Chapter 26

.::Sweet, Sweet Adrenaline::.

Maybe it's time to finally get a phone, Ochaco mused idly to herself. She was standing in the middle of a chain convenience store, her attention focused on a display of burner phones. They were all cheap flip models, with a number of options to allow for phone calls, texts and even limited internet access. All of them were relatively cheap.

She soon shook her head and forced herself to turn away though, turning into a nearby aisle to cut to the cash register. She had come in only to get some quick and affordable food items and snacks, bandages to hide cheeks and a flashlight. All simple and relatively cheap items, but useful for her search for Deku. Sorry Dabi, I'll have to wait a little longer to call you.

This marked her third day in Nabu, though only her second of searching. After waiting for a break in the storm to run to the train station on Friday, she'd gotten to Nabu a bit after sunset. Searching an unfamiliar town after dark seemed like a bad idea so she had decided to just get dinner and find a place to stay for the night.

Dabi hadn't joined her, wanting to look for his brother elsewhere. He'd been nice enough to give her some cash to rent a motel room before they parted ways though. "It's way too cold to sleep outside tonight without some sort of heat Quirk," he'd told her when she tried to refuse. "And net cafes aren't actually as safe as you'd think. Just take the cash, I can get more." His insistence had been a little heart-warming, and she smiled faintly at the memory. For all his gruff demeanor, the guy was surprisingly soft.

I can't believe I actually miss him, she thought idly as she counted out change to pay for her items. Back in her world the name Dabi had been taboo among their class, everyone scared of triggering a flashback for Bakugou. As a result she knew barely anything about him, but she sincerely doubted he was close to as nice as he'd been here. He'd even given her a paper with his phone number, insisting she call the second she got a phone to let him know she was safe.

Ochaco felt a little guilty for not buying a burner now, but she wanted to focus on finding Deku first. Burners might be cheap but she had limited funds, and she had no idea how long she'd need her money to last or what else she'd need to buy before she found him. Besides, once she did find him chances were the phone would be taken away anyway.

The thought left an unpleasant curl in her stomach which she steadfastly ignored as she left the convenience store and headed for a nearby park. Yesterday had been spent mostly just wandering the city aimlessly to try to familiarize herself with it. At one point she'd spied a sort of tourist center and popped inside to snag a map with local landmarks, scurrying out before any of the workers could question her.

She steered away from the busy playground to find a bench in a quieter area of the park, and pulled out the map and a pen from her backpack. She'd already crossed off a few areas as unlikely, starting with every landmark on the map. Something told her the League of Villains—or, Villain Alliance, apparently—wouldn't be hiding out in the local equivalent of Tokyo Tower. The Alliance probably wouldn't want to be around highly populated areas with lots of tourists milling about.

...Although the thought of a bunch of villains hiding in a famous temple did make her have to stifle a giggle.

She blushed a bit when she noticed a passing dog walker looking at her weirdly and slapped her cheek with her free hand, huffing quietly to herself. Focus, Ochaco! Back to the point, they wouldn't want to be somewhere too public so she'd have to focus on more urban zones. Somewhere like the area she'd met Dabi on Friday, but not as shady. They wouldn't want to be too obvious after all. At the very least, they'd probably want to be somewhere that wouldn't be likely to be searched by someone like Uwabami or Ragdoll.

The last thought made Ochaco pause. Come to think of it, were the Wild Wild Pussycats even a thing in this dimension? She frowned, not really sure. She hadn't seen anything about them on the news, but then she hadn't really noticed since they'd been equally quiet in her own world. Her stomach twisted at the memory of why they hadn't been active recently, her grip tightening around her pen.

I'm seriously trying to find the same people who caused all this. Not for the first time it struck her how crazy it was to be actively seeking out the League. If any of her classmates saw her now they'd probably be horrified. Her teachers would probably drag her back to school and throw her in remedial classes until she graduated, assuming they didn't expel her for being so reckless.

Really, it'd probably be smarter to look for Pro Heroes and tell them everything. They might not believe her at first, but she remembered there was a detective who'd interviewed everyone after the USJ incident with a lie detector Quirk. And even if he couldn't confirm she wasn't crazy, surely all the stuff she knew about her teachers should be enough to convince them. No way was a dimension-jumping Quirk the craziest thing out there.

It would be smarter. Safer.

But Deku didn't have that choice, a voice whispered inside her head, and her teeth ground at the thought.

As best as she could tell Deku had woken up in the middle of the League, surrounded by enemies with no way out. He didn't seem to be in any danger himself judging by his brief interaction with "Tomu-nii" (and her stomach still flipped at the thought of anyone calling Shigaraki that), but that didn't make it any safer. Who knew what he'd witnessed there since waking up? What he might have been forced to do?

