Rule #40a: Follow your gut

The tea in the kettle had cooled to brisk dregs by the time Toru had returned to the inn, a little worse for wear, but definitely a lot less soaked than she had feared. Her classmates were still where she had left them, though by this point they had shed their pyjamas in exchange for their hero costumes. Kaminari was hunched over a laptop, cord hanging from the corner of his lips whilst Mineta sat at his knee, nervously passing a purple ball back & forth in his hands. Sero, on the other hand, was missing—still out on patrol with a collection of the Lurkers.

"Oh hey, you guys are still up!" Toru greeted softly, wiping off her feet on the doormat as she entered the inn. It did little to remove the muck clinging to her.

"Hey" Kaminari grunted, barely sparing the girl a look as he was far more engrossed in whatever it was he & Ritsu were doing.

Mineta, on the other hand, turned his attentions to the invisible girl where he found her far more visible than they were used to. He frowned at the state she was in; her hair looked damp as it left wet patches about her shoulders, mud caked most of her figure, although it appeared that she had tried to rub some of it off in an attempt to remain hidden. It was a good thing it was dark outside because she looked quite the sight.

"Hagakure? What the hell?" He spluttered, pointing to the mud-caked outline of his classmate that he couldn't usually see. "Hey—hey—hey! Watch it! You're tracking mud in all over the floor!"

At his exclaimation, Kaminari finally looked over. His jaw just about hit the floor. "What the hell…? Did you decide to go swimming or something?"

Toru smiled sheepishly at them; even her teeth were outlined by the muck that seemed to coat her body. "No! Nooo…maybe, I might've done it, but let's go with no?"

"Let's go with no?" Kaminari quirked a disbelieving brow at the girl.

"Maaaaaaaaybeee?" Toru rocked back & forth on her heels, dropping clods of mud onto the ground as she did so. It seemed that her quirk had done its job of at least drying the lake muck and raising her core temperature from the shivering mess it had been. Still, she'd need another bath before going back out again. "Okay, fine, I fell in"

Both of the boys' brows furrowed as if they were trying to puzzle out whether she was lying or not. And she would admit, it wasn't her best cover up story, but it was plausible and that was all she really needed. The albino knew that Ritsu, who'd clearly overheard the conversation (she was always listening in), knew that she was lying. But a little white lie never really hurt anybody, right?

"Sooooooo" Toru drawled, rocking on her feet. "How's it going? The search, I mean, with everyone else?"

"Slowly…" Kaminari sighed as he turned back to the task at hand. "It's going slowly…"

"None of the locals wanna to talk about it" Mineta explained, "And those that do, just wanna know where everybody has gone"

"So, nothing useful then?"

"No, nothing useful"

"Well, then I bring good news" She smiled knowingly.

"No way! You found it?"

"Always the tone of surprise" She pouted, mockingly, "But yes, I know where it is"

Again, Kaminari spluttered and spun to face her, "What?! Why didn't you lead with that?"

Toru spared them a sheepish smile as she ran her fingers through her dirty hair. "I followed their tracks down to the lake—"

"—On the north end, right?" Kaminari interjected.

"Yeah"

"Did you run into Edgeshot?"

"No" She shook her head, brows furrowing in confusion. "Is he not back yet?"

"None of them are" Mineta replied.

"I'll call 'em back in a mo" Kaminari waved off. "Tell us what you found. In detail"

"Better yet, I could show you; finding a way inside will be the hard part, though" Toru proffered, before sparing a glance down at her mud-caked form. "I just gotta take a layer of dirt off, first"

There were less combatants here in Kaflin than there had been on the Hassaikai operation, but it still felt as chaotic as ever. Stomping back through the undergrowth—far cleaner than before—and with a flurry of teammates at her back, they made their way back to the lake where Toru had first found the facility. This trip was only supposed to be a reconnaissance one, so only a selection of each team had shown up whilst the others were elsewhere.

"…Okay, so I was able to download the blueprints of the facility" Ritsu chirped from Kaminari's wristwatch, her voice echoing like thunder in the quiet of night. "Now, the top two thirds are just a normal office building"

"Except for the fact that it's underwater" Toru huffed, stumbling over a stray root.

"Yes, except for that" The AI acquiesced. "Anyway, from what I can tell, normal everyday people work there"

"Imagine if they knew who they were working for!" Mineta chuffed from Kamui Woods' shoulder as he turned on his All For One impression. "Beware! I am a walking dildo! Death to All Might! Bow before me!"

