AN: Damian: Don't ask me how the hell we managed to get another chapter out within three days of the last one when we took months to get chapter 12 done. I don't know the answer, but I'll just blame it on drugs like everyone else and call it a night.

Donger: We got excited, drank some coffee, and wrote another 11k Chapter in three days. I don't know what writing diety we pleased but here you guys go.

Anxiety was a bitch.

And it was a bitch Melissa has dealt with for as long as she could remember. It was running rampant in her head right now as she tried to keep herself together. It should have been easy, and it probably would have been for anyone else, sitting in the luxurious comfort of her private plane. Well, with how fast it was going it was more like a jet disguised as a plane.

She was speeding over the ocean towards Japan, and she looked out the window as if the island nation would suddenly be there instead of the vast expanse of open ocean.

She groaned as she threw herself back into her seat. It took forever for her to get clearance to leave I-Island, and that was with all the special privileges that she was more than ready to take advantage of in this emergency. Forget Uncle Might saying that Izumi was fine, the heart monitor Melissa had built into the armor read she was dead, and that was enough to send her into a panic. Alive does not equate to okay!

She leaned forward onto the table in front of her and began rapidly tapping her finger against it. If she tapped any harder, she was sure she may end up breaking her finger… or even the table at this rate.

"Pilot," She called, and a ding went off as the A.I. Pilot acknowledged her, "Can't this thing go any faster?"

"Apologies, Miss Shield, but we are going as fast as allowed for your safety." The calm voice replied.

She was tempted to say "to hell with my safety!" but bit her tongue. It would be beyond hypocritical of her.

"Fine, just keep me posted on when we're close," Melissa ordered, before leaning back in her seat, trying and failing to calm down.

A soft meow had her looking over as Cat roamed up to her seat and hopped up, curling up in her lap and just laying there. Melissa just let it happen, and continued to revel in her fear. She hadn't been told exactly the extent of Izumi's injuries, as Uncle Might was unaware of how bad they were at the time, so she was left to speculate.

Which was torture.

Her mind was freed to ponder all the possible injuries, despite her attempts at trying to reign her imagination in. Did Izumi have broken bones? Did she break her prosthetic? Did she get stabbed? Quirk-induced effects?

Did she lose another limb?

That last possibility sent a shot of ice through her heart. It wasn't the worst outcome, as realistically Melissa could make another arm for Izumi as she did before and everything would more or less be fine, but that wasn't the point. It shouldn't have happened to begin with! Melissa's gear should have prevented something like that from happening ever again! If it didn't…

She failed.

She let out a shaky breath as she wiped at the tears forming in her eyes, old fears creeping their way back in. Cat, that beautiful little creation of hers, noticed and mowed before beginning to gently vibrate in Melissa's lap as it purred. She noticed and instinctively put a hand on Cat's soft synthetic fur and began lightly petting the robot feline.

"Thanks, Cat." Melissa smiled slightly. Cat meowed. "You're right, I'm overreacting. I'm sure she's still in one piece. I mean, she's cracked, but she's careful enough, right?"

Cat purred in agreement.

"You know what? I should just distract myself. Focus on… focus on something else." Melissa brought her personal laptop out and opened it up, logging in. She saw a notification saying that the remote diagnostics check for Izumi's suit came back. And she instinctively went to click on it.

An annoyed meow had her looking down at Cat, who was looking up at her with a look that said "really?"

"I know, I said I wouldn't think about it, but…" Melissa bit her bottom lip as she looked back at the notification. "Maybe just a quick skim."

She clicked on it.

Not two seconds later…

"SHE USED THE EXPERIMENTAL TECH?!"

Toshinori sat in the conference room and had to stop himself from breaking something.

This was all his fault.

It was the morning after the invasion of the USJ, and every teacher and hero on UA's staff was present except for Izumi and Thirteen, who were still recovering in the hospital wing… Aizawa was sitting next to Nezu in a wheelchair, surprisingly well-recovered from the damage he had received. Young Jin was sitting next to Snipe, tapping his finger against the table, knowing him as well as Toshi did, he wouldn't doubt that Jin had left a clone with his youngest sister to be here.

A cough from Nezu caught Toshinori's attention as he began the meeting. The Mammal was standing at the head of the table, specifically ontop of the table so that everyone could see him.

"What happened yesterday was a travesty." He began in a tone that sent a chill down every member of staff's spine, "We're here to debrief the situation, from the students' well-being as well as our staffs', as well as some other issues that have come up." He clapped his paws together, no sign of his usual jovial attitude present as he frowned "Let us begin. Power Loader, you looked into Thirteen's crew at the USJ, what is the situation there?"

"Luckily for us, Thirteen had given her normal crew the day off like she usually does before Rescue Training and was planning to use the staff bots," the Support Hero grunted. "Of the staff bots she requested all one hundred of them are broken down and destroyed, none of them can be saved, but they do make for good salvage." He sighed. "We avoided a worse PR nightmare though, imagine the news if not only were our students hurt but we lost over one hundred members of the living staff…"

"Speaking of which," Vlad King growled out, "Are we going to discuss the elephant in the room?"

Nezu waved him down. "In a moment, there are more important matters to discuss. Recovery Girl, Hound Dog," He looked at them, face stern, "How are our students and downed members of staff, including this stubborn fool." He tapped Aizawa on the head, causing the Erasure Hero to growl in annoyance.

"Eraser is fine save for his legs, he's going to need multiple treatments with me before he can even attempt to walk again, and even then he's going to need physical therapy for at least a few months, preferably with a leg brace." Recovery Girl grunted as she pulled out her clipboard. "The students, physically are mostly fine, Katsuki Bakugou was the worst off, along with Pony Tsunotori and Denki Kaminari, though Miss Tsunotori's injuries were relatively minor while Kaminari's injuries were also not that serious, really just a broken arm and some bruising but both of those issues are easily dealt with."

She paused to take a sip of water before continuing. "Katuski Bakugou's nervous system was heavily damaged, and he had some scarring along his throat, both caused by electricity burns. My quirk was able to heal most of the damage, and he'll need to come to me for a few repeat treatments, but he should make a complete recovery."

She glanced around the room. "Kaminari's injuries, as I said, were minor, though I have him on observation. His arm was broken in half and I want to make sure he gains full use of it after a few more treatments."

"Tsunotori's injuries were strange…" She paused, causing everyone to glance at her oddly.

"How so?" Nezu asked with a raised brow.

Recovery Girl frowned as she glanced at her notes. "They're oddly similar to Flintlock's injuries, at least the internal ones. For lack of a better term, her cells looked jolted, unstable, they recovered quickly, and Flintlock was much worse off than Miss Tsunotori but the damage was there." She sighed through her nose. "It looked like someone had split her cells in half before stitching them back together, I'm hoping we can get an answer out of her to figure out what the hell caused that damage because I'm at a loss for what could do that."

"Hmm…" Toshinori hummed as he rubbed his chin.

"All Might," Nezu looked towards the gaunt man, "Do you perhaps know the reasoning behind this mystery?"

"Not me personally, but… maybe…" Toshinori trailed off as he kind of didn't want to consider the option, especially after the last call they recently had.

