Chapter Forty-Five

~Shina's POV~

"Sunfire?" Shigaraki murmured. Sunfire sat invisible beside him as the car approached the Shie Hissaikai base of Overhaul and his goons. Sunfire figured it was for the best to be invisible the entire trip just in case. When she was in this mode it was easy to fall into her naturally silent and observational role. She touched Shigaraki's shoulder letting him know She was here with him still. He exited the car, leaving the door open behind him long enough for her to slip out right behind him.

The whispers that broke out when Shigaraki exited the car were multiple and a bit like the sound of a snake before it strikes. Sunfire made sure to study every face as she followed Shigaraki through the gates of the Shie Hasaikai Compound. Shigaraki was being led through by the plague doctor in the white cloak. Sunfire took a good look around what she could see of the base. She had to admit the halls were long and confusing. Enough so that she had to mentally question herself on the directions twice before Shigaraki finally arrived. Her confusion on the layout aside, no one had yet to suspect Shigaraki had someone with him. Sunfire surveyed the room that Shigaraki was led into. It was a plain white room with two couches, a coffee table and a TV mounted on the wall.

"Not big on decorating your office huh?" Shigaraki greeted as Sunfire silently stepped around him so the plague doctor could close the door.

"I don't like cluttered spaces." Kai Chisaki stated.

"We're been wandering around these underground tunnels for half an hour, way to make your guests feel like ants. Is every yakuza hideout as bizarre as this one?" Shiggy asked. Sunfire mentally snorted, if only he knew. She'd been in more elaborate bases in South America, plus the base in Russa was at least three times this size. The villains always had such confusing mazes as their bases.

"So! About your call the other day!" The black suited crow spoke up, getting the meeting moving. "Did you really mean it? You'll really join on depending on the terms?" Shiggy sat down.

"That's a nice way of putting it." He stated. "You guys wanna use our name, and we wanna expand our influence. We both have something to gain here."

"Take your filthy foot off my table." Kai ordered as Shiggy put his foot on the coffee table.

"Mr. Boss, you should really be more polite and say something like 'please remove your foot'. Show some humility." Sunfire mentally smacked Shiggy but it was only because she had a large grin on her face. Looks like he had learned something in the 'meeting protocol' rundown she had made him sit through. "Anyway, we won't be working under you, we're gonna do what we want, when we want and how we want. We'll be equals. So let's be friends and help each other out."

"Is that your condition?"

"One more thing, this plan you mentioned… explain it. It's only natural to include us. After all, I hafta decide if it's worth lending you our good name. especially because-" The reaction and movement from the white cloaked man with the gun and the pipsqueak was quick but Sunfire was quicker. She'd seen the twitches in their body language and had moved faster. She kicked the pipsqueak away before her invisibility dropped and a construct of a gun was pointed at the white cloaks head. Her other arm was on his sleeve, wrapping his arm in a golden aura preventing him from moving if he squeezed the trigger. Sunfire's golden eyes narrowed in an unspoken threat.

"Put. It. Down." She threatened in a cold voice as her eyes glowed gold.

"You brought back up?" Kai spoke, sounding disapproving. "That wasn't the deal."

"Sunfire is quite protective." Shigaraki sighed. "Leaving to go anywhere without her is problematic, especially after the last meeting. Which reminds me, we're gonna need compensation for the arm you took as well as our big sis being murdered."

Things got quiet due to the tense atmosphere around us as everyone waited for Overhaul's words. Eventually he spoke, "Chrono, put it down." Overhaul ordered. Sunfire didn't relax until Chrono moved his finger off the trigger of the gun. She let go of his arm and dropped the construct of her gun. She didn't move away from Shigaraki though as she glared at Chrono while Shiggy sighed, pulling her towards him so he could wrap an arm around her legs, keeping her from going anywhere.

"Calm down Sunfire, this is a meeting between friends." Sunfire didn't relax. She may not like Shiggy particularly but it was still in her contract to keep him safe, and she took those seriously. At least for the time being.

"…" Sunfire waited as Shiggy pulled out a small vial with a needle in it.

"Your plan has got something to do with this doesn't it? Right after you stuck this little thing into him, Mr. Compress was unable to use his quirk. So what are these? What're you planning with this? Tell me."

"I'm going to destroy the way things are." Kai spoke after a short pause. His voice was calm, dead serious and with a lot of menace laced in his words. "They say All For One stole quirks to gain power. I'm taking that method and changing it up a bit. We're planting the seeds of change throughout the country. Little by little we're changing the groundwork for the plan."