No, Ochaco couldn't just ignore Deku. Even if she found some heroes and they believed her about everything, that didn't mean they'd help him. She'd been on the Overhaul raid. She hadn't been there from the very start, but she'd been there long enough to recognize when heroes would deem a mission's premise too risky to justify, and this time was no exception.

As far as the Pro Heroes were concerned Deku was stuck in the heart of enemy territory, maybe even an accomplice. On top of that, she didn't even have solid proof that he was her Deku; her word wouldn't be enough, so convincing them would be a challenge in itself. Even if they believed her and rightfully viewed Deku as a victim, going to the heart of the Alliance just to rescue one boy would be too dangerous. There just wasn't enough for them to justify the risk.

This time, she had to go find Deku herself.

She jumped to her feet and shoved the map and pen into her jacket's pocket, her resolve reaffirmed. The day was still young, just after ten in the morning, and she had several hours before sunset. The more ground she covered, the better! With that in mind she took off in a random direction, veering further and further away from the more populated areas in her attempts to find a suitable location for the Alliance.

One hour later, Ochaco came to the conclusion she was lost.

"I am an idiot," she groaned, her forehead resting squarely against a stone wall. She hadn't bothered paying too much attention while wandering around, and now found herself in an area of the city that didn't just seem shady or down on its luck, it seemed to be outright abandoned. None of the buildings looked like they'd been touched in a while, and she hadn't seen a single person in the last fifteen minutes.

Yeah, no way the Alliance would set up base here. The place felt too dead even for a bunch of villains. As far as Ochaco could tell, there must have been some sort of big fight here a long time ago. More than a few buildings had giant gaping holes in their sides and fronts, and even the road had large cracks and chunks missing. While the rubble had been cleaned up, clearly the area had been deemed not worth repairing.

Unfortunately, the damage also meant there weren't any street signs, so her map was currently useless. She huffed through her nose as she pulled away from the wall, turning to survey the area. It seemed to have been mostly an industrial or business district. There weren't any houses, though she saw what might be office or apartment buildings. Some of them were pretty tall, so she could always climb one to get a better vantage point.

Her gaze trailed to the taller buildings, silently calculating if she could float up there. The last two times she'd used her Quirk on herself, she'd gotten nauseous way faster than she should so she wasn't sure. As she skimmed over one building a flash of black from one window caught her eye, and her gaze snapped back to it to see someone looking out.

Huh? She blinked and rubbed her eyes, but when she looked again the window was empty. Ochaco stood still for several long moments, staring up at it. A sudden cold feeling washed over her, and she slowly backed away before ducking into the nearest half-demolished store. For some reason her heart pounded, her instincts screaming she wasn't alone.

Quickly surveying the shop, she frowned at the dusty floor before her eyes zeroed in on a partially open door towards the back leading to another room. After a second's hesitation she lightly tapped all five fingers against one arm just as she hopped forward, floating across the room in two seconds flat. She quickly disabled her Quirk before nausea could kick in and slipped through the door, careful not to actually touch it. It seemed to be a storage space, with another open door leading outside.

As she edged towards it she heard noises from the front, making her freeze. "Hey, you sure you saw someone around here?" a gruff voice grumbled, and her stomach turned to ice. Another voice harshly shushed the first one, barely audible over the sudden rush of blood to her ears. Someone was here.

"If ya did, they're not here," someone else scoffed. "The floor's way too dusty." The remark got a grunt, and Ochaco swallowed dryly as she listened to footsteps move away. As quietly as she could she inched towards the back door and peered outside. It led to an alleyway, and after a second's hesitation she slipped out and took off, heart pounding anxiously the entire time.

Maybe this area wouldn't be a bust after all.

Meanwhile in Hosu, one Satou Rikido was currently standing in the baking aisle of a grocery store looking at piping bags for icing. He had a basket already full of ingredients for a homemade red velvet cake, including two cartons of fresh eggs and two bags of flour, so now he just needed the piping bags to actually decorate it.

Rikido had moved to Hosu from his hometown in Tottori Prefecture right after graduating middle school, having been accepted into a high school with an exceptional culinary program. The fact he got accepted surprised him, since the school was highly competitive. Baking had only been an idle hobby in the past, spurred by curiosity about his Quirk which drew strength from sugar; he hadn't expected to be good enough to make the cut.

In the past six months he'd learned more about baking than the entire previous fifteen years. His free time outside of class was usually spent in his cousin's kitchen, practicing and experimenting with everything from pastries to breads. At this point he'd taken over the space and a majority of the fridge space, but fortunately Furuko didn't mind too much.