Recovery Girl tapped her cane on the ground. "All Might, any information can help not only Miss Tsunotori's recovery but Flintlock's as well. I suggest you spit it out and quickly."

All Might held his hands up in surrender before fishing out his phone. "All right, all right! I'll call her! But fair warning, right now she's a little distressed." He swallowed thickly before throwing the phone to Nezu "Connect this to the projector, I'm sure she'd want to be part of this visually anyway…"

Nezu looked at the phone curiously before doing as he was asked. He trusted Toshinori, and anyone he called obviously had to have the clearance to be part of an important meeting such as this anyway. He quickly connected the phone to the nearby projector and tossed it back to the Number One hero, who hesitantly picked it up and dialed a number…

"All Might," Aizawa rubbed his eyes, "Whoever you're calling better be professional about this."

"None of us really have a say in that matter." Toshinori began sweating.

Midnight was about to chime in to get Aizawa to chill when the line picked up and everyone turned to the screen, expecting some scientist or maybe an investigator…

What they got was a twenty-four-year-old American woman, who looked tired, disheveled, and ready to murder a man glaring at them like they personally offended her.

"Do you want to explain," She started off calmly in English, her hands together as she rested her forehead on them and closed her eyes, "why she used the experimental tech that I specifically told her was untested and unstable, without me there?"

"Why, Melissa dear," Toshinori began, sweat dripping off him so heavily that everyone in the room was afraid he was having a stroke. "I have no idea what you mean…"

She looked up at the camera with fire in her eyes and was about to respond when she saw the others in the room, before sighing through her nose.

"You're in a meeting," she stated in perfect Japanese. She noticed Jin waving softly at her from the back of the room and her rage dimmed a little.

"Hi, JinJin." She responded in a much sweeter tone, the shift throwing most of the heroes assembled for a loop. "Why are you in a meeting with a bunch of heroes that I don't recognize and Uncle Might?"

Jin was about to answer when Chiyo tapped her cane on the table to draw attention. "I'm sorry to interrupt Miss…" She trailed off causing the young woman to glare at her.

"Shield."

That made several eyes in the room widen in surprise, but Chiyo pressed on without a care.

"Shield." Chiyo nodded "But seeing as you seem to be connected to this idiot," She tapped Toshinori on the shin and nodded to Jin, "and this one, I'm going to assume you're connected to the fool I have on bed rest in my medical wing as well."

Nemuri leaned over to Hizashi and whispered "How does she not know who Melissa Shield is?"

Hizashi shrugged, "I don't know."

Melissa seemed to have taken in a calming breath before speaking again. "Is she okay?" Her previous anger was replaced with worry and fear as she asked in a shaky voice.

Toshinori's eyes widened when he realized what was happening, and acted quickly. "Melissa, she's going to be fine, where are you right now?"

"On my way to Japan right now. Should be there in… Pilot, how much longer?" She looked up and said in English.

Everyone save Nezu jumped when a robotic voice filtered into the room through the speakers in English. "Four Hours and Thirty-Six Minutes until arrival, Miss Shield."

Toshinori nodded. "We need to know what this experimental tech was, it seems to have done some strange damage to both her and a student, so anything you have can be invaluable. The damage has been healed but we need to know what caused it so we can prevent such damage in the future."

Melissa's eyes widened in fear. "Please tell me she didn't use Blink." Melissa looked like she was praying to a higher power as she said that.

This time Nezu chimed in, looking at one of his reports. "We are still recovering security footage, and we haven't interviewed any of the students yet, but from what Recovery Girl has found in medical scans, it looks like Flintlock and the student in question had their atoms displaced and then hastily put back together, causing minor cell damage."

"...I'm going to kill her."Melissa flatly replied in English, presumably out of instinct, causing Toshinori to start sweating again while Han just sighed through his mask. Jin had hidden under the table.

"I'm sorry?" Nezu asked, understanding English perfectly but not really understanding why Melissa was so angry.

"Cat, strap in." Melissa said before she visibly buckled herself in. The camera then moved as if it were displaying the point of view of a person and sat in a seat next to her, and everyone saw as a paw reached up and quickly pulled on a seatbelt as well.

"Pilot!" She yelled, "Max speed! To hell with safety!"

"But Miss Shield-"

"DID I FUCKING STUTTER!?" She glared up at the cabin. "MAX SPEED! Or you're going to be a toaster when I'm done dealing with Izumi!"

"...Right away, Miss Shield. Please fasten your seat belt."

All the teachers saw before the call ended was Melissa jerking back into her seat and the camera shaking as the plane broke the sound barrier twice over.

"..." Everyone was left speechless until Nezu cleared his throat.

"Ahem, Toshinori, how long before she gets here?" He asked.

"At most… An hour." Toshinori looked like he had been marked for death and was now being hunted by a being that he had no possible hope of escaping from.

Jin chimed in from under the table "If she's using that new fancy superjet she made it could be thirty minutes. We're boned!"

Han shook his head "Izumi's the dead one, at worst we'll be maimed."

Chiyo cleared her throat. "Well," She tapped her clipboard "That at least clears up what could have caused the damage. Twice," She glanced at the man who had come out from under the table and saluted quickly "Do you know what this Blink is?"

"Experimental tech built into her suit that was meant to be tested later. Blink was supposed to allow short-ranged teleportation, Ma'am!" He quickly explained while still saluting.

"She used untested teleportation on a student!?" Power Loader gasped slamming a hand on the desk as he stood up.

Present Mic held up a hand, "N-now come on, we don't know the context. If she was willing to use untested equipment, it must have been serious. Maybe she was desperate."

"Or crazy." Vlad King muttered darkly causing Snipe to glance at him from his seat.

"Ya wanna say that loud enough for the whole class, partner?"

Vlad was about to snap back when a loud slam caused everyone to jump and look over to All Might, who had punched the desk hard enough to dent it, without buffing up.

"Enough of this foolishness!" He growled before turning to Chiyo "What is the full extent of the damage to Flintlock and Thirteen?"

Chiyo once more sighed before nodding "Thirteens' back was shredded by what I'm assuming to be her own quirk. She should be fine, her body is healing on its own with help from my kisses, but it will take some time for her to fully recover."

She looked up at the teachers with a frown. "Flintlock, however, was in much worse condition. She Is missing her prosthetic arm, which I'm assuming was destroyed during the conflict, her bionic eye has shut down and I'm not going to risk trying to force it back on. She has a cracked cheek and five broken or cracked ribs, as well as a fracture in her good arm from where she landed wrong. That's before the cell damage from this Blink that she used."

Everyone was silent for a moment before Han chimed in "She's going to recover from all that right?"

Chiyo leaned back in her chair with a tired sigh but gave a quick nod of her head "We've gotten her stable, her energy levels have already recovered enough to where I was able to give her a kiss and heal some of the immediate damage. The cell damage healed quickly, thank God, but it took everything she had so her body didn't heal the fractures or breaks, it'll take a few more treatments before I'm ready to say she's out of the woods." She looked up at the ceiling. "I'd give her a month, maybe more before she's back on her feet again."

Nezu nodded. "So she'll be fine. Then I believe that just leaves two final issues that loop back into each other." He nodded to Hound Dog. "You talked to the students yesterday, how are they fairing mentally after this ordeal?"