Toru snickered quietly at the impression, her lips pulling up into a cheeky grin as they ran. Her classmates surprised her every day, it would seem, because who knew that under all of that perverseness was a sense of gallows humour that she could relate to? Their companions, on the other hand, bore deadpans that were drier than bone and the silence stretched on towards the awkward end of uncomfortable. The grape-haired boy's grin quickly fell as he caught the hint and stopped his impression as an embarrassed flushed across his cheeks. Apparently Mina's brainwashing at Christmas had actually managed to stick with the boy, which was a bit of a (pleasing) surprise.

"Er…anywaaaaay…" Mineta awkwardly cleared his throat. "You—you were saying?"

"Hm" Kamui Woods grunted before turning his attention to the electrified blonde. "What about the lower floors?"

"Well, that's the thing" Kaminari shrugged as he pointed to the holographic map projected from his wristwatch. "Everything below this ground level? It's completely blank"

"Blank?"

"Yeah, see?"

"So, that means whatever they've got down there must be pretty important, right?" Toru summarised.

"Which means" Kaminari continued on, "That is exactly where we need to go"

The invisible girl spared her classmate a teasing grin. "Hope you're ready to go skinny dipping"

"You weren't kidding" Mineta kicked at the edge of lake, water and muck splashing up the side of his legs at the motion.

"Did you not see what state I was in when I came back?" Toru huffed a laugh as she stood back from the water's edge. She didn't particularly feel like going for another dip any time soon. "I looked like the creature from the black lagoon"

"You said it, not me!"

"Hey!"

"Alright brats, that's enough" Kamui Woods scolded them as he let Mineta slide from his shoulders.

Surveying the treeline through professional eyes, did little to distinguish much more than the dark wood of the jungle and the creatures that lived within. The moon had climbed its starry ladder into the sky and painted the landscape below in silver, though it did little to illuminate the building beneath the waters. Then again, if an illuminated palm directly beneath the lake's surface wasn't going to illuminate it, then the moon hardly stood a chance.

Eventually, they ended up right where the tracks had ended and the (fake) Pros moved to examine the sight that Toru had found; making sure that the invisible girl's prior assessment was correct. Shifting around the edge of the lake, it took them a hot minute until the gaggle of heroes & villains had ended back up at the supposed entrance to the facility. This time when Ritsu glitched into existence on Kaminari's wristwatch, the blonde took the proffered surveillance camera from Mineta (a small purple orb that was not too dissimilar to the Pop-Offs he produced, save for it technological make-up) and, after priming it, tossed it out into the water in an effort to get a better view of what lay beneath, down in the dark depths.

"Hey, look at this" Kaminari pointed to the holo-map flittering before his eyes. Out here in the forest, the connection was not so great, but there was just enough of a signal for them to reveal what lay in those watery depths.

Sero leant over the blonde's shoulder, peering down at the illuminated map. The glitching was annoying but there was enough footage for them to see the outline of whatever was under the water. "Those look like tunnels"

"So this path must raise up into a lift or something" Zhao hummed, finger tapping against her chin in thought.

"It would have to be a pretty big tunnel to fit all of those Trigger transports" Toru offered, neither denying nor agreeing with the diamond-encrusted girl.

As the device grew closer to the shadowy establishment, the grainy footage soon revealed the Trigger facility in question. And much like the blueprints had suggested, there lay the building they had been looking for, in all of its sunken temple glory. If you squinted or turned your head just so, it kind of looked like someone had stuck a plastic castle in the bottom of a fish tank, but that could've just been humourous thinking and the fish-eye lens on the camera.

"Well" Mr Smith licked his lips. "They certainly have an…aesthetic"

"I think they're just over compensating" Zhao mused.

"Both would be accurate assumptions" Major Egghead replied from the background, his face unchanging but his tone was teasing.

"Can we hack the lift from here?" Kamui Woods asked of his blonde protégée.

Kaminari didn't look up from his wristwatch as he replied, far too focused with driving the semi-sentient Pop-Off. "No, its too water tight"

"What about the clamp?" Mineta piped up as he turned to their other classmate, "The one you said you found?"

"Its over there" Toru nodded to the shaft sticking out of the water. "But the controls are pretty weathered and it looked like there was supposed to be a twin over here, or something, that connects to it. Otherwise the workers would of had to swim out there everyday, just to get inside; which seems tedious and unlikely"

"Are we even sure that this the Trigger facility we're looking for?" Mount Lady huffed, crossing her arms in agitation as the Pros busied themselves along the shoreline.

Toru pursed her lips in frustration. "What other facility would it even be?"

"I dunno, man" Mr Smith placatingly raised his hands in the albino's direction. "We just wanted to make sure"

"Whatever"

"Well, considering what the locals said, it'd only make sense that this structure is the aforementioned facility that we're looking for" Kamui Woods mused, "Under the direction of one, Doctor Yangisawa Kotaro"

Toru balked at that, her mind stalling for a moment before she turned towards the wooden hero with an apprehensive air. "Did…did you just say 'Doctor Yangisawa Kotaro?"