He really couldn't express how grateful he was to Furuko for housing him. Most of his extended family was wary of him baking because as a kid he'd use his Quirk every time he saw them. Little kids just loved showing off their Quirks whenever possible, and at family gatherings with cousins you don't get too see too often, wild Quirk usage was even more common. And his happened to make him a bit more destructive than most.

Converting sugar to strength was actually a conscious decision on his end so he didn't automatically become a sugar-high Hulk every time he ate candy. It might as well have been though, with how often he'd use it. Given his Quirk also decreased his intelligence, it made it easier for his other cousins to talk him into doing really stupid stuff. Like jumping off a tree. Or jumping into a lake. Or charging into the room where the adults were and pelting them with paint-filled balloons.

Furuko in particular had gotten some of the worst of their shenanigans. She'd been the oldest of the cousins, so it usually fell to her to wrangle all the hyperactive kids together. Looking back he was amazed she didn't hate his guts; he was pretty sure he had more memories of her glaring at him than smiling.

So yeah, the fact she agreed to let him stay with her, and also bake in her kitchen despite his track record, was something he'd never be thank her enough for. He tried though, namely by giving Furuko first rights to taste tests for everything, and handling as many chores as possible. She worked long hours and was usually too tired to cook when she got home anyway, so she said it was enough that he'd make her dinner.

Today's project wasn't a display of gratitude though, but actually a formal request. See, Furuko worked as a police officer. Nothing special like a detective, she mostly handled the traffic beat or paperwork at the office. But her job also meant she'd gotten to know some of the local Pro Heroes, particularly at Team Idaten.

And tomorrow was someone's birthday.

Rikido didn't know whose birthday it was. While Ingenium operated publicly, many of the sidekicks preferred to keep their identities secret. For that reason Furuko couldn't say if it was Ingenium, a sidekick, or even just the receptionist. Actually, it might not even be someone from Team Idaten. He just kinda assumed because, well, Hosu.

Still, the recipient didn't matter. They couldn't hire a professional baker due to security concerns, so Furuko had volunteered his services. Rikido absolutely did not mind her doing that without asking him. Just knowing that Pro Heroes would be eating his cake around this time tomorrow filled him with excitement. His childhood dream of being a hero might have died years ago after the UA Massacre, but he'd never lost his awe and wonder for those who continued to work in that profession.

That meant this cake had to be perfect. He pulled a pack of tips for piping bags off the shelf, examining it with a critical eye. Furuko had specified the cake needed to have vanilla icing with red flowers around the edges, and he would make them the best flowers ever. If all went well, Rikido might become the pâtissier of choice for the heroes present at the party, and nothing would make him happier.

As he weighed whether this pack would be suitable he heard a crash from the front of the store, and he turned just in time to see someone zoom past the end of the aisle making some high-pitched squealing sound. Huh. That was weird. A moment later he heard another shout and then saw a guy getting flung through the air from the direction the first figure had zoomed, making him freeze.

Okay, something was definitely going on. He slowly reached into his basket for a bag of chocolate chips, quietly tearing it open as he watched the end of the aisle. A moment later he saw another figure dart past, too brief to see much detail, but he thought he saw a flash of black and violet. Seconds later yet another figure followed, but then he heard the audible sound of sneakers scuffing against the floor and head back towards him, making him tense further.

A head poked around the corner, and it only heightened his wariness. The person wore a black hood and with an orange plastic band covering their upper face, and a fabric mask with a lightning bolt drawn on it. "Satou?" they asked in surprise, and Rikido blinked.

"Uh, do I know you?" he asked, immediately cautious and guarded. He instinctively reached into the bag of chocolate chips and closed his fist around a large chunk, ready to chug down a handful. If someone was trying to rob the place and wanted to take him hostage, he was absolutely willing to throw a shelf at a guy.

"Uhhhh... Does 1-A mean anything to you?" the stranger asked, and he frowned.

"No. Should it?"

"Um... Guess not." The guy's voice sounded kinda dejected, but he then perked up as he added hastily, "But I mean! It will soon! Be sure to tell all your friends about the 1-A Vi—"

"TASER-BRAIN, YOU IDIOT, WATCH OUT!" someone shouted, and the masked face turned just in time to shout as someone plowed into him. Rikido blinked as he watched the masked guy go flying into the air, a weird man sitting on what looked like a giant Roomba with a handle attached shrieking with delight as he zoomed past.

"Whee!" he shouted—as in literally shouted the word "whee"—and Rikido just stared. The masked guy fell to the floor face-down with a loud thump, making him wince.