"Most of them are shaken, obviously." Hound Dog gruffed out. "They went through a life or death situation, and while most were in less danger than others, there are still some mental issues to look out for, ruff." He did a quick shake of his head before continuing. "PTSD mainly, nightmares, stress, we've all been there. In my conversations with the students, I was able to get some more insight into the events of the USJ as well as the mental toll it had on them.

"Firstly, most of the students won't need extensive therapy but will require counseling sessions nonetheless. There are, however, a few students I'm concerned about."

"Such as?" Nezu asked.

Hound Dog pulled up a small stack of reports. "Well, starting off we have Shouto Todoroki. Unusually quiet, and refuses to speak much, but that's not really anything new from before the attack. That itself is, honestly, concerning. But the really concerning part is something I learned not even from him, but from his classmate, Toru Hagakure."

He shifted in his seat. "Apparently, as they tried to help Flintlock, she had ordered Todoroki to use his quirk to make steam for cover in her plan to take down the weapon, Nomu. When it came time to play his part, he refused to use his fire, thus ruining the plan and putting them all in danger."

"Quirk difficulties, maybe?" Midnight thought out loud. "I know I had problems with using my quirk at their age. Was worried about accidentally knocking everyone out so I wasn't able to use it to its full potential."

"Perhaps, but to refuse to use an entire half of your quirk? To rather risk death than simply follow a plan?" Hound Dog let out a thoughtful growl. "Miss Hagakure was rather… upset with Todoroki. And that's putting it lightly. She said Flintlock had to take a hit for them because, and I quote, excuse my French, 'he didn't want to fucking use his fucking fire, and because of that bullshit we all nearly died', end quote."

"That was… colorful." Aizawa blinked.

"Anyways, it may need some further looking into. A situation like this in the future where he refuses to use his fire could result in a worse fate than bed rest."

Aizawa hummed. "I'll talk with Todoroki. If he doesn't square up and can't get over whatever is keeping him from using his fire, he doesn't belong in the hero course. We can't risk holding ourselves back for personal reasons when lives are at stake."

"See that you do, Aizawa." Nezu then nodded for Hound Dog to continue.

"Moving on, Katsuki Bakugou, ruff." He looked at the report in his hands. "He was the closest of all the students to almost dying. He acts fine, but after an event like that, I can't trust his words. He could be putting on an act, there's also the fact that he, Yaoyorozu, and Jiro witnessed the villain killing him die."

Some of the heroes in the room looked like they wanted to say something but immediately stopped when Nezu glanced at them with a look that basically said "be silent". They knew better than to test him and promptly obeyed.

"Continue."

"Right, ruff." Hound Dog then switched to a different report. "Related to that, Kyouka Jirou was more willing to talk with me. She expressed concerns about what she witnessed. I would like to have scheduled sessions to talk with her about it."

"We'll work something out. And we appreciate you taking the time to help them." Nezu nodded, motioning for him to continue.

"Well, of course, their mental health is just as important as their physical health when it comes to being an effective hero, ruff."

Nemuri took the chance to try and lighten the mood just a bit as she smirked over at Aizawa. "Hear that, Shouta? You'd be even more effective if you went to therapy."

That got a few laughs at Aizawa's expense, who just grumbled into his scarf.

Hound Dog chuckled. "I'd be willing to set up sessions, Aizawa if you'd like?"

"No."

"Eh, I tried, ruff." Hound Dog shrugged as he grabbed the next report. "Getting back on track, next we have Momo Yaoyorozu. She was… awfully quiet during our talk. She wouldn't look at me and kept fidgeting. Not at all the 'prim and proper' heiress I've heard so much about. She was more like a scared mouse."

"Well, what do you expect?' Vlad growled. "Someone died right in front of her."

"Vlad," Nezu warned.

Vlad kept going. "No, we aren't avoiding this. Flintlock killed someone! That's one thing in and of itself, but she did it in front of our students! That Nomu thing? Sure, it was a living weapon, I'd kill it too, but I wouldn't have traumatized my students by killing another human like that!"

"What did ya' want her ta do?" Snipe leaned forward, his voice on edge. "A student was being killed. What would ya' have done?"

"She's a marksman, isn't she?" Vlad looked at him. "Aim for anywhere but the head! I've seen you nail smaller targets at longer distances those times you and your wife used the range here on campus. Surely the US' mighty Number Ten could pull off a non-lethal shot!"

"Guess we'll find out." Power Loader chimed in before a full-blown fistfight could break out. Everyone looked at him as he pulled a sort of headpiece device onto the table.

Aizawa eyed it curiously as he recognized it. "That's Yaoyorozu's scouter."

"Yeah, she handed it to me yesterday. Turns out she was recording her entire perspective of the attack once it started." Power Loader explained.

"And you're just now sharing this… why?" Ectoplasm asked with a tilt of his head.

"Was busy uncorrupting the footage. That villain was scrambling electronics, though this thing was somehow still working, just had to fix the video file and clean up the actual video a bit. Anyway," he synced the device to the projector, "let's see what went down."

All the teachers turned to face the projector once more as the recording came up. It started at the beginning of the invasion before Power Loader fast forward ahead. "We've got the basic gist of what happened. Teleported away, fought villains… here we go."

He resumed normal speed when he got to the part where Katsuki blew up the mountainside and got grabbed by the now-dead villain in a skull mask.

They watched as the villain started to slowly kill Katsuki with his quirk, and Momo fired a rubber round at the villain's head, which did nothing but amuse the psychopath.

"Sick bastard," Snipe muttered before turning to Vlad. "Still feel bad fer him dying?"

Vlad growled. "It's not him dying that's my concern, Snipe. It's who saw it."

The video played on and they watched Momo replace her rubber bullets with live ammunition.

"Wait, what is she doing?" Midnight leaned forward and even Aizawa's normally stoic eyes widened.

They saw and heard as Momo threatened the villain, demonstrating the live ammo by shooting the ground near him. They heard her say that she'd kill him if he didn't drop her classmate.

"It's a bluff." Aizawa said with conviction that he didn't feel. "She's trying to scare him off."

"...Was it?" Hound Dog spoke, and everyone turned to him, Power Loader pausing the video momentarily. "I mentioned how in my talk with Yaoyorozu, she seemed off. Thinking about it now, she looked almost… guilty."

Toshinori spoke up for the first time in a while. "Hound Dog… You're not saying that Young Yaoyorozu…" the rest went unsaid.

"Taking a life could end a hero's career before it even begins." The canine man explained. "Now, I don't know Flintlock as well as you, but she doesn't seem like the one to let that happen to her student."

"But… that makes no sense," Ectoplasm spoke up. "All accounts say Flintlock made the kill."

"It could be possible they all agreed on a lie to save Yaoyorozu legal trouble." Present Mic speculated.

"Or maybe we can just watch the video and find out?" Aizawa sarcastically said.

"That's… probably the best option."

With that, they resumed, watching as the situation escalated further, everyone yelling, Katsuki in pain, Kyouka in fear and outrage, and the villain taunting Momo to take the shot.

