appreciative smile on her face.

"Still boring," Mahito chimed in unnecessarily.

"Would it become interesting if I told you that there is a prime example of this alloy's strength? It composes a being that regularly does battle with the Kryptonian," Peridot defended with logic.

"Really? Who?" Tomura asked.

"Metallo, ironically he shares his name with the alloy."

"I've heard of him...he's got that green rock in his chest. Still isn't able to kill the boy scout, though," Dabi supplied.

"So we've got indestructible metal. Now what?" Enid still did not see the point.

"Indestructible metal, or as close as you humans can get to it, is the perfect material to create what I have in mind for my augmentations. I already have all the pieces I need to begin crafting them, and once I do..."

"We start planning to get All for One," Bakugo finished with a smile.

"Yes, and with our new addition, our strength and versatility grow. Breaking into the prison has become a much simpler task thanks to his presence," Peridot motioned to Bucciarati.

"I jump at the chance to prove useful," he bowed.

"From there, it becomes a battle. The details will need to be ironed out at a later time."

"You up for this?" Bakugo asked, looking down on the gem with a serious expression.

"Of course I-"

"This is serious...we aren't playing anymore. After this, we'll be dealing with the Justice League, all the time. There's no time for being half-assed...it's easy to say you're ready...but are you?" his hair cast a shadow over his eyes.

"Come on...you're really asking..." Enid tried to wave him off.

"You should understand...just like Shigaraki how serious this is about to get. We need to know that she's ready to stand up like the rest of us, we aren't going to be holding her hand the whole time. I've never seen her fight, so I have to make sure that she's ready to defend herself."

"Laying it on thick," Enid scratched the back of her head finding it hard to disagree.

"Well?" Bakugo kept his stare on her.

The gem didn't blink, staring directly into Bakugo's eyes, "I assure you, I am fully capable of doing battle. I've been to countless planets where the inhabitants were less than accommodating...my job was support but I had weapons for defending myself when the soldiers couldn't hold the line. I plan to put offensive functions in my invention," Peridot assured the blond.

"Good," he ended it there.

"What was with that?" Gaz asked him, finally halting her play, "You don't seem like the type to care about something like that as long as you get to blow something up..." Gaz wondered what had brought that question to the blond's head.

"It's nothing...I just don't wanna be a liar..." he was thinking about something specific but did not elaborate.

"You shouldn't worry so much, Bakugo," Mahito smiled, "We're all strong, no way we're going to fail!"

"Who said I was worried?! I'm just making sure all you bastards are gonna pull your weight!"

"That moment didn't last long," Dabi rolled his eyes.

"Peridot, how long will it take you to finish?" Tomura asked, staying on topic.

"If I could work in peace, a few days, perhaps a week. As I said I have everything needed to assemble them," Peridot ran a hand over the slab in content.

"Then the rest of you..." Tomura turned to the League, his red eye half-lidded, "...take the time to prepare yourselves. Soon we'll be far more wanted than we are now. Once Master is back with us, the Justice League won't dream of giving us a moment's peace...and in return, we won't be giving them one either," the villain grinned beneath his hand-mask.

"Preparing will be easy...after all, I don't get any fancy equipment to upkeep," Mahito passive-aggressively said with a shrug and stuck his tongue out, directing the comment to their technician.

"Get over it...who'd want all this crap on them anyway?" Dabi rolled his shoulders. The cooling cuffs on the sleeves took a toll, least he didn't have to worry about burning up so quickly.

"You didn't seem to be complaining today...you actually looked happy hurling those fireballs around," Enid pinched some of the material of her own costume and had it snap against her skin. "I know I'm loving mine."

"I need a new grenade," Bakugo said bluntly.

"That's because you let it get blown up," Gaz poked fun at the blond, "You know, after you got tossed around," she smiled maliciously.

The twitching of barely contained rage was the young girl's answer.

"See? Everyone's enjoying their new clothes so much...I guess they wouldn't understand..." Mahito sulked, looking down at the floor. It hurt all the more since he'd lost his shirt.

"Then just get new clothes..." Tomura deadpanned.

"If I could interject and get us back on topic," Peridot rubbed her forehead the theses clods' antics, "I need your assistance, Mettle."

"Me? Why?"

"Nothing too strenuous for that...um...'brain' of yours," she emphasized the word brain a tad too much for the teen, "I just need your abilities to help temper the Metallo into the appropriate shapes."

"I thought you said this stuff was invincible," the girl placed her hands onto her hips with a brow raised.

"It is. But it has to be molded somehow, or else the fool running around with it as his chassis would not exist. It cannot be broken, molding is a different story, with the right amount of heat, that is," Peridot educated.