"Hmm." Shiggy grunted, a smile on his face. "We're in."

"Not just yet." Kai spoke up. "I'm going to need a few of your members first. The girl Toga and the man Twice. They stay here while we work together. Just to make sure everything is in good faith. At least until our first joint operation is done with."

"No." Shiggy stated. Sunfire ran a hand along Shiggy's back, silently telling him to go along with it. Toga and Twice could protect themselves, together they were a good combination in a fight. Sunfire should know as she had trained with them on a semi regular basis and taught them some new things.

"If you want to work together these are my demands. You've already made so many yourself."

"…Fine." Shiggy agreed. "Then I guess our meeting is over. Let's go Sunfire." She nodded, going invisible again.

"One more thing." Kai called out. "Your bodyguard has to stay visible when in my territory."

"Fine." Shiggy agreed so she dropped her invisibility. Sunfire silently followed behind Shiggy, glaring at Chrono and the pipsqueak before they left. Nothing was said as they walked through the base's large and confusion maze of hallways. Sunfire was still able to recall where to go though and she knew how to get back in here. Once they were back in the car Shiggy asked, "Well?"

"The tunnels connect to the sewers." Sunfire stated. "I can find my way back in."

"Good. Did you memorize the layout?"

"The ones we walked yes. I can memorize the rest when I go in later."

"Hm. I want the key to his plan. Get it for me Sunfire." She nodded.

"Sir yes sir."

Getting back into the Shie Hissaikai base was pretty easy. They were connected to the sewers so all Shina had to do was find the closest sewer and go back through there. The halls melded seamlessly from sewer to their base. She had made sure to keep her Quirk active to use her invisibility to move through the halls silent as a ghost, listening at any door but unable to check inside them. The compound had a lot of cameras, and Shina didn't want Overhaul or the security guards to get suspicious if a door randomly opened. A ghostly encounter could only be faked for so long.

It took hours of walking before Shina finally had the place memorized and was able to walk around knowing which tunnels took her where. Of course, she still didn't know what laid behind the doors but that was inconsequential. She could ask Yoshi to hack the security system later to check the rooms, right now she was just stalking various members to find out what rooms they went into. Shina halted as a very hairy man with a twisted grin came walking down the hall. He was new. Shina got ready to follow him, hoping he went into one of the rooms she hadn't gone into yet.

Sure enough he did open a door but beyond it was something she wasn't prepared for. It was obviously a child's bedroom, but it looked more set up and new. Like it wasn't real. There were boxes of toys scattered all over but they were unopened. A small girl with long white hair laid on the huge bed, curled up. She got up when the man entered the room and for a split second, her thoughts turned to a dark anger as she hoped he didn't hurt the child. Shina kept herself still as the man walked over to the girls side of the bed and tried to pat her while talking to her about the toys and her running away. The man didn't stay long, leaving the child in darkness once more as she curled back up on her bed and started to cry silently.

Shina was moving before she knew what she was doing. Her compassion and heart went out to this little girl as she appeared in front of her like a haze. The girls large innocent eyes widened and she went still.

"It's okay. I won't hurt you." Shina spoke softly, using the best comforting tone she had as she pulled back. Shina pulled down her face mask allowing the little girl to see her face. "Why are you in here? It's no place for a child."

"…" Shina gently frowned at the silence before she sighed. The girl was small, chances were she had learned from previous experience to not trust any strangers. It was such a terribly sad thought, one that Shina didn't like thinking of but was probably true. Chances were the child was probably worried Shina was like the man who had come in here. She needed to find a way to differentiate herself from him. Shina smiled gently and held a finger to her lips.

"I'm not supposed to be here. I'm spying on Overhaul and his guys. Can I trust you to keep my secret?" The girl didn't respond but Shina didn't expect her to. "Are you a prisoner here honey?" The girls breath hitched before tears started to fall from her eyes in thick waves. Shina blinked in shock at her. "Oh baby girl, shh, don't cry. I won't hurt you." Shina gently and slowly reached out to give her a comforting hug. She latched onto Shina, burying her head in Shina's neck. Shina gently rubbed her back as a wetness started to grow on her shoulder. Shina looked at the walls, imaging what horrible things this child could have seen and been subjected to. There were bandages on her arms and legs that let Shina know the girls conditions weren't something any child should have ever had to go through. Shina let her cry as she held her, comforting her as best she could before a plan came to mind.