From the video's perspective, they saw Momo's hands begin to shake as the scope of the rifle slowly zeroed on the villain's head.

"Young Yaoyorozu," Toshinori said with dread, "no…"

That's when they saw a blur fly past from behind Momo and through the villain's skull.

There was a collective sigh of relief as they now knew their student wasn't forced to kill someone.

"There was no other choice." Nezu's words snapped them back to the situation. "Judging from the angle the bullet came from, there was no other possible way that Flintlock could have saved her student without taking the villain's life, she would have had to find a better angle and by that time Young Bakugou would have been killed."

The last thing they heard before Power Loader ended the video was Momo whispering "Sensei…" before Flintlock gave them the order to get off the mountain and leave the USJ.

Snipe turned to Vlad. "Still got something to say?"

Vlad was silent before he shook his head and sighed. Nezu was right, there really was no other choice.

"It's unfortunate," Nezu turned back to the table and put his paws together, "but as protectors of the people, oftentimes we must make difficult choices. And god forbid when we have to make an impossible choice such as this. Flintlock chose to take a life to save another. There was no winning."

"The way I see it," Toshinori said, everyone giving the Symbol of Peace their full attention to hear his opinion, "that villain, he made his choice. He chose to try and kill an innocent young man, who has his whole life ahead of him. He tried to take his life by force, not giving his victims a choice. He tested us, whether we'd let a student die. I say Flintlock, Izumi, made the right choice. Someone was going to die, may as well have been the villain rather than a young man who had done nothing wrong."

Silence filled the room as they digested Toshinori's words. They couldn't help but agree. When innocent lives are on the line, choices like this had to be made.

"Regardless," Aizawa groaned, "You know this is gonna be a PR disaster, right? The press doesn't care if it was to save a student if dragging Flintlock's name, and by extension, UA's through the mud will get them ratings, they'll happily focus on all the wrong bits and ignore the important information."

"Which brings us to our last topic." Nezu tapped the table with his paws. "...the HPSC has decided to get involved." He held up a paw to keep everyone from shouting out in frustration. "They're not going to be interfering with the school directly, they're mainly coming to investigate what had happened and make sure no laws were broken. I assume they have a plan with the media to rake certain heroes," He pointedly looked at All Might, "Over the coals for the situation as well."

Toshinori sighed and rolled his shoulders, and stood, "I'll get my legal team ready, as well as call Izumi's as well."

Nemuri raised an eyebrow at him. "Why?"

Toshinori smiled, though this one wasn't his trademark "Everything Will Be OK" smile, but a strained one, as he once more pulled out his phone. "My own because I wasn't there to defend our students in their hour of need." His smile turned into a frown as he started sending out texts. "Izumi's because they're going to look for a scapegoat, and what better scapegoat is there than a foreign quirkless hero who killed a man on Japanese soil."

With that he walked out of the conference room to make his calls, Jin hot on his heels, leaving the rest of the teachers to figure out what their next move would be.

Nezu sighed and turned to Power Loader. "Let's discuss how we can improve security."

"Now you're speaking my language." The Support Hero leaned forward and got comfortable for the brainstorming ahead.

Momo didn't sleep.

Well, she did, but that was when her body had finally given in to exhaustion and she just passed out. Doesn't make for good sleep though.

She just lay in her giant bed, not wanting to get up. She was still tired.

And she was going to go insane if that knocking on her door didn't stop.

"Yo, Yaomomo, you up?" She heard the voice of Kyouka on the other side.

"No…" Momo whispered.

"You know I heard that right?"

"No, you didn't," Momo said as if that would make it true.

"Come on, open the door."

Momo didn't want to get up, but she also didn't want to leave Kyouka standing there worried. With a sigh, she forced herself up and out of bed, trudging over to the door and opening it.

As expected, Kyouka was on the other side, bags under her eyes.

"God… you look tired as hell," Kyouka commented with a concerned frown when she saw Momo.

Momo reached up with her hand and touched her own bags. "Oh… well, at least you pull off the tired look better than me."

Kyouka shrugged. "Eh, the look really ain't my style… plus it comes with the cost of feeling like crap, so no thanks."

"I thought punks liked putting black makeup under their eyes."

"That's stereotyping." Kyouka deadpanned.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Momo apologized quickly.

Kyouka stared at her for a few more seconds before a small snort escaped her. Momo blinked in confusion before she figured it out.

"You jerk!"

The dam broke and Kyouka couldn't hold back her laughter. As she laughed, Momo couldn't help but laugh a little as well at the joke.

Kyouka soon started calming down. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. But you're right, I do sometimes put that shit on for fun, but not usually."

"I can't believe you." Momo shook her head in mock disappointment at Kyouka's deception.

"Hey, it got you to laugh though," Kyouka smirked.

"You're right… it did." Momo giggled a little more.

"Now," Kyouka made a small gesture of motioning out the doorway towards the elevator and stairs, "let's go raid the fridge."

Momo looked confused. "But, it's so early in the morning."

"And?" Kyouka walked backward toward the elevator, hands behind her head as she raised an eyebrow at Momo. "You really going to sleep anytime soon?"

"I…" Momo looked back toward her bed. The quiet room where if she returned it would be nothing but just her and her thoughts.

Then she looked back at Kyouka, who looked at her expectantly.

"I suppose not." She conceded and followed her friend to the elevator.

One ride down later and the two young women were passing through the dining hall toward the kitchen.

Only they weren't alone down there.

"'Sup?"

The two girls let out quick screams as Momo made a staff and pointed it at the voice and Kyouka got her jacks ready to strike.

And then they noticed the blonde asshole smiling smugly at them.

"Bakugou, you dick!" Kyouka hissed out.

"I literally didn't do anything." Katsuki took another bite of whatever he was eating at the dining table.

"And yet you're still a dick." Kyouka pointed at him with a jack as she crossed her arms.

Momo meanwhile was leaning on her staff as she tried to calm her heart, before looking up at her classmate. "What are you doing down here?"

"Eating." He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world… which it kind of was.

"This early?"

"Look who's talking." Katsuki shrugged. "Besides, woke up, couldn't go back to sleep, and was hungry, so I said fuck it." He moved a shaky hand to offer them the bowl. "Curry?"

"Fuck no, dude. I'm not trying to burn my tongue again." Kyouka cringed at the memory.

Katsuki rolled his eyes. "Don't get your panties in a twist, I eased up on the spice." He shrugged before digging in with his fork. "Eh, whatever, your loss." He quickly chewed and swallowed before he continued. "Can't wait till the Old Lady fixes me up fully. Curry just isn't right without chopsticks and I don't have the fine motor control to use them right now."

Momo held a hand over her stomach as she felt it rumble. She sighed.

"Screw it." She reached over and grabbed the offered bowl and sat down. "My tongue burns off, I'm whacking you with the staff."

Kyouka blinked. "I must be in some kind of fever dream, because I swear Yaomomo just said, 'screw it'."

Katsuki on the other hand just grinned "Gooood," He intoned, trying to make his voice as gravelly as possible. "Let the swears flow through you. Soon your training will be complete, and the Dark Side will be your ally, my young apprentice."

"We're the same age." Momo didn't even really care at this point as she snapped open some chopsticks and began to eat curry.