Enid's face scrunched up, "Sounds like something else I know..."

"How do you know about all this stuff anyway, greenie?" Dabi asked.

"Let's just say...where I've been since landing on this gem-forsaken planet, has afforded me a good deal of knowledge on materials that you humans use for weaponry...and the plans you have for them," Peridot thought back to where she'd escaped from.

Before the conversation could go any further, a ring sounded from Bakugo's pocket.

"Way to kill the mood," Enid shook her head.

"The hell?" Bakugo sifted through his pocket and took out the device, studying it with a questioning gaze.

"It's a cell phone. Someone must be calling you," Mahito pointed to the object jokingly explaining it to the clueless blond.

"I know what it is...but no one should have my number..." Bakugo glared at the ringing phone, the display showing the 'unknown caller' identifier. "Only reason I have this thing is because my old 'managers' would use it to get in contact and let me know when I had a fight. Those bastards didn't take kindly to when I told them I'd be leaving, but I persuaded them. Point is, besides you guys, no one would even know I have a phone."

The implications had everyone remain silent, the ringtone echoed.

"Put it on speaker..." Tomura's low tone seemed booming.

"That a good idea?" Dabi questioned their leader, "Could be a trap...most likely is."

"If he was able to get Bakugo's number, chances are that the caller already knows where we are..." Tomura reasoned.

With that, Bakugo answered the call, sliding his finger across the screen.

"Ah, it's about time. I was beginning to think you were ignoring me," a deep voice answered the League of Villains.

"Who the hell are you and how'd you get this number!?" Bakugo shouted into the phone.

"Well, you must be the explosive one...might I speak with your leader? I need someone that can speak, shall we say, civilized."

"You rotten-!" Bakugo's teeth ground against each other as a vein throbbed on his neck, muscles twitching with no physical outlet for his rage.

"Who are you?" the blue-haired villain said seriously from beside the shaking blond.

"Come now, you don't have an idea? After all, you did steal my property today," the end of the sentence was said low and seriously.

"Luthor," Shigaraki's eye narrowed, hearing from the man they'd stolen from...this could only lead to trouble.

"Yes, quite the feat of derring-do, I apologize for not being there to put a stop to you all properly, but I was...preoccupied at the time," on the other line was none other than Lex Luthor, billionaire CEO of LexCorp, and perpetual thorn in the side of Metropolis's resident hero.

And a real self-absorbed nuisance.

"Quite a lot of damage you caused to Central City, and all for a bit of my Metallo...imagine my surprise when I had some leisure time to see you all on the news, and escaping those Justice Fools when the situation was at its bleakest, no less. The story had me on the edge of my seat," the man spoke amicably enough, but there was a knowing tinge to it that let on that the man was in control of everything.

"Enough," Tomura cut the man off...he was annoying him, "What do you want?"

"Well, seems someone is slightly on edge...are you worried that I'm angry about you stealing from me?" the man took a pause to drink from a wine glass he had, "On the contrary, I consider it water under the bridge. In fact, it was a glowing display of your capabilities, and it made me come to the decision to offer you all a job," the bald man revealed to the stunned League of Villains.

"A job...why?" Tomura's eye narrowed...this wasn't going to end well.

"I suppose you could say it's my way of getting payment from you for stealing my property. You assist me, and I let you keep the Metallo freely...and I think this is a proposal that is mutually beneficial, seeing as it involves utterly annihilating the Justice League. That's something that your group can get behind, right?" Lex laid his cards on the table and awaited Tomura's response.

"And what if we refuse?"

Hook, line, and sinker.

"Well...I suppose that a concerned citizen like myself would have no choice but to, say, leave an anonymous tip with the Justice League on the whereabouts of the 'terrifying' League of Villains. Won't I?" Lex countered flawlessly.

"And risk yourself being caught?" Tomura shot back in calm retaliation, "The heroes would ask questions...like just how a 'citizen' would know where we're hiding."

"Hm, that is true, but I'm sure that I'd have a bit of leeway given your rising popularity with them, and as the saying goes, if I'm going down, I'm taking you with me."

"And what's stopping us from moving before then?"

"Haven't you thought of everything? Unfortunately, not far enough ahead...unless, of course, you plan on leaving your ill-gotten gains behind. I can track you easily, wherever you take them, I'll know."

"That's not possible...I thoroughly inspected the containment unit...I deactivated the tracker..." Peridot spoke up, glancing at the canister.

"Then you must be the technology expert of your group...though perhaps that might be a tad too much credit," Lex insulted the gem, "If a tracker on my assets were so easily removed, I'd practically be inviting incidents like this on myself," the smirk on his face could almost be felt through the phone.