"Do you know him, Prism?"

"I…" She swallowed thickly as all eyes flittered in her direction. "I'm familiar"

Vine's brows furrowed in puzzlement. "Familiar…? Wasn't he involved with that sinner, the Moon Slayer?"

"Yeah, yeah…he, uh, created him" Toru nodded, nervously fiddling with the fingers of her gloves. Though, silently she snarled at the term 'sinner' It wasn't Korosensei's fault that he had been made. "Apparently the doctor is the creator of the nomu, or whatever"

"Well, that's…" Sero nervously licked his lips. "That's…comforting?"

"Are you shitting me?!" Mineta wailed. "There's gonna be nomus down there! As in plural! Do you not remember the last seven months of absolute hell we've been through, thanks to those things—?!"

"—Priorities first, Grape Juice" Edgeshot interjected; his cool tones soothing irate feelings. "We must find a way inside"

"Right, right" Kaminari nodded as he flicked through the blueprints at a rapid rate. "So what are we thinking? Like a backdoor or something?"

"Well, with a facility like this, you would need a lot of ventilation to operate without any problems" Toru mused, thinking aloud. "Especially since its underwater…Meaning, there must be some sort of vent that we can access"

And with that, the gathered heroes moved to search the shoreline & the adjoining forests in the hopes of finding the aforementioned vents, leaving Kaminari to try and retrieve the device he'd sent out on reconnaissance. Mount Lady, who had shuffled down to join Kamui Woods on the shoreline, looked out towards the small rocky outcropping in the middle of the water with a contemplative expression upon her face. If there was a good place to have some sort of venting, it would be over there on that islet. Maybe not all of them, but at least a main access point or even a sewer line that they would be able to slip into. If only they had a way across the large watery expanse.

Mount Lady quirked a teasing brow in her colleague's direction. "You got a boat we don't know about or are we about to go skinny dipping?"

Kamui Woods smiled sheepishly back at her, "Sorry M'Lady, looks like we've got to paddle like doggies"

"Tch" The giantess clicked her tongue in irritation as she rolled her eyes. "Of course"

Despite her clear dislike for the situation, she still bent to remove her shoes before she jumped in to the water. At least that was the plan, before a large ripple echoed out across the surface of the lake and, at their feet, Kaminari yelped in surprise as he fell backwards. A large shadowy mass with far too many teeth flickered across the screen before the holo-screen dissipated into a mess of grainy static. Not a second later, a large aquatic nomu jumped out of the water and gracefully arched beneath the pale light of the moon as it easily swallowed down the device that the blonde had been trying to recall. The catfish-looking nomu reentered the dark waters with nary a splash, denoting both its power and agility.

Mount Lady straightened from her crouch and turned to spare Kamui Woods a shit-eating grin, though did not say anything, which was almost worse. The wooden hero returned her grin with a deadpanned stare.

"Don't say it" Kamui Woods warned. He knew all-too-well what that expression meant and he didn't particularly feel like being on the backend of another 'I told you so'

But the giantess wasn't one to back down. "Cat's got your tongue?"

"Shut it" Kamui Woods petulantly grumbled as he stared back out across the lake. Guess they were stuck looking for a way into the facility from the mainland or somehow finding a way to cross the waters without being swallowed up by that giant catfish nomu that had more teeth than a homicidal shark.

Suddenly, Toga called out from the treeline where she had been searching along the banks. It was there, concealed by the bushes that she had found the aforementioned venting system. "Hey! I found something!"

"Huh?" A collection of heads all jerked over towards where the shapeshifter stood. "What'd you say, Camie?"

"Yeah, I think I found one!"

With that, everyone made their way over to the shapeshifter and the vent she had found. Peering down at the metal grate embedded into the ground, it looked like the grate on a sewer's drain. But it also made everyone else wonder how they had missed it in the first place; Toru blamed poor lighting and the overhanging foliage. In any case, Mount Lady barely broke a sweat as she lifted the grate off of the vent and chucked it aside.

Slidin' Go toed the opening in the ground, "Isn't that a bit…small?"

"Maybe for you" Toru retorted as she all but hauled Aoyama into the vent with her, pushing the hesitant twinkling blonde down the vent before following after.

Vine moved to intercept, but it was too late, they were already gone. "Wait Prism—! Twinkles—!"