"Hey, would you like to get out of here?" Shina asked softly. The child stilled. "I can help you with that. I promise I'll get you somewhere safe where you can be free to do what you want." She didn't say anything, just held Shina tighter. "Do you wanna see something?" Shina asked, a small amount of carefree entering her voice. Shina held up her hand and showed the girl an illusion of Kaito. "This is my boy, Kaito. We love him a lot." The illusion to a picture of the twins, Kai and Kira. "This is Kai and Kira, they're brother and sister." The illusion changed again. "This is Kana, James and Yuto, they're a handful." Shina expanded the illusion to envelope the entire room as golden lights and red feathers gently fell from the ceiling, floating in the air as the girl watched. The girl relaxed slightly. "I'm gonna get you out of here okay? This is not a place you should be. Are you okay with that?" She didn't react much beyond tightening her hold on Shina.

Shina understood the complications and consequences of her actions but there was no hesitation as she carefully bundled the child up and wrapped her firmly around her torso. "No one will see us honey, so stay quiet okay? If anyone comes, I promise, I'll protect you." Shina stated in a gentle tone as she activated her quirk and made both of them invisible. Shina opened the door, looking both ways before she started to walk through the halls to the exit. It did take a while, but the girl was quiet the whole time. Anytime someone came near Shina kept a tight hold of her and kept quiet until they passed. When they finally did get to the exit, Shina used her quirk to jump up to the street, kicking the manhole off the sewer before she had to kick it back in place. Shina wasn't going to let the girl go for a moment as she looked all around before she started walking through the alleyways to her bike.

It wasn't exactly a good idea to bring another kid onboard so close after Kaito was also brought in, especially not with the League living in the same mansion, but Shina sure as heck wasn't going to leave her there. No matter what Shiggy wanted, this was more important in Shina's mind.

~Kana's POV~

Kana wasn't really a breakfast kind of person, but when James offered her the bread of their people, Kana went running. She was still in her pajamas and her hair was barely brushed but she was awake and drooling over the honeyed fried bread with stars in her eyes.

"Gorgeous, delicious delicacy…" She sniffed the bread and moaned. "How I have missed you." Without further delay she started to eat the bread, not caring if honey got on her fingers or her clothes.

"Oh that's that bread your sister brought?" Sero's voice called. Kana nodded, unable to answer him. "She sent me the recipe but I can't seem to make it as good as she did."

"The stars need to be in position for it." Yuto called as he swiped a piece of Kana's bread, making her let out a growl at him as he giggled and ran from her.

"Mine." Kana grunted before she went back to eating her bread. When she was done she gazed at her plate sadly. "I want more."

"No more." James said, deadpan. "The class seems to like the bread as well and they all rushed in to get a piece of it." Kana wilted, staring at him sadly before she shrugged.

"Eh, oh well. It is good so I can't blame them." She looked down at her clothes and frowned. "I'd better clean up before I head out." Kana slid off the table stool and walked to the elevators to get back to her room. When the doors opened to her floor Kana saw Bakugou standing by her door.

"Hey Bakugou." Kana greeted . He turned to look at her and his face wrinkled in disgust.

"What's on your clothes?"

"Honeyed bread, the food of the gods." Kana stated proudly.

"Gross, you look like a homeless person."

"Gee thanks." Kana muttered. "Why you are knocking on this homeless person's door?" Bakugou grunted, looking away as he pulled out a plush shark from his pocket. It was orange and black with some white on it, but Kana knew what shark it was.

"Tiger shark!" Kana blurted out in happiness before she looked at Bakugou. "You brought me another sharkie?"

"Yeah so what?" Bakugou growled. Kana blinked.

"Thank you."

"Don't go getting a big head about it dork. It's just a shark."

"It's a plush and don't let him hear you!" Kana snapped as she grabbed the shark gently, cuddling it close as if it was a baby. "Shh, don't let his words hurt you baby. I'll never say that to you Fredrickson."

"You weirdo." Bakugou stated. Kana saw the slight twitch of his lips though. "You're really gonna call the shark Fredrickson?"

"Well what would you call it? Explosion? No wait, I'm gonna guess Murder Death Machine?" Bakugou frowned.

"That's better than Fredrickson."

"No it's not! And don't you dare insult Fred's name." Bakugou rolled his eyes.

"Fred's a stupid name." Kana glared at him before she stated.

"I am not taking advice from a guy who still hasn't come up with his hero name."

"What?" Bakugou growled. "You think I don't have a name?"