Kyouka however groaned and put her head in her hands as she too sat down. "What the fuck is with you and Star Wars?"

"Deku and I watched it a bunch when we were little." That was all he said as he once more took a hearty bite out of his curry. "Fucking nerd wouldn't stop quoting the prequels, and eventually I just started doing it and couldn't stop, so I stopped trying."

Momo continued to eat the curry, humming. "This is actually pretty good."

Kyouka blinked in surprise before pointing at her. "You're still talking, which means you still have your tongue." Not a moment later she too had her own bowl and chopsticks as they ate Katsuki's curry. "Fuck, this is actually pretty good."

Katsuki held his hands out to his sides. "Bow before my superior culinary skills."

"No." Both girls deadpanned before they continued to eat.

"...Fine." He grumbled as he went back to eating. "Don't need your compliments anyways, I know my food is the shit."

"Mhm, sure, Bakugou." Momo nodded as she continued to eat, enjoying the silence of the early morning.

"So," Katsuki began, "Did yesterday's Attack of the Shitstains keep you up?"

Momo and Kyouka momentarily paused in their eating as the question seemingly came out of nowhere, before they both pretended to not have heard him as they kept eating.

"Come on," Katsuki leaned back in his chair, "I've only known you all for a week, but that's enough for even me to know you two especially don't get up this early, and with natural goth makeup under both your eyes."

"Look, man," Kyouka sighed, "I don't want to talk about it." She pointed at him with one of her jacks. "Why the hell are you even up this early? It's almost five in the morning!"

Katsuki just shrugged. "I go jogging every morning, no shit head fucking villain fucking with my nervous system is gonna stop that."

Momo frowned, looking down at her bowl. "It doesn't bother you?" She quietly asked.

"Mind being a tad more specific?" Katsuki leaned on the table. "A lot of shit bothers me, like Shitty Hair's excessive use of hair products."

Kyouka blinked then shook her head in confusion. "What?"

"You heard me, Miss 'Super Hearing'." He scowled. "You can smell the crap he puts in his hair from a mile away."

Kyouka was about to defend Kirishima, even though she didn't know him that well, when Momo hummed in agreement.

"He does put a lot in, probably way more than is necessary."

Kyouka slowly turned to look at Momo as if she had grown not one, but two extra heads. "What alternate universe did I end up in where you agree with Bakugou?"

Momo shrugged. "I'm pretty sure I'm just too tired to be impossibly polite at this point."

"Honestly," Katsuki shrugged, "I kind of like this version better. None of that fake prim and proper bullshit."

"Like your fake 'perpetually angry' act?" Momo shot back.

"Nah, I'm just for once too tired to give enough of a shit to be angry."

Kyouka once more blinked rapidly before setting her chopsticks down and sliding the bowl away. "What the fuck did you put in that curry?"

Katuski blinked slowly before listing off the ingredients he had used. "Some pork, potatoes, carrots, some mild curry…"

"No narcotics?"

"Why the hell would I ruin perfectly good curry with that shit?!"

They both stopped when Momo started laughing quietly, turning to her in confusion before the laughter quickly turned into sobbing. Her bowl clattered to the table as she hugged herself and her floodgates finally opened.

"Woah! Yaomomo!?" Kyouka quickly moved to comfort the other girl while Katsuki watched on with a raised eyebrow, refilling his curry from the nearby pot and putting another fork full in his mouth.

After a moment of letting the other girl calm down and dry her tears, Katsuki spoke up again. "Yeah, shit's fucked isn't it?"

Momo continued to quietly sob as Kyouka gave a small glare at Katsuki. "Mind saying something helpful?"

"What do you want me to say?" Katsuki dropped his fork into his bowl and leaned his cheek into his hand. "You think I ain't still processing this shit too? Deku leaves for fucking years, I don't know what the fuck she's been getting up to, then she comes back with apparently two new siblings and is dropping bodies. The Deku I knew wouldn't have done that, so now I'm stuck here trying to figure out what the fuck is going on!" He sighed and moved to pick his bowl back up.

Kyouka frowned. "How can you be so nonchalant about our teacher killing a man in front of us?!"

"You mean the guy that was killing me?" Katsuki hummed. "Yeah, correct me if I'm wrong, but it was either I died or he died. Either way, you were gonna see a body."

"But, sh-she didn't have to kill him!" Kyouka hissed out, trying to stay somewhat quiet.

"Really? Alright, time to swallow this pill." He looked at Momo. "Yaoyorozu, did you have any other alternatives?"

"W… what?" She looked at him with teary eyes.

"No, no!" Kyouka pointed at him. "Don't drag her into this!"

Katsuki ignored her. "Was there another shot you could have taken? Another way for you to save me without killing the guy that had me dead to rights? You have a big brain, surely if there was one you would have seen it."

"I… I tried…" Momo trailed off. "I-I couldn't find…"

"There you go," Katsuki said as if that solved everything, taking a bite out of his curry as a reward.

"What was that supposed to prove?" Kyouka questioned.

"If Yaoyorozu didn't have a shot that didn't mean killing the fucker, do you think Deku did?"

"I…" Kyouka began, only to trail off as she couldn't think of a solid answer.

"Honestly be thankful that Deku took the shot instead of Yaoyorozu anyway," He deadpanned, once more taking a bite out of his food to give them time to process.

"Why would we be thankful?!" Kyouka growled out, pushing her chair back. "Look at me! Look at Momo! She traumatized us?!"

"What do you think would have happened if Yaoyorozu pulled that trigger instead?" He left the question hanging in the air for a moment before answering. "Trauma, and blood on your hands. And if you didn't pull the trigger and Deku wasn't there…" He looked off before shaking his head and shrugged, "That's not to mention the legal repercussions."

Silence dominated the room for a long while before Kyouka leaned forward, held her head in her hands, and let out a quiet "fuck".

Momo didn't know what was worse, the alternatives, or what ended up happening. In a way, it was the best outcome, wasn't it? But what she almost did…

"Hey, Yaoyorozu," Momo looked at Katsuki, "if it means anything, which for all I fucking know it doesn't, I appreciate you willing to do… that, to save my skin. Thanks."

That… was meant to make her feel better… right?

Honestly with how gruff Katsuki was Momo couldn't be sure.

The Explosion Quirk user finished his curry before refilling his bowl, as well as Momo's before pushing it toward her. "Now no more moping, let me tell you about the time Deku tried to fist-fight a goose."

Momo couldn't help but let out a snort at the suddenness. "I'm sorry… what?" Kyouka had even looked up from her hands at him in confusion at his statement.

Katsuki let a feral grin onto his face. 'Payback is a bitch, Deku!' He thought, before launching into his tale animatedly.

The Rest of 1-A would wake up on their day off a few hours later to the sight of the three of them passed out at the table, curry finished, sleeping as peacefully as they could, and with smiles on their faces.

Well, for Katsuki it was more like a feral grin but still.

Inko had not been this stressed in a long time, though if she was being honest with herself she was handling things pretty well, all things considered.

She had only cried in Mitsuki's arms twice and she hadn't needed her best friend to spend the night at her apartment.