Toru knew all to well what this mission meant, to both the heroes and the villains. But most of all she knew that if she were to fail here, it could mean something catastrophic for her as well. Who knows what the villains might do if she were to fail? What about the HPSC? What would they do? It was enough to get her feet moving before her brain could even think of anything and so, she'd grabbed Aoyama by the elbow and jumped.

Kamui Woods, quick on the draw and having done a quick head count, clapped his hands. "Right, kids—"

Kaminiari quirked an unimpressed brow at his classmates. "We're not gonna like this, are we?"

"—Get in the hole"

"There it is"

"We'll catch up with you when we find another way in"

"Gah, fine!" Still, the blonde followed after his peers and ventured into the deep dark hole in the ground.

Honestly, he was a bit surprised that he fit in it at all. Was he really that tiny? Maybe he should join Kirishima in those workouts? Or eat more? Or both? Some of the others seemed to have a bit more trouble fitting into the hole, with a collection from both agencies unable to fit or downright refusing to go in at all. Mineta, on the other hand, seemed to have no such problems; still, they probably could've done without all the comments. "Ooh…squishy…!" Mineta cooed as his hands grappled with something unexpectedly soft.

"Oomph!" The blonde at the bottom of the pile echoed up, "Mes amis! G'off me!"

"Whoever's got their hands on my bulbs are gonna lose them!" Toru groaned.

"O-oops!" Came the nervous call from a little further up, "Sorry!"

"Is everyone all right?" Sero called out, his voice echoing about.

"We're fine!" Kaminari replied, surprised at how much wiggle room he had.

"Imbéciles fell on top of me!" Aoyama bemoaned. "I am squished like a crêpe!"

Dagger elbowed whomever it was atop of her. "Oi! You lot need to back up so we can breathe!"

"Bit late for that, hellhound!" Toru retorted.

"Bite me, Cloak!" Dagger hissed.

"Maybe later, Dagger" Toru snarked over the splutterings of the boys.

Up above, still safe at the treeline, Toga sighed wearily into her hands. Toru had reached out for Aoyama before the blonde could even react, pulling him down into the hole without question and then the majority of other kids had joined them at the command of their superior. Now they were all stuffed into the vent like sardines in a can. Great, good job, well done.

Next to her, Vine and Zhao rubbed at their respective bruises were they had rammed into each other in their rush to grab their two (original) juniors as they disappeared into the hole. These heroes must really live off of pure instinct and the lust for the thrill & blood of a fight for them to move without thought like that; there was none of the calculation that villains needed to counter their attacks. Across the way, whilst Toga was stuck in her thoughts, Mr Smith just stood there and measured the vent with his hands as he tried to estimate whether he would fit. But he looked doubtful.

It was a bit of a tight squeeze in that vent, but the younger generation of heroes was able to eventually wiggle themselves around in the vent just enough to untangle themselves from one another. "C'me on, mes amis, allonsy" Aoyama, at the head of the pack, pulled down his knightly visor and activated the night vision lenses before he reluctantly began to make his way, crawling through the vents on his hands & knees.

"W-wait! Where are we going?" Mineta warbled as he hurried to catch up with the person in front.

Behind him, Sero simply picked up his classmate and tossed him further ahead because he was holding up the line. "Just move your fat ass, Grape Head!"

"H-hey!" Mineta spluttered as he righted himself and continued on his way. "My ass is not fat!"

"Whatever you say, man"

"If anything, its thicc!" He retorted, "And its Grape Juice!"

Further ahead, Toru flinched a little as the communicator tucked into her ear, flickered to life and Toga's tense tone echoed out. "Prism, you and the others must return at ANY sign of danger. Don't try to play hero in this place, we don't know what the enemy's numbers are"

"O-okay" Toru replied, trying to hide the anxiety in her tone.

"We mean it, Flashlight!" Mount Lady agreed, "Don't go getting yourselves killed over some stupid pride or prestige! We want you in one piece!"

"Got it"

"And when you get inside, see if you can hack into the tunnels" Kamui Woods mothered. "Or try the rest of the facility"

"I'm not incompetent, I know what to do" Toru grumbled, petulantly pouting at being treated like a child. Although, considering the reputation of their class, it wasn't an entirely out there scenario that they would go off-book.

"Right, right. Uh, one…one more thing"

"Tch" Toru was tempted to shut off her earpiece just to save herself the ache of having to hear the villainess' threats & warnings.

"Watch out for the nomus"

HERO PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION STATUS REPORT
PARANORMAL LIBERATION FRONT INFILTRATION

HERO: PRISM

Kaflin Trigger facility located 5km, northwest from THE GREAT RIVER INN
Locals are suspicious
Rumours of Doctor Yanagisawa Kotaro's involvement in the creation & distribution of nomus

More to follow