"Well, you haven't announced anything so right now you don't have a hero name!"

"And what was your hero name? Vortex?"

"No it's Vex." Kana snapped at him. Bakugou smirked.

"It's a dumb name." Kana deadpanned.

"You're a dumb name." Bakugou's face twisted with annoyance.

"What did you say about my name dork?" Kana didn't back down, instead she leaned closer and said,

"It's dumb." Bakugou's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I'm gonna kill you." Kana opened a portal behind her, sticking out her tongue.

"Gotta catch me first." Bakugou jumped forward but Kana closed her portal in his face, laughing at him as she put her newest baby shark with that other plushies. Her door burst open making her look over to see Bakugou glaring at her.

"Why did I come to my room?"

"Dumbass." Bakugou growled before he was suddenly flying at her. Kana yelped and tried to scramble away but her demise came in the form of a wrinkled up shirt still on the floor. It tangled around Kana's legs making her fall over. Bakugou didn't hesitate to pin her down. "Who has a stupid name?"

"You!" Kana shouted at him.

"Wrong answer." Bakugou snarled as he brought up his hand like he was going to bomb her making Kana yelp.

"Ok ok I give! You don't have a stupid name… you have a stupid walk though!" Kana grinned. Bakugou growled at her and brought his hand down an inch from her face. Kana blinked at his hand and looked at him. "I'm not scared of a hand." Bakugou grunted and pulled back with a frown.

"You're a dumbass."

"I am not. I'm klutzy yes but I'm not dumb… sometimes." He rolled his eyes at her. "Besides your dumb too. Everyone is at some point."

"Yeah… guess your right about that." Kana blinked in shock. Did he just agree with her? My god… the world is ending. Bakugou looked at her as if he could read her mind. "What? Didn't think I'd agree?"

"No, the thought genuinely did not occur to me." Bakugou rolled his eyes.

"Dork." Kana smiled at that before she took their position into account and a small blush formed on her face as she looked away.

"Can you get off me? My back is hurting."

"No." Kana gaped at him. Bakugou has a vindictive smirk on that Kana glared at.

"Why not?" Kana whined. "We're gonna be late for class."

"What's your favorite ice cream?" Kana blinked at that aggressive tone he got suddenly. She tilted her head in confusion as she saw him looking away, his jaw clenched.

"Uh, chocolate. Why?"

"… Will you… go with me… to get some ice cream later?" The stuttering was new and not something she'd ever thought she'd hear from him. The question lodged itself in her mind a moment later and she averted her eyes.

"Like… a date or just a friendly trip to get ice cream?"

"…" She glanced at him and saw his cheeks were slightly red. Well that answered her question on if this was a date or not. At least she wouldn't end up the way of Yuto.

"… yes I'll go with you." Kana stated softly.

"Good." Bakugou got off her and moved to the door. "And clean up your room, it's like a garbage bin in here."

"Hey it's my room!" Kana shouted as she got up. "Plus it's organized chaos!"

"That doesn't make sense nerd."

"Well it does to me!" Kana shouted as she looked around her room. Maybe he has a point she thought as she saw bags of hot Cheetos and cans of tea all around, mixed in with her clothes and pillows. Yeah she had let her room go to the trash heap. She groaned and got up. "That's a problem for later. For now, class."

~Kai's POV~

Kai's feet moved across the floor silently as he walked down the halls of the temporary apartment that Kira had rented out to stay and gather intel in. He made sure to glance back down the halls to make sure no one was following him but he didn't trust his eyes. It was too quiet for him to feel comfortable in, not that he would have felt comfortable in any other environment than one he was sure he controlled.

He quickly unlocked the front door by picking the lock and got inside. He stilled once he was inside as the room was trashed. Furniture was upended and thrown to the sides, knives were still in the walls and glass was strewn around haphazardly. Kai pulled out a gun and got to work sweeping the place.

He promptly forgot about his sweep when he found Kira lying on her side in the bedroom, half hidden under the mattress. Kai pulled the mattress off her and checked her over for any blood. There was nothing but she was out.

"Akira." Kai murmured as he shook her. She didn't move or even twitch as he tried to wake her. "AKIRA!" He finally yelled but still, no response. Kai checked her pulse and found it was still there, she was alive but she wasn't waking up. Kai pulled out his phone and called Shina as his eyes roamed the bedroom hoping to find any clues.

'Kai? Did you find Kira?'