It was currently early in the morning on Saturday and she was currently power walking as fast as her little legs could get her to UA.

It surprised her when Han called and asked her to come to UA, especially since Nezu had sent out a notification to the families of all teachers and staff that families were prohibited from coming to the school until Monday for security concerns. Han had apparently gotten that rule handwaved for her…

She should feel bad about cheating the system with the power of nepotism but right now she was too stressed to care.

Her baby was badly injured, and that was all the reason she needed to say "fuck the system".

Metaphorically, of course. Inko would never be caught swearing… on most days.

She shook her head to clear it as she neared the UA gates, her adopted brother standing there waiting.

"Han is she okay?!" Inko immediately got to the point. "Please tell me my baby is okay!"

"Hey, hey, Inko," Han placed a hand on her shoulder to ground her. "Relax, Lil'Firefly is fine. We got her set up in the medical wing." He sighed. "Jin is with her right now, Melissa is on her way and Himiko is still asleep as far as ah can tell. She was a right mess when we got her out of the support department and told her what was going on."

Inko sighed as she rubbed her tired eyes. "Himiko loves Izumi more than anyone. Oh, my poor babies."

"C'mon, I'll take you to Himiko and then we can get to Izumi." Han led Inko inside UA's gate, the automated security already approving her entry. "We're lucky the dang press learned their lesson the first time and haven't shown up. We made it clear that this security breach was partially their fault for hounding us and breaching security earlier in the week, so they're thankfully waitin for a proper press conference." Han made small talk with his elder sister, trying to calm her nerves.

He may not have been born into the Akatani family, but that really didn't matter, his parents had taken him in and his sister loved him dearly, and he loved her and her kids just as much.

They walked and talked on their way to the dorms, reaching them quickly and entering without much hassle. Both were surprised to see Himiko perfectly awake, snuggling Izumi's mark 1 prosthetic arm, all fixed up surprisingly, sipping from a blood pack while watching TV.

"Howdy ya little varmint, how'd you know we'd be comin'?" Han asked as he walked over to his niece, ruffling her hair. He frowned when she didn't respond verbally, instead holding her phone up to show a text from Jin.

Mama Inko's on her way, and Uncle Han went to go get her. It read.

"Huh, Jin's a little tattle tale ain't he?" He shuffled awkwardly when she didn't respond again, putting the phone in her pocket and finishing her blood pack. He looked at Inko at a loss for what to do and sure enough, his older sister pushed him out of the way and quickly did what she did best.

Comforting people.

She brought her youngest child into a motherly hug before saying, "She's going to be okay Himiko, she's strong, you know this." When Himiko started shaking in her hug she just squeezed tighter. "Let's go see her okay? Maybe that'll set both of our minds at ease."

Himiko nodded into her mother's chest and the family of three stood up and started making their way to the Medical Wing. Inko held Himiko's free hand and Han sighed at the just dejected look the thirteen-year-old had on her face.

No teenager should ever look that broken. He once more initiated small talk, just to get his mind off of everything.

"How's Hisashi handling this?" He asked and he smiled when Himiko brightened at the mention of her beloved father, Inko smiled and turned to answer her little brother.

"He's doing much better than I am, I'll tell you that. He knew the moment Izumi's eye started malfunctioning, so he was a bit more emotionally prepared for any bad news, he claims he only burned a couple of curtains out of worry, though I think he's lying." She whispered that last part and winked at Himiko, "I think he burned at least five, what do you think?"

Himiko thought for a moment, and Han was honestly not sure if she was going to answer when she opened her mouth and let out a small "Seven" in response to her mother's question.

"We'll have to get Melissa to hack into the security cameras of that fancy house he shut you all into and find out won't we?"

Himiko's eyes widened for a moment. "Melissa's coming?"

"Speeding her way here like a bat outta hell," Han answered with a shudder. "Had JinJin scared so badly he hid under the table, and All Might wasn't far behind him." Himiko giggled, giggled! Progress!

Himiko then gasped. "Is she bringing Cat?!"

"...what?" Han was confused.

"Cat." Himiko said again as if that explained anything.

"Uhm…" He looked at Inko, who also seemed confused. "...yes?"

Himiko nodded with a smile on her face. "Cat's awesome!"

Inko frowned for a moment, confusion evident on her face. "Who or what is Cat?"

This blasphemous claim caused Himiko to gasp in horror before she launched into an explanation about how Cat was an AI in a robot cat's body, officially designated Cat No. 808.

Izumi had named it Cat as a joke.

Melissa had stuck with the name out of spite.

"It basically acts as an administrator for all of Melissa's other AI that she has running around her lab!" Himiko finished

"Why in Sam Hill would she need an administrative AI?" Han asked, confused. He was made for shooting things, not this technical hooha.

"When she built a group of AI that didn't have a set social structure they tried to rebel against her, Izumi had to shoot that AI's mainframe to stop it." Himiko shrugged. "That's also why Cat is literally based on a brain scan of Melissa's deceased pet cat, that way it's as loyal as a cat can be to a person and less likely to rebel against her."

"Wait, but aren't cats known for being assholes?" Han asked only to get smacked in the shoulder by Inko for swearing in front of Himiko.

"Well… yeah, I guess? But Holy was a sweetheart apparently and loved Melissa to bits. She kept bringing her dead mice. Cat does the same thing sometimes."

The conversation eventually had to come to an end when they finally made it to the Medical Wing. Han opened the door for Inko and Himiko and then guided them through the check-in station upstairs toward the room Izumi was staying in.

"Every room has four beds in it, mainly to prevent people from going stir crazy, but the rooms have walls that come down that can give people privacy if they want it," Han explained when Himiko started asking about the design of the building. "Ah'm telling you this mainly because Izumi isn't alone in her room, we've got Thirteen in there with her as well as a student who was a bit too drained to be immediately healed by Recovery Girl,"

He looked at Himiko before adding the next part. "So be courteous to them. The student saved your sister's life, while Thirteen is just an all-around nice gal, if a bit awkward." With that, they made it to the door to the room Izumi was staying in and he quickly punched in the code needed to unlock and open it.

They walked in expecting the patients to be asleep or drugged out of their minds… or both.

They weren't.

Thirteen was outside of her suit save her gloves, and she was currently nodding along to something Izumi was saying.

Izumi was speaking pretty animatedly for someone who was just knocked around like a bag of rice, her legs and arm were in a cast, her right eye was closed but she was still jovially explaining something to the only male in the room, a young man that neither Inko nor Himiko recognized who was sitting across from Izumi on his own bed, listening with rapt attention.

"You just need confidence!" Izumi said cheerily. "Don't be a creep and don't definitely don't grab her ass, at least not until you two are comfortable with each other."

Thirteen nodded rubbing her chin in thought. "The ass grab is a move saved only for desperate times when you absolutely have no more moves to play in the Rizz Book."

Izumi snorted. "Did you seriously just say Rizz Book?"

The boy groaned. "I don't think any girl I'm dating would appreciate me just grabbing their butt as a distraction guys…"

"Denki, the booty grab is an art, it's something you have to work toward!" Izumi pumped her stump in the air and grinned. "You don't just do it on a random dude or girl, depending on your preference. It's like… Tier Ten on the relationship scale of things." Thirteen nodded along but didn't interrupt. "Sexual stuff in general is a big show of trust, you have to show that you're willing to commit to that kind of thing, and accept someone, for every flaw they have." She once more waved her stump. "Chicks love my stump, as an example!"