The mastermind covered all his bases. The League of Villains were backed into a corner and at the mercy of this man within mere minutes. They had little choice but to follow Lex's orders, or have their journey end prematurely before even getting the chance to take back All for One.

"Look, I'm doing my best to be civil here, the least you could do is hear out my proposal. Who knows, maybe after this, you might come to realize working for me is far better than aimlessly flitting about as you have," Lex chuckled.

"Listen here, chrome-dome-!" Enid stepped forward, but a hand from Tomura stopped her.

"Where and when?" Tomura asked simply, keeping his voice level, and giving the irate girl a look from the corner of his eye.

"A wise choice. Let's say, in Metropolis two days from now."

"Fine..."

"Oh, and I want all of you there...as assurance that there won't be any funny business behind my back...understood?" Lex knew he was in control and capitalized on it.

"We'll be there..." with the deal set Lex hung up.

"What the hell, Shigaraki!?" Enid growled, "You're just gonna let that asshole call the shots?!"

"We didn't have much choice in the matter...this way we'll buy ourselves some time..." Tomura looked at his oldest comrade flatly. "Peridot, how long would it take for you to find this second tracker?"

The gem frowned, narrowing her eyes, and rubbing her chin while reexamining the containment unit, "Without knowing what I'm looking for...I've no idea...but with my intelligence impugned...I'm feeling more inclined to get it done quickly," she snarled...that human thought she couldn't find his little tracker?

She'll show him why she was considered one of the best of her cut.

"Mmm, so now we have to listen to this Luthor character? I don't like the sound of that~" Mahito sat cross-legged on the ground, resting his cheek in his palm with a pout at being pushed around by someone.

"Especially that guy...I get why dad never wanted to take any funding from him...a businessman first," Gaz sported a frown that was deeper than normal, now agitated to the point she stopped playing her Game Slave.

"Playing along like this could end with us being thrown under the bus by that guy," Dabi lazily added with an uncaring tone.

"That damn baldy has to pay!" Bakugo was still twitching in place with the whites of his eyes showing, multiple veins looking to burst much like the explosions that come from his hands.

"How vexing, perhaps we could transport the Metallo without the containment unit?" Bucciarati offered as an alternative.

"If that was an option, I would have offered it up...the containment unit is needed for the final phases of my inventions," Peridot didn't look back to address the new member, too busy with trying to rid themselves of the second tracker and any other nasty surprises Lex might have.

"For now, all we can do is play along with whatever Luthor is up to...I know exactly what he's trying to do," Tomura glared at nothing, "He's simply using us as a sword and shield. Our star has been rising, so he plans to use that as a draw for the Justice League, and if things go south...Dabi put it best. He's looking to usurp the position we've clawed our way into...the one that Master forced his way to."

He scanned over his teammates seeing the angered, annoyed faces they all had. Being used as tools by Lex Luthor went against what all of them wanted from this road they'd chosen to walk down...they wouldn't allow themselves to be used like this.

"He looks to control the storm by having it within his palm, but at the end of all this, we'll be the ones left standing..." Tomura smiled beneath his mask, "He's already made a mistake...I have a gamble to take on this meeting."

(Elsewhere)

Within a rundown, abandoned building, a villain's paradise, Lex had just hung the phone up after speaking with his newest 'employees.' Standing next to him was a large individual with the appearance of a white gorilla only its brain seemed to be too big for it as its appearance was obviously seen on its skull, jutting out with veins pulsing around it.

"Are you sure it's wise to rely on such barbarians for this, Lex? Your time is already short, and that group doesn't seem the type to let someone that runs afoul of them go," the gorilla spoke in a sophisticated tone.

"Worry not, Humanite, I have those fools wrapped around my finger now. They can't so much as touch me without worrying about me blowing the whistle on their little hideout," Lex spoke confidently, "I'll put them to good use before discarding them. With their presence, the Justice League will hardly have the time to worry about my plans...until it's too late."

AN: So much fun to write this one, having a chapter you've had planned for so long finally be finished is a great feeling that I never want to go away!

So the L.O.V find their balls in a vice, forced to help the recently escaped Lex Luthor...and whatever plan he has up his sleeve.

I wonder what will happen.

Onto other business...

I joined AizenTheGoat's discord server, and, while I'm a lurker on it for the most part, there are plenty active writers on the site that are very active. Talk anime and shit, talk fanfiction and shit, concepts for them, or just chill out.

Link is: /bnPXUExG

Be cool when you show up and everyone will be welcoming. And don't embarrass me!