"Uh... are you okay?" he asked hesitantly, and the mystery guy weakly raised one hand in a thumbs up.

"Hah, this is nothing," he mumbled, but his voice was suspiciously shaky. Another figure appeared next to him, wearing a similar outfit and mask/visor combo but with a violet dress and chunky boots, looking down at him with an audible sigh.

"You are an absolute idiot," she said flatly. "First rule of vigilantism is to always keep an eye on the villain. Always."

"Sorry," the masked guy mumbled, and the other person sighed.

"I am going to chase that guy back here, and you are going to tase him—" She stopped short as Rikido snapped a photo, his phone's camera shutter audibly clicking, and turned to look at him. "You—did you just take a photo?"

"Yep," he replied flatly. By this point he'd realized that these two were not, in fact, villains, but probably vigilantes. His classmates had been talking a lot about some blog post about a new pair making their big debut on Wednesday. Something about one of them having tasers.

"...Screw it, don't care. Post it all over social media or whatever. As I was saying," she continued, turning back to the guy on the ground. "I'm going to chase that weirdo back here, you are going to tase him, and then we are going to get the hell out of here because there is no way someone hasn't called the police yet. Got it?"

"Got it," the guy on the ground mumbled, and the other one ran off while Rikido just casually returned the bag of chocolate chips to his basket.

"What was that you were saying about 1-A?" he asked, and the guy groaned as he got up.

"The 1-A Vigilantes," he said, and turned to show the 1-A embroidered on the back of his hoodie while offering Rikido another thumbs up. The pose was probably meant to be cool, but it felt half-hearted since he was obviously still sore from his fall. Rikido snapped another photo anyway, and was pretty sure the guy shot him an unimpressed look given how his shoulders slumped. "Really, dude?"

Rikido just shrugged. He didn't have a chance to say anything before they heard a voice approaching. "Whee—gackh!" The weirdo's voice cut off with a noise of surprise while the vigilante spun to point a finger-gun his way, electricity arcing from his fingertip. A gargled noise of pain sounded and Rikido snapped one more picture.

The vigilante quickly jogged forward and Rikido followed, poking his head out of the aisle to see him and his partner kneeling by the Roomba-guy. The thing he'd been riding—which now that it wasn't moving, he saw wasn't a Roomba but actually a round... stone... skateboard... puck... thing, with a handle and a snowplow-like attachment on the front—was stuck in a glob of pink goo. The villain had obviously been thrown off, groaning as female vigilante zip-tied his hands behind his back.

Rikido snapped a picture of the scene, getting a decent view of the starbursts on the girl's mask and the 1-A on the guy's back, and then opened his Instagram. Usually he used it to post pictures of his baking creations, earning himself a steady following, but sometimes he posted other stuff. He uploaded the latest photo and typed a caption.

'Just met these guys the grocery by Cable. Call themselves the 1-A Vigilantes I guess?' He submitted it and then uploaded the photo of the guy giving a thumbs up while showing off his back, typing, 'Also this guy got thrown into the air & kept giving me thumbs up. Other one called him Taser-Brain so maybe that's his name.' And send.

With that done he closed out of Instagram and pulled up the dial screen to call the police. Hey, Rikido was still a law-abiding citizen. If these guys wanted to be vigilantes then good on them, but this grocery store had the best discounts and staff. No way was he going to wait to see if they'd be able to stop this guy from doing... whatever, before he destroyed the store.

As he began talking to the operator Taser-Brain turned to him with a frustrated, "Really, man!?" The other one just tugged his arm and they took off for the door, leaving the villain groaning on the ground. As Rikido stepped out of the aisle he noted several displays near the front had been knocked over, no doubt toppled by the villain's joy ride. One of the cashiers was helping another man get to his feet, probably the one Rikido had seen go flying earlier.

All in all, everything seemed fine for the most part, no serious damage done. As he waited for the police to show up he returned to the aisle to grab the last things he'd need for the cake, hoping the questioning wouldn't take too long. He still needed to make that cake after all.

Writing the vigilante scene from an outside perspective was fun. Today's villain has a Quirk that makes stuff super-slippery. He likes to ride around crowded stores and knock stuff and people over, causing as much destruction as possible just for fun. With this chapter, I think I've shown everyone from Class 1-A except Hagakure and Aoyama. (And also Aizawa technically hehehe)

Also, Animal Crossing came out on Friday and I spent the past weekend in heaven. Again, if you play Animal Crossing, please check out axaforums .ca! Even if you can't play online, there's plenty of fun discussion going on there, and I can't emphasize how awesome the people are. I've been hosting a game of Mafia in the Word Games section and that's a blast.

Question for next time: where do you think Hagakure and Aoyama are?