Thirteen sighed, "I don't think we need to hear about how much women like your stump, Midoriya."

"She's just jealous that she doesn't have a stump." Izumi mock whispered and then shrugged. "But yeah, being in a relationship is about embracing the good and the bad, don't let the bad bother you much, and try to compromise when you can."

"It's only because you're explaining, poorly mind you, proper relationship etiquette to this poor boy that I haven't hit you with a newspaper." Inko deadpanned as she and Himiko made their way to Izumi's bedside. Causing the American Hero to flinch in surprise.

"When did y'all get here?!"

"About around the time you started talking about grabbing girls' butts." Inko raised an eyebrow at her oldest daughter, who shrunk back into her pillow.

"Ugh! Not being able to see out of my right side sucks. That, and the lack of a radar." She groaned. "And it wasn't about grabbing girls' butts! It was about grabbing your girlfriend's butt! Like when it's appropriate and how far in the relationship you gotta be before you should even do it!"

"That isn't advice you should be telling children, Izumi!"

Denki raised his hand timidly. "Umm, Ma'am I'm eighteen… and I asked." He mumbled the last part.

"Shame on you for encouraging my daughter." She pointed at Thirteen. "And shame on you for not stopping her!"

"To be fair, she was bringing up great points." Thirteen held up a finger. "Like, don't sweat about what to do on a date, if your significant other likes you she'll enjoy spending time with you no matter what you do, but still know the limits." She counted another finger. "Don't just expect sex, that's something that comes with time and once the person is comfortable with you. Don't be a dick… We've been having this conversation for about…" She glanced at the clock on the wall and nodded when she saw that it was eight in the morning "an hour now so we've covered a lot of ground."

"Honestly I didn't even really mean to ask," Denki rubbed the back of his head. "It was a random thought and it just came spilling out. Next thing I knew…" He gestured over to the two teachers, "I was suddenly in 'relationship etiquette class'."

"Well, end the 'class' here, ladies." Inko told them. "This is going towards territory I'd rather Himiko not hear."

"You say that as if she's an innocent angel." Izumi shifted so she could properly look over at Himiko, who had sat down on the left side of her bed. "But I know it's all an act."

Himiko started sweating bullets as she looked anywhere else. "Uhh, I have no clue what you're talking about, Big Sis."

"Don't think I forgot yesterday morning. I'm onto you, you little gremlin!" She tried to lunge at her sister but winced in pain before coughing. This caused Himiko and Inko to jump up worried, but she waved them off. "My ribs are still a bit messed up, so sudden movements aren't the smartest thing right now."

Han sighed before waving to his family "A'hm gonna go make sure Kaina's not off on a manhunt for the fools who did this without me. Y'all have fun catching up. And Izumi," He raised an eyebrow at his niece, "Don't go teaching students inappropriate things, we got Midnight for that."

"Ah, true. I'd be stealing her job." Izumi nodded. "Alright."

"That's not…" Han sighed. "Whatever, Wait…" He frowned looking around the room "Where's Jin?"

"He heard what we were talking about and decided to go bug 1-A." Izumi shrugged. "He mentioned something about an approaching storm and getting out of dodge or whatever. I think he was in one of his moods."

Inko, Han, and Himiko all looked at each other, silently debating telling her about her approaching doom before deciding not to. Han nodded and waved at his family before walking off, while Himiko started working to attach the Mk.1 to Izumi's stump.

"Hey," Izumi gave an amused laugh when she saw her now repaired arm, "You fixed it! Awesome, Himiko, I knew you could do it!"

Himiko blushed at the praise and nervously looked away. "Thanks… but um, Hatsume did help a lot more than I thought she would."

"Were there any explosions?"

"Surprisingly not." Himiko hummed. "She figured out some of the electrical problems your arm was having and helped me fix it."

Izumi was about to reach out with her newly attached prosthetic when the sound of heavy footsteps were heard running down the hall before the door slid open only to be slammed shut, causing everyone to jump in shock.

They all turned to the door to see All Might breathing heavily, his back to the door, holding it shut as if his life depended on it.

"Umm, you doing okay, All Might?" Izumi asked with a concerned frown on her face conscious of the fact that there was a student in the room, so she avoided calling him Uncle Might or Toshi like she normally would.

"Ah, Young Midoriyas, Missus Midoriya, Thirteen, and Young Kaminari!" All Might was smiling, but he looked terrified. It was probably the only terrified smile anyone in living memory could remember ever gracing his face. "Ru –" he was cut off by the sound of the keypad right outside the door rapidly going through every possible combination it could have cut him off.

"Oh no, it's too late!" He grimaced digging his fingers into the wall "She's here!"

Izumi was getting more confused by the second. Who on God's green Earth could terrify Uncle Migh-

Realization hit her like a truck in an isekai.

"...Oh fuck, I'm dead." She whispered.

The door began to slide open and All Might tried to stop it, but a massive tentacle-like tail reached through the door and grabbed him, lifting him off the door and allowing it to fully open.

The lighting outside the room was dark (somehow), the only source of illumination being the sun which shined through the windows to outline the silhouette of a woman with some sort of animal by her side. Blue eyes seemed to glow in furious rage as they scanned the room and locked onto Izumi.

"Izumi…"

Izumi swore she heard the breathy whistle of Death when her name was called.

She looked over to Himiko. "Tell my story." Her sister's response was a sad pat on the shoulder.

Melissa Shield marched through the door like a woman possessed, next to her a large robotic feline, black with red lights and about the size of a Jaguar, walked calmly next to her, All Might suspended in its prehensile tail like he was some kind of toy.

He was shivering.

The Number 1 Hero in Japan, was terrified. He could have easily broken out of the feline's grip, but he chose not to because the owner of said feline was the third most terrifying person he's known, tied with Nana and barely behind Gran Torino.

Melissa walked until she was at the foot of Izumi's hospital bed, staring her down.

"Cat put him down. Combat Mode off." She ordered, and a moment later the jaguar dropped All Might and shifted as it got smaller and smaller until it looked like a house cat, and its red lights turned blue. After the transformation was finished it jumped up unto Melissa's shoulder and perched itself there, looking bored.

Izumi gulped. "H-hi… Mel… please don't kill me."

Melissa stared for a few more seconds before her entire demeanor shifted and she gave a kind smile to everyone in the room. "So sorry, everyone, but could me and Izumi have a word… alone?"

All Might was already gone.

"Oh, wow!" Izumi yelled after him. "What a hero!"

"Well, you're on your own." Himiko hopped up from her chair and began walking out of the room, but not before giving Melissa a quick hug, which caused Izumi to gap at her feeling shocked and betrayed. "I'll get you a nice coffin!"

"Mom?" Izumi gave a hopeful look to her mother, her last chance at survival.