"I did but she's not waking up Sunfire." Kai reported. "The apartment she's in was trashed. She didn't go down without a

fight but she's just not waking up."

'She's alive though right?' Shina asked urgently.

"Yes."

'I'm sending Claude and Jean Vaughn to come get you.'

"What are they gonna do?" Kai asked harshly.

'Claude's ex-MI6 and Jean Vaughn is ex- Navy Seal.' Shina stated. 'They'll help you if you run into trouble. Can you tell

who attacked her?'

"No, whoever it was, they cleaned up their tracks. I don't even see any bullet casings." Kai answered as he glanced into the livingroom from the bedroom.

'Okay, I'm sending them now. Make sure you get back ASAP. I'll have Yoshi track Kira's last movements to see what happened.'

"Thanks." Kai hung up before he went back to Kira and picked her up. He put her in the livingroom on the couch and finished his sweep of the apartment before he frowned. Kira's phone was gone as well as her tablet. Kai pulled out his phone and sent a text to Yoshi about that. Chances are Yoshi could probably track them if they were still in use or he could wipe them if they'd been tossed. With that out of the way Kai knelt to hold his twin's hand. "Kira, wake up. I need to know what happened to you."

No response from Kira.

~James POV~

Another day of school and training and James was honestly a bored cat. The boredom had been growing a lot lately in him. Without anything exciting to do, he felt listless. Doing the same routine every day, it was starting to make him a contented housecat that wanted nothing to do but nap. It wasn't all sunshine and daisies here at UA but it was pretty much more of the same. As long as he allowed some of his skills to show through from time to time, no one was the wiser about how skilled he actually was.

"James?" His ear twitched as Momo called out to him from where she was standing beneath the tree he was lying in.

"Are you… okay?"

"Fine, just tired." James murmured, not bothering to open his eyes.

"Um, do you want to share a snack with me?" James opened one eye and glanced down at her. Her smile was bright and full of kindness as she held up a small bento box filled with fish. James felt his lips curve into a smile as he slipped off the branch and landed in a crouch beside Momo looking at the box.

"You have my attention." Momo giggled as she sat down and gave him the box. James used his claws to pick at the fish, choosing to ignore the bits of rice that was also included.

"You've been looking more tired than usual." Momo commented slowly. "I don't mean to be… impolite about it, but you looked like you could use some cheering up."

"Yeah…" James sighed as he put down the bento box. He looked down at his hands. "Things here at UA have just seemed… repetitive lately. I miss our constant traveling we did before."

"What did you do when you traveled?" James thought about it before he shrugged.

"My sister worked a lot of jobs," He mentally snorted at the double entendre of that word. "We didn't stay in one place for long, the longest was 10 months in Russia. But we usually just saw a lot of the scenery. Museums, churches, places people usually go." Banks, jewelry stores, etc., he mentally added. "Being at UA is nice but, I miss being on the move."

"It sounds… lonely." James blinked at her in shock. "You never had friends before?"

"I have friends. A lot actually." I mean, if one counted simps friends. "And it really wasn't lonely. I had my siblings with me. We used to run around a lot of cities day and night, just taking in the sights and seeing the way people lived their lives." He chuckled. "I was a regular street cat and now… Now I feel like a house cat that's slowly going insane." Momo didn't say anything at first as they sat under the tree.

"You know, we could go explore the city here as well. Or at least the training grounds? Anything to help your boredom." Momo offered him slowly. "I know boredom isn't so easy to appease but… I can try?" James looked at her.

"You want to help me?" James asked. Momo's smile was sweet and full of care.

"Of course. You're my friend James. I would help you with anything." James blinked before he looked down. Impulsive, shallow and self-serving as he was, he couldn't stop himself from blurting out.

"I don't deserve your friendship Momo." Momo grabbed his hand, cradling it in hers as he looked at her in shock. Her voice was firm and strong as she spoke,

"Yes you do! You're strong and you don't hold back during training. You make sure whoever is facing you is doing the right stance and if they're not you correct them. Your kind, caring and patient even when you're clearly annoyed. You're the best study partner I could have for math and science." Momo smiled. "You're arguably the best friend I have." She looked away, a blush on her face. James felt warmth in his chest and felt his tail begin to sway before he looked down again.

"I'm a traitor Momo."

GM NASAI: So this is a smaller chapter... Honestly I wrote this a while ago but life happened and I forgot to post it and then I lost it. I'm so glad Kana had a copy on her phone otherwise... oh the pain... Anyway, here you go!