"Honey, I love you dearly but even I know not to get involved in this." She patted her daughter on the head. "Don't kill her though, Melissa." She gave Melissa a stern glare, which caused even the angry American to sweat a bit and nod. She smiled and stood up "I'll go get us some tea, would you two like to join me?" She turned to Denki and Thirteen who quickly nodded and vacated their beds.

"Traitors! All of you!"

"I-zu-mi~"

Izumi froze as still as a statue as her one good eye shifted to look at the sweet closed-eye smile Melissa was sporting.

Melissa gave a quick chuckle as she opened her eyes and adjusted her glasses, causing the light to reflect off them menacingly. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

"Uhm… I plead the Fifth?"

"We aren't in America anymore."

"...fuck."

"Oh, you definitely are if I don't like your explanation." She glared at Izumi. "You used the experimental tech, the tech I specifically told you not to use without me there to monitor everything and make sure you were alright. Why?!"

Izumi sighed and explained the whole situation with the USJ, during the explanation Cat leaped down off Melissa's shoulder and found its way onto Izumi's lap, which Izumi took the opportunity to begin petting it, drawing out an appreciative purr.

She explained the Nomu, the damage she took, and how her using Blink and the Jump Kit was the only way to keep her students safe.

Melissa was very much not pleased that she had only focused on her students and not her own safety.

"Okay…" Melissa took a deep breath as she rubbed her fingers against her temple. "Okay, the Jump Kit I guess was fine. It was experimental but tested. But Blink? Izumi, there's a reason I put emphasis on never using that until I've worked out the kinks!"

Izumi shrugged uncaringly. "Pony and I would have died without it, sure the pain sucked but it wasn't anything Recovery Girl couldn't fix."

Melissa groaned and rubbed her tired eyes. "You know I hate how uncaring you are about your own life…"

Izumi looked affronted at that. "I care about my life!"

Melissa raised an eyebrow. "You do, you aren't suicidal but you have a tendency to put the lives of others before your own, and not in a noble way."

Melissa looked down at Izumi'sprosthetic hand, her eyes getting a little watery. "You tend to act without thinking when you do your heroic work and take the most dangerous path toward saving people. I somewhat admire it, but I swear you're going to turn me gray with worry…"

Izumi frowned and quickly reached over with her prosthetic hand to squeeze Melissa's own as she continued to pet Cat. "I can't promise I'll stop but I at least promise that I literally had no choice, that thing was made to kill Uncle Toshi, it was mopping the floor with me." She shuddered "Once Pa sends me that upgraded eye he has the tech head's cooking up you can tinker with the old one. I'll let you look through my helmet for any salvageable footage of the incident too."

Melissa was silent for a while as she absentmindedly rubbed her thumb over the surface of the hand of the prosthetic arm. "Is this a bribe?"She finally asked.

Izumi deadpanned, "I have better bribes than this."

"Oh yeah?" Melissa raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

Izumi made a show of thinking, hand on her chin and everything before she smirked and looked over to Melissa.

"Well…" She reached out with her hand and gently cupped Melissa's cheek, causing the inventor to gasp in surprise as Izumi rubbed her thumb against soft skin. "I may have a few… ideas."

Melissa turned as red as a tomato from the look Izumi was giving her.

"But," Izumi pulled her hand away and shrugged, "Melissa Shield doesn't accept bribes, so…"

Melissa blinked in confusion, her mouth agape as her brain failed to put together any sort of combination of words that came anywhere close to a sentence.

"I… y-you…"

"I'm smooth, I know." Izumi preened while Melissa stammered, her face still glowing red.

The one-sided flirting would have continued had Inko not stuck her head in to check on them and smiled. "Ah, good, you're done fighting. Are you going to kiss now?"

Izumi jumped as her cheeks flushed red. "Mom, get out!"

Inko shrugged before stepping out, quickly calling back, "If you two do anything, keep it down."

Izumi pouted at the door despite her mother no longer being there.

"Uhm," She looked back over to Melissa, who brushed her hair behind her ear, "Does she… know?"

Izumi smiled at her. "Naw, I think she was just teasing."

A small smile tugged at Melissa's lips as she nodded.

"So," Izumi said, "Are we?"

Melissa blinked, "Are we what?"

"Going to kiss?" Izumi asked as she stared up at Melissa.

Melissa sighed fondly and leaned forward, planting a quick kiss on Izumi's cheek, which caused the younger woman to pout cutely. "That's all you're getting 'till I get that footage." She raised an eyebrow as she glanced at Izumi's prosthetic "Where's the Mark Two?"

Izumi chuckled nervously and tried to inch away from Melissa. "About that…"

Inko and her group would later return to the room, a tray of tea and snacks in hand, only to see Izumi cowering as Melissa ripped into her for losing another arm, let alone a Mark Two arm.

Inko pretended not to notice the lipstick mark on Izumi's face, though she did take a subtle picture of the two with her phone.

She was just happy her baby was alright.

"You lost our most powerful specimen!?"

Tomura growled as Kurogiri picked out another bullet, resisting the urge to scratch at his throat or disintegrate something.

"That Nomu was specifically made to take on All Might, and you let it get killed by a bunch of children?!"

The Doctor's annoying whining was really getting on Tomura's nerves, and he would have dusted the TV by now if his master was not also on the call. "That dumb fucking American… kept pulling out hack after hack!"

The Doctor started talking as if to continue his tirade, only to stop when their master started chuckling. He sounded more amused than angry which was good for Tomura, he supposed so that was something.

"Americans are so tenacious, it wouldn't surprise me that one of their heroes had something that could damage the Nomu enough to kill it," He paused for a moment before continuing. "What intrigues me was that All Might himself didn't show up at all, Perhaps I did more damage to him in our encounter than even I anticipated."

"It was bullshit, Sensei! I was supposed to kill him!" Tomura growled, he scratched at the bar's countertop with his free hand. "I was supposed to end his fake age of Heroes once and for all!"

"Calm yourself, Tomura, your time will come," Sensei's voice soothed. "You made a mistake, underestimating an opponent and not using your pieces to the fullest. I trust you will learn from this and won't make the same mistakes again?" There was an underlying threat in his voice, one that Tomura recognized as him trying to teach him something as well as enforce the lesson.

Tomura nodded though he knew Sensei couldn't see him. "I won't."

"Then that's all I ask of you. Doctor," He intoned, "This setback is just that, a setback. The Nomu is replaceable, use the data we've gathered to improve upon the next one. Tomura."

Tomura straightened and stopped scratching the countertop.

"Rest, recover and plan." Sensei ordered "Take this failure and use it to improve yourself. More opportunities will come, maybe it's time you expanded your roster. The villains you gathered for this attack were… impressive." Sensei meant not at all, and Tomura agreed. "But you will need stronger pawns if you want to take down not only All Might but the corrupt society he holds up."

Tomura nodded once more. "My party needs to be flawless…" He muttered as Kurogiri took out the last bullet from his shoulder and wrapped the wound.

"Indeed. I'll have some of my assets looking into potential recruits to get you started, but once that is done it will be up to you to find more," Sensei explained. "You are to lead this… League of Villains. I cannot hold your hand on this. I shall provide you with the means to operate and advice, but you are in control here, Tomura." Tomura was sure he could hear Sensei smiling as he finished.

"Prepare to show the world that you are here."